Tao 道 or common sense is what we need

No 1134 of Living Life Series 1

Many think that we cannot use the logic of man to understand the higher thinking of God. But man's idea of God often places God as though he is the worse of men, always wanting to be glorified and not happy if less attention is paid to God. 

This makes God sound like a man who is attention seeking and ever wanting to be recognised, ever so inadequate. 

God is said to be loving but yet in the same breath, man may say that there are certain things God cannot do for us as he is testing us. They say God will answer prayers in his own ways and in his own time. 

Man has awe of God but end up awesome. Man is actually making a mess of God and contradicts the very high stature of God by attributing to God the very weaknesses of the worst of men who are swayed by ego. Then in another breath, man says that God answers prayers but yet he has his own ways if the prayers don't seem to be answered. 

We are told that we cannot measure God the way we measure men. There seems to be contradictions and many say that contradictions are because men don't understand God. 

God is always right and this is not to be argued. But what really is wrong is to judge God as though he is like man. 

Many are near to God but yet far. This was alluded to by Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 when he discoursed on the near and far and this is true of all men and in all religions. (The near can be far and the far near) 

Many allow the men at the pulpit to think for them and don't think for themselves. Men are wanting and that is why they make a mess of what God is. 

To cover up, many tell us not to use logic. They say God is beyond logic. The reality is that it is men can be illogical and lacking in logic - not that God is beyond logic. 

That is why the sages of old in ancient China say that to know God, we must first know man and how to be more man. We must know the very nature of life, otherwise we will never know God. 

We must know the nature of life or the truth in life. This is the Word or Doctrine. God is life and life is God. The Word is in life. Life is the living gospel. God is the Word and the Word is God. 

The nature of life is such that what we can have in life are not perfect. Having more only create more issues. We are never happy and at peace. Having none or too little leaves us wanting and far from health and basic comforts of life as spring board to live life fully. 

More can be less and less can be more. Do not go for all or none.

There is thus only one way. We need to avoid nothing or too little and having too much and be deluged by life. 

We must be atop the ups and downs, the excesses and the shortages. Isn't this common sense? The sages of old refer to this as Tao 道. 

Do have common sense in what we do. Moderate life. Be simple and not be complicated. Enjoy the peace of life, the common blessings of life we take for granted such as the green green grass of home and the lilies in the field. 

Don't live life as though there is no tomorrow. Don't live life as though what matters is tomorrow and not today. 

Don't live life as though what matters is the afterlife and not this life. 

Don't live life as though we are right and others wrong. Don't live life as though we are always wrong and others right. 

As a projection of this, don't live life as though we are right and there is no need for God. Don't live life as though we are always wrong and God is what we need. 

We must have Tao 道. Tao 道 means God is in us and we are in God. 

That life is not peaceful is because we think too highly of ourselves. We think the God of us. We think the world of ourselves. At the same time, we must not think too little of ourselves. 

We must not think we are not worthy to live. We must not think we are not worthy to be man, let alone cultivate the God in us. 

God is humble, loving and peaceful. He never promises that we be rich in body but wants us to be rich in spirit.  We must have godly virtues - humble simple, honest, pure and not given to ill-will, greed and instability - volatility. 

We must be stable peaceful and calm come what may. Then we can be like God. God will like us that way. This is common sense. Tao 道 or common sense is what we need.

Awful when there is no logic or Tao 道 in religion

No 1133 of Living Life Series 1

What makes us think that the majority must be right. What is believed by the majority cannot be wrong. 

Well, if this was the case, then Jesus and Buddha would never be what they are. They differed from the majority and the religious authorities of their time. 

But then we are not Jesus or Buddha and if we differ from the majority, is it likely we are in the right? Generally it is true that what is right for majority should apply to us. 

But with different circumstances and context, we may have to adopt different approaches. So when men quote from the holy texts and try to apply to the times of today, what they do may even raise the eyebrows of God and the very saints who spoke those words. 

In the Old Testament, prophets appear harsh and condemning because people of their times were like that. Without the harsh approach, things simply won't work. 

Then in the New Testament with the arrival of Lord Jesus, there is the soft approach with emphasis on love rather than abiding by the law of God. 

One good example is this. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth as opposed to offer the other cheek if slapped on one cheek. 

In the days of the Old Testament, this would not work. People would just think that both cheeks be slapped and one slap is simply not enough. 

In modern world, even one slap can be abuse - physical abuse and punishable by the law of the land. You can be sued for slapping.

Thus religious fanaticism can result if the teachings of a sage is taken out of context. People who follow the teachings verbatim will though near end up far from the spirit of the scriptures. 

Thus those who are near may be far from the teachings of a saint. The good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 must have his good reason to tell us that the far may be near and the near far. 

Don't be blind to logic when reading the scriptures. Don't think that just because a saint like Jesus said something to the people of the old days, this must apply to the people of here and now. Then in his time, there was hardly any religion only culture

With no common sense and just blind belief of the scriptures, the consequences may be awful rather than awesome. Awful rather than awesome outcome results when there is no logic or Tao 道 in religion. 

Common sense must prevail. People must be allowed to think for themselves. They must not let others think for them, more so those at the pulpit. 

For goodness sake, don't think for others. Let others think for themselves. Make sure they can think. 

Ji Gong 济公 is a strong advocate of thinking. He says that what matters is not what one does or what goes through the gut but what is in the heart or what goes through the heart. 

Can the person who eats no meat or drink no wine be as good and saintly like him? The flipside is that can we better off by eating meat and drinking wine? 

Well this requires us to think. We need common sense but common sense is not as common after all. We need logic or Tao 道. We must think and not let others think for us. 

We should not think for others either. Many in religion like to think for others and become overbearing. 

The reference to religion may hamper spirituality

No 1132 of Living Life Series 1



There is no religion in ancient times but only teachings of great spiritual leaders. The teachings of any additional saint simply added on and became part of the culture of the people of the land. Yes, the teachings just add on to the teachings prevailing in the land. 

But when some people from other lands come, they were unhappy with this. They were unable to stop the people of the land from this culture of the land to absorb all new teachings and add on to prevailing teachings. 

They coin the term religion and from then on, it is easier to convince people not to believe what they believe. Before that people just add new beliefs to existing beliefs. 

With the concept of religion, it is easier to convince that they believe the new beliefs and not add on these beliefs to the old beliefs. They have to discard the old beliefs. 

Religion causes divides and this can be as bad as they are good. Religion somehow implies that the only God and saints are the ones the religion talk about. The God and saints of other religions are not God and saints. 

Religion also may end up giving wrong ideas that God and saints are jealous God and saints and forbid men from even believing in all saints. 

Men of religion though near can thus end up far from being right with God and saints. The good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 says that the near may be far and the far near. 

The reference to religion may hamper proper spirituality. Do have the trust in fellow men. Trust that they can think and that they can be logical. Do not tell them what to believe and what not to believe. It is like telling them what to think and what not to think.

Religion somehow tends to tell people what to believe. Religion tends to be too prescriptive. To make matters worse, members of the same religion or temple cannot even agree with one another on what to believe. 

Ultimate spirituality the sages of old in China refer to as logic or common sense Tao 道. But alas the term religion is here to stay even if men end up narrow minded and not as logical - sometimes obviously not logical. 

Small wonder that many are calling themselves free thinkers. True spiritualists are among the free thinkers. 

Had not the Buddha be free thinking, he would not end up as the Buddha. The same applies to many other saints like Jesus and Lao Tse. They think differently and freely from the society of their times. 

Many may not agree if they are ardent followers of their respective religions. Good for them as more good will come their way in the long run. This has always been the case. 

Whatever religion they profess, somehow they are still near to their ethnic and national culture. People of the same religion in different lands are never the same yet same religion. 

There again they are near to one another but yet obviously far. The observation by the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 on the near and far once again never fails to amaze us. The near may be far and the far near. 

Does it matter if we start off differently with regards to religion or within same religion or even without religion? Someone if our goal is goodness, for goodness sake, do know that all will arrive somehow at more good and ultimately the same one highest good.

But do remember that Chinese everywhere be it in China or elsewhere will still be Chinese never mind their professed religion or even if none. The same applies to any race or nationality. 

The reference to religion matters not in the long run. Religion in short term may prove its own undoing if people stick zealously to label of religion. 

Religion often restricts a person from assimilating the teachings of other religions just because he belongs to a specific religion. This will hamper spirituality in some way. 

Knowledge must be accepted not because of the religion or saint advocating the knowledge but because it is good and substantial. It is the substance of the Word. This is just common sense. This is Tao 道. 

Otherwise if someone spout nonsense in the name of a religion or of a saint, others must just believe. Won't that be believing just in the saint and not in what beliefs he wants to share with us? 

Jesus says  that we know the Word for the Word is God and God is the Word. He has the divine foresight to know the ills of hero-worshipping or rather idolising a saint.

Know the Word and know the saint. Know not the Word and what is the point of knowing the saint. The good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 says that he who knows the Doctrine knows him and he who knows not the doctrine knows not and sees not the saint even if the saint is beside him. 

Think for yourselves. Don't let others think for you. Sometimes religion ends up with others thinking for you. The latter is what believism is about. Believe and be saved. Often we end up believing in the man who speaks on the saint and not even the saint himself.

So the next time someone tells you what is wrong with believism, you should know what is right and proper. You should be able to judge for yourselves and that is what matters regardless of your professed religion if any or even if none. 

The ills of spiritual addiction and escapism

No 1131 of Living Life Series 1

When there is oversell of religion, the unthinkable comes to fore. There is the danger that when men clamour to go to Heaven or paradise, they may create more attachment or clinging. 

They may end up having crutch mentality for God and saints. They end up blissfully dependent on God and saints rather than facing reality and picking up the many pieces of their lives. 

They need the psychological pep or push ever so often that not only must they go to house of God few times a week, they must resort to video sermons few times a day. Rather than living in reality, they end up living in virtual world even in daily life. 

Spiritual addiction is just as bad as spiritual paucity. There must be the balance otherwise there will be no peace. We must steer clear of spiritual dependence at one end and spiritual desert at the other. 

We must quench our thirst but we must not drown ourselves with water and end up with water intoxication. Both dehydration and water intoxication are bad.

We must instead find moment to moment life meaningful and life must be a living gospel at that. Yes, additionally, we do need support and fellowship by going to a house of God and have cell groups. 

But too much of any good thing is not good. Not having any is also not good. For optimal outcome, we must moderate. We must not end up escaping from life or ignoring spiritual basis in life. 

Let not the means become the end or the end becoming the means. Religion is not the end but the means. The end is a better life and life must be peaceful and heavenly here and now. No need to wait or hallucinate about heaven in afterlife. 

Otherwise with religious escapism, there may be unpleasant consequences that we will face ever so often. That is why the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 says that the near may be far and the far near. 

Those who learn from life and regard life as the living gospel are near to God and saints though they may hardly frequent a house of God. Those who spent more time in house of God in person and in virtual sense through video sermons may end up not living life. 

They end up using religion to relieve stress and avoiding life. Their happiness comes only when they are in house of God in reality and in virtuality. How long can they afford to do this? They end up jumping from one house of God to another when the first could not satisfy them any longer. 

The dilemma of religion in worldly society

No 1130 of Living Life Series 1

In modern society of 2016 and beyond, people are increasingly less spiritual. They flock to houses of God and saints purportedly for spiritual purposes but end up more worldly than spiritual. 

They are even more religious about the worldly ways even in a house of God and saints. But what is a worrying trend is that worldly ways bring along the ills of upmanship. Every one house of God, sect or religion may try it's best to not only outshine others but to show that it is right and others wrong. 

If this goes on, there is more pollution of the downstream of the river of spiritual life. More are just polluted by spiritual downstream. This is of grave concern. That is why the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 descended in 1969 at Singapore to make us more aware. 

Instead, men of religion should work together to show that all religions and all houses of God and saints should do their part, big or small to inject more spirituality into men. 

Already the worldly epidemic has made men more inclined to less good, more evil and less pure in thoughts. To make matters worse, religions and houses of God have even taken up worldly trends and this is appalling. 

Religions are at the crossroads and if they take the wrong road which may already be the case, then what will become of men? 

Like the downstream of a river, religion is getting more polluted with strong currents. It is increasingly more difficult for those who want to have decent water to drink. Men must go upstream to the upper source for natural pure water. This the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 did say. 

It is increasingly more difficult for men to be more spiritual even in a house of God and that much more easy to backslide into the muddy dirty worldly life of decadence, ill-will, greed and false views that the fathers of spirituality like Buddha and Jesus talk about. 

Behold, religions are at crossroads. Religions may continue to take the wrong step and society will be worse off. There is the dilemma of religion in worldly society. 

Religion runs risk of being more worldly and less spiritual. Religion takes on worldliness and becomes less spiritual. Religion like the downstream of river becomes polluted and of all things more forceful at that. 

Religion like a flower attracts insects and ants coming to it for nectar. This analogy was told to us by the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨. 

All hands must be on deck to steer the ship in the right direction. Religions must work together to steer men to godliness and not decadent worldliness. If they squabble on deck, time will be lost and the ship risks sinking. 

If they do that, well God and saints will try to correct men. That is why we have the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨. Of course, there are other ways. God and all saints will do their part to awaken men. 

The good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 is not the only way and it is never his intention to be the only way. Some crazy men besotted with him may think so. That again is due to their being more worldly than spiritual. 

They are driven by upmanship that has no place in spirituality and religion. They are far though near and the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 often reminds us of this. The near may be far and the far near.

How to be good is not as easy as it seems

No 1129 of Living Life Series 1

We need to be happy. Worldly life does contribute to this. Food, physical comforts and shelter are means to this end. But when they become the end, we go for more and never seem to be happy anymore.  

Too much is less. Perhaps less can be better. Less can be more. 

We only need enough to be healthy and with health we can go for more life and peace that money and worldly comforts cannot provide. 

Too much of a good thing can prove to be a problem, not just worldly physical needs but religiosity as well. 

Moderate and grow the inner peace a little at a time. Don't try to run and jump before we can stand and walk. 

Yes spirituality is also like that. We know that we need to be good, avoid bad and purify the mind. There are many things we need to be good at but can we do so right away? 

No and certainly a little good this moment is all we need. Don't be upset that we cannot do all the good at one go or that there are many good we can do for others which we cannot do now. 

Just make the start and make some progress. Have no guilt or fear that we are short of goodness. That will certainly mean we are not good to ourselves. 

If we want to be good to others, please make sure we are also good to ourselves. Do not feel we fall short of ourselves or of God and saints. 

Be at peace with self. Then we will be better poised to be at peace with life and the world. 

If we cannot do good, at least do no harm. But often, even doing no harm can be tough. Inevitably we end up hurting others or even hurting ourselves. 

The important attitude is not to be judgemental even to self. The intention is important. The thought is important. 

Even with thinking, we cannot be correct right away. It takes time to learn to think good thoughts. It takes time to be pure. 

Incidentally, to be pure means to be pure in thinking and not just in what we do but end up having an outward show. What matters is not what we do or what goes through the gut but what goes through the heart. This is highlighted to us by Ji Gong 济公 and is the teaching of all saints. 

It is the mind or heart that counts. Mind is the forerunner of all that we are and can be. Mind is chief. 

We can do good things but have bad thoughts while doing good. As we think so we are. We are what we think. If there are bad thoughts and wrong motives behind good actions, how good can we be? 

Doing good and being religious must be sincere. Otherwise, we will be far from being religious even if we are in a temple praying and worshipping. Otherwise we are not good enough, if we do good but have the opposite thoughts in our mind. 

We will be far though near. This is what the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 always remind us. The far may be near and the near far. How to be good is not as easy as it seems.  We may think we are good or religious but we may actually be far from good or religious. 

Grow our pure consciousness

No 1128 of Living Life Series 1

The consciousness one has determines the spirituality of an individual. Many are conscious but not conscious enough to be aware of what are going around them. 

Even an ant has consciousness but unlike man, the ant has much less consciousness in that it is not aware of the noise of say the heavy traffic and its implications. 

As a being evolves to higher forms, it grows its consciousness and becomes aware and more mindful of what goes on. Thus man has higher consciousness compared to insects and animals. 

Heavenly beings have more consciousness than men. They are aware of more than what men are aware.

As one expands one's consciousness, one outgrows his life form. A sage grows his consciousness beyond what his physical body can provide and contain. 

The body limits his consciousness and it is matter of time he has to leave the body to take higher forms. 

Ultimately, the sage does not need any form or body to contain his consciousness. He expands his consciousness to be so vast and limitless and pure that he merges with the universal pure consciousness which some refer to as God and others refer to as enlightenment. He becomes omnipresent.

He may physically be at one place but his consciousness is able to survey the world. The consciousness is not the body - the form. The form houses the consciousness. It manifests the consciousness like the light bulb which manifests the electricity.

Spiritually, we need to grow our consciousness. We will be more aware of our feelings and actions as well as others' feelings and actions. 

We become aware of the anger, love, ill-will and greed. We learn to have no anger, greed and ill-will. We free our consciousness from such defilements and liberates it to expand and to reach out. We grow our consciousness. 

The consciousness becomes more real than the form which in the case of man is the physical body. It is no longer contained and imprisoned by attachments to self nor denying the self. 

The attachment to self in the form of attachment to body and senses hampers and contains the consciousness. The man of spiritual does away with such attachment to self. He does not deny self either but expands the self by expanding his consciousness. He grows his awareness. 

He cultivates mindfulness and awareness. He balances and stays atop the polarities of life - the ups and downs which some refer to as the yin and the yang. This was referred to in the last few messages of the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨. 

We must not limit our consciousness but liberate, purify and free it. We must expand the pure consciousness to be as vast as that of saints like Jesus and Buddha. 

No wonder, the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 says that he is like the great ocean that reaches out to many a shore and land. His divine consciousness is so vast that it is everywhere. 

Yes, we must liberate and expand our consciousness. Have no attachment to nor denial of self. Attach not to self or form nor deny the self or form. 

Have no ill-will and greed that arise from attachment to self. Ill-will is not only for others but can be directed to oneself. We must have neither of them. We do not be attached to nor deny life and self. 

That way we are at peace with ourselves and with life around us. We love life not only our own lives but others' lives. 

Our love is not contained such that we hate others so that we can love ourselves. We have pure love. We love others so that we love ourselves more. We love ourselves so that we love others more. 

We have the inner peace with more pure consciousness. We become aware of ill-will, greed and wrong views as they arise in us and in others and do not let these get the better of us and make us worse off and far from peace. We have the inner peace come what may. Buddha refers to this as Equanimity. 

All the above sounds so profound. But to put it very simply, we do good, avoid bad and purify the mind. This the Buddha says is the teaching of all saints. This is how we grow our pure consciousness. This is the teaching of saints and of all religions. 

All religions are one in the need to grow the consciousness and be pure. This is the message of the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨. Isn't it wonderful that we may start off differently in spiritual but end up at the same pure consciousness if we are diligent and persistent enough? 

Do not be upset if others are of different religions or tell us that we should change to their religion. We need only to learn from all religions and be better in our present religion. We be better at what we are. 

We must deligently expand our consciousness and grow the pure consciousness. The truth is that we don't even need a religion to do that. We may be far from religion but we can be nearer than those with religion to pure consciousness. 

The good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 says that the far can be near and the near may be far. No wonder, it is said that truth is simple but yet profound. Many just miss the point and end up lost somehow for now. They follow the crowd and abide by rules but do not grow the pure consciousness. 

What matters is the purity of thoughts behind the actions. What matters is not what one does or what goes through the gut but what goes through the heart. Ji Gong 济公 sticks not to religion but to purity of thoughts - the pure consciousness that comes from the heart. 

Alas, the corruption of religion is inevitable

No 1127 of Living Life Series 1

The combination of meritocracy and bottom up policy can spell trouble for a religious organisation. 

In the old days, the elders call the tune even if they are in the minority. This is the top down system. 

This is the system of the old days when emperors and dynasties ruled in ancient China. Likewise, there was and is the top down management of a religion. 

The ancient saying is that what is on Earth, so also in Heaven. What applies to secular world applies to the religious world. 

Alas, the world of 2016 and beyond is a world where there is increasing push for civil rights and bottoms up policy. Of course, the elders end up as the minority and that is a problem.

A young upstart can easily mobilise the predominantly young majority to contradict and override the elders. To show that they have better ideas, they propose new thinking and ways in religion. 

As long as the new thinking produces immediate results, they will be hailed as good never mind if a few years down the road they unravel the fundamentals of religion and cause derailment of the teachings of the saint of that religion. 

Often, the elders stand firm with the fundamentals. They are like sticks in the mud and stand up like sore thumbs to the young. To the young, they are a stubborn lot. 

The young being better educated though less seasoned by life will not agree with the old. All they need to do is to capitalize on their better education to criticize the old and discredit them in a religious organization. They carry the crowd and win the votes. 

In the old days, this would not be possible. The elders are like the ruling royal family. Their word is the law. 

Thus religion has evolved to where the majority are in no mood to just follow the elders. They push aside the elders and the only propose revolutionary ways of doing things that sway the crowd.

The young upstarts with impressive education credentials behind their names become popular but in their keenness to be in control, to be in limelight and to displace the naggy elders, they propose new thinking which catches on but which plainly pollutes the original teachings of the founder saint. 

What happens is like the river. Many flow with the downstream. But the downstream is polluted. To taste clear water, one must go upstream against the current to the upper source. This the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 reminds us. 

The good lord also reminds that there must be respect for and guidance by elders. Elders will not pamper to the fancy of the young but will stand firm and provide guidance. 

But in modern society, this may be regarded as autocratic and unyielding. A young upstart with better education can easily step in and with his scholastic ability can easily tear down the integrity of the elders. 

With the call for say "by the people for the people", the elders would be isolated and ostracized. The young upstart can easily distort teachings of religion to catch on immediately with the majority, never mind if in the long run, time will tell that they are wrong. 

That is why religion will deteriorate and the teachings changed. To be able to get at the original teachings, people must dig away at the layers of corrupted teachings and dig out the original pure teachings. If this is no longer possible, then there will need for the second coming of saints.

Alas, the corruption of religion is inevitable. That is why the good lord descends in 1969 at Woodlands Singapore to show the need to go for the original teachings of all religions. 

He also pointed out the oneness of religions in the original teachings. This is basic and common to all religions though not as apparent to many. There is oneness of God and goodness. Do good, not bad and purify the mind. 

In modern days, people rather go their own ways than listen to the old hags. They corrupt the teachings and they think they know better. 

They prefer to follow the charismatic but enigmatic and highly educated young leaders who can make them swing along in life. The young leaders provide immediate satisfaction and that is what counts - never mind if they cause the corruption of religion down the road of time. 

The precept of respect for elders is in all religions. This is pointed out to us by the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨. This precept will entrench the leadership of the elders in religion and for good reason. 

But the young will decry that this will foment dictatorship of sorts - no democracy. But is religion or spirituality meant to be democratic and decided by the majority who are not as enlightened and informed? 

What can be done when this is the way of the world? People rather go along with the way of the world rather than the way of above. 

Perhaps in the eyes of some, the elders must be put away in retirement villages and nursing homes. They are unsightly and obstacles to the young. But how can this enter the picture of religion? Alas, the corruption of religion is inevitable. 

The good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 has an unenviable job entrusted to him by God and saints. Oh lord, please let us know how we can be of help to you. 

This article or post has been flagged as a leading article of the Living Life Series. 

Should the young take the lead?

No 1126 of Living Life Series 1

Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 highlights the need to respect elders in all societies and in all religions. 

The wealth of know-how through past experiences of the old cannot be learnt from books. The young may have academic knowledge (paper knowledge) but they lack know-how. They lack the solid experiences of the old. They have not weathered the storms of life - the grinding by real life problems and issues. 

But certainly, they are good critics and can easily bring down what has been workable and wholesome. The old are seasoned by life and are more pragmatic but what they do and suggest may not stand up to academic or intellectual scrutiny. 

Being not as educated and relevant, the old are poor proponents. The young can easily out-talk the old. The old can execute and produce results. They can better walk the talk. They talk less but walk more. They are however not as  knowledgeable. 

The young can talk well but how effective are they? Can they walk the talk as good as the old. In fact they talk more than they walk. They are impressive on paper but may be flawed in delivery. 

So we need guidance of the old and the brains and academic wealth of the young. Many a democratic systems are derailed by the lack of balance. This is common sense and this is logic - Tao 道. When there is Tao 道, there is balance and peace. This applies to all life - religious or otherwise. 

We need the oldies to counterbalance the young. We need the young to inject life and vibrancy to an organisation. This is just plain common sense - Tao 道. Where this is lacking, problems will arise. There will be storms and no calm seas. 

The Tao 道 in life requires the old to guide the young even if the young know better. The better educated young need to tap on the know-how of the old who are not as educated. The young should not teach the grandfathers how to be men. To put it bluntly and squarely, they should not teach grandmothers to suck eggs. 

Perhaps the young should be patient and when they are more matured and not so young, they can take the lead. When they surge forward too early and when thrusted at too young an age to leadership, they can prove to be more liabilities rather than assets? They see not the pitfalls of the policies they want to push out. 

Those capable young in leadership positions are often the ones who put elders above them. The elders are either sitting atop them or at least in their advisory boards but with veto powers of sorts.

From WIKIPEDIA. Teaching grandmother to suck eggs is an English language saying meaning that a person is giving advice to someone else about a subject of which they are already familiar (and probably more so than the first person). "Egg sucking" removed the egg contents while preserving the shell intact. A small hole was made in each end of the egg, and the contents sucked out. The shell could then be painted or otherwise used for decorative purposes without it becoming rotten and smelling bad.

Respect for elders is for society and religion

No 1125 of Living Life Series 1

The long eschewed value of respecting the elders even if the elders may be less educated than the young is a cornerstone of society. 

But the young nowadays are in a hurry to take over. They should not worry. The elders will give way so that the young can take over the ropes earlier. 

Meritocracy is in the limelight. But meritocracy is not about paper qualifications, not about abilities but also about experience. 

Experience determines the know-how to a great extent. Thus the seniors who have the experience have the edge over the young. Their experience often outshines the qualifications and abilities of the young. Often this means that as far as meritocracy is concerned, they may be better than the young.

But the young must take over the ropes. This however should not be done with haste and with distaste. They should go slow. The young should be allowed to mature into old wine. 

But they are often in a hurry. The young feel threatened and blocked by the old. The old are stumbling blocks. 

The young often find it necessary to discredit the old and put the old down as obsolete and out of date - as no longer right. Being more educated, they have no problem in running down the old.

This is disrespect. In a religious setting, this has dire consequences. The young will go all the way to show that they are right. They overdo and do what the old would never do. 

In so doing, they break boundaries of prudence. They may undo and in the process stretch the teachings to the unthinkable. They distort the teachings and create new norms. 

If this is done with good intentions, well and good. But if this is done just to displace and make elders obsolete and redundant, it is another matter. 

Often ego and the feeling that they the young cannot make it are often at the root of the problem. Thus what happens is that respect for elders end up more of a lip service even in a house of God and saints. 

This will spell the downfall and decadence of society and religion. The religious orientation and fundamentals will be diluted and eventually lost. 

The good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 stresses on the respect for elders for a good reason. Respect for elders is a cornerstone for all to have. The young should take over the leadership and running of religion in due time but always and ever with respect for elders as the guiding precept.