30 01 2016 East Java, “Watch and see the courses of stars as if you run with them, and continually dwell in mind upon the changes of the elements into one another, for these imaginations wash away the foulness of life on the ground.” Marcus Aurelius.
Rimba had birthday few days ago, we went to Puri Mall to celebrate his birthday. His fiance told me in some short chat that there was frustration in him, he was down sometimes, comparing himself with other. Sometimes he wanted to quit being an architect. I know for sure he will become good architect, he has capability to think in the deeper layer.
Nowadays when we are in the high speed of information era, there is problem in this society, this social media society, like what Zygmunt Bauman stated “Social media are a trap” He argued that social media is a trap, the difference between a community and a network is that you belong to a community, but a network belongs to you. You feel in control. You can add friends if you wish, you can delete them if you wish. You are in control of the important people to whom you relate. People feel a little better as a result, because loneliness, abandonment, is the great fear in our individualist age. But it’s so easy to add or remove friends on the internet that people fail to learn the real social skills, which you need when you go to the street, when you go to your workplace, where you find lots of people who you need to enter into sensible interaction with.
… Social media don’t teach us to dialogue because it is so easy to avoid controversy… But most people use social media not to unite, not to open their horizons wider, but on the contrary, to cut themselves a comfort zone where the only sounds they hear are the echoes of their own voice, where the only things they see are the reflections of their own face. Social media are very useful, they provide pleasure, but they are a trap. [1] I think this is about digesting the information in this high speed era, the network is strong but the relationship is not strong. by having stronger relationship, we can care between each other, support each other.
Last sunday Greg told me the same thing, he sometimes want to quit as an architect. I know for sure he will become good architect because he is thoughtful and curious about new ideas. I couldn’t answer him, I was in silent, asked him to be patience, asked for his understanding that learning architecture takes time. It is a marathon, not a sprint. Rezki also asked after that, about if he did interior work, does it affect his career as an architect, well , Carlo Scarpa started his career as exhibition and interior design, he was acknowledged as architect just before he died. He is one of the greatest architect ever.
Feeling wanna quit is normal. I feel it as well time to time. Last time we had a project that we had worked on for several years. we put really effort into it for almost 3 years, then one time, the owner selected another architect because he paired with another investor without letting me know. At that time I felt devastated, dissapointed, angry nervous as well, but I couldn’t angry to anyone, it’s not my temper. I wanted to quit. At that time, I couldn’t do anything,
But, just after that we got another project from another client which is so fabulous, and that client is one of the best client ever who trusted us, and we made one of the most beautiful work ever.
The process is about to do your best and let it go, it is the process that is most difficult, much thing about bitter story. I am still looking, trying to have a patience as architect. Sometimes it’s hard.
I found this antidote for finding our ownself. It is a book written by Antoine de Saint – Exupery, the title is the little prince. The cover reminded me about this condition, and Miracle. I fell in love with this book. It is beautiful book about philosophical story of love and friendship, a reflection on how to distinguish what matters and what does not. There are 6 stories of him visiting asteroids when the he meet numbers of different people.
each of which was inhabited by a foolish, narrow-minded adult,
“First is the king who shows adult like to command and order, everything needs to be in order, lil prince then comments “grown ups really are very strange.
second,he meet the man who like to be praised, he is show off,
third,he meet the drunk man who wants to forget his shame
Fourth,he meet the man who count stars which has no purpose other than to count the stars. The stars resemble the wealth. It shows grown ups are greed
Fifth, he meet the lamplighter, resemble the time to rest, it may not be important as the others, but it is the friendliest compare to the others.
Sixth, he meet with the geographer, who wrote down the permanent facts, but he is not an explorer, he need people to explore the world, and it is the most important part.
Seventh, he goes to earth, where all of the character are there.”
People, said the little prince they dive into express trains, but they don’t know what they are looking for, They get restless and go around in circles. The story about this little prince, reminded me about the most important part in our life, our closest one, our passion. what matter and what does not. We just need to find our own little prince, a person who never give us answer when we question him, and we will know the answer by ourself, time will tell.
Little Prince : “I am looking for friends. What does that mean — tame?”
“It is an act too often neglected,” said the fox. “It means to establish ties.”
“To establish ties?”
“Just that,” said the fox. “To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world….”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
Time to go back to my home, I miss my Mircale and Laurensia so much. Laurensia sent this photo to me during trip :) Hallo :)
[1] http://elpais.com/elpais/2016/01/19/inenglish/1453208692_424660.html
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Prince
My Mayonnaise Jar 