Eastern Total Health (2025)

16/05/2025

Jesus Did Not Have Blue Eyes!

During a visit to Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Mazatlan, Mexico, I noticed a picture of Jesus as a Caucasian with blue eyes prominently displayed at the entrance. That is not just a misrepresentation of Jesus’ ethnic identity; it is blatant racism!

Jesus was a Middle Eastern Jew, not Caucasian. As a Galilean, he spoke Aramaic. Jesus probably had brown skin and dark eyes and hair, based on the region where he lived and the historical texts describing his appearance. Many scholars and archaeologists agree that he would have resembled a Middle Eastern Jewish or Arab man.

The representation of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is no less telling. She is commonly beautified as a Caucasian woman, pure, stainless, and innocent, in works of art.

Wouldn’t a more honest representation of Mary and Jesus serve to advance Christianity?

23/09/2024

GUILT AND SHAME: EAST-WEST CONTRASTS

Christianity has shaped the understanding of guilt and shame in the West. A fuller understanding may profit from the perspectives of traditions in the East, religious or ethical.

According to the Christian understanding, guilt and shame originated from humankind’s first transgression against God’s command; they are consequences of original sin. Guilt and shame are thus intimately tied to the concept of sin—a deliberate transgression against the known will of God, resulting in estrangement from him.

This understanding differs from the Chinese on two main counts. Firstly, the Christian conception of sin is alien to Chinese culture; in particular, the notion of original sin runs counter to ancestral worship.

Secondly, the biblical account of original sin has clear s*xual overtones. Lust and s*x are central to the doctrine of original sin. St. Augustine interpreted the shame Adam and Eve experienced about their nakedness as implicating willful activity on the part of their ge****ls. Shame led them to sew fig leaves together to make aprons, to conceal what had come to be called pudenda (human external genitalia, especially of a woman; from the Latin pudere, meaning to cause shame). In contrast, the Confucian tradition accepts s*xuality per se as part of human nature. However, s*xual activities outside the bounds of propriety are condemned. A more complete acceptance of s*xuality is found in Daoism, which views s*xual activity as a natural manifestation of the yin-yang cosmic principle.

Yielding to Chinese sensibilities, here is perhaps an account of the human primogenitors’ fall given in their own words.

Running naked around, delightful to behold—
For nothing is hidden from his view—
In our innocent state, united in one flesh,
Happy, no shame or guilt, surely it was
A blissful time; save we didn’t know how
To consummate the command, “Be fruitful
And multiply,” until the fruit gave us
Knowledge to know each other as man and wife.
Eyes opened, we knew our naked state,
The first experience of s¬hame. In fear, in vain,
We hid ourselves; in childlike honesty,
We confessed to our transgression. Paradise lost—
Self-consciousness gained—never to eat
The fruit of the tree of life, immortality denied!
What justice condemned our children, for a wrong
They did not do, stigmatized to be born
With original sin—repugnant to our Chinese descendants,
Who worship their ancestors, of whom we rank
Utmost—in all the generations that followed?

23/09/2024

GUILT, SHAME, AND EMBARRASSMENT

Guilt, shame, and embarrassment are universal emotions that are among the most painful of human experiences. Rich in psychological and anthropological meanings, they are intimately rooted in religion and ethics, conceived and experienced differently in different cultures and at different historical times within the same culture.
In allegorical terms, the Bible tells us how humankind experienced shame for the very first time. Originally Adam and Eve felt no shame for their nakedness. Eating the fruit of knowledge opened their eyes. Realizing they were naked, they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Later, they heard the sound of God, and hid from him among the trees. When God asked Adam where he was, he answered that he was afraid and hid because he was naked.
The biblical account provides little hint whether or not guilt was experienced; the emotions depicted were shame and fear. Humankind required more time to internalize the voice of God and consolidate their conscience, through repeated cycles of transgression and awesome punishment (e.g., the great flood that drowned all of God’s creatures on earth, except those saved in Noah’s ark; the annihilation of S***m and Gomorrah). Perhaps, then, shame is indeed older than guilt. In this connection, theorists of developmental psychology have also postulated that shame predates guilt—an instance of personal development recapitulating human history.

23/09/2024

TO WHOM SHOULD WE BE GRATEFUL FOR LEADING US TO GROW UP: THE SERPENT OR GOD?

Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world and all our woe,
With loss of Eden ....
―Milton's Paradise Lost

Knowledge about good and evil is not usually associated with death in people’s minds. Upon reflection, however, the association of knowledge with death is as old as humanity itself, at least in the Christian tradition. When Eve, the mother of humankind, ate the fruit of knowledge, she performed the first act of knowledge acquisition by humanity. It was also the first transgression against authority―ultimate authority―that resulted in the Fall of humankind.

God said to Adam: "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2.17). But the serpent told Eve, "Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3.4-5).

Who lied, God or the serpent? God, to be honest. Some Biblical scholars say, however, that "in the day that" is idiomatic for "when"; and "surely die" means "become mortal." If so, God did not lie. However, given their immaturity, it is doubtful if Adam or Eve was capable of understanding these distinctions.

The serpent, Adam, and Eve were all punished in various ways. Why did God make humans mortal? Simply, God punished humans for desiring to gain knowledge and grow up. "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man" (Genesis 3.22-24). Note that Eve was not directly mentioned in being driven out, but was implied: "And Adam knew Eve his wife" (Genesis 4.1).

Like other myths of a lost paradise or golden age, the story of the Fall weaves together a series of folk explanations of human development in the distant past: Our fear or repugnance toward serpents, the painfulness of childbirth, the toil of men, and the subordination of women to men. However, the Fall also ushered in a new era whereby men and women, no longer merely pets of the Almighty, must fight for their well-being on their own.

Blame not the serpent for our downfall,
Repulsive enough though he is,
Even without his ph***ic look. To him,
We owe the opening of our eyes
To ignorance, the mother of knowledge.
What would you be without the serpent?
Still running around in naked, ignorant bliss.

22/09/2024

I HAVE A QUESTION TO ALL OF YOU CHRISTIAN MEN AND WOMEN

If you were Adam, would you eat the forbidden fruit in the middle of the garden of Eden that your wife Eve gave you? If you do, you will be driven out of Eden, together with Eve. If you don’t, you will continue to stay in the garden of Eden, alone, without the companion of your wife. And how would you feel about the way God has punished you and your wife?

If you were Eve, would you feel that God’s punishment to you is fair, or unfair? How would you feel if Adam refused to eat the forbidden fruit you gave him. Finally, would you blame the serpent for the downfall of humankind?

22/09/2024

WAR, VIOLENCE, AND VENGEANCE IN THE BIBLE

The war between Israel and the Palestinians is total horror. But why should anyone who has read the Bible, the Old Testament in particular, be surprised? We may also turn to the Bible for understanding why monotheistic religions have bathed the world, especially the Middle East, in blood (see LAOZI'S CLASSIC OF VIRTUE AND THE DAO FOR THE 21ST CENTURY: A PSYCHOLOGY STUDY).

Since ancient times, war has been in some respects a religious act in both Israel and the Near East. Yehwah is called a warrior: “The Lord is a man of war” (Exod. 15.3). The terms Lord of hosts (1 Sam. 17.45; Isa. 1.24) or God of hosts (Amos 5.27) sometimes mean that God leads an army or wages a war.

Does God command the Israelites to show mercy to their defeated enemies? The Bible provides a clear answer to this question.

The Lord thy God commands the Israelites to “smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword” (Deuteronomy 20.13), as a safeguard against idolatry (Deuteronomy 20.16-18). .

Yehwah commands the Israelites to exterminate a people: “both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword (Josh. 6.21)

The prophet Samuel said to Saul: “Attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them: put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys” (Samuel 15:3).

21/09/2024

EVE’S LAMENT

I’m the first witness to women be damned
For all the woes of men!
‘Twas I who first fell to temptation and enticed
My husband to eat the forbidden fruit―
Whatever I fed him, he ate without question,
Just as other husbands do.
How could I leave him ignorant,
Whilst I knew good and evil?
We were of one flesh,
We shared the bounty of Eden,
And together we fell.

Knowledge forbidden is impulse irresistible,
That draws me to my potential,
To know myself and my maker,
And threatens the Lords of Heaven
To be counted as one of them.
Women’s sorrow was to multiply: Our desire
Should be to our husbands, lords to rule over us;
In sorrow, we bring forth children.

Blame not the serpent,
Repulsive enough though he is,
Even without his ph***ic look. To him,
We owe the opening of our eyes
To ignorance, the mother of knowledge.
What would you be without the serpent?
Still running around in naked, ignorant bliss.

The first disobedience,
An original act of free will,
Most precious a gift from our creator,
Defied the Almighty.
But it was he, in his infinite wisdom,
Who created us: We weren’t asked.
Why bestow upon us the gift,
He knew we would exercise,
To incur his own wrath?

Yes, we were free to choose. But,
Moral imbeciles we were—
Inculpable in a court of law.
Before we ate the fruit of knowledge,
How could we have known
God was good, the serpent evil?
My children too have been disobedient,
As children are made to be.
Never have I thought of banishment,
To inflict on them a psychic scar.

Foolish am I to ask?
To fathom the ways of our creator is as hopeless
As to scale the infinite by the finite.
This much I know. But,
Dull children don’t entertain their parents.
Not to ask would raise hopelessness
To a higher power: foolishness squared,
Surely, not something our creator would want to see.

21/09/2024

Paradise Lost, Knowledge Gained

Of Woman’s first transgression, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose tempting taste
Brought knowledge into the world to our delight,
Though Eden lost—meanwhile, to be restored
To blissful innocence, bow down we must
In the house of Rimmon—sing, Urania:
Preceding time and space, Yin Yang first moved
At some unmeasured point, and Void primeval
Made pregnant; thus the heavens and the earth
Rose out of Chaos. Life evolved, and mankind
Appeared. Of one flesh, Man and Woman sinned:
An existential act original
To humankind defied the Almighty.
Self-consciousness experienced, the first
On record, cosmic in proportion, marked
A quantum leap to curiosity
That drove us with the force of a tsunami
To the discovery of ignorance,
Mother of knowledge, and desire inflamed
To know mankind the knower and his maker.
But if to bow delights you more, I hence
Invoke Almighty’s mercy to forgive
My humble song that with no mean intent
Intents to soar above the House: to forge
The union, unattempted yet, of Eros,
Of Logos, knowledge philosophical
And biblical, both East and West. Instruct
Us, Guanyin, I implore you, for we know
Not. Humbly, we shall dare to scale the limits
Of knowledge, and delight in her delight.

21/09/2024

WHO LIED? THE SERPENT OR GOD?

God lied to Adam: "But of the tree of the knowledfge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2.17). But the serpent didn't lie when he told Eve, "Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then you eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3.4-5).

Blame not the serpent for our downfall,
Repulsive enough though he is,
Even without his ph***ic look. To him,
We owe the opening of our eyes
To ignorance, the mother of knowledge.
What would you be without the serpent?
Still running around in naked, ignorant bliss.

19/09/2024

IS AMERICA EXPORTING DEMOCRACY OR VIOLENCE?
THE CASE OF TINY HONG KONG DWARFED BY TWO SUPERPOWERS

What is happening in tiny Hong Kong, dwarfed by two superpowers, may be better understood in terms of the escalating antagonism instigated by the U.S. (superpower number one) towards China (superpower number two)—reflecting the underlying anxiety within the U.S. administration that America is losing its supremacy.

To obtain a fuller picture, readers will be enlightened by two relevant books. One is written by the late celebrated author William Blum on the destructive consequences of America’s intervention in other sovereign nations all over the world: his 2013 book entitled “America’s Deadliest Export: Democracy—The Truth About U.S. Foreign Policy and Everything Else.” The book gives the background on how the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a quasi-governmental organization that receives public funding, may have played a role in Hong Kong’s affairs.

Paradoxically, the second book, published in 2018, that throws light on the plight of Hong Kong is not about Hong Kong at all but about America’s history as a tale of contradictions: “These Truths: A History of the United States,” by Jill Lepore, a Harvard history professor. It is a classic tale of a unique country’s spectacular rise and just-as-inevitable fall. Both the rise and the impending fall are of particular relevance to the present discussion: The rise is associated with American’s expansion and world dominance since the end of World War II; the fall motivates America to reassert itself and in doing so pushes the world closer to armed confrontation between the two superpowers (visit https://lnkd.in/gxSTgTaX). Hong Kong is but a pawn caught between two superpowers.

19/09/2024

LOVE, S*X, AND MARRIAGE

Traditionally, the social norm in Christian counties governing heteros*xual behavior is derived from a basic moral principle, namely, the unity of love, s*x, and marriage. According to this principle, s*xual relations are allowed only within the context of affectional intimacy and marriage, involving one and only one partner. S*xual relations outside of such a context constitute violations of the norm. Thus, premarital s*x, with or without love, is disavowed; extramarital s*x is simply regarded as adulterous and immoral and is, therefore, downright forbidden.

The unity principle of love, s*x, and marriage is of vital significance because it provides a definition of the proper relationship between man and woman. With regard to marriage, several imperative requirements are entailed in the definition. The marital relationship is one of total commitment, exclusive (i.e., between a married couple to the exclusion of all other parties), continuous, lasting, and reciprocal. Indeed, stringent demands are placed on both parties entering into the relationship.

Three pertinent observations may be made on this principle of triadic unity. The first is that, far from being a universal moral principle, its acceptance by human society is circumscribed with respect to both time and place. Anthropologists inform us that, although extramarital s*x is almost universally condemned, premarital s*x is allowed in a clear majority of societies.

The second observation is that there is often a discernible lack of openness and honesty when it comes to a discussion of s*xual matters—as well as a double standard for men versus women. The principle of triadic unity is, of course, upheld by moralists. But such teachings of s*xual morality are contradicted by everyday experiences, in messages received from the mass media and in observations of what people actually do.

Thirdly, social observers have pointed out that in Western societies dramatic changes in conceptions of s*xuality and s*xual morality have taken place, amounting to no less than a “s*xual revolution.” Traditional boundaries of what is permissible and what is not have been blurred, loosened, or simple discarded. The “s*xual revolution” threatens to destroy the triadic unity and alter fundamentally the nature of the man-woman relationship. S*x is not only “liberated” from the confines of marriage but also divorced from affectional intimacy. Satisfaction of the s*xual impulse is upheld as a sacred right. Going hand-in-hand with the “s*xual revolution” is an assortment of alternative arrangements (e.g. cohabitation, communal living) replacing marriage for meeting needs and functions traditionally fulfilled by the family, such as companionship, affection, s*x, and raising children. Perceptive observers are now wondering if the family, at least in its classic form, can survive at all as a social institution.

18/09/2024

CHANG E

The Mistress of the Moon appears
To beguile mankind, in the guise
Of Chang E in the distant East.

She relays messages of amour
Across the heavenly expanse—to sow
The seeds of lunacy on earth.

She smiles the crescent Moon.
Facing the Inferno, death by eclipse;
A moment passes, rebirth by light.

Behind the cloud she hides,
Invisible, almost—but for whom?
Enigma is her true name.

A poem written to celebrate the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. Chang E is the Chinese goddess of the Moon. Lucifer is “the son of Dawn,” the morning star, which refers to the planet Venus. Venus is also the name of a Roman goddess of s*xuality and beauty.

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