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“Adi, have you encountered any ghost in your whole life?”

He asked me.

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“No.. Not yet..”

I replied.

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“Do you want to see one?”

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“Heh..”

I replied with a smirk.

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Putting that dialogue aside, as usual, I have always spent my leisure hours training my mind and improving my wisdom in The Dark Gates Of Knowledge – the cinema. Intriguingly, one of the most interesting things that I have seen was See How They Run. A Thailand movie about a short pale blue bald ghost kid (or in our beloved motherland term, the ‘Toyol’). But this toyol is different. He does not steal money as we all know. Instead, beneath that comedy, there was a good message to be learnt (at the end of the story).

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Yes, that sure is a rare song indeed. And since we would always hear his song especially in this ‘independence’ month, why not we try to enjoy his ‘unusual’ Gaban-like old unpopular song for a change instead.

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Anyway, in this independence aromatic scent season, as we all know, there would be many talks, forums or shows with ‘independence’ as their main topic. And of course, for those religious freaks, they would surely ‘redefine’ the term ‘independence’ as to relate it closer to God, and thus thank God for blessing us with this feeling of independence – especially to our beloved motherland.

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And speaking of God, there is certain thing which intrigues me in the movie Evan Almighty. The part where the wife was ‘preached’ by Morgan Freeman in the restaurant:

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“When you pray to God to be blessed with courage, do you think God will give you that courageous feeling, or the opportunity to be courageous? When you pray to God to be given happiness, will God give you that comfort and cozy feeling of happiness or the opportunity to be happy?”

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Thus, for our ‘independence’, as we thank God for it and pray to Him so that we can keep this independence feeling forever, did God actually give us those things or just give us the opportunity for us to make them?

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Sometimes, we always wondered, why does people still do bad things even though the good things were shown right in front of their eyes, as if they were blinded or their heart already ‘filter’ and dispose the remnants of those good things – which the religious freaks always said as ‘still do not gain the hidayah’.

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Perhaps the statement in Evan Almighty (which some religious freaks labeled the movie as preposterous, absurd, and lead to infidelity) would be the best explanation for us to comprehend as why do some people as if were ‘blinded’ from the good things and proceed with the dark side, even if they had the chance to ‘twist’ towards the opposite side.

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Yes, God already had given to us the opportunities. The problem is whether we realized them or not, whether we would utilize all those opportunities or not. And the most important thing of all, what we would do with them.

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Perhaps that is why some people who have done many bad things will embrace religion tightly – greater than the one who has already born to live in that religion. As I have already said in Entry 77, only a person who was once blinded knows the real value of light and sight. Only a person who was desperately lost in darkness knows the true value of freedom in the light at the end of the tunnel (refer Entry 83).

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And relating to our ‘independently’ feeling of our motherland, would we felt the same as those people who already involved in the fight for independence? We might know the value of it, but we are still far beyond from the comprehension of its ‘true value’.

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We were just like a fat person who was already full, but served with good food (lets say, KFC). We only eat some bites and then stopped. Why did this happen? Because we are already full. Thus all the remaining will be wasted just like that. But for a person who is truly in great hunger, even a piece of bread in the trashcan would satisfy the hunger. Even to some people the bread has no value, added with the disgusting place it was thrown away, but to other people who knew the true value of food to relinquish the hunger, it was even more valuable than a gemstone.

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And speaking of food, the film Ratatouille also is not bad. Beneath the comedy, hidden a very subtle morale, which is something like this:

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“Yes, we might not change nature, because change IS nature..”

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The movie really is inspiring. Most interesting of all, the philosophies contained in the movie that triggers me a lot. One of them is something like this; “Cooking is like music. With just one component, you only gain one taste. But with the combination of various types of components, you will gain more tastes of music. Do not afraid to experiment with the combinations, because anyone can cook. But a great cook is only for the brave.”

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And all those are indeed true. Only the one who has the courage and brave enough to change the world (or at least one’s own world of living) could make a great difference. Sometimes, a change might not be to ‘create’ a new thing. Instead it also could be ‘altering’ or ‘modifying’ old things to suit the new needs – as we all would use the simpler term, ‘innovation’.

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Without realizing it, in our whole life, that is the thing we do. University student for example, always uses others theories, modifies them and then comes up with something which is not really ‘new’, but different and practical. Lovers for example, always uses old memories to refresh the relationship to a.. Err.. Not exactly a ‘new’ phase, but a ‘higher’ level. The truth is, the couple is still the same person. So there is nothing new exactly.

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All of them are just ‘changes’. Even in some part, it would not looks like a change (since it uses the same materials), but the ‘combination’ of those raw materials which had made it to produce a ‘new’ sensation of taste just like cooking. And sometimes, the combination itself is not sufficient. The timing also will give a great effect to the ‘newly developed’ taste.

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But the problem is, how do we generate that creativity in innovating things so that we would feel the ‘new’ essence of something old? If we relate it to the independence matter, how do we actually could experience the great taste of independence in its true value?

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The truth is, we lack of ‘desperation’ (refer Entry 83) to feel the true value of independence. Only in desperation, we could fight for it to survive. Only in desperation, we would seek success so hard even the chance are just 0.01%. But most of all, only in desperation we would pray to Him and ask him to show us the opportunity (as explained through Evan Almighty movie) to achieve it.

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Of course we did not live in those ‘desperate’ times where we were ruled by outsiders. But hey, right now we also were ruled by ‘the outsiders’ (which we sometimes use a more ‘appropriate’ term for them; The Others or The Poison Squad) but the desperation is not too great though. Even if some people might said that we are now facing much more terrorizing war which imprisoned us in our own country – mental colonization – the desperation of the people inflicted still not too great. Thus, would it be the fight for independence from that mental colonization was the objective?.

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But somehow, I feel awkward in observing those who fight in the ‘mental colonization war’. One would just stick to The Dark Side (which some people said that they are actually influenced by the culture from the west), while the other one, would fanatically stick to The Darker Side (the obsession towards religion that had made them to annihilate all infidels).

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Why? Because The Dark Side fights for freedom in their adaptation to a new culture (regardless whether the culture is positive or negative), to be ‘updated’ to a certain clans or trends. While The Darker Side fights for freedom (regardless whether their ways of approach is soft or suicide bombing) to free those infidels (or the not so religious people) from their ‘openness’, versatility and stupidity, towards outside culture and just trapped inside only in the religion.

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Culture somehow is the way of life – for certain clans. Which means, different clan has different culture. Most ironic of all, some religion claimed that they are the way of life, they are the culture, but still they only focus everything just on religion, not the way of life. So, which side is actually fights for independence? The truth is, both sides are imprisoned. The Dark Side is imprisoned due to the outsider who has already ruled their mind. While The Darker Side is also imprisoned – but in their narrow and small minded thoughts.

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The funniest thing of all is whose freedom and independence they are actually fighting for? The Dark Side fights for the so called freedom, but at the same time letting themselves to be ruled by the outsiders. While The Darker Side also fights for freedom – not THEIR freedom, but The Dark Side’s freedom, to join them in their crusade in their ‘religious prison’.

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Yes, I know. Some of you might think that I am crazy to say something like that. But as explained in the previous entry (Entry 95) in the last part after the songs, I am really interested in the phrase; “Our religions are a ‘prison’ - that is our fatal flaw.”

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Some may interpret it as:

“The religion is a prison. It is our mistake to believe in it.”

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But I would like to see it this way:

“The religion is actually freedom. It was humans themselves who made it a prison.”

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I would definitely agree to that. It is proven in ancient history that religions usually helped desperate people to change and gain new hope and new life – a more ‘independence’ harmonic mortal life with suitable rules and regulations which suits human nature and their way of life. The thing is, as time passes by, humans are as if somehow ‘have forgotten’ about that ‘freedom’ and ‘independence’ because they are too busy to think more ‘punishments’ and ‘imprisonments’. Alas, humans themselves had made religion a prison. A heartbreaking truth, isn’t it?

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With so many barricades, the space to make changes and innovations are restricted. Thus, as we pray to Him for something, even if the opportunity for us to gain the things which we had prayed for had been shown right in front of our own eyes, we still could not realize it – due to our focus on the torment in that narrow space by those barricades. Most pitiful of all, some may try to think positively as they assume that while they are in the prison, they are actually free from outside dangers, and thus, made them assumed that they had the greatest ‘independence’ of all. Tragic, yet intriguing..

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In the end, the one who has always felt the taste of ‘independence’ is the one who did not join those two groups (The Dark Side and The Darker Side), the one who always aligned to neutrality, the one who could mix with any groups without restricted to any boundaries (yet they have their own stand and principles). So free to feel the taste of freedom as if ‘air mutlak’. The most neutral water that could go anywhere – drinks, toilets, laboratories, sea, lake, mountains, even on the most ‘secret’ and ‘sacred’ part of a human’s body. The one who ‘cleanse’ all, also the one who could ‘absorb’ all - redeemer and destroyer.

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Happy Independence Day. May He shows us the opportunity to feel the true value for the taste of independence in changing our world..

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