Knowledge comes with listening.

As I have written some time ago,I had the problem of inferiority complex very early in life. I knew it was a problem. Realisation helped me to find ways and means to overcome it. In a way I am thankful that it was once my problem for without it I could never be the strong and healthy individual I grow up to be. I would never have gone further to learn more about life than I have. I would never have listened for the gems of knowledge which has helped me to progress to this stage of my life if I had not been born with health problems and an inferiority complex. I faced my problems and won.

One of the things I discovered in searching for knowledge is the need for listening. When I listened I get to learn other people's knowledge and experiences. It is similar to knowledge from books. When we read, we also listen to what the writer has to say. You will be surprised at how much a person is willing to tell you if he believes you are really interested. I have learned so many things through listening.

Through listening, we not only learn we become more popular as many people have stories to tell and therefore need ears to listen to them. The are thankful to have appreciative listeners. So when people need to express their needs and sorrows, they need good listeners.

However, the most important part about the art of listening is the acquiring of knowledge and better understanding of more complicated subjects. Just as the other day when a friend and I were at the summit of Gunung Jerai, I was all ears when a man came to talk to me as I pulled and flicked off the numerous leeches in my socks and shoes. If I had not listened, I would not have been able to have him explain and talk about how leeches could be removed and killed so easily. Had I not listened intently, he would most probably not have revealed how I could prevent leeches from coming near in future. And this morning, through listening, I heard about the soaking of socks in salt solution to prevent leeches from attacking. But then, with the salt solution, you would have to wear wet socks.

The importance of listening was also confirmed by an insurance salesman who went with me during my twenties to a seminar by Mr. Lawrence Chan. He was disappointed with some participants at the seminar who are more eager to voice their own experiences than to listen to Lawrence Chan's gems. He said that we paid to listen to the nuggets of experience and knowledge, not to listen to ourselves talk. Every minute we waste on talking cost us possibly a minute of precious advice or understanding. So if we talk away an hour each day of the five day seminar, we lost five hours of nuggets. Now, there is a lot of truth in that.

See, at the age of sixty-four I am still learning by listening. I hope my mind will remain sharp enough to digest all the knowledge I am able to obtain for many more years through books and listening.

Listening is more important than talking.

This morning, at the hill, Grace told me about the couple who would talk and talk practically non-stop, giving her no opportunity at all to comment on the topic. Well, it was a one-way communication and she was forced to be the listener.

Of course, it is not bad to be a listener. In fact, very early in my life, while journeying three hundred and something miles to Kuala Lumpur to attend the motivation seminar by Lawrence Chan, I learned the importance of listening well.

However, today i wish to concentrate on this problem of some people who could get them into problems with others. It is the strong desire to talk, talk and talk, sometimes repeating the information already given previously. When something is repeated, the listener gets bored. So the talker is boring to his friends. Nobody would want that, I believe. Yet, it is an unconscious urge to listen to the person's own voice and also prove that he is an authority on the topic.

What the speaker does not realise is that when someone dominates too much and most of the things are the same old stories, everyone already knows them and are not willing to ache their ears having to tolerate the boring sounds emitting from the source. This is especially so when the listeners are given no opportunity to take part of the conversation.

It is not just the repetition that we dislike. In order for such people to last a long time talking endlessly, they put in the smallest uninteresting detail into their talk, explaining extensively what is sometimes so obvious, expected and certain.

And what is the result? As expected, most people would avoid such a talker. Excuses would quickly be given to avoid or escape from further verbal torture. Only a very few would tolerate the person and even those few would complain and at the earliest moment disappear from the scene.

I have made a study of such people. I have found that the problem arises from some causes. One of them is a habit copied from the family members. Yes, parents who talk too much or refuses to listen to other people's points of view have a great influence on their children who imitates them and become just like them. So parents ought to be careful not to turn into such long-winded, one-sided talkers.

And old people, me included, have that tendency to elaborate more than others. Especially so when the children have been away for some time and the desire to chat with them is so great. Right! So what can be done. We ought to realise our long-winded talking and do something about it. Realisation is the beginning of change. When we realise something has become undesirable, then we change and learn to allow others to voice their thoughts and help to have an interchange of feeling and ideas rather than to have a lecturer and his/her listeners.

And there are those who needs appreciation or a raise in self-esteem. These need to show others how much they know, to impress others with their knowledge. Of course, self-esteem is important to all of us. So is being appreciated. However, this can still be done without having to dominate so much as to prevent others having their say.

Eventually, the choice is our own. To know who we are, to see if we are the ones who lecture all the way and whether we feel everything is fine. Then, if we find that we do dominate, we must choose whether to change or not. Change is not difficult as realisation helps pave the way to such a change. This part is important as I have come across people who cannot see any problem with their ways despite someone pointing it out to them. Well, if they are happy as they are, we ought to wish them all the best for eventually everyone is the master of his/her own fate.

Humans create most of the problems.

At one point in my life, if anyone were to say that humans are the ones who create the most trouble, I would have protested. But then, with more experience of life, I have to admit that there is truth in it.

There was a time, I studied part of spiritual exorcism through an Indian priest. It first started with meditation, then awakening of the third eye and then exorcism. Through my experiences and this guru's teaching about the spirit world, I had to admit that spirits do not harm people. It is evil people who use those spirits to harm others, just as religion is for the good of man kind but people use or abuse religion for their own selfish ends.

When I realised how evil most of these spiritual masters are I decided not to continue with the study. I did not wish to one day have to tangle with such type of people even though it is to untangle whatever mischief they have done.

And today, I read about a married couple who abused their Indonesian maid so badly that the poor maid died. How the poor lady must have suffered before she found relief in death. What kind of horrible monsters those people were! Someone commented that they were worst than animals. Please, the next time we talk of such human monsters, do not drag the good name of animals into the thought. Animals are never that bad. Animals kill only because they felt threatened or they needed food for survival. They never kill to exert power over others. Humans are the ones who crave for power and perform the world's most horrendous deeds to gain it.

Perhaps that is the reason God gave humans brains so that, hopefully, with such brains they could teach morals and understand that God is always watching whatever is being done. That is also the reason humans, more than any other creature on earth, need God. If not for the presence of God and the teaching of morals, the conscience would be blunted and easily turn humans to monsters such as the above mentioned couple and those known in history.

This weakness of humans to create problems exists to this very day among the ordinary people as well as people in authority and politics. It exists as long as there is inferiority complex and the need to feel power over others is present.
It is a human tragedy that such a creation which possess brains and the ability to think so well can descend so low, indicating an inability to use their brains correctly. And so, with this weakness, there will always be conflicts, cruelty and exploitation of others, even though the holy book of every religion tells us that all living things are His creations and therefore are to be respected if it is just to show respect and love for Him.

A trek up Gunung Jerai from Merbok.

That's the archeology museum in the background


And here's the map at the parking lot showing the route to Gunung Jerai, Kedah, Malaysia.


This is the river we had to cross to the starting point of our trek.





The starting point.


A bridge over that river.


My partner walking into a rubber estate.


Liquid rubber flowing into a cup at the rubber estate.



A living beauty! A little one but full of grit and strength. Certainly adventurous!


We met one of the inhabitants of the jungle.



This is a part of the way to the top.



Art through the light drawn through the trees onto the floor of the jungle.


As we reached the higher parts, light came shining through.


The fantastic view at one part near the summit.




From the jungle into a man-made road about a kilometre from the summit.


And here's a little stream just outside the jungle.


Here is the directions to a number of place about a kilometre from the summit where there are chalets and a dining place as well as a number of attractive planted areas.


This is the Telaga Tok Sheikh.(Telaga means 'well' Tok Sheikh is the name of a person.)


Another part of the Telaga Tok Sheikh.


Here is a spider. Dangerous? Well, harm it not and it will never harm you.


The entrance to Padang Tok Sheikh.


Is this a snake i see on the road? But then, looking at the scales, it cannot be.


This is what i first thought is known as Batu Kapal which means 'Stone ship', but I am told that it is not. According to the friend Batu Kapal is a huge rock very near to Telaga Tok sheikh.


What a beauty! An orchid!


Here's a red beauty!


Have you seen a fern like this!


On Saturday, 11th of June, a friend and I decided to trek up Gunung Jerai (Jerai Mountain) from the archeology museum at Merbok, Kedah - a trek which was approximately 13 kilometres to the top - a route known as 'Jejak Warisan'.

We reached Merbok at eight in the morning and from there crossed a river to a path. Soon we came to a fork in the path and here we chose what appeared to be the more often used path which turned out to be the wrong path resulting in us reaching a rubber estate. Here we saw some campers. We had to retrace our steps and took the path on our right. Then we still had to look for the right way up and eventually found it across the river further up from where we started.

Fortunately for us, since then there was this yellow strip of plastic sign that led us all the way to the top. At certain parts of the way it was fairly steep and one of these parts took its toll on my thigh muscles. The muscles started to cramp and that slowed us a lot. My partner had this liquid known as 'Yoko Yoko' which I applied to the painful muscles. Initially, the pain and cramping became worse but after a short while the pain subsided and it was bearable enough to continue. I also discovered that a stick did help to take the weight off the legs and prevented further cramps.

The jungle was beautiful with its many beauties, some of which I photographed to enjoy at a later date. It was up and down three, or perhaps four, hills before we reached the summit of the mountain. About one kilometre before the summit we exited the jungle onto a tar road.

It was a wonderful trek of calm greenery with great huge trees and a few orchids attached to their trunks which was only spoiled by the wriggly leeches which constantly attacked us all the way to the tarred road. There were so many of those leeches that we had to forgo stopping at half past twelve although we were really hungry then. The sight of the leeches on the floor of the jungle was sufficient to drive us on. At the top, I removed my bloodied socks and shoes to find more than thirty of those fat well-fed creatures, some of them still stuck to my feet. I had certainly donated a good quantity of my blood to them. That was alright except that at the time of writing this i am still suffering the itch that their vampire-type punctures have left behind. In fact my bed-sheet and floor was stained with my blood that Saturday evening and night. My feet were swollen the next morning as a result of my scratching the whole night.

Nevertheless, it was an unforgettable experience for me. Never had I had so many guests in for dinner at my feet. And the itch they left behind will certainly be remember always. And there was a record 29 tiny punctures in my feet! Well, that part of the thrill of challenging oneself on a trek up a mountain. At the end of it, I could tell myself that I made it in five and a half hours, discovered my weaknesses which I intend to overcome as soon as possible and enjoyed the scenery from the jungle and the top of a mountain. That's great for this sixty-four year old - old in number but young in spirit and flesh.

How to prevent leeches from getting to you.

Those who trek or climb hills or mountains have certainly come across tiny, wriggly creatures which need blood to survive. We call them leeches. I have nothing against them sucking some of my blood for God created them to survive on it. However, what i detest most is the itch that I have to suffer for more than a week each time they dig into my legs or feet for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The itch is so annoying as it prevents me from a good night's rest for so many nights. Once I even had to seek antiseptic as the bite became infected. It left a big scar which I have to bear to this day.

Of course, there are always good intentions from people who notice the leeches sticking to my feet. First, there was the suggestion of using a mosquito spray onto the shoes. I did it. Sometimes, or was it just luck, it seemed to work but time prove it not effective.

Then, the other day I went up Gunung Jerai (Jerai Mountain)and was told by my trekking partner to use soap. So I rubbed soap onto my shoes, socks and my pants. It was instantly proved useless against the hundreds, perhaps, thousands, we met all the way up the hill during our five and a half hour trek. All the way we had to stop to pull them off our socks and legs. We dared not remove our shoes to search for those which had managed to slip into our shoes to our soles as the ground was obviously full of them.

Eventually, when we reached the top of that mountain. I removed my socks and discovered not less than twenty of those big, fat, evidently full-of-blood leeches.
My sockes were red with my blood and punctures and more than fifteen tiny punctures on each foot were still bleeding. There was just no way I could stop the bleeding then. So, I merely removed them and put my sock back onto my feet.

Then, the guy who plies the tarred route up and down Gunung Jerai came over to have a look at the great number of leeches I had removed from my feet and shoes. (There are many route up this mountain. There are many jungle paths but one of them is the tarred road which allows cars, vans and jeeps to access the top of this mountain.)He told us that we should have used tobacco juice to avoid attacks by leeches. He demonstrated how we could mix some tobacco, which he had, with some water. The resultant juice was squeezed onto the leeches and after just a few seconds of struggling, they were dead. (Look at the video above.)

From him we learned that we could soak our shoes, socks and the lower part of our pants into tobacco juice before drying them the day before using them for such a trek. The smell of it would be sufficient to drive those blood thirsty breatures away. He should know for he was a soldier who had to move and stay in the jungle at times. So, there you are, the way to a leech-free trek.

Why very young children learn fast.

Have you ever observed how children learn? I have and One of the things I noticed is their lack of self-consciousness that helps them to learn things so very fast.

Children are good are imitation; imitating the actions and sounds made by almost anything in their environment. And they are never afraid of who is watching and what others might think of them and their actions. Of course, this changes if adults were to spoil it for them by telling them, indirectly teaching them to be conscious of what others might think of them. Once that is drilled into them, they understand that others observe them and so they start observing the adults and find that that is true. Then adults would put the thought in their little minds that adults might laugh at them and their behaviours, might think them mad or .... and laugh at them. That puts them on guard and they stop learning in that spontaneous playful way.

Knowing that, adults ought to be careful with their comments and not put useless adult thinking into their innocent little minds. Then the adults can notice that that little mind can absorb a lot through repetitions of words, phrases, clauses and sentences without the consciousness that they could be making pronunciation and grammar mistakes. Through such repetitions and frequent listening to good speech, language is learned. Then, through the provision of good language on radio, television or conversation among people, the child will eventually correct his/her mistakes automatically. Of course, good language must be available much more often than poor language in order for the child to get his language right.

A child who is encouraged to sing and talk about things with words that had seeped into the brain gradually will learn faster than the child who is not given the opportunity listen to language and make use of whatever he could have acquired.

Thus, the opportunity to learn which must be made available by the parents and the chance to practice uttering the words to himself/herself and to others without being self conscious of whatever mistakes that are bound to be made in the process of learning are certainly necessary for learning.

This learning is also possible if adults can overcome their self-consciousness, something which is more difficult as there is always the fear of being laughed at for the mistakes made.

One of the ways adult can counter that fear is to talk to oneself in the privacy of the room. I learned my Bahasa Malaysia, Malaysia's National Language by starting with books from primary one. I would write down sentences with words I do not understand, find the meaning, repeat the words and sentences often in my room, even the bathroom, and talk to friends in the language using whatever I had learned. Initially there was a lot of laughter at my pronunciation but eventually the Language Institute people helped me be a winner by changing the way some words are pronounce with the 'Bakul' method; a method in which words are pronounced according to its spelling. Besides that I improved fast as I listened and use the language everyday. So opportunity to listen and practice is of utmost importance. And if self-consciousness is no impediment to practice, progress will be fast.

Is this the beginning of extremism?

Today, I am copying an article from the Malaysian Insider to show that politics is leading the country towards extremism. Political leaders have been encouraging and instigating Muslim leaders to think of non-Muslims as aliens rather than as citizens who ought to have equal rights with Muslim citizens. What several Muslim leaders say in the following article shows how these leaders have twisted facts to support their extremist views.

Regarding the civil rights of non-Muslim Malaysians I have lifted the comments of a British Muslim, a Jennifer Abdullah, from the comments column in the Malaysian Insider. Her enlightening comment is pasted below the article.

I have copied this article together with a comment by this British Muslim from Hong Kong to show that that what we think is read throughout the world and how well our country and people are judged depends on what we say or do as all would reach the minds of people internationally.

Islamic leaders question non-Muslim rights
UPDATED @ 09:05:18 AM 23-05-2011
By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani
May 22, 2011


KUALA LUMPUR, May 22 – Several Islamic leaders have questioned the loyalty of non-Muslims in the country, declaring today the community’s rights must be re-evaluated if Malaysia is to call itself an Islamic state.
Former president of Islamic Da’wah Foundation Malaysia (Yadim), Datuk Nakhaie Ahmad, said treatment of non-Muslims must be based on the social contract agreed and pointed out that the government has been too gracious to the community.
“In attempts to get vote and support of non-Muslims, we have been very gracious in giving them their civil rights. Civil rights given to them includes the rights to vote, participation in politics, hold office, involvement in the military and so forth but we cannot just willingly give them everything.
“Our offer must be based on religious practices. If we look at the prophet’s agreement in the Madinah constitution, civil rights were given to the Jews but the rights must be paid back with responsibility. They must have the responsibility and agree to defend our country and not insult the agreement,” he said during a forum on "Membina Negara Sejahtera" organised by the Persatuan Ulama Malaysia here.
Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad declared Malaysia an Islamic state a decade ago in a move to counter PAS’ growing influence among the country’s key Malay Muslim population.
The issue cropped up this month when several groups asked for amendments to the Federal Constitution to stipulate only Muslims can be the prime minister after Utusan Malaysia carried an unsubstantiated report of a Christian plot to usurp Islam’s position as religion of the federation.
Nakhaie stressed that non-Muslims that have broken the social contract must be expelled from the country and asked the government to adopt a tough approach in safeguarding Muslim interest.
“If the agreement is broken then actions must be taken against them. If they break our agreement then they are our enemy and must be expelled from the country. We must not compromise with them. We must be stern with them when it comes to the social contract agreed,” he said.
Nakhaie added it is important that high level government positions not be awarded to non-Muslims for national security.
“We cannot give them important government position as it is not allowed for non-Muslims to become ministers in an Islamic state. Head of military must also not be given to non-Muslims.
“Without thinking about the future of our country, we are so willing to give them everything. Granting them their civil rights must be balanced with Islamic preaching so they will understand justice in Islam and the Islamic system,” said the former PAS member who defected to Umno years ago.
He also warned Muslims to unite as non-Muslims will become stronger if the community continues to quarrel among themselves.
“They are brave now and are willing to say anything because they are becoming dominant. They (non-muslim political parties) are only working with us to only achieve their goals. It is a marriage of convenience. We know what is their programme. We are already losing economically and now we want to give political rights?” he asked.
Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia’s (ISMA) deputy president Zamri Hashim added that Muslims must look beyond political affiliation for a common greater cause.
“We must think outside of politics. The Malay agenda is too important to ignore and a majority of Malays are Muslims. This is no longer about PAS and Umno,” said the Perak deputy Mufti.
Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement (Abim) deputy president, Dr Mohd Rumaizuddin Ghazali, also stressed that Malaysia must never become a secular state.
“This is why many non-Muslim politicians want to declare the country as a secular state because then the government will not have fund religious programmes.
“They are scared that if we accept Malaysia as an Islamic state then there are many implications which means that only Muslims have the right to lead the country,” he said.
Mohd Rumaizuddin added that the Malays are beginning to be trampled on and non-Muslims are starting to take advantage of the community.
“Because of politics, we are still not free after more than 50 years of independence,” he said.
Hizbut Tahrir Malaysia president Abdul Hakim Othman added the country’s constitution must be replaced as it has been stained by the colonial British.
“A Caliphate state is based on divine revelation. It is not a democratic or a theocratic state. It is only an Islamic state when the constitution is based on the Quran and prophetic traditions,” he said.

Below is the comment by a Miss Jennifer Abdullah who is a British Muslim. The following is a quote taken from the article and her comment.

"In attempts to get vote and support of non-Muslims, we have been very gracious in giving them their civil rights."

I'm not Malaysian but I am a British Muslim and I'm reading this from Hong Kong. I find it offensive that Malaysian Muslims could even threaten to retract civil rights from non-muslims arbitrarily when the civil rights of every individual in the Commonwealth has been protected since the days of the Magna Carta

I'm sorry but a Malaysian friend of mine pass this to me and I cannot help but comment after reading this. I'm very disappointed, as a Muslim myself, to see the Muslims in your country going the way of extremism. I hope the Malaysian ppl understand that true Islam does not condone intolerance and are fully compatible with democracy and human rights.