A few axes to grind, but not yet.

First off, an unreserved apology is due to Irene for my no-show to her Halloween tag. Like Princess Shin, it is very much due to the fact that we in Malaysia don’t exactly partake in the end-October tradition. It would have been fun to do so, though. Of course, that’s not a water-tight excuse for being a spoil-sport. Princess Shin did a great job circumventing our handicap with her response to the tagging. I, on the other hand, sat on my blogging hands while anguishing over how to get about it. It was events and news during this index-warming period that moved me to (finally) write this:

MY JOURNEY THUS FAR

Before I embark on a few rounds of heavy-duty ranting, I feel compelled to provide a brief history of my life; if only to give a glimpse of the journey that brought me to my present set of belief and mindset.

I was born into a household that did not practice any religion. In a great multicultural Malaysia, my parents had close friends from all races and religion. I am very thankful they brought me and my siblings up blind to racial differences. My grandparents on both sides were Taoists but that had little impression on me, except for the burning of joss-sticks. I had no awareness of the concepts of spirituality and religion until one fateful morning during kindergarten.

A pony-tailed classmate told me that she feared nothing as Jesus would save her from any peril or threat. I countered with my father, the policeman, Ultraman, Superman, King Kong and a whole list of heroic characters real and fictitious. But she brushed them all off, insisting that her Jesus was far superior to all of them put together! All of five years-old, I was dismayed that I have never come across such an illustrious and capable protagonist. I was curious.

“Pa, who is Jesus?” I asked my father. Next thing I knew, I was bundled along with my younger sister to Sunday school at the local Methodist church every weekend after that. My old man certainly knew how to delegate.

Thus, every Sunday morning my sis and I would be with a whole classroom of kids learning about the Bible. I discovered Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses and of course, Jesus. I learned to pray. The premise of Good vs. Evil was revealed to me. Angels. Demons. Heaven. Hell. It was quite frightening at times, especially the prospect of being punished in Purgatory for sins committed in life. But generally, the stories from the Bible I found fascinating. And the games and play we had with the other kids after Sunday school was great fun.

My parents decided to put me in a Sekolah Kebangsaan (National School) for my primary education, where I was one of three Chinese descent pupils in the entire school. Save for about twenty ethnic Indians, the rest were Melayu. As this was basically a Malay school, there weren’t any alternative lessons for the non-Muslims during Ugama (Religious) periods. Wanting to blend in, I stayed for the subjects. Soon I was learning Jawi (Arabic Text), Ilmu Fiqah (Understanding and Interpretation of Syariah Laws), Ilmu Tauhid (The Theology or Basis of Islam) and Sejarah (History of) Islam. For the next eleven years, I would be in very Melayu-majority environments and I continued to learn Islam as a subject in class.

Through the years, the practices and beliefs of Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism were revealed to me by relatives and friends.

Years passed and I’m paying taxes already. My job entails a lot of traveling and on many trips I find a lot of time in my hands, mostly alone. In these moments of solitude, I’ve spent a lot of time researching all manner of philosophies, religions and beliefs. One can say that I’m soul-searching.

This is just the brief background. The axes to be ground will be coming soon.