2025

Well, 2025 has arrived. The Chinese ideogram that’s been on my mind throughout the day is 樂, the most general meaning of which is “happy”, as in 新年快樂, Happy New Year.

Furthermore, 樂 can be taken to mean joy, as in 喜樂. Or bliss, 極樂. Bliss. A word that leads me to think of the Pali and Sanskrit “Ananda”, or the Buddhist notion of eternal happiness and peace through enlightenment, as in 極樂世界, as well as joy of heaven in Christian theology, which is understood to be essential spiritual experience of God. Taken together, bliss appears to mean “union with the divine”.

Nonetheless, what strikes me most about the ideogram 樂 is its most original meaning: music, as in 音樂. The character in the most primitive oracle bone script was simply composed of two 糸 (strings) on top of 木 (wood). In other words, two strings on a piece of wood—a musical instrument. It was in the Spring and Autumn period that the character 白 “white, pure” was added between the two strings. So there, music is pure joy! I cannot agree more.

Following both eastern and western philosophies on bliss as divine union, for the new year, I need to focus on self-alignment. The past two years were extremely challenging for me physically and emotionally. Apart from persistent cancer, I was plagued by anxiety and depression. In this new year, more challenges will be confronting me. My care team and I are now in search for clinical trials around the country. Yet, above all, I must turn my attention inwardly. As I said goodbye to 2024, I have let go of some people for the sake of my journey toward healing. But one thing for sure is that I alone am ultimately responsible for my negative thoughts and feelings. I must return to 樂.

As an admirer of Stoicism, I “pray” for serenity to accept things that cannot be changed; courage to change things that must be changed; and the wisdom to distinguish one from the other.

Happy New Year, friends.