When consulting the gods...

今天路過車公廟, 進去求簽:

96簽 上簽 - 竇燕山積善
巍巍寶塔不尋常
八面玲瓏盡放光
勸君立志勤頂禮
作善蒼天降福祥

哈哈. 有冇人想嘗試解簽?


Today I went to visit a friend, and passed by Che Kung Temple on the way home. On impulse I got off the train, and went to have my fortune told. Che Kung Temple is a very famous Temple in the territory to have one's fortune told with joss sticks, and the joss stick the government received last year was surprisingly prophetic.^[1]

I have a sort of rule for myself when it comes to fortune telling. That is: ask when you don't need to ask. Or to be precise: don't trust the answers when you're in a bad state. Ironically, though, when I am most confused, that's when I'm most inclined to be superstitious. I remember throughout the first year of Lecoq, I kept making bets with myself: if I'm able to walk to the end of the street without stepping only on the cracks, I'll get into the second year. However, it is in those times that it actually becomes difficult to truly hear signs from the universe. My desire, my need is so great, that I seek for any kind of affirmation from the universe. In short, I am in the danger of reading more meaning in the universe than it really is giving me.

Sometimes I get quite impatient with people who are too eager to read affirm any sort of coincidence as "messages from the universe." Sometimes coincidences are just that. Shit happens. I remember after the car crash I was in, people started reading into the fact that my friend (who unfortunately died in the accident) bought a second hand car. Some people even said that she had a death wish from her failed marriage, etc. I thought that this was a rather violent distortion of events; but I could quite palpably feel people's need to make sense of this terrible event.  But having been with her in the crash, I can tell you. The reasons were much simpler. Much much simpler.

I do believe in patterns in the universe. I will, for instance, suddenly have a periods of my life where I will keep missing the bus / train / everything. Or I will have another week where people on the bus will want to chat with me. When this happens, I think of it take it as a reflection of my energy.

So I miss a train. The question is, how do I feel about missing the train? Do I feel that I'm going to have a bad weekend of teaching? Or do I feel, what the heck, the train left. Thank goodness I left enough time before class? Noticing how I'm feeling means that I have the capacity to change things. Anyway, if you think about it, how good my class is actually depends on my ability to manage them. And even if the kids are tired, or unruly, it's up to me to deal with them. So all you really do is just do the best you can to prepare, respond, and enjoy the moment. If you do that, you can leave the rest to the universe. I did my best, and no one can ask for more.

【解曰】 修来福分 众人皆见
不用心忙 福德前定 此卦福德现身之象凡事大吉大利也

【典故】窦燕山积善。宋朝。窦燕山中年无子。一夜梦中。其父训他去恶从善。自此窦燕山痛改前非。力行方便。并得五子。三字经有载：窦燕山。有义方。教五子。名俱扬。

All the answers we need are inside. The cards or joss sticks are but tools for reflection, but the best reflections are found when the waters are calm.

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^[1] The joss stick the government recieved had with references to the first emperor of China building the Great Wall with a great disregard for the common labourer. When you think of it in collusion with the proposed railway, it starts to sound very prophetic. Hin yan even put it to song, which you can listen on Youtube here: 車公顯靈高鐵要停