whoaa it's been like ages since the last time i updated my blog.

it's 4.24 a.m and i haven't asleep. i just got home from my workshop; slept there for a few hours but was woken up by a swarm of mosquitoes and realized my friends had gone home and i'm all alone at the workshop. so i ended up going home and can't fall asleep surfing the internet randomly.



soo... my hippie friend tweeted a link at tweeter: http://www.templeofsacredsound.org/
and since he is an eccentric and philosophic one - he seems to be very interested in hindu and buddha - i opened the link.

such an interesting site, i guess. it says "We can transform the world with Our Love, Our Light, and Our Sound!" it got 3 different 'Tombs' and each plays different chants: Om, Ah, Hu. While you're listening to it, you can watch a video playing a transforming lights and patterns. Hypnotizing.


Drown in the chants at these hours making it more perfect. I remember my lecturer said: "our Muslim brothers starts the 5-time-prayer at 4.30 am. Why? I have a habit: waking up every 4 in the morning and read a book i'm reading. it's the perfect time to read because it's when the world is taking a breath and everything's calm. It's the perfect time to get closer to our God."

He was right, I agree.

i wonder why Priests and Hajj preach like as if they're goin into a war? are you spreading God's words or provocative words?

i don't like priests who pray for others unequally and still dare telling us to love each other equally.

doing half-evil things is worse than that of whole-evil things.

I love being religious and so the religious people. But when it comes about those who keep relating everything in this world to God, or their religion, it's sickening.

Jakarta is sinking because we're getting farther from God? Come on! it's 2010! no wonder Indonesia is lagging behind!

Even you doubt that it's fine for non-Islam people to talk in Arabian! Arab is not all about Islam! The civilization developed there and so with other religions!

"Siapa yang berhak menilai kebaikan kita? Mengapa kita melebihi Tuhan dalam menghakimi sesama?"

-Alex Tata, Kompas

I wonder why Christian and Islam are stereotyped to be always fighting despite the fact that they both are highly related and bonded?

Again and again. Majority and minority.

Why does it have to be majority to take the power?
Why can they freely decide even if they're wrong?
Why can't they let minority have their right?
Why do they always abate minority's right and power?

Do we minority have the right to speak up?

We are voiceless.
We, minority, are powerless.
Rights seem to be just a formality.
An alibi to shadow the harassment against minority.

The third largest democracy huh?
I don't see Indonesia deserves the title.

Democracy is yet to learn.

Di luar cita-cita seluruh rakyat Indonesia termasuk saya, yaitu berupa kesejahteraan ekonomi bagi seluruh rakyat, hanya ada satu cita-cita utama yang saya dambakan terhadap Indonesia: terhapusnya sekat-sekat pemisah antara suku, ras, dan agama. Negara ini bisa terbentuk karena adanya rasa persaudaraan antara tiap golongan masyarakat di seluruh Indonesia yang jumlahnya bukan hanya belasan atau puluhan, melainkan ratusan. Tanpa ada rasa persaudaraan itu negara ini tidak akan bisa terbentuk.

Namun sepertinya keadaan semakin memburuk. Saya heran, kenapa generasi muda sekarang bukannya menjadi semakin terbuka malah menjadi semakin konservatif. Mudah sekali diprovokasi dengan nama agama. Bisa-bisanya mengancam keamanan dan bahkan membunuh orang lain hanya karena mereka itu dibilang "kafir" oleh pemimpin agama mereka.

Etnis Tionghoa pun dianggap alien perusak bangsa - etnis minoritas dan pendatang yang harus diusir dari bumi Indonesia. Akan tetapi tidak hanya mereka para rasis pembenci etnis Tionghoa saja yang salah. Saya sebagai salah seorang dari etnis Tionghoa pun salah dan tidak kalah munafik karena selalu melabel orang-orang yang katanya penduduk asli Indonesia (padahal mereka pun pendatang) itu kotor dan bau.

Sejak kecil saya (mungkin teman-teman saya juga sama) sudah diajarkan bahwa kita berbeda. Kita Tionghoa dan mereka pribumi. Kita pintar mereka tidak pintar. Kita pintar berdagang mereka pemalas. Mungkin mereka pun sudah diajarkan bahwa mereka sopan kita tidak punya sopan santun. Mereka rendah hati kita sombong. Mereka tidak pelit kita pelit. Itulah yang tertanam di otak kita. Atau agama kitalah yang benar sementara mereka salah. Agama kitalah yang akan membawa kita ke surga sementara mereka tidak.

Akan tetapi, tinggal menjadi alien di Bandung di antara mereka pun memberikan saya pelajaran berharga. Kita sama. Betapa kita sama-sama membenci teroris yang memakai topeng Islam, sama-sama membenci FPI yang merusak mengatasnamakan Allah. Betapa kita sama-sama tidak suka dijelek-jelekan dan diperlakukan berbeda.

Sampai kapan kita akan melihat diri kita berbeda? Sampai kapan kita terus memperlebar jurang di antara kita? Berkata ini pun saya munafik karena saya, secara sadar ataupun tidak, juga rasis. Namun saya tidak mau melihat Indonesia terpecah belah hanya karena golongan tertentu yang memprovokasi untuk saling membenci. Oleh karenanya saya pun akan memperbaiki sikap saya dan meluruskan pandangan saya dari bias subjektivitas.

Apakah kita punya hak menghakimi benar salah atau sesat tidak suatu kepercayaan? Bukankah itu hak Dia di atas sana karena Dialah yang memilih suka tidaknya dengan cara kita memuji dan memuliakan namaNya? Siapa sangka ketika di akhir zaman nanti umat yang kita injak-injaklah yang akan masuk ke Surga, Nirvana, Moksha atau apapun itu?

Your Faith, My Faith

Another great message from Have A Little Faith :P

...
"Ask yourself, 'why did God create but one man?" the Reb said, wagging a finger. "Why, if he meant for there to be faiths bickering with each other, didn't he create that from the start? He created trees, right? Not one tree, countless trees. Why not the same with man?
"Because we are all from that one man - and all from that one God. That's the message."
Then why, I asked, is the world so fractured?
"Well, you can look at it this way. Would you want the world to all look alike? No. The genius of life is its variety.
"Even in our own faith, we have questions and answers, interpretations, debates. In Christianity, in Catholicism, in other faiths, the same thing - debates, interpretations. That is the beauty. It's like being a musician. If you found the note, and you kept hitting that note all the time, you would go nuts. It's the blending of the different notes that makes the music."
The music of what?
"Of believing in something bigger than yourself."
But what if someone from another faith won't recognize yours? Or wants you dead for it?
"That is not faith. That is hate." He sighed. "And if you ask me, God sits up there and cries when that happens."


Reading this conversation made me recalled what Albert Einstein once said. He was asked whether science could explain everything in this universe. Einstein answered: "Yes, but it is just as boring as explaining Beethoven's symphony with the physic's theory of pressure and so on."

The beauty of life is that the sensation of knowing something greater than us. The mystery of something Supreme. And what makes it even more wonderful is that we have our own ways in explaining and worshiping that Supreme Being. Yet, despite the diversity of beliefs and religions, we come from one God.

we worship the same GOD.

Before moving to Serpong, my mom and one of the priest in my church reminded me to be careful because I was about to get into a Catholic school. They warned me that we have different religion, tho with the same God, but they have different ways in worshiping God. Not knowing anything, I just accepted everything they said.

However, the first year in Laurensia was really a great lesson in introducing Catholic to me. I was surprised about the making of a cross before and after a prayer, about Holy Mary prayer, a different kind of Our Father prayer, the ceremony, the congregation, and lots more. We had a mass for every 3-4 months and some religion ceremonies like Ash Wednesday, Easter Day, Christmas Day, and others.

And as I grow up, I make up my own principle and way of thinking.

Last Easter, I went to Santo Laurensius Catholic Church 400 meters away from my house. I've been going there 3 times with my friends. It somehow has been our tradition to go to church together every Easter. Each time I got home, my mom would asked: what did you do there? And warned me about all the differences between Protestant and Catholic. However, I always said, "It doesn't matter, Mom! The hell should we take care about that?! We worship the same God!" And she would argued, "no! You don't understand! We ARE different!"

Then, I would shut my mouth. Better not arguing with her since it would be a waste as she would not understand.

For me, religion is just a status. Well, not an ID-kind-of-status. I mean, I choose to be Protestant because, first, I do believe in Jesus Christ. Second, I believe that all we should worship is God and no else, including Mary, or our ancestors. Third, I believe that once we dead, it is all about heaven and hell and there's nothing else.

BUT, if it is the matter of different co-religions like Catholic, Orthodox, Jew, or even different religions such as Islam, Buddha, or others, I do NOT bother. I don't care if I pray at a Catholic church, or even at a mosque. I don't care if I make a cross before or after a prayer. I don't care if I receive a blessing from a Hajj.

I will follow Buddhists way in not killing animal, even an insect, since I believe it is a good way in respecting God's creatures. I will not bother fasting with other Muslims because I believe it really is good to strain our worldly desires.

I believe we worship the same God. It's that just people have their own way in worshiping God. I believe that God won't care if a Christian kneel like a Muslim to worship him. I believe that God won't care if a Christian pray at a Mosque and so with Muslim praying at a church. What God cares is to whom we worship. He will be angry if worship money, or drugs, or other worldly things.


Why should we bother? STOP prejudices!!