Knowing thyself, knowing thy world – Vision Youth programs on personal development

Visiting a mosque

    The personal development workshop held in mid July provided a valuable chance for Bronze Visioneers to know more about themselves and set up their own values and goals. Many Visioneers claimed that the workshop was very helpful in a sense that they knew their own selves better than before.

    Mr. Duncan So, the founder of Phinklife Inc., was the speaker of the workshop. In the beginning, he threw out a very simple question to the Visioneers to think of, which was “What is a value to you?”. Then, he asked them to write down five important values that they treasured. The answers to this question varied from person to person: leadership, freedom, love, honesty, perseverance, etc. were the most popular answers but there were some awesome responses like trust, teamwork, humour and open-mindedness as well. This small test was to encourage the Visioneers to explore, know, and understand themselves.  As Mr. So mentioned in the workshop, the differences of how to look at the word “value” marked the differences and uniqueness of individuals. Also being reiterated by Mr. So for many times, people could achieve ultimate happiness through the process of knowing themselves and persisting on the way of life they want to have. Lastly, Mr. So ended his sharing with the statement “Follow your own dreams and aspirations, not someone else's”, and it was likely to be served as a very strong and encouraging statement to the Visioneers.

    Knowing yourself is a fundamental step in one’s life journey. Knowing the world is a more advanced step to go in order to survive in an immense and complicated society.

    Bronze Visioneers visited a Hindu Temple at Claireville Drive as well as a mosque at Nigget Avenue in mid July. The purpose of the site visits was not to promote any religious thoughts but to encourage Visioneers to embrace the multiculturalism and religious freedom that are having in Canada. Sometimes the best way to learn a new culture is to face it, not to evade it. In this case, Vision Youth hopes to encourage Visioneers to learn to respect different religions by showing different dimensions and perspectives of it. Religion serves as an important element in the development of societies, for example, the spectacular architectures, stunning arts and crafts works and classic documents that were originated from various religions depicted the idea of civilization as well as the unshakable status of religion in facilitating both social and cultural development. Religion serves as a spiritual asset to many people as believed. On this ground, visiting religious landmarks like temple and mosque enabled young Visioneers to learn and understand the world more and it surely was a mind-blowing and eye-opening experience to them. 

    "India was China's teacher in religion and imaginative literature, and the world's teacher in trignometry, quandratic equations, grammar, phonetics, Arabian Nights, animal fables, chess, as well as in philosophy, and that she inspired Boccaccio, Goethe, Herder, Schopenhauer, Emerson, and probably also old Aesop." Lin Yutang, a famous Chinese contemporary writer, described and portrayed India in his work “The Wisdom of China and India”. This quote was also marked on a stele inside the Hindu temple and showed the important role of religion in pushing a country’s development.

The spectacular Hindu Temple

    All Visioneers were stunned by the spectacular and glamorous Hindu Temple in front of them as the temple was built of more than 6000 tones of marble, limestone, sandstone and wood and it was crafted by 1500 artisans before it was moved to Toronto. The 95000 cubic-foot structure was like a splendid big puzzle. Visitors were required to dress up properly and decently and to take off their shoes before getting in the grand architecture. The Visioneers had an opportunity to learn a new culture through watching a documentary related to the building of the temple and observing the rituals of serving Hindu Gods. These unique experiences have enriched the participants’ knowledge of Hindu culture and religion aesthetics.

    Besides visiting the Hindu temple, the Bronze Visioneers had a chance to visit a mosque. A staff of the mosque introduced to the Visioneers the Muslim religion, cultures and rituals. One worth-mentioning Muslim culture is “Sawm” (meaning fasting in English). It means that Muslims are required to abstain from any eating and drinking for a month in order to experience the hardship and sufferings of other poor people and show respect and sincerity to Allah, the God of Muslims. The staff also expressed his strong hope for peace. After that, he encouraged the participants to raise questions so to let them understand Muslim cultures profoundly. Visioneers had questions on Muslim’s way of dressing and Muslim's view towards same-sex marriage:- the staff explained that the white outfits symbolize the idea of simplicity and innocence, and answered that Muslim respects same-sex marriage as they embrace other cultures as well.
   

    Both the workshop and the site visits provided the Bronze Visioneers with eye-opening learning opportunities. These experiences could broaden their horizons, push them to reflect on themselves, and shape their own personal and cultural values.