Wisdom on How to Live Life
Transforming Earth into Heaven
Dr. Tommy S. W. Wong
Copyright 2011 by Tommy S. W. Wong.
All rights reserved.
First Smashwords Edition
Dedicated to
my parents, Sze Fong Wong and En Yueh Woo
my parents-in-law, Chip Shing Sum and Luk Ying Ko
my darling wife, Christina
and my wonderful sons, Alston, Lester and Hanson
Acknowledgement
I like to thank the Great Spirit for selecting me as an instrument in authoring this book for the benefit of mankind.
Table of Contents
Chapter 2 - Conversation with Guru Dick
Chapter 3 - Conversation with Guru Harry (Part 1)
Chapter 4 - Conversation with Guru Harry (Part 2)
Humans being the most intelligent species and having lived on Earth for thousands of years, we are yet nowhere near to a life of peace, love, joy and harmony. This book contains a hypothetical story of a young man, Tom, who had conversations with two gurus, Dick and Harry. Guru Dick epitomizes someone from a worldly society who emphasized on the importance of money and power. Guru Harry epitomizes someone from a spiritual society who offered an alternative way of living which can lead to peace, love, joy and harmony.
In the first conversation, Guru Dick expounded his worldly wisdom on:
(1) what is good about money,
(2) what are the five easiest ways to make money,
(3) what are the relationships between money, power, law and god, and
(4) what is one great human weakness.
In the second conversation, Guru Harry expounded his spiritual wisdom on:
(1) why there is no need to worry,
(2) why peace is better than happiness as a goal in life,
(3) how to live in peace and equanimity,
(4) how to live with pleasure and without pain,
(5) how to live without fear,
(6) how to live without disappointment,
(7) how to live without struggle,
(8) how to live without sufferings,
(9) how to live without loneliness,
(10) how to be empowered in life,
(11) which type of attachment can bring bliss,
(12) which relationship can last forever,
(13) how to appraise world leaders,
(14) what society should be focused on,
(15) what is the objective of education,
(16) what is true charity,
(17) what is miracle,
(18) what is karma,
(19) why it is important to get the “right” beliefs,
(20) why reincarnation is important,
(21) why there is no need to grieve,
(22) what are the differences between man-made and divine laws,
(23) what are the important spiritual concepts,
(24) how to become divine, and
(25) how to transform Earth into heaven.
On other aspects of life, the two gurus offered contrasting views on:
(1) what is success in life,
(2) what are the purposes of life,
(3) how to enjoy life,
(4) how to achieve freedom in life,
(5) how to behave in life,
(6) how to live with morality,
(7) what are the major problems in the world,
(8) why not working for a living,
(9) how parents should be treated,
(10) how to decide whether to get married,
(11) how children should be treated,
(12) how to select friends,
(13) how to improve the education system, and
(14) how to bring peace on Earth.
Through these conversations, young Tom is better prepared and becomes wiser on how to live his life.
Chapter 2 - Conversation with Guru Dick
How are you, Guru Dick?
Not very well, Tom. The doctor told me that I only have a few more days to live. All the things I’ve accumulated in my life, I now have to leave them behind. Anyway, it’s good of you to come to see me.
Do you want to talk or would you prefer to take a rest?
We can talk. I like to talk.
What would you like to talk about?
Anything. I’m old enough to be able to talk about anything. What would you like to talk about?
How about we talk about life?
That’s a great idea because I’m near the end of my life and I had a great life.
Do you think you had a successful life?
Of course, you see how much money I’ve made.
Are you happy?
Of course, you see how much money I’ve made.
Is life just about making money?
Not quite, it’s about money and power. You see if you’ve money, then you’ve power. You’ll also have security and freedom. That’s why it’s important to have money.
What else is good about money?
If you’ve money, people will look up to you and will “bow” to you and that includes government ministers. Once I donated a lot of money to a university in a foreign country, and even the President of that country had dinner with me. Once you’ve money, you can feel secure because if anything happens, money can help you out. No doubt money can’t do everything, but then is there anything that can. If you’ve money, you can also gain power and that includes political power. And the best part about money is that you can have freedom. You can live wherever you like. You can do whatever you like and that includes bending the law. Oh heck, with lots of money, you can even break the law. No, with lots and lots of money, you’re the law. Wouldn’t you say that is “real” freedom?
Well, I see your point, but money can’t cure your illness and can’t save your life?
Yes that’s true, but because I’ve lots of money, I can hire the best doctors, use the best equipment and the best medicine. So I’ve the best chance to survive. Money can do wonders.
If money is so good, what is the best way to make money?
The best way to make money is defined by “efficiency” which is maximum output with minimum input.
What does that mean?
It means that you get maximum monetary reward by doing minimum amount of work.
How can that be? I thought a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.
This is what bosses tell their workers. It’s to brainwash them so that they can get maximum output with minimum pay.
So how can we be “efficient”?
Okay, the easiest way is by inheritance. You see if you’re born in a rich family, and they give you a pot of gold, then you got gold by doing nothing. Isn’t this efficient? But there’s a catch.
What’s the catch?
The catch is that you must behave the “right” way, so that they’ll give you gold. You see what is the use of being born in a rich family and not getting gold?
Well I’m not born in a rich family, is there another way?
The second easiest way is through power.
How does that work?
You see power and money go hand in hand. Like I told you, if you’ve money, you get power. Well, the converse is also true. If you’ve power, you get money.
That sounds good.
Extremely! If you want to get money through power, you must get the best power.
What’s the best power?
Political power, and you must get the best political power.
What’s the best political power?
Absolute political power.
You mean dictatorship?
Well dictatorship is one form of absolute political power, but actually it’s not the best type.
Why?
People usually resent dictators. So dictators can’t stay long. It’s worse when dictators step down because people seek revenge.
What happens with revenge?
Whatever privileges they enjoyed during their period of power, they usually have to pay it back after they’ve stepped down, and most of them suffer for the rest of their lives.
So dictatorship is not the best absolute political power, is there a better type?
Yes and it’s called pseudo-democracy.
Wow, that is a new word. What does that mean?
Pseudo-democracy means it looks like a democracy on the outside, like having elections, but in reality it’s not a democracy.
How can that be, an election is an election and in the election, people decide, right?
That’s a “normal” election. What if a ruling party for whatever reason happens to have an overwhelming majority and then they modify the election system so that it’s completely in their favor. With such a system, how can the opposition stand a chance? So what can the people choose? What can the people decide?
Wouldn’t the opposition object?
They may, but since their political power is so limited, their objection is quite useless.
Wouldn’t the people object?
They might, but they can be easily pacified.
How?
Set some policies which favor the rich and powerful. In this way, you win their support. After that, what can the poor and powerless do?
Look after the rich and don’t care about the rest.
Well, to be on the safe side, we can also offer something to the poor, like peanuts to monkeys.
You mean people are monkeys.
Well, let me put it this way. Have you been to a circus?
Yes.
What happens when a trainer instructs a monkey to jump, and the monkey jumps?
The trainer rewards the monkey with peanuts.
Bravo! In human society, the same thing happens except the terminologies change.
What do you mean?
The term “jump” is called “job”, “peanuts” is called “salary”, “trainer” is called “boss”, and “monkey” is called “worker”.
So workers are monkeys.
If you look at their salaries, some of them are real peanuts, right? Not even enough for monkeys.
Well, at least you’re in favor of giving to the poor.
I’m not in favor of giving to the poor or anybody. I’m not really giving because real giving means you give something and expect nothing in return. In this case, I’m giving them something and expect them not to protest. It’s really “protection money”.
After pacifying the rich and the poor, are we in safe hands?
We’re very safe because humans have one great weakness.
What is that?
Everyone for himself. That’s why we must divide them into groups and give each group a little something.
Then?
They’ll fight among themselves.
Divide and rule.
Precisely! An age old strategy which has kept “bad” government in power for decades.
What do you call this type of system?
A one-party system and this is the best type of absolute power.
Why?
Because you gained power through elections, so they can’t call you dictators, and yet you’ve absolute power.
Then, what happens?
After you’ve absolute power, life is easy. You can decide how much you want to get paid.
Okay.
And you don’t really have to work. Wouldn’t you call that “efficient”?
Very efficient. But what happens if I’m not born in a rich family and don’t have political power?
Then, the third way is to become a CEO, chief executive officer.
That sound like a lot of work. Also a CEO has to make the organization perform, otherwise he’s out.
That’s the “normal” CEO. But you can look for organizations where CEOs don’t have to perform. These organizations can lose a huge amount of money and yet the CEOs are rewarded.
Really?
Better still, they can blame the inept performance on their subordinates and fire them, while they collect their big fat performance bonus.
How come they can get performance bonus while they’re not performing?
Privileges of CEOs.
But we shouldn’t take what we don’t deserve, right?
If they willingly give, then you can willingly take.
But it’s still not right, right?
Who says so?
My higher consciousness.
Then, tell your higher consciousness that it’s alright to take, the more the better.
Who’ll tell my higher consciousness?
Your lower consciousness?
I see. Now is there another way to make lots of money?
Yes there’s a fourth way, but in this, one needs to do some work.
Oh great, at last there’s a way to work for a living.
My young Tom, don’t ever think of working for a living. It’s too slow and you’ll make very little money. You’ll have to struggle for your entire life and by the time you retire, you won’t have enough.
Then, what’s the fourth way to make lots of money?
The fourth way is to become a banker.
How does that work?
You come up with some investment products, package them as attractive as you can and hide all the details.
Then?
Misrepresent the products so that your customers will think that they can make lots of money. In reality, of course they’ll lose and you’ll gain and that is the idea.
Isn’t this unethical, a devious way of making money?
There is no right or wrong way of making money. Whichever way you can make the fastest and the largest amount of money is the best way.
Wouldn’t the government step in to curb this type of products or worse still, penalize those who come up with this type of products?
My friend, governments have power, and bankers are rich. The rich and powerful always stand on the same side.
To suppress the poor and the powerless.
Welcome to the real world!
So the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.
Yes, let’s make the income gap wider.
What happens if the investment products are sold to an old and poor retiree?
This is the name of the game. Some will win and some will lose. Anyway, if this old and poor retiree holds on to the money, it’ll not grow very fast right. So it’s much better for us bankers to hold on to the money and make it grow faster.
How will this old person live, if he loses all his savings?
That’s his problem. We’re here to make us richer – the richer the better, and by whatever means. Remember this young Tom, money and power are the two goals in life.
Sounds like you’re obsessed with money and power.
Of course, so should you. They’re the only criteria defining whether you’re a success or not.
How about love and kindness?
What about them? Look at it this way; have you seen any kind person becoming rich?
I can’t say I have.