Spiritual Advantage with Sam Stone

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

What is more important for your quality of life, happiness or freedom? Many of you know I pursue happiness because I lost my happiness due to some unpleasant childhood events. However, some philosophers and thought leaders argue that freedom is more important than happiness.

Immanuel Kant emphasizes the importance of freedom as a prerequisite for moral action. He believed happiness without freed...

I know the title is a little ambitious, but this message is not about me teaching you how to know everything but exploring together the secrets of discernment taught by Jesus Christ. Just as physicists have been trying to figure out the theory of everything, religions and philosophies try to discover the knowledge of everything.

For example, one of the highest goals of Buddhism is to attain the wisdom of all-knowing or omniscience ...

Are you joyful this morning, evening, or anytime, depending on where in the world you are right now? Jesus expects us to live our lives in complete joy. That’s the outcome he expects from us. He said,

“I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11).

The question is, how do we maintain this complete joy living in this fallen world where the killjoys constantly attack us?

I was fascinated by a chapter titled “Perfect Happiness” or “Ultimate Joy” in the Book of Zhuangzi, my favorite philosopher of the 4th century BCE. Zhuangzi was a hilarious sage, and, like Jesus, he used parables and fables to explain the metaphysical reality and spiritual truth.

Zhuangzi sang at his wife’s funeral, which was entirely inappropriate in ancient Chinese culture. People expected the husband to weep and mourn to show hi...

When I first came to New York City, I was surprised to see the garbage bags and trash cans piled up on the sidewalks all over the city in the evening. It just happened to be one of those days of the week you take your trash out. But it didn’t look like the New York City of my imagination. As the Capital of the World, I thought New York City should always be as clean and pleasant as other modern cities like Singapore.

However, the s...

If you had only three years to live and wanted to make the most out of your life, what would be your obstacle other than time? If you had only three years to live and wanted to leave a legacy that would last for generations, what would be your obstacle other than time? If you had only three years to live and wanted to build a company that would last forever, what would be your obstacle other than time?

In just three years, can you ...

There once was an evil dragon living on a high mountain. Every now and then, it would come down to burn the farms and destroy the villages. Every time a warrior went up the mountain to kill the dragon, they never returned. People assume the dragon killed the warriors.

One day, a young man decided to go up the hill to slay the dragon. He had just returned from the best martial arts school. Before he went, his brother told him not to...

I am sure all of you have heard in the news that Apple launched the Apple Vision Pro, their first VR, AR, MR (Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality) headset. I wonder how many of you have bought it. I think it’s overpriced, so I am staying with Meta Quest 3. I’ve been using Meta Quest since version 1 when it was called Oculus Quest.

If you wonder, “What’s the big deal about it? Isn’t it just another gaming device?” ...

Looking at a pile of correspondence and reports from around the world to review and respond, an emperor of ancient China felt overwhelmed and couldn’t concentrate on his work. He wanted something to calm his mind down to get his work done.

He consulted the prime minister for a solution. The minister suggested hanging a giant, beautiful, calming painting in his office to induce serenity. The emperor agreed, and the minister hunted f...

A friend told me that there are three levels of authority. Generalist Authority, Specialist Authority, and Celebrity Authority. Using doctors as examples, a Generalist doctor has an average authority and charges what average doctors charge.

A Specialist could charge you much more because they have more authority, and people trust them more for their specialty.

A Celebrity doctor, however, commands a higher authority because they ar...

I want to begin with a provocative parable by the great philosopher Zhuangzi.

Once upon a time, a man named “Mr. Knowledge” traveled north to the territory of the sages to seek an epiphany of the Truth. He encountered a sage named “Mr. Actionless Wordless” and asked the following three questions:

“How do I think and ponder to know the Truth? Where do I dwell and strive to rest in the Truth? What path and plan do I follow to recei...

The great philosopher Zhuangzi told a fascinating story about a debate with his friend Huizi, another famous scholar and philosopher of the 4th century B.C.E. The story is playful but profound. Let’s see if you can unwrap the deeper meaning of the debate.

Zhuangzi and Huizi were walking beside the weir on the River Hao. Zhuangzi said, “Look, the fish are coming to the surface and swimming carefreely. They look so happy!”

Huizi aske...

An elementary school teacher distributed sheets of plain paper and colored crayons to her class, asking the children to draw whatever they wanted. Knowing children are creative, she was curious about what they would draw.

She approached a little girl and asked, “What are you drawing?” “A picture of God,” she said. “Oh, no. You can’t draw a picture of God.” She asked, “Why?” “Because no one has ever seen God, and no one knows what G...

Last week, I talked about how ultimate happiness comes from meaning. If you find meaning in life, you have happiness. The meaning of life comes from usefulness. So, when you make yourself useful, you find life meaningful, and you harvest the fruit of joy and happiness.

Some of us may be thinking, “I’m getting old and useless.” It’s not true. Usefulness can be both active and passive. If you are young and strong, you can be actively...

One of my ulterior motives to leave home and travel across the world to America was to find the meaning of life. Growing up, I was not satisfied with life. Later, I discovered I was not alone. Every teenager and young adult has an innate desire to figure out the meaning of life. Everyone has a hero’s journey. Some people discover their destiny sooner, but others take a lifetime.

In his book, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” Viktor Frank...

There was a thief who accepted Jesus Christ, received baptism, and began his new life as a Christian. A couple of months later, he came to the pastor, asking, “Pastor, I stole again. You said a man in Christ is a new creation; the old is gone, and the new has begun. But why did I steal again? Am I not a new creation? What’s wrong with me?”

The pastor asked, “How did you feel when you stole in the past before you became a Christian?...

The book of Zhuagzi, the great Daoist philosopher, begins with a mind-blowing allegory about a fish named “Kun” which is thousands of miles in width and lenght. Yes, you heard me right. He sayid that the body of the Kun fish is thousands of miles long.

What’s more incredible is that this fish suddenly turns into a bird named Peng. With a flap of his wings, he rises up to 3,000 miles above the ocean. Then, riding a whirlwind, he asc...

My grandma told me many puzzling Taoist stories when I was young; some of them took me a lifetime to understand. Here’s one of them.

A man from a small village took his handicrafts to sell in a distant town, passing a deep forest. A few days later, he returned home with a sack of treasures on his shoulder. Surprised, The family asked how he got so rich selling his crafts. He said that a tiger he saved gave those treasures to him.

H...

There’s a couple living in Phoenix, AZ. The husband calls his son in New York City the day before Thanksgiving and says, “I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough.”

“Pop, what are you talking about?” the son screams. “Well, we can’t stand the sight of each other any longer,” the father says. “We’re sick of each other, and I’m sick of talking about thi...