On the National Conversation

Trying times bring out the best and the worst in people and these are trying times indeed...

One should always presuppose something human about the State and the Philippine State being what it is, democratic, a healthy clash of opinions is a good sign.

I agree with those who disagree with me in that they like myself are free to express their thoughts on matters concerning the life of our State.

One should not be the judge of opinions other than one's own.

If your stand is stood on principles, then your opinions as a reflection of your convictions should outlast the opinions of the hasty and the reckless. 

However, when we start turning on each other as judges of each other's belief, things start to turn from sour to bitter. Because this makes it political. 

Let the facts shape our belief. Let the truth dictate our vision.

I believe our civics or basically the art of how we treat each other as citizens is grounded on the truths of our nationhood. Therefore, "our" national conversation should be generally conducted in the spirit of our civics.

We as a people talk all the time. 

We are free to do so by a freedom that is our right and responsibility - "free expression", it is called. Free expression as a form of participation in the life of our nation (and ultimately in the politics of our State) is what I refer to as our national conversation.

The Filipino media, our free press, are our gatekeepers as regards the national conversation which is why to impinge upon press freedoms is the beginning of the end of free expression in the nation.

Our government and its institutions are formally represented to the Filipino public by each its own public affairs representatives. Our press is the popular equivalent. This is important.

One who believes in free expression should also make the connection in his mind that press freedom is just as important and in his heart understand the reciprocity of its good.

It has been said that a state that begins burning its books ends up burning its own people.

In much the same fashion, any democratic government or for that matter, any free people not outraged at attacks on its own free press do not understand how free expression works and place themselves in peril of ultimately losing it. Indeed, we ought by knowledge of this be forewarned about the twin values of press freedom and free expression and live our freedoms accordingly.

Brother and sister Filipinos, we should care about the quality of the conversation we are having as a nation. 

To this end, I should laud our media people who are working hard to make all this talk a worthwhile thing to have for all of us.

I too believe the talk we should be having, for our national conversation to bear us good fruit, should be focused on quality. Our conversations about issues that matter should always honorably reflect, in spite of the sobering reality of so many woes, our highest ideals and beliefs.

Our national conversation serves the quest for truth, and truth in service of the people.

I think we should mostly be concerned with solutions to our problems and not on identifying problems we already have but fear to own... maybe because what once was a molehill has now turned into a granite mountain seemingly right before our minds.

When I say this conversation becomes political, I mean it in the sense of the politics that is exercised by our politicians in the formal government of our State.

We are not all politicians after all nor should we all desire to be. We are all citizens though and as not all of us are elected (by us) and set apart by popular mandate into those formal positions of public service within our Republic, our politics are basically expressed through the national conversation in support of the politics of our representative leadership in the formal government of our State.

If one would and takes this all a step further, one writes or contacts directly, his or her representations in the formal government of the State in the Executive, Legislative or Judiciary branches.

Politics are important and because it is, public participation in the political life of our Republic is vital.

All things political to our nation arises within the State from the soul and into soil of our nationhood... its science shaped and empowered by the art of our civics.

Not all of us are politicians, brothers and sisters, but all our politicians are citizens and to the extent that they are, all our politicians should be statesmen and stateswomen.

And those of us who should freely submit ourselves to their leadership ought duly and willingly participate in the national conversation.

In a democracy, we are all leaders.

As all good leaders know, all leaders learn the art of their leadership as followers. In a democracy, all of us too are basically led by the light of our own truth. Hence, leadership in the sense that it is democratic should know and understand that to lead and to follow are one and the same responsibility.

If we know and understand this, and if we trust in the decisiveness and clarity of our vision, all our talking will lead to the one walk - along the way of ascent that will lead us to the eventual and true awakening of all our national dreaming...

All our words should lead us (again and again) to the realization of the promised truths of our peace.

Because truth is truth and at the summit of our Republic Sky lay for all our hearts, the ideals drawn from our highest truths - of proven principles that enable us to conceive together a vision of the State that is always comprehensible to the Filipino soul no matter how different our opinions on the ground may be...

Actual proof of this is our written Constitution, this national document being a distillation of the Filipino spirit handed down to us in physical form. (Have we ever wondered why from one proceed the many and how from the many, one? Have we truly taken to heart its Preamble?)

I trust that leaders be responsible for their own truths and for speaking it out with respect of their own dignity and the dignity of other citizens not unlike them - being honorable Filipinos. 

And so we begin... again and again... while time is time. Till every question and answer become unto us all simultaneously one and the same thing...

Let us have a conversation as a nation... and let our free expression propel our democracy forward to the good of our Republic as a service to our nation and therefore, to the benefit of each and of all.

God bless the Philippines. Mabuhay po tayong lahat.
---<--@

Gaga Over Gaga

To ban or not to ban -

Freedom is all about
strengthening the right choices.

- selah -

An irresponsible kind of freedom
is an anathema to itself.

Indeed,
a person or a nation
who does not know freedom
shall certainly lose it.

Truly,
that constant striving 
for an authentic form of human freedom
is a common human need.

For the rough material
of our common freedoms
is like iron ore - that -
we must first allow into the fire
that we may as one nation
forge it into the steel of our liberty.

This is why
I've always been supportive about
a robust form of free expression
- for our nation -
because it exposes our freedom
to the task at hand.

It is not Lady Gaga's responsibility
to strengthen, temper and refine
free, open and honest thought
here in our own nation,
it is ours.

No matter
how vulgar or offensive
her own lyric and art may be,
(short of openly sowing evil
and willful divisions in our midst)
if we do not stand and face it
and learn to deal with it
as a free and human society
at any one time - under heaven,
freedom loses out.

This is why I am not for the ban.

- selah -

BUT if our prevailing freedom
- realistically and understandably -
is not yet ready for something
as radical as this one event,
then I am for the ban.

But only with the understanding
that in this age, we shall - as one nation -
be faced with other
serious challenges to our liberty
that may be even greater than this concert.

- selah -

All forms of truly human expression
has a rightful place and time in our Republic.

Therefore,
it is our responsibility
as a nation - together this time -
to make sure that both the right as well as the duty
to maintain and protect the existence of free expression
ever prevail within the climate of our democracy.

And thank you, Lady Gaga,
for giving us this teaching moment.
---<--@


Common Human Needs

Salutation #88

Free inquiry is a civic virtue,

it is a strength of ours to be able to think as a nation!

So we must each cultivate good habits of the mind -

the ability to think about our thinking.

My brother and sister Filipino -

are we not a free nation upon this world?

(Question Everything)

In a democracy, question everything.

Democracy is not an answer, it is a path.

We are a work of human liberty

reaching out to the only other Freedom

reaching out to us - across the void -

the perfection of God,

the unity of the LORD;

our one God and true King!

We are one ascent to the Truth -

a Country made whole by the justice of our peace;

a peace made one by our common desire to be happy.

So have a thirst, O soul of my people,

have a thirst for every true thing under heaven.

Never stop longing - not just for good things -

but for great things - truly great things!

- selah -

We exist in a world so full of longing.

There is longing in our world

because there is an emptiness in the self.

There is a constant seeking for answers.

We can never really know anything unless we ask

and those who have come to know something

- have come to their own knowledge -

not by a perfect understanding of the answers

but by an imperfect understanding

of the questions one ought to know about.

For there are questions we must ask,

there are questions we must learn to ask,

and there are questions we must never ask.

- selah -

In a democracy, question everything.

(That is, validate them in yourselves.)

Democracy is not an answer, it is a path.

---<--@

Think about it -

"And I tell you,

ask and you will receive;

seek and you will find;

knock and the door

will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks, receives;

and the one who seeks, finds;

and to the one who knocks,

the door will be opened."

(Luke 11: 9-10)

Now, if you know the Kama Sutra

more than the Kalama Sutra -

its time to start thinking!

Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing,

nor upon tradition,

nor upon rumor,

nor upon what is in a scripture,

nor upon surmise,

nor upon an axiom,

nor upon specious reasoning,

nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been pondered over,

nor upon another's seeming ability,

nor upon the consideration, "The monk is our teacher."

Kalamas, when you yourselves know:

"These things are good; these things are not blamable; these things are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness," enter on and abide in them.

- The Buddha, Kalama Sutra

Heartsong

Man is a creature of possibilities. Therefore, know your limits. But do not allow yourself to be defined by them.

I AM the unsung song

that lives within a dream;
the seed within a soul.

Every infinite universe
embraced from within
the heart of God.

I am the road
not the destiny,
I am the journey
not the destination,
I am the dreaming
not the dream,
I am the becoming,
not the being,
I am the singing,
not the song,
I am the climb
not the peak,
I am what soars!

I begin with a praise -
I breathe the air,
and cry out loud:
Alleluia to the LORD!

I end with a praise -
I lift my head,
and bow my heart:
Alleluia to the LORD!

I am heartsong.

--<--@

20110809

The Controversial CCP Exhibit: Freedom of Expression?

I'm not going to post a picture of the controversial exhibition at the CCP because it is offensive to my Roman Catholic religion.

Here is what I think of the matter -

If the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) were a private venue, it would have been fine. But since the CCP is a public venue, the argument stands - in this particular instance, this is not freedom of expression.

I am not arguing absolutely here. This exhibition is not something proper to our individual right to freedom of expression, in this particular instance, not because the artist is not free to express his or her creativity, in whatever craft or medium he or she chooses. Indeed any artist should be absolutely free to convey to our general appreciation whatever message, offensive or otherwise, is being carried by his or her artwork.

It is not proper to our individual right to freedom of expression not in the sense that the artist is not free to practice.

- selah -

We should as a society be free to be able to appreciate even the most provocative forms of art.

It is not proper not in the manner that it was expressed (though it is completely offensive to my religious sensibilities) but because it is not an expression that is relevant to the place where the exhibition is taking place.

The limited welcome of this form of art in Filipino society is hugely disproportionate to the scope and prestige of its actual venue, the CCP. Therefore, it is a freedom irresponsibly exercised.

To claim freedom of expression here - as is - without due respect to the freedom of others is to misconstrue the fundamental nature of human freedom.

All our freedoms have responsibilities attached to them. Every individual right is protected by a corresponding universal civic duty. In this instance, the freedom being expressed is irresponsible and therefore, an anathema to itself.

The artist is free to express his or her art form but in a venue more in keeping to that particular form of art (if he or she can find one) and this in order to preserve the public good which in this case is the general morality of the Filipino public (i.e. that prevailing sense of sanity that makes possible the flourishing of our wonderfully distinct Filipino culture).

It is this very morality that compels me to respect the artist's own individual freedom, at least in my own judgment about the matter, while preserving also the good of the Filipino public at large; a morality I draw from the strength of my Roman Catholic faith out of the love I have in God and in Jesus Christ; a morality I am sure I share in common with all our fellow citizens who like me, also find strength in the practice of any honorable human religion.

It could have been the right exhibit at the right venue. But it is the wrong exhibit in the wrong venue. It should be removed.

Finally, all passions aside, we should use this opportunity to learn from the matter and transform this untoward incident into a winning instance for our culture (in the strengthening of individual rights) and for our Republic (in the bettering of our common freedoms).

---<--@

The Chicken and the Egg

"What came first the chicken or the egg?"

This very old trick question we can reframe in the context of this particular post as -

"What came first the freedom or the responsibility?"

Ok so, what came first, the chicken or the egg?

None. Since both the chicken and the egg represents a cycle of life where each one guarantees the existence of the other. This cycle is established on a timeless truth - a first principle.

The trick is to stop asking the question and start understanding the truth that exists in principle outside of the question.

Life can never be inimical to life.

Our freedom (like our life) is by nature, a human good. So we human beings insticntively reach out for it. Because it is a good, it is vulnerable to become corrupted.

Herein lies the conundrum. Because our freedom when it is corrupted stops the cycle.

Like the chicken and the egg question, freedom as a common human need is the safeguard of human responsibility.

In a society that is just, human freedom is understood to be authentic.

To live with false freedoms is to live the trick in the question instead of the truth that exists outside of it; the truth we must constantly strive to reach every moment, every day, despite of our constant asking; the truth seems to hide in plain sight.

Freedom without responsibility becomes an anathema to itself.

It leads to action without accountability, destroys the progress of liberty in any society, and uproots the moral foundations of any economy.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Freedom that is free is free indeed.

Common Human Needs

20110717

THE 21ST CENTURY shall be a century shaped by the decisive strength of our civic convictions on human rights issues. The more decisive these convictions are, the clearer the way ahead shall appear for our nation/s.

Bear in mind and heart, my honorable compatriots, that the 19th Century was the century of chemistry; the 20th, of physics; the 21st, as we shall see, will be one of biology (or to be more precise, Sacred Life).

- selah -

Salutation #37

(Silence, Self-Expression and the Human Potential)

PEACE be with you, Starshine -

Man is an expression of the language of creation.

We are, therefore,

creatures meant to find our own unique ways

to express the creative ideal in ourselves.

To cultivate and nurture our talents

and bring it out into our nations and into our world.

And there are many means and mediums

for adequate human self-expression in our visible universe.

Indeed, our ways of expressing the language of God in ourselves

is as wide and varied as our own individual uniqueness

- and even so -

there shall always remain more than enough room

in all the realms of creation, both seen as well as unseen,

for every free expression of the human potential

- in all its limitless forms -

BUT only for the work purposed for and to our humanity

by the will of God and the common needs of our Mankind.

If there is a perceived lack of these, Beloved of the LORD,

if the wonderful boundlessness of human expression is at present

seemingly constrained and constricted

- in our times and in our nations -

we must understand it is not yet

due to the lack of a necessary technological progress

in the craft of the sciences of Mankind

- as many are inclined to think nowadays -

because until we have learned to examine first

the progress of human potential in our communities

as nations among nations

as well as our own potential to express the creative ideal

as citizens to each other

as a way of giving expression

to the language of creation in ourselves

as individuals and as nations under the LORD

what knowledge we may obtain from our sciences

will only prove futile and deeply frustrating

in the constant pursuit of happiness.

Because creation is not an event

- it is a process -

and this process is a continuum

that began as One and shall end as One.

It requires the consistent development of the human element

as a free and active expression of the boundlessness of itself.

For the human potential

and its free and adequate expression

- in ourselves and in our nations -

is the only potential singularly capable

of producing and sustaining for all of visible creation,

through the Providence of God

and the free and necessary actions

of the willing instruments of the LORD

- physical, spiritual or both -

the allied Peace of the one family of the nations of Mankind

which is the governing principle of the Providence of God

as it is established by Him in this realm of the visible universe.

Left largely unrecognized and under-developed,

all forms of civic order and value will soon be forgot,

and our world shall be imperiled.

Hear me now, Starshine -

happiness is a gift gained by the labor of individuals

from the necessary field of a community of individuals.

So if you will to save the dream for one, as they say -

you must go and save the dream for all.

If we can not as citizens agree

on how to be a human being to each other,

the earth itself will rebel against the labor of our nations;

the silence of our skies will fall into utter meaninglessness

and all the Sacred Life of our planet will flee us.

Time will cease to flow

from the timeless in the human heart,

remembrance shall wither,

and all of human history shall seem

an unremitting retreat

into the darkness.

To the everlasting regret of all.

Now,

because of our human need for the human expression,

- we seek -

and from our seeking, we labor.

There is much noise in our world because of this - and -

amidst all this clamor of living life

- be it good or bad -

it is quite easy to lose ourselves entirely

in the pursuit of everyday living.

Amidst this is Silence.

For what is important to all human beings,

Beloved of God and citizen of all common creation,

is not always what one can see

or hear with external senses alone.

The most basic of human citizenship, precious Starshine,

is a sense of belonging to the one whole of all creation, seen and unseen.

From this all other citizenship draw their legitimacy.

To lose sense of this belonging is to fall away from Sacred Remembrance.

Because there are larger expressions of reality that yours alone.

All are aligned towards one manifest purpose.

The gravity of the last 2000 years or more

will instinctively attempt to paint in your mind and heart

a different picture of ourselves,

as human beings and as human nations

- inhuman, divided in the Heart by the spirit of War -

but the visible universe itself will witness to all human hearts

that there are no divisions in creation, there is only true belonging.

This is an integral part

of the universal patrimony of our humanity as a whole.

We are one whole one with all of creation.

It is part of our being human.

Something that may only be understood in the Silence.

When we are silent,

we are inescapably met with a motion to cease and desist

in the necessary work of finding ourselves,

and for a moment, even only for a single moment,

something seem to beckon our hearts to pause

and to leave the noise and the haste of this realm of creation.

Inwardly, we move toward the timeless, towards a realm of absolutes.

This can only be a choice.

It dawns like dew upon the heart, certain as certain can be,

inclining the free will of Man to bend to its beckoning.

But it is never a choice begun by Man.

So when we are silent, precious Starshine,

we are only silent in response -

to God and the Sanctity of All that is in the LORD.

It is this choice to respond

- to the Sacred Silence -

that is singularly ours to make

that we may each begin again anew

the communicative union that work to continually realize

the expression of the creative ideal in ourselves

(in God and with each other in Him).

Truly,

prayer and quiet thoughtfulness

form part of our authentic human freedoms.

Silence itself is an absolute.

It dawns upon our realization as dew is distilled upon the heart.

It is a medium of things that exist

beyond the totality of all human experience.

Here in exile time however, it has a false image.

For there are two human choices that open the way to silence.

But only one leads to Peace.

The other leads to sin.

For as far as the freedom of Man is able,

our souls must be led to reach out

to the only other freedom

that reaches out to us - the freedom of God;

the singular source of all our freedoms.

And the exercise of Silence, in its own due season,

tempers our hearts tactful to the truth of these things.

For there always shall remain in Man,

something that resists human expression,

something permanent, something sacred,

an accolade to remembrance...

When we are silent - in those times, O my heart,

let us be mindful of that initial choice to respond to the LORD

that we may know by Whom our silence speaks.

That our silence may never bend

to the evil in all evil things.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Service is a call (not an ambition)

"First They Came for the Jews"
By Pastor Martin Niemoller

First They came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.