【一切的失敗和不足,都是最美好的安排】
All Failures & Lacks Are The Best Things to Happen to Us
三個月前,收到來自台灣客人的這封電郵時,開心和心酸交織著在心裡。
開心,因為這是一年前通過Zoom視訊的客人。他居然在我們看八字的一週年,特地寫了封感謝函給我,真有心!
心酸,因為他寫在電郵裡的低落心情,我完完全全明白。
他的經歷,是我的曾經。我當初也是很難,很久才能走出來。
有一回,我為一位芳華正茂的女子批八字時,她很用心的寫下我說的話。
論寫筆記的完整,她是我客人當中的佼佼者。
寫到一半,我注意到她的右手開始微微顫抖。我以為是空調的風太大了,冷到她,便問她要不要披巾。
她說,是她的焦慮症發作。
「我沒在兇你,也沒對你嚴厲,你為何突然焦慮?」
「我.....打從今年疫情打亂了我的計畫,我就一直很焦慮。我覺得我很沒用,同學們都前進了,只有我現在什麼都不是,亂糟糟的。我就一直很緊張,萬一我一直都是這樣,怎麼辦?」
說著,她眼眶一紅,眼淚像斷了線的珍珠鏈似的灑下來。
我的媽呀!是我的樣子長得很催淚,還是我的聲音聽起來很虐心?怎麼客人,不分男女老少,東南西北,看到我好像都很容易哭?
我抓起一張紙巾遞給她。
「所以,我不是來了嗎?你來找我,就是要問個明路,而你很幸運那麼快就看到我啦!你看你的筆記寫得多工整,多齊全。我很多客人都不如你啊!我今天的工作,就是來給你答案的。我沒有把握,也不會接你這份差事。我接了,就代表還可以補救。你照著我的指示去做,一定柳暗花明又一村。」
又另一回,一位四十多歲的媽媽請我看兒子的八字。
我在批著八字時,這位媽媽點頭認同,然後就聲淚俱下。
我轉頭看著她沈默不語的先生。我說錯了什麼嗎?太太哭成淚人,你怎麼連紙巾也不拿給她啊?
「我是個沒有用的母親,很不稱職的母親。我沒有辦法教好孩子。我很愛他,可是很多時候我都不知道要怎麼做,我就會對他發脾氣,說狠話,過後我又後悔。我忍下來,可是後來還是會一樣!」
我沒打斷她,等她的哭聲逐漸小聲後,我柔柔的說:「我來啦!我坐在你前面了。你已經看到我,就是有辦法了。你知道你自己不行,會去找辦法,就代表你願意去學習做個好媽媽啊!」
我把紙巾遞給她,再說:「不要哭了,要不然,別人看了以為是我不要借你錢,才把你弄得那麼傷心。」
曾幾何時,我們都會以外在所擁有的,來定義自己的人生是否值得自己喜歡。
從原生家庭、樣貌、健康、身型、智力、天賦等,到後來的學歷、友情、事業、財富、婚姻、子女......
哪一樣沒有,而偏偏是我們最想要的,我們就會認定自己失敗的一塌糊塗。
我認為這就是普通教育最大的問題所在。父母老師都是這樣把我們「分門別類」的。值不值得父母疼愛或向親朋戚友炫耀,也離不開那幾點。
久而久之,我們也只會以「成功」來定義自己是否有價值,甚至來衡量自己是否有活下去的勇氣。
我比較喜歡佛法的定義。我們每個人都是一尊佛,六道眾生皆有佛性,只因一時的迷,因此墮落在苦輪不停的輪迴。
可正因為我們有佛性,我們都有無窮無盡的可能。每個人的內在有著很強大的力量,等著我們遇到明師後,去發掘、探索和了解。
而這天生俱來的力量,就是你改命立命的資本。
如果人生順風順水,我們永遠不會想要出離,誤把人間當極樂,所以一定要有苦,我們才會意識到,為什麼我們會在這鬼地方?要怎麼樣才可以離開這鬼地方去到極樂?
反過來,我們都應該感恩自己遇到的挫折,因為從這些苦中,我們才能生出智慧。
沒有一個八字是完美的。一切的失敗和不足,都是最美好的安排,如此你才會有出離心,返本歸源。
_______________________
3 months ago, when I received this email from my Taiwan client, there was this feeling of bittersweetness.
I was happy because this was the client I did a Zoom consultation last June. He sent me this email on the one-year anniversary date of our Zoom call, to express his gratitude. How sweet!
On the other hand, I could relate to the emotional turmoil he felt at that point in his life.
His experience was my past. It also took me a very long time to walk out from my gloominess.
Once, I analysed the Bazi of a very young lady. She was meticulously jotting down notes as I spoke.
Her detailed note-taking skills easily took the top place among my clients.
Halfway through, I noticed her right hand was trembling slightly. I thought it was due to the cold draft from the air conditioning, so I asked if she needed a shawl.
She replied that it was her anxiety disorder acting up.
“I was not fierce or strict with you. What caused your sudden anxiety?”
“I…ever since the pandemic disrupted my plans, I have been in this state of anxiety. I kept feeling useless. All my classmates are progressing expect me. I have nothing to show for and my life is in a mess. I am very anxious. What if I continue to be like this? What am I going to do?”
As she spoke, her eyes turned red and tears started rolling down like a broken strand of pearl necklace scattering onto the ground.
Oh dear! I am beginning to wonder if I have a tear-jerker face or a heart-tormenting voice. Why do my clients, regardless of gender and age, North South or East West, seem to cry easily when they see me?
I grabbed a piece of tissue and handed it to her.
“Ain’t I here already? You came to me for a roadmap and you are very lucky to see me so soon. Look at how precise and neat your notes are! Many of my clients aren’t even on par with you. My job today is to give you answers. If I didn’t have the confidence, I would not have taken up your request. Now that I did, that means there is still hope. If you follow my instructions, you will see things looking up very soon.”
On another occasion, a mother in her forties came to me for her son’s Bazi consultation.
As I was analysing, the mother nodded her head in agreement. The next thing I know, she started weeping loudly.
I turned to look at her husband, who had been silent all along. Did I say something wrong? And hello, your wife was crying. Why weren’t you gentleman enough to give her a tissue paper?
“I am a useless mother. I am incompetent. I do not know how to teach my son well. I love my son very much. But many times, I do not know what to do and thus I flare up at him and speak harshly. I always regret afterwards. I tried enduring but it still ends badly!”
I did not interrupt her and waited for her cries to soften, before speaking gently, “I’m here! I’m already sitting in front of you. You are looking at me now and that means help is here. You know that you are incompetent, so you went looking for solutions. That means you are willing to learn how to be a better mother!”
I handed a piece of tissue and said, “Don’t cry anymore, otherwise, other patrons will think that it’s because I refuse to lend you money.”
Since young, we have been using external possessions to define whether our lives are worth liking.
The family we are born into, our looks, health, body shape, intellect, talents, and then we move on to compare our academics, friendships, career, wealth, marriage and children.
If we are lacking in the area we covet most, we grade our lives as a failure.
I think this is the biggest problem in societal education. Our parents and teachers categorized us that way. Whether we as children are worthy of their love and bragging, depends on the few points above too.
Thus over time, we can only use the term “success” to determine whether we are of value, for some people, whether they should live on to take their next breath.
I very much prefer the definition in Buddhism. We are all Buddhas. Each and every sentient being in the six realms has a Buddha nature in them. But they got lost momentarily and fell into the endless wheel of reincarnation.
Yet, because of our Buddha nature, we have an unlimited source of potential. Every one of us has a very powerful strength inside us. It is just waiting for us to meet an accomplished teacher, so that we have the tools to explore and understand it:
And this strength that we are born with is the capital for us to transform and establish our own destiny.
If life is smooth-sailing, we would never want to leave and would mistake this mortal realm for Pureland. Thus, we all need sufferings, to realise that we should break out of this hell of a place. There has to be a better world somewhere. So how we get there?
We should, in fact, be grateful for all the setbacks and failures we have. Because it is from these sufferings, our wisdom arise:
No single Bazi is perfect. Every failure and lack we experience is the best arrangement for us, so that the heart of renunciation will arise in us and we will return to where we came from.
同時也有1部Youtube影片,追蹤數超過30萬的網紅吳鳳Rifat,也在其Youtube影片中提到,各國有自己的教育制度,有的算好,有的效率不夠好。這次問外國人他們覺得台灣的上課時間怎麼樣?其實很多答案很有意義,記得參考。...
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taiwan education problem 在 Eric's English Lounge Facebook 的最讚貼文
[時事英文新聞] 電腦安全 Cybersecurity
無論同學是關心經濟 (economics)、財經 (finance)、科技 (technology)、政治 (politics),或是軍事 (military)發展,電腦安全 (cybersecurity) 在這些議題當中都扮演關鍵的角色! 希望我們的媒體可以多關注資安相關新聞。
相關英文詞彙:
Search the following terms on Google News for more information.
•cybersecurity 網路安全
•information security 資訊安全
•geopolitical conflict 地緣政治衝突
•launch cyber attacks 發起網路攻擊
•be hit by cyberattacks 受到網路攻擊
•hacker teams 駭客團隊
•white hat 白帽駭客: https://bit.ly/3CRPfrp
•black hat(電腦)駭客 / 黑帽駭客: https://bit.ly/3AD6Tgp
•data breach 數據洩漏
•cyber espionage 網路諜報、網路情蒐、網路間諜
•ransomware 勒索軟體
•cripple operations 癱瘓運作
•disable (v.) 使發生故障,使失靈,使無法正常工作
•critical infrastructure 重要的基礎設施、維生管線
•cyber preparedness 資安準備度
•cyberwarfare and electronic warfare capabilities 網路戰與電子作戰能力
•economic espionage 經濟間諜
•operation security 行動安全
•end-to-end encryption 端到端加密
•end-user education 終端使用者的教育
•increase awareness 增強意識
相關報導:
📌 U.S. Taps Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Others to Help Fight Ransomware, Cyber Threats
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-taps-amazon-google-microsoft-others-to-help-fight-ransomware-cyber-threats-11628168400
📌 LINE accounts of 100 Taiwan officials hacked in mass breach
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/LINE-accounts-of-100-Taiwan-officials-hacked-in-mass-breach
📌 Food, Farms and Cyber Security: Agriculture Faces a Growing Problem
https://www.techopedia.com/food-farms-and-cyber-security-agriculture-faces-a-growing-problem/2/34551
📌 Cyber preparedness could save America's 'unsinkable aircraft carrier'
https://thehill.com/opinion/cybersecurity/567069-cyber-preparedness-could-save-americas-unsinkable-aircraft-carrier
📌 Why Cyber Security Stocks Have Rallied Over The Last Month
https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2021/08/09/why-cyber-security-stocks-have-rallied-over-the-last-month/?sh=27dbc0b843bd
📌 A Cybersecurity Stop Sign: CISA Introduces Bad Practices
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/08/12/a-cybersecurity-stop-sign-cisa-introduces-bad-practices/?sh=264cd77e42d6
taiwan education problem 在 Eric's English Lounge Facebook 的最佳解答
淺談「假新聞」
最近上課時學到一個新單字「positionality」,讓我想到當前社群媒體上,不停看到的「fake news」——假新聞。
簡言之,「positionality」(位置性) 被定義為於種族、階級、性別、性取向以及能力等狀態中,創造你身分的社會與政治背景。位置性還描述了你的身分如何影響你對世界的理解與看法,以及潛在的偏見。
positionality 位置性;定位
https://terms.naer.edu.tw/detail/3390885/
https://www.lexico.com/definition/positionality
以下是我對「positionality」與 「fake news」的些許觀點:
“Fake news” has permeated all facets of life, ranging from social media interaction to presidential elections. Fake news can be defined as “fabricated information that mimics news media content in form but not in organizational process or intent” (Lazer et al., 2018, p. 1094). The creators and outlets of fake news do not ensure the accuracy and credibility of information, but rather disseminate misinformation or disinformation for purposes ranging from personal amusement to creating deceptions to achieve political aims. At times, fake news is created and disseminated by state or non-state actors using social media accounts and networks of bots designed to hijack feed algorithms of platforms such as Twitter or Facebook (Prier, 2017, p. 54). In the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, Facebook estimated that up to 60 million bots were used to post political content. Some of the same bots were then used in an attempt to influence the 2017 French election (Lazer et al., 2018, p. 1095). Such campaigns can be understood as a form of information warfare, a comprehensive attempt to control and influence every facet of the information supply chain, thereby influencing public opinion and behaviors. (Prier, 2017, p. 54). Often, fake news is not directly created by actors that seek to manipulate but by journalists or content creators whose content favors or aligns with the narratives of these actors (Doshi, 2020).
從社群媒體的互動到總統選舉,「假新聞」(fake news)已滲透至生活的各個層面。假新聞可被定義為「在形式上而非組織過程或意圖上,模仿新聞媒體內容所捏造的資訊」(Lazer et al., 2018, p. 1094)。無論是出於個人愛好或為達政治目的而有所欺瞞,假新聞的製造者與傳播管道並不保證資訊的準確性與可信度,反而是為了散播錯誤訊息(misinformation)或扭曲訊息(disinformation)。有時,假新聞是由國家或非國家行為者(state or non-state actors)所製造與傳播,藉由社群媒體帳號及網絡機器人來劫持諸如臉書與推特等平臺的推送演算法(Prier, 2017, p. 54)。在2016年的美國總統大選中,臉書估計有多達6千萬個機器人被用來發布政治貼文。其中,有部分機器人被用於影響隔年的法國大選(Lazer et al., 2018, p. 1095)。此類行動可視為資訊戰(information warfare)的一種形式,一種對控制與影響資訊供應鏈各環節的全面嘗試,從而影響公眾輿論與行為(Prier, 2017, p. 54)。假新聞通常是由記者或內容創造者(content creators)所創造,而非試圖操弄的行為者,前者的內容偏好符合後者的敘事(Doshi, 2020)。
Nevertheless, while the term “fake news” is commonplace, there is no universal, measurable way to quantify the fakeness or truthfulness of news. There are many fact-checking and media-bias detection tools, but they cannot objectively detect and clarify the more subtle and nuanced aims of manipulative actors that play a crucial role in news production. It can also be argued that the veracity of news depends not only on the actors that seek to manipulate it, but also on the positionality of its consumers. Therefore, one’s initial line of defense against misleading news lies not in the plethora of fact-checking devices but more in one’s pre-existing dispositions and skills to think and act in response to misleading information. This ability can be referred to as critical thinking, which can be more concretely expounded as “reasonable and reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do” (Ennis, 2011, p. 15).
然而,即便「假新聞」一詞隨處可見,卻沒有統一、可衡量的方式來量化新聞的虛假性或真實性。目前有許多事實查核與媒體偏見檢測工具,但它們無法客觀地檢測與說明行為操弄者更狡猾、更細緻的目標,而這些操弄者往往在新聞的生產中發揮著重要作用。我們也可以說,新聞的真實性不僅取決於試圖操弄它的行為者,同時還取決於新聞受眾的位置性。因此,一個人對抗誤導性新聞的第一道防線,不在於這些五花八門的事實查核方式,反而在於個人所固有的性格,以及針對誤導性資訊的思考與行動等相關技能。這種能力可稱為批判性思考(critical thinking),意即「專注於決定相信什麼或做什麼的理性思考與反思性思考」(Ennis, 2011, p. 15)。
Taiwan, also known as the Republic of China (ROC), is at the forefront of information warfare. It is wedged between the geopolitical struggles of global and regional hegemonies such as the United States and China, the People's Republic of China (PRC). Compounding the matter are the Taiwan’s own political actors vying for influence and power. This struggle seeps into all aspects of life and practice, mainly manifesting itself on social media, a battleground of information warfare. The Ministry of Education of Taiwan is cognizant of these information campaigns, and efforts have been made to introduce media literacy into all parts of its education system. According to the ministry, the government has tried to promote media literacy education since 2000 (MOE, 2002, p. 1), with one of its primary goals to cultivate its “citizens” abilities for independent learning, critical thinking, and problem solving” (MOE, 2002, p. 2).
臺灣,也被稱為中華民國,正處於資訊戰的最前線。這是全球霸權與地區霸權之間——如美國與中國(中華人民共和國)——的地緣政治對抗。使問題惡化的是臺灣自身的政治行動者對影響力與權力的奪取。這場對抗遍布於現實生活的各個面向,主要於社群媒體中——資訊戰的戰場——展露無遺。臺灣的教育部注意到了這些資訊的煙硝,並已努力將媒體素養引入其教育體系。據該部稱,自2000年以來,政府一直試圖推展媒體素養教育(MOE, 2002, p. 1),其主要目標之一是培養「公民獨立學習、批判性思考以及解決問題的能力。」(MOE, 2002, p. 2)。
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上述段落認為,由於個人的位置性(positionality),「假新聞」極難定義。此外,有許多人把不符合自身成見與偏好的新聞逕斥為假新聞。這其實相當危險,因為個人觀點將會變得愈發孤立與激進。
閱聽人應意識到,他們在網路上看到的每個資訊都有特定立場。是否真有毫無立場的新聞文章?為了對抗操弄性或強制性資訊(coercive information),我們必須意識到權力於個中的作用,以及我們自身的位置性如何形塑我們的詮釋。這是我們的第一道防線。
★★★★★★★★★★★★
參考文獻
Doshi, R. (2020, January). China steps up its information war in Taiwan. Foreign Affairs. Retrieved March, 21, 2021, from https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2020-01-09/china-steps-its-information-war-taiwan
Ennis, R. H. (1985). A logical basis for measuring critical thinking skills. Educational leadership, 43(2), 44-48.
Lazer, D. M., Baum, M. A., Benkler, Y., Berinsky, A. J., Greenhill, K. M., Menczer, F., ... & Zittrain, J. L. (2018). The science of fake news. Science, 359(6380), 1094-1096.
MOE (Ministry of Education), Taiwan. (2002). White paper on media literacy educational policy. Retrieved March, 21, 2021, from http://english.moe.gov.tw/public/Attachment/ 2122416591771.pdf
Prier, J. (2017). Commanding the trend: Social media as information warfare. Strategic Studies Quarterly: SSQ, 11(4), 50-85.
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教育時評: http://bit.ly/39ABON9
相關詞彙: https://bit.ly/2UncrfI
TED相關影片: https://bit.ly/3BDsDKl
taiwan education problem 在 吳鳳Rifat Youtube 的最佳解答
各國有自己的教育制度,有的算好,有的效率不夠好。這次問外國人他們覺得台灣的上課時間怎麼樣?其實很多答案很有意義,記得參考。
taiwan education problem 在 Taiwan's English Education Problem! 台灣英語教育制度問題! 的推薦與評價
Taiwan's English Education Problem ! 台灣英語教育制度問題! 融入美國口說日常!和莫彩曦學英文慣用語 募資期間優惠76 ... ... <看更多>
taiwan education problem 在 Taiwan's English Education System has a BIG Problem and I ... 的推薦與評價
Taiwan's English Education System has a BIG Problem and I Have the Answer! ... 融入美國口說日常!和莫彩曦學英文慣用語募資期間優惠 ... ... <看更多>