inspiration of the month 4

TEA TIME!!!

Tea of this blog post: organic Moroccan herbal mint tea by Numi. Although I was at first skeptical about whether this was really mint until after I smelled it and drank it; this sort of tea is also part of my childhood and I always loved it. What tea would you like to be served today?

Yes I know, this ritual of "inspiration of the month" has been skipped twice I guess....that is why I'm not skipping anymore by posting now. For new **visitors** of this **Tea House** who don't know what this ritual of "inspiration of the month" is about, please see the first "inspiration of the month" blog post.

Before I share with you the "inspiration", I'd like to say something about the music I've finalized for this **Tea House**. The Ipod gadget (the Mixpod) gadget displayed in the right hand side of the blog now has a total of seven soundtracks. I made sure that they were as diverse as possible and yet matching the theme of the **Tea House**. I'm open to suggestions. By clicking on "menu" in the Ipod, you can choose what song you'd like played as you sip some **tea** at the **Tea House**. Below is the name, singer/composer, and language of each of the soundtracks:

1. "Tea House Moon" by Enya (instrumental) 
2. "Memories of Light and Wave" theme from the video game Final Fantasy X-2 (instrumental)
3. "Now We Are Free" by Lisa Gerard; theme from the movie "Gladiator" (I'm not sure what language is this sung in, but I'm assuming it's Gaelic or an invented language?)
4. "Chouwa-oto" by Kokia (Japanese)
5. Naseer Shamma playing Jamil Bashir compositions (instrumental: oud)
6. "Doosh doosh" by Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat (Farsi)
7. "Mina Sonati" by Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat (Farsi)

I hope you enjoy them!

Now, here's your simple inspiration of the month! I found this simple yet beautiful quotation from a bookmark I found in Barnes and Noble bookstore nearby my campus:

"Wisdom begins in wonder." 

---Socrates

I really think that this quotation still stands true especially for our modern age where people seem to be much more cynical and critical of everything and justify such attitude as being realistic and as key to knowledge. However, although asking questions is indeed key to knowledge, it is the attitude and mindset from which it is asked that matters, for one can approach a problem, statement, argument, etc. with a mindset of either blind-faith, doubt, or wonder.

In blind-faith, one accepts anything without doubting; simply basing their values, etc. on mere faith. Doubt involves critical thinking and always questioning everything. With doubt, you're only making sure that you always argue against the claim, argument, etc. without attempting to understand it more fully or considering views that maybe a balance between your view and the other's view. Wonder also involves some amount of critical thinking, but it also involves creative thinking and leads to a more open mind compared to the previous two.Wonder is a balance between the extremes of blind-faith and doubt.

If we can learn to live our lives always in constant wonder and awe, like childish scientists or childish artists, then indeed there's so much more we can unlock and learn and we can thus live our lives fuller. It is with wonder that a lot of music, art, and inventions are made rather than abiding by either of the extremes of blind-faith and doubt. I'd love to learn how to master this art of wonder myself, I always feel I forget this wisdom myself or that there's much more to it that I still don't understand yet. However, having this bookmark with this quotation by Socrates helps remind me to keep that mindset as I mentally have a "debate" with the claims and statements of an interesting book. I hope he does the same for you.

From your Tea Mate,

Reema B. :-)