Mr Liauw Pauw Phing Is a Philosopher, Poet, Astacologist, Business Owner, Literary Writer contributing to ILLUMINATION publications on Medium.
Summary of Story: Mr. Liauw Pauw Phing is a multifaceted individual: a philosopher, poet, astacologist, and literary writer who contributes to ILLUMINATION publications on Medium.com. He faced significant challenges, including the death of his father at a young age and financial constraints impacting his education. After a long hiatus of over three decades from writing due to personal trauma, he has returned to craft his work, focusing on spiritual rather than material survival. Health, for him, means coexisting with pain, while hobbies emphasize the joy of acceptance. He values honesty in writing and seeks meaningful connections without manipulation, contributing to a community nurturing diverse reflective voices.
Dear Members,
Merry Christmas! I hope this story finds you well on this special day. Today I will introduce you to a new writer who is not new to writing.
I met Liauw Pauw Phing when he joined my ILLUMINATION publications and Slack workspace as a collaborative contributor. His stories immediately stood out to me. They carried depth, sincerity, and thoughtful insight.
I found myself reading each piece with care, often pausing to reflect on the deep meaning. They brought warmth, offered fresh perspectives with scholarly insights, and reminded me why meaningful writing matters.
I believe you will find his reflections equally valuable in this conversation, and I invite you to explore his work with the same curiosity and openness that I did.
Hi Mr Phing, let’s start with a bit about your background.
Hi Dr Yildiz, thank you for the opportunity. Yes, I’d be glad to give some information about my background.
I was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 1966. When I was eleven, my father passed away. I am an only child, and in those years, I often kept my world small and limited my social circles out of necessity. I attended university, but I had to leave in my third year because I could not afford to continue. From then on, much of what I know I had to learn on my own.
I began writing and reading extensively when I was ten years old. My youth was filled with a passion for literary and philosophical works that shaped how I understood the world. But life doesn’t always move in step with desire. Back then, I didn’t even own a typewriter. Every time I wanted to write, I had to walk to a friend’s house. I brought my own typewriter ribbon so as not to burden them. There, I typed manuscripts with simple hopes. Each word born from my fingers was a bridge between the world inside my head and the paper that awaited.
I sent those manuscripts to various magazines and newspapers. Under pen names. Without copies. Once sent, the original vanished from my hands. No archive. No documentation. What remained was only the memory of sentences I had once composed.
Then I went to the bookstall. I borrowed a moment to flip through pages of magazines or newspapers. Not to enjoy the pride of seeing my name in print. Rather, to confirm whether my work was published. Because behind every publication, there was a small honorarium waiting. That honorarium wasn’t a luxury. It was how I paid my school fees. It covered daily living expenses. Writing back then was a way to survive.
Then something happened. Something so deeply scarring that it changed everything. An event that made me decide to stop completely. Leaving behind a world I had once loved with my entire soul. For more than 33 years, I never wanted to touch literature again. Not writing. Not reading works the same way as if something had died inside me.
But my inner self never truly fell silent. There was a long struggle invisible to others. An inner battle that proceeded without witnesses. Eventually, I returned. In June 2025, I started writing again after more than three decades buried in silence.
I’ve only recently resumed writing, not to continue from where I stopped, but to begin anew with a different awareness. With experiences that have transformed how I view words and meaning. With the understanding that writing is no longer about material survival. Rather, it is about spiritual survival.
What do health and wellbeing mean to you?
For me, health is not the absence of pain. Health is the capacity to live alongside pain without being controlled by it.
There are wounds that never truly disappear. What changes is our relationship with those wounds. When I can observe my inner state without being consumed by it, that already constitutes a form of health.
Wellbeing is the capacity to accept what is, because the quality of that acceptance shapes the point of satisfaction that becomes each individual’s measure of wellbeing. For me, reducing desire and ambition has become my personal measure of wellbeing.
What are your hobbies, or what excites or entertains you?
I used to be a classical guitarist at the grade 4 level. I played works by Bach, Schumann, Villa-Lobos, Fernando Sor, Tárrega, Albéniz, and several other composers. Music was an important part of my life.
Then one day, I had an accident. The pinky finger of my left hand broke. Since that moment, I could no longer play guitar as before. What remained was only the ability to listen. The disappointment ran very deep. Yet gradually, I learned to accept. I began transforming my habits, from the art of playing music to the art of listening to music. From there, I actually discovered a different meaning.
In listening, my sensitivity grew. I could detect a single off-key note with far greater acuity than when I myself was playing. No more irritation over technical errors. My heart became calmer when listening than when attempting to master the performance.
Then an understanding emerged. Hobbies are fundamentally about pleasure. When pleasure is achieved, satisfaction arises. From satisfaction comes desire. From desire grows attachment. And when that attachment is severed or lost, suffering appears.
Since that moment, I learned to release attachment to worldly things, not by rejecting them, but by understanding their nature. I appreciate quiet depths. Observing the subtle movements of thought and emotion. I’m no longer interested in noise or spectacle. I’m interested in what remains when craving, performance, and pretense collapse. That’s usually where honesty surfaces.
I feel energized when I see people I care about living happily. That is the greatest achievement that becomes the foundation and driving force of vitality in my life.
What are the top three books that affected your life?
I’ve never selected particular titles as life references, because all books possess their own soul as long as they’re written with honesty, and the voice of anyone’s soul has space and value that I ought to respect.
I grew up reading works that posed fundamental questions about meaning, identity, suffering, and consciousness.
Though those readings didn’t provide me with answers, they accompanied me in sitting together with uncertainty. And within that doubt, a deeper understanding emerged.
Why do you write on Medium?
I write not to compete or prove anything to anyone. I’m here because there’s something that must be said. There’s a voice that has long been locked and now finds its way out.
There’s enlightenment I seek. Not for the world. But for myself. And Medium gives me a place to write without having to explain.
There, depth still has room, even in a digital space that moves so fast.
What are your values as a writer?
Honesty above beauty and depth above simplicity.
I don’t believe in writing to impress. When writing tries too hard to sound intelligent, it often loses truth.
I value writing that emerges from necessity, not from ambition. Writing that exists because silence becomes more touching than speech.
How do you connect with your readers?
I don’t attempt to connect directly. I write as honestly as possible, and if someone recognizes themselves within my writing, a connection happens on its own.
I believe readers will intuitively sense the truth.
When something is written from a real place, without manipulation, people can feel it even if they can’t always explain why.
Why did you join ILLUMINATION, and how do you find it so far?
I joined ILLUMINATION not because of its size, but because of its spirit.
It feels like a space where reflective voices are received without being forced into one form. What I value most is the respect for diverse inner journeys, making it inclusive for all authentic writers.
There’s room in this space for reflection, knowledge, and especially sincerity. That means a great deal to me. Thank you for making me a part of your community.
What are your top five stories that you want to share with your audience and why?
Fundamentally, writing is made to be read, and each individual has their own taste and needs from every piece of writing they wish to read. It’s impossible for me to categorize what everyone in the world likes.
Having said that, these five stories are close to my heart, so I want to share them here:
Embracing Destruction: Penetrating Suffering Through Acceptance
The Dynamics of Causality in the Perspective of Probability Mechanisms
What do you recommend to the new writers?
Write from necessity, not from strategy. Don’t ask whether your writing is good. Ask whether it’s honest. If you wait until you feel confident, you may never write. Writing often comes before clarity, not after it. Let the writing itself teach you what you actually want to say.
What are your plans as a writer or as a professional?
Currently, my focus is on shaping my writings into a record of events, an inner archaeology of identity. Tracing the layers that form, crack, and gradually reveal who I am. Writing teaches me not to control outcomes too much. Nevertheless, beyond that, I remain open.
Professionalism is a form of external recognition of someone. I entrust that direction to my work itself.
My principle: “An object becomes valuable because there is a subject as an evaluator. So let us not act as the subject evaluating ourselves. Let them carry their respective roles, then everything will be harmonious and balanced.”
Thank you for this excellent opportunity, Dr. Yildiz. It was a pleasure to converse with you.
Many thanks to Mr Liauw Pauw Phing for allocating his precious time to give us a glimpse into his interesting life. I hope you will follow his profile and explore his stories. You can connect with Mr Phing via Instagram and the Illumination Slack Workspace. I decided to publish this on Synergy, serving creators and freelancers, to create synergy for writers, readers, editors, professionals, and thought leaders.
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