Why I am Leaving Hong Kong: The Lowdown

Central, HK Island, seen from across Victoria Harbour

One of the wisest and most perceptive women I ever knew once said something I'll never forget. She said that people don't grow when they are too comfortable. In fact this message was relayed to the spiritual group I was in at the time, by the group teacher Tracy. Jessica  had phoned her from a city several hundred kilometres away and told Tracey that the group was getting too settled and that Tracy needed to "Stir up the dust!" Jessica didn't need to be present to know that because she was the most powerful clairvoyant I have ever known. More than once she rang me personally to inform me about issues that were going on in my own life and to give me feedback about my 'consciousnesss field', including what I needed to do to rectify the problem. She was always right.

I can assure you that it was tough being in that group. Expectations were extraordinarily high. You either did what was expected of you, or you were shown the door! There is no hiding stuff from Spirit. In its essence the mind is transparent. 'God' and certain spiritual entities can see everything - and some people can see most of it too! It's only human beings that hide things from themselves, and from each other.

There's a reason why I mention these things. I've been living in Hong Kong now for eight years. It's hard to believe it's been so long! During this time I have continued to write and speak as futurist and as a person involved in the consciousness movement. What's more I have also held down a full-time job throughout those eight years - as high school teacher in Hong Kong's public education system. It's a pretty good job by most measures. The workload is not that heavy and the pay is excellent, probably the best in the world for a public high school job. If I earned this amount of money in Australia (given the low tax rate in HK), I would be well into the top ten percent of wage earners. My school here has been wonderful. I particular the teachers, administrators and students are simply 'lovely' (to use HK vernacular).

So I almost get it all here. A good income, great work relations and low stress.

 Discovery Bay

So why am I leaving?

I am leaving because it is too comfortable. I could certainly do this for the next 15 years and then retire. But it would be too easy.

I also had a 'vision'.

About two months ago I awoke in the early hours of the morning, in the pitch black of night, and a clear image came into my mind's eye. It was a map of Australia. The map was dark, but the coastal outline of Australia was clear. On the map there were four bright red dots. One was in far north Queensland, around the location of the city of Cairns. The other three were all situated very close to Melbourne in the far south-east corner of the continent. Then a song began playing in my head. It was part of the song 'Funky Town', originally sung in the late 70s by a band called Lips Inc (if I recall correctly). Specifically, the line that played in my head was the following:

Gotta make a move to a town that's right for me

Gotta keep me movin' keep me groovin' with some energy

There was no need for me to analyse what I had seen and heard. After years of working with my spiritual intuition (what I call Integrated Intelligence), I have learned to allow certain knowings to settle immediately in my mind without needing to process the information in linear, sequential fashion. It's actually a clairvoyant process, quite literally. 'Clairvoyant' means 'clear seeing.'

I was being told that it was time for me to move on. Hong Kong was no longer the right town for me. Australia, my home country, was beckoning. The red dots referred to places that were suitable for me to visit or live.

When visions are this powerful you don't forget them. In the old days, when I first started developing my Integrated Intelligence, I used to write down important dreams and visions. Now I rarely do. I don't need to anymore because the connection between the 'rational' and 'intuitive' parts of my mind is well developed (I do make an exception when I have a long and profound dream, where I know I won't be able to remember it all the next day).

But did I follow my spiritual guidance? Actually, I dithered! I was feeling so comfortable with my life in Hong Kong, that I was really reluctant to leave.

Then I got a kick in the pants. One day at school the principal called me into his office and said the school would not renew my contract. This is perfectly the schools prerogative after a standard two-year contract is complete. To be honest, I was shocked, as I had always gotten on well with the principal and everyone else.

But this kick in the pants made me act. I looked at my situation more carefully, and realised that my guidance was correct. It was time for me to leave Hong Kong. Bizarrely, as soon as I moved to this committed position, the new principal of my school (it is changing leaders right now) called me into the office and asked me to stay on at the school, saying she thought I was a good teacher. While that did make me feel better, I knew that I needed to make a break for it. I thanked her and told her I was leaving.

It's fascinating that the old principal had decided to let me go. If he had not done this, I might have stayed. So even though I felt bad about the initial 'rejection', it was actually a blessing in disguise. It was the universe's way of tapping me on the shoulder and getting me to move along.

The truth is that, just as my vision had suggested, Hong Kong does not quite have the right "energy" for me. It is a peaceful and well organised city. But on the downside it is very conservative and materialistic. The education system encourages repetition and an adherence to the 'one correct answer'. It's also a very hectic place, where people work long hours. Across the wider city it is difficult to find people who are committed to the kinds of ideas that I am. It's not the right fit for me.

 Peak hour at Admiralty Station, HK Island

Still, I will miss Hong Kong. I have lived in beautiful Discovery Bay on Lantau Island for the past few years,. The ocean and the hills are just minutes away from my apartment. Hong Kong also has a vibrant nightlife, great transpiration systems, and is exceedingly efficient. Efficiency and comfort are the order of the day. But these things do not encourage 'growth'. The actually promote stagnation of the spirit.

Halloween in the Lan Kwai Fong bar area

Yet the bottom line is that I feel that I have knowledge and skills that cannot be readily used here. All of us are given certain gifts by God. I know what mine are. Living here I am a bit like the Biblical son who buries his talents (coins) in the ground, believing that his father will be proud of him when he later shows him that he hasn't lost any of it.

I am not doing the work that I am meant to be doing.

Thank you Hong Kong. I will miss you!

Blessings,

Marcus

What I Found Up There

Just a short post tonight, and something a little humbling to contemplate. On Tuesday of the previous week was the Ching Ming Festival here in Hong Kong. This is also known as Tomb Sweeping Day. It's the day when Hong Kongers head to the family burial spot of their family members who have passed away. 

It's a day for contemplation about mortality and life's meaning.

Well, I don't have any dead people to talk to in Hong Kong, so I headed out the back of my apartment block here in Discovery Bay, Lantau Island, and hiked up into the hills. I have found a nice little meditation spot there to contemplate things. It takes about half an hour to get up there, and it is quite a steep hike (in fact a little dangerous in places). You can see it in the video below.

You may not have thought of Hong Kong as having such a place of solitude. Now you know better. In fact there are many fantastic hikes all around Hong Kong. Lantau Island is quite big, and there are several peaks one can ascend here.

It was while sitting on my little rock that something dawned upon me. The very rocks that I was seeing and experiencing connectedness with would out"live" me by many tens of thousands of years. In fact thy might even out-exist the entire human race. And as I sat there my focus fell upon a small plant rising from the grass. As I allowed my own consciousness to relax and connect with the plant, another thought entered my mind. This little plant was millions of years in the making in evolutionary terms (as is my physical form, and much of the way I experience consciousness). I wonder if you too can feel that connectedness, by watching that little plant in the video below? Even if you can't, try this little process soon. Sit down with a plant somewhere in nature (or you can even do it with a pot plant or in the garden), and allow yourself to connect with it. Relax, bring yourself into presence by focusing upon your breath for a few moments, then feel yourself collapsing into the plant. Jut feel whatever comes to you. It's good practice for activating what I call the Feeling Sense. The exercise will take you out out of the head, and into the heart. If nothing else, I guarantee you will find it very peaceful.

Now, one final thought for the day. What if human futures were not mostly about connecting with machine interfaces, the glass screens of the gadgets in our palms, or soon (probably) embedded in our brains? What if we learned to value connection with nature, with the body, and with the spirit? Are these things not just as important as going online? Perhaps they are even more important.

You will find my little plant friend at about 30 seconds into the video. It's rather windy up there, as you will note...

The Cool Machine

 Soho at night

The Wan Chai district of Hong Kong is perhaps most famous as being the sleaze capital of the HK expat world, a hodgepodge of kabab shops, pubs and girly bars. There are also plenty of good, “clean” bars and restaurants there to make it a good night out with friends.  So it was that last night I made my way to a certain pub, walked in and sat down at the bar. On a small stage there was a talented Philippina band playing classics of western rock and pop, and I listed in appreciation as I waited for my friends. I was really enjoying the music, when a local Hong Kong man, perhaps my age, sat down beside me at the bar. He ordered a drink and then did what so many men do here in Hong Kong as soon as they sit anywhere. Those familiar with Hong Kong can probably work out what it was.

He pulled out a fancy i-phone-like device and became completely absorbed in it, ignoring everything around him. As far as I can recall, he did not look up once from the device in the 20 minutes or so I sat beside him. Then my friends arrived, and we moved away to a table nearby. We chatted over a drink for 30 minutes or so, then made a decision to move on. As I left I looked over and saw the same local chap at the bar. He was still there, completely absorbed in his device. I seriously doubt that he had listened to even one song the band had played, and he had certainly not talked to anyone.

One of my friends had been told about a certain groovy place across the way, and so it was that I found myself being whisked away by taxi to a quaint little jazz bar in the Soho area of Hong Kong. Soho is cool. Situated just a kilometer or so from the towering high-rises of Central, Soho is very hip and very, very hilly; its short, narrow streets are crammed together below old low-rise buildings. It’s a wonderful and workable mixture of the old Hong Kong and the new. The tiny streets are chock full of restaurants and bars. At night the clientele is mainly twenty and thirty-something expats and local Chinese Hong Kongers.

The street I was taken to was no place for cars – far too steep for that. Instead we climbed some very steep steps, and, after a little confusion, finally made our way down a dimly lit alley.

And there it was: the jazz bar.

And another thing...

I'm back! 

After a rather long lay off due to other commitments, it's time for a post or two. In the last month I was very busy helping to organise the Shifting Hong Kong retreat with Ervin Laszlo, and also presented several workshops and talks at the Hong Kong Consciousness Festival. All of them went really well. The retreat went as well as could possibly be expected. We met at the  lovely Kadoorie Institute, Shek Kong in the New Territories, a remote rural area of Hong Kong. We spent two days talking about the shift in the consciousness of HK and the world.

At the end of it all, we formed the Shifting Hong Kong Wisdom Council, whose job it will be to organise the 2011 festival, as well as to promote activities associated with the development of mind body and spirit in Hong Kong. You might hear a thing or two about that here in the near future.

Another notable development is that I have started The Power of Integrated Intelligence page on Facebook.

Feel free to pop on over and join us!

Finally, here's a pic of me from the Wisdom of Wonder day, part of the festival. I was doing some private consultation sessions, promoting my books (as you can see), and I also gave a workshop on using Integrated Intelligence. This was taken at the end of the lunch break, which is why the other presenters are absent.

More soon!

Marcus

Global Shift, Hong Kong Consciousness Festival

 

Whew! It's been a hectic few weeks for me, so no time to blog. Besides the usual heavy workload as an educator in Hong Kong at the start of the academic year, another exciting happening has tied me up a bit. 

From the 13th to the 24th of November 2010, the Hong Kong Consciousness Festival is back. The Festival features several conferences as well as workshop events, films, and much more. 

This year I am helping to organise the showpiece of the event, a consciousness retreat/conference featuring systems theorist Ervin Laszlo. The retreat is called Hong Kong Global Shift 2012  (those who have read my book Sage of Synchronicity, might recall he wrote the foreword). Besides Professor Laszlo, we already have have numerous consciousness practitioners attending, including Daniel Pinchbeck, Maria Sagi and Jeffery Martin.

The two day retreat is being held at the beautiful Kaldoorie Institute at Shek Kong, in the New Territories of Hong Kong. It's in a lovely rural setting, and there is very reasonably priced accommodation available.

On day one Professor Laszlo will begin proceedings with his key note talk, where he will outline what he sees as the key features of the global shift. After this there will be other talks, group discussions and open space forums. On day two we will narrow the focus, and bring our attention to what the global shift means for Hong Kong. After further talks, discussions and activities, we will create Global Shift Forward Roadmap for Hong Kong. This will include practical and measurable actions to be taken as Hong Kong moves into the middle of the twenty-first century. The climax of the retreat will be the formation of a Wisdom Council, which will include all those who see themselves as part of the Global Shift in consciousness in Hong Kong and across the world. This is a rare opportunity to meet, talk with and establish networks with some of the most progressive thinkers in the world today, so don't miss it!

If you are interested in attending the Hong Kong Global Shift 2010 conference, just contact me, Marcus Anthony: mindfutures@yahoo.com. I look forward to seeing you there.

Kind regards,

Dr. Marcus T. Anthony

Is Your City a Spiritual Desert?

 

The bright lights of Hong Kong

(For those living in other big cities, you can ask the same question of your urban centre. This comes from a booklet I have written called "Urban Enlightenment: Reactivating the Spirit in Hong Kong").

Is Hong Kong a spiritual desert?

When the Buddha wanted to reach enlightenment, he sat under the banyan tree. If he were alive today, would he come to a place like Hong Kong for some shopping therapy?  Probably not. Shopping in Central is less likely to lead to satori, as drive a man half crazy (although there are rumours that some women actually like it). Most of us would agree that we need peace and quiet to find serenity.

I am here to tell you that this is not correct. The more urbanised and chaotic a city, the greater the opportunity for psychological and spiritual growth. You just have to think and act a little smarter than the average guy.

You cannot control the culture of a city. People in any large city have certain restrictions, and these might include their exact mode of work, their working environment, the style of accommodation, the habits of the locals etc. Perhaps, like many people in Hong Kong, you live in a relatively small space in a high rise, far away from the serenity of nature. Maybe the only “greenery” you ever see on your way to work is the contents of a drunk’s stomach on the sidewalk, left over from the previous night's drinking binge. 

But you can control your personal “culture”. Most importantly, you have the potential to control the relationship that you have with yourself. In spiritual terms, you can develop the right relationship with ego.

Connecting with your spirit is not complicated. It is simple. That is why this book (Urban Enlightenment) is simple. I’ve got a PhD, and for my doctoral thesis I studied a lot of this kind of stuff. But let me tell you that head stuff is mostly useless as far as the practical process of living spiritually every day goes. Too much cleverness is the death knell of the spiritual.

Many Hong Kong expats, whether from the West, Asia or elsewhere (including myself), had well developed spiritual lives before they came to Hong Kong. We swam in the oceans, walked in nature, attended meditation workshops, and chatted with friends and acquaintances about spiritual matters. Many of us had spiritual routines such as meditation, prayer, yoga and so on.

Then we came to Hong Kong. As we all know, Hong Kong is a centre of finance. It is what I call a real “money and machines” society. It seems that most people are focused on work and money, and a lot of free time is spent fiddling with gadgets and computers. On the weekends, many locals like to peruse the shopping malls. As for expats, many work hard during the week, and then hit the bars on the weekend. They develop a lifestyle of working hard and partying hard.

The lifestyles of many expats and local Hong Kongers leave little room for the spirit.

Yet that culture is not compulsory. There are choices.

The truth is that Hong Kong, and virtually any big city, is actually a great place to develop your spiritual life. It may not be easy, but you can think of it as a test for the ego. It might well be easier to live the spiritual life if you are, say, a surfer living by the sea in a small town in Eastern Australia. You would have slow days, clear skies, unspoiled nature, a clean ocean, and far less hustle and bustle.

But the very full-on nature of a big city provides multiple opportunities to observe the workings of the human ego, especially your own. You just need to be more self-disciplined than that surfer on Oz.

Of course there is the reality that there are indeed many serene and tranquil places in Hong Kong to chill out and be with nature. It’s just that it is not in the local culture to use them! Trust me, relative to some other megacities in mainland China (such as Beijing and Shanghai), Hong Kong has numerous “getaways”, and many of them are much less than an hour from downtown! Check out this great view, above Discovery Bay – 23 minutes in ferry from Central. In how many cities in the world can you do that!

 

Yet you do not need to flee the urban areas to reactivate the spirit in Hong Kong. You can actually use everyday life processes as a means to connect with Spirit. Just one process I have developed is called “Subway Satori”. You can do it on the MTR (subway), a bus, tram or on any other form of public transport.

But you do need to make time with spirit a priority. There’s no way around that. You have to be committed and self-disciplined. If there is a sure way to bring your spirit down and invite depression, it is to reject your world and the people in it. It is pointless living the Hong Kong or expat lifestyle and then blaming Hong Kong for being “unspiritual”.

The key principles of urban enlightenment are these.

·         Develop intention. That means that you have made a decision within yourself to commit to the process. Only you can bring this to the table.

·         Prioritise. You will need to make your spiritual life important, and honour the spirit within yourself.

·         Practice presence. You will need to bring your mind into the here and now.

·         Practice non-judgment. Allow people, places and events to be what they are. You cannot experience peace while you are in judgment. Period.

·         Develop the right relationship with ego. When you/your ego slips up, a gentle correction will bring you back on your spiritual track. Be like a parent to a naughty child: firm but loving.

·         Responsibility. Your level of personal responsibility needs to be higher than that of most people in today’s world. You need to stop giving your power away to people and life circumstances by blaming and judging. You must start to assume responsibility for your reactions and your perceptions.

·         Letting Go. Surrender all thoughts and judgments to a higher power. You are not here to be perfect, so don’t even try. Give it to God.

It is true that the culture of Hong Kong is not focused upon spiritual concerns. They are not a priority for most people and institutions. However, that is no reason to fret. Like in all cities, opportunities to connect with Spirit abound.

Go West!

 The peak behind Discovery Bay, Hong Kong, today

I live in a very beautiful part of Hong Kong – Discovery Bay, on Lantau Island. Lantau is the biggest island in the territory, apart from Hong Kong Island itself. It’s great to be able to come back here and relax after a long day of work (or blog writing!)

But I didn’t always live in this part of Hong Kong. I Hope that the story of how I came to live here will be instructive for anyone who wishes to follow their Integrated Intelligence to live their Bliss.

I have only lived in Discovery Bay for less than six months. Before then I was living on the 50^th floor of a high-rise in the eastern side of Hong Kong. I found the experience less than blissful! Being so far from the earth was very ungrounding. At times I felt almost soulless. Still, the place was close to my workplace, so I endured it.

Then one night a song came to me as I was sleeping, as so often happens to me. It was a line from Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

The Other Side of Hong Kong

 A smaller island, off Chen Chau (island), seen through the trees near the Trappist Monastery on Lantau Island, Hong Kong

Note: first video may not show up on home page - if so, click "read more" to see it. You will find several other short videos there, also. Double click on the video if you can't see the whole thing on your screen.

Hong Kong is a very busy place. When most people think of this territory where I live,  images of glittering high-rises and international bankers in flashy business suits come to mind.

There are 7 million people crammed into a relatively small area in Hong Kong. Most of them live on Hong Kong Island, and Kowloon, which is just across the harbor from the island. I have often lamented the extreme urbanisation of Hong Kong, and how much of the population has lost touch with nature, and the inner worlds of the human spirit. Life has become over-commercialised and over-techlologised. It appears that most Hong Kong people are either unable or unwilling to extract themselves from their busy work life, contsant mobile phone chattering and SMS texting, internet surfing, shopping and eating/sleeping to explore life at a deeper level. In part, one can point the finger at the government, and its policy makers, who have fully bought into the idea that human futures are  predominantly about more money and more machines for everyone. Yet there are other choices that are available,to the general public, even in extremely urbanised environments like Hong Kong.

Few people outside Hong Kong know that there are many rural areas around the city. including many fascinating islands.

Fully 40% of the territory is designated as national park. Yet even the locals seem reluctant to explore them. Yesterday, Sunday, my wife Emma and I went on a short hike from our home on Lantau Island, just a 23-minute ferry ride away from Central. It was a wonderfully cool summers day, thanks to some high cloud and low humidity. Yet on the entire hike, we saw no more than a dozen or so other hikers. On the little beach you will see in one of the videos below, my wife and I were literally the only people . We stayed there for half an hour and enjoyed the serenity. In contrast, the shopping malls of Hong Kong are so packed on Sundays, that one can often barely squeeze past other shoppers.

Somehow, something vitally important has been forgotten here.

So here is evidence that this other side of Hong Kong does indeed exist!.Please excuse the sound of my breathing here and there! This is quite hilly terrain, and is slightly aerobically challenging.

The village in this first video is situated by the ocean, and is just five minutes away from where I live. The first time we went here a couple of weeks ago, my wife refused to pass through, because of the dogs… as you shall see.

About fifteen minutes more of walking, and the track goes up into the hills, where there is a quaint Trappist (Christian) monastery. This is a very pretty little place. I have been told that the monks have taken a vow of silence – expect for the singing. I snuck my video camera in there for a few seconds!

What's wrong with this beach?

You’ve got ten seconds to answer the question above? Play the video, and then tell me what’s wrong with this beach? And what has that problem got to do with our futures?

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1… bzzt!, Time's up!



The beach looks pretty nice doesn’t it? Taken on a warm spring day where the temperature was mid-twenties Celsius, (March 21st), this video is of the lovely little beach in Discovery Bay, on Lantau Island in Hong Kong. Discovery Bay (or “DB”, as it is often called) is where I live, and it’s one of the nicest places in Hong Kong to call home.

Also, there's nothing wrong with the focus of the camera, and the footage was taken about 300m from the lefty-hand side of the beach.

Here’s a clue which might give you a clue about the answer to the question in this post’s title.

There is lots of space in and around Discovery Bay, a very rare commodity in Asia’s World City. Another treasured experience here is the sound of chattering birds. Birds seem to be all over the place in DB. I have been to many places in China, and one of the most striking things for me is the lack of wildlife, and especially birds. Mao Ze Dong once famously extolled his beloved people to “Fell every sparrow from every tree”, and the people seem to have taken that statement literally! Not so in DB.

Haven’t got it yet? Here’s a riddle. What’s sometimes brilliant blue, but usually dull grey, and sparkles like diamonds a few days of the year, and yet is so toxic even Batman wouldn’t touch it in his rubber Bat Suit.

OK, enough hints. In a few days I’ll write again, and tell you what’s wrong in the video (besides bad camera work), and why it is important for our futures.

Marcus