Update

Yeah, it's been a while since the last post. So many events have happened since I got back from Asia. I am trying to settle down and figure out what to do with my life at the moment. Working a part time job was a decision I made to at least support myself in some way. But as of now, even to this day, I'm still not sure what I want to do with my life. To be honest, I have the drive to carry myself out of this prison of uncertainty, however, the method and opportunities before me seem scarce. That is why I am still on a constant search for my vocation. This transition period is so hard on me.

But as with the time that I have before I find whatever I'm looking for, trying to make an effort to slow down is what I strive for. It is better to keep training myself in acquiring different skills and to keep learning in all aspects, than to sit and rot idle while waiting. Perhaps it's the enormous amount of time I have to surf the internet, or the accidental events of watching the media, probably both of these factors have played into me being extremely interested in politics. Maybe it's the frustrated and tired out constant search for purpose for my life that drew me into wanting to change the world that made politics so appealing. Whatever the reason, I have grown a passion to change the world around me.

I have become aware of the different current events that are happening around me. It's no secret that the world's economy is not just slowing down, but on the verge of a global meltdown. These aren't just threats, but real events, just waiting to become history. With an economic background, I am able to see the consequences of our current world order and it is indeed startling. Luckily, I also am able to see what I need to do to prepare myself for such a debacle. Wanting to spread my concerns with my friends, I share with them, passionately, about my views and also what they can do to protect themselves when the collapse comes.

If there is one thing that I have learned about myself recently, is that I am able to discern. God has probably given me the gift of Interpretation. I see value and Know value. Often times, I am not satisfied with the cover, Not satisfied with going skin deep, so I search deeper, looking for the roots. I believe this is where you find value. It's common sense really. In many situations, the plot always seem convoluted and distorted. Granted, sometimes things really are that complex and grand. However, most of the times, especially when dealing with things of an organic nature, it is very much like dealing with the wizard of Oz. At first, the images brought before you are un-explainable, and all answers lead to something extraordinaire. It blinds you from reality. However, when you start to ask the right questions, slowly but surely, the wizard is revealed to you as no more than a man with buttons and levers.

So I guess to tie this post together and pull its random thoughts together, I guess what I really wanted to express was that I do have a talent that I am aware of. But really, I want to use it to the best of my potential. I want to use it for a purpose that will satisfy my yearning for greatness. Hopefully, my vocation, my calling, has me set using my abilities to its potential. Sorry, there is no food for thought concepts in this post. This was more to just get my thoughts in order.

-Dave

What is it that you fear?

I have a naturally mean looking face. Some people ask why I'm angry all the time and I really have no idea what to say about that. Anyways, naturally my testosterone driven ego uses this mean looking face of mine to create a bold, masculine image of myself. But as the truth goes, this really is just an image. Inside is a weak, self conscious, scared and pathetic little boy.

I know this because I have examined myself and what led me to this self discovery, came to me while I was visiting a one of thousands of temple shrines here in Taiwan. Taoists, much like the Greeks, have many gods. Polytheists as our language arts professors would label them. The Taiwanese people believe that by appeasing these gods, they will be able to win their favor and thus also their protection. Blessings, fortune, and good luck will be added unto their daily lives. For what these people feared most were not the more powerful gods, but rather the demons that were beneath them.

After learning this fact, I too questioned myself of what I feared, and yes, it does seem that I do also fear demons. Demons of many sorts, ubiquitous in our daily lives. For me, they come in the forms of uncertainty, self doubt, and selfishness. These demons cast their nets into our lives waiting to catch a weaker prey. With its constant feed of lies, it breaks us into its submission. I am captured by and kept by its ball and chain. The fight seems futile when a mortal man goes up against a demon. If anything, it reveals the coward that is within me pushing me further into fear.

Luckily, the story of course doesn't end hopelessly. There is logic that must be applied to diety and demons to make sense of fear and here is the logic. A truly powerful and divine being who is omni-powerful must indeed be over any that is less. Demons are among the class that are less. Thus it is reasonable to fear the more powerful rather than the less powerful. Is it then unreasonable to fear what isn't the most powerful. Is this fear a hierarchical fear, placing the divine as number one and the demons below, each deserving the amount of fear that is ordered in this structure? Food for thought, but I believe that it is more of a game of war. Thus deciding which side you are on is a decision that ultimately decides who you fear. Those who dwell in the darkness knows nothing but the darkness. They fear the demons. But those who are of the light, they fear nothing but the light.

Indeed it is written, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding" Proverbs 9:10. But to be completely honest, I go day by day fearing my own demons. However it is comforting to also know that I don't have to. A fact that I remind myself whenever my conscious is cloudy. So I wanted to know your thoughts as well. What is it that You fear?

Lessons so far

It's been quite a while since I've done any posting. I've decided that the equipment that I have is just not adequate to keep posting videos online. It just takes too much time an effort. Rather draining...

Taiwan has been great to me. Its hospitality, including its people, have been very kind to me. I am actually going to miss it here a lot. When asked to see if I would be willing to live in Taiwan, this experience has led me to believe that I just might be able to. My Chinese has improved a lot, at least from what I believe. It does seem a bit short, but my time here is just about done and it gave me enough time to really experience an entirely different culture.

I can tell you about all the wonderful things I've seen and experienced but that's like an astronaut telling you how space travel is. It just doesn't translate from a person who's experienced it to a person who hasn't, none the less via a blog. So what I'm going to share rather are the things that I have learned. There's quite a few and I might not be able to remember them all but I'll list as many new findings as I can remember.

One of my goals during my trip is to gain an understanding of another culture. To begin, I asked the natives here what they thought about American culture and what they thought of us as a people. The most common responses are rather positive. Taiwanese people really like Americans. They think that all Americans have big houses with swimming pools. It's a cute thought but it's rather interesting. I suppose America still has somewhat of a "Golden Land" aura that grabs others in wanting to go over there.

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The following is an interesting conversation that I had with a cousin of mine. He's twelve years older than I am and thus rightfully more knowledgeable in a lot of the things that I am in. When I asked him the same question about what he thought about Americans, it led to us talking about Asian Americans. I began by telling him that I always think to myself as an American first and Taiwanese second. I was born and raised in America and thus fed and breathed everything that was America. My pride and home is in America but this news came startling to my cousin. He replied by saying, "no matter how you define yourself, Americans(white anglo-saxon Americans) will always see you as an Asian first." Whether he was right or wrong, it really wasn't the point, but it got me thinking a lot about who I am and how I define myself. I can have a whole discussion about this one, but I'll leave it at this.

The same cousin who had the previous conversation with me grabbed a friend of his to take me on a tour of his hometown of Ying Ge. We went to go pick him up and when he got into the car, Me, sitting in the passenger seat, turned around to greet him but he never gave me eye contact so I turned back awkwardly in my seat, thinking, this guy is Weird. It was my cousin who broke the ice stating that Taiwan people in general are shier than others and it is normal for them in situation like these to not greet another person. The formal greetings that we see are familiar with are reserved for family and family friends. This was indeed a very interesting idea to me. Surprisingly enough, this wasn't the first that happened. A couple times before that, going out with family and seeing their friends, their friends wouldn't greet me either. They wouldn't even give me eye contact. Taiwanese people really are not good at small talk. It is known for the guys to be shier than girls in Taiwan. I really don't know how the dating scene is in Taiwan, but if this trend is true, it doesn't look very good from a lot of aspects.

Speaking of dating, the average age of marriage has been pushing higher as the number of marriages have been getting lower. When asked why this was...the answer was due heavily to both Confucsious's teachings and the culture of Taiwan. Confuscious teaches of the pursuit of knowledge and how that goal is a righteous one. This aspiration led most parents to raise children that become book worms. They will do their kids laundry, not let them help with chores, as well as cook and pamper them with these necessities so that their kids can Only study. The culture of Taiwan also promotes the wife to do all of the house work. Keeping the house clean as well as taking care of the children is a woman's work. With little to no basic survival skills on one hand and a patriarchal system in the other, these two elements forces the women of Taiwan to not want to marry. As women begin to become more socially and economically independent, their single lives seem a lot more appealing than one that involves double responsibility of both the house and work.

There's a lot more that I would like to share with you but I think that just about wraps it up for now. I'll be writing my blogs from now on. Video takes too much effort.

A Full Days Work

My-Yo took me out today again. She's been such a great help to my travels. The day started off pretty awesome. Breakfast for two cost less than a cup of latte in America. God Bless Taiwan.

So after breakfast, My-Yo and I took the subway station all the way to the Taipei Zoo. The ride took approximately 20 mins. From there, instead of going to the Zoo, we decided to go on the gondola to take us high up into the mountains where they specialize in cultivating tea. It's pretty awesome checking out the tea farms and such. They have a museum there and everything. I'll post more of that later. The following however is a clip of what I learned in regards to the preparation of tea so far. Check it out!

Day with My-Yo

My-Yo's actually her Japanese name. She's my cousin's wife and in Chinese customs, I have to call her "Biao Shao". She's probably one of the coolest girls I've ever met. When you're around her, her aura gives off a really relaxing/feel good sense. The first time I saw her playing Gears of War 2, I knew that our relationship was going to be a good one.

She made it seem like we've been family for years. Taking me in right after I met her, and then showing me around town today, it's really awesome having an older sister like her.

Korean Air

Definitely a favorite part of flying so far. Korean Air!. With excellent service and beautiful Korean women to carry them out, my 12 hour flight was rather comfortable and enjoyable. However, I've been mistaken for being Korean 3 times during that flight. Twice by the same person, but it's kind of fun hearing them speak English. (Them* as in the flight stewardess's)

I didn't get a window seat. I was stuck between two very old people who didn't smell very good. During the hours where the lights were off, most of tried to sleep. I can tell that the man to my right slept very well due to his continuous snore. None the less, I was super tired myself so I slept through it. What woke me up an hour later though was an out of the blue, bright light beaming in my face. The old man next to me had apparently accidentally turned on his lights. He slept right through it though! I didn't want to wake him up and tell him to turn off the lights so I decided to watch a movie instead. Anyways, overall, it was pretty nice. The chairs were really comfortable and the entertainment monitor in front of me was of good quality.

I'm updating this post at Sicheon airport in Korea which is about a couple miles west of Seoul, waiting for my next flight to Taiwan. Maybe Sicheon IS part of Seoul. Anyways, I hope the next flight to Taipei is just as nice. This time, I get a window seat.

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

A wise man once told a wise man, who told another wise man, who told me what I have just stated in the title. There is a choice that I've made recently to go fast, which means that I'm going alone. At my stage in life, I think it's actually quite beneficial for me to do so. I've always been somewhat of an introvert, and I think that my 3 months of traveling Asia would be best if I went alone.


I haven't really come up with a reason for this trip. There's the usual, "I'm going to open my eyes and see what the world outside of my own has to offer", but I'm not quite sure if that's my reason. It certainly wasn't it when I bought my tickets. I'm coming up with different things to do as I prepare for my trip, including trying to be productive and asking economically related questions. I want to visit different government central banks and see what they're up to. I've even come up with an idea of trying to measure the overall utility of the different countries I'd be visiting. Although the procedure and materials to get that going is unknown to me, I think that might be a good idea. It'd certainly be interesting to find out the results.

On Religion and Ethics

The Christian view is that ethics and morality flow from the person of God himself. His perfect nature is one of perfect love and perfect justice. As humans made in his image, we have a similar capacity for these things, but in our fallen state and choice to be separated from God we are destined to fail. You can have ethics without acknowledging God, but only because God gave us a conscience to have an inherent sense of right and wrong. But if you try to construct an ethical system without God, you will fail since there is no sound philosophical basis for it. Even the founding fathers, many of whom where not Christians, but Deists, recognized that our human rights are only inherent because they were endowed to us by our creator, because (not stated, but implied from John Locke) we were created in his image.

If you deny God's existence, you can't justify morality or human rights. The God-denier is destined, as Nietsche indicated, to make his own morality. The 20th century was the bloodiest in human history because dictators who denied God's existence made their own morality: Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot for example. By the way, they all thought what they were doing was for the benefit of humanity and their culture by eliminating the weak and inferior, i.e. other races and anyone who disagreed with them. This was the argument that the Nazi's used to defend themselves at Nuremberg. The atheist who is intellectually honest will admit this, like "ethicist" Peter Singer of Princeton, who devalues human life below animal life in some instances.

If you have a deep sense of morality and ethics, I urge you to search for why you have it and don't accept the pat answer that "it evolved" without really testing that idea. If you say, that you believe it because scientists tell you so, you are assuming what you are trying to prove, because their is no scientific proof that morality evolved, its just a hypothesis. For a good exploration of the questions which challenge God's existence, I recommend Tim Keller's book "The Reason for God" or Norman Geisler's "I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist". Both are written by outstanding intellects and are very readable. God bless you all.

-Daniel Murphy (Some dude who commented on the WSJ)