Dear students,
Your soul & your life
Hello! This is Cherry, LAM To Kam from General Education Foundation Programme. I am teaching “In Dialogue with Nature”, which invites students to engage in dialogues with Nature to explore the world of scientific knowledge and reflect on the relationship between Man and Nature.
There is a text about the human mind in the course, which introduces the scientific breakthrough in the study of the human mind. How we think, feel and remember could be explained by the physics and chemistry of the brain. If so, are we just biological machines? Many of my students do not think so and insist that we are having souls!
The discussion about souls seems to be too romantic to be addressed by science, but a recent movie exactly named “Soul” has touched on this topic. In the movies, all souls must acquire a “Spark” before they can head to earth and become a human. But what is a “Spark”? It looks like an essential part of life. Does it equal our goal? Our purpose? What’s the meaning of life? “Soul” provokes me to think about these important questions about life.
We often tie up the meaning of life with our goal and our purpose, the movie “Soul”, however, suggests another perspective for these two important questions about life. Our purpose and our success may only be the icing on the cake. The most important element of life is the “Spark”, which is our passions, or even the life itself.
“Soul” brought both inspiration and tears to me. There are several touching moments in the movie, one of which is when a maple seed fell into Joe’s hand (when 22 was using his body) from a great maple tree under the sunlight. It is so simple but beautiful! In fact, a tree that looks like maple called Sweet gum (Liquidambar formosana) (楓香) could be found on our campus. The leaves of Sweet gum are deeply lobed with pointed lobes, and they turn yellow and then red before falling down from autumn to winter. We, therefore, usually called them “red leaves” (紅葉) and mistaken them as maple for their similarity. The “red leaves” attract crowds of people to take photos in Tai Tong at the end of November every year.
Nature is beautiful and so does life is beautiful. I invite you to look for the beauty in your life, in Hong Kong, and in the CUHK campus.
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About Dr. LAM To Kam, Cherry
Lecturer at the University General Education, joined WS college in 2013. She is interested in life science, molecular biology and intervertebral disc degeneration research. If you would like to know more about Dr Lam, please visit https://www.oge.cuhk.edu.hk/index.php/en/overview/staff/dr-lam-to-kam-cherry.