Author: Mr. E-Sekai

  • Loyalty and Faithfulness

    So I was speaking with my dad, the other day about loyalty and the value of it when I thought about how I didn’t seem to recall reading or hearing “loyalty” when reading my KJV bible. I know, I know, you probably are asking why the heck is he talking about religion on this blog. Just so you know that as much as I want to limit or keep conversations here on a certain level, I would often leak some theology here. Anyway back to the topic…

    You would be surprised that there is no result when trying to find the word “loyal” on a KJV bible. I found this interesting and amusing, considering “loyal” should be a common term. If by any chance I am mistaken, please do correct me, I welcome it and would love to see that verse as well. It did occur to me as well that, faithfulness is a more apt word since they technically have the same context and it would be more appropriate in a biblical narrative. Some other thought that I had was that, it might be that loyalty is an offshoot to denote or distinguish faith as more God-centric. I don’t really have a good reference but according to search results, the word loyalty only came around 1400s thus it might be that there was no direct translation of “loyalty” for the Greek language. Anyway quite an interesting find and just thought I could shared here.

  • A Deciding Factor

    When looking back in the past, we can always see the frame from a wider view. How things were set in motion because of an action and what we could have done better, what things we can do to improve the current situation. This allows us to make the right decisions and help us to stay grounded since we could not fully grasp the all the possible trajectory of each person. We can only estimate things if a person has unlimited options, thus if we want to come up with a concise decision then we must limit its uses. Think in terms of Subaru if he gets limited in one path, on the next revival he chooses a different path, choice is what makes us different from animals, we can always pivot towards another path that is not hindered nor limited. Everything comes at a cost and we must never discount the source of anything because it eventually boils down to one thing anyway. So when deciding on things, we must take into consideration all the factors that are involved, people affected by our decisions, effects of our decisions across time and how it affects the environment that we are currently in. Unfortunately, we have limited scope and view of our world. We can only control what is immediately in front of us and the things within our grasp in our short lifespan, I think we should consider things that helped us get this far and which things we should retain in order to move along the right direction.

  • Reflections and Renewal

    A new world requires a recount of the old one. If we have not experienced the old then we wouldn’t know what we want with the new. A child is disciplined when we don’t confirm to what is “correct” behavior, however who was it that defined the correct behavior. Why would we act in a certain way when we don’t have rules in place for our actions. In our world today, often times it is society that dictates what is acceptable and what is not. Comparing it to the old days, we have become more liberated and less concerned with judgement. “I have done nothing wrong”, “What I do does not affect anybody” or “everyone else is doing it” are common ways of thinking nowadays. Completely disregarding past norms, since they had little no benefit anyway. Bending and breaking rules, testing the limits of our new found freedom in order to be “yourself”. Innately, nothing wrong with that right? Having individuality makes us unique and experience is the best teacher after all.

    Our standards suddenly become miles apart from what we previously had. Was is it really all for free, I mean did we not lose anything in the transition towards this “new world”? Like shifting from black and white to colored, new seems to be much better than the old. Often times it is, since I am not typing on a typewriter rather on a laptop computer. This is true for technology, but is it also true for other things? What did we lose in order to get to where we are. Is it really negligible. In all honestly, I don’t know or maybe I fail to see what I am missing. Maybe all the advancements and the know how somehow overshadow what is sacrificed, or is it that we just fail to notice it because it is too mundane and nuanced.

  • The Bright View in a Dark Room

    It is a common anime trope to have a dense character in the midst of all the chaos, completely oblivious while still staying positive. This humorous parallel is often true both ways, we can either be super positive of a situation or super negative about a situation. A toxic positive attitude can disqualify what others are experiencing and prevent them from opening up and sharing problems and struggles they currently have. On the other hand if we view things too negatively then we can’t share successes and celebrate growth. Words are a reflection of the speaker, thus we learn to take in anything and digest it in order to bring life onto our words.

    Recognition of someone’s situation and their truth helps bring out authenticity and prepares us to plant the right thoughts that could bring out the best in people. Situations does not define a person’s capability to respond properly rather it creates an opportunity to learn to control what we say and do. Grips on reality helps us not fall into the stereotype of the above trope, rather it helps our higher self flow freely which stabilizes our emotions and reactions.

  • Nature Vs Nurture

    This is quite an interesting topic to think about right now. In the world of plants, there isn’t usually a need to nurture. What is the natural thing for them to have other creatures like insects pollinate for them and birds or small rodents to spread their seeds. Though in contrast when nurtured, the human would till the soil, sow the seeds, water and help maintain the land they grow in from weeds and other things that would hinder their growth.

    The same logic applies for growing a person, we plant the right seeds in their mind and heart, then we nurture them so that they would grow into the person we want them to be. On the flip side of things, we allow nature to take place and just have them learn things for themselves and nothing more, often this way creates a wild growth that could lead to an unintended direction.

    This is quite similar to tending to a house or a dungeon or even a pet. Without proper admin or knowledge, these would be neglected and not be up to standard of the owner. Then again often times the owners themselves do not know what it is they want, so we try to present them possibilities and ways to reach the desired goal. Now, we all know that depending on the person viewing the requirements, they all get to imagine a unique outcome to what the owner wants. Having all sorts of ideas can have positive or detrimental effects to the product because we either complicate things or we diverge from the original plan. Thus, sometimes it is good to come back to the owner to check if we are close to what it is that they want.

    Eliminating complex things and trying to make sense what the original goal is, helps us figure out if we really need nurture or nature to move things forward.

  • The Subaru Syndrome, What Can I Do Better Next Time.

    In Re:Zero, the epitome of “HERO” responsibility is the character Subaru. Re:Zero’s main theme is centered around “I am responsible for everything that revolves around me”, here the hero Subaru does not die rather when he does die in the story, it brings him back to a certain point in the story timeline wherein he is free to make different choices from his “past life” in order to change the outcomes or just not die in the current iteration.

    Though the plot of Re:Zero is a little bit gruesome or romanticized. This kind of thing happens to us on a regular basis. In order to build yourself up then part of you dies, it maybe a bad habit that you give up on or an outdated way of thinking or maybe just choosing a better alternative. Either way, this “death” creates a new person, one that tries to do better in order to proceed with his life in meaningful way. This is the healthier, way to improve because it does not try to shift your environment in order to adapt to you rather, we shift our attitudes rather than focusing too much on things that we have little to no impact on.

  • Perception of Value

    On my previous post, I presented the “Trolley Problem”. Some people would have bigger “Market Values” than others, however if given a choice of saving either a multi-million dollar net-worth person or you own child there is a certain bias toward “your own”. Funny how numbers loses its value when presented against an emotional choice.

    This is further emphasized with certain things like TCG (trading card games), considering the fact that cards in itself only has the value of the “art”, “rarity” and usefulness in the card game context. It could be considered card with fancy art. Don’t get me wrong, I have played and I still have certain cards like Magic the Gathering, so the fun factor in is not lost on me. Just trying to stir up your thoughts on the topic at hand.

    While I was trying to think of more ideas, it also occurred to me how things loses its worth depending on the situation and time. Given that if a person is in a war situation and food supply is scarce, food would probably have more value. In this situation preservation of life is more important than perceived value. As I was thinking about this it occurred to me that I had a discussion with my mom about fasting and how long a human body can live without food.

    Just food for thought I guess, hoping that somehow it fuels the imagination and reaches deep inside.

  • Leadership, Teams, Laws and Boundaries.

    They say that a strong team is supposedly able to function even without its leader. While all that thought is good and great, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we should just function without leadership. Humility and trust is built when we understand that the head relies on the body and the body on the head. It gives us space to wrestle while still staying within certain boundaries. Respect is a two way street which is upheld upstream and downstream. A mutual contract that holds us accountable to our actions towards each other. The constant struggle for power and ownership, striving to cover for each others weakness and flaws. We create rules and revise rules in order to cater towards the needs of a team.

    Here I present to you the infamous, “Trolley Problem” wherein you are forced to choose which people to save. Saving the leader or saving the team. This gives us perspective of reliance, monopoly and choice, what is stopping us from choosing the current one and replacing it with another. No one is irreplaceable, once we grasp this truth then we could give credit where credit is due.

  • Dreaming of a Different World

    What do you tell a child dying of cancer about this world? What do you tell that child’s parents? Do you give them the canned response of “everything happens for a reason”, or just stay silent until the grief has passed or the pain is through, should the answer be in the form of statistics or math? That the child is but a number in the passing of time? Is it right to show them dreams to numb the pain or rather what kind of truth do you show them? Surely we can tell them that soon we will have a cure for cancer but what if that child is dying tomorrow?

    Escaping from the reality of this world, a comfort of things unknown. A child-like fantasy of a world beyond this one, from Peter Pan to Beauty and the Beast, tales create in us a kind of hope that can only be in our imagination, a path forward that never be closed. Somehow, some way this imaginary world provides a direction that goes beyond the time that we have in this planet. When someone is at death’s door, some would say it is cruel to give them false hope, because this world does not work for people in that way. Maybe if given that one dose of virtual reality, it would given them supernatural strength. That little voice of positivity might just be the one thing they need to move forward and be strong for a miraculous come back.

  • Are You Awake Yet?

    Hello, greetings to you. It seems that you woke up or was forcibly awakened by some event or circumstance. This post is for you, because now that you are out of your slumber, you might have seen the current state of this world and questioning yourself, “What now?”, “Why even bother?”, “What do I do?” or “Should I even care?”. Maybe you experienced untethered freedom where you can bend and break the rules, following the ethos of “Rules are meant to be broken.” only to then be at the tail end of that very belief. If this all sounds and feels familiar, welcome friend, you have come far and might be seeking for answers.

    The objective of this very site is to find a way to reach and connect with people that might be feeling lost or just looking for a brethren or a kindred soul. Maybe you have found a secret or gained a unique gift that you want to share with someone. If you have winnowed through different places, websites and people and still couldn’t find the right connection then this site might just be for you too.