The Fig, the Olive and the Peaceful Land: Stories from Cananga Tree (15)

"On the first night of his grandmother’s visit, a small boy was saying his prayers, 'Please Lord,' he shouted, 'add me bicycles, cars, toys, ....'
'Why are you praying so loud?' his older brother interrupted, 'God isn’t deaf.'
'Yeah I know,' replied the boy, 'but not Grandma, right?'"

"The renowned fantasy and science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin wrote, 'People who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by dragons. From within,' This metaphorical statement suggests that just as dragons represent the mysterious and unexplored, we should remain open to new ideas, experiences, and possibilities," said Cananga while watching Hasinda Amin speaking with the General08. The General's words were clear and easy to understand. There were two items came to Cananga's mind: 'I will be genuine' and 'the well-being of my people'. A great start. But, is it a 'restatement' or a 'confirmation'? Because there was a saying like this, 'Tell a man there are three hundred billion stars in the universe, and he believes you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it, and he has to touch it to be sure.'

"Sometimes, what seems fantastical might hold hidden truths. Dragons as guardians of nature remind us to protect our environment. Denying ecological issues can have dire consequences. By acknowledging and addressing them, we contribute to a healthier planet. Those who dismiss or ignore important truths or fantastical possibilities may ultimately suffer the consequences, even if those consequences are not immediately apparent. It encourages us to remain open-minded and curious, lest we miss out on hidden wonders or face unexpected challenges, probably that's what Le Gun means by her metaphor 'People who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by dragons. From within.' Ultimately, this concept encourages curiosity, courage, and mindfulness.

Time is like a tapestry; woven with the threads of countless memories. Fiction, Le Guin wrote, imagination working on experience, . A great deal of what we consider our experience, our memory, our hard-earned knowledge, and our history, is fiction. But never mind that. It's about real fiction—stories, novels. They all come from the writer’s experience of reality worked upon, changed, filtered, distorted, clarified, transfigured, by imagination.
'Ideas' come from the world through the head. The interesting part of this process is the passage through the head, the action of the imagination on the raw material. But that’s the part of the process that a great many people disapprove of.

Experience is where the ideas come from. But a story isn’t a mirror of what happened, Le Guin added. Fiction is experience translated by, transformed by, and transfigured by the imagination. Truth includes but is not coextensive with fact. Truth in art is not imitation, but reincarnation.
In a factual history or memoir, the raw material of experience, to be valuable, has to be selected, arranged, and shaped. In a novel, the process is even more radical: the raw materials are not only selected and shaped but fused, composted, recombined, reworked, reconfigured, reborn, and at the same time allowed to find their own forms and shapes, which may be only indirectly related to rational thinking. The whole thing may end up looking like pure invention. A girl chained to a rock as a sacrifice to a monster. A mad captain and a white whale. A ring that confers absolute power. A dragon.
But there’s no such thing as pure invention. It all starts with experience. Invention is recombination. We can work only with what we have. There are monsters and leviathans and chimeras in the human mind; they are psychic facts. Dragons are one of the truths about us. We have no other way of expressing that particular truth about us.

Your brain is always listening to hidden dragons, says Daniel G. Amen. How you think and talk to yourself, as well as self-concept, body image, emotional trauma, upbringing, and significant life events (such as enduring months of self-isolation during the coronavirus pandemic). Dragons influence your psychological health by saying whether you are enough—good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, strong enough, rich enough, and so on. When you’ve tamed your dragons and believe that you are enough, you will be happier and more confident. When you feel less than enough, your brain can give in to sadness, anxiety, and failure.
When you have solid relationships, a healthy family, a role or career you enjoy, and financial stability, your brain tends to do much better than when any of these areas are troubled. Dragons can become unhinged when difficult life situations, such as a global pandemic, relationship breakup or divorce, layoff, or death of a loved one, elevate stress hormone levels. When this circle is unhealthy, you are more vulnerable to illnesses, depression, anxiety disorders, and more.

A thought is harmless unless we believe it. It’s not our thoughts, but the attachment to our thoughts, that causes suffering. Attaching to a thought means believing that it’s true, without inquiring. A belief is a thought that we’ve been attaching to, often for years. Your conscious and unconscious brain expresses its aspirations, worries, fears, stress, love, joy, hatred, and happiness through your body’s reactions.
Your brain is always listening and responding to every thought you have, especially the stressful and positive ones. The thousands of thoughts you have every day are based on myriad factors, including the Dragons from the Past; genetics; past experiences; sensory input; dreams; what you had for dinner last night; and the health of your gut bacteria. Negative thoughts cause your brain to immediately release chemicals that affect every cell in your body, making you feel bad; while the opposite is also true—positive, happy, hopeful thoughts release chemicals that make you feel good. Your thought patterns can also have long-term effects. Repetitive negative thinking may promote the buildup of the harmful deposits seen in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease and may increase the risk of dementia.
Thoughts are also automatic. They just happen. Just because you have a thought has nothing to do with whether it is true. Thoughts lie. They lie a lot, and it is your uninvestigated or unquestioned thoughts that steal your happiness. If you do not question or correct your erroneous thoughts, you believe them, and you act as if they are 100 percent true.

If there was an invitation to choose between reading (a novel, for example) and viewing (Film or TV program), which one would you choose?
In general, almost all of us prefer viewing rather than reading. Some research show that a significant portion of the population does indeed lean toward viewing content. Several factors contribute to the preference for viewing over reading: Humans are naturally drawn to visual content. Videos, images, and infographics can convey information more engagingly than plain text; Watching a video or listening to audio can be faster than reading. Viewers can absorb information passively while multitasking; Visual media can evoke emotions more effectively. Facial expressions, body language, and music enhance storytelling; Videos cater to different learning styles. They provide an alternative for those who struggle with reading or have visual impairments; Visual content is highly shareable on social media platforms, leading to wider dissemination.
Individual preferences vary, but these reasons collectively contribute to the popularity of viewing content!

However, there is something interesting between 'viewing' and 'reading' in Le Guin's perspective. Reading is active, says Le Guin. To read a story is to participate actively in the story. To read is to tell the story, tell it to yourself, relive it, rewrite it with the author, word by word, sentence by sentence, chapter by chapter. Reading is a most mysterious act. It has not been replaced and will not be replaced by any kind of viewing. Viewing is an entirely different undertaking, with different rewards.
A reader reading makes the book, and brings it into meaning, by translating arbitrary symbols, and printed letters, into an inward, private reality. Reading is an act, a creative one. Viewing is relatively passive. A viewer watching a film does not make the film. To watch a film is to be taken into it—to participate in it—to be made part of it. Absorbed by it. Readers eat books. Film eats viewers. This can be wonderful. It’s wonderful to be eaten by a good movie, to let your eyes and ears take your mind into a reality you could never otherwise know. However, passivity means vulnerability; and that’s what a great deal of media storytelling exploits.
Reading is an active transaction between the text and the reader. The text is under the control of the reader—she can skip, linger, interpret, misinterpret, return, ponder, go along with the story, or refuse to go along with it, make judgments, and revise her judgments; she has time and room to genuinely interact. A novel is an active, ongoing collaboration between the writer and the reader.

Viewing is a different transaction. It isn’t collaborative. The viewer consents to participate and hands over control to the filmmaker or programmer. Psychically there is no time or room outside an audiovisual narrative for anything but the program. For the viewer, the screen or monitor temporarily becomes the universe. There’s very little leeway, and no way to control the constant stream of information and imagery—unless one refuses to accept it, and detaches oneself emotionally and intellectually, in which case it appears essentially meaningless. Or one can turn the program off.
Although there’s a lot of talk about transactional viewing and interactive is a favorite word of programmers, electronic media are a paradise of control for programmers and a paradise of passivity for viewers. There is nothing in so-called interactive programs except what the programmer put in them; the so-called choices lead only to subprograms chosen by the programmer, no more a choice than a footnote is—do you read it or don’t you? The roles in role-playing games are fixed and conventional; there are no characters in games, only personae. That’s why teenagers love them; teenagers need personae. But they have to shed those personae eventually if they’re going to become persons.
Readers don’t control the text: they genuinely interact with it, until they finally reach the answer. Viewers are controlled by the program or try to control it. Different ball games. Different universes.

Every man’s consciousness is constantly changing, says U. S. Andersen, is trapped at the knife-edge overlap of past and future, reacts rather than acts, is incomplete and partial, and eternally seeks itself, for since the mere state of being throws no light on that state, consciousness learns of itself through reaction to outside stimuli. If a man comes to believe he is unsuccessful, it is because he carries the impression he has been unsuccessful, and this conclusion, once adopted, inescapably molds him into the shape of the thing he believes, locks him in a prison of his own making.

Have you ever noticed that people who tend to worry end up worrying about everything? It does not matter what happens—worry is their reality. When they overcome their worry, another one immediately pops up. If you think about it, there is always something you could worry about—money, health, politics, the weather—the number of things is infinite.
Worry is a chronic condition that has no end, says Victor Levy. We all know someone who worries about everything, like if it is going to rain or if there is going to be traffic. Even if there is no traffic, they say, 'What’s wrong? Why is there no traffic?' Whenever you are anxious and imagining worst-case scenarios, you train your mind how to respond. Every time you complain, you are relating to the present moment as if it were your opponent.

Worry is like an infinite onion. You peel the onion, and the more it reduces in size, your line of vision changes. You are constantly peeling and peeling, however the onion always appears the same size. Whenever you peel an onion, tears come out of your eyes. Similarly, whenever you worry, your cells start crying. Anxiety has an impact on your whole system. If you tend to worry, you do not allow your cells to regenerate. Worrying, anxiety, and stress are the byproducts of most diseases.
Stress and anxiety cut off the connection of creativity from the universe to you. You enjoy any activity in which you are truly present. Get rid of the illusion that the circumstances are somehow imperfect. If you protest anything that happens, you are automatically blocking your power. When you are responsible for everything that happens, you get access to the power of now. The purpose of life is not in the future, but if you are going to look for it there, you will be looking on and on and on.

Your life is your universe, and it is created based on your perceptions. You create your reality by how you perceive yourself, how you see the people around you, and how you relate to your surroundings. Have you ever noticed that whenever you have a perception of fear, life is so boring? You do not experience anything new or exciting. Fear always makes predictable decisions. Decisions made out of fear tend to lead you nowhere. They do not allow you to investigate new ways to experience yourself, new directions you can go, and new adventures you could enjoy. Fear makes you want to hold on to familiar behaviors in your life. Fear is the enemy of growth. Fear is something that arises naturally under certain circumstances.

You tend to react to situations without understanding why. When something goes wrong, your subconscious programming reacts automatically and predictably. If someone or something gets you upset enough to change your internal state, you usually react compulsively instead of responding accordingly. This situation is the perfect opportunity for self-evaluation. If you do not get stuck in the reactive stage, you can obtain valuable information by observing what is triggering you.

The magic by which a man becomes free is imagination. By training himself to cast up mental pictures of the thing he desires, by resisting sensual stimuli, even envisaging the exact opposite, he tends to assume a factual position by his vision, for his vision then becomes his experience, rather than the sensual stimuli that moved him before. Consciousness always assumes a form to suit its knowledge of itself, and where such knowledge breaks beyond the limits imposed by sensory experience, man begins to grow into the image of the Secret Self.
Perfect action and perfect works stem from an inner conviction of the mental cause behind all things. A man changes the state of his outer world by first changing the state of his inner world. Everything that comes to him from outside is the result of his own consciousness. When he changes that consciousness he alters his perception and thus the world he sees. By coming to a clear understanding of the process and effect of mental imagery he is led irrevocably along the correct path to his goal. By working with this cause of all things—his own consciousness—he achieves infallibility in works, for inasmuch as his mental imagery propels him into action, that action is always true to the picture in his mind and will deliver him its material counterpart certainly.

Now, we return to the Islamic Calendar, the fourth month is Rabiʽ al-Thani, also known as Rabi' al-akhirah or Rabiʽ al-akhir. The word 'Rabi' means 'spring' and Al-thani means 'the second' in the Arabic language, so 'Rabi' al-Thani" means 'the second spring'. Rabiʽ al-akhir means the final spring.
Springtime is one of the four temperate seasons, succeeding winter and preceding summer. Spring is associated with love, passion, and new beginnings. The blossoming flowers and longer daylight hours evoke feelings of romance and connection. Spring is a season of renewal, bringing forth new life and fresh hope. Spring is like nature hitting the refresh button, bringing new life and energy after winter’s dormancy. Just as nature awakens from its winter slumber, spring symbolizes personal renewal and rejuvenation. It’s a time to shed old habits and embrace fresh perspectives.
Just as caterpillars transform into butterflies, spring represents personal transformations and positive change. Drawing from the cyclic nature of life, spring symbolizes rebirth and transformation. Spring’s arrival after the cold, dark months represents hope and optimism. It reminds us that even after difficult times, brighter days lie ahead. Spring flowers push through the soil despite harsh conditions. This resilience serves as a metaphor for overcoming challenges and finding strength within.
Just as plants bloom anew, we find hope in fresh beginnings. As temperatures rise, creating a conducive environment, spring encourages growth and development in both nature and ourselves. The return of warmth and light inspires hope, reminding us that brighter days lie ahead. In many cultures, spring is associated with fertility and reproduction. Animals mate, farmers plant crops, and life flourishes.
Spring signifies a clean slate, a chance to embrace positive change and leave behind the old. The vibrant colors, fragrant blossoms, and longer daylight hours evoke feelings of joy and celebration.
These metaphors capture the essence of spring beyond its literal beauty!

You live your life according to your beliefs, and the sum of your beliefs creates your conditioning. Your programming runs your day-to-day life. It shapes your thoughts, words, and actions. Your beliefs are not you! These programs contain assumptions about who you are, how you act in the world, and what you expect from yourself, other people, and life. But you can change them whenever they are not serving you. Replacing old programs is essential. Increasing awareness and discipline is the first step to improving your experience of life.

Our discussion continues in the next episode, biidznillah."

Before proceeding, Cananga recited a poem,

Kita ini peragu
[We are doubters]
Sering bertanya
[Ask often]
Tapi tak tahu apa atau siapa
[But don't know what or who]

Melempar kosa kata
[Throwing vocabulary]
Yang haus akan rasa, melontarnya jadi api
[Those who are thirsty for taste, throw it into fire]
Yang lelah pada asa, menusuknya jadi beku *)
[Those who are tired of hope, stab it so it freezes]