Mena Coming Out

I have been sitting on my songwriting for as long as I have been sitting on The Dance of the Chi and my poetry. Now that the chi book has been published, I feel it’s time to also share the songs and poetry. However, I find I am not as ready as a singer-songwriter as I am as an author. Publishing books require me to write them and allow me to engage the services of vendors in the industry to get the books published. These are the cover designers, editors, and formatters. With songwriting, I have not been able to connect with compatible musicians to present the songs in the best possible light.

Just as with my energy arts manifestation, I have to wait for the right people to show up. While in waiting mode, I have decided to go ahead and share raw home video snippets that I have managed to edit with the help of a friend who was roped in to tutor me in putting my smartphone to good use. I’m sharing some videos now as my way of launching my YouTube channel on this Lunar New Year. I’m more nervous about sharing my music than I am about publishing books. With the books, I do the best I can and leave the rest to the Universe. I can’t help whether the books resonate with others or if they fill a need out there. With songwriting, I know I can do a lot better if I have someone who can accompany me on an instrument. As well, I also feel songs are supposed to be entertaining and I won't be making any difference with what I put out. It's just something I am doing to complete my bucket list. If people don't like my songs, at least I have shared them rather than regret not sharing them when I'm too old to do anything about them.

Over the years, I have had people come and go without much success due to incompatibilities. In my opinion and from experience, musicians aren’t generally a very spiritual lot. I find it difficult to hang out with them. I mean, I don’t do drugs (avoiding prescription and over the counter as well), alcohol, or cigarettes. I’m a germaphobe/health nut, an empath, and I don’t like crowded, (worse, if smoke-filled) places. An introvert by conditioning if not by nature, I don’t enjoy small talk. Sigh. Until I connect with that special someone, I shall remain nervous about the sharing of my music. I want to share when I comfortably know I have presented the songs as well as they can be presented. If you’re reading this and have some musical ability and interest to collaborate, please check out my video clips and see if we are musically compatible enough to work on a few songs together. I plan to share some short clips with lyrics any day now. If my music project doesn't take off, the teachers say it means I simply did not sign up for this before I was born. It is what it is. In my dreams, I play the piano extremely well. I believe that is from a past life. I haven't been able to tap into that lifetime's talent in this lifetime.

PS: I am willing to pay for services rendered.

My YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZjy1W-T5N_iP-Pi-YG2DMA

Festivals, Celebrations, and Values

I don’t live my life by a calendar and today (Valentine’s Day) was spent at the seaside, as usual, playing Taiji. It was about 6 PM and there were more than the usual number of people there. I was determined to play the three sets as is my usual practice—the series 24, 88, and 42. If I play these well, the session lasts for about an hour. Otherwise, it would be over within 45 minutes. At the far end of the beach, I caught sight of a huge “LOVE” sign made up of individual letter blocks of the alphabets placed on the beach just in front of the waves. I thought that was a setting for a movie or a setting for a wedding photo shoot. Turns out, it was a couple celebrating Valentine’s Day by having a romantic dinner on the beach. They had put up a tent with the table, chairs, and dinner stuff all in place.

Then, I was distracted by a number of Chinese people, in family mode, carrying foam boxes to the beach. I wondered could they be the food caterers for the romantic “tent” couple? That is quite a lot of food for a couple, I thought. No. They placed the boxes on the sand far from the tent and then I thought they were going to have a picnic on the beach. No. They opened the boxes and started to bring a crab at a time to the water’s edge. They were sending the crabs back to the sea. I was taken by surprise and thought, wow, such a nice gesture and an act of compassion. The adults were setting a great example for the kids.

Further on the right of where I stood, I saw a couple of Buddhist monks in garb surrounded by what appeared like carloads of also Chinese people. The people were holding plastic bags and taking things out a handful at a time and throwing them into the sea. My curiosity got the better of me and when I had completed my Taiji play, I went to have some words with the monks. I asked what they were throwing into the sea. I couldn’t make out what the sea creatures were as they were very small. I was told they were clams. This group of people was rescuing clams from the market to throw back into the sea. I asked if they were doing that to celebrate their version of Valentine’s Day. The monks said it was just a coincidence it was Valentine’s Day. They belong to a temple nearby and these kinds of activities are performed regularly by the devotees. These kinds of action are thought to cultivate good karma for this lifetime and many lifetimes hereafter. I observed a handful of other races and people of seemingly other religious faiths not being impressed by what they were witnessing. It looked to them like food is food and people were throwing food into the sea. Ai. I have seen people laboring hours under the hot sun to gather enough clams to sell to the market in order to earn a living. Here, the Buddhist devotees are throwing these clams right back into the sea. This is an example of contradicting values and the controversies in our world. 

The head monk shared that they were vegetarians, not vegans. I asked what sect of Buddhism they were and he said “Mahayana.” We chatted about the Thai Buddhist sect (Theravada) who has to eat anything devotees offer during their daily alms. This sect of monks could eat meat. He said the devotees would be schooled about what NOT to offer the monks. For example, alcohol. 

I was told the monks at the temple nearby where I play my Taiji were initially taught Shaolin Kung Fu but they had all forgotten the discipline through lack of practice. They also were taught Taijiquan but had neglected all these over time. I was reminded of how I had also neglected to practice for more than 20 years while busy with stray rescue work. I was lucky I could refresh my memory with the help of a local Taiji master and also with the help of YouTube videos. Regular practice is so important for muscle and other memory. As with any skill, the more we do, the better we get at it.

I also took the opportunity to tap the monks’ belief system. I told the head monk that I believe we are all energy and since energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed, that I had to believe our souls/spirits/consciousness are eternal. I shared that I had encountered another belief system on the internet forums which said that eternity is not guaranteed. It said that if one does not engage in active soul-making lifetime after lifetime, one could be diminished to a state of nothingness eventually, reminiscent of Toltec Shamanism beliefs. I wanted to know what the head monk thought. He said there is no state of nothingness. Even if humans keep doing bad things lifetime after lifetime, incurring bad karma lifetime after lifetime, they would still have some kind of form, like the clams they threw back into the sea. These clams would be brought to the temple first and prayers would be said for them and they would be made to listen to the Buddhist dharma so that their consciousness could be given a lift and they would stand a chance of a better life next time. The head monk said, every living thing can and should be given a chance at a better next lifetime and we help them by uplifting their consciousness. I couldn't help recalling what I recently read about this being equal to someone dying of hunger being helped by the recitation of a recipe. Oy.

I remember this from a recent social media post:

In our practice of Shikantaza we do not seek for anything because when we seek for something, an idea of self is involved. Then we try to achieve something to further the idea of self. That is what you are doing when you make some effort, but our effort is to get rid of self-centered activity. That is how we purify our experience. — Shunryu Suzuki, Letters from Emptiness

Someone wiser than me once said: “If the ideal of unconditional love is to be valued, we won’t find it in the practice of religion. Real compassion doesn’t arise from believing in God, from practicing various rituals, or from studying the concept of karma. Compassion can only result from conscious choice, and this requires the freedom to choose without the threat of punishment or the promise of reward. If people are obedient to their faith, it’s a safe bet that compassion is absent from their lives. They probably don’t even know what real compassion feels like. The more we collectively abandon all religion, the better off this planet will be. This doesn’t mean we have to abandon all spiritual pursuits. It just means we must stop turning spirituality into something it isn’t.”

I end this sharing by wishing everyone a happy Lunar New Year of the Dog. Woof!

The Question Is Half The Answer

There are many theories out there but as we know, theories cannot be proven. I shared previously the Tibetan belief of the Bardos of Dhamatta and Becoming. This is about the soul spending X amount of time immediately after a human’s or animal’s death and going into the next Bardo and then spending another X amount of time there before being ushered into a new incarnation or rebirth.

Many wisely question how anyone could definitely know things of this nature.  Metaphysics, as we are aware, is an intuitive "science of knowing." How do the masters and teachers know anything? I will share that I believe the souls/spirits of humans who do evil things will be trapped for a while after they die. Just like those who have experienced violent deaths whether by their own hands or by others. Their stream of consciousness, vibration, energy, etc. will likely pull them into a kind of "prison" where more dark/heavy energy exists. How long they remain there, is anyone's guess. I mean, we know of disembodied spirits (ghosts) who are trapped on the Earth plane after death and they can remain trapped until someone knows how to guide them to the other side. Once on the other side, they can choose (as some believe) to be reincarnated or the powers beyond our comprehension (as others believe) can propel them into the next energy experience with or without their cooperation.

I have often reflected on these issues myself. I find it hard to believe that a human who allows him/herself to do evil things can die and be reincarnated immediately after to do good things. I would think the previous consciousness stream would still predominate. So even if murderers get to experience more lifetimes after the one in which they caused so much suffering and pain to others, I don't think these life chances will come about as quickly as for the average soul. I like to believe in cosmic justice and karma so I hope these souls get to experience what it's like to be on the receiving end of such evil. Not necessarily out of a sense of revenge but if they understand what the pain and suffering are like, they might not ever want to inflict such on others again. I like to believe just as goodness is its own heaven, evil is its own hell.   

On Yuval Harare's RSA talk: A History of Tomorrow, he shares his view that there will always be hierarchy. In the future, there will be humans created by Biotechnology to be higher up in status due to manufactured qualities. The masses down the hierarchy line will just have to find their own way to live a meaningful life. In addressing this ongoing existential crisis, I've simplified living to love and compassion. Whatever is the question, love and compassion are the answers. The Dalai Lama said as much: If you want to be happy, practice compassion. If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. This is the way of peace. 

I studied astrology for the patterns of energy and the timing of events. I don't want to invite a discussion on astrology—to each our own—I just want to say that life's traumas will hit every human at some point. What good is that to know unless we can find ways to suffer less, right? I've discovered a metaphysical philosophy that we can manage our suffering by choosing to take on certain kinds of suffering rather than let life manifest these sufferings for us. For example, if a human has been fortunate all his/her life, and he/she wishes to avoid the suffering that's inevitable to come, he/she should get involved with charity work that involves inconveniencing themselves and involving different degrees of suffering for the cause. In this way, the suffering is voluntary and under control. Otherwise, life will run its course and the suffering can be unmanageable.

They say the love consciousness is the highest vibration of all so that means love is of merit to the overall universe, right? If it's not coming quite easily to individuals and the planet, I guess that means we are not doing the right things to attract it. I guess that means we have to be the gifts we want? On every level, beginning with the individual, if we want love, we have to BE love. People keep praying/meditating for world peace. I would start first with personal peace then move on to household peace and the wider community. If we are not in peace to begin with, there can be no world peace. The humans who are causing the most pain and suffering in the world are themselves in a state of "Hell" (Narcissists, Sociopaths, Psychopaths, etc). I call this state the EFAW state. EFAW stands for Evil Forces At Work. Whatever we choose to call this state, it's the opposite of Love and Light. People who do not like the word “evil” might want to replace that with “dark/heavy energy.”

Whenever I’m unsure about a person, an event or an experience, I create two boxes in my mind. One is labeled 'Creative;' the other 'Destructive.' When in doubt, I ask myself which box does this (whatever) go into? Once I get down to that kind of simplification, the values of my world are not that complex or abstract anymore. For everything that we gain, we lose something and for everything that we lose, we gain something. For me, the best kind of love is the kind that brings me peace. Putting a value on humans is more complex because humans are multidimensional entities existing in a multidimensional universe trying to make sense of everything in a 3-4 dimensional world.

In the case of NSPs (Narcissists, Sociopaths, Psychopaths) aka the catch-all term Narcopaths, do these souls decide between lifetimes, while in spirit form, to create all the confusion, drama and suffering in order to teach others in their "soul group" the lessons that they agreed (again, between lifetimes in spirit form) they wanted/needed to learn? If that is the case, does this mean they will attract the "nature-nurture" events in their lives to manifest the conditions suitable to play out their NSP roles? This would mean it doesn't matter why NSPs become what they are. It becomes their soul purpose, does it not? This would explain why they can't change even when at times they appear to be really invested in being better people. I don't like this "pre-birth soul contract" theory. I like the idea that the point of power is always in the present and that souls can make and break contracts at will at any time—during a lifetime or between lifetimes. However, just because that's what I like it doesn't mean that is the way absolute reality works.

I don't like the idea that souls actually choose to set themselves back in the evolution of their consciousness in order that other souls might make progress in their evolution of consciousness process. This seems to me that metaphysical minds all over the world are desperate to find the answers as to why people do what they do. The world (human affairs) doesn't make sense because people, IMO, are leaving out a vital point of reference and that to me is the EFAW (or the dark and heavy energy). Once we factor the EFAW into the equation, it begins to make sense. Basically, it's an energy battle. It always has been and it always will be.

The problem I have with the “pre-birth contract” theory is that it appears to be predetermination and fate in other words. If it's true we can't remember these sacred contracts when we are born into our present lifetimes, then our conscience should prevent us from doing harm to others, correct? If this is so, since the NPDs and NSPs do not have a conscience, then they must be the "chosen ones" or the ones who "volunteered" to do all the hurting. Does this make sense or not?

Again, we are all multi-dimensional entities manifesting in a multi-dimensional universe. Planet Earth is so challenging because we are spirits struggling within a 3-4 dimensional reality which is limiting our multi-dimensional selves (our consciousness).

Are There Any Dudes In The House?

If we can buy into the New Age philosophy, "where we are is where we need to be," and "what we are doing is what we need to be doing," we will feel better able to cope with our challenges. The philosophy says we don't need to be anywhere but where we are in order to work on our karmic themes and lessons we came back to master. We can run but we can't hide. We just have to face ourselves, our souls, and our truths. 

There has been a new religion around for about a dozen years already. Dudeism.

http://dudeism.com/whatisdudeism/

“The Dudeist belief system is essentially a modernized form of Taoism stripped of all of its metaphysical and medical doctrines. Dudeism advocates and encourages the practice of "going with the flow," "being cool-headed," and "taking it easy" in the face of life's difficulties, believing that this is the only way to live in harmony with our inner nature and the challenges of interacting with other people. It also aims to assuage feelings of inadequacy that arise in societies which place a heavy emphasis on achievement and personal fortune. Consequently, simple everyday pleasures like bathing, bowling, and hanging out with friends are seen as far preferable to the accumulation of wealth and the spending of money as a means to achieve happiness and spiritual fulfillment.” – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudeism

“March 6 is the annual sacred high holy day of Dudeism: The Day of the Dude.” While I dig the Dudeist manifesto and I enjoy the funny and irreverent writing of Oliver Benjamin, the founder of Dudeism and Rev. Dwayne Eutsey, Arch  Dudeship, I am hoping it’s not going to go the way of the hippies in the sixties. The hippies were mostly right philosophically but they didn't have a sustainable long-term plan for survival in the real world. Let Dudeism run its course by all means and let’s see how it changes our world. Many believe Dudeism is the religion for our time and place.

 http://dudeism.com/takeiteasymanifesto/

If Dudeism is about taking it easy and not working so hard to have a respectable lifestyle or to change the world, I hope it’s not going to encourage laziness and apathy. I mean, it says life is short and complicated and nobody knows what to do about it so we shouldn’t do anything about it. Like, really? Seriously? We know control is an illusion like everything else but don’t we still try to stay on top of everything that goes on in our lives? The Lennonism line, “Life is what happens to us when we are planning other things” doesn’t stop us from planning our lives, does it? We want to be the scriptwriters of our stories, don’t we?

Metaphysical teachers tell us when we were born all the solutions to our Earthly problems were embedded in our DNA. We just have to dig deep and pull strength from our soul/spirit wisdom. Our physical bodies may be weak from time to time but our spirits just need to be aligned with our life purpose and we will thrive. We are told we can operate on soul energy.

If we are sick or diseased, and many of us are, it won't hurt us and might actually make a positive difference if we ask for forgiveness for all the mistakes we have made, all the hurt/pain/suffering we have inflicted on others. For each one of us who needs therapy because of what someone else has done to us, someone, somewhere, needs therapy because of something we have done.

If we do not get cured after we've made all these life/energy changes, we would have become better human beings, we would have made a positive difference in our time and place and we would have lived a more expanded and meaningful life. In addition, we would have prepared ourselves well for the eventual dying and death scenes that all of us have to be ready for. “In a world where Death is the hunter, it doesn’t take a lot to die.” – Don Juan via Carlos Castaneda.

Even if we have by and large become cynical, some still believe in united thoughts, prayers, and meditation as ways to move the world forward. Others still believe in doing what we can. For example, some people are going off the grid, not supporting the 'system,' or living outside of the ‘system.’ These are ways some of us feel we can do something.

Some cling onto hope, not losing faith that evil will be its own undoing. Others understand something about the structures and movements of energy at a cosmic level. The understanding is that the "operating system" of the cosmos run all kinds of "programs/apps," some constructive and some destructive. From a human point of view, the destructive ones are termed “evil” when manifested through human vessels like the perpetrators of wars and heinous crimes. This cosmic process is impersonal, indifferent and as we understand it, down to cosmic intent or design. Whose intent and whose design?

Some of my Facebook friends believe there can be an end to evil if enough humans want the end of evil. In my opinion, evil, as a force, cannot be eradicated. For evil to be eradicated, goodness and love would also have to go. One cannot exist without the other. Whatever evil we think we want or need to see removed in our present times, that evil will only be replaced by another evil. There is no end to evil; just as there will always be problems. Every day we solve problems and every day we wake up to new problems to be solved. There is no end to that either.

As I said in The Dance of the Chi:

This, it seems to me, is an example of the Yin and Yang forces at the universal level. Scientists report observations of what appeared to be a glowing of gamma radiation from the disc of the Milky Way. They said these were the light of distant combat between armies of matter and antimatter, annihilating each other in tremendous flashes of energy.

This strikes me as proof that the system we live in will always be one in which energy will somehow combat energy. Different forces will combat each other. If it’s true for the outer reaches of our Milky Way, why not for us here on planet Earth?

It seems we live in a violent world as a reflection of the violent outer reaches of space. Perhaps the clue to the fate of the soul can be found with the clue to the fate of the Universe. If the Universe is without an end, is the soul also without an end? If about 90% of the mass of the Universe is unseen, could it be that about 90% of a human being is also unseen? As above, so below? The macro universe and the micro-universe? It turns out, metaphysicians and New Age scientists now tell us we use only 5% of our brains and that 95% of our brains is the subconscious.

Some people say that’s why Utopia can never be. What would we do with ourselves if we live in a perfect world where there are no problems and no evil? So, while Dudeism can’t change the ‘system’ or get rid of the Universe’s “programs and apps,” it can change the way we react to them. If enough people get behind the philosophy of Dudeism, can that critical mass make a difference to the ‘system’ as we know it? What do you think?

Yo, dudes, I think you guys are a blast but if life is short and complicated and nobody knows what to do about it, we shouldn’t just do nothing about it. We should take some kind of action, man! Like creating a new religion!

Book Review: Are We Just Bubbles?

Are We Just Bubbles? – Author, Dan Bowlds.

https://www.amazon.com/Just-Bubbles-Alternate-View-Existence/dp/1329590414/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1498470476&sr=1-1&keywords=are+we+just+bubbles

A review by Mena Koo.

(A note from Mena: I had to skip the technical portions of the book and lock in on stuff that I could understand and follow. I think it’s fair to say that the reader has to be highly motivated to read books like these.)

When dealing with science and scientists, they are allowed to say: I don't know or we don't know the science of that so we don't have the answer to that. When dealing with Metaphysics and Spirituality, we get to use the imagination and we get to allow the intellect to have a bit of fun. Kind of like science fiction writers, I suppose. It was no less than Einstein who encouraged this in us saying, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." Knowledge is the past; imagination is the future.

If everything is alive and conscious, and if everything and everyone is connected, it follows that the collective consciousness is a reality. This would be what is known as the “universal intelligence.”  Most people call this God, yes, for want of a better name. But most metaphysically inclined people prefer not to use the word God for it is too connected to organized religion. We just say “the Universe.”

The chapters in Dan’s book mainly cover the technical aspects of how the Universe works. This will be primarily of interest to the scientific community, but even the non-scientific should know enough about how it works to understand that our physical world is an illusion. An illusion, in that it is all made up of something we can't see, and it is only through the action of a creative “expansion energy” that it exists. Dan offers his views to any who is willing and who wants to explore a different way to consider our existence.

I have been interested in Dan’s book and lecture videos as I sought to discover things he mentions that might be in common with what I believe. I would like to take the stance that either extreme is wrong. That those who say there is no God and those who say there is a personified God are both on the extreme ends. I like to believe the truth is again in the middle. I like to believe there is a Creator but what is this Creator that pumps all the energy into the space bubbles — the space bubbles that go on expanding into the infinite void?

I quote a commenter from a recent Facebook post, who has given me permission to quote him but who doesn’t want to be identified here: Prof. Kaku seems to assign a position to Einstein that he did not in fact hold. Einstein certainly believed in free will. Kaku overlooks the fact that free will is still possible in a fully deterministic universe because accurately determining what will happen next in such a universe requires full knowledge of the system. Kurt Godel showed that no entity within the system can possess such knowledge. Granted, an entity outside the system might possess such knowledge but said entity then could not interact with the system in any way since by doing so it would become part of the system. Thus free will is not only possible but pretty much unavoidable.

I was struck by this comment as it explained in a scientific way why God if he does indeed exist, is so absent from our planetary affairs. If this God is outside of our “finite universe,” pumping in absolute energy into our expanding space bubbles, this God cannot micro manage to answer our prayers. This is why our world is in such a state and this is why believers find it hard to let go of their versions of God. In hard times, humans need a crutch to lean on, to draw strength from. We don’t want to feel destitute in our misery.

Godel proved that no part of an isolated system can contain a complete description of the system, except, of course, the entire system itself. Thus an all-knowing God cannot exist within the universe of which it is all knowing. Since interacting with the universe requires one to be part of it, it is clear such a God cannot interact with the universe either.

"Since interacting with the universe requires one to be part of it, it is clear such a God cannot interact with the universe either."

I thought this explains a lot. While there is no God micro-managing us, I need to stress that I believe in a kind of cosmic justice. Just because there is no personified God to punish humans for doing evil, it doesn’t mean that humans are not penalized for bad decisions and actions. I believe in cause and effect (for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction) and I believe in Karma (even if Karma can be transformed in a lifetime). Our own actions and behavior will either reward us or punish us. What goes around comes around and the law of attraction applies.

Dan’s view is we are all connected, and we must make a giant leap into the next level of our understanding of consciousness and social evolution if we are to survive on this planet. Dan says, without kindness, love, willingness to seek the truth, and tolerance of others, he would never have come to this realization.

In ‘Are We Just Bubbles?’ Dan presents the possibility of an unseen dimension and expansion of space that might be the underlying cause of all that the Universe is. It is not the author’s intent to “prove” any of what he is proposing. The author feels if what he proposes cannot be disproved, then the certainty of what we now think the Universe is, based upon our measurements, comes into question.

My First Editions

Two years ago, my first digital editions were offered on my own platform. I created a website to make my digital books available to Malaysians for whom Kindle books are not available. I toyed with the idea of offering the platform to other writers whose Amazon digital books were also unavailable in their own countries. I did not know of Smashwords then. Smashwords makes digital books available all over the world, in multiple formats which can be downloaded several times over as many days.

People then asked, what about printed books? How was I going to make those available if I didn’t use the PODs (Print on Demand) portals on the internet? I put off creating the paperbacks then as my first editions were not professionally edited. I paid good money for my first edition book covers as I didn't want to distract from the several levels of editing and dozens of proofreading runs that I had to do for practical reasons. There was difficulty in finding a local editor who could resonate with my content and the foreign quotations (not that they were a match for my genre) were simply outrageous. At the time, I was surrounded by sharks in the industry and couldn’t afford the 8-9 cents a word they were going to charge me for editing. Insane, right? I thought I would do my best on my own and just put the book(s) out there to test the market.

It was a blessing in disguise that my website didn’t take off. My website was hosted on a Malaysian server and we would have had to pay Malaysian income taxes. I’m better off now that I’m on Amazon and Smashwords since income earned overseas is not taxable locally. Since Amazon and IngramSpark printed books are so expensive to ship outside of the USA and Europe, I’m going to have to photocopy and bind my manuscripts for sale locally. This is the only way to make the book marketable locally.

I’ve never been able to work the Facebook friend thing. Now that Amazon doesn’t allow Facebook friends to leave reviews, I can’t see myself suddenly getting excited over a Facebook friendship. I like that we are able to exchange messages without being Facebook friends. The only advantages to being Facebook friends, it seems to me, is that we get to tag our friends on various posts and we get to send posts in private messages. Other than those features, it’s all the same friend or no friend. 

I’m told Amazon's search engine algorithms are driven by keywords and reviews and that both help with the book’s discoverability. Yet, reviews are merely opinions and are subjective. Reviews are only as good as the reviewers or as good as the reviewers invest the time to make them. I just got a review from a friend for whom English is the third language. The comments are positive but the review itself needs editing! Being his third language, I can’t place a lot of value on his opinions of my ideas, can I?

When I first got on the self-publishing scene, the various writers’ groups were all about “you read my book, I read your book; you review mine and I’ll review yours.” I couldn’t play that game as a) I’m in a country that cannot download Kindle books. b) I couldn’t read other indie authors’ books so they weren’t going to read mine. c) I thought that I couldn’t exchange reviews with other authors even if they sent me the PDFs as Amazon wouldn’t allow reviews unless the book was purchased on Amazon.  (I was mistaken. As long as someone has spent USD 50.00 on Amazon on any purchase not necessarily books, that person can leave a review. The idea behind this is the person may have purchased the book from a different portal.) d) Even if the authors were interested in accepting my reviews off of Amazon, I found I simply couldn’t invest my time reading fiction genres. I read to remember; most of those books are for people who read to forget. Clearly, if I wasn’t going to read their books, they were not going to read mine. That was the mood of the writer forums.

This time around, with my second edition (my first on Amazon and Smashwords), my experience is different. I stumbled upon Dan Bowlds who authored Are We Just Bubbles? It was a book about “An Alternate View of Existence.” It was non-fiction, about the Universe and energy and in Dan’s words, “we (he and I) are both searching for answers to questions that have plagued mankind since the dawning of our consciousness: How we are here, why we are here, what is to become of us. Each of us has to seek the answers to these questions in our own way, and one that satisfies us. There are no wrong ways, except when we deny our own reasoning and logic to falsely gain the favor of someone trying to force their beliefs on us. Above all, we have to have a humble heart and be thankful for our existence.” Here was a book that I thought I could interest myself in reading and reviewing.

Here’s Dan’s review of my book:

https://www.amazon.com/Dance-Chi-Dancing-continuous-action-ebook/dp/B071ZDVBPS/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/726049

Mena Koo's “The Dance of the Chi”, is about her journey of “going where the imagination, magic, and mystery are” through the practice of Tai Chi. It is written chronologically with current updates interspersed, and is a history of her progression from the early practice of Tai Chi for health and self-awareness reasons, to a higher level of meditation and spiritual enlightenment. She believes that Chi is a vital yin and yang force, two energies that operate the Universe to make it whole, and through the practice of Tai Chi, we can tap into this infinite energy of the Universe. 

She has written this book to share her Tai Chi experience so that others may benefit from what she has learned. The book is interspersed with her poems and songs which are a good read in themselves. I would recommend this book to students of Tai Chi who also want to develop their metaphysical spirituality.

Dan admitted his book review is very brief and wanted to make sure that I am okay with what he has said. Dan added he went through my book rather quickly and highlighted points that he thought were important, then wrote the summary from his take on what he surmised from the notes. Dan apologized if what he has said is not correct and asked if I would like him to change anything in his review.

I have declined Dan’s offer as I want reviews to be as authentic as possible. I now appreciate why Amazon doesn’t allow friends to review books. Friends tend to do favors for each other and they would write biased reviews which would not be fair to the purchasing public. I also appreciate that writing reviews are not easy things to do if we want to do them honestly. It’s a huge responsibility all around, whichever way one views it.

I see that Dan has left out many major ideas in The Dance of the Chi of which I’m particularly fond of. I feel that his review tends to limit my audience. I feel that ‘My EFAW Theory’ and ‘My Outer Space Experience’ is not limited to Tai Chi students. I feel the chapter ‘Differences and Similarities of Tai Chi and Yoga’ and the ‘Healing Therapies’, among many other ideas, are not limited to Tai Chi students. My philosophy of life throughout the book is also not limited to Tai Chi students.

What Have I Done?

The Dance of the Chi is now available on Amazon but currently is not available to Malaysians. Malaysians, please go to Smashwords. The digital book is priced at only USD 0.99 cents. The Look Inside feature on Amazon is not available yet but the same feature, called Online Reader is available on Smashwords. I have opted to share 20% of my book for readers to sample. 20% is about 30 pages (?) of the book. When you get to the respective sites, just look for the words Look Inside and Online Reader and click on the link. It will take you to the free sample reading.

https://www.amazon.com/Dance-Chi-Dancing-continuous-action-ebook/dp/B071ZDVBPS/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/726049

Whatever you do, do not write a book if you think it is the same as keeping a journal. It is not. If you have to write, write, but do not self-publish thinking that the process somehow organizes your thoughts in and of itself. The book has to be professionally edited because we generally can’t see our own inconsistencies. When it comes to non-fiction or creative non-fiction, even the editors might not catch our inconsistencies because they are not knowledgeable or familiar with the genre. Finding a suitable editor is not easy. That means we have to proofread our manuscripts dozens of times to finesse it. The discipline of organizing our thoughts and ideas will help us “know what we are thinking.” Perhaps that’s why we write. We need to know what we are thinking. Seeing the project through to the end regardless of how maddening the process is will build character. We do find ourselves and become more in the process and that’s the reward. What comes after publishing is not within our control. And that means, or should mean, it’s time to chill and spend some time balancing other areas of our lives. Areas that were neglected because we simply had to write and do this thing called self-publishing.

Self-publishing costs money (at least for me, it did) and working with the system and the vendors who we engage to help us with the system will run us into the ground if we’re not already grounded. The system is not perfect and neither are the vendors. Everybody is doing their best to cope with the challenges in their lives and the stress just builds and builds. The editors and formatters can’t and don’t do it all and we still have to finesse our manuscripts on our own. We are in charge of crossing all the ‘t’s and dotting every ‘i.’ Publishing projects are fraught with challenges not for the half-hearted.

Promotion and marketing. I always thought that might be a drag for empaths. Studies show that narcissists are better at marketing and sales because they are known to be chameleons. They can be charming and persuasive as they pretend to agree with everyone in order to get their narc supply. Simply put, they understand the dynamics and know how to close a sale. Now that all the words are taken care of, I’m psyching myself to being more sociable on social media. When I was in the writing and publishing stages, I simply did not have the time or energy to engage. It was working around the clock for a few years and my idea of a break was to eat properly (not stuffing my face in front of the screen), do household chores, attend to the dogs’ needs and exercise. A writer or any creative person who spends a lot of time and resources developing their ideas passionately tends to neglect their friends and family in the process. Is it any wonder we tend to be loners? Time for humans is finite, we can’t do it all or have it all. For everything that we gain, we lose something. For everything that we lose, we gain something.

All that said, it’s a filtering process. We will get to a point where we will know ourselves and our paths better and know how we want to spend what’s left of our time. If we didn’t know this before, it will be seared into our consciousness: Time is precious.

What have I done? I’ve put myself out there for people to take pot shots at me. Ai! My universe/energy theory, based on my Tai Chi insights are now grist for the mill. Recently I stumbled upon another writer with his ‘theory of the universe’ book available on Amazon as well. We became Facebook friends and he sent me a free copy of his book and I said I would be happy to write a review detailing how his book is different from mine. When I discovered he doesn’t subscribe to the Big Bang theory and his universe/energy theory is based on the Universe being finite, I couldn’t imagine how I would be able to take his book in.

I mean, when we are at a certain age or stage in our lives, we tend to be riding on a certain belief system. It’s difficult to read a writer who is not coming from the same place (and not going where we're going?) as we are said to understand what our souls already know. When we read something we can’t resonate with, it’s just a whole lot of words there in front of us and it’s difficult to go where the writer is trying to take us. Perhaps this is a case of cognitive dissonance?

My book is based on a Tai Chi way of knowledge and Tai Chi equals infinity. If one cannot accept the concept of infinity, it would be difficult to wrap one’s mind around my imaginations? This drives home the point that once we believe certain theories or stories in life, it’s hard to let go and start embracing opposite theories or stories. There is just not enough space in our heads for new belief systems to take root and flourish, plus the inner animations or algorithms are simply missing from that place deep within us. While the freedom to discuss dissenting issues should be allowed and encouraged in the interest of growth and expansion, actually calling out someone on their beliefs can be a confrontational exercise. Especially, when we are able to spot some of the inconsistencies in their content and their book has already been published. Authors may be more receptive to such challenges when their books are in the beta reading phase or even the editing phase. If at all. 

The author of the ‘other’ energy theory, Are We Just Bubbles, Daniel P. Bowlds, said he was looking forward to reading my book. When I was proofing The Dance of the Chi on KDP, I came upon the Big Bang theory and the word “infinite” so many times, I felt bad to put my new friend through what must be an agony of a reading experience. I wondered how many pages he could bear to read before being rattled enough to give up trying to take in another writer’s unfamiliar and opposing views. At certain points in our lives, we gravitate towards people (and books) that can augment and refine our thoughts and ideas, helping us to answer some of the questions that need answering. Building structures are more fun than tearing down structures, yes?

This reminds me of what someone said about the legal process. This person said it’s widely believed that even before a case goes to the courts, the lawyers and judges already have an opinion on the matter and they know which side they are on. Then it’s only a matter of finding the legal points to support the arguments or be against them. After I’ve spent my whole adult life believing in the Big Bang theory, I present my case using the Big Bang theory and the concept of a never-ending expansion of consciousness. Thus, we can see how difficult it is for religious people who have spent their whole lives believing in their holy books to suddenly be able to make a turnaround and embrace the opposite of what they have believed for so many decades. That’s why it’s said it’s easier to fool someone than to convince someone that they had been fooled. Confronting the possibility that one has been barking up the wrong tree all one’s life is a harsh awakening.

Update: Daniel has messaged to say he’s reading the Free 20% sample and so far finds the book “interesting.” That means the first 80 pages of my book is not too rattling? J We’ll see.

Quantum entanglements -- even free thinkers don't think alike. Free thinkers are more or less experiencing an ongoing state of confusion/chaos as we are more open to ideas outside of our core. I think of it as an evolution of consciousness exercise. Humans generally cannot accept what we have no experience of. Gary Zukav, in The Dancing Wu Li Masters, said knowledge is past tense; imagination makes physics come alive. Einstein said imagination is more important than knowledge. Scientists are limited by their knowledge. The rest of us are limited only by our imagination. My book is just me allowing the intellect and imagination to have a bit of fun. The views I hold today will evolve as my consciousness expands. My book is just an exploration of ideas. My ideas/beliefs/interpretation of the Universe/life on Earth could well be dismissed and laughed off the planet. I'm not sure whether I would prefer my book to be ignored or whether I would like for critics to have a field day. Whatever, I've got my hard hat on.

I'm a semi-recluse because I don't care to get into arguments and disagreements. Everyone is on their path and learning at their own pace. Everyone is doing the best they can to survive, thrive, and to make sense of their world. Everyone is entitled to their beliefs as long as they are being wrong not doing wrong. Behind every argument is someone's ignorance. We will all get there in due time. We all want the same things — to be healthy, happy and at peace with ourselves.