 |
| ...is a proud citizen of the world. |
Let's try to build them a home they can really be proud of.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Monday, July 14, 2014
The Nine Common Human Needs: A Just Society
My brother and sister Filipinos,
who are all my siblings in God and Country,
kindred to my soul through the blessing of Nationhood,
whose hearts long to dwell in the native spirit of our Peace
and whose spirits seek to mightily soar with soul of our Nation -
my word to each of you and your thoughts to mine, beloved Nation,
may all come by way of our friendship and arrive by way of the Truth
through our one common and national salutation, peace and mabuhay!
Man is an extension of his human community.
They say, my brothers and sisters, that the proposition of a just society implies the existence of an unjust foundation; that the reason for Man through his Nations to establish Justice upon his world is Injustice.
And truly, such is the case.
Indeed, we recognize only what is good in this world because evil preceded us in our going forth - in our tribes and lineages - unto the furthest reaches of the lands of this Earth.
Evil was forever bound to this world, however. But we are not.
Our going forth is an exile march and in our hearts, we know there is reserved, for all the children of our Mankind, a way of return to our Eden rebuilt.
There is a way that leads to the right places in time that is reserved for us.
Indeed, we expect to reach those places glimpsed by the hope that is common in all human hearts through the light of every faith precisely because we are expected to come along that way - to come along the great and inevitable circle of the totality and fullness of all human experience, unto a place where we may truly be - the promise and the life that the LORD, our God, did intend for each of us to be - before this time, before the onset of the pain and the poverty of our human exile.
How come then, if this way did indeed belongs to us, that we are met with so much trouble that at times we are completely overwhelmed along the way of our ascent? (You have to pardon my lingua franca, I mean all that is put down in this blog and I trust you to know it by now.)
Because we have to do it - as Nations dreaming together this time. We have to do it as a community that is in community with each other. We have to succeed as a world and as a family of Mankind.
Lest we forget as a Nation, Man is by first principle, a victim; that innocence is maintained until such a time as guilt is established in a court of law.
Let us look again at the proposition of a just society. There is indeed, in this world, an unjust foundation that exists and exists so that a just society may seek to know and to find itself - but it is primarily social in nature.
The most evil structures of this world are social in nature. It is their scandal that accounts for so much of the trouble we experience along the way of our ascent as Country - into our proper ages in time. And all of them are a slavery that consumes both the life of our souls and the souls of our societies.
Take corruption for example - an issue that stares our Nation in the face; and an evil that feels itself brave enough now to stand in the way of our Republic whole.
Its first principle cause is a crisis of Filipino identity.
Its effect is also a weakening of the Filipino identity.
And causes us confusion and doubt - undermines the life that lives in the society of our Nationhood and thus, propagates itself among us like a virus.
Its scandal furthers the ignorance that now infects with despair our ever deepening crisis of identity and makes that which is natural, unnatural. (For all societies must endure a never-ending search for itself to emerge, to prosper in time, and to eventually arrive unto the Truth - for hope. Despair comes only with forgetfulness, confusion, and the descent into division and the oblivion of war. In my Catholic tradition, despair is a sin against the Holy Spirit.)
We accuse each other of its evil. When the Evil in the evil itself dwells from within the accusations we often mindlessly hurl against each other. We can never rid evil by pitting it with evil. Cancer cells will never heal if we inject ourselves with more cancer cells. We have to return again to what is healthy in being Filipino.
I'm not saying here that no one is criminally complicit in the Pork Barrel scandal that set this Republic back decades. I have a fair idea of the totality of what we have lost through this sad and unwanted affair. What I'm trying to say is we are all responsible for the cure that will allow this Nation to surpass this test.
After all, are we not a just society? Because if we are not now. Then, we can never be later.
It is important to strike down the actions of those who willfully and maliciously conspire with the social evil of corruption in their desire to reap the rewards of its many sins, this is true.
In view of the above, we are a people endowed with an established system of Courts in this Republic. And this Court system exists within a greater institutionalized system of Justice in our Nation that along with our laws help us to make provision to protect the vulnerable in our communities from the evil and the scandal of social structures specifically unbecoming of our dignity and promise.
Therefore, it is just as important to also understand, that what makes us to become largely immune from the sins of corruption lies not in this Justice system alone but relies also in our capacity to resist the Evil of what is not of us - in ourselves. Our Courts may only make us safe so long as we ourselves remain convinced in the merits of our better selves and in the goodness that is worth treasuring in the life of each citizen and every one of our national communities.
Man as an extension of human community; that we as citizens are never disconnected from each other's lives - for the Sun of our Flag shines upon all, seeks to equally guide all, and expects all to to see all and to know of all - being gathered by each other in the light of its Liberty.
A just society is all we envision ourselves to be - as a Nation, as communities in one common community. And so we must constantly bring it forth not in our yesterday, not in our tomorrow - but today.
I do not have to further expound or elaborate on it. We know it and I know we know it. But let me say this, the greatest understanding of it may only be found when and where our unity is greatest.
The fruit of this Vision
in the reality of the Nation is -
the Maturity of Present and Living
Human and National Remembrances.
---<--@
The Creative Ideal is this -
know truth, and apply it -
to love thy neighbor, and do it -
to know the Word, and be it.
who are all my siblings in God and Country,
kindred to my soul through the blessing of Nationhood,
whose hearts long to dwell in the native spirit of our Peace
and whose spirits seek to mightily soar with soul of our Nation -
my word to each of you and your thoughts to mine, beloved Nation,
may all come by way of our friendship and arrive by way of the Truth
through our one common and national salutation, peace and mabuhay!
Man is an extension of his human community.
They say, my brothers and sisters, that the proposition of a just society implies the existence of an unjust foundation; that the reason for Man through his Nations to establish Justice upon his world is Injustice.
And truly, such is the case.
Indeed, we recognize only what is good in this world because evil preceded us in our going forth - in our tribes and lineages - unto the furthest reaches of the lands of this Earth.
Evil was forever bound to this world, however. But we are not.
Our going forth is an exile march and in our hearts, we know there is reserved, for all the children of our Mankind, a way of return to our Eden rebuilt.
There is a way that leads to the right places in time that is reserved for us.
Indeed, we expect to reach those places glimpsed by the hope that is common in all human hearts through the light of every faith precisely because we are expected to come along that way - to come along the great and inevitable circle of the totality and fullness of all human experience, unto a place where we may truly be - the promise and the life that the LORD, our God, did intend for each of us to be - before this time, before the onset of the pain and the poverty of our human exile.
How come then, if this way did indeed belongs to us, that we are met with so much trouble that at times we are completely overwhelmed along the way of our ascent? (You have to pardon my lingua franca, I mean all that is put down in this blog and I trust you to know it by now.)
Because we have to do it - as Nations dreaming together this time. We have to do it as a community that is in community with each other. We have to succeed as a world and as a family of Mankind.
Lest we forget as a Nation, Man is by first principle, a victim; that innocence is maintained until such a time as guilt is established in a court of law.
Let us look again at the proposition of a just society. There is indeed, in this world, an unjust foundation that exists and exists so that a just society may seek to know and to find itself - but it is primarily social in nature.
The most evil structures of this world are social in nature. It is their scandal that accounts for so much of the trouble we experience along the way of our ascent as Country - into our proper ages in time. And all of them are a slavery that consumes both the life of our souls and the souls of our societies.
Take corruption for example - an issue that stares our Nation in the face; and an evil that feels itself brave enough now to stand in the way of our Republic whole.
Its first principle cause is a crisis of Filipino identity.
Its effect is also a weakening of the Filipino identity.
And causes us confusion and doubt - undermines the life that lives in the society of our Nationhood and thus, propagates itself among us like a virus.
Its scandal furthers the ignorance that now infects with despair our ever deepening crisis of identity and makes that which is natural, unnatural. (For all societies must endure a never-ending search for itself to emerge, to prosper in time, and to eventually arrive unto the Truth - for hope. Despair comes only with forgetfulness, confusion, and the descent into division and the oblivion of war. In my Catholic tradition, despair is a sin against the Holy Spirit.)
We accuse each other of its evil. When the Evil in the evil itself dwells from within the accusations we often mindlessly hurl against each other. We can never rid evil by pitting it with evil. Cancer cells will never heal if we inject ourselves with more cancer cells. We have to return again to what is healthy in being Filipino.
I'm not saying here that no one is criminally complicit in the Pork Barrel scandal that set this Republic back decades. I have a fair idea of the totality of what we have lost through this sad and unwanted affair. What I'm trying to say is we are all responsible for the cure that will allow this Nation to surpass this test.
After all, are we not a just society? Because if we are not now. Then, we can never be later.
It is important to strike down the actions of those who willfully and maliciously conspire with the social evil of corruption in their desire to reap the rewards of its many sins, this is true.
In view of the above, we are a people endowed with an established system of Courts in this Republic. And this Court system exists within a greater institutionalized system of Justice in our Nation that along with our laws help us to make provision to protect the vulnerable in our communities from the evil and the scandal of social structures specifically unbecoming of our dignity and promise.
Therefore, it is just as important to also understand, that what makes us to become largely immune from the sins of corruption lies not in this Justice system alone but relies also in our capacity to resist the Evil of what is not of us - in ourselves. Our Courts may only make us safe so long as we ourselves remain convinced in the merits of our better selves and in the goodness that is worth treasuring in the life of each citizen and every one of our national communities.
Man as an extension of human community; that we as citizens are never disconnected from each other's lives - for the Sun of our Flag shines upon all, seeks to equally guide all, and expects all to to see all and to know of all - being gathered by each other in the light of its Liberty.
A just society is all we envision ourselves to be - as a Nation, as communities in one common community. And so we must constantly bring it forth not in our yesterday, not in our tomorrow - but today.
I do not have to further expound or elaborate on it. We know it and I know we know it. But let me say this, the greatest understanding of it may only be found when and where our unity is greatest.
The fruit of this Vision
in the reality of the Nation is -
the Maturity of Present and Living
Human and National Remembrances.
---<--@
The Creative Ideal is this -
know truth, and apply it -
to love thy neighbor, and do it -
to know the Word, and be it.
 |
| The Nine Common Human Needs |
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Towards Dawn
In the grip of the long night,
the Nation turns its gaze eastward
longing for the unraveling of its mystery.
For we have set our sights
guided by the noble gold of our Sun,
upon those perennial blue horizons.
And there is indeed
a certain wonder to be had
in the yonder there, towards dawn.
The life of our people
who lay ever weary in our souls
thirsting for the blessings it shall obtain.
Emerge then, my Country,
from the darkness - turning away.
Arise from the long night, into one Sky!
Gather thyself, soul of our peoples,
against scattering winds, become as one:
Whole to thy memory, awaken to thy destiny.
---<--@
Friday, June 27, 2014
Only in America...
 |
| Local cats panic as tigress walks into a 7-11 looking for complaints desk. |
Reminds me of my own stint at Longs Drugs #3... those were good times!
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Independence Day 2014
"I would rather have a country run like hell by Filipinos than a country run like heaven by the Americans", the second President of our Republic is famously quoted.
Indeed, these present days, further up (or down) the lineage of that prestigious and noble Office, some might convincingly argue this country indeed is being run like hell by us Filipinos.
Was President Quezon being cynical about the budding Republic with which he so diligently served our struggling and anxious nation as our first head of State? Was our second President, after Aguinaldo, being bitter about our chances at actual Independence?
Should we be careful what we wish for? Should we dare not believe again in our hopes of Country?
My brothers and sisters of the Promise, Manuel L. Quezon is one of this Republic's guiding lights. His star is one that shines bright, but only when we care to look at ourselves in the right light.
To do the memory of the man Justice, allow me to finish his quote, "...because however bad a Filipino government might be, we can always change it."
He knew the learning curve would be steep. He knew the world during his time was consumed by war and our nation was in the thick of it. He knew the way toward maturity for our young lion of a Country was one fraught with much danger and pitfalls, internal as well as external.
But he also knew, Independence was a risk we should always be willing to take.
We are always better served by bravery rather than timidity when it concerns Liberty and Country.
Because however badly we may be going at any time, were we single-hearted enough as he was to dare to believe we can as a free and sovereign people change things around for the better, we can.
We have a lot of heroes, if only we should want to seek them.
Indeed, these present days, further up (or down) the lineage of that prestigious and noble Office, some might convincingly argue this country indeed is being run like hell by us Filipinos.
Was President Quezon being cynical about the budding Republic with which he so diligently served our struggling and anxious nation as our first head of State? Was our second President, after Aguinaldo, being bitter about our chances at actual Independence?
Should we be careful what we wish for? Should we dare not believe again in our hopes of Country?
My brothers and sisters of the Promise, Manuel L. Quezon is one of this Republic's guiding lights. His star is one that shines bright, but only when we care to look at ourselves in the right light.
To do the memory of the man Justice, allow me to finish his quote, "...because however bad a Filipino government might be, we can always change it."
He knew the learning curve would be steep. He knew the world during his time was consumed by war and our nation was in the thick of it. He knew the way toward maturity for our young lion of a Country was one fraught with much danger and pitfalls, internal as well as external.
But he also knew, Independence was a risk we should always be willing to take.
We are always better served by bravery rather than timidity when it concerns Liberty and Country.
Because however badly we may be going at any time, were we single-hearted enough as he was to dare to believe we can as a free and sovereign people change things around for the better, we can.
We have a lot of heroes, if only we should want to seek them.
There is an entire constellation of them up in the skies above this nation's soul - if only we care to find it. And at nights, if you must know, when our Republic is at rest - it is the forbearant, quicksilver light of their living memory that watches over our way towards every golden sunrise.
Personally, I admire President Quezon for the compassion he showed to the suffering humanity of the elder sons and daughters of Israel, our brother and sister Jews, who during WWII, at one of the darkest times of their nation's life, this President gave free sanctuary among us in our lands.
I would, if I had the clout, likewise provide free sanctuary to the suffering humanity of the people of Syria not because of anything else but because they are suffering and they are human not unlike you or I - just like our second President.
Let me remind us that War is a slavery, and is a master we ought not serve.
We shall never achieve the fullness of the promise our actual Independence is meant to bring for this nation with a spirit divided, dark and confused. Let us carry on with the peace process - unto completion.
May we be blessed with a meaningful Independence Day.
Happy birthday to our citizenship, my fellow Filipinos, mabuhay!
---<--@
President Quezon
lost his battle against tuberculosis
away from our home away from Home
but what he never lost was - who he was -
and in my remembrance - still is -
Personally, I admire President Quezon for the compassion he showed to the suffering humanity of the elder sons and daughters of Israel, our brother and sister Jews, who during WWII, at one of the darkest times of their nation's life, this President gave free sanctuary among us in our lands.
I would, if I had the clout, likewise provide free sanctuary to the suffering humanity of the people of Syria not because of anything else but because they are suffering and they are human not unlike you or I - just like our second President.
Let me remind us that War is a slavery, and is a master we ought not serve.
We shall never achieve the fullness of the promise our actual Independence is meant to bring for this nation with a spirit divided, dark and confused. Let us carry on with the peace process - unto completion.
May we be blessed with a meaningful Independence Day.
Happy birthday to our citizenship, my fellow Filipinos, mabuhay!
---<--@
President Quezon
lost his battle against tuberculosis
away from our home away from Home
but what he never lost was - who he was -
and in my remembrance - still is -
a leader to his people,
and a friend to his friends.
Infinity
Infinity
is quite small -
so very, very small indeed.
So small,
in fact, and so fine
that it is
to our coarseness,
immense.
It is a profound fineness
that escapes our every apprehension
of measure and shape and form,
in and among and beyond everything
we know - and shall ever know, immense -
infinite!
To search for it,
one needs not look far into the temporal heavens
for what is infinite - it is nearer - to each of us
than even our own thoughts.
Let us seek it in the smallness,
and in the stillness - pause to wonder -
how near to us timeless moments really are.
Let us therefore,
draw nearer to those infinite moments
of loving, sharing, laughing, and caring
knowing the further away from the infinite - we are,
the less these precious things that truly last
may endure with us - forever.
---<--@
Love is - here. Love has been here - forever.
The real question is - where have we been?
Do not despair for moments, drifting away.
Be sad for their memories, passing away.
Forget thee not therefore, you must say.
And hold on to them tightly, everyday.
Let Peace be -
The Despoliation of the Sword
Fallen humanity
in following the Devil,
upon the bones of their fellow human beings,
shall worship their swords saying,
"O look how mighty we are,
how glorious is our arm
upon the earth!"
Repentant humanity
in obeying the LORD,
upon the Remembrance of His Nations,
shall cry out to the heavens and pray,
"O look how weak we are, O God,
that we need weapons
to live."
---<--@
Broken is thy Earth, in Sin overrun.
The Sin of thy original wounding,
bearing the spiritual weakness of thy temporal undoing,
a mortal fear of the God of thy Holy sustaining;
a rupture in the human soul that bleeds with thy blood
unto death, and upon evils manifold and diverse,
upon sins many as the seeds sown for thy dispersing,
thy human lineages exiled from Life
for their own life's preserving.
Broken is thy Sky, in War overcome.
The Beast of thy ancient pursuing,
seeking the devouring of thy every living soul of National doing,
that the living of each Man may sink ever near the sword of War's despoiling,
and undo in Darkness, the Light of thy common human obtaining -
a rupture in the human spirit that caused the Sky above our world
to shatter into an endless Night without Twilight;
the long march of the Nations fallen in time begun
with each Country's spiritual Ascent
unto the Summit of a new Morning Bright.
Therefore, let Peace be - upon the three great lineages
of the faith and fatherhood of our Father Abraham -
unto the children of Ishmael - let Peace be,
unto the children of Isaac - let Peace be,
unto the children of all our kindred Nations
who bear in their hearts, in Spirit and in Truth, common witness
to the Incarnate Word of God in Jesus Christ, Who is Emmanuel,
the one Redeemer of all Mankind - let Peace be,
and unto all children of good will who among us persevere
in friendship and in their faith, one with the other - let Peace be.
Let Peace be - and divide it not!
This one Peace.
---<--@
 |
| Together this time... |
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Zealous for Souls
God is.
And that is all.
God is - because life is.
Life is because - we are.
We are because - the soul is.
And the soul is because - God is.
And God is - unto all things living
for God is - the God of all the living!
- selah -
The soul is
possessed not -
of its own life.
It receives its being from
- the LORD Who is -
and life is its being.
From it,
arise every nature
of everything living.
And thus
by nature
is alive.
For all that is
in spirit - is alive.
It flows forth
from the soul
and is alive.
- selah -
What heart could truly love
without having beheld the beautiful?
The soul contains the living Breath
that breathes into everything that is - alive.
Separate it not from its Maker.
'Tis a manifestation of the Truth of its God.
Esteem it not by its smallness.
- selah -
What mind could truly think
without having thought about truth?
The soul is - the principle of life.
For God is - and gives shape to its being.
'Tis a reflection of the Life of its Creator.
Regard it not by its fragments.
- selah -
Why then, Starshine,
dost the eye of the heart
in regarding a soul without God
claimeth it has seen the soul
when it thinks of naught
but utter disrespect for life?
Who could trust the darkness
when it speaks of itself
about the light?
Thy own soul, precious Starshine,
may only be truly perceived
by other living souls.
That thou art by Beauty beheld!
Therefore -
Do not despair with those
who in death and in desolation
seeketh to perceive life in the living.
Neither weep with those
whose pre-occuppation with evil
have moved them to seek what is good.
There are some who seek,
who find they never find.
Yet, precious Starshine,
there are some who seek,
who are eventually found.
- selah -
Dear Starshine, the eye
that seeth far - into the soul
knoweth from where it proceeds.
It has come to know the majesty
of a myriad unfolding universes.
For it has come to behold the glory
of such dreams - in a grain of sand...
It beheld them in their moments,
as worlds upon worlds arising,
as truths that are everlasting,
and so - knoweth Spirit.
By the Love
through which one shines
far into the darkness - and into
the reality of other souls.
And in the Truth
through which one reaches
deep into the darkness - and into
the reality of other hearts.
- selah -
The soul is -
the principle of life.
And life is -
what gives shape to its being.
Being is
- what makes everything exist -
as they are.
And the soul is
- the being of its life -
being in every living being.
All have their being - because life is.
Thus,
all in Creation is -
because life is.
- selah -
In lower creation, being is
a soul - that is - in each - a soul.
'Tis in the trees and the plants of the earth.
'Tis in the animals of the land, sea, and air.
And gives them life.
- selah -
In higher creation, being is
a soul - that is - in each - a living soul.
'Tis in each Angel up in the heavens above.
'Tis in each Man here upon the earth below.
And gives us life.
And the knowledge of life.
- selah -
The soul of every Man
is heart and mind.
'Tis heart and mind
united as one!
For the heart proceeds.
And the mind knoweth.
- selah -
And so the heart is in darkness.
And love awakens in darkness.
For the heart in every Man
knoweth not - 'tis a heart.
- selah -
And so the mind is in darkness.
And thought arises in darkness.
For the mind in every Man
knoweth not - 'tis a mind.
- selah -
The Beloved
beholds the heart
and the heart knows -
'tis a heart!
And the heart
in beholding the Beloved
beholds the Beautiful.
- selah -
The heart
in knowing itself
knoweth - thought.
And love
in knowing thought
knoweth - mind.
- selah -
The Beautiful
beholds the mind
and the mind knows -
'tis a mind!
And the mind
in beholding the Beautiful
beholds the Beloved.
- selah -
The mind
in knowing itself
knoweth - truth.
And love
in knowing truth
knoweth - self.
- selah -
The soul of every Man
is heart and mind.
'Tis heart and mind
united as one!
And spirit is - its brightness!
In the heart,
where the seat of the soul is,
'tis a brightness of love.
In the mind,
where the seat of the intellect is,
'tis a brightness of truth.
- selah -
For the heart proceeds.
As love must
from the seat of the soul
proceed -
And the mind knoweth.
As truth must
through the love in the heart
succeed -
And spirit is - its brightness!
- selah -
For the heart proceeds.
As the stars must
from the power of their being
shine forth -
And the mind knoweth.
As the stars must
through the reality of their truth
shine forth -
And spirit is - its brightness!
- selah -
Spirit is brightness.
For love
is the life of the heart
and beholds - the Beloved.
Love is -
not because of the heart:
For love
is the way of
every human heart.
- selah -
Truth is fullness.
For - the truth
is the light of the mind
and beholds - the Beautiful.
Truth is -
not because of the mind.
For truth
is the way of
every human mind.
- selah -
We live
through the Life of a Being
that is eternal.
We love
through the Love of a Truth
that is absolute.
We think
through the Light of a Reality
that is infinite.
We are found
not because we seek to find what we seek
but because we have come seek of these things
in and of themselves - in God alone.
- selah -
Thus,
our beloved Starshine,
In spirit and for truth dost
each thy light ever proceed
from the seat of thy every soul
to alloweth thine own time to flow
through the abundance of every heart
into those many rivers and into their seas
that join into the one Ocean of the Infinite.
And in this -
Infinite Ocean
all in Humankind is -
a species of living soul:
That make us all common
in each our being - just human.
For the human spirit is
everywhere the Beloved is
because everywhere the Beloved is,
there is Beauty - and verily,
Beauty is everywhere.
---<--@
What will happen when the wood is dry?
Our world is as dry
as a tinderbox, Starshine -
For
- everywhere -
there is a thirst for water,
water this world can not provide.
And
everywhere
- across our earth -
our Nations are drying up
turning to ashes from the inside out.
Starshine,
can you now see - that -
peace anywhere
is peace everywhere?
In our hearts first, Beloved -
...and then, in our Nations,
...and then, in our needful world.
Truly, truly,
it shall only take a spark,
but one spark to set things afire!
But what kind of spark,
our precious Starshine,
what kind of fire?
God's grace alone
is sufficient, alleluia!
---<--@
The Nine Common Human Needs: Functional Literacy
Education in an Age of Spirit and Thought.
The state of our Public Education in the 21st Century must change with the times. The advancement of the Filipino spirit through the pursuit of academic excellence is the central reason why as a Nation we maintain a public and a private school system - right alongside each other.
Education in our Nation is not exclusive to either public or private domains. Neither is Education as an institution of the Philippine State obscure about its principles and intention. This Republic shall and will maintain a system of education prescribed by our Constitution (Article XIV).
---<--@
We shall forgo the mindset that private schools are better than public schools.
This is a remnant thought left behind by a system of things past - a manifestation of colonial mentality, if you will - wrought about by an unjust division in our Nation (between conqueror-and-conquered or those-who-subdue-and-those-who-are-subdued) that is founded upon a reality in our midst that no longer exist...
And have not existed for some time now.
Let me also re-iterate that while we struggle with these remnant thoughts, particularly about those past evils that our Nation and its spirit was forcibly subject to, we should not place any blame on things that no longer materially exists - our colonial past is not an evil to blame, but a memory we should bear in mind to properly place into our living remembrance of these present times.
We can not hate the past for being what it was: Spain is to be loved and respected because we are a people of the Now and live not in the past, accounting before God, only the promises of the living moment, imploring Him to bring this Nation unto a morning worthy of our Flag and Anthem.
Therefore, our public school system will co-exist harmoniously with our private school system united in their synergistic commitment to Academic Freedom.
Private schools are mostly specialist schools. They adopt means and methods particular to their design and are possessed of their own specific institutions accordingly.
But our public schools shall be built as foundation institutions of academic and civic fluency.
And the entire Educational system in this Nation shall and must be re-dedicated in the service of the Filipino youth upon whose strength and spirit every new dawning that shall, God-helping, break upon this Land of the Morning entirely depends - in all our behalf.
Human ignorance is profoundly spiritual in nature. Knowledge is to us as time, only a borrowed thing. What profits the labor of our Education is how it shall resolutely and faithfully serve, in the name of our children in the Nation, the Truth.
We must consider this, my brothers and sisters of the Promise, when we think of Functional Literacy in the Nation: Truth is not in the eye of the beholder. Truth is what beholds us back.
This is decidedly a subject possessed of more breadth and depth than can be handled in this work.
However, for our intents and purposes, we shall limit our thoughts to the renewal and re-dedication of Public Education in the Nation as an institution of the Philippine State entirely. This Republic being what it is, private institutions of learning shall then be made to freely and creatively compete. God-helping, with our successes.
I shall commit for us here, some thoughts I have been nurturing regarding the matter. Let me also add that it is good that I commit these into writing now - that others with a similar persuasion to improve on Education in our Nation may freely add upon these thoughts.
K-12 Standard, National
Civics Academics
- Open Learning - Structured Learning
- Realized "In" - Recognized "From"
- Learner with Nation - Teacher with Learner
- Core Competency - Core Curriculum
- Informal Transmission - Formal Instruction
Human Fluency is Academic and Civic Fluency exercised in unison.
Foundation Thinking - IS - the Foundation.
The product of this Education system is in the students we successfully transform into the dominant spirit and thought that must pervade their chosen fields of service.
In common, this we shall call Human Fluency.
We seek shall to graduate human beings who are professional citizens and life-long learners in their own right - knowledgeable both in heart and mind.
They shall know their profession and know what to love in their Nation (and in other Nations) and therefore, apply themselves accordingly.
They shall upon graduation be -
Work Ready - and - Career Worthy (or) College Ready - and - Career Worthy (and their Education shall be esteemed) Global in Currency - Local in Scope.
"Hindi hilaw, hindi over-qualified - talagang tamang tamang tama lang."
The fruit of this vision
in the Reality of the Nation is
Human Fluency.
---<--@
The state of our Public Education in the 21st Century must change with the times. The advancement of the Filipino spirit through the pursuit of academic excellence is the central reason why as a Nation we maintain a public and a private school system - right alongside each other.
Education in our Nation is not exclusive to either public or private domains. Neither is Education as an institution of the Philippine State obscure about its principles and intention. This Republic shall and will maintain a system of education prescribed by our Constitution (Article XIV).
---<--@
This is a remnant thought left behind by a system of things past - a manifestation of colonial mentality, if you will - wrought about by an unjust division in our Nation (between conqueror-and-conquered or those-who-subdue-and-those-who-are-subdued) that is founded upon a reality in our midst that no longer exist...
And have not existed for some time now.
Let me also re-iterate that while we struggle with these remnant thoughts, particularly about those past evils that our Nation and its spirit was forcibly subject to, we should not place any blame on things that no longer materially exists - our colonial past is not an evil to blame, but a memory we should bear in mind to properly place into our living remembrance of these present times.
We can not hate the past for being what it was: Spain is to be loved and respected because we are a people of the Now and live not in the past, accounting before God, only the promises of the living moment, imploring Him to bring this Nation unto a morning worthy of our Flag and Anthem.
And in this moment - forever, mabuhay - there are only those who we elect to govern and those who elect who choose to be governed by them - freely, in a free, fair and representative system of Country wholly and faithfully embraced by a State that is entirely the belonging of the Filipino people - past, present, and forever.
Therefore, our public school system will co-exist harmoniously with our private school system united in their synergistic commitment to Academic Freedom.
Private schools are mostly specialist schools. They adopt means and methods particular to their design and are possessed of their own specific institutions accordingly.
But our public schools shall be built as foundation institutions of academic and civic fluency.
And the entire Educational system in this Nation shall and must be re-dedicated in the service of the Filipino youth upon whose strength and spirit every new dawning that shall, God-helping, break upon this Land of the Morning entirely depends - in all our behalf.
Human ignorance is profoundly spiritual in nature. Knowledge is to us as time, only a borrowed thing. What profits the labor of our Education is how it shall resolutely and faithfully serve, in the name of our children in the Nation, the Truth.
We must consider this, my brothers and sisters of the Promise, when we think of Functional Literacy in the Nation: Truth is not in the eye of the beholder. Truth is what beholds us back.
This is decidedly a subject possessed of more breadth and depth than can be handled in this work.
However, for our intents and purposes, we shall limit our thoughts to the renewal and re-dedication of Public Education in the Nation as an institution of the Philippine State entirely. This Republic being what it is, private institutions of learning shall then be made to freely and creatively compete. God-helping, with our successes.
I shall commit for us here, some thoughts I have been nurturing regarding the matter. Let me also add that it is good that I commit these into writing now - that others with a similar persuasion to improve on Education in our Nation may freely add upon these thoughts.
K-12 Standard, National
Civics Academics
- Open Learning - Structured Learning
- Realized "In" - Recognized "From"
- Learner with Nation - Teacher with Learner
- Core Competency - Core Curriculum
- Informal Transmission - Formal Instruction
Human Fluency is Academic and Civic Fluency exercised in unison.
In common, this we shall call Human Fluency.
We seek shall to graduate human beings who are professional citizens and life-long learners in their own right - knowledgeable both in heart and mind.
They shall know their profession and know what to love in their Nation (and in other Nations) and therefore, apply themselves accordingly.
They shall upon graduation be -
Work Ready - and - Career Worthy (or) College Ready - and - Career Worthy (and their Education shall be esteemed) Global in Currency - Local in Scope.
"Hindi hilaw, hindi over-qualified - talagang tamang tamang tama lang."
The fruit of this vision
in the Reality of the Nation is
Human Fluency.
---<--@
 |
| The Nine Common Human Needs |
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Salutation #196
(Egalitarianism as a Civic Virtue)
Peace be with you,
our beloved Starshine -
All human beings are
equal creations before God.
This we are
along with all the flesh of the earth.
We exist.
And we exist because we have a right to exist.
In all other living things with Man upon with earth,
this right to exist resides in each their common natures.
In both plants and animals alike it equally resides,
and is expressed as a common survival instinct.
In Man above all other living things of the earth,
this right to exist resides in each our persons individually.
In both male and female alike it equally resides,
and is expressed as a common longing -
not only for all of life to survive and persist
but for all of life to ultimately triumph and prevail.
We neither caused our own existence as a whole
nor did we individually sought to exist
in our world, at its present course,
before our time.
Yet here we are - we are here.
We are - because we have life.
And we are here - because we are
of the human lineages of our Mankind.
And proceeds from our natural right to exist.
This is our most fundamental equality.
It is a moral reality
founded upon a spiritual truth
about ourselves.
For what is natural
is inalienable
to its own reality.
What is human therefore,
is inalienable
to the reality of Man.
The preservation of this right in Man is therefore,
an ethical imperative that is universal in character.
It is also among our Nations, a sacred duty.
As citizens,
beloved of the one Creator,
we are bound to each other in the freedom
to preserve, nurture, and improve upon
our natural rights to life - and thus, to live that life
in order to advance in and among our Nation/s,
a quality of life suitable
to the progress of our Liberty.
---<--@
Further Reflection -
Here in the Philippines, in this present day, we are witnessing multiculturalism anew.
Our Nation - by nature - is already a multicultural society but only on a hitherto local scale. For within our borders we enjoy a human diversity that is equal to or even exceeds what diversity the Providence of God intended from the beginning to abide within the souls of our other kindred Nations.
The richness of our human diversity should be a source of both wonder and joy to this Nation of ours...
This is so because this self-same human diversity and its appreciation is both the cause as well as the hope of other forms of diversity in the life of lower creation.
We only impress upon the life of our animals and plants, our own understanding about life and its truths; that they were made to exist for us. And we for them.
Again, these days, we are beginning to see multiculturalism in our Nation that is regional, continental, and global in nature. And we, as a grateful people before God, should know how to welcome human diversity - and to actually love it knowing what a blessing.it is to truly understand that in this Nation of ours there is no unity without diversity.
This unity in diversity is built on our most fundamental of equality as human beings - to exist.
And in our Nation, this is unity is made to prevail in time besides - through our citizenship with each other as we work through the economy of our generations to improve quality of life for all Filipinos - to the last of our generations at the Last Day.
(Our most fundamental civic equality being to know, seek, and do what is human, and true, and good for the other - as ourselves. That citizenship begins with the self. This is also was in essence what JFK was asking the American Nation when he said his most famous statement, "ask not...)
There truly can be no civic clarity where there exists no just human equality before God and in Country.
In animals or plants, when they shall take a life - they do so only with a knowledge of their own life.
In Man, when we shall take a life, we do so not only with a knowledge of our own life but also with that of the life of others - whether plant, animal, or human.
Any human life, each in person unique and meant by God always for completion, once willfully took by the hand of Man can not and will never be replaced. Its intended good shall always be missing in our midst... this is true - no matter what the externals may seem.
Yet the same challenges we will as a Nation face - undiminished; the same demand for virtue and its fruits God shall require of our labor of Country - in every generation.
Let us remember this, my Country, that we may thwart among ourselves the unbecoming devices of the evil and unwelcome spirit of past times -
Skin is innocent. Sin is not. (i.e. the sin of inequality)
Racism, in all its ugly appearances, has no place here in the Philippines.
We are all the colors of life. What is superior here is what is - in spirit and truth - faithful.
For the color of Gold is in our national standard.
It is the color of all things about ourselves - true and everlasting.
---<--@
Peace be with you,
our beloved Starshine -
All human beings are
equal creations before God.
This we are
along with all the flesh of the earth.
We exist.
And we exist because we have a right to exist.
In all other living things with Man upon with earth,
this right to exist resides in each their common natures.
In both plants and animals alike it equally resides,
and is expressed as a common survival instinct.
In Man above all other living things of the earth,
this right to exist resides in each our persons individually.
In both male and female alike it equally resides,
and is expressed as a common longing -
not only for all of life to survive and persist
but for all of life to ultimately triumph and prevail.
We neither caused our own existence as a whole
nor did we individually sought to exist
in our world, at its present course,
before our time.
Yet here we are - we are here.
We are - because we have life.
And we are here - because we are
of the human lineages of our Mankind.
Our right to exist is a natural right.
Our right to life is a human right.
And proceeds from our natural right to exist.
This is our most fundamental equality.
It is a moral reality
founded upon a spiritual truth
about ourselves.
For what is natural
is inalienable
to its own reality.
What is human therefore,
is inalienable
to the reality of Man.
an ethical imperative that is universal in character.
It is also among our Nations, a sacred duty.
As citizens,
beloved of the one Creator,
we are bound to each other in the freedom
to preserve, nurture, and improve upon
our natural rights to life - and thus, to live that life
in order to advance in and among our Nation/s,
a quality of life suitable
to the progress of our Liberty.
---<--@
Further Reflection -
Our Nation - by nature - is already a multicultural society but only on a hitherto local scale. For within our borders we enjoy a human diversity that is equal to or even exceeds what diversity the Providence of God intended from the beginning to abide within the souls of our other kindred Nations.
The richness of our human diversity should be a source of both wonder and joy to this Nation of ours...
This is so because this self-same human diversity and its appreciation is both the cause as well as the hope of other forms of diversity in the life of lower creation.
We only impress upon the life of our animals and plants, our own understanding about life and its truths; that they were made to exist for us. And we for them.
Again, these days, we are beginning to see multiculturalism in our Nation that is regional, continental, and global in nature. And we, as a grateful people before God, should know how to welcome human diversity - and to actually love it knowing what a blessing.it is to truly understand that in this Nation of ours there is no unity without diversity.
This unity in diversity is built on our most fundamental of equality as human beings - to exist.
And in our Nation, this is unity is made to prevail in time besides - through our citizenship with each other as we work through the economy of our generations to improve quality of life for all Filipinos - to the last of our generations at the Last Day.
(Our most fundamental civic equality being to know, seek, and do what is human, and true, and good for the other - as ourselves. That citizenship begins with the self. This is also was in essence what JFK was asking the American Nation when he said his most famous statement, "ask not...)
There truly can be no civic clarity where there exists no just human equality before God and in Country.
In animals or plants, when they shall take a life - they do so only with a knowledge of their own life.
In Man, when we shall take a life, we do so not only with a knowledge of our own life but also with that of the life of others - whether plant, animal, or human.
Any human life, each in person unique and meant by God always for completion, once willfully took by the hand of Man can not and will never be replaced. Its intended good shall always be missing in our midst... this is true - no matter what the externals may seem.
Yet the same challenges we will as a Nation face - undiminished; the same demand for virtue and its fruits God shall require of our labor of Country - in every generation.
Let us remember this, my Country, that we may thwart among ourselves the unbecoming devices of the evil and unwelcome spirit of past times -
Skin is innocent. Sin is not. (i.e. the sin of inequality)
Racism, in all its ugly appearances, has no place here in the Philippines.
We are all the colors of life. What is superior here is what is - in spirit and truth - faithful.
For the color of Gold is in our national standard.
It is the color of all things about ourselves - true and everlasting.
---<--@
 |
| Genesis 9:16 |
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
A Renewal of Hope
 |
| I love you, Holy Father Francis |
May thoughts of Peace grow in the Middle East.
Saint John Paul II, pray for us and for peace in our world.
Saint John XXIII, pray for us and for peace in our world.
The Nine Common Human Needs: Security of Person and Property
Uncertainty is a root cause of fear in Man. This fear before our Exile was a Fear of Certainty. Both of these fears preserve in them the original intention that Man is to be - as the Angels, a social creature - a loving and faithful keeper to each other.
The former, which is a fear of the unknown - is manifest in each of us as an abiding and mortal fear of our impending temporal death, and exists as a consequence of our Exile.
The latter, which is the Fear - of the God Who Is - the Ultimate Truth - is a holy, loving, and awe-filled reverence that abides in the hearts of those who seek after Him - whom He calls unto Himself - in order to more perfectly love Him, and serve Him, and know Him.The latter inspires us to freely strive for Peace and Human Community. The former bends the will and the spirit towards an understanding of the latter. The former must lead to the latter and the latter must enlighten the former. That the burden of our civilization may be light. One leads to safety, the other to freedom.
For the LORD, our God and Creator, is a God of Community - the LORD of hosts. He dwelleth in Unity and this Unity is Peace.
The human spirit itself is driven by a universal thirst for a more perfect understanding of that Fear, which leads to Wisdom, and that Wisdom which is an understanding of the Truth - Truth that to our souls is Peace.
Aspects of this interior seeking universal to all Men and to all Women remain common to all our Sacred Remembrances; a spirituality of Peace therefore, remain as a common teaching in each our most cherished and honorable religious traditions as well - particularly, within our three Abrahamic faith traditions.
AT THE VERY LEAST, in the sense that we are all equal partakers of this yearning (for Certainty) in our Nation (and in our world), we hold to an expectation as citizens that each of us may - in common - enjoy, security of person and property -
THAT dignity of each individual human life and the safety of its promise - from conception to natural death, along with each our respective right to private ownership - as a natural right and as a public trust - be duly preserved by the Philippine State.
4. Duties Concerning Material Goods
a) The Right of Private Property
1. Ownership defined. - Not only spiritual goods, but material goods also have been placed at the disposal of man by God. But whilst the goods of the soul and the mind are accessible to all and do not diminish, no matter how many partake of them, a material good can, of its very nature, belong undivided only to one person, and the oftener it is divided, the smaller becomes the portion of those who use it. The right to possess, enjoy, and dispose of any material good for ourselves, to the exclusion of others, is called the right of private property or individual ownership.
2. Private ownership rests on the divine law and, taking man as they are, is necessary for the individual and for society -
a) the Seventh Commandment forbids theft as a violation of the rights of others. If private property were theft, as the French Communist Proudhon calls it, theft would not be a violation of the rights of our neighbor, but the right of the State. But God does not forbid theft as a violation of the right of the State, but of the right of our neighbor individually. In the New Testament parables such as those of the sower, the vineyard, and the fig tree pre-suppose the right of private property.
(As regards to plunder of the public coffers, it is the individual tax payers' right of representation, direct as well as indirect, in the official affairs of the State that is violated.)
b) Private ownership is founded on the nature and condition of man; it is a natural right. Nature imposes upon man the duty of preserving his life, and hence it also gives him the right to exclusive ownership in those things necessary for the preservation of his life.
c) The individual has natural duties to provide for the material needs of his family and the education of his children. But he can not fulfill these duties without the right of accumulating and retaining a variety of these goods. If all men were perfect Christians, then the difficulty would be minimized. But we must take men as they are.
d) Without the right to private ownership there would be no incentive to work and consequently no progress in the arts and sciences.
e) God is the true Lord and Master of all things by the right of creation. But man also, the image of God, can mold and modify things at his pleasure. The fruits of his labor bear the stamp of his personality; and thus becomes their true lord in a limited sense, as God is their absolute lord in an unlimited sense.
f) Under a system of common ownership (Communism) the distribution of labor and of the rewards of labor would destroy individual liberty and make all citizens slaves of the State. Under such circumstances, peace and order are inconceivable.
(As regards the peace process with the NDFP, it is not condemnation of each side our Republic whole must seek but a re-calibration of interests leading towards the beginnings of a common ground vision pursuant and compatible with the reality of the Philippine State, a transformation of the nature of the conflict, and ultimately a reversal of the mindless tides of prejudices and cessation of the cycles of violence that have consumed this Nation for several generations now.
In short, we must together make this Republic of ours work - and, in an imperfect world, labor for the common good of all. Upon our Peace - one, whole, and complete - much depends.)
...
4. Whether we possess much or little, we must always remember that we are only the stewards of what we possess, not the absolute masters, and that we must one day give an account of our stewardship. For as God never gives up His dominion over the gifts of life, so He never relinquishes His right over the gift of material goods.
The fruit of this vision
in the reality of the Nation is -
An institutionalized, civilian Policing,
Public Safety, and National Security Service.
---<--@
The Nine Common Human Needs
Monday, May 26, 2014
The Book of the Unfolding
Within
each human heart,
our precious Starshine,
God had placed a little book.
This is the book
written within each thy own heart,
Beloved of the LORD.
The book that contain
the words to each
thy own story!
Words each thy living soul
deeply longs to drink - to the fullest
that thou may know the secrets
that make thee who thou art
forever before thy God.
The Mystery of which
thy spirit aches to unfold
- in its entirety -
unto a world entirely asleep
to each thy own precious wonder.
You know this book,
and yearn to read it out loud...
Because
dearest Starshine -
you must speak it boldly forth
that the truth that lives within
- each thy lives -
out of the darkness unfold,
through the Light of the LORD,
arising brightly forth - as living stars
upon the face of the deep.
- selah -
How then,
may you reveal these words
to the world, Starshine - this little book?
- selah -
Listen to the Word of Scripture.
Drink deeply of the Truth.
Hear the preaching of the Kingdom -
the Kingdom within.
Find thyself in the wilderness -
in the wilderness of this world without.
Become totally lost to this world - listen,
listen and in seeking what you hear, repent.
Repent, that you may have hope.
Pray, that you may have strength.
Believe, that you may have faith.
And have faith,
that you may understand...
You must complete this book.
Remember
you are loved,
each of you - as you are,
loved more than you will know.
So as you are loved,
love you must also.
By then - in time,
O Love of Emmanuel,
you shall know how.
True Light bestows True Sight
each human heart,
our precious Starshine,
God had placed a little book.
This is the book
written within each thy own heart,
Beloved of the LORD.
The book that contain
the words to each
thy own story!
Words each thy living soul
deeply longs to drink - to the fullest
that thou may know the secrets
that make thee who thou art
forever before thy God.
The Mystery of which
thy spirit aches to unfold
- in its entirety -
unto a world entirely asleep
to each thy own precious wonder.
You know this book,
and yearn to read it out loud...
Because
dearest Starshine -
you must speak it boldly forth
that the truth that lives within
- each thy lives -
out of the darkness unfold,
through the Light of the LORD,
arising brightly forth - as living stars
upon the face of the deep.
- selah -
How then,
may you reveal these words
to the world, Starshine - this little book?
- selah -
Listen to the Word of Scripture.
Drink deeply of the Truth.
Hear the preaching of the Kingdom -
the Kingdom within.
Find thyself in the wilderness -
in the wilderness of this world without.
Become totally lost to this world - listen,
listen and in seeking what you hear, repent.
Repent, that you may have hope.
Pray, that you may have strength.
Believe, that you may have faith.
And have faith,
that you may understand...
You must complete this book.
Remember
you are loved,
each of you - as you are,
loved more than you will know.
So as you are loved,
love you must also.
By then - in time,
O Love of Emmanuel,
you shall know how.
---<--@
True Light bestows True Sight
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