Commencement Address for SGCS (sort of a testimony of a loser)

                                   

Good afternoon graduates.

Congratulations. Basic education is the most important part of your educational journey because without the basic skills and competencies you have acquired during these years, you would not be able to build upon, to proceed to the higher learning, the high school and the tertiary level.  

In the school where I am teaching it is the practice of the graduation committee to look for outstanding alumni; graduates who have done well. So, the speakers that have graced the podium were lawyers, doctors, managers, businessman, and politicians, people who have achieved financial success as well academic prominence; people who could inspire pupils to strive to be the best of what they could be.

Now, what is weird is that I am standing here in front of you a man with no financial success to speak of and no academic achievements to brag about. Truth to tell, my dear graduates, it took me almost twenty years to finish a degree in college.  I was thirty three years old when I woke to the fact that I have a family but I have no education and believe me, when a person has no education, finding a purpose in life is like a violin without its strings trying to find its part in an orchestra. So, DepEd's theme for 2012 graduates"Your Gift of Learning, Our tool for Nation  Building" very much reflects this understanding.

Our society is founded on the rule of utilitarian economy, that means everything and everyone must have a role to play and to contribute for the harmonious running and turning of our society. So we have the educators, then we have the builders, then we have the sciences, the humanities and so forth. So, to fit in into this economy or order of things, one must have the necessary education and trainings. We must accept the fact that natural intelligence and the Filipino’s propensity for discarte is not enough to cut it, or to assure a sustainable living in these trying times. You must have plans, a goal that you want to achieve. Your plan is not for yourself alone but you must take into considerations the truth that your education is also one of the fundamental building blocks for nation building. Take the time to plan your story now, your goal, your part in the society or else instead of a contributor to general welfare...pray that you or even one of you becomes a burden of our society.

Mine is not an inspiring story, it is in fact a depressing one. I have no success to speak of; I have a lot of failures to meander about. But despite it all, I have overcome and still overcoming experiences to talk about which I hope would warn and inspire both the graduates and the parents. My testimony is that of Solomon   pointing to the suffering and the failures shouting: Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets. Pro_1:20

Here’s my circumstance:  I graduated from elementary school a valedictorian of the batch; I have reached the regional level in science competitions and quiz bees. During sophomore year, I was an associate editor of the school paper. I was sent to regional science fairs and quiz bees. I also topped the National College Entrance Examination for the school that earned me an offer from Senator Salonga’s scholarship program. But I lost sight of things. I got so distracted that I have forgotten about my studies and instead I had fun. I was having fun while my classmates were earning degrees. I was having fun while my classmates were establishing a career.  I was having fun until I found out that I have run out of time.

Young as you are graduates; you must have a proper appreciation of time.  Ecc_3:1  To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. A writer has this to say about time: We came from the past which is no more; we go into the future which is not yet; ours is the present. The past is ours only in so far as we have still the present; and the future is ours only in so far as we have it already present. We possess the past by memory, and the future by anticipation. But what is the nature of present itself? If we look at it closely, we must say: it is a point without extension, the point in which the future becomes the past; when we say to ourselves, “This is the present,” the moment has already been swallowed by the past. The present disappears the very instant we grasp it. The present cannot be caught; it is always gone

Time is precious. Mat 26:7  A woman came in with a bottle of expensive perfume and poured it on Jesus' head.  But when his disciples saw this, they became angry and complained, "Why such a waste?  We could have sold this perfume for a lot of money and given it to the poor."  Jesus knew what they were thinking, and he said: Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing for me. You will always have the poor with you, but you won't always have me.  She has poured perfume on my body to prepare it for burial.  You may be sure that wherever the good news is told all over the world, people will remember what she has done. And they will tell others.

The Lord was thinking: this woman has done me good, she is spending money and more important she is spending time with me, "you will always have the poor."  Parents look at your children, in a few months from now, they will bean adult, you would not be able to hug them like a child, kiss them like a child, time will pass by so fast that do not let any moment of it pass without making the most of it especially with your children for time spent with them is time invested in them an investment whose interest is beyond monetary value. The more time you spent with your children, the stronger they become.  

I have learned the value of time only when so much of it has passed by me unproductively. Take very good care of your time. Your graduation from elementary school is not just an academic moving up it is also development from childhood to teen-ager or young adults. There will be lots of changes. In a few months, you will have already have moved on: new school, new friends, new ways of having fun a lot of new people and new things. There will be a lot of awakenings, and there be will a lot of surprises.   

Here are interesting facts:   Cell phone distraction causes 2,600 deaths and 330,000 injuries in the United States every year. The number is quite staggering.  To think that many of us could talk, walk, watch TV, almost do anything while texting who could imagine that such simple and harmless texting could take so many lives. An average video game player spends 23 hours per week playing computer games and if you add up all those seconds and minutes…great part of our lives is spent on things of little or of no consequence--purposeless. 

How about you parents how are you making sure you’re your children is not wasting their precious time…are you spending quality time with them. Quality time is not eating out in fastfood restaurants, it is not going out to Enchanted Kingdom, it is not cramming time into little time. Quality time is spending quantity time. Are you there when your children eat, when they study, when they get hurt. 

We have an internet connection in the house, and I have noticed that everytime I come home from work, my daughter was on the PC and I could not remove her from it.  What I did, was to cut the internet connection, so I saved money and I saved time and in the process, I may have saved our relationship. Internet, games, celphones are not bad if used properly…if not, think of the precious time lost. Imagine playing the violin 23 hours a week, imagine playing basketball or any sports 23 hours a week, and imagine reading books 23 hours a week…imagine the possibilities.

Time is what we all have. Time is where God's plans for us is revealed and happened.

God has plans for your lives which are revealed a little at a time. Just like your education, God reveals his plans for you a little at a time. When you were in the primary you learned the basic of reading and writing and numbers. In the intermediate level you are introduced to grammar, compositions and math problems. Each grade level some new truths and some new exciting concepts are revealed to you.

Paul said it very well:  "I have not yet reached my goal, and I am not perfect. But Christ has taken hold of me. So I keep on running and struggling to take hold of the prize.   My friends, I don't feel that I have already arrived. But I forget what is behind, and I struggle for what is ahead.   I run toward the goal, so that I can win the prize of being called to heaven. This is the prize that God offers because of what Christ Jesus has done."  Php 3:12-14 

  

 In the same way, God reveals his perfect plans for you in  mysterious yet understandable manner all we have to do is give time to stop, look and listen, take time to what God is revealing to you everyday. 

There’s a certain Italian harbor that can be reached only by sailing up a narrow channel between dangerous rocks and shoals. Over the years, many ships have wrecked, and navigation is hazardous. To guide the ships safely into port, three lights have been mounted in the harbor on three huge poles. When the three lights are perfectly lined up and seen as one, the ship can safely proceed up the narrow channel. If the pilot sees two or three lights, he knows he’s off course and in danger. 

God has also provided three beacons to guide us. The same rules of navigation apply – the three lights must be lined up before it is safe for us to proceed. The three harbor lights of guidance are 1. The Word of God  2. Prayer 3. Circumstances.

I do not believe that there are  formulas for success but I know that there steps to achieving success--it all begins with a proper understanding of  time and the proper way of discerning opportunities God has given you: start with your education and the rest will follow. Education is your parent's gift to you--it is part God's plan for you.

1. Take time to appreciate time.

2. Take time to think about how precious time is.

3. Take time to listen to your parent's advice.

4. Take time to build friendship with people who will positively contribute to your development.

5. Take time to establish a saving relationship with the Lord for the Lord wants what is best for us.

      Jer 29:11-13  I will bless you with a future filled with hope--a future of success, not of suffering. 

6. And do take the time to nurture your relationship with the Lord.

    Jer 29:12-13  You will turn back to me and ask for help, and I will answer your prayers.   You will worship me with all your heart, and I will be with you .

Miracle in the Dirt (not that dirt)

  

I and a lot of people have often wondered why it is that the relatively well off people are prone to sickness rather than those who live in poverty areas. I know of a politician’s daughter who died from eating street food. I also know individuals who cannot eat food other than what their family prepared because of fear of getting some stomach bugs or something. There is this fear of microbes and germs and bacteria that they observe the most stringent hygiene they can well afford. But why is it that they are more prone to infection than the unwashed.

Of course, for someone like me who grew up in a depressed area, children playing in the dirt are a common sight. I also grew up like this, playing in the dirt, swimming in the carabao pond, catching catfish and mudfish in the drainage canals, eating junkfoods without washing hands, etc.  For those who are relatively more educated (like me, now) and well off (not like me) are shocked at this sight but what is significantly true is that these children seldom get sick and if they do get sick, they recover quite easily with little or no intervention from doctors unlike the well off whose first instinct at a sign of a fever is to go to a doctor and bombard their children with medicines.

Of course, the theory is that exposure to dirt, grimes and other unhygienic stuff boosts the unwashed immunity against bugs—this is both a theory and a joke, stinging joke, may I add. 

We use antibacterial soap to wash our hands, we swab doorknobs with antibacterial wipes, we pop antibiotics at the first sign of disease - all to avoid infection. But we are all infected. From before birth to after death, infection is what makes humans human. In a startling, chilling, and inspiring narrative, veteran microbiologist, and author Gerald Callahan, explores the world of the microscopic creatures that live on, in, and around us. Did you know that: our overuse of antibiotics is placing us on then cusp of a resurgence of diseases we had thought long conquered? and, many ailments - from schizophrenia and gastric ulcers to obsessive-compulsive disorder - are now being linked to infections? Infection will awaken you to the microscopic brethren that ensure our health as well as take it from us. For better or worse, infection shapes our lives. From book jacket

I am reading a book (sale) that I bought from National Bookstore titled “Infection: The Uninvited Universe” by Gerald Callahan and there was a chapter about what I have mentioned about: The Miracle in the Dirt: The Hygiene Hypothesis p. 223 ff. The book cited a research done on the two Germanys, the well off West and the poverty stricken communist East and Dr Mutius, the researcher, has come up with some startling conclusions that seem counter intuitive to what we have been taught about hygiene.

1. Children who grew up in the dirtiest conditions had the fewest allergies and asthma.
2. Long term and early exposure to stables and farm milk induces a strong protective effect against the development of astha.
3. Childhood exposure to bacyeria, particularly a group called gram-negative bacteria, correlates inversely with the frequency of asthma among school age children in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.
4. There was also a research in Boston where investigators collected dust samples from infants’ bedrooms floors, mattresses , family rooms, kitchens and the result correlated with Dr. Mutius research.
5. The higher the level of endotoxin in children’s mattresses, the lower the incidence of asthma.
6. The more bacteria the children have been exposed to, the healthier they are.

I am still reading the book. Of course, I don’t pretend to understand any of this stuff and I don't know if the research is applicable or could be duplicated here in the Philippines because ours is a tropical country etc. blah, blah, blah,  but it just shows misconception abound. Anyway, always be aware of the caveats…good reading though.

The end is near!

Frederick Fennel. I don't know him. I just downloaded the picture to illustrate how I would look like after the graduation due to stress and the constant hmmmm...nevermind :-)

  

Two more days before graduation and three more days before the holy week break and I already can feel the tightening of my stomach and the sleeping of my buttocks, it’s the feeling akin to being atop a tall building and looking down the street. It’s the anticipation of taking a break from the doldrums of the classroom and the stress of the graduation practices.

My co teachers and I have been rehearsing and practicing for the graduation ceremony for the last couple of days and my underarms is starting to develop tumor from the constant-repeated conducting and the mental torture of the constant correction from the master teachers and the principal on how I should execute the conducting: do this, do that, don’t do this, don’t do that. I mean, I take no offense at these corrections but no matter how my bosses coach me, I would not be able to conduct the way they want me to because I am not them. Well, I love my bosses. Anyway, as the saying goes: grin and bear it. The tumor, I hope, is benign.

 

Today we will be rehearsing with the Taytay Marching Band and the stress…my gulay…the stress is taking its toll on me: I am beginning to think of dancing rather than conducting!

 

(I just heard this morning that I will not be conducting because the boss was not impressed by my conducting; the retiring Master Teacher for Music will do it.  Thank God for the release, I am not meant to be a conductor anyway.)

________________

The school year is about to end; time flies so fast. What happened? About three hundred pupils passed through my classes most of them I didn't come to personally know. I never had the time to get to know most of them except the bright and the not so bright and the hyperactive-attention deficient something pupils: the extremes, those in the middle were invisible. 

All these pupils especially from the lower sections had lots of stories to tell that when I first came here, I was so affected by their circumstances in life that I found it hard to be tough with them. Then realizations came that I was underestimating them and I found out that they were, in reality, very strong individuals. They knew how to survive and they will survive. I also found out that for them to learn, the teachers must speak their language. Anyway...I don't know what I'm talking about here.

________________

What do I expect next year?

Nothing and no disappointment.

Thursday, Soussa

Thursday morning and I am downloading Sousa marches. I am tired of hearing “River Kwai March” over and over again from our PA system, so,  for a change, I am playing music from the American king of march John Philip Sousa. I heard his music performed on TV by American high school college bands. Sousa phone was named after him; I don’t know if he invented the instrument or if it was just named after him but Google, I supposed, could answer that .Anyway for more info about Sousa click the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Philip_Sousa and learn more about the guy and his music.

He looked like a German Kaiser or some Field Marshall. Anyway, marches are really military music what with the rhythm and the cadences and all that stuff that make a person who hears marches stop what he/she is doing and fall in line and do the left, right, left, check cadence check thing.

These are Sousa phones as you can see they are quite big instruments and they require great amount of air to play. So in order to play this instrument, three things: lung power, physical strength, and tough scrotum. I don't know if its a scientific fact or just a myth of some sort but according to folklore wind instruments because it require a lot of air to play could enlarge their players testicles or may even burst their scrotum. Anyway, There are two types Sousa according to the materials used to make them. there are the brass ones and the plastic ones as you can see from the picture. The former is heavier while the latter is lighter. Anyway...

Here's a sampler of his music.

Blah, blah, blah

Reported to work in a pretty good mood this morning. First thing I did was to sit down and type something on the computer (this is it). Maybe it’s because we’re wrapping things up for Friday the field demonstration for our folk dance and rhythmic exercises and next Friday will be the graduation for the grade six pupils. Since the periodic examinations had been over and done with, most of our time is mostly spent practicing for these events.

I heard that there will be a new section added to the grade six, a seventh section. I thought I was going to be assigned an advisory class, the last section, but I heard the boss’s mouth that I will again be a subject teacher, a floating teacher. In many elementary schools, male teachers are usually not given advisory classes most of them are floating teachers; this is also the case here. Anyway, since there will be an additional section, I will be kicked out of my room, which was assigned as the computer room and I expect that it will be converted into a classroom. Guess I will have to move to another vacant room, or I may have to float around the campus moving from classroom to classroom. I don’t know what would happen to this computer if it would be assigned to the teacher who will occupy this room, of course, I would not be able to take this along with me for the obvious reason. Anyway, the school has a wi-fi and I may be forced to get a netbook so that could continue with my blogging. Anyway…

For me its better not to have an advisory class because this means less headache: no PTA, no forms, no collections, no year end audit, no yard assignment, no checking up on cleaners, no trays; I can go home without waiting for any pupils etc. These are some reasons why many especially male teachers like to be a floating teacher. But of course having no advisory class means no extra income, which is kind okay for me, too.

I was supposed to post this in the morning but was called to a meeting with the boss and then time flew so fast...going home but having a sound trip first....

Nothing

 Will the senate impeachment court convict CJ Corona for his non-disclosure or incomplete and conflicting SALN?

 According to my stomach, the senate impeachment court should think this matter thoroughly because if they do convict the CJ because of problems with his SALN they would be making a precedent that may later prove problematic for them; they may end up being impeached themselves for their incomplete or conflicting SALNs. Know how it is with government officials, the higher they are and the richer they are the more cryptic their SALN’s are. It’s only us, the lowly public servants who have no problem with our SALNs, and I thinks its time the Civil Service Commission prepare a simple and a separate form for us  teachers and it should be called Statement of Asses, Liabilities and No-worth. Hehehe…not funny….boredom.

With the graduation about a week from, I can't help myself but preach or sermonize to my class. Like, I kept reminding the boys that the girls that they kept teasing in class would bloom during their high school, and they would soon see how beautiful their classmates really are. The same with the girls, these little boys, when their hormones kick in and they experience growth spurt would become handsome teen-agers. Ahhh…I remember my high school days.

Anyway, I reminded them of the importance of time and right decision making. Anyway, teachers are preachers.

Really, I‘m bored and I have nothing to talk about…

Max Ehrman's Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.

Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be critical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. 

Be careful. Strive to be happy.

© Max Ehrmann 1927

Boys and holes on the floor

The first thing I did when I arrived at school on Monday was to nail a piece of plywood to cover a hole on my classroom's floor. I should have done this a long, long time ago but I thought nothing about it because I was quite busy with work and with so many other things (like FB and blogging)  that I did not think about it.

My classroom was on the third floor of the building and below it was a grade three classroom. I have been receiving complaints from the teacher below that pieces of papers and candy wrappers were falling from their ceiling. Since my classroom was seldom used, the complaints were too few to physically act on it (really, I am just one lazy guy) so I just reminded the pupils not to insert papers or trash into the hole because the teacher below was getting angry. I did not have complains for a long time so I forgot about the hole on the floor that was until last Friday.

We were practicing our graduation song when I saw the grade three teacher, whose room was below mine, at my classroom door asking to enter the class. I immediately sensed that there was something wrong because she was red in the face. She walked around as if looking for something. She stopped; she was standing beside the hole on the floor and looking at the pupil who was sitting near it. My gulay, I understood how angry she must have felt because it turned out one of the grade six pupils was spitting into the hole on the floor. There were pupils below and naturally spit falling from the ceiling was one yucky, yucky and bad, bad thing to happen to defenseless grade three pupils. She took the grade six pupils with her and berated him and she asked to speak to his parents. I was quite embarrassed by what happened because if I had covered that hole, that pupil would not have been tempted to do a stupid thing like that. 

So, I did the thing I should have done a long time ago, cover the damned hole on the floor.

I don't know what it is with holes and boys. I mean, what is it that attracts them to hole whether it be on the floor, wall, bags, ceilings, hole in a tree...Boys (or men) are attracted to it as if by magic or some irresistible psychic and physical force or some kind of neurotic urge or something. I don't know maybe it has something to do with the way males are built, you know, sort of biological instinct to touch, to peep, to insert or put something into holes, must some Freudian-sex-subconscious phenomenon. Of course there are good things that comes out of it like that Dutch boy saving all of Holland from flooding because he inserted his finger in a hole on a dike, and, of course, there are... hmmmm... bad things too,  like teen age pregnancy.....

Some useless thoughts on Traditional Method for the search for Filipino Philosophy

Think of what they think by thinking the way they think at the level of their capacity to think...What do you think?

Is it okay to use the traditional approach to the study of philosophy that is based on “the standard used by historians.” So, to speak of Greek Philosophy, we enumerate Greek Philosopher and their works. So to study Greek Philosophy, we study Greek Philosophers and so with the other philosophies like German, English, American, etc.

Basically, we search for the thinkers in the likes of Plato, Aristotle up to the modern philosophers like Descartes, Kant  etc. But here I am curios as to what archetypes that must be used to establish who should be the Filipino Philosophers and who would define Filipino Philosophy. I mean, Rizal and the other Filipino thinkers during the Spanish era were not really espousing any "authentic Filipino philosophy" they were just applying or contextualizing political philosophies from Europe. So, the effort to make Rizal a sort of representative Filipino philosopher is not hmmmm...feasible. I am not saying Rizal is a not a philosopher in his own rights (I am not a professional philosopher, I am just hmmm..what do you call...this...a teacher who likes to read some head-ache inducing stuff).

Western philosophers from the Greeks till Hegel were system builders. That is, their philosophies are all encompassing ideas and thoughts from metaphysics, to epistemology, ethics, aesthetics etc. That is why many of these system builders’ thoughts and ideas are not confined by subject, geography and time, but rather they permeate in all areas of thinking and thoughts from the past and, maybe, way beyond the future.

An example of the influences and this transcending quality of systematic philosophy by a particular philosopher is A. N. White head’s statement that all western philosophies are footnotes to Plato to which he means that Plato laid the very foundation from which all western philosophies sprung.

 The modern age of philosophy began with Descartes’ reflections and it lead to the thought that the body is different from the mind, that is Descartes’ Cartesian dualism, to which many thinkers and even common people subscribe so the impact of his thoughts is still felt. If you think that you ought to do good because it is the right thing to do and that is your duty, you are a Kantian. (As opposed to the theists’ ethics of rewards and punishment.) Kant’s thought permeates everything from mathematics, to psychology to education and he is considered as the one of the greatest among the greatest. These are all systems of philosophy that are rich in ideas that even parts may become irrelevant with time yet with re-interpretation and relevant researches (maybe) will experience re-birth in the future.  

These are some types western philosophers and even the minor philosophers have more or less built systems or have espoused systematic philosophies that show great intellectual creativity as well deep and broad education and influences from the Greek.

Another thing about Western Philosophy is that it is connected and progressive.  Its development is a continuing articulation, emendation and refutation of previous philosophies while some experience death and then re-births and rediscovery well into our era and maybe even intro the future. So, it’s continuing synthesis. No philosopher is isolated from another.

The oriental (or Asians) thinkers are different from the western philosophers. The fact that they are referred to as sages rather than philosophers is a clear indication of the difference between east and west's idea of philosophy.

Asian philosophers are not system builders in the likes of Plato, Kant or Hegel. Their philosophies are more concerned with relationships and ethics, sort of an organic philosophy that is more concerned with life, civics and relationships. Confucius’s philosophy is concerned with   education, achieving good and meaningful life, and how people should behave in a society. His is a social, political and educational philosophy. His writings are adages and maxims; ethical writings that illustrates and points out rather than treatises and rhetorical tautologies that analyzes and argues and theorizes on metaphysical blah, blah, blah. Buddha’s concern is illumination of the self. Lao-Tzu is concerned with harmony and balance of nature/s.Their writings do not exhibit the systematic analyses and exemplifications of western philosophers, theirs are more or less generalizations based on experiences with a little touch of  poetry, mysticism, and a little bit of non-sense.

Another thing is that Asian philosophers are intertwined with religion in that these sages are either deified or sanctified by their followers which is not the case for the western philosophers. Though Asian philosophers are not really concerned with the idea of the deity except maybe a pantheistic conception of the ultimate something. (Buddhism is in reality an atheist religion), yet the idea of achieving balance, harmony and even annihilation (or Nirvana) permeated their thought to the point that the philosophy evolve into theology. I was talking about this with a co-teacher and I told him that we Christians seek eternal life while our Asian brothers seek annihilation, the total destruction of the individuality of a person which shows basic difference of perspective about (the basis of) reality. Many Asian sages or philosophers were deified because of the way they lived and exemplified their philosophies theres Buddha, Lao Tzu, Confucius and Jesus. This is unimaginable with western philosophers take for example the great french romantic philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau who lived his life  quite off the mark of his romantic philosophy. Anyway...

Another thought is that Asian philosophies are interconnected by race, by education and by communication through trading. Hence, it can be said that Filipino philosophy may be a sub-philosophy of a more general Asian philosophy. The dominant philosophy in Asia are the Chinese and Indian philosophy. And in our search for our own Filipino sub-Asian-philosophy it may well be more productive to look for the relationship we have with our Asian brothers specifically the Chinese, Indian and Japanese civilizations have influenced in the development of our identity and culture more than the Spanish and the Americans, i.e. if we consider the fact that we have civilization/s and international relations with our neighbors before the Spanish came.

My point:  connect with Asian philosophy rather than with western philosophy, it's a good place to explore.

Guitar and memory (not that memory)

For sometime now, I haven’t touched my guitar because I’m quite busy with school; I am in charge of the graduation practice and simply asking about 300 pupils to fall in line zaps most of energy not to mention keeping their noise level down and keeping them in line. Handling large number of pupils is very stressful, and if I am not careful I may end up physically controlling some of them which I try my best not to.  I am exhausted when I get home.

I haven’t touched my guitar for quite sometime now and last night when I tried to play some pieces, I found out that I forgot some of the passages and this frustrated me. I am not really a guitarist but because I like classical guitar music, I taught myself to read notes and even today I read notes like a grade one pupil so I learn guitar piece at a very slow rate. Learning one, depending on the difficulty level, is quite a challenge that takes me from few minutes to many hours chipping at the score a little at a time. So it was frustrating to realize that what took me hours to learn, I forget faster.

Among 19^th century philosophers, Arthur Schopenhauer was among the first to contend that at its core, the universe is not a rational place. Inspired by Plato and Kant, both of whom regarded the world as being more amenable to reason, Schopenhauer developed their philosophies into an instinct-recognizing and ultimately ascetic outlook, emphasizing that in the face of a world filled with endless strife, we ought to minimize our natural desires for the sake of achieving a more tranquil frame of mind and a disposition towards universal beneficence. Often considered to be a thoroughgoing pessimist, Schopenhauer in fact advocated ways — via artistic, moral and ascetic forms of awareness — to overcome a frustration-filled and fundamentally painful human condition. Since his death in 1860, his philosophy has had a special attraction for those who wonder about life's meaning, along with those engaged in music, literature, and the visual arts.(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Anyway, that’s life…time is what we do not have that much to spend. Most seemed to think that work is what gives meaning to person’s life and other activities that do not contribute to productivity is considered useless. True to a degree but it is also important to experience the beauty surrounding us because this adds meaning to our lives. Even the pessimist philosopher Schopenhauer saw that art and the contemplation of beauty is a sort of an escape or a balancer in our perpetual battle against our will (will to Schopenhauer is evil). So when we contemplate beauty or works of art, we are temporary raised above the level of our wills. That coming from a sour philosopher is something to think about.

Life without music is a mistake according to Nietzsche, so,play on!

Dreams and Zuckerberg

I had the strangest dream this morning: I was cleaning Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s house. The dream was quite vivid. When I woke, I sat up inside the mosquito net thinking about it for a few minutes; I was quite disoriented. I had this strange feeling that I just traveled back from an alternate universe (too much “Lost”) and was suddenly pulled back into this reality, sort of a multiverse psychic connection..

According to sleep experts dreams are most vivid in the morning which is quite true and could be verified by asking any teen-agers whose hormones are starting to pump testosterone and other libido-promoting substance into their systems (a natural process that's built into our animal system to assure the survival of the human race); times when fantasies and dreams make the teenagers sleep quite troubling and ecstatic; times which had already passed a middle aged human being like me. I am already thinking of Viagra, heheheh.

Anyway, where was I?

So there I was in the dream cleaning Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg’s house. In my dream, Zuckerberg had a house in Midland Subdivision, Cainta, Rizal, Philippines. Midland Homes was a very small subdivision that caters to mostly working class. The place was a little better than our neighborhood. This subdivision was near San Juan Elementary School Unit 1 where I finished my basic education. In the dream, I kept asking myself why did Zuckerberg had a house in this neighborhood? He was famous but he was not rich. I saw him only once i.e. in my dream, Zuckerberg was with another guy, a business partner, or maybe in my dream he was gay or something. His house was so dirty like it was never lived at. Weird really...

Heaven’s why I dreamt that dream when Zuckerberg was one person I was never interested with. I was not and never am his fan though I am Facebook person. Maybe in the other multi-verse or other reality, I am one of Zuckerberg's cleaning guy or something.

Dreams are powerful and according to the philosopher Niethszche, fear generated by dreams is one of reasons why we have this idea of God. Does not necessarily mean I subscribe Nietzsche’s idea. I mean, I don’t want to be misinterpreted as subscribing to an atheist-humanist-existentialist-hairstylist philosophy. I mean, God created the paper tree, Lucifer and Guttenberg for us to enjoy.

Anyway, I was trying to analyze myself; a task I found difficult to do in the morning where my mind was somewhere between waking and sleeping state: Twilight Zone time. Anyway, this is nonsense.

I there fore conclude that I have been watching too much sci-fi, and its now time for me to watch more and more romantic shows so that I could have romantic dreams rather than have these weird dreams.

DVD series

I have been watching sci-fi series on DVD as a sort of an escape. I mean, I don’t drink nor do I take drugs and watching sci-fi is the next best thing to flying out into the atmosphere for fun. Anyway, it seems that most of the theme of today’s sci-fi has to do with time travel, entanglement and alternate reality.

Last night, I watched the final episode of “Lost”; and to tell the truth, I really loved the show. The series was about the survivors of a plane crash that landed on a mysterious island. I bought the DVD without googling about the show so I had no idea what it was all about. But after watching the first few episodes, I got hooked and addicted to it. I thought it was a simple human drama about human drama, but then the episodes got crazier and crazier especially the season enders that got me hooked and drove me crazy looking for the DVD of the next season up to the point that I had to beg the bootleg DVD vendor to get me the complete collection of the series. Also the series was done using flash back and flash forward  which was kind of weird because I already knew what happened but still I had to find out how it happened. There was also an alternate reality part which was like watching a series within a series which was a little confusing but once I got the hang of it, quite enjoyable.

Anyway,   what I liked about the series was it’s mixture of drama, psychology, love story, mythology, physics etc. and I really had this connection with characters especially John Locke. I also noticed that a lot of the characters were named after philosophers and many of the themes tackled in the series were very much philosophical and theological.  

Flash Forward is also an interesting series that unfortunately lasted only one season because of low ratings. The premise of the series is that the world had a planet wide black out (or the planet had a world wide black out) for 2 minutes and 17   seconds which during the black out the whole world had a glimpse of six months into the future. Investigation were made and they found out that these glimpses were all interrelated and that each individual recollection of the glimpses during black out could be pieced together to construct the world six months from now to figure out how or what caused the black out and to prevent another similar future event from happening. So, the psychological effect of knowing that the future is already determined is one of the main theme of the series—sort of a determinism vs. freewill thing. 

I am now into the 4400. Four thousand four hundred people disappeared abducted by a beam of light from 1946 to the present. These were thought to be alien abductions. Then into the present, a comet appeared threatening the planet. The comet was intercepted but the missiles did not destroy it. It continued on its trajectory and deposited the 4400 returnees.  Well, anyway...still watching the series.

Hmmmm...Kant and nonsense

Okay, so last time there’s a little bit about Berkeley’s idealism which simply put means all our reality is a condition of the mind; all reality is that we know is in the mind. Of course one may ask how this can be when I can touch, hear, breathe, see and think about stuffs. When I hit my head with a hammer or an ax, I get hurt and I bleed. How can all these things, our reality be in the mind when I experience things as real and as “I am in it” and I am participating in it? How can all this be in mind? Does this mean our reality is a bundle of sensation and memory, an illusion? Berkeley thought so.

So, outside the mind there is no material reality; everything is real because we perceive it and our reality is an emanation of a great all perceiving mind which Berkeley called God.  

Now Kant had a different idea for he did not think that reality is all in the mind: Kant did not doubt the existence of matter. There is a matter but a part of it is created by our perception; the mind contributes to the construction of our reality. So, there is rock, moon, sun, car, computers etc. all these things are real but part of their reality is because they are transformed into our minds into ideas. There is matter but it is our mind through our perception that gives them reality at least in the way that we know or perceive them. We know what we perceive and the manner by which we perceive them as human beings—which we cannot say for other beings because they may have other ways of perceiving things; they may have different perception of dimensions like they may perceive in two dimension, or four dimensions, or they may perceive light in the different spectrum, or they may use echo which would give them a picture of reality very different from ours.

So, what we experience is not the whole for in our way perceiving some things are lost; the whole is not fully apprehended because of the limitations imposed by our organs of perception.So, if I am perceiving an object, lets us say my guitar; I am seeing the guitar as I perceive it. And all of us, humans, because our mind are programmed to see things the way they are, we all see my guitar the way we know what a guitar is. But in perceiving or seeing the guitar, we only see what we are capable of seeing but there are some aspects of my guitar that we will never be able to perceive and know: things are not what they are before we perceive for it is our perceiving that gives them the what-they-are-ness (or the phenomenon) that we experience.

Well, anyway...

 Since science can only explore or see things through our perceptions it cannot go deeper beyond the surface or things: it cannot prove into the things-in-itself because no matter how sophisticated our scientific instruments and apparatus, they are still limited by our perception and the way our minds process this information and according Kant, and other philosophers too, this deeper-into-things is where philosophy comes in to explore and to delve into.

How about theology? Religion cannot be proved by theoretical reason by using finite categories; and, If I may say so, language is finite and arbitrary and if come things are lost through our perceptions how much more with symbols especially written language. We cannot apply finite categories into the world of  the unknowable.

Anyway...just thinking.