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WE BELIEVE or WE KNOW?
The world suffers from belief and is in great need of Gnosis/Insight. Most people take Belief and Faith as synonymous, and the dictionaries describe them as synonyms.
But Belief and Faith exists where there is no knowledge, no direct, personal experience of the object of Belief, while Gnosis or Insight, on the contrary, arises from knowledge, from direct contact with and experience of the object,whatever it might be.
Thus, the old saying: "Seeing is believing", is not true; seeing is knowing; believing is not knowing!
During the Middle Ages, most people believed that sickness was caused by demons, and Satan—the Devil—was a very real person to them. Nowadays, although many people still believe in Satan as a person, they would hardly answer "Yes" if asked: "Do you believe that your Flu/cancer/diabetes is caused by the Devil?"
In this way, we will recognize the difference between Belief and KNOWING. We now have direct Gnosis of what causes diseases, we do NOT believe anymore, we KNOW!
We believe when we do not know. When we know, we do not believe.
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From the foreword of the book ‘What Buddhists believe’:
“On one occasion a Christian delegation visited Ven Dhammananda to have a dialogue. A member of the delegation saw the book on his desk and asked,
“Venerable, What do Buddhists believe?”
He replied, “Buddhists do not believe anything!”
Puzzled, the man asked,
“ Then why did you write this book?”
Ven Dhammananda smiled and said,
“Well, read the book and see for yourself whether there is anything in Buddhism simply to believe.”
The man then asked
“Alright then, what do Buddhists do?”
Ven Dhammananda replied,
“Well, first they study, then they practice and finally they experience”
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Brother Yin Onn, Faith is blind belief. Hence, when people talk of blind faith, the word "blind" in this context is redundant, because faith is blind belief. Thus Faith is belief without substantiation, whether that of knowing or seeing ... it is blind, and so just put the hand on the heart, and swear by it.
 Dear Prof Wong,
I attended some of your talks in Singapore, and work as a volunteer with
hospice patients and would like to find out your views on
The Terminally Ill patient and Medical Futility
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May you be well, happy, peaceful.
With Gratitude,
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Dear Bro,
The basic principle behind treatment is
1. To Comfort ALWAYS
2. To Relieve OFTEN
3. To Cure Sometimes
Hence in the treatment of the terminally ill patients, WE MUST ALWAYS ASSURE THE PATIENT AND FAMILY THAT EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO MAKE THE PATIENT MORE COMFORTABLE *PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY* WILL BE DONE. All patients must be assured right from the start that they will NOT be in terrible pain, this is a common BIG fear. Wisdom must always come next.... are we prolonging LIFE or are we
prolonging the DYING process??With terminal illness, nature lets you die withabbreviated suffering, medicine (doctors) lets you suffer with protracted dying.
PROF KK Toh
When further attempts at chemotherapy is obviously and statistically futile, common sense must take over, however we MUST NEVER destroy Hope.... always give the patient HOPE for a better tomorrow even if it is comfort in
the arms of morphia.
Doctors and attending medical personal are NOT TECHNICIANS, the late Professor TJ Danaraj used to teach us that while it is likely possible that we can even train a monkey to do brain surgery, we cannot train it when to do it and even more important "when NOT to do it". Medicine is first and foremost an ART.... and the issues of dealing with the terminally ill patient requires the ART of Medicine at its finest!
Doctors had been practising in awareness of
1. *quantitative futility*, where the likelihood that an intervention will benefit the patient is exceedingly poor, and 2. *qualitative futility*, where the quality of benefit an intervention will produce is exceedingly poor. "
for a long time. It requires Wisdom, Compassion and Knowledge.
The most important aspect is the Peace and Comfort of the Mind; while the Body will inevitably be sick, the Mind need NOT be.
metta,
dr wong
Impermanent is all conditioned things, All things rise and fall away, Conditions give us birth, Conditions give us death. This body and mind of ours, will soon be lying on the ground Like a useless piece of drift wood, washed upon the shore. Our consciousness will vanish, the mind will not be there, Just like a bubble bursting on the water, turning into air. We came into this world without an invitation, and We don't need to ask permission when its time for us to leave. We rise to birth that always ends in death; we come just as we go. Does the candle shed a tear when the flame goes out? Don't be sad, be mindful. "In the Dhamma well expounded by me thus, which is clear, open, evident and free of patchwork, those monks who have sufficient faith in me, sufficient love for me, are all headed for heaven". The Buddha, MN22.47
 A bro asked me....
If being free from suffering/ reaching enlightenment means to live life
devoid of love, feelings and emotions…. What’s the point of living? I would rather risk getting hurt (out of loving), but be able to experience the depths
of life that comes with the fullness of love, feelings, emotions and human
touch…
Answer: There is a serious misconception here from the way the questioner is in doubt!
To be enlightened requires LOTS of love, so much so that you NOT only love 1 person out of Lust but the whole world out of compassion! Furthermore it is an UNCONDITIONAL love, not the sort of love that goes 'I love you because...........'
Secondly, the being walking the Path deals with all interactions with Metta, Karuna, Mudita and Upekha..... UNCONDITIONAL LOVE, COMPASSION, JOY AND EQUANIMITY!! So there is NO QUESTION at all of an emotional cretin arising!!
Indeed ONE touches the very depths of the fullness of life WITH WISDOM, LOVE and COMPASSION, REJOICING in the successes of others without Jealousy, Anger or Ill will!
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