Here fishie, fishie...

Down in the meadow in a little bitty pool
Swam three little fishies and a momma fishie too
Swim said the momma fishie, swim, if you can
And they swam and they swam all over the dam.

Chorus:
Boop, boop, ditty ditta wattum choo
Boop, boop, ditty ditta wattum choo
Boop, boop, ditty ditta wattum choo
And they swam and they swam all over the dam.

Stop, said the momma fishie, or you'll get lost.
But the three little fishies didn't want to be bossed.
So the three little fishies went off on a spree,
And they swam and they swam right out to the sea.

Well, little fishies, here's a lot of fun,
We'll swim in the sea till the day is done,
So they swam and they swam and it was a lark,
Till all of a sudden they met a shark.

Help, cried the little fishies, look at all the whales.
And quick as they could they turned on their tails.
And back to the pool in the meadow they swam
And they swam and they swam all over the dam.

- Three Little Fishies

- - - - - - - - - -

Interesting entry by Ling, about graduates who have chosen to leave comfortable white-collar jobs to wait on tables or cook.

It got me thinking about SF's recent ramblings about the Age of Pisces, that we are living in a time of endings and beginnings (Pisces is the last of the 12 astrological signs and thus represents the end of a cycle).

As we stand at the edge of flux, watching old establishments being torn down, our beliefs and value system being challenged (human cloning comes to mind), do we dig deeper into our comfort zone, cling on to what we know best, and resist these changes and the unknown? Do we dare venture into this amorphous chaos that is even now re-shaping itself into a new world order?

Looking beyond the immediate threat of terrorism and war, religious tensions (interestingly, Pisces is also the sign ruling religion and is considered the most mystical of all the 12 signs), financial scandals, and economic recession, might we not take what we now perceive as disorder and suffering in perspective?

The teachings of Buddha tell us that desire and ignorance are the cause of all suffering. Indeed, we now have more than we ever had in terms of material desires, but happiness is increasingly fleeting or simply just beyond our reach. We continue to crave for more, because we have to make up for diminishing returns, or else we are still searching in vain for that non-existent thing outside of ourselves that will give us true happiness. And so we draw ourselves deeper into this vicious cycle of desire and suffering, and we grow increasingly disillusioned with our purpose in life.

Buddhism also teaches the need to overcome ignorance and see the world for what it is. When we lose ourselves in our cravings and enjoyment of the material world, we neglect our mental and spiritual development. Thus, we are unable to recognise the transience of the material world; we delude ourselves into thinking the establishments we have built are forever and so we cling on stubbornly to them and resist change. Eventually, we will also lose sight of and cease to understand ourselves, our motivations, our actions, our human potential and what we were once capable of achieving.

Closer to home, if not for the loss of jobs, the disintegrating boundaries of our comfort zones, and the growing uncertainties all around us, which are all coming together to force us to re-examine our values, would we have found the courage to do and go where we had not dared or thought to go before? Would we be reading about lawyers giving up their profession to waitress or to spend more time with their families?

What if change WILL come, whether or not we want it to? Do we wait for the tsunami of change to overwhelm us, to wring our hands in the inevitable wake of more suffering, or do we go out there, meet it head-on, and ride it out to calmer shores?

Yes, we ARE in an existential crisis, and the moment is coming that we have to make a choice.

Well then, what matters to you? What and how will you choose?