Salt of Life

The mystery of life and death

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 03:36:00 +0000

Two high-school classmates - Jim Marquez and Melba de Joya-Alcazar, who have both migrated to the US - informed me last week about the death of another classmate, Vilma Muleta-Montojo, from complications after an open-heart surgery in a hospital in the Philippines. Her demise - on the second day of the new year - came at a least-expected time it reminded me of the popular cliche that death comes like a thief in the night.
Vilma was our third classmate to have died in a span of two years. The two others were Delia Martos and Rogelio Florentino. Jim did not provide details of their deaths but Delia was said to have passed away shortly after attending our class reunion - which Jim, Melba and I failed to attend - last April. It is sad and unsettling to learn about the demise of old acquaintances whom you haven't seen for a long time. It reminds me of life's impermanence and uncertainty.
The news of their death made me hark back to our high school days, which were among the most memorable times of my life. Those were the days when we don't have to worry about making a living and sending children to school. Those were the days when we chase dreams like they were rainbows in an open sky. Those were carefree days when we enjoy living in the vivid colors of our youth.
Jim's e-mail, sent to several classmates, carried a reminder for us to take care of our health, especially "if we ourselves do have personal health issues, minor or major ... to prolong our stay in this world ..." At 68, I still feel young. I don't have hypertension or rheumatism, not even arthritis, that are often associated with old age. I still work, although at times I wish to retire but can't because, having married late, our 14-year-old daughter is only in her second-year of high school.
But Jim's advice reminded me of how ephemeral and uncertain life is. It made me recall the sudden death of a colleague at the Saudi Gazette where I still work. A health buff who did brisk walking at night, he succumbed to death a few weeks after he was diagnosed of leukemia, which he never had suspected until he felt recurrent headaches and frequent feeling of fatigue. The diagnosis came too late.
Vilma died a few weeks after the well-known British writer Christopher Hitchens died of pneumonia, a complication of esophageal cancer at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Hitchens' death summoned back the poem "Death the Leveller" by James Shirley which we took up in our literature class in high school. The poem tells us that whether we are king or slave, famous or not, we are equal in the hands of the scythe-bearer and that our pursuits for wealth, power and fame are meaningless.
"The glories of our blood and state/ Are shadows, not substantial things; There is no armour against Fate; Death lays his icy hands on kings;/ Sceptre and Crown/ Must tumble down,/ and in dust be equal made/ With the poor crooked scythe and spade," says the poem in its opening lines.
It ends with "The garlands wither in your brow./Then boast no more your mighty deeds!/ Upon Death's purple altar now/ See where the victor-victim bleeds/ Your heads must come/ To the cold tomb; only the actions of the just/Smell sweet and blossom in their dust."
The Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible carries the same theme: all our worldly endeavors are just like "chasing the winds". Shakespeare tells us a similar message in Macbeth: "Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player/ That struts his hour upon the stage/ And then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury/ Signifying nothing."
Death is a brainchild of life. Without life, there could be no death. But why should we have to undergo the cycle of birth and death? I heard or read somewhere that life is like a seed - it has to die to be able to grow a new life. Of course, that does not explain the mystery of life and death, which probably could only be unraveled in the afterlife.

OFWs keep Christmas lights aglow

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 18:37:00 +0000

OFWs keep Christmas lights aglow

5:31 pm | Saturday, December 24th, 2011

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS go up as early as September in the De Vera family home. L-R: Alex de Vera, wife Edith (fourth, left), daughters Sofiah (second, left), Kaithlyn (third, left), Ayesha (right) and son Adrian.

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia—As early as September, Alex de Vera and his family had fixed up a Christmas tree in their living room. Like most Christian Filipinos in Saudi Arabia, the de Veras tuck away a Christmas tree ready to be set up for the season.
“We start fixing our Christmas tree when ‘ber’ steps into the calendar,” says Alex in their home, a three-bedroom rented flat in Jeddah’s Musreffah district. “We keep our Christmas tree in a storeroom, along with the decorations, and set it up usually in September.”
Although practicing religion apart from Islam is not allowed in Saudi Arabia, Christian Filipinos have kept the Christmas tradition alive in the privacy of their homes. There are no lanterns or parols hanging outside doors and windows but the Christmas tree is ubiquitous in every Christian Filipino’s living room.
It’s actually no hassle getting a Christmas tree in this oil-rich kingdom. Synthetic Christmas trees, well-kept in boxes, are sold in variety stores in commercial centers that cater to Filipinos. And Christmas lights are sold in big supermarkets.
That makes it easy for the family of Jonathan Padua to change their Christmas tree almost every year. “We started with a tiny Christmas tree years ago and then it became bigger and bigger as years went by,” says Jonathan. “Christmas trees and decor are found in shops popular among Filipinos.”
What Pinoys miss
What the Filipinos in Saudi Arabia miss are the din of rush-hour Christmas shopping, the Misa de Gallo, traditional rice cakes like puto bumbong and bibingka sold in the vicinity of churches, the sound of firecrackers, San Miguel beer or Carlsberg and the exasperating heavy traffic. But food is in abundance here and parties abound.
Parties in Jeddah are held a few days before or after Christmas Day in Filipino restaurants, homes or resorts with private villas. The Christmas Eve noche buena is usually reserved for the family and close friends.
When the parties fall on a Thursday, which is equivalent to Saturday in the Philippines, they usually last until the wee hours or the first crack of dawn, with the partygoers sleeping on Friday, the rest day in Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries in the Middle East.

PARTIES AND GAMES with close friends is the usual Padua family activity. From right, Jonathan Padua, daughter Jannis, wife Wilma and son Jan Lorenz.

“Although we are not allowed to practice our faith openly, I’m amazed at how much freedom we have in celebrating Christmas here. I can’t count how many pre-Christmas and post-Christmas party invitations we receive (every year),” says Ahjid Sayas.
Decorating their homes
Home for the Sayases is a rented apartment where Christmas garlands and Christmas stockings are tacked up by his wife Juliet on doors and walls, along with other Christmas decor. “We inherited the garlands from a friend who had left for good but the other decor were made by Juliet,” Ahjid quips.
The Sayases and other Christmas celebrants shop for gifts a few weeks before Christmas Day, but buy their groceries for noche buena a day or two before Christmas Eve because traffic is relatively light in Jeddah and most of the Filipino families here have cars. Those who don’t, usually the new comers, can easily take the taxi cabs.
And what do the Sayases prepare for noche Buena?
“We usually have soup and cheese sticks for starters. Beef, chicken, fish and seafood dishes for the main courses. Sweets include buko pandan, which I prepare, and brazo de mercedes, courtesy of Juliet,” recalls Ahjid.
Biko and spaghetti
For the De Veras, who prefer “solemn moments” on Christmas Eve, Alex says, “it’s what the Filipinos usually have for noche buena back home. There are a lot of dishes which Edith prepares but I can’t really recall all.”
So Edith, his wife, butts in: “It depends. I prepare when Christmas Day falls on a Friday, the rest day, and the children have no classes. I prepare pansit, biko, chicken teriyaki, beef barbeque, salad and of course spaghetti for the kids. This Christmas, which falls on a weekday, I may prepare just enough for dinner on Christmas Eve because the following day they won’t be at home. That’s when you think of Christmas in the Philippines.”
The Paduas had not made up their minds on what food to prepare for this year’s noche buena but Jonathan says, “last year the ones I can remember were kaldereta, roasted Peking duck, afritada, ube, veggies, among others.” The Paduas spend Christmas Eve with close friends. They call each other up before Christmas Eve to decide in whose house they will hold a joint celebration.

SAPIN-SAPIN AND BUKO PANDAN will be on the noche buena spread of the Sayas family. From right, Ahjid Sayas, wife Juliet and son Jeremy.

Longing for home
Although Christmas celebrations here are not wanting when it comes to food and things that money can buy, the season brings a deep sense of longing for the home country. It is a time when memories are prone to fly on the wings of nostalgia to the families left behind—the parents and siblings, nieces and nephews, and even friends. It is the time when the impulse to make an overseas call reigns.
“Here, there is lots of food… but this also makes you think of the families back home, of what they have for the noche buena, and wish that they have as much as we have on our dining table,” says Ahjid.
“There’s a sense of longing, a void somewhere in our hearts. With loved ones around, even a simple celebration is grand.”
Like most Christian Filipinos in Saudi Arabia, the Sayases make long-distance calls to their families in the Philippines on Christmas Day.
“Well, the celebration here is fine, OK na rin. But it’s really different in the Philippines. The children miss so many things,” says Alex, who has four children—a boy and three girls, aged 12 to 5, the youngest of whom has not yet spent Christmas in the Philippines.
Shorter celebrations
“In the Philippines, you feel the Christmas atmosphere throughout the season. Here, you feel the excitement of Christmas only on Christmas Day itself and then everything returns to normal until the New Year when we have another celebration.”
“We always celebrate Christmas wherever we are. However, we feel Christmas to be happier when our relatives and loved ones are celebrating this special day with us,” says Johathan, whose family has spent Christmas in the Philippines only twice since they came to Jeddah in 2000.
“Definitely, Christmas in the Philippines is merrier. You can feel the Christmas ambiance throughout the season. Christmas carols are played everywhere, you can see Christmas decorations wherever you go and feel the family excitement at the malls. Here, Christmas ends right after Christmas Day.”
This Christmas, which falls on a Sunday, the Filipinos will spend Christmas Day at work, except for those who may take a leave of absence for lack of sleep. What will remain to remind them of the Yuletide are the leftovers and the Christmas trees that will stay in their living rooms until the Feast of the Three Kings.

Below is the Inquirer's link to the story

OFWs keep Christmas lights aglow

True story of a Filipino beauty queen

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:44:00 +0000

Patrician Javier and husband Dr. Robert Walcher

This is a true story of Genesis Canlapan, known in Philippine movies as bold star Patricia Javier. I am posting this in the spirit of Christmas. May we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ in a profound way, far beyond the din of Christmas parties. May Javier's testimony in video, which I posted below, lead to conversion of hearts to make us grasp the power of faith.
The testimony is done in Tagalog, the major language in the Philippines. For the benefit of those who do not understand the language, I am reconstructing her story. I wanted to translate the testimony and the narrator's intro and side comments but I found many Tagalog idioms and cliches very difficult to translate and feel that I may lose the elegance of the prose in the translation.

So here's her story based on the video. I tried to do some research in the Internet but found only a scanty information about Javier's personal life.

Patricia came from a poor family. In her adolescence, her parents separated. She and her siblings stayed with their mother. To help her mother provide for the family, Patricia joined beauty pageants to pursue a dream and for the prizes which helped to tide things over. Her break came when she joined the country's most prestigious beauty pageant, Binibining Pilipinas or Miss Philippines.
Although she did not win the title, the Bb. Pilipinas pageant opened doors for her into the Philippine movies. As her star rose in show business, she quickly built a fortune she had dreamed of. "From nothing we have built a beautiful home, I was able to travel to many places and met people I had never imagined of meeting in my life," she said in her testimony.
But she paid a high prize for her dream. Appearing mostly in flesh flicks, she allowed herself to be used by men who could give her the luxury in life or more movie breaks. In her testimony, she said that she was happy for a while until she found out that something was missing in her life. That drove her into drugs.
"I really used my body to get what I wanted in life. For a while I was happy but there came a time when I became insecure, I wanted ... (to live a new life), to have a husband who respects me. I hated women who allowed themselves to became mistresses of married men, but then I found myself in the same situation. I tried drugs to escape from that reality. I admit I tried ecstasy," she confessed.
It was at this point that her mother talked to her thoroughly. "She told me 'everything that you have done for us boils down to nothing. You have given us a good life but you are ruining yourself'," she remembered her mother telling her. "I felt more depressed, I felt remorse for everything I had done, I realized that I was sinning."
As it is often said God will work in mysterious ways if you would only seek His help and live a life in keeping with His counsels in the Scriptures. Patricia, who went to the United States for some show biz engagements, meet a Christian who invited her to join a church congregation. Despite her fears that she might lose her career that provided her fortune, she attended church meetings and services and found changes in her life.
"I just kept on attending and then I felt that God was working in me, I felt changes in my life. I forgot all my insecurities, what I had done in the past ... I did not think of the men in my life anymore, the material things. I felt like God was telling me that you will find happiness if you will follow me. I began to realize, so that's it when God is in your heart," she said.
It was then that she met her future husband, Dr. Robert Walcher. When she returned to Philippines after her show biz engagement, people who knew her were surprised at how she had changed. Shortly after, she married Dr. Walcher.
"My name, Genesis, means the beginning. I told myself 'this is the beginning of a new life'," she said toward the concluding part of her testimony. "I said 'God I am giving my life to you, I trust my life to your care'."

Patricia's story reminds me of counsel in Proverbs: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; never lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will show you the right path."

Here's the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Hr416WLbE8&feature=share

A day in life

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:44:00 +0000

My niece Lala offered an apology in response to my query why she had not been responding to my emails lately. I had asked her if she was angry either with me or my wife and demanded that she should tell me why. "Sorry if I gave you an impression that I am angry because I failed to respond. I am not upset. Things are just crazier in the office nowadays. My responsibilities got greater and my rest lesser," she emailed back.
My niece, who we fondly call Darling, has just been promoted to assistant manager in a multinational bank with branch offices in Metro Manila. We have always treated her and her two siblings like our own children. She calls me Dad and my wife Mom. "Dad I am asking for more understanding now that I am in a new phase of my career. It's not easy. I hate (office) politics and there's more of it now. But I have to dance to the tune to stay in the game," she wrote.
I felt a mixture of guilt and pity while I read her email at the office. I hate office politics myself and that's the primary reason why I have never aspired for a higher position since I became a subeditor with Today newspaper in Manila in 1995. I am contented editing articles for the pages I handle and then putting the pages to bed in my small corner of the newsroom. A higher position would mean handling people. I have no grit for that. I am soft.

I know there are people who thrive in office politics, specially those who are young and who find it to be part of the challenges in our quest to get ahead in life. I find it stressful, primarily because I have a weak personality. But I know that even people with stout heart and steel nerves can succumb to stress that goes along with the hurried and harried life in the corporate world where stress becomes greater as you rise higher.
After reading her email, I emailed her back as quickly as I could, offering my own apology for adding to her worries and giving an assurance that I fully understood her and that we love her. There was no time to write a long response. There was no time either to linger in a fleeting memory of green meadows and bright stars in a clear sky which I used to see when I was young. I had to buckle down to work to meet my deadline.

Remembering a distant past

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 04:16:00 +0000

Reunion of the Romblon High School Batch '61 in April 2011
at the house of Benita Reyes in Sawang, Romblon, Romblon

A set of reunion pictures sent to me by a high school classmate revived not only my memories of the past but also the question about life's meaning that I have been grappling with since I was in college. We belong to Batch '61 of the Romblon High School in a small town called Romblon in the heart of the Philippines. That means that we are now more than 60 years old.
The first time I looked at the pictures, I could hardly recognize most of my former classmates. I had to compare notes - by email - with another classmate, Jim Marquez, who is now in the US. Since both of us were not at the reunion, we made a little guesswork and agreed on Napoleon Lim, our salutatorian we fondly called by his nickname Dandette.
Dandette, who could have been the dream boy of many girls because he was not only brainy but also handsome, was a son of a prosperous businessmen in Romblon, a small town in a province after which the town was named. So it did not come as a surprise to me that he became an engineer. What I heard of him was that he became an executive of a multinational oil company with offices in Manila.
The women in the pictures, most of whom were pretty when we were young, still have traces of their youthful glory. But the ravages of time have undeniably taken their toll. It is futile to deny that time, reputed to be a great healer, is a lousy beautician. I have always remained young at heart but the pictures reminded me that we are now in the twilight years of our lives.
I remember having surreptitiously inserted love letters in the books of some of the girls with whom I had a crush. The letters were signed Doveglion, the pen name of the famous Filipino poet Jose Garcia Villa. I did not have the courage to sign my own name on the letters not because I did not like the name with which I was christened but because I was so dark and ... well, neither tall nor handsome.

A farmhand, I was shy then, a loner who would melt under the spotlight. I remember having just two close friends in our class - Rolando Mingoa, who lived in a farming village next to one where I lived, and Victor Lagman, whose family came from Davao del Norte down south.
The dictum that birds of the same feather flock together applied to the three of us. Rolando, nicknamed Lando, and Victor, who was Vic to those who knew him, were not social mixers as well.
I have a fond memory of Vic - my seat mate in fourth year - during a quiz in Literature. Sensing perhaps that I hadn't studied the previous night, he left his answers wide open and told me to copy. "No, thanks," I declined.

The administration building of the Romblon National High School,
formerly Romblon High School, and part of the marble grandstand.

We never talked about the incident after the test, which I passed with just a little above the borderline grade, but I knew that I had gained his respect. We often sat together at the marble grandstand during PE watching other students playing on the ground - with a few moments of conversations once in a while. It was friendship that thrived even in silence.
Lando came from a village called Agnipa, about two kilometers from Ginablan where my sister and I lived with the family of my uncle after my father died in Bacolod City where I was born. Lando and I both dreamed of going to college, although we knew how enormous were the challenges before us, particularly because there was no college in Romblon, Romblon, then.
Lando's family had a tract of land whose produce wasn't enough to send him to college in Manila or in any other city. He wanted to become an engineer and so did I. Despite the odds, we kept on dreaming and believing in the saying that, "if there's a will, there's a way." After graduation, Lando left for Manila. I went to Bacolod, which I was familiar with, a year later. My journey to Bacolod later took me to Batangas and Manila a few years thereafter.

The athletic field and one of the two wooden grandstands.

I agree with people who say that the best time in our lives was our high school days. Those were the days when we started dreaming of our future and did not have much cares for the here and now. I recall the dying days of our senior year when we were asked by some of our classmates to write in their slum books on what we wanted to be and other personal circumstances.
I remember that apart from my dream to become an engineer, I added an entry that I wanted to own a ranch. That entry caught the attention of a classmate, Arturo Fabellon, who kidded me that I could easily fulfill that dream if I would settle for a ranch with only one or two cows. I did not mind him. Youth was a time for both dreams and fantasies.
Most of our classmates became what they wanted to be. Dandette became an engineer. Senia Galindez became a teacher and so did Vilma Muleta,Yolanda Mindo, Melba de Joya, Arturo Fabellon and Wilmo Fallar. Jim Marquez became an architect and Vicky Uy a nurse. I haven't heard on what happened to Ruben Famorcan, our valedictorian, and had lost contact with Lando and Vic.
There were more than 50 of us in Batch '61 and it isn't possible to keep track of each of us. In the pictures sent to me by Benita Reyes, who has settled in a village called Sawang after working in London, I did not see Ronaldo Platon, who was among the popular guys in our batch, Louie Morente, whom I courted quietly, and Leny Capa, who was so demure you could put her on a pedestal.
I did not become an engineer and that's a long story that may take a book to write. But in a nutshell, I realized when I was working on my way to college - first as a construction laborer and later as a security guard - that an engineering course was too expensive for me to pursue. That convinced me that our fate is not always in our hands, no matter if Shakespeare tells us that our destiny is not written in the stars.

My destiny was written in the stars since I started to develop a passion for writing when I was in high school. Although I was just an above-average student in my academic subjects, I was getting very high grades in formal themes. Knowing my passion for writing, a friend advised me to take journalism when I was about to enroll at the Lyceum of the Philippines in Manila later.
Let me take a little ego trip.
In high school, I remember that one of our English teachers, Mrs. Amelia Festin, once called me to the teachers' room. With my formal-theme writings on her desk, she told me I had a knack for writing and advised me to keep the writing torch burning. Another English teacher, Miss Milagros Mayor, a distant relative who became Mrs. Gutierrez, had asked me once to take the entry exams for staff members of The Marble, the school paper. Dreading competition, I did not take the tests.
I dreaded competition in high school. That was why I always wanted to be in Section 2. But in fourth year, I wasn't allowed to go back to my home section where I was king.
There were two important lessons I learned in life. First, we have to dream. That's the same advice the fairy tale Cinderella gives us. Second, we have to learn how to appreciate whatever blessings that come our way. Life will lose its meaning if we do not enjoy it. But enjoying life does not necessarily mean going to parties or outings. You can enjoy life even in silence.
In the twilight years of our lives, I am reminded of the famous Shakespearean line that life is "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing". The Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible has another version for that - all our worldly endeavors are just like chasing the winds.
Having said that, let me leave a small reminder to close this article. In life's dying embers, may we realize that however we highly think of ourselves we are no more than pilgrims in this world and that our lives are just fleeting shadows of our dreams and passions.

Please visit my other blogs Miscelleous at http://www.miscellaneous-oddnews.blogspot.com, Viajero at http://www.viajero-funtravel.blogspot.com and Fun in Life at http://www.salt-funstories.blogspot.com.

To my classmates. You may want to read my book "The Gypsy Soul and Other Essays" which is available at amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. The book image is on the top-left side of this blog. Just click the image, it will direct you to amazon.com.
I extend the same invitation to other readers.
I hope I could launch another book next year, That's a dream.
Have a nice day.

Catholics, Muslims pursue dialogue amid Mideast tension

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 08:01:00 +0000

* Catholic-Muslim Forum debates role of reason in religion
* Meeting shows progress since pope sparked protests in 2006
* Disagreements persist but are debated openly

By Tom Heneghan
Religion Editor

BETHANY BEYOND THE JORDAN, Jordan, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Only five years ago, critical remarks by Pope Benedict about Islam sparked off violent protests in several Muslim countries.
Never very good, relations between the world's two largest religions sank to new lows in modern times.
This week, while protesters in the Arab world were demanding democracy and civil rights, Catholics and Muslims met along the Jordan River for frank and friendly talks about their differences and how to get beyond their misunderstandings.
The Catholic-Muslim Forum, which grew out of the tensions following Benedict's speech in the German city of Regensburg, was overshadowed by events in Egypt, Yemen and Syria. The lack of any dramatic news here reflected the progress the two sides have made since 2006.
"We have passed from formal dialogue to a dialogue between friends," Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the Vatican's department for interfaith dialogue, said at the conference held near the Jordan River site believed to be where Jesus was baptised. "We realised that we have a common heritage,"
Recalling the strains that prompted Muslims to suggest a dialogue in 2007, Jordan's Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal said: "Since then, despite some misunderstandings, I dare say the general Muslim-Catholic ambiance has ameliorated considerably."
The 24 Catholic and 24 Muslim religious leaders, scholars and educators meeting here debated how each religion uses reason to strengthen insight into its beliefs. Roman Catholicism has long argued that faith without reason can breed superstition while nihilism can emerge from reason without faith.

POPE'S ILL-FATED SPEECH

This was the core message of Benedict's Regensburg speech, but it was drowned out when he quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor describing Islam as violent and irrational. Radical Islamists responded with violent protests.
After he expressed his regrets, 38 Muslim scholars wrote to the pope suggesting a meeting to discuss misreading of Islam they found in his text.
Benedict, who had long thought interfaith dialogue could blur differences between religions, did not reply. He believed discussing theology was all but impossible because they do not analyse the Koran as Christians and Jews do their scriptures.
A year later, 138 Muslim scholars issued a broader appeal to all Christian churches to discuss the commands of love of God and neighbour that both faiths shared. Led by Prince Ghazi, the group included several grand muftis as well as leading Islamic intellectuals from around the Muslim world.
This time, the Vatican reluctantly agreed and hosted the first Catholic-Muslim Forum in November 2008 in Rome.
That meeting was a watershed, allowing Catholics and Muslims to discuss theology seriously instead of simply holding a polite meeting ending with pious calls for peace and understanding.
Although he only met the Muslims at a formal session in the Vatican, Benedict was a quick learner. By May 2009, when he visited Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories, the pope echoed their arguments and eased the quest for common ground.

COMMON SENSE OF URGENCY

Three years after the introductory session, the second Forum on Nov 21-23 focused on the relationship between faith and reason.
Ibrahim Kalin, a Turkish philosopher who is now chief policy advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, explained how Islam also argues that faith must be tempered by reason.
In the main Catholic presentation, Italian philosopher Vittorio Possenti explained how Catholic teaching stresses the intrinsic value and natural rights of every human being.
"There's a common sense of the urgency and importance of this meeting, even though the context and background we're coming from are quite different," said Archbishop Kevin McDonald, the top Catholic official for interfaith dialogue in England and Wales.
The Arab Spring uprisings this year have changed the context, especially by allowing Islamist parties to operate more freely in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
This has also opened the door to the Salafists, radical Islamists who have attacked Egypt's Coptic Christian minority and spread fear among Christians across the Middle East,

FAITH AND THE ARAB SPRING

Aref Ali Nayed, a Libyan theologian who joined his country's revolutionaries and is now Tripoli's ambassador in the United Arab Emirates, said the role of faith in the emerging political systems highlighted the need for reasonable religion to prevail.
"It is extremely important that the massive movements we are experiencing today do not happen at the level of irrationality or mere emotion," he said.
"Such movements must be guided by the light of faith, but reasoned faith that encourages thinking and dialogue."
Strains emerged at some of the closed-door talks, especially on the issue of whether Muslims can convert to Christianity.
One Catholic noted the Church could not accept any converts in the Gulf countries but Christian foreign workers there who switched to Islam got a warm public welcome to their new faith.
Another asked why Muslims would not respect the choice made by people who sincerely wanted to convert despite all the problems they knew would come. In response, a Muslim said Islamic countries remained wary because too many conversions were forced in the past.
Some Muslims also expressed difficulty in understanding how the Catholic Church could open dialogue with other faiths after its Second Vatican Council in the 1960s after avoiding it for almost two millennia before that.
They also suggested the Catholics had given in too much to modern secularism and not protested enough against depictions of Jesus that Muslims considered blasphemous.
Still, the strength of their current ties showed when, during a break on the final day, delegates swapped jokes about religion. Bosnia's Chief Mufti Mustafa Ceric turned out to be group's stand-up comedian.
"Did you hear about the preacher and taxi driver?" the Sarajevo-based cleric asked. "When they died and came before God, He sent the preacher to hell and the taxi driver to heaven.
"When the preacher asked why, God said 'When you preached, you put people to sleep. But he used to drive his taxi so fast that he made all his passengers pray for eternal salvation'."

Ten principles for peace of mind

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 03:10:00 +0000

1. Do Not Interfere In Others' Business Unless Asked:
Most of us create our own problems by interfering too often in others' affairs. We do so because somehow we have convinced ourselves that our way is the best way, our logic is the perfect logic and those who do not conform to our thinking must be criticized and steered to the right direction, our direction. This thinking denies the existence of individuality and consequently the existence of God. God has created each one of us in a unique way. No two human beings can think or act in exactly the same way. All men or women act the way they do because God within them prompts them that way. Mind your own business and you will keep your peace.

2. Forgive And Forget:
This is the most powerful aid to peace of mind. We often develop ill feelings inside our heart for the person who insults us or harms us. We nurture grievances. This in turn results in loss of sleep, development of stomach ulcers, and high blood pressure. This insult or injury was done once, but nourishing of grievance goes on forever by constantly remembering it. Get over this bad habit. Life is too short to waste in such trifles. Forgive, Forget, and march on. Love flourishes in giving and forgiving.

3. Do Not Crave For Recognition:
This world is full of selfish people. They seldom praise anybody without selfish motives. They may praise you today because you are in power, but no sooner than you are powerless, they will forget your achievement and will start finding faults in you. Why do you wish to kill yours in striving for their recognition? Their recognition is not worth the aggravation. Do your duties ethically and sincerely.

4. Do Not Be Jealous:
We all have experienced how jealousy can disturb our peace of mind. You know that you work harder than your colleagues in the office, but sometimes they get promotions; you do not. You started a business several years ago, but you are not as successful as your neighbor whose business is only one year old. There are several examples like these in everyday life. Should you be jealous? No. Remember everybody's life is shaped by his/her destiny, which has now become his/her reality. If you are destined to be rich, nothing in the world can stop you. If you are not so destined, no one can help you either. Nothing will be gained by blaming others for your misfortune. Jealousy will not get you anywhere; it will only take away your peace of mind.

5. Change Yourself According To The Environment:
If you try to change the environment single-handedly, the chances are you will fail. Instead, change yourself to suit your environment. As you do this, even the environment, which has been unfriendly to you, will mysteriously change and seem congenial and harmonious.

6. Endure What Cannot Be Cured:
This is the best way to turn a disadvantage into an advantage. Every day we face numerous inconveniences, ailments, irritations, and accidents that are beyond our control. If we cannot control them or change them, we must learn to put up with these things. We must learn to endure them cheerfully. Believe in yourself and you will gain in terms of patience, inner strength and will power.

7. Do Not Bite Off More Than You Can Chew:
This maxim needs to be remembered constantly. We often tend to take more responsibilities than we are capable of carrying out. This is done to satisfy our ego. Know your limitations. . Why take on additional loads that may create more worries? You cannot gain peace of mind by expanding your external activities. Reduce your material engagements and spend time in prayer, introspection and meditation. This will reduce those thoughts in your mind that make you restless. Uncluttered mind will produce greater peace of mind.

8. Meditate Regularly:
Meditation calms the mind and gets rid of disturbing thoughts. This is the highest state of peace of mind. Try and experience it yourself. If you meditate earnestly for half an hour everyday, your mind will tend to become peaceful during the remaining twenty-three and half-hours. Your mind will not be easily disturbed as it was before. You would benefit by gradually increasing the period of daily meditation. You may think that this will interfere with your daily work. On the contrary, this will increase your efficiency and you will be able to produce better results in less time.

9. Never Leave The Mind Vacant:
An empty mind is the devil's workshop. All evil actions start in the vacant mind. Keep your mind occupied in something positive, something worthwhile. Actively follow a hobby. Do something that holds your interest. You must decide what you value more: money or peace of mind. Your hobby, like social work or religious work, may not always earn you more money, but you will have a sense of fulfillment and achievement. Even when you are resting physically, occupy yourself in healthy reading or mental chanting of God's name.

10. Do Not Procrastinate And Never Regret:
Do not waste time in protracted wondering “should I or shouldn't I?” Days, weeks, months, and years may be wasted in that futile mental debating. You can never plan enough because you can never anticipate all future happenings. Value your time and do the things that need to be done. It does not matter if you fail the first time. You can learn from your mistakes and succeed the next time. Sitting back and worrying will lead to nothing. Learn from your mistakes, but do not brood over the past. DO NOT REGRET. Whatever happened was destined to happen only that way. Why cry over spilt milk?

"Spread Love everywhere you go. Let no one come to you without leaving happier "
Mother Teresa

Lifted from the blog of Masterwordsmith.

Profoundly Beautiful...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 05:03:00 +0000

This is written by Masterwordsmith and I took the liberty of lifting it from her blog. It jibes with my usual theme about our hurried lives. The essay is very touching, I am sure you will like reading it. Have a nice day.

Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.

I got to thinking one day about all those people on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.

How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word 'refrigeration' mean nothing to you?

How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said , 'How about going to lunch in a half hour?' She would gas up and stammer, 'I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain' And my personal favorite: 'It's Monday.' She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.

Because people cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches.. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!

We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of 'I'm going to,' 'I plan on,' and 'Someday, when things are settled down a bit.'

When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.

My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream.. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.

Now... go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to... not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?

Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to you.

Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round
or listened to the rain lapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight
or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask 'How are you?' Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in your bed
with the next hundred chores running through your head?
Ever told your child, 'We'll do it tomorrow.'
And in your haste, not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die?
Just call to say 'Hi'?

When you worry and hurry through your day,
it is like an unopened gift thrown away.
Life is not a race. Take it slower.
Hear the music before the song is over.

'Life may not be the party we hoped for... but while we are here we might as well dance.'

-Author Unknown-

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Be thankful in life

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 05:39:00 +0000

Heavy rains remind us of challenges in life. Do not ask for a lighter rain. Pray for a good umbrella. That is attitude.

When flood comes, fish eat ants and when flood recedes, ants eat fish. Only time matters. Just hold on, God gives opportunity to everyone!

Life is not about finding the right person, but creating the right relationship, it's not how we care in the beginning, but how much we care till the end.

Some people may throw stones in your path. It depends on what you make with them. A wall or a bridge? Remember you are the architect of your life.

Search for a beautiful heart, not for a beautiful face. Beautiful things are not always good, but good things are always beautiful.

It’s not important to hold all the good cards in life. But it’s important how well you play with the cards you hold.

Often when we lose hope and think this is the end, God smiles and says, "relax dear it’s just a bend, not the end." Have faith.

One of the basic differences between God and humans is, God gives, gives and forgives. But human gets, gets, gets and forgets.

Be thankful in life....

Adopted from the blog of Masterwordsmithm

The blade of grass

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 21:40:00 +0000

There will never be a Newton for the blade of grass.

I came across that line while reading two weeks ago an article, "Why am I a Naturalist" by Alex Rosenberg, in The New York Times. Rosenberg, the R. Taylor Cole professor and chair of the philosophy department at Duke University, attributed that line to German philosopher Emmanuel Kant.

That line attracted me because I like metaphysics, a branch of philosophy that is simply defined as "beyond physics". Ever a student of life, I like reading philosophy, a passion that I cannot come up with a good reason.

Going back to Kant's blade of grass, Rosenberg explained that what Kant meant was that "physical science could never explain anything with a purpose, whether it be human thought or a flower's bending toward the sun." That suits my way of thinking.

I find science inadequate to explain so many things in life. For instance, we believe that there is gravity, which we know was discovered by Newton, but there is no explanation why there is gravity. That question begs for a series of questions "why" which will lead us to the door of life's many mysteries for which science has no answers.

Passion itself has no explanation. As I have always said, passion is doing what we like to do but don't know why. Asking why I like reading is like asking a poet why he writes poetry or a gourmet why he likes the taste of particular food. Our passion belongs to the realm of the senses and not the domain of physical science.

So I always disagree when scientists use the "physicalist" or materialist approach to any study of anything that involves life - and shut out metaphysics altogether - because that often reduces us to mere atoms. I digress when neuroscience explains emotions in terms of mere neural firings in the brain. It may explain which parts of the brain are activated when we fall in love but it does not explain why we fall in love.

In fact, there is no explanation for life itself, or why most - if not all - living things have the instinct to live. Science says that we have evolved from simple organisms but has no adequate explanation why simple organisms should evolve into complex organisms that we are. The best explanation that I have heard is, like the big bang, we are an accident of time, which is more of a deductive conjecture than a solid scientific explanation.

I follow the blog of Sam Harris, an erstwhile-unknown neuroscientist who shot to fame with his bestselling books "The End of Faith" and "Letter to a Christian Nation". Harris, like many other atheists, advocates reason as life's guiding light. His last posts that I have read was about human consciousness, which he admits is a mystery, without conceding any possibility that it is - or could be - divinely ordained.

Several months ago, Harris challenged another neuroscientist David Eagleman, author of the book "Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain" who was featured by The New Yorker, to a debate for his comment that some scientists like Richard Dawkins, an Oxford professor who authored "God Delusion" among other books, are peddling "false certainty".

Harris was riled by Aegleman's advocacy of a movement called "possibilianism", a middle-of-road position between atheism and religion, because it undermines the atheist's cocky attitude against Faith.

Here's Aegleman: "Our ignorance of the cosmos is too vast to commit to atheism, and yet we know too much to commit to a particular religion ... With possibilianism I'm hoping to define a new position - one that emphasizes the exploration of new, unconsidered possibilities. Possibilianism is comfortable holding multiple ideas in mind."

I subscribe to that idea. Although a Catholic, I entertain other ideas that are not in keeping with the mainstream religious beliefs. I believe in many aspects of evolution, although I take the position of the Intelligent Design movement that it is part of creation and guided by divine hand. I believe in the afterlife but I also entertain ideas that heaven might not be as the Bible says it is.

That goes to say that I don't believe that the Bible is a chronicle of the exact words of God but I believe it is divinely inspired to give us a window through which we can peek into God's mind or nature. I have learned to appreciate reading the Bible by themes on love, charity, honesty, pride, repentance, forgiveness and so on and so forth, instead of taking it literally.

I subscribe to the idea that God is so immense and cannot be defined. That makes me understand some other people's complaint that organized religion has given God human attributes like He is a jealous God or He can get angry. To paraphrase one blasphemous cliche, man has the tendency to create God in his own image. I can imagine God watching us and smiling over our follies.

I believe that there are realities not accessible to the human mind, and entertain the possibility that science could be wrong for using the physicalist methods in its studies. I do not shut out the idea that atoms could a weak link to study cosmic realities. That makes me believe that debates on whether God exist or not have no meaningful purpose, but an egoistic human exercise to showcase each one's intelligence. It falls under the biblical theme of pride.

So why I do believe in God? The answer is that my experience makes me feel God's presence in my life. It is as deductive as Dawkin's belief on evolution sans God, as deductive as Harris's belief on the reality of consciousness, despite neuroscience's belief that consciousness could be a mere illusion created in our cranium. I don't have full faith in reason.

Reason is not unlike faith. To believe in reason, you must have some basis to support it. Atheists believe in reason as a reliable guiding light in life because they have faith in science and human logic, for which I don't have much. In life, which is no less than a gamble, I hedge my bet between reason and faith. In life's journey I use reason as my rudder but faith as my compass.

Science and reason have their own limitations. I cannot use reason or science to explain why Kerima Polotan Tuvera, the editor-in-chief of The Evening Post in Manila where I started my career as a journalist, did not fire me when she learned from my x-ray that I had tuberculosis a month or so after the company hired me as a proofreader.

Instead of firing me, which was the most logical thing to do for a newly-hired employee under probation, Mrs. Tuvera, the spouse of the company owner Juan Tuvera, asked me to get treatment and let the company take the tab. I have no explanation why it happened shortly after I challenged God, during my years of atheism, to strengthen my life when I drifted from one odd job to another because my illness kept me from finding a permanent job.

I cannot find the reason why, when I got burned out and had to resign from Reuters in 1987 because I could no longer compose coherent stories, the Manila bureau of the Japanese newspaper The Tokyo Shimbun looked for a reporter who was not necessarily skilled in composing stories but was only capable of getting good facts for the resident Japanese journalist.

Coincidences have helped me strengthen my faith in God. Atheists may sneer at this but I am sure that coincidences are a universal phenomenon that almost all - if not all - people experience from time to time. There is no need for science to prove this. Any scientist who will make a study to find out if coincidences do happen is as cranky as a Christian who believes that faith will make him survive a headlong dive from a 100-story sky crapper.

Science and religion have similarities. Both have their own dogmas. Both rely on faith in much of what they believe in and both use human logic to justify their own beliefs. To say that all believers are fanatics - if fanaticism means not using reason at all - is a gross generalization. Many believers use reason or logic, usually deductive, to cling to faith.

Many believers don't rely much on science knowing that scientists are just as they are - students of life trying to unravel the mysteries of our existence. Science has its own limits. Despite its ballyhooed successes, science has remained an infant dazzled by the marvels of God's infinite wisdom. Every discovery it makes is always followed by myriads of unanswered questions.

The limits of science provide the reasons why, like Kant, I believe that there will never be a Newton for the blade of grass. Faith begins where science ends. Any scientist who would say that science can unravel all the mysteries in this world sooner or later is not using logic properly but, as Eagleman would say, peddling "false certainty".

.

Please read my previous postings "The boundaries of reason", "When God closes doors", "Love in the age of neuroscience" and "Lessons to learn from the passion of Christ".

I also invite you to visit my other blogs Miscellaneous at http://www.miscellaneous-oddnews.blogspot.com, Viajero at http://www.viajero-funtravel.blogspot.com and Fun in Life
at http://salt-funstories.blogspot.com.

Gaddafi: Chasing the wind

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:48:00 +0000

I did not restrain myself from getting whatever I wanted;
I did not deny myself anything that would bring me pleasure.
So all my accomplishments gave me joy;
this was my reward for all my efforts.

Yet when I reflected on everything I had accomplished
and on all the efforts that I had expended to accomplish it,
I concluded: “All these achievements and possessions are ultimately profitless – like chasing the wind!

— Ecclesiastes 2:10-11

The death of Muammar Gaddafi a few days ago reminded me of this theme in the Bible - that our life is just like chasing the wind. For 42 years after he seized power in a military coup that overthrew King Idris Senussi on September 1, 1969, Gaddafi enjoyed the pleasures that material wealth could bring but died an ignoble death.

After all those years of living in opulence while ruling Libya with absolute power, Gaddafi spent his last days on the run until he was captured hiding like a rat - his own description of the rebels who chased him after the fall of Tripoli - in a drainage. The man, who tortured his foes during his rule, was himself lynched before he was shot to death.

His life story was not the stuff that would inspire people who abhor violence. Although he did not lack admirers for standing up to the United States and its allies, he was despised by most people across the world for his own brand of terrorism and for sponsoring rebellion in Western countries and their allies.

Although Gaddafi and several other military officers launched the 1969 coup with a lofty cause to rid Libya of a despot, the son of peasant parents gradually installed himself as a tyrant who jailed and tortured those who opposed his regime. His iron-fist rule sent millions of Libyans to flee to other countries. It's a realization of the dictum that power begets power.

One of the bizarre stories I read about the eccentric Gaddafi was his attempt to seduce women reporters whom he had invited to Libya for an alleged interview. When the reporters went there, he invited them one of a time to his tent and tried to preposition each of them. After failing to seduce the first three women, he gave up.

At the height of the Libya rebellion that started in Bengahazi, Gaddafi struck a pathetic figure of a leader desperately hanging on to power. Newspaper accounts after his death portrayed Gaddafi spending his last days hovering between defiance and delusion, surviving on rice and pasta scourged by his guards from empty civilian houses.

Nobody could have missed the irony that the body of the man who entertained a delusion of grandeur throughout his life was kept in a meat freezer, along with that of his son who reportedly spent $2 million a month in lavish living, naked from the waist up. News reports said that before he was shot dead, a terrified Gaddafi begged for his life.

Gaddafi's ignoble death reminds me of the biblical admonition not to love the world, the mundane things that we are always tempted to amass, but to pile up heavenly treasures that do not rust, cannot be stolen by thieves or eaten by moths.

We must bear the fruits of the Spirit.

Related Biblical Quotes:

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23\

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A question for us Christians

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 03:38:00 +0000

How can it be fair to say I can't be saved by God if I'm gay?

By Laura Brosnan
The Guardian

October 5, 2011
•

From as early as the playground games of kiss chase at nursery school, I have always known that I preferred the same sex. I grew up in a household where science was a constant point of discussion. Religion was never a part of my life.
The turning point was when my mother passed away in my mid-teens. I had a major reality check. Life was too short and I shouldn't be wasting days wishing I lived the life I want to lead. There was no escaping the pink elephant in my closet any longer. It was, however, the same moment that made me doubt my atheism.
This couldn't just be the end, could it? The most important and kindhearted person in my life had just vanished? Strange experiences that I never had before started to shake my life; for instance, I'd wake up in the middle of the night at least once a week, and still do, feeling a warm presence in my room. Spooky? Could it have been an angel? I was unsure, but I needed to learn more.
I took salvation with a friend of mine, who was a gospel singer, and her family embraced me with open arms. They were a strong Christian family, so after a while they would invite me to their church performances, their Sunday schools and prayer meetings. It was like a beautiful, insightful, hidden world that boasted of love and acceptance, where everyone took strength from each other's faith, together using God's word, to not only enlighten the world but also to sustain morals within such a crumbling society.
The strength that Jesus gave me made me feel confident enough to surpass my fears and tell the world who I was. I was told my choice in lifestyle was from the devil and they didn't want to be a part of it. I attempted to question their anger, as I was still a child of God and I had accepted that he was my saviour. There were no answers.
They pointed to Leviticus 18:22: "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable," and they went on to cease the friendship. I felt as if everything they had shown me, the commandments and the Lord's love, was just for show. Faith at that time seemed like a selected lottery for Jesus's love.
As I have grown, so has my love for God. Even though people who preached his word fled and walked away from me, he never did. Do I punish Jesus after all he has done for me through ignoring his love completely? (That surely is the biggest blasphemy of all.) Because others are too busy judging my life to concentrate on their own struggles and sins: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" – John 8:7.
Can I find a mutual ground between my beliefs? Can I still attend Thursday night's Gay Girlz at Heaven and then head to church on Sunday, fit and ready to sing my prayers for my Lord Jesus?
I have tried and prayed to change, but end up feeling lost. Argument after argument, I still find myself being persecuted by both the gay and Christian community. Every Sunday I walk into church to pray and receive disgusted looks from brothers and sisters. The main reasons are for the clear verses in the Bible referring to homosexuality as sin. I know, I've studied the Bible.
It's an uncomfortable and confusing position many of us are in. I don't think it's fair to claim that I can't be an LGBT individual and be saved. God made it clear that there is no sin that can separate us from him apart from the rejection of Jesus Christ. Is the Bible just down to interpretation? Are the 12 mentions of homosexuality in the holy book due to cultural and historical mistranslations and misinterpretations? Many do argue that "sexual immorality" refers to rape and prostitution, not those in a loving relationship.
As a Christian, I've felt God and his presence and know what it feels like to feel the holy spirit. The gospel wasn't part of my life from an early age; I asked God to come into my life. No one who is saved can explain that sudden rush of understanding, that feeling of total awareness that God is there. For this I live my life with respect, understanding and love for others just the way God taught me. Nothing in the world is ever black and white, and no single person is perfect. If I know love, then I know God, and to share a consistent relationship with him through the struggles and tests of my journey is what I shall do.

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Judging other people

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 17:32:00 +0000

I was assigned to give a reflection on today's gospel before a small group of Catholic Christians who meet on Wednesdays. While searching the Internet for a guide, I stumbled upon this reflection which I want to share with those who may care to read.

Romans 2:1-11
Psalm 62:2-3, 6-7, 9
Luke 11:42-46

Today's gospel:

Luke 11: 42-46

A curse is on you, Pharisees; for the Temple you give a tenth of all, including mint and rue and the other herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. This ought to be practiced, without neglecting the other. A curse is on you Pharisees, for you love the best seats in the synagogues and to be greeted in the marketplace. A curse is on you for you are like tombstones of the dead which can hardly be seen; people don't notice them and make themselves unclean by stepping on them.
Then the teachers of the law spoke up and said, "Master when speak like that you insult us too." And Jesus snswered, "A curse on you also, teachers of the Law, for you prepare unbearable burdens and load them on the people, while you yourselves don't move to lift a finger to help them.

Reflections by Roc O' Connor S. J.
Rector
Creighton University

If there is one thing I have learned over the years, it’s that hypocrisy is THE key temptation for all good, religious people. It’s the line you and I walk every day… How often do we say more than we do? How often do we intend the good and fall short again and again.

So, when Jesus addressed the Pharisees, they functioned as a foil for his disciples. They “love the seat of honor in the synagogues…” What did the disciples fight about at the Last Supper? “Who is the greatest?” What do we fight over in our own time? Yep, you got it.

Paul spoke strongly to the Romans, saying, “You, O man, are without excuse, every one of you who passes judgment. For by the standard by which you judge another you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the very same things…”

Essentially, he’s calling them hypocrites because of the way they judge others. And by extension, he’s calling us… Yep, you got it.

Paul insists that we do the very things we judge others for.

[Now if you want a surprise, go back to chapter one in Romans to see what they/we judge others about. I suggest this because the division of books of the bible into chapters and verses didn’t begin until the 13th century. In fact it wasn’t until the publication of the Geneva Bible in 1560 that a generally accepted system was put in place.]

Even though it’s not Lent, I do find that I wonder about what sort of grace, what sort of event, what nudge will God send me to change me? And why does it take so darn long? What don’t I get?

More and more, I believe that the BIG grace and purification I hope for comes only in purgatory. Which leaves me standing always in need of the graces of challenge and comfort from the Lord. Even though it hurts my pride to be situated with the Pharisees, it does seem more realistic and truthful. Ouch!

Daily Reflection
of Creighton University's Online Ministries
-----
October 12th, 2011
by
Roc O'Connor, S.J.
Rector

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Some random musings

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 04:01:00 +0000

It's an hour before high noon and today is Monday, my day off from work. I marked the time to send across my usual message - or is it a complaint? - that life has become too fast and complicated. Even in my days off, I don't seem to have much time in my hands. Or probably, I just don't know how to manage my time.

Usually, I wake up at 5 am - an hour before my wife and child do - to squeeze in a little time to write a few lines for this blog, Salt of Life, my favorite among my four blogs. I am not a prolific writer and usually write a full-length article in two to three days, writing for an hour a day. When my wife and child wake up, I have to stop writing.

When I fail to wake up early, as it happened today and the past few days, I start my day driving my child to school and then my wife to the hospital where she works as a nurse before I go to my own work. On Mondays, my days off, I am supposed to have much time. But, sad to say, It's a luxury that I am not privileged to enjoy.

Today, I am supposed to write an article for any of my four blogs but again I cannot find a full time to do that. After driving my child to school and my wife to her work, I went to a computer shop to have our second laptop loaded with the needed programs. We have to buy a new laptop because there are times when my wife and our child have overlapping needs to use the first laptop.

That happens when my wife, who is a head nurse, has to prepare the schedule of her staff and our child has to do her homework that needed researching in the Internet. Our child has a notebook, a small laptop, but its small screen is not ideal for writing. Our child uses it for playing games when she is not busy with her school work.

Playing computer games is her therapy for her busy school schedule as blogging is mine. Despite my busy days, I always try to find time to write for my blogs. Writing is a passion that started when I was in high school. Passion doesn't need reason. It is something we love to do but don't know why.

I have written about this subject - about our hurried life - in a previous article "Our complicated Lives", but have decided to write about it once again after a high school classmate, Jim Marquez, sent me two emails from the United States where he now lives. I responded promptly to his first email, which came about four or five days ago.

I was supposed to write an article for this blog when I saw his first email. Luckily, I had waken up early that day before my wife and our child did. So instead writing for my blog, I spent the time writing a response to his email. But I missed responding to his second email immediately because I failed to wake up early the succeeding days. So today, I did a brief response before I took the laptop to the computer shop.

Jim's emails brought me back to our high school days in Romblon when much of our concerns were dominated by our dreams of the future. I remember him as a guy with a flat-top haircut. He came from a well-to-do family in town. I did not know what he wanted to be then but he became an architect, and I learned from some of our classmates I had met in Manila that he became a very successful architect.

Many of our classmates became successful and several have migrated to the US. But, I don't know if everyone will agree with me that when we grow old we do not bask anymore in whatever degree of success we have achieved. In my case, I become more concerned about our day-to-day living, how to cope with it, especially at this time when life has become too complicated - and yes, hurried.

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Reading Jim Paredes

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 13:45:00 +0000

I tried to get out of my shell the other day. Instead of writing for my blogs, I decided to read what other bloggers are writing and stumbled on the blog of Jim Paredes, one of the trio that makes up - or made up? - the singing group Apo Hiking Society. Until I read his blog, "Writing on Air", I did not realize that he is very educated, with a bent in philosophy. When I visited his site on Facebook, I found out that he has a degree in Communication Arts from the Ateneo University. That figures.

In one of his posted articles - "Sex, God and Time" - he wrote about sex as a reality in life, about God from the perspective of one who reflects in profound soul searching and about how time can change our perspectives. Although he writes very long articles, I finished reading two, despite my short attention span. He is a good read, as a jargon puts it, and if you have a bias against most of the Filipino celebrities, reading him will break that bias.

I sought out his blog when I read by chance his comment on Facebook that probably it's time to "rethink capitalism", in response to the growing frustration in the United States about the pampering by the US government of the few billionaires on Wall Street, despite their mind-boggling incomes, while 90 percent of the country's more than 300 million population are having a hard time making both ends meet. Latest media reports culled from the statistics of the US Census Bureau indicate that about 26 million Americans are living in poverty.

The implication is that capitalism is a failed economic system because it benefits only a few.

Since two weeks ago, a small group of Americans launched a movement called "Occupy Wall Street" to bring this disparity to the attention of the public and the US government. Although the motley crowd has not articulated any clear demand, they are protesting against a broad range of issues, from the corporate greed of the Big Business in Manhattan, social inequality and even climate change, among others.

The protest reminded me of our own complaints against capitalism when we were still college students in Manila during the time of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. As left-wing student activists, we were then supporting the Marxist cause. The protest leaders, mostly affiliated with the underground Communist Party of the Philippines, exploited issues like tuition fee, workers' low wages, corruption in government and arbitrary arrests of those suspected to be Reds.

Working my way to college as a security guard, I could not miss the social inequality. At the Lyceum of the Philippines where I pursued a course in journalism, we set up our own newsletter, Sigaw (Shout), which echoed the Marxist cause to install a "democracy of the proletariat" in the country in place of capitalism - the democracy of the social elite, Big Business in particular.

If the Soviet Union did not crumble in 1991, I have no doubt that many Americans will forget the American Dream and pick the Marxist cause, particularly because, like the politicians in the Philippines then and now, many US politicians, mainly the Republicans, are supporters of Big Business to the detriment of the common good.

A news item dispatched by the Associated Press last Sunday said that one of the protesters during a street march on Brooklyn Bridge vent his outraged against the government's bailout of big firms in Manhattan, which used the money to give hefty bonuses for their executives at a time when the rest of the populace was reeling from the economic crunch.

"When the bailout money was spent on bonuses and stuff, everyone was outraged, but no one did anything because no one feels like they can," the AP story quoted 22-year-old Jesse Wilson as saying. Being a former activist, I can feel his frustration over the callousness of the rich running big businesses on Wall Street.

Sadly, in the capitalist economic system, Big Business calls the shot. It can pull strings. When President Barack Obama floated a proposal to impose higher taxes on big businesses, the Republicans immediately came to their defense and labelled such a proposal as a "class war". Many American also were not outraged against the Republilcans' reaction and succumbed to the political soundbites of their election campaign.

E.J. Dionne Jr. wrote an article with The New York Times last week about the reactions of the "conservatives" in American society on the comment of billionaire Warren Buffett that he was paying less taxes than his office secretary. Dionne suggested that the newspaper Wall Street Journal, instead of supporting Buffett, was outraged by his comment and called for Buffet's disclosure of his tax return.

"Thus did the Wall Street Journal editorial page call on Buffett to 'let anyone else in on his secrets of taxi avoidance by releasing his tax return'," Dionne said in his article.

The Wall Street Journal article gives a hint that corporate giants on Wall Street have "secrets of tax avoidance" and it was obscene for it to call on Buffett to disclose his tax returns while sparing the other billionaires from doing the same. It makes you angry to think that their sense of fairness is drowned when money talks.

Should we then "rethink capitalism?"

I agree with Jim Paredes that it's about time for the world to reexamine the economic system for its flaws to be corrected, particularly at this time when people's values have become too relative. The social malaise, which was felt in Third World nations a long time ago, has started creeping not only in the United Sates but also in developed countries like Britain, where the phone hacking scandal involving the media empire of tycoon Rupert Murdoch has given us a clue.

Of course, we cannot turn to Marxism. Communism is a dead horse.

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Of course, we cannot hark back to Marxism. Communism is a dead horse.

Behind the glitz and glitter

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 09:05:00 +0000

This photo of Makati is courtesy of TripAdvisor

We have always thought of fashion modeling as a glamorous profession, pushing to the back of our minds the idea that, just like anyone of us, models are not spared from life's pressures. An article written by a former model and published by the New York Times last week gave me an insight into the dark side behind the profession's glitz and glitter.
Fashion modeling "is unprofitable work for most of the people wearing the design," says Ashley Mears, the article writer who now works as a professor of sociology at the Boston University in the United States. "Because modeling is a freelance work done on a per project basis, models don't receive benefits, have little control over the conditions of their work and never know when the next job is coming. They are arbitrarily selected and dismissed."
There is also a vast disparity, she says, in payments among models even if they do the same work. Ashley, who wrote the article ahead of the Fashion Week in New York, says some top models earn between $1,000 and $5,000 per project while others are not paid at all. She did not say why some models have to work without pay, making me assume that probably they are those who dream of going to the top and have to work - to borrow her words - in "indentured servitude.
"Fashion is a glamorous industry, but rub off the sheen and quite another scene emerges," she writes. "..for many models it is grueling. Considering the huge success of modeling's winner-take-all market, most people miss the mass of losers. This is how glamour works: as a spell. Even the word glamour has magic roots, as a charm cast to transform appearances."
Taking the cudgels for the models, she says, Sara Ziff, a model working with Fordham University's Fashion Law Institute, has formed the non-profit group Model Alliance "that hopes to give models a platform to organize for workplace protection". She says "modeling epitomizes the kind of precarious job that, since the 1990s, has been spreading from the informal labor market into traditionally more secure workplaces, like the retail and service industries ..."
The fashion models' predicament easily reminded me of the previous article, "Our complicated lives", I posted here a few days ago. Just like anyone else, fashion models have their own shares of life's pressure to eke out a living. In turn, it reminds me of the Biblical story of Adam and Eve who were banished from paradise after they ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge. "From the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken, for dust you are and to dust you will return,"(Genesis 3:19)
Pardon me for dragging the Bible into this article but, when I write, some ideas just pop up into my mind. It just occurred to me now that there is a parallelism between the Biblical tree of knowledge and science. Modern civilization, which started when our ancestors discovered that friction could make a fire, has complicated our lives to become more hurried since the dawning of the industrial revolution.
There are times when I think that civilization has deviated from what it is supposed to be - to make life easier for us and to make us more humane. The first fire that our ancestors had produced led to the age of industrialization that, like the factories it has created, compartmentalized our lives and, as I said in my previous posting, led us to new caves - our offices - in the sky crappers that rose on vast tracts of idyllic lands our forefathers used to farm.
Now comes the digital age, which is trying to divest us of our birthright as humans. Tom Rachman, author of the novel "The Imperfectionists", harped on this subject in the article, "The Future of Offline Nostalgia", which he wrote also for The New York Times. Offline Nostalgia is a movement that has risen in reaction to the advent of the digital age, in the same way that romanticism rues against urbanization as a product of the 18th century industrial revolution.
Taking note of the 19th-century romanticist movement "that briddled at urbanization and the coldness of modern commerce", Rachman expects that the "coming decade will witness a similar rejectionist movement, with the rise of the group Offline Romantics that finds the "degradation of the human mind: its splintered attention span, the struggle to concentrate, the thrum of digital excitation pervading every waking minute".
I am a romanticist myself who often harks back to the rustic life in the farming village that I left behind to pursue a dream of getting a college education, unknowing that, like civilization, that dream to achieve something more lofty would be hijacked along the way by the pervasive currents of materialism that led us to our own caves which are sorely suffocating than those of our ancestors.

Please visit my other blogs Miscellaneous at http://www.miscellandous-oddnews.blogspot.com,
Viajero at http://www.viajero-funtravel.blogspot.com
and Fun in Life at http://www.salt-funstories.blogspot.com\

Our complicated lives

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 05:57:00 +0000

This photo of Makati is courtesy of TripAdvisor

I woke up the other day overwhelmed by the things I wanted to do. At first I intended to write a new post for this blog as it has been a week from now since I posted the latest article "Our obsession for the wealth that rust." But before opening this blog, I decided to open my email and saw a blog on how to earn online. Since it was sent by a person whose family name was familiar to me, I took a little time reading it.
When I closed my email, I saw this article on Yahoo! about aids research creating "spooky green cats." Finding it to be a good article for my other blog "Miscellaneous," I posted it there. Before I knew it, my wife had woken up. And then our 14-year-old daughter. I had to take my better-half to the hospital where she works as a nurse and our child to school afterwards before I go to work.
My cramped morning schedule illustrates how complicated my life has become since I left the farming village where I grew up with my uncle's family, having been orphaned at age 13. I assume that almost all of us - if not all of us - live complicated lives. Back then, after graduation from high school, I had a singular focus to graze my uncle's carabaos, Asian farm animals often referred to by some writers as "water buffaloes" because they have no Western counterparts.
A few days ago, a friend working as a magazine editor in Guam posted a wish on Face Book on how she wanted to quit her job because she is tired of her long rigorous working hours that deprived her of time to write more creative articles she wants to write. Another friend, a newspaper editor in Manila, told me last year that she had become tired working but just like anybody else she had to eke out a living. I knew many people are in the same situation.
I am in the same box. That makes me think at times where life is heading. Civilization, our journey from the caves to the modern sky crappers, is supposed to make life easier, but it has made our lives more complicated. Industrialization in particular has turned our world into a factory where each of us has to do repetitive tasks. I find the factory to be an apt analogy on how industrialization has compartmentalized our lives.
When I think of civilization I often hark back to life in the farming village that I left behind because I find a parallelism between my journey to the city and humankind's travel to the world that we live now. I am sure that, just like many of us, our ancestors dreamed of a better life. Their dreams led them to discover that friction can produce light and, in turn, led us to new caves - the cubicles in our offices where we do repetitive works.
I am not saying that we have not benefited from civilization. Without civilization we could not have aircons to cool our homes and offices. We could not travel in just a few hours between Jeddah and Manila when we take our annual vacation. If not for civilization, the Saudis could not have tapped the oil beneath their deserts and I could not be writing for this blog through which I share my thoughts, serious or silly, to anyone who would care to listen.
But are we happy with our lives, much happier than our ancestors? Probably, many of us are. But I'm sure there are as many of us who are not. A few days ago, I was appalled to read about the increasing suicide rate in China. The report said that those who decided to end their lives could not cope with the pressures of their day-to-day living. It was reported recently that about 26.2 million Americans are living in poverty.
Whether we admit it or not, majority of us are living hurried and harried lives. This is the price of civilization which brought us modern technology and hasten the pace of living. The rate race, as we now call our fast-pacing lives, has put tremendous pressures on many of us and at times make us hark back to the simple life we used to have. But alas! the river of life in which we are travelling doesn't allow us to go back to the past.
I work as an alternate opinion editor with the Saudi Gazette and a few days ago we received an online response to an article on women complaining about the high-cost of going to the gyms. He laid the blame on the women who chose to take office works and had to go to the gyms because they have become obese after leaving the household chores to the maids. Although the response was more of a pun, it depicted a real-life situation.
If you feel like we are on the same boat, welcome aboard.

Please visit my other blogs Viajero http://www.viajero-funtravel.blogspot.com, Miscellaneous http://www.miscellaneous-oddnews.blogspot.com and Fun in Life
http://www.salt-funstories.blogspot.com.

Our obsession for the wealth that rust

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 05:32:00 +0000

I have tried to avoid being too Biblical because it often turns off many people, particularly those who have lost their Faith. But this time I feel compelled to discuss last Wednesday's gospel.
First, it's because I was assigned to reflect on the gospel in our occasional family gathering for Bible reading to nourish our faith. Second, it gives me the chance to expound on the subject of my previous posting "Life is a loaded dice'.

But first things first, here's last Wednesday's gospel from Luke 6:20-26.

Lifting up his eyes to his disciples, Jesus said, "Fortunate are you who are poor, the kingdom of God is yours. Fortunate are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Fortunate are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Fortunate are you when people hate you, when they reject you and insult you and number you among criminals, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for a great reward is kept for you in heaven. Remember that is how the ancestors of this people treated the prophets.
"But alas for you who have wealth, for you have been comforted now. Alas for you who are full, for you will go hungry. Alas for you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Alas for you when people speak well of you, for that is how the ancestors of these people treated the false prophets."

For believers like me who want to put religion into practice, this is one of the hardest gospels to explain, particularly to people who have lost their faith, simply because it doesn't jibe with our worldly desires to become rich in material things.
Telling a poor man who has lost his Faith that he is blessed because the Kingdom of heaven will be his, would likely draw angry reactions like "don't tell me that crap, I don't need your heaven." Even among believers it is difficult to think that poverty is a blessing.
Whether we believe in God or not, nobody among us wants to be impoverished. I would still have to hear a believer say that he felt blessed when he lost his wealth. Life on earth is often a blind pursuit for worldly things - riches, fame and power. And this is what the gospel is all about - a reminder for us not to get obsessed with worldly fortunes.
Personally, I can easily relate to the gospel because I read the Bible not literally but by themes. This gospel is in keeping with Christ counsel for us not to pile up material things but treasure that do not rust. (Matthew 6:19)
It is in keeping with the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-23; Mark 4:2-20; Luke 8:4-15) which depicted Christ as the sower of God's counsels. There were seeds that did not grow because they fell on the path where they were trampled upon, on rocky grounds where they did not take roots and amid weeds which choked them.
I find this parable very relevant to the present times, especially when I think of the weeds choking the seeds where the weeds symbolize our worldly desires. Many of us lost our faith because we succumbed to the worldly temptations not only of the flesh but also of material riches, power and fame.
I surmise that it is against this backdrop that Jesus said blessed are the poor for they will inherit heaven. It's because the poor, who have nothing to cling on to but the proverbial straw, will depend on God for their salvation in difficult times as well as in the life thereafter. The Bible teaches us to be more dependent on God. With this in mind, there are times when I think that life storms occasionally come our way to remind us of God.
The gospel is also a reminder for the rich not to use their wealth in debauchery. It is in keeping with the Christian teaching that riches on earth is not ours but is only lent to us and must be put to good use. We cannot find happiness or peace of mind with material riches.
When we have much more of it, material wealth loses its meaning. This could be the reason why many wealthy people become philanthropists. People who don't take time to examine their lives will keep of piling material riches without knowing why.
That brings me back to the subject of my previous posting "Life is a loaded dice" - that life on earth is a struggle between our mundane desires and our lofty ideals. Although we are often vanquished by worldly temptations, the other side of us keeps on telling us to reach for sublime ideals.
This convinces me that we are not only flesh, blood and bones or, to put it another way, merely atoms. We have a lofty spirit that reminds us that life in this world is just a pilgrimage to the life beyond where the sublime reigns, no matter if atheist scientists are arduous in trying to convince us that no life can rise beyond our graves.
Let the atheist scientists, who could have been referred to in the gospel as among the false prophets, bask in the glory of their fame. Our pursuit for adulation is as illusory as our pursuit for material fortune. The Bible reminds us that everything we do in this world is of no consequence, they're just like chasing the winds. We can read that in the book of Ecclesiastes.

A few words on science and religion

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:00:00 +0000

I started my day reading my emails and came across the post of Sam Harris, an atheist who wrote the bestselling books "The End of Faith" and "Letter to a Christian Nation". His post was about a challenge for a debate he made to neuroscientist David Eagleman, author of "Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain".
In his post, Harris riled that The New Yorker wrote a profile story about Eagleman who could have made some comments against atheism. "While I admire much of what Eagleman has to say, I wrote that his espousal of 'possibilianism,' in lieu of atheism, was intellectually dishonest," said Harris.
I presume, you are wondering what 'possiblianism' means. It's also a new term to me and I can't find it in the dictionary. Scientists often coin their own words like neoevolutionist Richard Dawkins' "meme", which the Wikipedia says refers to "an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture"
Meme, the way I understand it, is like a copying machine of culture handed down from generation to generation. Now, "possibiliniasm," as I am trying to understand it from Harris, is taken from the word possibility tagged with "ism" to make it a doctrine or theory. The possible antonym could be "certaintism" or something like it.
We will leave the debate to them but I think I owe it to the followers of this blog to explain that Harris was piqued by Eagleman's accusation that Dawkins and some other atheists among scientists peddle "false certainty." I can easily relate to this because I also feel that oftentimes many scientists take the high road of certitude.
As I often said in my previous postings that, although I relished it during my college days, I have lost the appetite for debates, having seen the futility of it all. I just don't see the purpose of debates, particularly on religion and science, if not to display our intellectual prowess. Logic can only be as good as the premises or facts that are available to us.
You don't have to be a scientist or a doctor of philosophy to understand that science has barely scratched the frontiers of outer space, much less our inner space or our being, to claim that we have all the facts to prove or disprove that there is God. Science is just like a baby in a process of discovering the wonders around him.
Having said that, I would rather like to see science work side by side with religion to make this world a better place to live in, instead of making it as a tool to advocate the abolition of religion as some scientists are doing now. Religion, organized religion in particular, has its downside. But then science has its own.
Scientists like Dawkins and Harris view religion as a threat to this world because it breeds fanaticism that resulted in suicide bombings. In the same breath, it could be said that science has posed its own danger to mankind for ushering in industrialization that resulted in global warming that could make humankind instinct.
While writing this article, I tried to squeeze time in-between to read science articles to guard against making wrong assumptions and came across Dawkins's essay "Is Science Religion?" which he read before the American Humanist Association and which was said to have been published by the Humanist magazine in 1997.
In his essay, he advocated the teaching of science in schools and to encourage children "to reflect upon deep questions of existence, to invite them to rise above the humdrum preoccupations of ordinary life and think sub-specie aeternitatis (Wikipedia says it is Latin for "under the aspect of eternity").
I find Dawkins to be a very good writer who can push forceful arguments but I really wonder if teaching more science to school children could make all the kids rational adults. I find parallelism between this idea and Marxism's that we can overhaul man's nature to create a classless society.
I just don't believe in this premise. Much as we would like to, we cannot all be Dawkinses and Harrises. People are never born equal, there will always be those who will be born intelligent and those who will be born with the lack of it. Why is it so? We cannot turn either to science or religion to answer this question.
The reality is that this world has never been ruled by reason. It will not come to pass that, even if all of us become atheists, reason will prevail. The problem of this world is not religion but our arrogance and selfishness that makes people and nations quarrel among themselves. Although civilization has brought us to the digital age, we have never freed ourselves from the bondage of our pride.
The only way we can make this world a better place to live in is for us to respect each other, whether one is an atheist or a man of faith, an intellectual or not. Until science discovers all the mysteries of this universe, human logic will not have all the facts to know the "absolute truth," whatever that would mean.

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Life is a loaded dice

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 18:00:00 +0000

The decision of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to fight to death instead of stepping down from power at the height of the Libyan people's uprising against his 41-year rule reminds me of the Bible's counsel not to love the world.
"Do not love the world, or what is in it. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him," says the Bible in 1 John 2:15-17. The scripture does not talk here about simple love but about obsession for the flesh, wealth, power and fame
The next verse (16) provides the explanation. "For everything in the world - the craving of the flesh, the greed of the eyes and people boasting of their superiority - all this belong to this world, not the father."
The scripture is warning us about worldly temptations - the lust for the flesh and greed for wealth, fame and power - that drives many of us to abandon God and make us forget that life in this world is just a pilgrimage to the life beyond. It is telling us that these are not the ways of the divine.
When Gaddafi decided to fight at all cost, he was driven by his obsession for power which he seized from King Idrs in 1969 military coup. This is the same case with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad who refuses to step down despite the widespread protest against his rule.
The way I look at it, the scripture is tying to tell us that this world is not our permanent home and that we have to try rising above our mundane ways because our journey is a struggle between the flesh and the soul.
Religion has been telling us that this is a struggle between good and evil, but the idea does not appeal to many of us because it conjures images of angels and devils, which is not within the realm of human experience.
If we take an honest, deeper look into our own experiences and what's going on around us, we will know that life in this world is a struggle between our mundane ways and our lofty dreams and that life is a loaded dice, weighted in favor of our worldly desires.
Take the case of former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was accused by a hotel maid in the United States of forcing her to do oral sex with him. Apparently, he succumbed to the call of the flesh. Although he was freed by the court mainly on the grounds that there was an attempt to extort money from him, there were reported evidence like semen on the woman's dress to prove that there was an attempt to force her to have sex with him, oral or whatever.
There have been a slew of world leaders known to have illicit affairs with women outside matrimony. There was Hitler, former US president Bill Clinton and the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, to name a few. Despite their stature in life, they had not been immune to the call of the flesh.
To some people, the obsession to amass material wealth, despite the Bible's advise not to hoard riches that rust, comes stronger. Politicians, in both the developed and Third World nations, are handy examples, along with the owners of corporate giants whose legendary greed for profit is obscene.
We often react with revulsion when he hear or read about people in high places getting involved in grave wrongdoings and yet if we take an honest look into our own experiences we will realize that we ourselves have succumbed to earthly temptation, one way or another, but most commonly, I am sure, to "boasting of our superiority."
The counterweight against obsession for worldly ways is our conscience, our sense of right and wrong and our concern for others, human virtues serving as proofs that we are more than flesh and bones and for which evolutionists grope for explanation.

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Navigating between faith and skepticism

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:55:00 +0000

Movie Review

Higher Ground

This movie has been designated a Critics' Pick by the film reviewers of The New York Times.

By A. O. SCOTT

There is something remarkable — you might even say miraculous — about the way “Higher Ground” makes its gentle, thoughtful way across the burned-over terrain of the American culture wars. The film, directed with disarming grace and sharp intelligence by Vera Farmiga (who also stars in it), is about the conflict between skepticism and religious faith, but it does not treat that battle as an either/or, winner-take-all proposition. Movies about belief and believers frequently succumb to woozy piety or brittle contempt, but “Higher Ground” belongs, along with Robert Duvall’s “Apostle” and Michael Tolkin’s underappreciated “Rapture,” among the elect. Focused with sympathetic intensity on the ordeal of a single soul, it illuminates, as though from within, a complex spiritual struggle.

Based on a 2002 memoir by Carolyn S. Briggs — originally called “This Dark World” — “Higher Ground” tells the story of Corinne Walker, played as a child by McKenzie Turner, as a teenager by Ms. Farmiga’s sister Taissa and in adulthood by the director herself. The young Corinne belongs to what appears to be a main-line Protestant congregation, where the pastor (Bill Irwin) urges the children to invite Jesus, whom he describes as a polite neighbor, into their homes.
But it is only later, when she joins a tightly knit, ecstatic band of worshipers, that Christianity becomes a significant force in Corinne’s life. A bookish, freethinking adolescent, >she falls in love with Ethan (Boyd Holbrook, later Joshua Leonard), who plays guitar and has a troubled, sensitive face that is almost a mirror of her own. She becomes pregnant, they marry young, and a near-catastrophe nudges them from the life of feckless young rock ’n’ rollers and literary dreamers onto the path of salvation.
“Higher Ground” flashes back to Corinne’s earlier life from an opening scene of her baptism, in a sun-dappled pond surrounded by rustling trees and happy faces. Though her subsequent experiences will be marked by growing ambivalence, the joy of that moment is never entirely dispelled. Corinne is smart and capable, and while her childhood was shadowed by the unhappy marriage of her parents (John Hawkes and Donna Murphy), she is hardly a desperate pilgrim clinging to easy consolation.
Nor is her church, in spite of some cultlike aspects, depicted as an outpost of repression and hypocrisy. Especially when Corinne is with her friend Annika (the amazing, earthy Dagmara Dominczyk) — who speaks in tongues to God and with easy candor about sex — she feels loved and listened to. The patriarchal ways of the pastor (Norbert Leo Butz) and his wife (Barbara Tuttle) grate on Corinne, in part because they stifle the intellectual curiosity that feeds her faith.
But the secular world has its own compromises and blind spots. Corinne’s gradual move away from her circle of believers (and Ethan) is not presented as an unequivocal liberation. What faith and doubt have in common is that both are hard work, and the hard-won wisdom of “Higher Ground” is that human nature does not necessarily distinguish between saints and sinners.
I don’t mean to make it sound as if the movie, which was written by Ms. Briggs and Tim Metcalfe, were preaching or making an argument. Nor does it aim for a soft middle ground of nervous tolerance. Instead, it presents the subjective facts of Corinne’s life as precisely and clearly as it can, refusing to condescend or sentimentalize anyone, and inviting you to sift through the nuances and find the answers for yourself.
As you might expect, given her professional background — a breakthrough performance in “Down to the Bone,” and she nearly stole “Up in the Air” from George Clooney — Ms. Farmiga lavishes solicitous attention on her actors, virtually none of whom strike a false note. The story has one or two (like a visit from Corinne’s feckless sister, played by Nina Arianda), and there are a few fantasy sequences that feel jarring and superfluous.
Ms. Farmiga’s greatest asset as a director may be her own face, a remarkably subtle and expressive instrument. Corinne is a woman of complex temperament and shifting moods, at some times searching for a simpler self, at others impatient to give voice to the full range of her thoughts and feelings. And all of the gradations of happiness, worry, fatigue, anger and mischief that she undergoes — in other words, the full range of her individuality — are at play in Ms. Farmiga’s features.
“Higher Ground” ends on a daring note of irresolution. Earlier, Pastor Bill has made reference to Revelation 3:16 — “because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I shall spew you from my mouth” — a verse that seems unequivocal in its condemnation of uncertainty. And the expectations of the audience may mirror this impatience. But there is nothing tepid about Corinne’s confusion, and there is also evident passion in Ms. Farmiga’s embrace of it.
“Higher Ground” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). No one is without sin.
HIGHER GROUND
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Our relativist values

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 05:41:00 +0000

A news story dispatched from Madrid on Thursday said Pope Benedict XVI appealed to young Catholics to resists the temptation of following "fashionable ideas" and be "led by the whim of each moment". The news story by the Associated Press added that the Pope urged them to build their lives on "solid rock, resistant to the onslaught of adversity."
The story comes out vague because it did not carry any background on why the Pope gave such a message to the young Catholics in Spain. Another story by AP, this time on the Pope's comments on "profit-at-all-cost mentality" gives us a little insight.
The Pope's visit was timed ahead of Spain's elections in the fall. The story said that, "While the church officially keeps out of politics, it will be sure to be watching closely because the outcome could affect Spain's direction on hot-button ethical issues".
Among the hot-button issues are "social reforms, including gay marriage and a law allowing 16-year-olds to get abortions without parental consent" which is being supported by the Socialists. On the other side of the political fence are "the conservatives which tend to back the church's thinking on such issues".
I am not very familiar with the issues on gay marriage, but reading some news items in the Internet I understand that gays want same-sex marriage legalized. I don't really get the point on why gays should make a big fuzz on the legalization of same-sex marriage when no country has a law prohibiting people of the same sex from living together.
Personally, I consider same-sex marriage as a non-issue. Since there is no law prohibiting people of the same sex from living together, why can't they just live together quietly? If there is any country banning people of the same sex from living together, then they should take their campaign there.
Abortion is quite a ticklish issue. It immediately raises a legitimate debate on whether we have the right to end the life of an innocent baby, aside from the psychological effects of such an act on the mother. It also raises questions on whether a 16-year-old girl is mature enough to decide for herself.
Abortion, especially involving teenage girls, is a complicated issue that has no easy answer. The issue, along with same-sex marriage, gives us a clear notion of what the Pope calls as "fashionable ideas" and why he raised the concern about people who tend to "take shelter in the here and now ... take refuge in their own opinion" and believe that "they need no roots or foundation other than themselves".
Indeed, our relativist values have generally made each of us an island among ourselves. There's an apt Filipino term for that: Kanya-kanya or to each his own. As life gets more complicated since the dawning of the industrial revolution in the 18th century, we have been slowly shedding off old-fashioned values, recoil into our individual shells and become more self-centered.
That brings us to the Pope's other gripe about Big Business's profit-at-all cost mentality. The Pope gave the message against the backdrop of the world's economies in shambles, from the United States to Europe and the Third-World countries, because nations as well as people tend to look after their own vested interests more than the common good.
The phone-hacking scandal that led to the closure of the newspaper "News of the World" in the United Kingdom recently, clearly amplified this issue. As the investigation of the scandal goes on, it appears that other newspapers run by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch were involved in it. To get ahead of competition, they have to violate the rights of people into whose lives they want to pry.
That brings us to the Pope's warning against our tendency to create "new gods" and to "believe that (we) need no roots or foundation other than (ourselves) ... to decide what is true or not, what is good and evil, what is just and unjust; who should live and who can be sacrificed in the interests of other preferences; leading each step to chance, with no clear path, letting (ourselves) be led by the whim of each moment."
The Pontiff's message opens a window to a sweeping landscape of what's going on around us, from the biblical times to what we now fondly call as a modern world, as we rush into the future in a journey that has no clear path but guided by random impulses. Civilization, which is supposed to bring us lofty ideals, gave us advanced technologies but has not lifted us from our banality.
Awed by the advances of science, which many of us has spun into a new god, we have replaced our old-fashioned values with self-centered ethics to get ahead in life. Many of us have discarded the virtue of humility for a new code of aggressiveness in our quest to ascend in the corporate ladder, even if that means stepping on the toes of other people.
Blinded by the allure of the worldly glitz and glitter, we are gradually abandoning, if we still have not abandoned, our spiritual quests because materialist science is teaching us that we have no soul, there is no life after death and hence we are not accountable to anybody but ourselves.
We have ceased to believe in our spirituality or religion as our compass in life's journey in "the here and now" because we have found human reason to be our new compass, forgetting that our relativist values have made us turn to reason merely as a convenient tool to justify what we have done, what we are doing and what we want to do.
Our relativist values give the Big Business on Wall Street the reason to put human conscience into the back burner and seek more privileges from the US government, although their owners and executives have amassed wealth more than what they need, even at a time when the rest of the American citizens are suffering from the economic slump that the corporate giants themselves have caused.
Our relativist values have driven our politicians into thievery in so many countries in blind pursuits to build material wealth, despite the admonition in the Bible not to amass wealth that rust. Corruption is no longer confined to Third World countries. Signs of it are slowly creeping in advance countries like the United States and Britain.
It is sad that in our shifting preferences for what is material, a growing number of hard-core scientists have turned to attacking religion for all the troubles of the world by looking at the flaws of churches - the wrongdoings of priests, pastors and other church leaders as if science itself has no flaws - instead of building on the positive virtues that the Faith has bequeathed to mankind.
A case of looking at the hole instead of the doughnut.

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A lost luxury ship

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 12:20:00 +0000

Pop star Lady Gaga was said to have been sued for copyright infringement for allegedly lifting her hit single "Judas" from a song written by an aspiring singer named Rebecca Francescatti.
Lady Gaga's song "Judas" was released earlier this year and featured in her latest album "Born This Way," according to the Indo Asian News Service which carried the story.
The news agency, quoting the online contactmusic.com, said Francescatti claimed that the tune of Lady Gaga's song "Judas" has a striking similarity with the piece "Juda" she composed in 1999.
In the lawsuit filed with a federal court in the US, Francescatti pointed out that her former brass player is now working for a music company that was responsible for creating 17 tracks for "Born This Way".
Her lawyer Chris Niro said that although the songs are of different styles the composition is the same and the chorus has the same melody. The bottom line of the case is that Francescatti wants "recognition of what she created".
The story stopped short of what kind of recognition she wanted but presumably it could be compensation for royalty.
The story, posted online by Yahoo!, caught my attention because it reminded me of my previous blog "Christianity must be a way of life" in which I wrote lengthily about our ego, the core of our being human.
Not that I find Francescatti driven by her ego when she filed the lawsuit. Probably it was more on the financial side - to be paid for royalty - or it could be both. Either way, she has all the rights to claim for "recognition of what she has created."
Our sense of pride makes it natural for us to make a living so that we would not be a burden to anyone. Nobody wants to be a pauper, nobody wants to lose one's self-respect. It would be different if we make unnecessary waves to attract public attention.
That brings me back to Lady Gaga, who wants to project herself as an illuminati or enlightened. Since my teenage daughter told me months ago that Lady Gaga was an illuminati, I could not help think how swift the world has changed.
Our relativist outlook seems to have muddled our sense of right and wrong. Seeing her video showing her almost naked and reading an article in which she was quoted to have said that she is a cheap date, I could not imagine how she could be an illuminati.
Some bloggers call her "illuminati puppet" with the insinuation that she is being manipulated to help project the "dark side" of the world. Without the religious undertone, I think "illuminati puppet" describes her well. I always associate enlightenment with the brain and not with the flesh, much less not with being an easy lay.
Lady Gaga is a perfect symbol of the crass materialism that has eroded our values over the past decades. Shedding off old-fashion worldview, we don't care anymore about the feelings - and the lot - of other people as long as we get financially wealthy.
It is ironic that our civilization seems to have advanced only in terms of technology but has lagged behind in the task of lifting human values. Although we are now in the digital age, our nature has not evolved far from where we came.
In the jungle of sky crappers, we are no more than cavemen playing the same game of survival of the fittest. In our neatly walled and carpeted offices, we often step on the toes of others just to get ahead in the corporate ladder. It is akin to science exploring our outer world without first conquering our inner space.
Even our sense of reasoning has become warp and weird. Logic is supposed to guide us to the path of clear thinking, but we have been using reason subjectively to justify our biases and self-interests. Most, if not all, of our lawyers are putting more premium on their fees than pursue the noble cause of justice. We condider others to be objective in their worldviews only when they cross over to our side.
This easily reminds me of the debates on religion. In a previous blog, I have pointed out that debate on religion is an endless exercise in futility. However tall is our claim to reason, we always tend to become emotional in the process. Because that's what we are. We have both the rational and emotional side of our being.
I am sure that atheists, who have held the view that we are an accident of time, will disagree that human nature, which is one of life's many mysteries, is designed - for whatever purpose, we can make an endless guess. Was the world designed to be a purifying furnish for the soul? And why? Until science finds the elusive absolute truth, the questions will be endless.
That's putting my position clear that I digress with the scientific postulate (neuroscience in particular) that the soul is a mere illusion created in our brain. Some, if not all, atheists feel some degree of spiritual yearning that they turn to other beliefs like pantheism. Well-known psychologist Susan Blackmore, who turned to Ten Zen for meditation, said in her essay "Why I have given up" parapsychology that abandoning the study "does not mean abandoning spirituality or spiritual practice".
The emotional side our lives convinces me that we could not rely on reason as the singular tool in our search for the absolute ttruth, which I believe we will discover in life after death. Reason, without spiritual compass, is a luxury ship lost in high seas.

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Christianity must be a way of life

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 03:35:00 +0000

Visiting the blog of Sam Harris, a self-professed atheist who wrote the bestsellers "The End of Faith" and "Letter To A Christian Nation," I have chanced to read what he said was a manifesto of Norway's so-called fundamentalist Christian Anders Behring Breivik who killed at least 77 people in a murderous rampage in his country on July 24.
Reading the manifesto, I cannot imagine how Breivik has been hastily labelled as a Christian when there was not a trace in his writings, much less in his deeds, that he has been following the teachings of Jesus Christ after whom the Christian Faith was founded. Breivik has even confessed that he was more of a secular man than being a man of Faith.
I quote: "I'm not going to pretend (that) I'm a very religious person as that would be a lie. I've always been very pragmatic and influenced by my secular surroundings and environment. In the past, I remember that I used to think religion is a crutch for weak people. What is the point of believing in a higher power if you have confidence in yourself?"
Even Harris did not believe that Breivik is a "Christian fundamentalist", to borrow his own words. Says Harris: "Having read parts of his 1,500-page manifesto (2083: A European Declaration of Independence), I must say that I have my doubts. These do not appear to be the ruminations of an especially committed Christian."
Indeed. Christianity is not a mere label, a tag that we receive after baptism or inherited from our forebears. It is living the teachings of Christ which is quite difficult as His teachings are often against the ways of the world. It is probably the reason why the Bible has admonished us not to love the world but to live in it.
To be a Christian is to be committed to the Christian values. Without that commitment we can be no more than nominal Christians. We cannot simply go to church every Sunday and abuse our maids at home. Christianity must be a way of life. It is following, or trying to follow, at least the two basic teachings of Christ - love God above all and then our neighbors.
The two basic teachings sum up the 10 commandments which the Bible says had been handed by God to Mosses on a stone tablet. Regardless of whether we have doubts on that Biblical story, the 10 commandments have been the cornerstone of our moral values. If we love God and our neighbor, we will neither steal nor commit adultery and the other prohibited acts.
Our human nature, which is more attuned to the worldly ways, makes is difficult for us to follow Christ'a teachings. Our ego, the core of our being human, makes it easy for us to love ourselves more than anyone else and drives us to work for our self-gratification. Our ego makes us pursue the standard worldly dream of gaining wealth, power and fame, fair or foul.
Our pursuits for self-gratification prompt us to bend rules. Instead of strengthening our Christian values, we adopt new social ethos that suit our worldly ways. We try to exorcise our sense of guilt when we carry an affair out of wedlock with a justification that there is nothing wrong with consensual acts. It is ironic that in much of the so-called advance societies, it has ceased to be a virtue for women to remain a virgin at 30. It is being prudish.
We have been reading in the papers how corruption has thrived in many countries, from India to Pakistan, Indonesia to the Philippines and so on and so forth. In the United States, there have been grumblings about how politicians have been serving the interests of the financial giants at Wall Street at the expense of the ordinary citizens, to return whatever favors they get from the Wall Street billionaires.
To be a Christian, we have to tame our ego. Without putting our ego in harness, we will never learn to love our neighbors, we could only see them as tools for self-gratification; we will never learn to see the virtue of humility, which is one of the many teachings of Christ. As I see it, one of the great lessons that we can learn from the Passion of Christ it is the lesson in humility.(Please see my previous blog "Lessons to learn from the Passion of Christ).
Without taming our ego, we can hardly find peace with ourselves and in the world. The likes of Breivik and of nations that go to war in search of peace have proven this. The only way to peace is love, the core teaching of Jesus Christ. The sword may be a good tool for defense but never an instrument of peace.

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Practical religion

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 06:12:00 +0000

"In life's journey, I use reason as my rudder but faith as my compass."

Lifted from the Introduction of the book "The Gypsy Soul and Other Essays".

I came across this phrase "Believe in God, but lock your car" in a blog of Masterwordsmith. The phrase strikes me because it capsulized the idea that religion should be practical - one that we can apply to our daily lives. I can't relate to preachers who dish out memorized phrases like the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Calvary has "washed our sins with His blood" without giving it any practical application. I am not saying that it is wrong, but it isn't just within the grasp of human reason.
As a former atheist who have reembraced the Faith, I believe that religion should be practiced within the bounds of reason and human experience. We cannot simply tell people that if we have faith we can command a mountain to be "lifted and be thrown into the sea." Although it's written in the Bible (Matthew 21: 21-22), I just can't find myself interpreting Jesus Christ literally. I know that faith can move mountains if it is taken in the context that we can do a Herculean task or what others think is impossible if we put our heart into what we want to do.
This is a dictum that I'm sure many of us have proven. I have experienced it myself when I left Romblon, a remote province in the heart of the Philippines, to pursue my dream of getting a college education after graduating from high school. Without any support from my uncle's family with whom my sister and I had lived after our father's death when I was 13, I went ahead with just "a little prayer in my pocket", as a song goes, and P75 (about $2) that I hid in my sock. Though the odds were great, I became a journalist, way beyond my expectation.
Many people lose their faith in God because many preachers send wrong messages that do not jibe with human experience. I remember a Christian preacher who, during an Abu Sayyaf hostage crisis in the Southern Philippines, boasted publicly that he would go to Basilan Island not only to convince the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers to free the hostages but also to convert them from Islam to Christianity. His invocation of Faith backfired; he suffered a stroke when he himself was held hostage. Luckily, he was released unharmed.
This kind of preaching as well as those of a group of Christians from the United States who went to the Philippines last May to warn people of doomsday on a particularly day of that month often stigmatize religion. Demonstrating the Faith in such ways makes many people think that religion is for the clowns and not for people who use their brains. This is one reason why some people disassociate themselves from religion and opt to describe themselves as spiritual.
Religion is not a badge to let people know that we are righteous. It we look at religion that way, we may end up self-righteous which is not in keeping with the religious teaching - the teaching of Christ in particular - about humility. I consider religion as a guide in our life's journey to warn us against the perils of worldly ways - untamed obsessions for the flesh, material riches, power and fame, in particular.
People have different world views, particularly on religion. Even among Christians, we have different ways of looking at the Bible. Some Christians insist that the Bible should be taken literally, which I don't think is possible. I could not imagine reading Revelations without any interpretation. And if I read the Bible literally, I will find many contradictions in it. These contradictions sowed the seeds that later undermined my Faith and drove me to abandon God when I was exposed to Darwin's theory of evolution.
Though many Christians may disagree with me, I have learned to read the Bible by themes. For instance, in the story of Adam and Eve I don't focus on sin or indulge on the debate on free will. I look at such debates as useless polemics that serve no purpose at all but feed our egoistic cravings to showcase our intelligence. Which is what I see as the theme of the story: human pride. Eve disobeyed God because she succumbed to the temptation that she could be greater than God if she would eat the fruit of knowledge.
I think this theme sounds familiar to many - if not all - of us. I leave it to your imagination.
The Bible is replete with themes that we live by day to day - themes about love, pride, charity, humility, forgiveness and so on. The Biblical story that I often remember is the "Parable of the Sower"(Matthew 13; 1-23) because it is about the worldly temptations - symbolized by the weeds - in our lives that often makes us abandon the spiritual side of our existence.
The themes serve as my guide in life's journey. I have no quarrel with the Christian teaching that the blood of Christ has cleansed our sins. I take it as a church dogma that I do not have to question in the same way that Darwinists consider "natural selection" as a given in the evolutionary process. Living with the themes in the Bible makes me feel more human with a practical view of my Faith.
Yes, I believe in God but I would certainly lock my car when I park because I am aware that there might be other people who have thrown their religion into life's garbage bin.

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