Dear Eugene

Dear Eugene, There is this button we all wish we have.  And if we do have we would use it frequently.  We might even lay a stone on it to ensure it never pops back up and disrupts our desired autopilot status quo. The button does many things, eventually, but does only one thing.  It changes the mind. The mind of the other person. It's really simple to use and goes like this.  Say, you want strawberry milkshake but your friend wants chocolate.  Both of you know neither can (or should) finish one full shake on your own.  You know the way to go is to share.  You don't want chocolate in your strawberry and your friend feels the same but works his wish from the polar opposite.  It's either-or. So you, secretly, press the button, which is convenient and inconspicuous enough, because the button is on your right thumb nail.  You raise your right arm, wrap the left around your belly to have the left palm support the right elbow, and then...

Dear Eugene, I certainly didn't expect to watch Daniel Day Lewis' final movie (I hope he is wrong about his retirement decision) last night and find out it is about exactly what I wrote yesterday morning . What does it take to break down a man so that he could break through his little Self? All our life we've been taught to think for ourselves, to build a house that would welcome our favorite memory, people, and things, and shut off unwelcome guests, suffering past, present, and future.  Why would we then now want to do things any differently? Why do we want a "breakthrough" when things have been working well so far, that after all these years we seemed to have "found ourselves" in our little house-building project, a place we could finally call "our own"?  At last we have wrapped our head around ideas to juggle demands big and small, figured out a way to reduce people and stuffs to manageable size and trivialize or even trash those...

Dear Eugene, This is how you pray , Jesus said, Father, your will be done . I wonder how this works exactly.  Some mornings I seemed to know what it means, others I was not too sure. Actually most mornings I was not too sure.  Like this morning. Wife working from home half-day, taking son to specialist appointment in the afternoon.  I woke early to boot up her computer, and was greeted by a grey screen.  I rebooted it a few times and found online it's call "The grey screen of death."  Blood shot through my brain when I heard that name.  (Not that blood wasn't shooting through my brain always, but such was a moment that you actually heard the Whoosh! ) All of a sudden I am a computer technician.  All of a sudden. Just like how I became a roofer: The roof leaked at night-->Alex became a roofer the next morning.  All of a sudden.  Just like that.  Clear logic.  Kids sound asleep.  Water dripped from ceiling. ...

Dear Eugene, "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." The Lord's Prayer, we all know these words.  But what are they saying? They are saying, God, I want what you want.  Please help me to live this very day in my very life circumstances to know what you desire and desire it.  Right here , right now , I long for what you long for.  Not tomorrow, not later, not after I retired, not after I got my roof fixed, my trees trimmed, not after I got my morning coffee, my hearty breakfast, confirmed tonight's restaurant reservation, not after the World Cup, not after I made my first million dollar, passed my next exam, came back from next week's vacation, got my stable job, moved up the ladder, got married to the right person, set my kids on the right path, changed my flat tire, burned the amount of fat I desire to burn daily, got the recognition I deserve from my friends, spouse, colleagues and boss, figured out where I shoul...