Cogito

I just ate my lunch, and I’m feeling heavy today. When I feel heavy, I like to read heavy. Why not read about “Cartesian Doubt”.

Rene Descartes: First Meditation

“Some years ago I came to the realize that from my youth on wards I had been accepting as true many opinions that were really false, and that consequently the beliefs which I based upon such infirm grounds must themselves be doubtful and uncertain…”

(I’m beginning to feel the heaviness of what I’m reading.)

“…Archimedes required, as a condition of moving the earth from one place to another, only that a single point in the universe be immovably fixed. Analogously I shall be entitled to the highest hopes if I am lucky enough to discover one single thing that is certain and indubitable.

…I must exist to persuade myself of something…

I am, I exist….

(I’m feeling very heavy now!)

…Cogito, Ergo sum!!!!....I think therefore I am…the one indubitable truth”
I exist!

And I say… “Cogito I go to Cubeta dong”… I need to go to the comfort room!…the one unstoppable truth!

I am in my thinking chair, smelling the essence of humanity, and at the same time contemplating Descartes’ “Cogito” when I suddenly realized that the “Cogito” that Descartes borrowed from St. Augustine can be refuted by a simple statement “Look at the Filipinos”.

And I say… “Incognito, Ergo Sum”…They don’t think yet they exist (my Latin is a little rusty).

Philippine congress had now approved the Con-Ass (mga con na, mga ass pa) or the Constituent Assembly to tackle the cha-cha (charter change) to change the presidential government to parliamentary government.

And I say… “Mga iho, listen to this!

The problem with cha-cha is that it seeks to change the form of government without changing the people in the government. It seeks to make efficient the way things are done in the government by changing the system without changing the culture of corruption that permeates the bureaucracy. And that it seeks to simplify government taking into consideration that it will also simplify political conspiracy, corruption, and overstaying in power. What is worst is, with the political bickering and the ever shifting political loyalty in this sad country of ours, the system of government being proposed could make a comedy out of the national leadership—we could be facing a weekly rotation of prime ministers.

Tons of argument can be presented and can even be convincing to reason, but there’s many thing that must be considered first before agreeing to cha-cha: Is changing the government with the same notorious people in place, with the old culture of nepotism and corruption still prevalent and with primeval self interest as the core value do any damn difference to the state of affairs of the nation. No! What we need is not a change of government but a change of perspective, values, character, etc. Even if we adopt a tribal, shamanistic, Machiavellian, democratic, plutocratic, autocratic, etc. form of government if it is run by selfless, well meaning, nationalistic, wise, altruistic leaders there’s no reason why the Philippines can’t succeed. The problem is the people and not the system for a system is only as good as the people who run it.

(I was watching the news and I saw a sexy model fuming mad because her picture was pirated by the tabloids. “I posed for FHM Magazine and not for the tabloids.” And I say, “Dear beautiful, sexy, honorable lady. What is the difference!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????)