The Shakuhachi!

That's it, the latest news... I'm gonna get a Shakuhachi (Japanese Bamboo Flute) to jazz around with. For fun! Eugene's quite keen on it too ;) Hehehe... it's gonna be fun coz we're not alone. It's crazy, there's no where to learn in SG and we probably will have to go for an online lesson over Skype.. hwaha.. whatever said, I am only doing this on a whim. Maybe i'll get tired of it or not keep up but ahh well who cares!

WHY Shakuhachi? It's a bit like the Native American Flute. But I like it because I once heard a flute part in the princess mononoke soundtracks and I kept wondering "what is that sound"? Later tried to search for what kind of instrument it was, and I think it is the Shakuhachi. Then again, I am also not so sure, coz there's really no info on that ... so it could just be the normal flute. In any case Shakuhachi is interesting in that it has a history right through to Zen buddhism. Not that i'm into that, but i just like the ancient sounds... so close to nature.. and it's just a bit rare that is also what makes for the intrigue.



An interesting find of jazz shakuhachi & violin together in a weird cute-sy jazzy song...


PaoYen's suggestion -- to play Black Orpheus together... hmm if I visit HK!


Anyway, I was just reading a summary list of philosophers and their views of the meaning of life. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaning_of_life  and I was wondering which I do agree with. I think it would be these philosophers:

Aristotelianism: That what is virtuous is not just studying it, but being virtuous. What is virtuous? That every skill and inquiry, action, choice, is thought to have some good as its object, with a goal. Where everything has a goal, action A achieves goal B, but B also has a Goal, C, and so forth, it stops at the Highest Good which is its own goal. The Highest Good is not desirable for the sake of achieving some other good, and all other ‘goods’ desirable for its sake. This involves achieving eudaemonia, usually translated as "happiness", "well-being", "flourishing", and "excellence". All these are identical with the good life and successful living.

Cynicism: In the Hellenistic period, the Cynic philosophers said that the purpose of life is living a life of Virtue that agrees with Nature. Happiness depends upon being self-sufficient and master of one's mental attitude; suffering is consequence of false judgments of value, which cause negative emotions and a concomitant vicious character. The Cynical life rejects conventional desires for wealth, power, health, and fame, by being free of the possessions acquired in pursuing the conventional.[60][61] As reasoning creatures, people could achieve happiness via rigorous training, by living in a way natural to human beings. The world equally belongs to everyone, so suffering is caused by false judgments of what is valuable and what is worthless per the customs and conventions of society.

I think I'm very much just into these two. I like the Cynic ideas of rejecting conventional desires for wealth and so forth, perhaps it's coz I just feel that these things do not bring one true happiness.

Besides that, it would then be my Christian values... the idea of knowing Christ, and serving Him, Christ as a personal saviour, the concept of sin and salvation... these then take predominance.

Ok i can't go on, it is getting too cheem for my simple brain.