The Yin and Yang Love Story

 

FOREVER YIN AND YANG
(A Novel)
                       
The Novel Is All About . . . .

This is a love story in ancient China, about a cock wedding with the presence of a cock instead of the bridegroom.

It is also a story of unrequited love, of murder and execution, of blood reincarnation, of death bringing back life leading to enlightenment. The story reflects TAO wisdom in love with no ego, as well as Nirvana, which is awakening to the ultimate truth of consciousness without being self-conscious.

Click here to get your novel.

Nothing Is Everything

 

ANYTHING IS EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING IS NOTHING! NOTHING IS EVERYTHING!

All About . . . .

"Anything Is Everything, Everything Is Nothing, Nothing Is Everything" is a miracle of life and living, based on the ancient wisdom of Lao Tzu from China, and the Biblical wisdom.

Live your life as if everything is a miracle. To do just that, you need the wisdom to know how your mind works--especially how it has created your ego-self that demands your attachments to the material world.

Learn how to be in the physical world, but not of the material world. More importantly, get the wisdom to know who you really are, and not who you wish you were. Knowing and understanding the truths of anything and everything may enlighten you so that you intuit the ultimate truth that everything is actually nothing, but this nothingness is your pathway to everything in your life.

The Outline of the Book . . . .

ONE: ANYTHING IS EVERYTHING

A frog in a well
Human wisdom and spiritual wisdom
Oneness of all life
Love and forgiveness
Gratitude and generosity
Sympathy and empathy
Compassion and loving-kindness

TWO: EVERYTHING IS NOTHING

Understanding is everything
The mind and the ego
Attachments and illusions
Control and power
Detachment and letting go

THREE: NOTHING IS EVERYTHING

The paradox
The Way
The miracle
The enlightenment

ANYTHING IS EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING IS NOTHING! NOTHING IS EVERYTHING!

Click here to get your copy.

An Excerpt from the Book . . . .


NOTHING IS EVERYTHING

The Paradox

”I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.” Plato

“The paradox of reality is that no image is as compelling as the one which exists only in the mind's eye.”   Shana Alexande

“The thinker without a paradox is like a lover without a feeling: a paltry mediocrity.”  Soren Kierkegaard

“Nothing is everything” is a paradox. In life, there are many paradoxes. The way of paradoxes is the way of attaining the ultimate truths of anything and everything. Knowing and understanding a paradox requires wisdom to see different human perspectives in anything and everything.

Paradoxes may be the way to wisdom, to the miracle of life, and ultimately to enlightenment.

An illustration

Christopher Paul Gardner, an American  author, entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist, was very poor and homeless in the early 1980s. Sleeping on the floor of a public toilet, Gardner never dreamt that he would become a multi-millionaire one day. His inspiring life story was made into a hit Hollywood movie: “The Pursuit of Happyness.”

Gardner was brought up with the belief that he could do or be anything that he wanted to do or be. At some point in his life, he was homeless; everything seemed nothing, just emptiness and nothingness, to him. But he was not hopeless. He continued to dream of wealth and success, and his dreams were not mirages. Because of his right doing and right thinking, he made his dreams come true.

Initially, Gardner made his living by selling medical equipment. He did not make enough money to make both ends meet, and his poverty made him homeless for a year.

Then, one day, Gardner met a stockbroker in a red Ferrari, who offered him internship because of his incredible drive and sustained enthusiasm. Thus he began his own successful investment career, and he subsequently even opened his own investment firm, Gardner Rich & Co.

More than two decades later, after the death of his wife, who challenged him to find his true happiness and fulfillment in the remainder of his life, Gardner made a complete career change. He was suddenly awakened to the notion that his fame, success, and wealth seemed like nothing to him then. His feeling of nothingness transformed him completely: he then became a philanthropist and a motivation speaker traveling around the world, focusing not on his own wealth, but on humanity and the needs of others to pursue their own happiness.

According to Gardner, life journey is always a process of lesson learning and forward moving: “People often ask me would I trade anything from my past, and I quickly tell them no, because my past helped to make me into the person I am today.”  Yes, nothingness could be everything to him.

On any life journey, mental focus is essential: focusing not just on the big things in life but also on the small things as well; appreciating what you have, rather than dwelling on what is your nothingness.

What seems to be nothingness in the eyes of the world, when properly valued and put to use, can become anything and everything in the eyes of the beholder. Gardner turned his nothingness into great wealth. His ultimate enlightenment came when he looked at his own wealth in a different perspective-as no more than just nothingness-when he began to refocus his life goals on humanity and on inspiring others to become who they really are.

The bottom line: with wisdom you may know and understand the “nothing is everything” paradox that opens the door to self-enlightenment.

The Way

TAO, the profound wisdom of Lao Tzu, is the way toward knowing and understanding self and others, as well as things and circumstances around self. It may or may not lead to self-enlightenment, but at least it may help you see things as they really are, and not as they should be.

"Not knowing the Way,
but pretending we know,
we remain ignorant, and suffer.

Knowing that we do not know,
we pursue its wisdom:
knowing its origin,
knowing its ending,
and knowing our true nature."
(Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, chapter 71)

TAO wisdom begins with emptiness, or more specifically, with an empty mindset.

The emptiness

Enlightenment has its origin from emptiness. Irrespective of whether or not attaining self-enlightenment, emptiness is the way to go toward attaining profound wisdom of living in this material world.

Emptiness is a way of human perception: looking at life experiences without adding anything to them, or without taking away anything from them. It is the thinking of the mind with no assumption and no presumption -- that is, only an empty mindset.

As previously mentioned, emptiness can be either positive or negative (the glass half-full, or the glass half-empty). Positive emptiness can only occur when you allow yourself to surrender completely to any given circumstance or situation without any previous attachment.

According to Lao Tzu, develop an empty mindset, which is more than just “thinking out of the box”: it is your reverse thinking to create your own empty box of thinking.

"An empty mind with no craving and no expectation helps us letting go.
Being in the world and not of the world, we attain heavenly grace.
With heavenly grace, we become pure and selfless.
And everything just settles into its own perfect place."
(Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, chapter 3)

 

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Life is made up of 4 phases: Development Phase; Transitional Phase; Consolidating Phase; and Aging Phase. In each of these phases, you have your "freedom" of choice to do whatever you want to do, but your "freedom" always comes with a your "bondage" that may shackle you for the rest of your life. The explanation is that your freedom of choice might not make you do all the right and righteous things even though you might not have broken the laws of your country. In other words, all humans sin because they are living in their flesh, irrespective who they are and where they come from.

The only way to break the bondage of sin is through God's grace, which is His forgiveness. You still have your freedom, but it is tied to the bondage of God--which is your "accountability" to His mercy.

NEW BOOK: Depression No Depression

 

This is my NEW BOOK on DEPRESSION.

We are living in a world of depression. Every day many are diagnosed with depression, and many even commit suicide as a way out of depression. 

But depression is all in your mind--your "thinking" mind--how it perceives and interprets all your life experiences. So, to avoid and or heal your depression is to "change" the way you think.

But how?

Use human wisdom--more specifically TAO wisdom, the ancient wisdom from China more than 2,600 years ago. But human wisdom may need spiritual wisdom to live in reality.

Many are not living in reality, but only in fancy and fantasy. That explains why there are so many crimes, sins and evils committed in society. Many have "no accountability" to their conscience or to God; instead, they think it is human right to do whatever they want to do, given that they have the gift of "free will."

If you "live in reality with accountability", you will have no depression.

Depression No Depression

Stephen Lau

FREE BOOK - Seeking the Helper

               FREE BOOK

"An Ego-Self"

Throughout your life, you may have focused so much on yourself that you have become self-center. The more you know yourself, the more you understand that you are different from others, and that you have an ego-self. With no exception, we all have an ego-self, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Yes, we are all different from each other. But your ego-self may become troublesome if you cannot accept others as who they are, and you always want to “inflate” your own ego-self to become better than others. Very often, in the process of inflating your ego, you create many “attachments” to define who you think you are or wish you were, as well as to separate yourself from others. Your attachments can come in different forms, such as a successful career, living in a multi-million dollar home, or driving an expensive car. To pursue or maintain those attachments, you may even resort to doing all the wrong things, such as pushing someone over while climbing your own ladder of success.

But why an inflated ego-self? 

It is because you want to “control” others so that you may have better control of your own life and destiny. Remember, control is power. With power, you may think that you can have the life you want.

With pride, you want to take control of everything happening in your life through your control of others. On the other hand, with humility, you can seek the help of the Higher-Being to be your Helper.

So, the leading question is: Do you want the Helper or do you want to do everything on your own?

Get this FREE BOOK to find out how to become a believer to overcome your pride and let God control your life and destiny.

Stephen Lau

FREE BOOK - Becoming A Believer

                FREE BOOK

"Living in Reality" is accountability.

Here is a hypothetical illustration of "accountability":

You were one of the last two persons at a bar. You were sitting close to each other. The person finished his drink and left the bar, leaving some cash for the bartender, who, at that moment, was away with your credit card. You grabbed the tip left on the table by the man who had just left, and then placed it toward you. The bartender returned with your credit card, looked at the money right in front of you, and said: “Thank you.” 

Did you do anything "wrong"? 

If you had intended not to give the bartender any tip anyway, what you did had not "changed" the scenario—the bartender would still have said: “Thank you” with or without your tip, and she would have received the same amount of tip. 

What is important in that hypothetical illustration is the accountability. The reality of one minor misbehavior with no accountability will often lead to many more serious ones with no accountability. 

The "No-Accountability" Mindset 

In this world, many have developed their own “no accountability” mindset based on their own beliefs, their own justifications, and their own rationalizations. They simply have no accountability to the law and order, not to mention to God. 

For example, the laws are made to be broken because some of the lawmakers themselves do not comply or even obey the law they have created. That explains the prevalence of crimes committed in society. For example, the police are not to be obeyed, because the police are corrupt, and often racially biased. For example, the Church is not to be trusted because there are so many sexual scandals among priests. So, pastors and priests are not to be trusted and accountable to. For example, God is neither fair nor just: there is so much discrepancy between the abundant and the lack; between the good who suffer and the bad who prosper and are seemingly blessed. So, why should there be accountability to God? The thinking mind: “I am not the only one with no accountability; I am just one of the many. So, what is wrong with that?”

But, if you are a true believer, you will believe in your accountability to God, and you will live your life quite differently from an unbeliever.

Get this FREE BOOK to find out how to become a believer.

Stephen Lau

FREE BOOK

  FREE BOOK

Get this FREE BOOK to help an unbeliever become a believer.

Here is an outline of the book:

ONE: What is disbelief? What is unbelief? What is belief?

TWO: What is human wisdom? Asking questions and seeking answers; enlightenment.

            What is spiritual wisdom? Spirituality; understanding the many paradoxes of life.

THREE: The Belief Journey

The Preparation: intent to believe; consciousness to believe; imperfections to believe;  connectedness to others to believe.

The Compass: The Bible tells you where you are right now. Learn how to begin learning the Word of God.

The roadmap: The roadmap tells you where you are heading on your belief journey.

The Word of God; the presence of God; the trust and the obedience of God; the sin and the evil of man; the justice and the injustice of God; the living in reality in this world; the penitence and the forgiveness of man; the redemption and the salvation of man; the awakening and the enlightenment; the Second Coming of Jesus and the revelation of what to come.

All of the above are illustrated with real-life examples to show you how and why you should become a believer.

This 97-page book is absolutely FREE. Give it to others who are still unbelievers.

Click here to download the book for FREE.

FREE BOOK

 FREE BOOK

Disbelief and Unbelief: A Belief Journey for Unbelievers

 Get this FREE book to find out how to become a true BELIEVER.

https://amzn.to/3nOTUTW

It’s FREE to download between November 4 (Thursday) and November 9 (Monday)

Herbal Medicine for Vision Health

As the aging population increases, millions of people suffer age-related disorders, such as cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration -- they could all lead to blindness.

Vision health is important. Protect your eyes from ultraviolet rays with sunglasses. Exercise your eyes regularly, just as you exercise your body. Most importantly, give your eyes the nutrients they need to maintain optimum vision health.

Nature’s remedies can help you prevent vision loss. For example, bilberry promotes blood flow to the eye nerves. It is a potent antioxidant against radical damage by the sun’s ultraviolet rays.

The Chinese herb, wolfberry, has potent medicinal properties to strengthen your eyesight. It has been used for centuries in China for eye health.

Chrysanthemum flowers help reduce pressure buildup in the eye. Steep chrysanthemum flowers in hot water, and drink the beverage daily.

Peppermint is another herb, which can clear vision due to its potency as an antioxidant.

In addition to herbs, a diet rich in carrots (loaded with vitamin A) and dark green vegetables (containing lutein, a substance to counteract cataract) may go a long way to enhancing your vision health.

Remember, your eyes are just like any other body organs; they require regular maintenance. Your diet is important because it supplies nutrients to your eyes. Anything that blocks blood flow, such as bad cholesterol, may also damage the blood vessels in your eyes, and that may cause macular degeneration. Your eye exercises are important because your eye muscles, like the rest of your body muscles, require relaxation to hold the optic nerve and lenses in optimum position for better vision.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Letting Go Attachments

The Origin of Human Attachments

All attachments originate from the ego-self.

What is an ego? Do we all have an ego-self?

An ego is an identity of any individual. Yes, we all have an ego-self, with no exception.

As soon as a baby begins his or her perceptions through the five senses, that baby begins to develop an identity, such as “this toy is mine” and “I want this.” Well, there is nothing wrong with that initial identification. However, as time passes by, the human ego may continue to expand and inflate to the extent that it may become problematic with all its attachments.

What is the ego-self?

Simply look at yourself in front of a mirror. What do you see?

A self-reflection. Is it for real? Can you actually touch it? Not really; it is only a reflection of someone real—the real you in front of the mirror!

Now, do something totally different. Place a baby—if there is one immediately available—in front of the mirror. See what happens. The baby might crawl toward the baby in the mirror. Why? It is because the baby in front of the mirror might think that the baby in the mirror is another baby, and just not his or her own reflection.

Likewise, the ego-self may look real, but it is not real. To think otherwise is self-deception.

How is the ego-self formed?

Descartes, the great French philosopher, made his very famous statement: “I think, therefore I am.” Accordingly, you think and you then become what you think you are—the byproducts of all your thoughts and your own thinking.

Unfortunately, Descartes’ famous statement is only partially true: it is true that you identify yourself with all your thoughts projected into your thinking mind; but it is not true that your identities thus created by your thoughts and your own thinking truly reflect your true self. The fact of the matter is that you are not your thoughts, and your thoughts are not you. To think otherwise is a human flaw, which is no more than self-delusion or self-illusion. In other words, you are not what and who you think you really are.

Gradually, all your life experiences with their own respective messages—the pleasant as well as the unpleasant, the positive as well as the negative—are all stored at the back of your subconscious mind in the form of your assumptions, attitudes, causal concepts, and memories.

Accumulated over the years, millions and billions of such experiences and messages have become the raw materials with which you subconsciously weave the fabrics of your life, making you who and what you have now become—or so you think. In other words, they have now become your “realities” or your ego-self with its many attachments to make you believe you are what you think or wish you were.

Likewise, a baby originally does not have the ego-self (at least, not yet), and thus sees the reflected image in the mirror as another baby. But you, on the other hand, with your own ego-self, see the reflected image in the mirror as the same you, and not a different person. So, your ego-self is simply a reflection of you; what you see in the mirror is not real, just a reflection. But the problem is: you think it is the real you, and your false identity may lead to an identity crisis.

Learn how to let go of your attachments to the material world that define who you think you are, and these attachments may include your attachments to money and wealth, career and success, among others.

Stephen Lnd au

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Overcoming Eyestrain

Eyestrain is one of the underlying causes of many vision disorders. The opposite of eyestrain is eye relaxation, which essentially comes from the mind.

Develop your mental awareness to change your bad vision habits that cause eyestrain.

Shifting: Train your mind to edge or trace the outline of any visual object with your eyes. Form this good vision habit to avoid “staring” or “eye fixation.”

Eye balancing: Wear an eye-patch (obtainable at a pharmacy or local drug store) over your stronger eye in order to strengthen your weaker eye.

Periphery: Use a two-eyed patch to cover your eyes to enhance your peripheral vision. Make a two-eyed patch out of a strip of stiff cardboard (3” x 1”), with a small part cut off in the middle to accommodate your nose.

Sunglasses: Avoid wearing sunglasses to avoid “squinting.”

Mind Relaxation

The eye conditions are constantly changing such that they can be adversely affected by any emotional or mental stress, resulting in eyestrain that can cause vision blur. By the same token, you can significantly improve your vision if you relax your eyes completely through relaxation.

Using a Relaxed Mind to Relax the Body, and hence the Eye

It is almost impossible to relax just your eyes, while the rest of your body remains tense and stressed. Total relaxation begins with the mind first, and then the rest of the body, including the eyes. Use your mind to relax your body, and then your eyes -- the best way to achieve mental relaxation.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Letting Go to Let God

THE MIRACLE OF LETTING GO TO LET GOD

Spiritual wisdom facilitates the process of humans’ letting go, and spiritual wisdom comes from faith, which is belief in God.

“Belief in God” means complete trust in Him that has to be expressed and validated by obedience; in other words, let go to let God.

Does the wisdom of letting God sound simple and straightforward?

According to Albert Einstein, knowing and understanding are the essentials of wisdom—they are also critical to attaining the wisdom of letting go to let God.

The mysteries and the manifestations

Have more knowledge of the invisible and the inexplicable that is happening to you and also around you, as well as have better understanding of the mysteries and the manifestations of all things created by God, who is the origin of all things. His Creation has been one of the most controversial, profound, and unfathomable mysteries since the beginning of time, while all the things subsequently originating from His creations are only further manifestations of the mysteries of His Creation.

God-given image and man-made identity

Letting go to let God begins with believing in the mysteries and manifestations of human creation: we are all created in the image of God.

“So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.”

(Genesis 1: 27)

                  

What does that really mean, and what is the wisdom in that?

You may never know why you were created in the first place, but one thing you know for sure is that not only you are different from all His other creations but also all humans are uniquely different from one another in that respect—just like the uniqueness in humans’ fingerprints. The wisdom is that you, just like everybody else, have His image, and this is indeed a blessing. That also means you  have a spirit within you that not only defines who you are, but also connects you somehow and somewhat to and with Him in a uniquely individual way, because your image is a reflection of Him. In other words, we all have a unique identity of our own, which is composed of some of the attributes of the Creator.

Living in the material world, you may also have consciously and subconsciously created another image of your own—a man-made identity, or an ego-self. If you are more aware of your man-made identity, you may then become less conscious of your God-given image. Your attachments that have created your own man-made identity may then slowly and imperceptibly detach and distance yourself from your God-given image.

The bottom line: letting go of some, if not all, of your attachments to your man-made identity may enhance your God-given image within you. Do you always identify yourself with the car you drive, the neighborhood you live in, the social circles you belong to, and the career you have taken up? All these attachments in the material world may have created your own man-made identity, but not your God-given image. Just think about that.

Let go to let God define your own identity.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

BETTER ENGLISH FOR YOU - New Book

 BETTER ENGLISH FOR YOU

WHAT this book is all about:

This book is about every aspect of both written and spoken English.

It covers the basics as well as the essentials of good and effective written and spoken English.

It helps you avoid all the common errors made by both native and non-native speakers of English.

WHY you should read this book:

This book is for every one who speaks and writes English every day.

This book is especially for ESL learners who are not familiar with the use of the English language.

This book is also for native speakers of English, who need to write good English in their education, and throughout their careers.

CONTENTS

ONE: WHY BETTER ENGLISH
TWO: HOW TO HAVE BETTER ENGLISH
LEARING TO SPEAK BY SPEAKING AND TO WRITE BY WRITING
GETTING BASIC TOOLS FOR BETTER ENGLISH
      An English Dictionary
      A Thesaurus
THREE: BETTER WRITTEN ENGLISH FOR YOU
THE PURPOSE OF WRITING
THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR BASICS
     Nouns
     Pronouns
     Adjectives
     Verbs
     Adverbs
     Conjunctions
     Prepositions
     Interjections
THE ENGLISH SENTENCE
     Sentence Patterns
     Different Types of Sentences
     Balanced Sentence Construction
THE TENSES
THE PUNCTUATION
      The Comma
      The Semi-Colon
      The Colon
     The Dashes
     The Period (Full-Stop)
COMMON SENTENCE ERRORS
     Avoid Double Negatives
     Avoid Omission of Key Verbs    
     Avoid Omission of Words in Comparison
     Avoid Dangling Participles
     Avoid Misusing Dependent Clause
BEGINNING TO WRITE
     Paragraph Development
     Learn Commonly Used Difficult Vocabulary
     Learn Commonly Used Difficult Vocabulary
     Learn Idioms and Colloquial Expressions
     Learn to Know the Difference
     Learn to Avoid Wordiness
DEVELOPING THE TOPIC
     Point of View
     Tone
     Planning the Writing
     Writing the Introduction
      Planning the Outline
      Expanding the Writing
      Writing the Draft
GOOD WRITING
      Clichés
      Figures of Speech
      Italics
      Simplicity in Writing
FOUR: BETTER SPOKE ENGLISH

      Slang and Colloquial Expressions

Glaucoma Treatment

Glaucoma is an eye disorder often associated with aging. According to Western medicine, there is no cure, and no reversal of the conditions connected with the symptoms. However, we must also look at the underlying causes of glaucoma, and look at the disorder with a different perspective and with a holistic approach to the treatment.

Below is taken from: Health and Wisdom Tips:

“Glaucoma is an eye condition due to increased eye pressure that may lead to blindness. In conventional medicine, most eye doctors would recommend surgeries and / or eye drops to relieve high ocular pressure in the eye.

However, there is one problem: surgeries and eye drops would also create a chronic condition, ironically enough, leading to ultimate blindness. The use of eye drops may have adverse long-term effects, one of which is the falling off of pieces of iris, causing blockage, and thereby instrumental in increasing eye pressure over the long haul, instead of reducing the eye pressure.

Dr. Leslie Salov, M.D., O.D. Ph.D., in his book Secrets for Better Vision, states that most glaucoma patients are highly intelligent professionals who lead very stressful, busy lives. This finding led Dr. Salov to believe that to improve vision or eye health, you need to improve the health of your entire person simultaneously because your body is a set of interlocking systems that affect one another. Given that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, your eyes are only a small part of your whole person. Accordingly, to heal the eyes, you must heal the body first. It is just that simple!

To have healthy vision, even as you age, you must employ not only the sciences of physiology, biology, and chemistry, but also the healing powers of philosophy and even spirituality. This is no exception when it comes to treating glaucoma. In other words, to treat glaucoma, you need to examine not just your eyes, but also every aspect of your life, including your emotional and spiritual health. Get a holistic approach to healing glaucoma.

The methods of glaucoma treatment recommended by Dr. Salov also include the following:

Visualization is the use of guided imagery to direct blood, oxygen, and leukocytes (immunity cells) to the eye through a mental image of a healthy eye. Essentially, your conscious mind controls the involuntary processes that occur automatically inside your body. Specifically, visualization relaxes the muscles in the walls of your canal of Schlemm (circular channel in the eye that collects watery substance between the lens and the cornea). By relaxing these muscles, extra fluid can be excreted to relieve the glaucoma pressure. Without using eye drops with chemicals, visualization can naturally relax eye muscles so that your pupils become small enough to open up the canal of Schlemm to excrete the fluid for eye pressure relief.

However, it must be pointed out that visualization works only when you use it with dedication and consistency. In other words, you have to practice visualization daily and diligently.

Meditation is the art of thinking of nothing to remove everyday stresses and worries. When you are under stress, you body produces chemical changes within your body, which decrease blood flow and oxygen level to your eye. Practice meditation to de-stress yourself.

The bottom line: eye pressure can be relieved by eye relaxation; it is important to relax your eye muscles, just like you would relax the muscles of different parts of your body.”

Remember, vision has to do with the mind too, and not just the eyes. Without mind relaxation, the eyes are stressed and unrelaxed, and thus raising the eye pressure, which is the underlying cause of glaucoma. Does it make sense?

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau