Why Marry?!

A friend chatted with us on WhatsApp. He complained that people are not turning up at his wedding ‘at the last minute’, which resulted in his losing revenue from the hongbao money. It has been very difficult for him. As if the preparations aren’t bad enough, he has to fork out most of the banquet costs. His wife-to-be is pretty skint; she is short of more than 20 grand and my friend is expected to shoulder the burden resulting from her non-contribution. He still has to pay over 30 grand on his renovation and a further 3 grand on their honeymoon, plus other charges that amount to over 10 grand.

There is a moral lesson to be learnt here. I have always believed that we should seek to learn from people’s mistakes because we will never live long enough to make enough of them to learn from. So here is why my friend’s trials and tribulations can serve as a warning to all would-be-bridegrooms.

First of all, marriage is a monstrous institution that deprives a man of his rights and burdens him with all kinds of responsibility. By getting hitched, a man loses much of his freedom. He no longer can go out with his mates for a drink or a whoring session as much as he wants. Instead, he has to tend to his wife and keep her entertained and happy. If the couple has children, the man is expected to be the major contributor to the household income. If he divorces her, he has to fork out alimony every month.

Second, in this time and age, setting up a Chinese banquet to commemorate the awarding of legal rights to two individuals of the same specie to screw each other for the purposes of pleasure and procreation is irrational. A Chinese wedding can easily cost over 10 grand. The ballroom and the overpriced slop already amount to close to 10 grand, and each table (assuming 10 seats) can cost $1,000 to $1,500. We have not even covered the cost of the photographer and his studio, the wedding costumes, car rental, and other hidden costs. Instead of coughing up 30, 40 grand for an undignified slop feast that lasts only a few hours, why not ditch this ridiculous spectacle and save the money for more useful things like renovation and the purchasing of furniture and fittings?

Third, marriage is between two consenting individuals. I understand that they may want to share their joy with their close friends and families, but is there absolutely a need to invite associates, colleagues, and some relatives whom you have never seen in 1,000 years, only to have some of these buggers ‘not turning up at the last minute’ and costing you expensive seats? Why not just have a simple wedding reception and be done with it?! It is just a mating ritual damn it, and in most cases, the mating would have had been done before the actual official event!

For the abovementioned reasons, I would not willingly enter into such an unfair contract. The best thing for any society is to demolish this stupid legislation and its horrible contractual obligations. Humans are animals and are happiest when unconstrained by such artificial and suffocating constructs.

Randomness

Japan, Burma, and now Taiwan have been hit by earthquakes in recent months. If the earthquakes follow a diagonal path down towards the left, Shithole will get to enjoy some earthshaking events for once. (The Erections do not count. It is onanistic and therefore ejaculatory, way below what one would classify as 'explosive', or 'world-shaking'.)

Studies have shown that people who do not have breakfast tend to live shorter existences. As the world is suffering from food shortages, partly caused by the human population explosion, it will be a good idea for people to forgo breakfast. The equation is simple: fewer breakfasts = more food + fewer people. This in turn gives rise to this equation: more space and resources = people living better lives.

Ronaldo once said in an interview, "The god of football has sent me to play football." Once Messi heard this he said,"I dont remember sending anyone."

This is the silliest football article I have read in a quite a while: Messi and Mourinho mask Barca shine.

Some sense at last: Wenger rejects conspiracy theories.

From Atlantis to the Sphinx: Recovering the Lost Wisdom of the Ancient World

Critics may claim that the apparent deterioration of Colin Wilson’s literary standards following his stunning success of The Outsider has made his subsequent works unworthy. They are wrong. From Atlantis to the Sphinx: Recovering the Lost Wisdom of the Ancient World is a highly absorbing book, guaranteed to keep readers engaged for hours on end. It starts off with an introduction to pyramids, gradually progressing to a discussion of human history in both its accepted and unofficial format, before rounding off his work superbly by embarking on a short dissertation on human consciousness, emerging the topic skillfully with his points in the earlier chapters.

Wilson argues his case for the existence of an ancient civilization strongly. The more I read his arguments, the more difficult it is not to find the high-brow attitude of the mainstream academia deplorable. These 'respectable' people may scoff at the idea of an ancient civilization that possessed great technology, but in turn, they have failed to provide compelling evidence to dismiss these claims. Indeed, it does not take a doctor of archeology to wonder just how impossible it would be for a primitive people to build magnificent edifices such as pyramids, a feat that would challenge even a modern architect with vast technological resources. Also, it will not escape the notice of even casual readers of history or mythology to realize that legends of catastrophic floods, prevalent across most cultures, cannot be dismissed as mere coincidence.

To further strengthen his case, Wilson discusses the history of humankind and evolution and attacks the views of conventional evolutionists and anthologists by stating cases in which evidence run contrary to that presented in the official canon. Mankind might have a far longer history than what we are being led to believe. It is fascinating how the writer goes about his task of demolishing established ‘facts’. He believes the pyramids of both the Mayan and Egyptian civilizations were originally erected as projects in astronomy and in both he finds similar properties, such as the correspondence of their measurements to the circumference of the Earth and the precession of the heavenly bodies. An astonishing claim, and one that is thought-provoking.

Wilson’s discussion on synchronicity leads me to wonder: does reality affect the mind, or does the mind affect reality? He quotes from an experience he had while he was researching for a book. Upon returning from his walk, he found the book containing the vital piece of information he needed. Although skeptics will dismiss this incident and a few other cases Wilson cites as mere coincidence or nonsense, I, who have had episodes of synchronicity, cannot help but wonder if ‘something is there’, something currently unknowable, that just eludes understanding, but which is no less real.

A book of this nature would not be completed without an inclusion of the ‘dual brains’ concept and the heightened consciousness aspect of it. With the onset of language and religion, Wilson asserts, the right brain has been largely supplanted by its left half, as it has become more evolutionary feasible. However, he feels that the right brain, with its intuition (moon knowledge), as opposed to the solar knowledge of the logic (left brain) may be accessible at will, complementing the incumbent’s mental facilities. This is definitely an area which scientists should invest their energies into. The possibilities are endless.

The controversial material presented in this book makes it very difficult at times, not to verge on the realms of pseudoscience and New Age nonsense. However, Wilson’s reasoned arguments, coupled with his unobfuscatory diction prevents it from tilting over the edge. From Atlantis to the Sphinx will provide you with hours of edutainment. If you can’t borrow it at the library, buy it.

Rating: 4/5


P.S. For the apocalyptic-minded, the next ‘Doomsday falls on the 22nd of December 2012. As history has shown, it may not necessarily mean the end of the world, but rather, it may be the heralding of a new epoch.