http://www.makepovertyhistory.org I paid tax
Monday, April 03, 2006
there must be a sense of purpose in everything that we do. otherwise, we become mindless machines pushing dirt around. i attended a few more presentations today and i've come to realise that tkm does really instill that in his students. i think by a long stretch, the talks given by my shi-di-s and shi-mei were phenomenally better than most that i had previously attended. most students do not seem to have an inkling as to the motives of such a talk. i mean a presentation lasts for at most 45 minutes so it would be impossible for one to cover your entire thesis, and certainly that is not what is expected of students. dismally, a large proportion of my fellow students seem to treat these talks as a sort of oral examination where they present proof after proof, theorem after theorem of mathematical jargon that whilst impressive, leaves quite a sour taste in the mouth. there are even those who treat these talks as a means to pepper their egos by demonstrating to the audiences their apparent superior intellect. this is the result in insufficient training in dealing with such talks and while i believe these are important issues in cultivating a whole person, i do not think most superviors nor examiners really focus too much on these details. but tkm is one who surely does, and it certainly was thru him that i've realised so much.

i believe that every presentation must begin with one and only one core concept. everything else around this is secondary and should not dilute the pressence of this topic. going into details about anything other than this core topic is a sure-fire way of doing so, for now, the listener must focus in the details, before zooming out again to look at the whole picture. i like to imagine it as taking a walk down a scenic route leading to a spectacular waterfall. if one were to look in detail at every single thing that one passes by, like the number of petals on the flower you passed, or the direction of the flow of the stream flowing beside you, then you would be so mentally drained by the time you reach the end. the best (in my opinion) way perhaps is to take in the scenery as one saunters down and stop in amazement to fully appreciate the waterfall in all it's beauty at the end.

i guess this really extends to life in general as well. if we focused on every single minute detail of our lives, we wouldnt enjoy any of it for sure. in fact, our bodies have already adapted to this by filtering out certain bits of information that reaches our brain. these filters prevent what is known as sensory overload. our sense of touch, sight, smell, taste and sound are all constantly at work but the amount of information our brains can process is limited and thus, we have evolved to develop certain filters to send only the most important messages form these senses to the brain. that is the reason why while engrossed in something we occasionally do not hear someone calling us or how after a while the smell of your colonge seems to vanish even though new people who meet you still smell it. so, really, if we were to take any lessons away from the way our bodies have adapted, this would be one of the most important. people always say we should set goals, i say we should just set A goal and forcus on that first and let everything else be secondary.

anyway, badminton and mahjong tomorrow, can life get any better than this?

{11:08 PM}

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

profile
20 sec interval

links
Blogger
ATP
WTA
Mew
IBF
Justine Henin-Hardenne
Tim Henman
Elena Dementieva
Lindsay Davenport
David Nalbandian
蔡赟
ì „ìž¬ì—°
�용대
í™©ìœ ë¯¸

Speak
Shoutbox

past
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
July 2009


layout

Layout: blique
Get awesome blog templates like this one from BlogSkins.comGet awesome blog templates like this one from BlogSkins.comGet awesome blog templates like this one from BlogSkins.com