Ascension

Have you thought about it?
All the relations you have built?
The crowd surrounds like a faceless blur,
Their all there,
But is it a false sense of accomplishment?

Is it a lie? Is life truly like this?

We perceive what we choose to see,
We become who we want to be,
Or is it something that we don’t truly see?
Are others the ones who decide?

In these hurried times you make a choice.

Even without the truth,
Without a light,
In these uncertainties,
It’s time to take that leap of faith.
-Perception and faith

Have you ever questioned what is real? There are so many things around us which we often don’t ask ourselves or choose not to, on whether the things we do is real. What do I mean by real? Being real is something that is done with the true desire to do it, something you truly believe in. But then, belief, it comes at another question, is belief enough to make it real?

Belief is a perception, if we believe something, it becomes real to us. So if everyone thought something was true, does it make it real? From here, we could continue to branch out to many topics and still go on and on, and this would end up as a ten thousand word article, which almost all of you who read this would never finish. Most people would not even finish the thousand word plus articles I write. So when you apply the word real to the readers of these articles, are any of you real readers of my articles? Do you actually read word for word, from beginning to end? Do you desire to read it? Do you simply read to see what’s going on in my life?

If you did, I guess you’d see my emotions in my writing, it reflects part of how my life is, the snapshots of state of mind and not exactly what happened in a literal sense. My poetry is like the summary of most of what happened, but the writings in between often hold so much more of my contemplations.

So to me, is this blog real? I have another where I write briefly about what happens in my life, posting pictures and showing the world what happens. It is a real representation of the exciting things in my life, though not every moment, thus I’d say its real, but does it reflect my true state of mind? In that sense, it would not be real. Brings us to the question of is it possible for something to be real and unreal at the same thing?
The sevendaysoftheweek blog has real pictures of me, has my writing and reflections about them, but only on the surface level. This surface level is real, but the deeper thoughts are not there, thus in terms of my writing styles and blogging style, it’s not the real me. Thus, I’d say that’s when the real and unreal merge, forming a different part.

Looking at things that are real, the largest part of our lives that we often should question if they are real is the relations we keep. Are these relations real? Why are they formed? Do they even hold real weight in our lives? In our life we will meet many people, who come and go, many whom we will forget, many whom we’ll briefly meet, but only a small number whom we will spend most of our time with and maintain relationships with. It is so easy for someone to fall out of relations if the bond is not strong and people don’t meet up.

That’s why as time goes on, the friends seem to change, and you look at how people are and their shift in loyalties or treatment of you. Often, it gets harder to see people for whether they truly like you and like to spend time with you the more you go into things that are considered “popular” Following the trends set by groups or people and becoming well known tends to blur the line of real and unreal. It makes it hard to determine if the person really would be your friend without this “popularity”

I’ve always shunned this form of “popularity” But then again, what about a trend you set? I realize by doing different things, by pursuing what I like, it ultimately does come with attention, and can end up being “popular” It is then when I don’t feel like pursuing what I enjoyed doing because of the “popularity” When I was the joker last month, I experienced a height of attention given towards me despite not revealing my name to those who don’t know me. When people asked me for my name, I only smiled and said it was “Joker”

Despite the numerous girls who wanted to take photos with me and get my name and number in Zouk, I chose not to give them; instead I maintained the persona of the Joker and told them I was the Joker. Being the Joker was not being me, but someone else, it was being in character, it was an act and people liked that, but it wasn’t the real me. I love acting so much, because at the end of the day it’s like living as another person for that moment of time. For that moment, I really become that person, I think and feel like the character, and for that moment it is real to me.

But at the end of the day, after the character has faded away, and I’ve reverted to myself, people still want to associate with me because of the character I played. I realized how plastic everything feels, the bitter after taste of “fame and popularity”. My use of these terms are in a small scale, I am not talking about huge groups knowing me, but those who see me and interact with during those moments want to know me for that. Most people I’ll meet probably will fade into the background quickly, but I want to have interactions with people as the real me so that when I find those who’d not fade away, that I could have real relations with them, something that would last.

I want to get to know people as the real me, and for them to be interested in knowing me as I am rather than any other way. I want it to be real, the want to know Kwan, not joker, not sandman, not something else, but just Kwan.

Do you hear the song of their voices?
The air becomes empty for a moment,
And the flowers begin to bloom,
And at that moment,

The sun is blocked by a sudden shadow.

The voices become silent,
The warmth once known is gone,
Even as the snow flakes fall,
Life carries on.

So why should you pause?
-Life carries on.