Volunteerism
(The following is an abridged version of what I read at a recent forum on volunteerism organized by the UP Kalipunan ng mga Mag-aaral sa Sosyolohiya)
MANILA, Philippines -- The early history of volunteerism bears the mark of institutional interests operating behind the selflessness of the individual volunteer. As long as this was the case, volunteers were viewed with suspicion. The idealism that volunteerism tapped usually vanished with the volunteer’s realization of the sponsoring institution’s hidden agenda.
Many volunteer groups began as adjuncts of church, government and business corporations. But soon, they took a life of their own and gradually weaned themselves from their originating mother institutions.
If one examines the rules by which today’s non-government organizations or NGOs seek to govern themselves, one cannot fail to notice how most of these still revolve around the issue of autonomy—an indication that the process of differentiation from institutional sponsors is far from complete. It is almost axiomatic for voluntary organizations to diversify their funding sources as soon as they can. This is the only way they can draw their own programs, and avoid being captive to externally generated agendas. Volunteer organizations stay away, for the same reason, from politicians and ideological groups. The one single vision to which they commit themselves is community empowerment, the strengthening of the people’s own autonomy and the establishment of conditions for enduring community self-reliance.
This vision translates to a readiness to withdraw at the right time, and a studious avoidance of any attempt to cultivate a new form of clientalism and dependence. Volunteer groups avoid styling themselves as the new patrons, constantly reminding their members that volunteerism is not about the volunteer but about the community being served.
This is not always easy to carry out. The same process that provides volunteers with the psychic rewards that keep them going also entices them to prolong the community’s dependence on their presence.
This brings up the ethical code that distinguishes volunteer work from other spheres of human activity like religion, politics, or business. Volunteer work is not merely unpaid or uncompensated service, for that only distinguishes it from an economic transaction. In its purest form, volunteer work is also not motivated by any wish for religious conversion or political recruitment into a religion, party, or cause. The true volunteer is a self-directing and self-sufficient person. Her cup overflows—this alone is what accounts for her generosity. Her volunteerism is not part of a strategy of self-realization. For she is not in search of personal meaning; she is overflowing with meaning.
In the real world, however, the voluntary sector has to work with a variety of individuals who bring with them all kinds of unrecognized personal motives and needs. This often results in easy burn-out, and the relatively short duration of passionate work. Many dedicated volunteers end up withdrawing from volunteerism in order to pursue more conventional lives, or they graduate to full-time religious or revolutionary careers. This basic instability is what prevents the volunteer sector from fully institutionalizing itself. It is almost as if every attempt to rationally organize itself becomes a reason for its decline. This seems to be the fate of many NGOs that started as small bands of idealistic volunteers and became big and bureaucratized.
There is virtue in smallness, but it too has its attendant problems. How do you extend your reach to more communities if you remain small? How do you shape the spirit of volunteerism into something truly useful if there is no sustained recruitment and training of volunteers? The lesson this seems to teach is not so much the shirking of all attempts at professionalization, but the resolute avoidance of being ensnared by centralization, bureaucratization and organizational survival for its own sake.
In an earlier time, it was thought that the modern nation-state would make volunteerism superfluous. Today everyone assumes that what the State cannot do is better left to the market. Yet millions of poor people fall through the cracks of government and the market. Volunteer work takes up the cudgels for them. Sometimes volunteers realize that their work only results in the perpetuation of unequal structures, because, instead of allowing these unjust structures to collapse beneath the weight of the problems they spawn, volunteerism only serves to blunt the pain of the victims.
It is a paradox that erodes passion and commitment, but which no voluntary organization can resolve for anyone. Every volunteer will just have to figure it out for herself.
In any event, it will not take very long before people begin to realize that volunteer work is not enough, that it cannot take the place of concrete social reform. But the times seem hostile to deep reform. So many unarmed activists have been arbitrarily jailed or summarily killed. It is hard to imagine what may happen when all avenues to social reform are blocked. Will young people continue to take up with fervor the gentle cause of volunteerism? Or will they offer themselves one more time to the other face of volunteerism—revolutionary idealism? I refer, of course, only to those who have not yet given up.
Posted date: April 22, 2007
ps.
sorry for the copy paste of my letters here
actually they are my collections of editorials
i just want to put here the letters i love
so everywhere i go i can reflect on them from time to time
hope you understand
thanks
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Beyond the Passion
Beyond the Passion
Go and find out what is meant by the Scripture that says: “It is
kindness that I want, not animal sacrifices.(Matthew 9:13)
The Christian world goes back 2,000 years and more to recall the
Passion of Christ: the retreat (after a dinner with His disciples to
celebrate the feast of Passover and to institute the Holy Eucharist)
to the Garden of Gethsemane for a night of prayer; the kiss of Judas
leading to His arrest; His (instead of Barabbas) condemnation by a
wishy-washy Pontius Pilate; the taunting, and scourging at the pillar;
the agonizing climb to Calvary with a heavy cross on His back; and,
finally, His crucifixion and death. The spiritual journey...
the Christian world bursts out in triumphant joy with Christ's
Resurrection.
But for now, the hope of Easter is suspended and must yield to mass
spiritual reflection, to a deeper sense of grief and gloom, of
repentance and renewal, of penance and prayerfulness. No Christian
event is ever observed with more devotion and solemnity, and
Christians are supposed to come out of this whole exercise stronger in
faith and, therefore, better persons.
But, then, haven't we been observing Lent and Holy Week for centuries,
year after year without fail? With a predominantly Christian
population, is it a stretch to expect the Philippines emerging from
this season a better nation? So why is it that old plaints remain, and
unchristian practices continue to torment our society?
Social injustice and inequality. The rich getting richer and the poor,
poorer. A privileged few, and marginalized millions; an abusive elite,
and oppressed masses; landless and jobless millions; poorly paid
workers, widespread poverty, human rights violations.
And things seem to be getting worse if not going out of hand. The
extrajudicial killings of political activists continues to rise. The
country now tops the list of the most corrupt in Asia. A record-high
19 percent of Filipinos are in the throes of involuntary hunger. And
government officials continue to deny that the conditions are so, and
insist that the reality of these conditions be debated on the basis of
statistics, and not proven by the hard facts of day-to-day existence
experienced by ordinary Filipinos through their empty pockets, bare
family tables and hungry stomachs.
Is it because, despite our extraordinary Lenten exertions (e.g.,
self-flagellation, days of prayer and fasting), we have lost sight of
the real meaning of Christianity? Or have we come to believe that
carrying social and political crosses on our backs is the ultimate
Christian act, and never mind if they encourage inhumanity? Pain,
sacrifice, are they the fulfillment of Christianity?
Or is it simply because, we Filipinos are exhibiting symptoms similar
to those indicative of the battered wife syndrome (BWS)"a general
feeling of helplessness, low self-esteem, anger, anxiety and lack of
power and choice to craft one's future? Is abject surrender a
Christian act?
Or is it because, we have been overwhelmed by what psychologist Philip
Zimbardo calls the "Lucifer Effect" the tendency to go with the flow,
to conform, to submit, yield, comply, accept, no matter how good our
intentions, things as they are, after being bombarded daily with
stories, if not personal experiences, of government and corporate
malfeasance and corruption, of military and police cruelty or
indifference?
With the coming elections in mind that the Passion of Christ is not
only about suffering, or about human failings and divine forgiveness;
or about repentance and penance and prayer; or about renewing the self.
The Passion of Christ is, as importantly, about facing up to and
overcoming the world's iniquities against man.
To be a follower of Christ is also to be a man for others. This may be
a difficult act. But the Passion did not mean to teach passive
Christianity. The Passion did not spell defeat and surrender,
it made Resurrection possible.
Christ proved the power of self-denial and love for others by
conquering a world driven by an "eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth"
philosophy.
Under our present circumstances,
can we really be proud of our being a Christian nation? Maybe,
we have yet to find out what being a true Christian and kindness mean.
inq7
...The Passion of Christ is, as importantly, about facing up to and
overcoming the world’s iniquities against man...
vote wisely to save our town our country
Go and find out what is meant by the Scripture that says: “It is
kindness that I want, not animal sacrifices.(Matthew 9:13)
The Christian world goes back 2,000 years and more to recall the
Passion of Christ: the retreat (after a dinner with His disciples to
celebrate the feast of Passover and to institute the Holy Eucharist)
to the Garden of Gethsemane for a night of prayer; the kiss of Judas
leading to His arrest; His (instead of Barabbas) condemnation by a
wishy-washy Pontius Pilate; the taunting, and scourging at the pillar;
the agonizing climb to Calvary with a heavy cross on His back; and,
finally, His crucifixion and death. The spiritual journey...
the Christian world bursts out in triumphant joy with Christ's
Resurrection.
But for now, the hope of Easter is suspended and must yield to mass
spiritual reflection, to a deeper sense of grief and gloom, of
repentance and renewal, of penance and prayerfulness. No Christian
event is ever observed with more devotion and solemnity, and
Christians are supposed to come out of this whole exercise stronger in
faith and, therefore, better persons.
But, then, haven't we been observing Lent and Holy Week for centuries,
year after year without fail? With a predominantly Christian
population, is it a stretch to expect the Philippines emerging from
this season a better nation? So why is it that old plaints remain, and
unchristian practices continue to torment our society?
Social injustice and inequality. The rich getting richer and the poor,
poorer. A privileged few, and marginalized millions; an abusive elite,
and oppressed masses; landless and jobless millions; poorly paid
workers, widespread poverty, human rights violations.
And things seem to be getting worse if not going out of hand. The
extrajudicial killings of political activists continues to rise. The
country now tops the list of the most corrupt in Asia. A record-high
19 percent of Filipinos are in the throes of involuntary hunger. And
government officials continue to deny that the conditions are so, and
insist that the reality of these conditions be debated on the basis of
statistics, and not proven by the hard facts of day-to-day existence
experienced by ordinary Filipinos through their empty pockets, bare
family tables and hungry stomachs.
Is it because, despite our extraordinary Lenten exertions (e.g.,
self-flagellation, days of prayer and fasting), we have lost sight of
the real meaning of Christianity? Or have we come to believe that
carrying social and political crosses on our backs is the ultimate
Christian act, and never mind if they encourage inhumanity? Pain,
sacrifice, are they the fulfillment of Christianity?
Or is it simply because, we Filipinos are exhibiting symptoms similar
to those indicative of the battered wife syndrome (BWS)"a general
feeling of helplessness, low self-esteem, anger, anxiety and lack of
power and choice to craft one's future? Is abject surrender a
Christian act?
Or is it because, we have been overwhelmed by what psychologist Philip
Zimbardo calls the "Lucifer Effect" the tendency to go with the flow,
to conform, to submit, yield, comply, accept, no matter how good our
intentions, things as they are, after being bombarded daily with
stories, if not personal experiences, of government and corporate
malfeasance and corruption, of military and police cruelty or
indifference?
With the coming elections in mind that the Passion of Christ is not
only about suffering, or about human failings and divine forgiveness;
or about repentance and penance and prayer; or about renewing the self.
The Passion of Christ is, as importantly, about facing up to and
overcoming the world's iniquities against man.
To be a follower of Christ is also to be a man for others. This may be
a difficult act. But the Passion did not mean to teach passive
Christianity. The Passion did not spell defeat and surrender,
it made Resurrection possible.
Christ proved the power of self-denial and love for others by
conquering a world driven by an "eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth"
philosophy.
Under our present circumstances,
can we really be proud of our being a Christian nation? Maybe,
we have yet to find out what being a true Christian and kindness mean.
inq7
...The Passion of Christ is, as importantly, about facing up to and
overcoming the world’s iniquities against man...
vote wisely to save our town our country
Saturday, April 14, 2007
politics. a moral issue
POLITICS: an ethical question (& MORAL)
A rare few enter the political arena
because they like the feeling of holding in their hands
"a nerve fiber of historically important events."
In our society today, a large number of individuals enter politics not
because they have a vocation for it but only because they have an
advantage they think they must not waste...
Should you run just because you have a good chance of winning?
This is not a political question but an ethical one,
says the great political theorist Max Weber:
"What kind of a man must one be if he is to be
allowed to put his hand on the wheel of history?"
I always ask this question
when someone in the family run for wheel of history!
is politics your vocation...?
Is politics your calling...?
there three traits that are essential to a political vocation:
- passion,
- a feeling of responsibility, and
- a sense of proportion.
Passion is devotion to a cause,
the quest for power being just an unavoidable means to the attainment
of that cause. What that cause may be is purely a matter of faith,
but it must be there. Politics without a cause is worthless.
Devotion to a cause, or "passion," is essential,
but it is not everything.
It has to be accompanied by a feeling of responsibility
- a readiness to "give an account of the foreseeable results of one's
action." The ethic of responsibility demands that those entrusted with
political power always anticipate the possible consequences of their
decisions and be ready to answer for whatever injury they may cause
others. A person who will not assume responsibility for the results of
her/his decisions so long as he/she thinks is right is capable of
reckless behavior and poses a distinct danger to political life.
Finally, passion and responsibility
must be tempered by a sense of proportion.
A good politician, in the positive sense of that word,
must not be deceived by his own propaganda or
seduced by the adulation of his own followers.
He must be capable of looking at himself and at
reality objectively and with calmness and concentration.
This is what distinguishes, the
1. "passionate politician"
being practical,
and being ethical.
In his heart he must know that, try as he may,
he must be able to
do justice to the power that the public is going to entrust to him if
he asks for it. HE knows his limits -
that is wisdom and responsibility...
2. "political dilettante." a person who takes up an activity, or
subject merely for amusement, esp. in a desultory or superficial way.
but Alas,
there are a hundred others who turn to politics out of sheer EGOism.
We do not need a systematic study to know who they are...
But the "realities" in our midst are not the only ones who find
themselves in this situation. There are countless others who are
drafted into electoral politics against their better instincts.
Our society HAS not fully evolved into a differentiated institutional
sphere. This WILL come with modernity and the emergence of a broad
educated middle class. We are getting there, very very very SLOWLY.
The finest proof of that is our deep disaffection with the PAST
started from once upon a time marcus to the present system of the
illusion live happily ever...
Stop complaining about this country going nowhere...!?
because
Voting is not just something you do for a candidate,
it is something you do for yourself. Or to yourself.
you do not just decide the kind of life you want for the nation,
you decide what kind of life you want for yourself.
You can choose either the life of a *lemming and throw yourself off
a cliff because everybody is doing so
or the life of a human being
and act as reason and conviction tell you to...
At the end of the day,
you do not just have to live with the candidate you have inflicted on
the nation, you have to live with yourself and the wound you have
inflicted on yourself.
You can't be true to yourself,
you can't be true to the nation...
so
Politics is the process and method of making decisions for groups.
Although it is generally applied to governments,
politics is also observed in all HUMAN GROUP INTERACTIONS
including corporate, academic, and religious.
Politics then is the study of how humans interact with each other
and cooperate to become self sufficient.
and by-all-means let's change things???!!!...
vote
.....................
POLITICS: an ethical question & MORAL too
A rare few enter the political arena because they like the feeling of
holding in their hands "a nerve fiber of historically important events."
In our society today, a large number of individuals enter politics not
because they have a vocation for it but only because they have an
advantage they think they must not waste...
Should you run just because you have a good chance of winning? This is
not a political question but an ethical one, says the great political
theorist Max Weber: "What kind of a man must one be if he is to be
allowed to put his hand on the wheel of history?" I always ask this
question when someone in the family run for wheel of history!
is politics your vocation...! Is politics your calling?...
there three traits that are essential to a political vocation
- passion,
- a feeling of responsibility, &
- a sense of proportion.
Passion is devotion to a cause,
the quest for power being just an unavoidable means to the attainment
of that cause. What that cause may be is purely a matter of faith,
but it must be there. Politics without a cause is worthless.
Devotion to a cause, or "passion," is essential, but it is not
everything. It has to be accompanied by a feeling of responsibility�
- a readiness to "give an account of the foreseeable results of one's
action." The ethic of responsibility demands that those entrusted with
political power always anticipate the possible consequences of their
decisions and be ready to answer for whatever injury they may cause
others. This is the opposite of a favorite statement - "To do what is
best and leave to God the rest." A person who will not assume
responsibility for the results of her/his decisions so long as he/she
thinks is right is capable of reckless behavior and poses a distinct
danger to political life.
Finally, passion and responsibility must be tempered by a sense of
proportion. A good politician, in the positive sense of that word,
must not be deceived by his own propaganda or seduced by the adulation
of his own followers. He must be capable of looking at himself and at
reality objectively and with calmness and concentration. This is what
distinguishes, Weber says, the
"passionate politician" from the
"political dilettante." = a person who takes up an activity, or
subject merely for amusement, esp. in a desultory or superficial way
"What if I win?" asks the veteran actor Dolphy in reply to those who
nudge him to spin off his long and outstanding film career into a
political one. He is not only being practical;
he is being ethical.
In his heart he must know that, try as he may, he will not be able to
do justice to the power that the public is going to entrust to him if
he asks for it. HE knows his limits -
that is wisdom and responsibility...
Alas, for every Dolphy,
there are a hundred others who turn to politics out of sheer EGOism.
We do not need a systematic study to know who they are. In the
legislative chambers to which they have been unfortunately elected,
they sit still and silent, fearful that speaking would expose the void
in their minds. When compelled to break their silence, they manage to
do so only according to a prepared script. They are not comfortable
where they are, and so they continue to do what they really love to
do: ACT.
But the celebrities in our midst are not the only ones who find
themselves in this situation. There are countless others who are
drafted into electoral politics against their better instincts.
Our society HAS not fully evolved into a differentiated institutional
sphere. This WILL come with modernity and the emergence of a broad
educated middle class. We are getting there, very SLOWLY.
The finest proof of that is our deep disaffection with the PAST
started from marcus to the present system... why?!
the answers lies on moral ethics.
the three traits that are essential to a political vocation
- passion,
- a feeling of responsibility, &
- a sense of proportion.
because they are aware that "a nerve fiber of historically important
events" is in their hands!
Politics is the process and method of making decisions for groups. Although it is generally applied to governments,
politics is also observed in all HUMAN GROUP INTERACTIONS
including corporate, academic, and religious.
There are many debates as to who was the first person to study politics, many credit Socrates with the first study of politics, while others credit Aristotle. One of the first works concerning politics was Plato's [[Republic (book] Republic]].
In Plato's concept, the polis was the way in which man became virtuous.
His student and successor Aristotle went on to right the Politics, where he asserts that the city is by nature and that man by nature is a political animal. Though he does not define it in this manner, Aristotle's assertions point to the natural state of man as being in the city. Only through the city can man become totally self sufficient and thus truly human.
These two positions held supreme until the dawn of Modernity(a reaction to the Classical and Scholastic view of philosophy). Machiavelli was among the first political philosophers of Modernity. His most famous work was the Prince where he discusses the nature of principalities.
The idea of "ends justify the means" came from this book,
along with the idea of harsh politics. Many people misunderstand Machiavelli's most well known work, believing him to be a fan of strong princes with absolute control. In fact, Machiavelli was a well known republican (one who believes in republican government) and praises it in his Discourses on Livy.
Modernity thinkers (Enlightenment thinkers), believed that man by nature was not born into a polis, separating from the classical view of Plato and Aristotle.
The idea of politics changed from
what can the state do for you to what can you do for the state.
It became man's job to perfect nature. In 1651, Thomas Hobbes published his most famous work, Leviathan, in which he proposed a model of early human development to justify the creation of a government.
Hobbes described an ideal state of nature wherein every person had equal right to every resource in nature and was free to use any means to acquire those resources. He claimed that such an arrangement created a “war of all against all” (bellum omnium contra omnes). Further, he noted that men would enter into a social contract and would give up absolute rights in exchange for certain protections.
During the latter half of the 1600's and into the 1700's an Englishman named John Locke wrote his first and second Treatises on Government. In the first, Locke argues against the idea of divine right monarchy. He goes to great lengths to prove that
no man is by nature placed over another man.
In the second treatise (much more well known),
Locke asserts that the state of nature consists of every man being equal to every other and all of nature was in common for every one else. Unlike Hobbes, this state of nature did not mean a state of war.
Locke believed that man by nature possesses reason
(which he calls the Law of Nature)
and only when he separates from that reason does he enter a state of war. Man leaves the state of nature, according to Locke, because in nature there are no general laws, no common judge, and no one to enforce the laws.
By the end of the 1700's the Enlightenment was ending and on the cusp of Post-Modernity sat Jean-Jacque Rousseau.
Rousseau asserted that man by nature was utterly free to do what he wished, and is not a social animal. When man leaves the state of nature and enters civil society he becomes sort of a slave to the state.
While each era of political thought changed the state of nature,
man must leave nature and enter into societies...
Politics then is the study of how humans interact with each other
and cooperate to become self sufficient.
(made some researched)
Q.A.
how can a person run in one place to an ethical position if he or she
is not a residence of that place? here is an obvious lies... then
spending millions of money... but at the end people will be charged
by his/her spendings as if the peoples owe him/her their lives...!
is this politics?
:(
just a wake up call
jong
.....................................
I have absolutely concern about the death or after-life.
I am concerned, however, about this present life.
My concern comes from the need to ensure that
I really live it to the full.
All people die, and not everybody lives.
Some people settle for existing; drifting along without enthusiasm,
wonder, or the sheer excitement of living.
They wrap their talents in cloth, and bury them, rather than getting
out there in the market-place and investing all that they are in the
wonderful adventure of life.
Life can be compared to a lit candle in a dark room, which gives all
it has until there's nothing left.
It is in giving that we receive.
If we do not invest, there can be no return.
There is a happy balance to be struck here.
While I keep my destiny in mind, and am always mindful where it's all
leading, I still give the present moment all I've got.
I cannot spend my life sitting around 'waiting for guava to fall'.
The present moment is the sacred moment, and the only time that
exists on God's calendar.
I cannot watch an athlete break a world record, or pick up a gold
medal, without thinking of all that went before.
That medal has been won over the past ten or twelve years, rather
than during a ten-second dash today.
hsi
for politics in the philippines and culion
we just have to be on guard always
because our country is boxed on this principles and laws
we are a democratic country
ruled by politics
and badly by trapos!
my point is
let's have an alternative
let's offer solutions
not only hopelessnes....
for sure there are
good people around
and we can know them
if we'll do our research
if we'll do our job meaningfully
without biases and prejudices
by this we can have them
run our politics
like for example the group of teachers
our children depends on them
virtually our future depends on them
how they teach our children!
we have solutions
we just have to offer it...
there's nothing wrong with politics
there's something wrong
with our trapos and our people and dumb leaders...
me i hate politics too
i feel so helpless too
but what will i do about it
is the biggest question
i have to face
i have to do something about it
especially the lies and the illusions
of some people who are blinded
by despairs and survival instincts
even hopelessness!!!
we have to lit our lights now
before it's too late...
i hate what governor
did to our pantalan
and it's the order of the president
it's the order of survivals
the order of garci
hello
you like it or not
our group
is also a politics
in principles.....
then
define politics?
jong
ps.
are we contradicting something?
A rare few enter the political arena
because they like the feeling of holding in their hands
"a nerve fiber of historically important events."
In our society today, a large number of individuals enter politics not
because they have a vocation for it but only because they have an
advantage they think they must not waste...
Should you run just because you have a good chance of winning?
This is not a political question but an ethical one,
says the great political theorist Max Weber:
"What kind of a man must one be if he is to be
allowed to put his hand on the wheel of history?"
I always ask this question
when someone in the family run for wheel of history!
is politics your vocation...?
Is politics your calling...?
there three traits that are essential to a political vocation:
- passion,
- a feeling of responsibility, and
- a sense of proportion.
Passion is devotion to a cause,
the quest for power being just an unavoidable means to the attainment
of that cause. What that cause may be is purely a matter of faith,
but it must be there. Politics without a cause is worthless.
Devotion to a cause, or "passion," is essential,
but it is not everything.
It has to be accompanied by a feeling of responsibility
- a readiness to "give an account of the foreseeable results of one's
action." The ethic of responsibility demands that those entrusted with
political power always anticipate the possible consequences of their
decisions and be ready to answer for whatever injury they may cause
others. A person who will not assume responsibility for the results of
her/his decisions so long as he/she thinks is right is capable of
reckless behavior and poses a distinct danger to political life.
Finally, passion and responsibility
must be tempered by a sense of proportion.
A good politician, in the positive sense of that word,
must not be deceived by his own propaganda or
seduced by the adulation of his own followers.
He must be capable of looking at himself and at
reality objectively and with calmness and concentration.
This is what distinguishes, the
1. "passionate politician"
being practical,
and being ethical.
In his heart he must know that, try as he may,
he must be able to
do justice to the power that the public is going to entrust to him if
he asks for it. HE knows his limits -
that is wisdom and responsibility...
2. "political dilettante." a person who takes up an activity, or
subject merely for amusement, esp. in a desultory or superficial way.
but Alas,
there are a hundred others who turn to politics out of sheer EGOism.
We do not need a systematic study to know who they are...
But the "realities" in our midst are not the only ones who find
themselves in this situation. There are countless others who are
drafted into electoral politics against their better instincts.
Our society HAS not fully evolved into a differentiated institutional
sphere. This WILL come with modernity and the emergence of a broad
educated middle class. We are getting there, very very very SLOWLY.
The finest proof of that is our deep disaffection with the PAST
started from once upon a time marcus to the present system of the
illusion live happily ever...
Stop complaining about this country going nowhere...!?
because
Voting is not just something you do for a candidate,
it is something you do for yourself. Or to yourself.
you do not just decide the kind of life you want for the nation,
you decide what kind of life you want for yourself.
You can choose either the life of a *lemming and throw yourself off
a cliff because everybody is doing so
or the life of a human being
and act as reason and conviction tell you to...
At the end of the day,
you do not just have to live with the candidate you have inflicted on
the nation, you have to live with yourself and the wound you have
inflicted on yourself.
You can't be true to yourself,
you can't be true to the nation...
so
Politics is the process and method of making decisions for groups.
Although it is generally applied to governments,
politics is also observed in all HUMAN GROUP INTERACTIONS
including corporate, academic, and religious.
Politics then is the study of how humans interact with each other
and cooperate to become self sufficient.
and by-all-means let's change things???!!!...
vote
.....................
POLITICS: an ethical question & MORAL too
A rare few enter the political arena because they like the feeling of
holding in their hands "a nerve fiber of historically important events."
In our society today, a large number of individuals enter politics not
because they have a vocation for it but only because they have an
advantage they think they must not waste...
Should you run just because you have a good chance of winning? This is
not a political question but an ethical one, says the great political
theorist Max Weber: "What kind of a man must one be if he is to be
allowed to put his hand on the wheel of history?" I always ask this
question when someone in the family run for wheel of history!
is politics your vocation...! Is politics your calling?...
there three traits that are essential to a political vocation
- passion,
- a feeling of responsibility, &
- a sense of proportion.
Passion is devotion to a cause,
the quest for power being just an unavoidable means to the attainment
of that cause. What that cause may be is purely a matter of faith,
but it must be there. Politics without a cause is worthless.
Devotion to a cause, or "passion," is essential, but it is not
everything. It has to be accompanied by a feeling of responsibility�
- a readiness to "give an account of the foreseeable results of one's
action." The ethic of responsibility demands that those entrusted with
political power always anticipate the possible consequences of their
decisions and be ready to answer for whatever injury they may cause
others. This is the opposite of a favorite statement - "To do what is
best and leave to God the rest." A person who will not assume
responsibility for the results of her/his decisions so long as he/she
thinks is right is capable of reckless behavior and poses a distinct
danger to political life.
Finally, passion and responsibility must be tempered by a sense of
proportion. A good politician, in the positive sense of that word,
must not be deceived by his own propaganda or seduced by the adulation
of his own followers. He must be capable of looking at himself and at
reality objectively and with calmness and concentration. This is what
distinguishes, Weber says, the
"passionate politician" from the
"political dilettante." = a person who takes up an activity, or
subject merely for amusement, esp. in a desultory or superficial way
"What if I win?" asks the veteran actor Dolphy in reply to those who
nudge him to spin off his long and outstanding film career into a
political one. He is not only being practical;
he is being ethical.
In his heart he must know that, try as he may, he will not be able to
do justice to the power that the public is going to entrust to him if
he asks for it. HE knows his limits -
that is wisdom and responsibility...
Alas, for every Dolphy,
there are a hundred others who turn to politics out of sheer EGOism.
We do not need a systematic study to know who they are. In the
legislative chambers to which they have been unfortunately elected,
they sit still and silent, fearful that speaking would expose the void
in their minds. When compelled to break their silence, they manage to
do so only according to a prepared script. They are not comfortable
where they are, and so they continue to do what they really love to
do: ACT.
But the celebrities in our midst are not the only ones who find
themselves in this situation. There are countless others who are
drafted into electoral politics against their better instincts.
Our society HAS not fully evolved into a differentiated institutional
sphere. This WILL come with modernity and the emergence of a broad
educated middle class. We are getting there, very SLOWLY.
The finest proof of that is our deep disaffection with the PAST
started from marcus to the present system... why?!
the answers lies on moral ethics.
the three traits that are essential to a political vocation
- passion,
- a feeling of responsibility, &
- a sense of proportion.
because they are aware that "a nerve fiber of historically important
events" is in their hands!
Politics is the process and method of making decisions for groups. Although it is generally applied to governments,
politics is also observed in all HUMAN GROUP INTERACTIONS
including corporate, academic, and religious.
There are many debates as to who was the first person to study politics, many credit Socrates with the first study of politics, while others credit Aristotle. One of the first works concerning politics was Plato's [[Republic (book] Republic]].
In Plato's concept, the polis was the way in which man became virtuous.
His student and successor Aristotle went on to right the Politics, where he asserts that the city is by nature and that man by nature is a political animal. Though he does not define it in this manner, Aristotle's assertions point to the natural state of man as being in the city. Only through the city can man become totally self sufficient and thus truly human.
These two positions held supreme until the dawn of Modernity(a reaction to the Classical and Scholastic view of philosophy). Machiavelli was among the first political philosophers of Modernity. His most famous work was the Prince where he discusses the nature of principalities.
The idea of "ends justify the means" came from this book,
along with the idea of harsh politics. Many people misunderstand Machiavelli's most well known work, believing him to be a fan of strong princes with absolute control. In fact, Machiavelli was a well known republican (one who believes in republican government) and praises it in his Discourses on Livy.
Modernity thinkers (Enlightenment thinkers), believed that man by nature was not born into a polis, separating from the classical view of Plato and Aristotle.
The idea of politics changed from
what can the state do for you to what can you do for the state.
It became man's job to perfect nature. In 1651, Thomas Hobbes published his most famous work, Leviathan, in which he proposed a model of early human development to justify the creation of a government.
Hobbes described an ideal state of nature wherein every person had equal right to every resource in nature and was free to use any means to acquire those resources. He claimed that such an arrangement created a “war of all against all” (bellum omnium contra omnes). Further, he noted that men would enter into a social contract and would give up absolute rights in exchange for certain protections.
During the latter half of the 1600's and into the 1700's an Englishman named John Locke wrote his first and second Treatises on Government. In the first, Locke argues against the idea of divine right monarchy. He goes to great lengths to prove that
no man is by nature placed over another man.
In the second treatise (much more well known),
Locke asserts that the state of nature consists of every man being equal to every other and all of nature was in common for every one else. Unlike Hobbes, this state of nature did not mean a state of war.
Locke believed that man by nature possesses reason
(which he calls the Law of Nature)
and only when he separates from that reason does he enter a state of war. Man leaves the state of nature, according to Locke, because in nature there are no general laws, no common judge, and no one to enforce the laws.
By the end of the 1700's the Enlightenment was ending and on the cusp of Post-Modernity sat Jean-Jacque Rousseau.
Rousseau asserted that man by nature was utterly free to do what he wished, and is not a social animal. When man leaves the state of nature and enters civil society he becomes sort of a slave to the state.
While each era of political thought changed the state of nature,
man must leave nature and enter into societies...
Politics then is the study of how humans interact with each other
and cooperate to become self sufficient.
(made some researched)
Q.A.
how can a person run in one place to an ethical position if he or she
is not a residence of that place? here is an obvious lies... then
spending millions of money... but at the end people will be charged
by his/her spendings as if the peoples owe him/her their lives...!
is this politics?
:(
just a wake up call
jong
.....................................
I have absolutely concern about the death or after-life.
I am concerned, however, about this present life.
My concern comes from the need to ensure that
I really live it to the full.
All people die, and not everybody lives.
Some people settle for existing; drifting along without enthusiasm,
wonder, or the sheer excitement of living.
They wrap their talents in cloth, and bury them, rather than getting
out there in the market-place and investing all that they are in the
wonderful adventure of life.
Life can be compared to a lit candle in a dark room, which gives all
it has until there's nothing left.
It is in giving that we receive.
If we do not invest, there can be no return.
There is a happy balance to be struck here.
While I keep my destiny in mind, and am always mindful where it's all
leading, I still give the present moment all I've got.
I cannot spend my life sitting around 'waiting for guava to fall'.
The present moment is the sacred moment, and the only time that
exists on God's calendar.
I cannot watch an athlete break a world record, or pick up a gold
medal, without thinking of all that went before.
That medal has been won over the past ten or twelve years, rather
than during a ten-second dash today.
hsi
for politics in the philippines and culion
we just have to be on guard always
because our country is boxed on this principles and laws
we are a democratic country
ruled by politics
and badly by trapos!
my point is
let's have an alternative
let's offer solutions
not only hopelessnes....
for sure there are
good people around
and we can know them
if we'll do our research
if we'll do our job meaningfully
without biases and prejudices
by this we can have them
run our politics
like for example the group of teachers
our children depends on them
virtually our future depends on them
how they teach our children!
we have solutions
we just have to offer it...
there's nothing wrong with politics
there's something wrong
with our trapos and our people and dumb leaders...
me i hate politics too
i feel so helpless too
but what will i do about it
is the biggest question
i have to face
i have to do something about it
especially the lies and the illusions
of some people who are blinded
by despairs and survival instincts
even hopelessness!!!
we have to lit our lights now
before it's too late...
i hate what governor
did to our pantalan
and it's the order of the president
it's the order of survivals
the order of garci
hello
you like it or not
our group
is also a politics
in principles.....
then
define politics?
jong
ps.
are we contradicting something?
Saturday, March 10, 2007
legitimate cog
We need to be fully prepared…
We must be a legitimate group.
kailangan na siguro nating maging seryoso...
organize.
how could we move if we are like npa's?
if we are not a legitimate org.?
first we have to have a strong organization
we have to select whether foundation or organization.
I think we already defined organization..
then, established it by making it legitimate one.
registered it to become one.
kasi pag magkaroon ng legal na usapin tayo ay dapat maging legal otherwise tayo ay makukulong ng walang kalaban-laban.
and how?...we have to make our org. By-laws.
we have rules to follow.
we have responsible people to do this and that…
discuss even the legality thing,
para di mag mukhang biru-biruan ang gawa natin…
We should made the standard operating procedures of every legitimate group. with pattern... just take the pain of filling it up, and add or removed any necessary and unnecessary things…
This is the proportion of which we are ready to sacrifice benefits to ourselves for the benefit of the organization as a whole, reflected in degrees of mutual supportiveness, loyalty and concerns.
And we will have a sense of guidance and directions, the ability to move the organization. To be more effective and more stronger and to follow the objectives & visions of the organization as a whole…
The more effective we are the more capacity has the organization. So we must possess skills, willingness, dedication and of course orders. This could become the bridge of communications in order to build our trust to each other…
By this common values our differences will see ourselves as having a role in supporting the whole in contrast to being a mere collection of separate individuals, including organizational integrity, structure, procedures, decision making processes, division of labour and complementary roles and functions.
This is the meaning of being organized and responsible. So our network will broaden and the outside world will be enough to convinced in an enabling approach to the organization acting on a self-managed basis…
Hanggang saan ba talaga ang gusting abutin ng grupo. Ningas talahib na naman ba ito? Kailangan na sigurong mag sagwan ng lahat ng members… unang-una magpakilala na tayo at mag pakita. Lumabas na siguro ang silent majorities. So kailangan na nating I-legitimate ito. We have to make By-laws then registrations of all members to make it official. And we will know how many are we now. Then maybe we can have suggestions of yearly dues or monthly contributions. (problema nito baka biglang maglaho lahat ng members:) pag dating dito sa bayaran or contributions.
Tanong mula sa puso na may sagot mula dito…
Ano ba talaga tayo?
Are we willing to make this group a ligitimate one?
If the answers are obvious then let's do it properly.
By the answers mentioned above.
Baba muna tayo sa bangka
Head count
Then sakay na ang gusting maging totoo.
Sayang lang kasi ang pagpapagod natin dito.
Sa tingin ninyo?...
Alisin na natin ang payabangan blues
Pagalingan pinks
At patalinuhan reds
Walang nagyayabang dito
in a matured perspective… in a better view.
So for the start
Who will do the By-Laws?
Then official registrations of all true members…
Who will do the countings?
We'll do this first then we'll continue to sail.
Paikot-ikot lang yata tayo sa sangat?
Hindi pa kasi ganon ka-legitimate…
nobody is high here
we just cried C-U-L-I-O-N
baguhin na natin ang image
nakakasawa na kasi.
we have beautiful programs
we have keys...
Sorry po nag aayos lamang
If nobody will respond
Then there might be something wrong with this group
We need strong foundations not attacking it…
So let's start giving our piece now.
If you really want.
what's the next move?... legitimacy.
siguro ito na ang sinasabing altruism. madugo.
o mananatili na lamang pangarap?
let's start to draw the map then...
buhay na ba ang nakataya... hindi naman siguro.
huwag naman sana...
:)jong;)
................
lessons to learn
What lessons can our members, and culion in gereral, learned from
this immature and irresponsible posting of person who cannot even
define respect…?
First, for one to win a life's battles, or for Culion to solve its
problems, we need FOCUS, concentration, determination. Or we can
probably sum it up in one word: DISCIPLNE. No focus means attending
to so many things all at the same time, or simply mean chaos… also
focus to oneself as mastering yourself first.
Culion has to have focus and self-discipline to overcome its
difficulties. It will have to concentrate on the most urgent
problems and not dissipate its resources and talents on many things
all at the same time. Some problems are bigger than the others and
will have to get priority attention from the citizens or members
itself...
Second, one has to do one's homework and prepare well. PREPARE
rigorously, as if our very life depended on it. In everyday life, it
is better to over-prepare than to under-prepare for a change, an
exam, a court case or any other significant activity or projects. In
a complex situation, one can never know what surprises an antagonist
can spring on a person.
In our case now, planning and preparation are needed if Culion is to
solve its 12 key areas, including: IGNORANCE, poverty, malnutrition,
ill health, corruption and a host of other ills. Even for natural
disasters, it has to be constantly prepared. Including personality
problems…...
Third, one has to constantly change tactics and approaches.
Culion has to change its approach to problems this time. If Plan X
does not succeed, then we have to go to Plan Y. Our problems are so
big and so deep-rooted that traditional approaches may no longer
work. Big problems require new and radical solutions. New approaches
may have to be tried to solve "unrealistic projects or proposals."
We need role model for all Filipinos, young and old, and do things
that are worthy of emulation. If we could have more youthful person
who have discipline and focus, who will prepare well for life's
improvements and who will try new ways of doing things and solving
problems, we would probably be a more progressive Culion.
We must be a legitimate group.
kailangan na siguro nating maging seryoso...
organize.
how could we move if we are like npa's?
if we are not a legitimate org.?
first we have to have a strong organization
we have to select whether foundation or organization.
I think we already defined organization..
then, established it by making it legitimate one.
registered it to become one.
kasi pag magkaroon ng legal na usapin tayo ay dapat maging legal otherwise tayo ay makukulong ng walang kalaban-laban.
and how?...we have to make our org. By-laws.
we have rules to follow.
we have responsible people to do this and that…
discuss even the legality thing,
para di mag mukhang biru-biruan ang gawa natin…
We should made the standard operating procedures of every legitimate group. with pattern... just take the pain of filling it up, and add or removed any necessary and unnecessary things…
This is the proportion of which we are ready to sacrifice benefits to ourselves for the benefit of the organization as a whole, reflected in degrees of mutual supportiveness, loyalty and concerns.
And we will have a sense of guidance and directions, the ability to move the organization. To be more effective and more stronger and to follow the objectives & visions of the organization as a whole…
The more effective we are the more capacity has the organization. So we must possess skills, willingness, dedication and of course orders. This could become the bridge of communications in order to build our trust to each other…
By this common values our differences will see ourselves as having a role in supporting the whole in contrast to being a mere collection of separate individuals, including organizational integrity, structure, procedures, decision making processes, division of labour and complementary roles and functions.
This is the meaning of being organized and responsible. So our network will broaden and the outside world will be enough to convinced in an enabling approach to the organization acting on a self-managed basis…
Hanggang saan ba talaga ang gusting abutin ng grupo. Ningas talahib na naman ba ito? Kailangan na sigurong mag sagwan ng lahat ng members… unang-una magpakilala na tayo at mag pakita. Lumabas na siguro ang silent majorities. So kailangan na nating I-legitimate ito. We have to make By-laws then registrations of all members to make it official. And we will know how many are we now. Then maybe we can have suggestions of yearly dues or monthly contributions. (problema nito baka biglang maglaho lahat ng members:) pag dating dito sa bayaran or contributions.
Tanong mula sa puso na may sagot mula dito…
Ano ba talaga tayo?
Are we willing to make this group a ligitimate one?
If the answers are obvious then let's do it properly.
By the answers mentioned above.
Baba muna tayo sa bangka
Head count
Then sakay na ang gusting maging totoo.
Sayang lang kasi ang pagpapagod natin dito.
Sa tingin ninyo?...
Alisin na natin ang payabangan blues
Pagalingan pinks
At patalinuhan reds
Walang nagyayabang dito
in a matured perspective… in a better view.
So for the start
Who will do the By-Laws?
Then official registrations of all true members…
Who will do the countings?
We'll do this first then we'll continue to sail.
Paikot-ikot lang yata tayo sa sangat?
Hindi pa kasi ganon ka-legitimate…
nobody is high here
we just cried C-U-L-I-O-N
baguhin na natin ang image
nakakasawa na kasi.
we have beautiful programs
we have keys...
Sorry po nag aayos lamang
If nobody will respond
Then there might be something wrong with this group
We need strong foundations not attacking it…
So let's start giving our piece now.
If you really want.
what's the next move?... legitimacy.
siguro ito na ang sinasabing altruism. madugo.
o mananatili na lamang pangarap?
let's start to draw the map then...
buhay na ba ang nakataya... hindi naman siguro.
huwag naman sana...
:)jong;)
................
lessons to learn
What lessons can our members, and culion in gereral, learned from
this immature and irresponsible posting of person who cannot even
define respect…?
First, for one to win a life's battles, or for Culion to solve its
problems, we need FOCUS, concentration, determination. Or we can
probably sum it up in one word: DISCIPLNE. No focus means attending
to so many things all at the same time, or simply mean chaos… also
focus to oneself as mastering yourself first.
Culion has to have focus and self-discipline to overcome its
difficulties. It will have to concentrate on the most urgent
problems and not dissipate its resources and talents on many things
all at the same time. Some problems are bigger than the others and
will have to get priority attention from the citizens or members
itself...
Second, one has to do one's homework and prepare well. PREPARE
rigorously, as if our very life depended on it. In everyday life, it
is better to over-prepare than to under-prepare for a change, an
exam, a court case or any other significant activity or projects. In
a complex situation, one can never know what surprises an antagonist
can spring on a person.
In our case now, planning and preparation are needed if Culion is to
solve its 12 key areas, including: IGNORANCE, poverty, malnutrition,
ill health, corruption and a host of other ills. Even for natural
disasters, it has to be constantly prepared. Including personality
problems…...
Third, one has to constantly change tactics and approaches.
Culion has to change its approach to problems this time. If Plan X
does not succeed, then we have to go to Plan Y. Our problems are so
big and so deep-rooted that traditional approaches may no longer
work. Big problems require new and radical solutions. New approaches
may have to be tried to solve "unrealistic projects or proposals."
We need role model for all Filipinos, young and old, and do things
that are worthy of emulation. If we could have more youthful person
who have discipline and focus, who will prepare well for life's
improvements and who will try new ways of doing things and solving
problems, we would probably be a more progressive Culion.
possibilities
Electing a Leader.......
i think everything posted here
are of helpful in many different ways
and in unique revelations
that really make us grow
and know each other well
and that is the beauty of it all!
we don't have to be closed doors
when something different or unique
or not compatible with what
we perceived
encounter us along the way
and shot our minds & hearts.
we need to be open in a
possibly 4 doors in our life...
the door that we know that others don't know
the door that we don't know but others know
the door that we both know and
the door that only God knows...
the danger is the door that sometimes
we forcefully want to open that is not for us
or the one we don't want to open
there lies the borderline...
it's either we don't want to
open and close ourselves
or we want to open it by force
even hurting others & ourselves...
drawing between the lines
of egoism & altruism
of vices & virtues.
no my point here is we all want to grow
everything we do here will
determined our identity
as how we build ourselves
how we matured
especially in the image
that really reflects life
not illusions and confusions...
we encounter many obstacles
within & without
and we will find ways
of managing them
that will make our journey
peacefully even in the midst
of storms or conflicts
and nothing can stop us
this is what we are trying to define
this is what we want to understand
that's why
we need to move & to grow
not to become stagnant...
and one biggest challenge is the
definition of our by-laws
and the real objectives of this group
one of this is the 12-key area
fill up and conquer all this gaps
then we'll all be in peace.
we have to draw between the lines
give us your share then...
(and it'll be obvious who will show our ways
the body of this boat/s)
seriously or not we need to be stable first.
then tell us what confuses you or us?
by all means we have to grow...
we're in this stages now
because the only constant (that never change)
is change.
smiles
...............
mission?
"power to the people..."
unfortunately it's being abused by the trapos!
if we'll continue to have those kind of cc in our communities
then we're still behind... we're still hoping... we're still in pains.
better to sling it out to goliath and let them destroy themselves...
they already have their rewards.
but again it's facing our children... that's why
we'll sacrifice for them and give them a sense of directions
in order not as much as possible be exposed to these kind of
illusions that our trapos and trashhhhhh infuse in our medias....
let's move on... all regions, all religions...
but then
we'll face educations...
we'll face gov't...
we'll face society...
a system they called
But the problem lies not in the system or laws.
It lies in the hearts of man or woman
where the system becomes the end,
the means to an end.
It is a kind of system
where progress
has been assign to a mere survival --
where people denounce
involvements, belongingness,
in place of indifference...
better make a difference
a one in a million you.... :)
again
we'll face communities...
we'll face families!!!!
we need to study more
we need a sense of direction
and it's too damn hard :(
but at least we'll try...
so what else could be our mission???
maybe we could answer the very simple "Q."
'sinO ka bA?!.'
cheers
jong
...............
"Gentle Art of Blessing"
"On awakening, bless this day, for it is already full of unseen
good which your blessing will call forth; for to bless is to
acknowledge the unlimited good that is embedded in the very
texture of the universe, and awaiting each and all.
"On crossing people in the street, on the bus, in places of work
and play, bless them. The peace of your blessing will
accompany them on their way, and the aura of its gentle
fragrance will be light to their path.
"On meeting and talking to people, bless them in their health,
their work, their joy, their relationships to God, to themselves and
others. Bless them in their abundance; their finances-bless
them in every conceivable way; for such blessings not only sow
seeds of healing but one day will spring forth as flowers of joy in
the waste places of your own life.
"When you pass a prison, mentally bless its inmates in their
innocence and freedom, their gentleness, pure essence and
unconditional forgiveness; for one can only be prisoner of one's
self image, and a free man can walk unshackled in the courtyard
of a jail just as citizens of countries where freedom reigns can
be prisoners when fear lurks in their thoughts.
"When you pass a hospital, bless its patients in their present
wholeness; for even in their suffering, this wholeness awaits in
them to be discovered. When your eyes behold a man in tears or
seemingly broken by life, bless him in his vitality and joy; for the
material senses present but the inverted image of the ultimate
splendor and perfection which only the inner eye beholds.
"As you walk, bless the city in which you live, its government and
teachers, its nurses and street sweepers, its children and
bankers, its priests and prostitutes. The minute anyone
expresses the least aggression or unkindness to you, respond
with a blessing; bless them totally, sincerely, joyfully; for such
blessings are a shield which protects them from the ignorance
of their misdeed, and distracts the arrow that was aimed at you.
"To bless means to wish unconditionally total, unrestricted good
for others and events from the deepest wellspring in the
innermost chamber of your heart; it means to hallow, to hold in
reverence, to behold with utter awe that which is always a gift
from the Creator. He who is hallowed by your blessing is set
aside, consecrated holy and whole. To bless is yet to invoke
divine care upon, to think or speak gratefully for, to confer
happiness upon-although we ourselves are never the bestower,
but simply the joyful witness of Life's abundance.
"To bless all without discrimination of any sort is the ultimate
form of giving because those you bless will never know from
whence came the sudden ray of the sun that burst through the
clouds of their skies, and you will rarely be a witness to the
sunlight of their lives.
"When something goes completely askew in your day, some
unexpected event knocks down your plans, burst into blessing;
for life is teaching you a lesson, and the very event you believe to
be unwanted will turn out well for you. Trials are blessings in
disguise, and hosts of angels follow in their path.
"To bless is to acknowledge the omnipresent universal beauty
hidden to material eyes; it is to activate the law of attraction
which, from the farthest reaches of the universe, will bring into
your life exactly what you need to experience and enjoy.
"It is impossible to bless and to judge. So hold constantly as a
deep, hallowed, intoned thought that desire to bless; for truly
then shall you become a peacemaker, and one day you
shall-everywhere-behold the very face of God."
God bless
by Pierce Pradervand
................
Rizal's `Kalinga'
Inquirer
Last updated 03:13am (Mla time) 12/30/2006
Published on page A10 of the December 30, 2006 issue of the Philippine
Daily Inquirer
IN INTERNAL exile in Dapitan, Jose Rizal set about teaching the
children and making himself useful to the local community. The outline
of a Philippine map he created has been restored. We only have a
reproduction of the house in which he lived, but we can claim that one
of Rizal's teaching aids has survived down the generations. What Rizal
set out to do in Dapitan, he always espoused in his writings: to
devote his knowledge to the building of a civic consciousness that, he
believed, was the bedrock of a positive political consciousness.
Rizal was always aware that even as he was hailed as a prophet, there
would be others who would be more than willing to be false prophets.
In his essay, "The Philippines a Century Hence," he observed: "All the
petty insurrections that have occurred in the Philippines were the
work of a few fanatics or discontented soldiers, who had to deceive
and humbug the people or avail themselves of their powers over their
subordinates to gain their ends. So they all failed. No insurrection
had a popular character or was based on a need of the whole race or
fought for human rights or justice, so it left no ineffaceable
impressions, but rather when they saw that they had been duped, the
people bound up their wounds and applauded the overthrow of the
disturbers of their peace! But what if the movement springs from the
people themselves and based its causes upon their woes?"
It is an irony of history that the man so hated by the institutional
Church of his time should have expressed what has become a central
message of the Church under a native hierarchy: what we do not need,
he might as well have said, was not Charter change but CHARACTER
change. Put another way, and with an example also dear to the hearts
of present-day Filipino prelates, what Rizal advocated in his day has
finally seen fruition in the present. For what Rizal set out to do was
the 19th century's first stirrings of the movement we now know as
Gawad Kalinga.
If the past year has been one of political failure, then it has also
been one of tremendous success for those who would put community
building ahead of politicking. Revolutionary transitional councils,
military withdrawals of support, "calibrated preemptive responses,"
and impeachment complaints decided on the basis of the numbers and not
the merits -- all these have been facets of a destructive, desperate
and, yes, degenerate political system, while what has caught the
world's imagination and respect has been Gawad Kalinga.
Indeed, if leaders of both the opposition and the administration have
found themselves acting like generals with no foot soldiers,
commanders of political forces met with indifference by the great
democratic mobilizers -- the middle -- it is because the middle has
been in the thick of efforts such as Gawad Kalinga and conspicuously
absent from the political field of battle.
But efforts to bring different social strata together, and which
strive to find a way for different economic classes to work together
and not against each other, are only a fresh start but can never be
the end-all and be-all of community involvement. And this is where
Rizal's example can inspire those who have found meaning and
satisfaction in community-building. If in the past, the
disappointments born of both Edsa people power revolts led to a
drifting away from political action, then those involved in efforts
such as Gawad Kalinga have to realize their building communities
cannot absolve them of their duty to build a better nation.
A better nation will not arise simply because houses have been built.
The empowerment and the breaking of the chains of despair and social
mistrust must lead to clean, credible elections and bring to power a
national leadership that reflects and lives up to a renewed sense of
civic virtue. The honors that have been rendered Gawad Kalinga, for
example, aren't laurels on which its volunteers should rest. They are,
instead, challenges to expand its achievements in the public sphere.
The past year has seen political divisions deepen in our society, and
yet there have been earnest efforts to close that divide, economically
and socially. As it was in Rizal's lifetime, the Filipino still waits
for those who can bridge the gap between social and political action.
............
i just want to share some infos or history of this holiday celebration
maybe this will help us to understand more the universality of this
feast...
What are the origins of All Saints Day and All Souls Day?
Are these linked with paganism and Halloween?
Both the feast of All Saints and the feast of All Souls evolved in the
life of the Church independently of paganism and Halloween. Let us
first address the feast of All Saints. The exact origins of this
celebration are uncertain, although, after the legalization of
Christianity in A.D. 313, a common commemoration of the saints,
especially the martyrs, appeared in various areas throughout the
Church. For instance in the East, the city of Edessa celebrated this
feast on May 13; the Syrians, on the Friday after Easter; and the city
of Antioch, on the first Sunday after Pentecost. Both St. Ephrem (d.
373) and St. John Chrysostom (d. 407) attest to this feast day in
their preaching. In the West, a commemoration for all the saints also
was celebrated on the first Sunday after Pentecost. The primary reason
for establishing a common feast day was because of the desire to honor
the great number of martyrs, especially during the persecution of
Emperor Diocletion (284-305), the worst and most extensive of the
persecutions. Quite simply, there were not enough days of the year for
a feast day for each martyr and many of them died in groups. A common
feast day for all saints, therefore, seemed most appropriate.
In 609, the Emperor Phocas gave the Pantheon in Rome to Pope Boniface
IV, who rededicated it on May 13 under the title St. Maria ad Martyres
(or St. Mary and All Martyrs). Whether the Holy Father purposefully
chose May 13 because of the date of the popular celebration already
established in the East or whether this was just a happy coincidence
is open to debate.
The designation of Nov. 1 as the feast of All Saints occurred over
time. Pope Gregory III (731-741) dedicated an oratory in the original
St. Peter's Basilica in honor of all the saints on Nov. 1 (at least
according to some accounts), and this date then became the official
date for the celebration of the feast of All Saints in Rome. St. Bede
(d. 735) recorded the celebration of All Saints Day on Nov. 1 in
England, and such a celebration also existed in Salzburg, Austria. Ado
of Vienne (d. 875) recounted how Pope Gregory IV asked King Louis the
Pious (778-840) to proclaim Nov. 1 as All Saints Day throughout the
Holy Roman Empire. Sacramentaries of the 9th and 10th centuries also
placed the feast of All Saints on the liturgical calendar on Nov. 1.
According to an early Church historian, John Beleth (d. 1165), Pope
Gregory IV (827-844) officially declared Nov. 1 the feast of All
Saints, transferring it from May 13. However, Sicard of Cremona (d.
1215) recorded that Pope Gregory VII (1073-85) finally suppressed May
13 and mandated Nov. 1 as the date to celebrate the feast of All
Saints. In all, we find the Church establishing a liturgical feast day
in honor of the saints independent of any pagan influence.
Now for the Halloween connection: Nov. 1 marked Samhain, the beginning
of the Celtic winter. (The Celts lived as early as 2,000 years ago in
England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and northern France.) Samhain, for
whom the feast was named, was the Celtic lord of death, and his name
literally meant "summer's end." Since winter is the season of cold,
darkness and death, the Celts soon made the connection with human
death. The eve of Samhain, Oct. 31, was a time of Celtic pagan
sacrifice, and Samhain allowed the souls of the dead to return to
their earthly homes that evening. Ghosts, witches, goblins and elves
came to harm the people, particularly those who had inflicted harm on
them in this life. Cats, too, were considered sacred because they had
once been human beings who had been changed as a punishment for their
evil deeds on this earth.
To protect themselves from marauding evil spirits on the eve of
Samhain, the people extinguished their hearth fires, and the Druids
(the priests and spiritual teachers of the Celts) built a huge new
year's bonfire of sacred oak branches. The Druids offered burnt
sacrifices — crops, animals, even humans — and told fortunes of the
coming year by examining the burned remains. People sometimes wore
costumes of animal heads and skins. From this new fire, the home
hearths were again ignited.
Particular ethnic groups developed their own lore, which was merged
with the celebration. In Ireland, people held a parade in honor of
Muck Olla, a god. They followed a leader dressed in a white robe with
a mask from the head of an animal and begged for food. (Ireland is
also the source of the jack-o-lantern fable: A man named Jack was not
able to enter heaven because of his miserliness, and he could not
enter hell because he played practical jokes on the devil; so he was
condemned to walk the earth with his lantern until judgment day.)
The Scots walked through fields and villages carrying torches and lit
bonfires to ward off witches and other evil spirits.
In Wales, every person placed a marked stone in the huge bonfire. If a
person's stone could not be found the next morning, he would die
within a year.
Besides the Celtic traditions in place, the Roman conquest of Britain
in A.D. 43 brought two other pagan feasts: Feralia was held in late
October to honor the dead. Another autumn festival honored Pomona, the
goddess of fruits and trees; probably through this festival, apples
became associated with Halloween. Elements of these Roman celebrations
were combined with the Celtic Samhain.
With the spread of Christianity and the establishment of All Saints
Day, some of these pagan customs remained in the English speaking
world for All Hallows Eve (or Halloween, All Saints Eve), perhaps at
first more out of superstition, and later, more out of fun without any
real tie to paganism. For this reason, little ones (and some big ones)
still dress in a variety of costumes and pretend for the evening to be
ghosts, witches, vampires, monsters, Ninjas, pirates and so on,
without any thought of paganism. Nevertheless, All Saints Day clearly
arose from genuine a Christian devotion independent of paganism.
hsi.
..........
(in fairness for our public schools in philippines or culion...)
Hope in education
By Randy David
Inquirer
Last updated 04:36am (Mla time) 10/29/2006
Published on page A13 of the October 29, 2006 issue of the Philippine
Daily Inquirer
SO abiding is the Filipino's belief in education that we can think of
it as occupying almost the same place in our culture as that assigned
to religion. It is probably the only thing that makes us modern. We
have no fear of the future, and neither are we sentimental about the
past. We expect education not only to change us, but to liberate us
from everything that constrains us. As families, we commit all that we
have so our children may be better educated than us.
This modern outlook is so pervasive among our people that one must
wonder how a nation such as ours can allow itself to be governed by
the most backward-looking politicians. I think the answer to this
puzzle might be found in an examination of the dissolution of our
communities. In the wake of rapid urbanization, we failed to develop
new publics that could unite our people and keep the collective spirit
alive. Our cities are not only overcrowded; they also have no
coherence. We do not have a real polity of informed citizens. What we
have are rootless individuals with no opinions other than those
extracted from them by pollsters, and no participation in national
life other than as passive consumers of the mass media.
The situation in education starkly mirrors this absence of a unifying
national purpose. Not only has the government consigned to the private
sector a large part of its duty to provide basic education, it has
also allowed private enterprise to virtually dictate the whole
direction of higher education. The overnight proliferation of nursing
schools is but a dramatic symptom of this abdication of an essential
governmental function. It has led to so much waste not only of scarce
material resources, but also of human lives. If one wants to affirm a
dark view of the Philippine future, it is normal to refer to the
dismal state of the country's education system.
But last week, at a forum on the practice of sociology in the
Philippines, I learned something about what is happening to education
that I did not quite expect. "There is hope," my University of the
Philippines colleague Dr. Cynthia Bautista told her audience. For
nearly a year now, as part of a research team, Dr. Bautista has been
visiting public schools in the poorest and remotest areas of the
country, talking to teachers, parents and principals, and taking a
close look at National Achievement Test (NAT) scores.
The initial findings of her group indicate the impact of a social
variable in education that previous programs in education have not
highlighted. This is the role that the local school can play in
reviving or strengthening the spirit of community. The other side of
this is the amazing effect of the community's concrete involvement in
the affairs of the school on student performance.
The research shows that the infusion of additional material resources
into the school system produces the greatest impact on the performance
levels of students, that is, when a social organization of
multi-stakeholders is already active in creating an environment
conducive to learning. The introduction of a school-based management
(SBM) approach as a component of the Department of Education's Third
Elementary Education Project (TEEP) tapped into a collective energy
that I wrongly thought our communities had lost. Under the SBM, funds
for school improvement are placed directly at the disposal of the
community led by the principal or teacher in charge. When parents,
teachers and school heads band together to do what is necessary for
the sake of their children's education, everything seems possible. The
results on the ground show this in very clear terms. "I have not seen
anything more empowering than this," Bautista said.
Instead of the politician or the office-bound consultant determining
how the funds are to be used, the SBM concept puts total faith in the
wisdom and integrity of the school and its community of stakeholders.
As a result, all construction is made according to specification.
There is no corruption, no waste and no misplaced priorities. More
important, the new decentralized approach places the school at the
center of community life and activates the spirit of shared
accountability.
This approach to education reform was formally launched in 2003 in the
23 most under-resourced divisions of the public school system—from a
total of 188 divisions. It may well be today the most valuable
template for revolutionizing the country's public school system. The
test scores of students in the 8,600 TEEP schools (out of about
37,000) are the most visible manifestation of the miracle now
unfolding in Philippine education. In 2004-2005, TEEP schools were at
par with or did better than even the schools in the National Capital
Region and richer provinces. It wasn't like that at all in 2002.
The performance of the pupils of Guinsaugon Elementary School, a TEEP
school in San Bernardo, Southern Leyte tells it all. In 2002-03, their
mean percentage score in the NAT stood at 35.6. This rose to 49 in
2003-04, and shot up to 83.1 in 2004-05. A landslide buried this same
school not too long ago, but at the rate its pupils were going, those
poor kids would easily have bested the pupils of Manila's most
expensive private schools.
The biggest impediment to education, John Dewey wrote, is "the
isolation of the school from life." The school must break out of this
isolation, and "secure the organic connection with social life." This
is the basic truth about education that we are learning here. There is
hope for our country; it lies in the local school serving as a
catalyst for the REBUILDING OF OUR COMMUNITIES...!
* * *
"The Lost Tomb of Christ?"
The program (I cannot make myself call it a documentary) thrusts
directly at the heart of Christian faith, questioning the
Resurrection. The Discovery Channel will encourage credulous viewers
to believe that archeologists have discovered a tomb containing the
physical remains of Jesus Christ and members of his family.
If this claim is true-- that Jesus did not rise from the dead-- then
Christianity is a false religion. As St. Paul explained to the
Corinthians (1 Cor 15: 17-19):
"If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still
in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have
perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all
men most to be pitied."
...
On what basis does the Discovery Channel ask us to believe that
Christians-- who presumably will compose the greater part of the
audience for this program-- are "of all men most to be pitied?"
Here are the facts:
In a burial vault in Jerusalem, archeologists discovered ossuaries
containing the remains of several people who apparently lived at the
time of Christ. The boxes were marked with names, including Mary,
Judah, and Joseph. On one box the name was illegible, but it might
have read: "Jesus."
When this burial vault was discovered in 1980-- that's right, 27 years
ago-- the discovery drew no particular attention. There was no reason
to believe that this tomb contained the remains of the Lord's family.
Indeed there were several excellent reasons to believe that it did not.
The names on the ossuaries were extremely common ones; the tomb might
have belonged to any affluent family living in Jerusalem. But Jesus
was born into a poor family from Nazareth, not an affluent family from
Jerusalem.
Moreover, historians confirm that from the earliest days of the faith,
Christians honored a site near Calvary-- at the spot where the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre now stands-- as the place where Jesus was
interred after the Crucifixion. The tomb that is the focus of the
Discovery special is located in an entirely different part of the city.
Are self-proclaimed experts of the 21st century more likely to
identify the spot of Christ's tomb accurately than those who witnessed
the burial? That's what we would have to believe, to take this
argument seriously.
after the Da Vinci Code...
"The Lost Tomb of Christ" is the work of two men: James Cameron and
Simcha Jacobovici. Let's take a glance at their credentials.
Cameron is a successful film director, who gave us Titanic and The
Terminator. He is also a fan of science fiction, a member of the Mars
Society (dedicated to colonization of that planet), and a man who
admits that he cannot properly weigh the claims of his own program.
"I'm not a theologist," Cameron told reporters. The word is
"theologian," but Cameron isn't someone who worries about details. In
making this film, Cameron relied on Jacobovici.
"Simcha has no credibility whatsoever," the curator of Jerusalem's
Rockefeller Museum told Newsweek. Unlike Cameron, Jacobovici is not
entirely new to the business of archeological discovery; he has a
track record. In 2002, he was instrumental in preparing another
Discovery special, about what was alleged to be the tomb of "James,
the brother of Jesus."
Then as now, legitimate archeologists were skeptical about the
discovery that Jacobovici touted. Finally in 2005, Israeli authorities
exposed the "tomb of James" as a fraud, and indicted five people on
charges of forgery.
Somehow these two men-- one with no expertise whatever, the other with
a history of promoting an antiquities scam-- convinced the Discovery
Channel to invest $3.5 million in their program. Do you suppose that
you and I could convince Discovery to invest a similar sum in a
project to undermine public belief in, say, global warming?
It's difficult to avoid the conclusion that the Discovery Channel knew
what it would be getting: not credibility, but public attention.
Television sheds heat, not light, and in this case producers are
hoping to generate controversy, not to advance the cause of knowledge
and understanding.
(hsi)
holy spirit interactive
again a serious matter
sorry po..............
hope nobody will get
the pressures
and stress...
jong
Q8
i think everything posted here
are of helpful in many different ways
and in unique revelations
that really make us grow
and know each other well
and that is the beauty of it all!
we don't have to be closed doors
when something different or unique
or not compatible with what
we perceived
encounter us along the way
and shot our minds & hearts.
we need to be open in a
possibly 4 doors in our life...
the door that we know that others don't know
the door that we don't know but others know
the door that we both know and
the door that only God knows...
the danger is the door that sometimes
we forcefully want to open that is not for us
or the one we don't want to open
there lies the borderline...
it's either we don't want to
open and close ourselves
or we want to open it by force
even hurting others & ourselves...
drawing between the lines
of egoism & altruism
of vices & virtues.
no my point here is we all want to grow
everything we do here will
determined our identity
as how we build ourselves
how we matured
especially in the image
that really reflects life
not illusions and confusions...
we encounter many obstacles
within & without
and we will find ways
of managing them
that will make our journey
peacefully even in the midst
of storms or conflicts
and nothing can stop us
this is what we are trying to define
this is what we want to understand
that's why
we need to move & to grow
not to become stagnant...
and one biggest challenge is the
definition of our by-laws
and the real objectives of this group
one of this is the 12-key area
fill up and conquer all this gaps
then we'll all be in peace.
we have to draw between the lines
give us your share then...
(and it'll be obvious who will show our ways
the body of this boat/s)
seriously or not we need to be stable first.
then tell us what confuses you or us?
by all means we have to grow...
we're in this stages now
because the only constant (that never change)
is change.
smiles
...............
mission?
"power to the people..."
unfortunately it's being abused by the trapos!
if we'll continue to have those kind of cc in our communities
then we're still behind... we're still hoping... we're still in pains.
better to sling it out to goliath and let them destroy themselves...
they already have their rewards.
but again it's facing our children... that's why
we'll sacrifice for them and give them a sense of directions
in order not as much as possible be exposed to these kind of
illusions that our trapos and trashhhhhh infuse in our medias....
let's move on... all regions, all religions...
but then
we'll face educations...
we'll face gov't...
we'll face society...
a system they called
But the problem lies not in the system or laws.
It lies in the hearts of man or woman
where the system becomes the end,
the means to an end.
It is a kind of system
where progress
has been assign to a mere survival --
where people denounce
involvements, belongingness,
in place of indifference...
better make a difference
a one in a million you.... :)
again
we'll face communities...
we'll face families!!!!
we need to study more
we need a sense of direction
and it's too damn hard :(
but at least we'll try...
so what else could be our mission???
maybe we could answer the very simple "Q."
'sinO ka bA?!.'
cheers
jong
...............
"Gentle Art of Blessing"
"On awakening, bless this day, for it is already full of unseen
good which your blessing will call forth; for to bless is to
acknowledge the unlimited good that is embedded in the very
texture of the universe, and awaiting each and all.
"On crossing people in the street, on the bus, in places of work
and play, bless them. The peace of your blessing will
accompany them on their way, and the aura of its gentle
fragrance will be light to their path.
"On meeting and talking to people, bless them in their health,
their work, their joy, their relationships to God, to themselves and
others. Bless them in their abundance; their finances-bless
them in every conceivable way; for such blessings not only sow
seeds of healing but one day will spring forth as flowers of joy in
the waste places of your own life.
"When you pass a prison, mentally bless its inmates in their
innocence and freedom, their gentleness, pure essence and
unconditional forgiveness; for one can only be prisoner of one's
self image, and a free man can walk unshackled in the courtyard
of a jail just as citizens of countries where freedom reigns can
be prisoners when fear lurks in their thoughts.
"When you pass a hospital, bless its patients in their present
wholeness; for even in their suffering, this wholeness awaits in
them to be discovered. When your eyes behold a man in tears or
seemingly broken by life, bless him in his vitality and joy; for the
material senses present but the inverted image of the ultimate
splendor and perfection which only the inner eye beholds.
"As you walk, bless the city in which you live, its government and
teachers, its nurses and street sweepers, its children and
bankers, its priests and prostitutes. The minute anyone
expresses the least aggression or unkindness to you, respond
with a blessing; bless them totally, sincerely, joyfully; for such
blessings are a shield which protects them from the ignorance
of their misdeed, and distracts the arrow that was aimed at you.
"To bless means to wish unconditionally total, unrestricted good
for others and events from the deepest wellspring in the
innermost chamber of your heart; it means to hallow, to hold in
reverence, to behold with utter awe that which is always a gift
from the Creator. He who is hallowed by your blessing is set
aside, consecrated holy and whole. To bless is yet to invoke
divine care upon, to think or speak gratefully for, to confer
happiness upon-although we ourselves are never the bestower,
but simply the joyful witness of Life's abundance.
"To bless all without discrimination of any sort is the ultimate
form of giving because those you bless will never know from
whence came the sudden ray of the sun that burst through the
clouds of their skies, and you will rarely be a witness to the
sunlight of their lives.
"When something goes completely askew in your day, some
unexpected event knocks down your plans, burst into blessing;
for life is teaching you a lesson, and the very event you believe to
be unwanted will turn out well for you. Trials are blessings in
disguise, and hosts of angels follow in their path.
"To bless is to acknowledge the omnipresent universal beauty
hidden to material eyes; it is to activate the law of attraction
which, from the farthest reaches of the universe, will bring into
your life exactly what you need to experience and enjoy.
"It is impossible to bless and to judge. So hold constantly as a
deep, hallowed, intoned thought that desire to bless; for truly
then shall you become a peacemaker, and one day you
shall-everywhere-behold the very face of God."
God bless
by Pierce Pradervand
................
Rizal's `Kalinga'
Inquirer
Last updated 03:13am (Mla time) 12/30/2006
Published on page A10 of the December 30, 2006 issue of the Philippine
Daily Inquirer
IN INTERNAL exile in Dapitan, Jose Rizal set about teaching the
children and making himself useful to the local community. The outline
of a Philippine map he created has been restored. We only have a
reproduction of the house in which he lived, but we can claim that one
of Rizal's teaching aids has survived down the generations. What Rizal
set out to do in Dapitan, he always espoused in his writings: to
devote his knowledge to the building of a civic consciousness that, he
believed, was the bedrock of a positive political consciousness.
Rizal was always aware that even as he was hailed as a prophet, there
would be others who would be more than willing to be false prophets.
In his essay, "The Philippines a Century Hence," he observed: "All the
petty insurrections that have occurred in the Philippines were the
work of a few fanatics or discontented soldiers, who had to deceive
and humbug the people or avail themselves of their powers over their
subordinates to gain their ends. So they all failed. No insurrection
had a popular character or was based on a need of the whole race or
fought for human rights or justice, so it left no ineffaceable
impressions, but rather when they saw that they had been duped, the
people bound up their wounds and applauded the overthrow of the
disturbers of their peace! But what if the movement springs from the
people themselves and based its causes upon their woes?"
It is an irony of history that the man so hated by the institutional
Church of his time should have expressed what has become a central
message of the Church under a native hierarchy: what we do not need,
he might as well have said, was not Charter change but CHARACTER
change. Put another way, and with an example also dear to the hearts
of present-day Filipino prelates, what Rizal advocated in his day has
finally seen fruition in the present. For what Rizal set out to do was
the 19th century's first stirrings of the movement we now know as
Gawad Kalinga.
If the past year has been one of political failure, then it has also
been one of tremendous success for those who would put community
building ahead of politicking. Revolutionary transitional councils,
military withdrawals of support, "calibrated preemptive responses,"
and impeachment complaints decided on the basis of the numbers and not
the merits -- all these have been facets of a destructive, desperate
and, yes, degenerate political system, while what has caught the
world's imagination and respect has been Gawad Kalinga.
Indeed, if leaders of both the opposition and the administration have
found themselves acting like generals with no foot soldiers,
commanders of political forces met with indifference by the great
democratic mobilizers -- the middle -- it is because the middle has
been in the thick of efforts such as Gawad Kalinga and conspicuously
absent from the political field of battle.
But efforts to bring different social strata together, and which
strive to find a way for different economic classes to work together
and not against each other, are only a fresh start but can never be
the end-all and be-all of community involvement. And this is where
Rizal's example can inspire those who have found meaning and
satisfaction in community-building. If in the past, the
disappointments born of both Edsa people power revolts led to a
drifting away from political action, then those involved in efforts
such as Gawad Kalinga have to realize their building communities
cannot absolve them of their duty to build a better nation.
A better nation will not arise simply because houses have been built.
The empowerment and the breaking of the chains of despair and social
mistrust must lead to clean, credible elections and bring to power a
national leadership that reflects and lives up to a renewed sense of
civic virtue. The honors that have been rendered Gawad Kalinga, for
example, aren't laurels on which its volunteers should rest. They are,
instead, challenges to expand its achievements in the public sphere.
The past year has seen political divisions deepen in our society, and
yet there have been earnest efforts to close that divide, economically
and socially. As it was in Rizal's lifetime, the Filipino still waits
for those who can bridge the gap between social and political action.
............
i just want to share some infos or history of this holiday celebration
maybe this will help us to understand more the universality of this
feast...
What are the origins of All Saints Day and All Souls Day?
Are these linked with paganism and Halloween?
Both the feast of All Saints and the feast of All Souls evolved in the
life of the Church independently of paganism and Halloween. Let us
first address the feast of All Saints. The exact origins of this
celebration are uncertain, although, after the legalization of
Christianity in A.D. 313, a common commemoration of the saints,
especially the martyrs, appeared in various areas throughout the
Church. For instance in the East, the city of Edessa celebrated this
feast on May 13; the Syrians, on the Friday after Easter; and the city
of Antioch, on the first Sunday after Pentecost. Both St. Ephrem (d.
373) and St. John Chrysostom (d. 407) attest to this feast day in
their preaching. In the West, a commemoration for all the saints also
was celebrated on the first Sunday after Pentecost. The primary reason
for establishing a common feast day was because of the desire to honor
the great number of martyrs, especially during the persecution of
Emperor Diocletion (284-305), the worst and most extensive of the
persecutions. Quite simply, there were not enough days of the year for
a feast day for each martyr and many of them died in groups. A common
feast day for all saints, therefore, seemed most appropriate.
In 609, the Emperor Phocas gave the Pantheon in Rome to Pope Boniface
IV, who rededicated it on May 13 under the title St. Maria ad Martyres
(or St. Mary and All Martyrs). Whether the Holy Father purposefully
chose May 13 because of the date of the popular celebration already
established in the East or whether this was just a happy coincidence
is open to debate.
The designation of Nov. 1 as the feast of All Saints occurred over
time. Pope Gregory III (731-741) dedicated an oratory in the original
St. Peter's Basilica in honor of all the saints on Nov. 1 (at least
according to some accounts), and this date then became the official
date for the celebration of the feast of All Saints in Rome. St. Bede
(d. 735) recorded the celebration of All Saints Day on Nov. 1 in
England, and such a celebration also existed in Salzburg, Austria. Ado
of Vienne (d. 875) recounted how Pope Gregory IV asked King Louis the
Pious (778-840) to proclaim Nov. 1 as All Saints Day throughout the
Holy Roman Empire. Sacramentaries of the 9th and 10th centuries also
placed the feast of All Saints on the liturgical calendar on Nov. 1.
According to an early Church historian, John Beleth (d. 1165), Pope
Gregory IV (827-844) officially declared Nov. 1 the feast of All
Saints, transferring it from May 13. However, Sicard of Cremona (d.
1215) recorded that Pope Gregory VII (1073-85) finally suppressed May
13 and mandated Nov. 1 as the date to celebrate the feast of All
Saints. In all, we find the Church establishing a liturgical feast day
in honor of the saints independent of any pagan influence.
Now for the Halloween connection: Nov. 1 marked Samhain, the beginning
of the Celtic winter. (The Celts lived as early as 2,000 years ago in
England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and northern France.) Samhain, for
whom the feast was named, was the Celtic lord of death, and his name
literally meant "summer's end." Since winter is the season of cold,
darkness and death, the Celts soon made the connection with human
death. The eve of Samhain, Oct. 31, was a time of Celtic pagan
sacrifice, and Samhain allowed the souls of the dead to return to
their earthly homes that evening. Ghosts, witches, goblins and elves
came to harm the people, particularly those who had inflicted harm on
them in this life. Cats, too, were considered sacred because they had
once been human beings who had been changed as a punishment for their
evil deeds on this earth.
To protect themselves from marauding evil spirits on the eve of
Samhain, the people extinguished their hearth fires, and the Druids
(the priests and spiritual teachers of the Celts) built a huge new
year's bonfire of sacred oak branches. The Druids offered burnt
sacrifices — crops, animals, even humans — and told fortunes of the
coming year by examining the burned remains. People sometimes wore
costumes of animal heads and skins. From this new fire, the home
hearths were again ignited.
Particular ethnic groups developed their own lore, which was merged
with the celebration. In Ireland, people held a parade in honor of
Muck Olla, a god. They followed a leader dressed in a white robe with
a mask from the head of an animal and begged for food. (Ireland is
also the source of the jack-o-lantern fable: A man named Jack was not
able to enter heaven because of his miserliness, and he could not
enter hell because he played practical jokes on the devil; so he was
condemned to walk the earth with his lantern until judgment day.)
The Scots walked through fields and villages carrying torches and lit
bonfires to ward off witches and other evil spirits.
In Wales, every person placed a marked stone in the huge bonfire. If a
person's stone could not be found the next morning, he would die
within a year.
Besides the Celtic traditions in place, the Roman conquest of Britain
in A.D. 43 brought two other pagan feasts: Feralia was held in late
October to honor the dead. Another autumn festival honored Pomona, the
goddess of fruits and trees; probably through this festival, apples
became associated with Halloween. Elements of these Roman celebrations
were combined with the Celtic Samhain.
With the spread of Christianity and the establishment of All Saints
Day, some of these pagan customs remained in the English speaking
world for All Hallows Eve (or Halloween, All Saints Eve), perhaps at
first more out of superstition, and later, more out of fun without any
real tie to paganism. For this reason, little ones (and some big ones)
still dress in a variety of costumes and pretend for the evening to be
ghosts, witches, vampires, monsters, Ninjas, pirates and so on,
without any thought of paganism. Nevertheless, All Saints Day clearly
arose from genuine a Christian devotion independent of paganism.
hsi.
..........
(in fairness for our public schools in philippines or culion...)
Hope in education
By Randy David
Inquirer
Last updated 04:36am (Mla time) 10/29/2006
Published on page A13 of the October 29, 2006 issue of the Philippine
Daily Inquirer
SO abiding is the Filipino's belief in education that we can think of
it as occupying almost the same place in our culture as that assigned
to religion. It is probably the only thing that makes us modern. We
have no fear of the future, and neither are we sentimental about the
past. We expect education not only to change us, but to liberate us
from everything that constrains us. As families, we commit all that we
have so our children may be better educated than us.
This modern outlook is so pervasive among our people that one must
wonder how a nation such as ours can allow itself to be governed by
the most backward-looking politicians. I think the answer to this
puzzle might be found in an examination of the dissolution of our
communities. In the wake of rapid urbanization, we failed to develop
new publics that could unite our people and keep the collective spirit
alive. Our cities are not only overcrowded; they also have no
coherence. We do not have a real polity of informed citizens. What we
have are rootless individuals with no opinions other than those
extracted from them by pollsters, and no participation in national
life other than as passive consumers of the mass media.
The situation in education starkly mirrors this absence of a unifying
national purpose. Not only has the government consigned to the private
sector a large part of its duty to provide basic education, it has
also allowed private enterprise to virtually dictate the whole
direction of higher education. The overnight proliferation of nursing
schools is but a dramatic symptom of this abdication of an essential
governmental function. It has led to so much waste not only of scarce
material resources, but also of human lives. If one wants to affirm a
dark view of the Philippine future, it is normal to refer to the
dismal state of the country's education system.
But last week, at a forum on the practice of sociology in the
Philippines, I learned something about what is happening to education
that I did not quite expect. "There is hope," my University of the
Philippines colleague Dr. Cynthia Bautista told her audience. For
nearly a year now, as part of a research team, Dr. Bautista has been
visiting public schools in the poorest and remotest areas of the
country, talking to teachers, parents and principals, and taking a
close look at National Achievement Test (NAT) scores.
The initial findings of her group indicate the impact of a social
variable in education that previous programs in education have not
highlighted. This is the role that the local school can play in
reviving or strengthening the spirit of community. The other side of
this is the amazing effect of the community's concrete involvement in
the affairs of the school on student performance.
The research shows that the infusion of additional material resources
into the school system produces the greatest impact on the performance
levels of students, that is, when a social organization of
multi-stakeholders is already active in creating an environment
conducive to learning. The introduction of a school-based management
(SBM) approach as a component of the Department of Education's Third
Elementary Education Project (TEEP) tapped into a collective energy
that I wrongly thought our communities had lost. Under the SBM, funds
for school improvement are placed directly at the disposal of the
community led by the principal or teacher in charge. When parents,
teachers and school heads band together to do what is necessary for
the sake of their children's education, everything seems possible. The
results on the ground show this in very clear terms. "I have not seen
anything more empowering than this," Bautista said.
Instead of the politician or the office-bound consultant determining
how the funds are to be used, the SBM concept puts total faith in the
wisdom and integrity of the school and its community of stakeholders.
As a result, all construction is made according to specification.
There is no corruption, no waste and no misplaced priorities. More
important, the new decentralized approach places the school at the
center of community life and activates the spirit of shared
accountability.
This approach to education reform was formally launched in 2003 in the
23 most under-resourced divisions of the public school system—from a
total of 188 divisions. It may well be today the most valuable
template for revolutionizing the country's public school system. The
test scores of students in the 8,600 TEEP schools (out of about
37,000) are the most visible manifestation of the miracle now
unfolding in Philippine education. In 2004-2005, TEEP schools were at
par with or did better than even the schools in the National Capital
Region and richer provinces. It wasn't like that at all in 2002.
The performance of the pupils of Guinsaugon Elementary School, a TEEP
school in San Bernardo, Southern Leyte tells it all. In 2002-03, their
mean percentage score in the NAT stood at 35.6. This rose to 49 in
2003-04, and shot up to 83.1 in 2004-05. A landslide buried this same
school not too long ago, but at the rate its pupils were going, those
poor kids would easily have bested the pupils of Manila's most
expensive private schools.
The biggest impediment to education, John Dewey wrote, is "the
isolation of the school from life." The school must break out of this
isolation, and "secure the organic connection with social life." This
is the basic truth about education that we are learning here. There is
hope for our country; it lies in the local school serving as a
catalyst for the REBUILDING OF OUR COMMUNITIES...!
* * *
"The Lost Tomb of Christ?"
The program (I cannot make myself call it a documentary) thrusts
directly at the heart of Christian faith, questioning the
Resurrection. The Discovery Channel will encourage credulous viewers
to believe that archeologists have discovered a tomb containing the
physical remains of Jesus Christ and members of his family.
If this claim is true-- that Jesus did not rise from the dead-- then
Christianity is a false religion. As St. Paul explained to the
Corinthians (1 Cor 15: 17-19):
"If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still
in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have
perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all
men most to be pitied."
...
On what basis does the Discovery Channel ask us to believe that
Christians-- who presumably will compose the greater part of the
audience for this program-- are "of all men most to be pitied?"
Here are the facts:
In a burial vault in Jerusalem, archeologists discovered ossuaries
containing the remains of several people who apparently lived at the
time of Christ. The boxes were marked with names, including Mary,
Judah, and Joseph. On one box the name was illegible, but it might
have read: "Jesus."
When this burial vault was discovered in 1980-- that's right, 27 years
ago-- the discovery drew no particular attention. There was no reason
to believe that this tomb contained the remains of the Lord's family.
Indeed there were several excellent reasons to believe that it did not.
The names on the ossuaries were extremely common ones; the tomb might
have belonged to any affluent family living in Jerusalem. But Jesus
was born into a poor family from Nazareth, not an affluent family from
Jerusalem.
Moreover, historians confirm that from the earliest days of the faith,
Christians honored a site near Calvary-- at the spot where the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre now stands-- as the place where Jesus was
interred after the Crucifixion. The tomb that is the focus of the
Discovery special is located in an entirely different part of the city.
Are self-proclaimed experts of the 21st century more likely to
identify the spot of Christ's tomb accurately than those who witnessed
the burial? That's what we would have to believe, to take this
argument seriously.
after the Da Vinci Code...
"The Lost Tomb of Christ" is the work of two men: James Cameron and
Simcha Jacobovici. Let's take a glance at their credentials.
Cameron is a successful film director, who gave us Titanic and The
Terminator. He is also a fan of science fiction, a member of the Mars
Society (dedicated to colonization of that planet), and a man who
admits that he cannot properly weigh the claims of his own program.
"I'm not a theologist," Cameron told reporters. The word is
"theologian," but Cameron isn't someone who worries about details. In
making this film, Cameron relied on Jacobovici.
"Simcha has no credibility whatsoever," the curator of Jerusalem's
Rockefeller Museum told Newsweek. Unlike Cameron, Jacobovici is not
entirely new to the business of archeological discovery; he has a
track record. In 2002, he was instrumental in preparing another
Discovery special, about what was alleged to be the tomb of "James,
the brother of Jesus."
Then as now, legitimate archeologists were skeptical about the
discovery that Jacobovici touted. Finally in 2005, Israeli authorities
exposed the "tomb of James" as a fraud, and indicted five people on
charges of forgery.
Somehow these two men-- one with no expertise whatever, the other with
a history of promoting an antiquities scam-- convinced the Discovery
Channel to invest $3.5 million in their program. Do you suppose that
you and I could convince Discovery to invest a similar sum in a
project to undermine public belief in, say, global warming?
It's difficult to avoid the conclusion that the Discovery Channel knew
what it would be getting: not credibility, but public attention.
Television sheds heat, not light, and in this case producers are
hoping to generate controversy, not to advance the cause of knowledge
and understanding.
(hsi)
holy spirit interactive
again a serious matter
sorry po..............
hope nobody will get
the pressures
and stress...
jong
Q8
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
rainbow
i just want to share
the happiest moment of my life
in culion...
actually i already shared this memories
but it was mixed with angst
yet this time it'll be
simply joy & true colors.
"rainbow"
Ten or twenty five years ago during or before the full moon we usually
play many games in this place, like hide & seek, 'taragtagan',
'maro-maro', 'turubigan' and other games. Sometimes we just simply
watched the moon while chatting and sharing our stories & jokes. We
also play some guitars or just the plastic drums singing o "maliwanag
na buwan" and other stupid songs...
Then during the day we will go swimming after our pasabit the
traditional way of fishing at pantalan which I think originally made
in culion. Of course by the pasabit experts Bingel and manong Nonoy
Taal and many more. Some had their pakaskas also on their bancas.
fishing by the dawn...
Culion was where we all learned how to swim. From the first
'langoy-aso' stroke to all the swimming strokes like breaststroke,
freestyle, backstroke and butterfly... then to the daring jumps from
stairs to pantalan. We also went to coral reef diving wearing our
handmade goggles to watch the spectacular beauty of corals and fishes.
We even try to chased the 'tunggaw', 'sap-sap', and 'matambaka'. In this way we'll learn how to dive deeper in the sea holding our breath for a long time. Then on the 'pantalan' with all the other kids holding our hands, we run and jumped to the sea swimming farther to the deep... and when there were wooden ships from manila we'll go to the top jumping from the roof and swam back...
When we already master all the strokes of swimming we'll go practicing
for the swimming competitions in our schools and fiestas and for the
palawan provincial sports meet to the region IV athletic meet, the
STRAA. I still remember when we were practicing for the swimming
competitions, we tracked the coral reefs of Culion proper. A marathon swimming... So those were the years that we produce
or introduce swimmer champions for the whole palawan. not to mention
the future swimmer athelete that is becoming...
During San Juan which is the rainy season the whole community and
families were gathering around the place for picnic and of course
"basaan ng dagat o tubig" with all their snack foods and some drinking
sessions while playing... even there were all kinds of jelly fish we
run around and jump while the rain were showering us. everybody were very cautious about the jelly fish but still some of us were stung by its venomous string-like stingers.
But aside from these dangerous jellies, I remember one time, one of
the magical moment that really happened there that I cannot forget.
That was rainy day when even the sun was shining.... there was a
rainbow right in front of us circling around pantalan that can be reached by our hands... all of us were hypnotized by the beauty of it! then we all jumped straight on the rainbow! We were shouting with joy and laughters. looking for the golden pot jokingly. It was pure happiness, the most enchanting moment of my life in culion...
not to mentioned the rides
at the back of the sea turtle,
and the catched of manta
and sailfish from pantalan
riding to sand island...
the freeing of "lawin"...
the mountain climbings
under the fogs and dews of the
mountain top...
another rides of the the sailings
and banca race during fiestas...
the beauty & romantic moonlights
during blackout with the stars
while watching the satellite passing by
competing with the shooting stars
in a pitch black sky...
the wave surfing along bahura or coral reefs of balala
without snorkel diving with our goggles
the corals and shells by the bay...
the huntings of birds that seems not to end
at baldat and sugod river...
the picnics along the white beaches
hopping amongst the islands until sunburns...
the diving of the sea birds
and the flying of the fishes...
the colors of the dawn
with the silhouettes of bancas and petromax
and the clouds after dusk
in the twilight zone...
the climbing of fruit trees...
this was, is, will always be Culion to me.
can you touch the rainbows?...
....
hope that this will start a new dawn...
a new beginning
a new rainbow
amidst the rains and storms
the way we were...
john
the happiest moment of my life
in culion...
actually i already shared this memories
but it was mixed with angst
yet this time it'll be
simply joy & true colors.
"rainbow"
Ten or twenty five years ago during or before the full moon we usually
play many games in this place, like hide & seek, 'taragtagan',
'maro-maro', 'turubigan' and other games. Sometimes we just simply
watched the moon while chatting and sharing our stories & jokes. We
also play some guitars or just the plastic drums singing o "maliwanag
na buwan" and other stupid songs...
Then during the day we will go swimming after our pasabit the
traditional way of fishing at pantalan which I think originally made
in culion. Of course by the pasabit experts Bingel and manong Nonoy
Taal and many more. Some had their pakaskas also on their bancas.
fishing by the dawn...
Culion was where we all learned how to swim. From the first
'langoy-aso' stroke to all the swimming strokes like breaststroke,
freestyle, backstroke and butterfly... then to the daring jumps from
stairs to pantalan. We also went to coral reef diving wearing our
handmade goggles to watch the spectacular beauty of corals and fishes.
We even try to chased the 'tunggaw', 'sap-sap', and 'matambaka'. In this way we'll learn how to dive deeper in the sea holding our breath for a long time. Then on the 'pantalan' with all the other kids holding our hands, we run and jumped to the sea swimming farther to the deep... and when there were wooden ships from manila we'll go to the top jumping from the roof and swam back...
When we already master all the strokes of swimming we'll go practicing
for the swimming competitions in our schools and fiestas and for the
palawan provincial sports meet to the region IV athletic meet, the
STRAA. I still remember when we were practicing for the swimming
competitions, we tracked the coral reefs of Culion proper. A marathon swimming... So those were the years that we produce
or introduce swimmer champions for the whole palawan. not to mention
the future swimmer athelete that is becoming...
During San Juan which is the rainy season the whole community and
families were gathering around the place for picnic and of course
"basaan ng dagat o tubig" with all their snack foods and some drinking
sessions while playing... even there were all kinds of jelly fish we
run around and jump while the rain were showering us. everybody were very cautious about the jelly fish but still some of us were stung by its venomous string-like stingers.
But aside from these dangerous jellies, I remember one time, one of
the magical moment that really happened there that I cannot forget.
That was rainy day when even the sun was shining.... there was a
rainbow right in front of us circling around pantalan that can be reached by our hands... all of us were hypnotized by the beauty of it! then we all jumped straight on the rainbow! We were shouting with joy and laughters. looking for the golden pot jokingly. It was pure happiness, the most enchanting moment of my life in culion...
not to mentioned the rides
at the back of the sea turtle,
and the catched of manta
and sailfish from pantalan
riding to sand island...
the freeing of "lawin"...
the mountain climbings
under the fogs and dews of the
mountain top...
another rides of the the sailings
and banca race during fiestas...
the beauty & romantic moonlights
during blackout with the stars
while watching the satellite passing by
competing with the shooting stars
in a pitch black sky...
the wave surfing along bahura or coral reefs of balala
without snorkel diving with our goggles
the corals and shells by the bay...
the huntings of birds that seems not to end
at baldat and sugod river...
the picnics along the white beaches
hopping amongst the islands until sunburns...
the diving of the sea birds
and the flying of the fishes...
the colors of the dawn
with the silhouettes of bancas and petromax
and the clouds after dusk
in the twilight zone...
the climbing of fruit trees...
this was, is, will always be Culion to me.
can you touch the rainbows?...
....
hope that this will start a new dawn...
a new beginning
a new rainbow
amidst the rains and storms
the way we were...
john
Monday, March 5, 2007
WYD Kuwait - retreat 2007
just a simple reflection...
a kind of instant reflections i guess
of what we experienced
in the desert or
in the wilderness huhh...
or maybe this is just a journal
and a few notes..
another journey? i hope...
the retreat
was very simple
and casual i may say
not the typical one
yet very nice and meaningful
we were just being our 'selves'...
we started late of saturday evening
because of the accident of orson's car
and the treasure hunting
of the place itself
where they have to be guided by some
symbols and signs on the roads
in order to find the place in the desert...
somehow lost in the wilderness
without and within... lol or smile :)
so before they (the late night group) arrived
we already ate our dinner by the fire
under the first quarter moon with the
magnificent fireworks afar & just beneath our tents
with the chilling cold wind and air.
but the night was calmed by the music
of the flickering bonfire
together with our neighbor's
play, dances and music
while we just watched them & the half moon
by chatting and grilling...
waiting.
when the group arrived
we started another bonfire
followed by the debate
after they ate their dinner.
the debate was so revealing
and enlightening yet so simple.
we simply define God... (simple?)
we begin to know
what is prayer...
what is the borderline between
serving yourself and serving others...
of altruism and egoism...
we didn't noticed the night
and the fires
until we felt the chilling breeze
and the desert dew of the midnight
and when the moon vanished by the clouds & fogs.
boys and girls went to their tents
for the rest of the night...
for the boys it was a joyful sleep
because everytime someone snore
almost everyone will giggle & laugh :))
until morning....
so the boys woke up early because of the recording
of this morning sound.
then we had our breakfast by the strong winds
and when angie (the neighbor) arrived
picked up by fr. wendell in the early morn
we started the first activity of the day
after their breakfast...
we had our song and dance
as our intro and exercise
animated by angie & precila...
then fr. read the Holy Scripture
as our guide for the reflections.
then angie started the image identity
as our first activity that day
some question like;
'think or choose of an image that reflects you' and the like
and everybody had their revelations...
we'll try to innumerate them all maybe next time
or someone will do it here later...
after we share our images
fr. wendell, jeb & deck went to nearby fastfood
to get our lunch, mixed of vegetarian & meat...
we were full and there were 3 or 7 basket still left.
after our lunch we continued
the activities. this time
orson's treasure hunting..
we simply ransack the whole camp.
and at the end while orson was being chased by the winners
he was caught by the wire of the fence
and was painfully enjured by it
while running and bump on it...
(again? this time it's him not his car)
hope & pray that he's ok now.
the treasure was as always,
the teachings and life of Jesus
in the Bible... the real one.
the last activity was what we called
silence...
we need this in order to focus & concentrate
and it is the source of our creativity,
from mind to word to action...
that's why we told them to be still for few seconds
in order to recognize something.
so it goes like,
simply feel the shapes inside the box
and define the shapes by drawing it on the paper.
after drawing all the shapes inside the box
we'll solve the puzzle by creating
the real image or religious symbols of the puzzle...
i was reflecting on this activity
because it was also related to the first one,
about image identity...
i remember that one group
assembled the puzzle into another image.
as it should be a cross & a star
they came out an image of a fish & a sail boat.
which can also be right... (at least for them or others)
but many times we really need to follow or immitate
a very important image that really
reflects a true identity.
we have to follow the image in the puzzle
or i may say it is simply following the image of Christ
rather than another image of your own or others
or things
totally different from Jesus...
different from that puzzle image.
that's why we really need to be still in times of trials,
of confusions, of creating...
we need more focus... disciplines in order to follow
the creativity that God plans for us.
we have four mirrors in our selves;
one is the image we know about ourself,
two is the image we don't know about ourself,
but our friends or family knows it
three is the image both we and our neighbors know about ourself and
fourth is the image that God knows about us and for us.
but with this retreat
i discovered that there's the fifth image
and that is the image that we build by us,
made by our self...
the image that we want to build
even distorted by our own
vices and wickedness...
so we have to find the borderline,
in order not to be lost
between selfishness & generousity...
and to find that treasure/s
that will really make us happy &
peaceful.
from sorrows to joy.. :))
so we end our retreat
by the children play
the father and daughters holding hands
chasing their two boys... i mean sons
with the dance of
boom tarat-tarat on top of the table
by another son...
playtime of the family.
until up to the highways of kuwait
with the speed of 120 to 160
still dancing the boom tarat-tarat
led by the van of deck and company... ;))
cheers
greens
blues &
safrons
we'll try to make another tent by the pool
in summer this year
pray that we'll be illumined
by another lights in the night & day.
see you on saturdays
in silence & prayers
to treasure our true image
through the sign of the cross
and hopefully the star... too
again our heartfelt thanks
to conchita for the beautiful
tents in the wilderness!!!
for her grateful heart too..
cheers!
jong
prayers
:)
(feb. 24-25 '07)
a kind of instant reflections i guess
of what we experienced
in the desert or
in the wilderness huhh...
or maybe this is just a journal
and a few notes..
another journey? i hope...
the retreat
was very simple
and casual i may say
not the typical one
yet very nice and meaningful
we were just being our 'selves'...
we started late of saturday evening
because of the accident of orson's car
and the treasure hunting
of the place itself
where they have to be guided by some
symbols and signs on the roads
in order to find the place in the desert...
somehow lost in the wilderness
without and within... lol or smile :)
so before they (the late night group) arrived
we already ate our dinner by the fire
under the first quarter moon with the
magnificent fireworks afar & just beneath our tents
with the chilling cold wind and air.
but the night was calmed by the music
of the flickering bonfire
together with our neighbor's
play, dances and music
while we just watched them & the half moon
by chatting and grilling...
waiting.
when the group arrived
we started another bonfire
followed by the debate
after they ate their dinner.
the debate was so revealing
and enlightening yet so simple.
we simply define God... (simple?)
we begin to know
what is prayer...
what is the borderline between
serving yourself and serving others...
of altruism and egoism...
we didn't noticed the night
and the fires
until we felt the chilling breeze
and the desert dew of the midnight
and when the moon vanished by the clouds & fogs.
boys and girls went to their tents
for the rest of the night...
for the boys it was a joyful sleep
because everytime someone snore
almost everyone will giggle & laugh :))
until morning....
so the boys woke up early because of the recording
of this morning sound.
then we had our breakfast by the strong winds
and when angie (the neighbor) arrived
picked up by fr. wendell in the early morn
we started the first activity of the day
after their breakfast...
we had our song and dance
as our intro and exercise
animated by angie & precila...
then fr. read the Holy Scripture
as our guide for the reflections.
then angie started the image identity
as our first activity that day
some question like;
'think or choose of an image that reflects you' and the like
and everybody had their revelations...
we'll try to innumerate them all maybe next time
or someone will do it here later...
after we share our images
fr. wendell, jeb & deck went to nearby fastfood
to get our lunch, mixed of vegetarian & meat...
we were full and there were 3 or 7 basket still left.
after our lunch we continued
the activities. this time
orson's treasure hunting..
we simply ransack the whole camp.
and at the end while orson was being chased by the winners
he was caught by the wire of the fence
and was painfully enjured by it
while running and bump on it...
(again? this time it's him not his car)
hope & pray that he's ok now.
the treasure was as always,
the teachings and life of Jesus
in the Bible... the real one.
the last activity was what we called
silence...
we need this in order to focus & concentrate
and it is the source of our creativity,
from mind to word to action...
that's why we told them to be still for few seconds
in order to recognize something.
so it goes like,
simply feel the shapes inside the box
and define the shapes by drawing it on the paper.
after drawing all the shapes inside the box
we'll solve the puzzle by creating
the real image or religious symbols of the puzzle...
i was reflecting on this activity
because it was also related to the first one,
about image identity...
i remember that one group
assembled the puzzle into another image.
as it should be a cross & a star
they came out an image of a fish & a sail boat.
which can also be right... (at least for them or others)
but many times we really need to follow or immitate
a very important image that really
reflects a true identity.
we have to follow the image in the puzzle
or i may say it is simply following the image of Christ
rather than another image of your own or others
or things
totally different from Jesus...
different from that puzzle image.
that's why we really need to be still in times of trials,
of confusions, of creating...
we need more focus... disciplines in order to follow
the creativity that God plans for us.
we have four mirrors in our selves;
one is the image we know about ourself,
two is the image we don't know about ourself,
but our friends or family knows it
three is the image both we and our neighbors know about ourself and
fourth is the image that God knows about us and for us.
but with this retreat
i discovered that there's the fifth image
and that is the image that we build by us,
made by our self...
the image that we want to build
even distorted by our own
vices and wickedness...
so we have to find the borderline,
in order not to be lost
between selfishness & generousity...
and to find that treasure/s
that will really make us happy &
peaceful.
from sorrows to joy.. :))
so we end our retreat
by the children play
the father and daughters holding hands
chasing their two boys... i mean sons
with the dance of
boom tarat-tarat on top of the table
by another son...
playtime of the family.
until up to the highways of kuwait
with the speed of 120 to 160
still dancing the boom tarat-tarat
led by the van of deck and company... ;))
cheers
greens
blues &
safrons
we'll try to make another tent by the pool
in summer this year
pray that we'll be illumined
by another lights in the night & day.
see you on saturdays
in silence & prayers
to treasure our true image
through the sign of the cross
and hopefully the star... too
again our heartfelt thanks
to conchita for the beautiful
tents in the wilderness!!!
for her grateful heart too..
cheers!
jong
prayers
:)
(feb. 24-25 '07)
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
constant...
the thing that never changed is change.
as what written here before
LOVE is possible...
But if emotional delusions or lack of affection can
cause us to think that love is utopian,
an impossible dream, should we then become resigned?
No! Love is possible,
a love that is true, faithful and strong;
a love that generates peace and joy;
a love that binds people together
and allows them to feel free in respect for one another.
discover love...
dare to love...
Love is the only force
capable of changing the heart of the human person
and of all humanity...
that's one of the objective
of cog "to love"
to change
culion for the betterment...
let's start from within.
...
so to start it all
i have some questions...
pinaguusapan na rin lang
ang tungkol sa pagluluto...
ang tanong:)
ano ang special na lutuin ng culion???
na kapag iyun ang niluto mo
sasabihing taga culion ka.
kasi may nagtanong sa akin dito ng ganyan...
parang sa bicol.
"bicol express"....
...
tungkol naman sa prutas:)
ano ang pinaka maraming
prutas sa atin???
...
tungkol naman sa hayop:)
(sorry i'm not talking about cc here . BHB kumusta na kayo ni cc)
ang tanong tungkol sa hayop...
anong hayop na
tanging sa culion
lamang matatagpuan???
ok mga kapatid
salamat sa inyong magiging
kasagutan...
jongnono
Q8
ps.
bhong salamat nga pala sa offer ng reconciliations dito...
it is not utopian. we shouldn't become resigned.
there are possibilities.
we have to discover...
and there is a force capable of changing..................
so let's rethink our positions
our objectives... our motions:
change
ongoing dev't or betterment
growth
love
tanong:
does anyone knows the song,
"minsan lamang....."
kantahan na!!!
cheers
natuloy ba ang videoke nila rachelle???
as what written here before
LOVE is possible...
But if emotional delusions or lack of affection can
cause us to think that love is utopian,
an impossible dream, should we then become resigned?
No! Love is possible,
a love that is true, faithful and strong;
a love that generates peace and joy;
a love that binds people together
and allows them to feel free in respect for one another.
discover love...
dare to love...
Love is the only force
capable of changing the heart of the human person
and of all humanity...
that's one of the objective
of cog "to love"
to change
culion for the betterment...
let's start from within.
...
so to start it all
i have some questions...
pinaguusapan na rin lang
ang tungkol sa pagluluto...
ang tanong:)
ano ang special na lutuin ng culion???
na kapag iyun ang niluto mo
sasabihing taga culion ka.
kasi may nagtanong sa akin dito ng ganyan...
parang sa bicol.
"bicol express"....
...
tungkol naman sa prutas:)
ano ang pinaka maraming
prutas sa atin???
...
tungkol naman sa hayop:)
(sorry i'm not talking about cc here . BHB kumusta na kayo ni cc)
ang tanong tungkol sa hayop...
anong hayop na
tanging sa culion
lamang matatagpuan???
ok mga kapatid
salamat sa inyong magiging
kasagutan...
jongnono
Q8
ps.
bhong salamat nga pala sa offer ng reconciliations dito...
it is not utopian. we shouldn't become resigned.
there are possibilities.
we have to discover...
and there is a force capable of changing..................
so let's rethink our positions
our objectives... our motions:
change
ongoing dev't or betterment
growth
love
tanong:
does anyone knows the song,
"minsan lamang....."
kantahan na!!!
cheers
natuloy ba ang videoke nila rachelle???
philantropist
first of all thank you for enlightenment
i was such a fool to cause yo some troubles or questions,
of course i have no doubt about your charitable intentions
i'm inspired about that... (esp. in your hawaiian hula's.. smile)
yes i was shock by your reactions
i was just offering a solutions
as what you did
one thing i want to clarify/
what is philantrophy... dictionary said
'love of humankind in general'
so i think everyone could be a philantropist..
your act is no question of love
i'm not questioning that. period.
and i was not opening any debates here.
it was only a question... as what yo offer now
maybe i was such a good writer. i doubt it
even as a talker...
i repeat i JUST dreamed
that is my pride. even i failed i will....
i can say i am rich but if have not love
i am nothing... and i will offer that to my clan
even to give my richness or love. but not my emptiness
i will never said you're unjust to me.
they are... the injustice.
and they are still in haystacks
they are staring at me yet i can't see them.
as what you have declared, they are in our midst!
and we will start by charities as what the church were doing for
lifetime... no question about that. (".")
so we have nothing indifferent
i am not dividing ourselves, it's divisions
we're just helping in any ways
even just talking or writing or even doing.
life is like that
and it'll continue to be
then we'll live.....
live life to the abstract
you have your answers or explanations
i have mine..
sorry i was the one who overlooked you
so peace
i know you're also guilty like me...
can't do anything more even to become like bill gates
in the midst of haystacks
i love you ate
and
i will continue
to find the needles
maybe it's in me?
i'm now inviting you to my journey
maybe not a battle like david did.
... ... ... ... ...
just a recap;
david killed goliath
how?
maybe in his eyes...
or in his bulls
i think it's in the needle...
.
aloha.
i dream of hawaii
it's like culion, maybe even better. i don't know why... do yo? :-)
tribesman
ispin
what remain
is
love
thanks...
i was such a fool to cause yo some troubles or questions,
of course i have no doubt about your charitable intentions
i'm inspired about that... (esp. in your hawaiian hula's.. smile)
yes i was shock by your reactions
i was just offering a solutions
as what you did
one thing i want to clarify/
what is philantrophy... dictionary said
'love of humankind in general'
so i think everyone could be a philantropist..
your act is no question of love
i'm not questioning that. period.
and i was not opening any debates here.
it was only a question... as what yo offer now
maybe i was such a good writer. i doubt it
even as a talker...
i repeat i JUST dreamed
that is my pride. even i failed i will....
i can say i am rich but if have not love
i am nothing... and i will offer that to my clan
even to give my richness or love. but not my emptiness
i will never said you're unjust to me.
they are... the injustice.
and they are still in haystacks
they are staring at me yet i can't see them.
as what you have declared, they are in our midst!
and we will start by charities as what the church were doing for
lifetime... no question about that. (".")
so we have nothing indifferent
i am not dividing ourselves, it's divisions
we're just helping in any ways
even just talking or writing or even doing.
life is like that
and it'll continue to be
then we'll live.....
live life to the abstract
you have your answers or explanations
i have mine..
sorry i was the one who overlooked you
so peace
i know you're also guilty like me...
can't do anything more even to become like bill gates
in the midst of haystacks
i love you ate
and
i will continue
to find the needles
maybe it's in me?
i'm now inviting you to my journey
maybe not a battle like david did.
... ... ... ... ...
just a recap;
david killed goliath
how?
maybe in his eyes...
or in his bulls
i think it's in the needle...
.
aloha.
i dream of hawaii
it's like culion, maybe even better. i don't know why... do yo? :-)
tribesman
ispin
what remain
is
love
thanks...
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Doors
DOORS
i think everything posted here
are of helpful in many different ways
and in unique revelations
that really make us grow
and know each other well
and that is the beauty of it all!
we don't have to be closed doors
when something different or unique
or not compatible with what
we perceived
encounter us along the way
and shot our minds & hearts.
we need to be open in a
possibly 4 doors in our life...
the door that we know that others don't know
the door that we don't know but others know
the door that we both know and
the door that only God knows...
the danger is the door that sometimes
we forcefully want to open that is not for us
or the one we don't want to open
there lies the borderline...
it's either we don't want to
open and close ourselves
or we want to open it by force
even hurting others & ourselves...
drawing between the lines
of egoism & altruism
of vices & virtues.
no my point here is we all want to grow
everything we do here will
determined our identity
as how we build ourselves
how we matured
especially in the image
that really reflects life
not illusions and confusions...
we encounter many obstacles
within & without
and we will find ways
of managing them
that will make our journey
peacefully even in the midst
of storms or conflicts
and nothing can stop us
this is what we are trying to define
this is what we want to understand
that's why
we need to move & to grow
not to become stagnant...
and one biggest challenge is the
definition of our by-laws
and the real objectives of this group
one of this is the 12-key area
fill up and conquer all this gaps
then we'll all be in peace.
we have to draw between the lines
give us your share then...
(and it'll be obvious who will show our ways
the body of this boat/s)
seriously or not we need to be stable first.
then tell us what confuses you or us?
by all means we have to grow...
we're in this stages now
because the only constant (that never change)
is change.
smiles
..........................
hahahahaha lol...
yes i was estimating it here
it'll cost around $3k more or less... that's one school already.
but why not? we can make them as our talent group
dancers and singers... just like the cultural dancers of the phil.
the bayanihan dance troop and the band of culion that are really
bravura.. and we can even lead them not go to drugs or other vices but
more art oriented that we can present as our cultural identity and
show it to the world... it's just a matter of choice and decipline i
think... and of course the proper guidance. it'll be nice and
productive as a whole.... that' the positive point....
but for now it's not the priority i guess so no big deal no
personalan, chat lang... yes education is necesary and it's also
limitless. we have to find the beauty of its person and individual
with their unique abilities and talents if not gifts... that's i think
is more development... rather than making walls of ppa's of culion,
coron and puerto.... :)
lol
jong
**********************************************************************
i think everything posted here
are of helpful in many different ways
and in unique revelations
that really make us grow
and know each other well
and that is the beauty of it all!
we don't have to be closed doors
when something different or unique
or not compatible with what
we perceived
encounter us along the way
and shot our minds & hearts.
we need to be open in a
possibly 4 doors in our life...
the door that we know that others don't know
the door that we don't know but others know
the door that we both know and
the door that only God knows...
the danger is the door that sometimes
we forcefully want to open that is not for us
or the one we don't want to open
there lies the borderline...
it's either we don't want to
open and close ourselves
or we want to open it by force
even hurting others & ourselves...
drawing between the lines
of egoism & altruism
of vices & virtues.
no my point here is we all want to grow
everything we do here will
determined our identity
as how we build ourselves
how we matured
especially in the image
that really reflects life
not illusions and confusions...
we encounter many obstacles
within & without
and we will find ways
of managing them
that will make our journey
peacefully even in the midst
of storms or conflicts
and nothing can stop us
this is what we are trying to define
this is what we want to understand
that's why
we need to move & to grow
not to become stagnant...
and one biggest challenge is the
definition of our by-laws
and the real objectives of this group
one of this is the 12-key area
fill up and conquer all this gaps
then we'll all be in peace.
we have to draw between the lines
give us your share then...
(and it'll be obvious who will show our ways
the body of this boat/s)
seriously or not we need to be stable first.
then tell us what confuses you or us?
by all means we have to grow...
we're in this stages now
because the only constant (that never change)
is change.
smiles
..........................
hahahahaha lol...
yes i was estimating it here
it'll cost around $3k more or less... that's one school already.
but why not? we can make them as our talent group
dancers and singers... just like the cultural dancers of the phil.
the bayanihan dance troop and the band of culion that are really
bravura.. and we can even lead them not go to drugs or other vices but
more art oriented that we can present as our cultural identity and
show it to the world... it's just a matter of choice and decipline i
think... and of course the proper guidance. it'll be nice and
productive as a whole.... that' the positive point....
but for now it's not the priority i guess so no big deal no
personalan, chat lang... yes education is necesary and it's also
limitless. we have to find the beauty of its person and individual
with their unique abilities and talents if not gifts... that's i think
is more development... rather than making walls of ppa's of culion,
coron and puerto.... :)
lol
jong
**********************************************************************
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