This website is an archive as of 31 Dec 2023. For my latest website, please visit mattelim.com

writing


  • In a previous essay, I discussed an individual’s capacity for change. In summary, I posited that while certain aspects of our identity are resistant to change, meaningful change can be enacted through reflection and attention. Within the previous essay, there were also references made to society, with a specific claim that personal changes are often…

  • A unique aspect of human beings is our ability to use abstract and complex language. We can use language not only to communicate ideas but also to think and make sense of the world. For some of us, the latter exists as an internal monologue. Through language, we can name and label tangible objects, intangible…

  • Writer’s note: this is part 2 of this essay, click here for part 1. We have now covered everything in our list except one — belief, which is the thorniest one to deal with. Within cognitive psychology, belief is defined as a “propositional attitude”. The combination of beliefs that one holds forms a worldview (or…

  • Writer’s note: this was a difficult one to write, I scrapped an earlier draft completely because the more I wrote, the more I found myself having to account for too many considerations, which led to me feeling like I knew nothing about anything. That feeling prompted me to start over and adopt a structure that…

  • Can you recall the last time you counted something? Instead of intuiting our way around the world, we rely on some form of measurement when we deliberate our choices, especially if they are of particular significance. We may weigh the pros and cons to make a personal life decision. In a business setting, managers may…

  • 2020 is the first year that I got a taste of what chronic pain and decline might feel like. The year was riddled with injury, first my shoulder, then my upper back, and more recently my lower right hip. It is no wonder that for thousands of years, people have yearned for an existence beyond…

  • I am turning 30. Writing is one of those things that I have been wanting to do for some time, but have never found enough willpower or courage to do. I have always had the habit of taking short notes on Google Keep; I have the intention to turn them into longer essays but have…

  • This essay was written for an undergraduate philosophy class called “Meaning of Life” in the spring of 2014. The lecturer was Prof. James Yess. Since Nietzsche proclaimed in 1882 that “God is Dead”, we have seen the demise of Christianity and theism in general, especially within the study of philosophy. The de facto worldview currently…

  • This essay was written for an undergraduate philosophy class called “Philosophy of Death” in the fall of 2013. The lecturer was Prof. Donald Keefer. In everyday situations, human beings are forced to make decisions based on a set of non-conscious beliefs and value systems. These form part of one’s intuition in dealing with immediate, urgent…