Rains, reminisicng, thunder etc...mixnuts

The first major, major  rain shower came today. According to the news, there was a typhoon named Bebeng battering Bicol Region. Bebeng was the second storm to visit the Philippines this year, an early visit may I say.  The rain brought relief from the blistering   summer heat, but it also meant the end of summer. 

When the rain subsided, I went to my regular afternoon walk. Riding on a motorcycle, I tried to climb the steep…hmmm…earthen ramp, but unfortunately, because it was wet and slippery, the cycle slipped and I fell. My shoulders hurt a little, but there were no injuries what so ever except a bruised self-esteem.    I had to cut my walking short because the rain threatened to pour again. 

The smell of the parched earth quenched by the rain… Brings back a lot of childhood memories. When I was small, I recall my mother telling me not to go outside because the smell of the wet earth could cause loose bowel movement. She would get my lola’s banyos (coconut oil mixed with herbs prepared by my grandmother) and rub my tummy to keep the cold away. My mother would also tell me to always keep my slippers on especially during the rainy season because worms would enter my stomach through the pores of my feet.

I remember sleeping cuddled between my father and my mother, the warmth of their body keeping the cold away, my father farting while we were inside the blanket…

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I had this strange experience one late cloudy afternoon. I strayed from my usual routine, and instead of walking; I rode my motorcycle cruising on   “Highway 2000”. The road was closed to heavy vehicles, so, I had the road for my own. 

Riding leisurely, I noticed that it was getting dark, but it was too early for sunset. So, I alighted from my bike and observed the sky and the cloud movements. It was amazing. The white clouds were merging with the water filled darker clouds. It’s like the clouds were battling among themselves with the darker forces (clouds) winning. What made the movements of the clouds seemed like Olympian war was the lightning show. I could see (in my imagination) the dark clouds releasing their lightning bolts against the white clouds; the white clouds were fighting back with their own lightning bolts. It’s not difficult to understand why the primitive people thought of the sky as the home of the gods. 

I was so enthralled by the show that I forgot that I was in an open field. I was a sitting duck for lightning strike. I once read that when you’re in an open field and you felt your hair standing, it is one sign that lightning is about to strike within your immediate vicinity. Your first defense is to lie face down and pray to God that you will not get hit. (This reminded me of Martin Luther and the reformation.) 

How will you know when lightning hit you? If you see flashes of light that means you’re not hit, but if you see darkness that meant you got hit. You’re either unconscious or dead.

I‘m still alive and not a Martin Luther at that…

Mushrooms sprouting, frogs suddenly appearing out of nowhere invading the comfort rooms through the drainage, keeping us awake with their croaks, puddles teeming with tadpoles, grass stalks with snails’ eggs…Some of the sights and sounds that signal the start of the rainy season.

I forgot the smell of tuyo being fried. Maybe it’s because the air is heavy with moisture that makes the smell of fried tuyo pungent but stimulating to the apetite.

Willie, Petroleum Prices, RP Commandos

I was watching the news, and I saw a Filipino general (or a colonel) talking about the precision of the US Navy Seal’s team that neutralized Bin Laden. He was talking about the Philippine commandos learning from the Seals to upgrade our Special Forces capabilities. I was thinking…these people cannot even neutralize a lone gunman inside a bus in the middle of a park in the middle of the city,  how much more neutralizing an enemy inside a heavily fortified compound in a hostile enemy territory? He was talking about learning how to conduct an operation that requires the coordination and the meticulousness of neuro-surgeon.

Let's be realistic men, master the boy scout skills first. (My apologies to my fellow scouts).

 ________________

So Willie Revillame’s show Willing Willie was suspended for a month by the MTRCB. Aside from the suspension, the show was also put on indefinite probation; the show has to secure MTRCB’s permission per episode that it will air. Wilie should not defy MTRCB and the state. Once he becomes too hot to handle, his politician friends will throw him out like a hot dog poop.

This time he antagonized well meaning, well respected and influential artist like Leah Salonga and Jim Paredes and others. Revillame even threatened to sue them but later changed his mind and withdrew. He must have realized that he is being overly and superbly unintelligent He cannot go on making enemies out of good, concerned and influential people in the industry that feeds him. Also, the way he is doing his show is hmmmm...manipulative. He is changing the way live TV show is done--a not so good change. Leah Salonga is right when she said that dole outs will not do any good to anyone (to that effect).

Will this be the end of will?

 __________________

 

Prices of petroleum products are continuing to rise and no amount of protest, noise barrage and interviews can stop this. Blaming the government, again and again, will not accomplish anything.  What do we expect the government to do? Put a price control on oil products? I don’t know how price control could bring down the price of petroleum products. If the oil companies are forced to lower their prices beyond their profit threshold, they would simply stop operation. Business operates by profit; remove profit and you have no business. That’s the law of capitalism and free enterprise.  If the oil companies, especially the giants, stopped operating, we’ll all be in worse predicament than before. Unfortunately, all this Marxist-socialist oratories about socialism and state control will accomplish nothing. Isn’t it obvious that with the USSR’s demise and China’s adoption of a capitalist’s economy proved beyond reasonable doubt that the communist class struggle is already dead? Marx is now confined to the classroom, to be studied as one philosopher among others whose idea had come and gone.

Regulating petroleum products prices by a subsidy is unintelligent. During the Aquino administration there was this dinosaur called the OPSF or the Oil Price Stabilization Fund which was created “to reimburse the oil companies for possible cost underrecovery incurred as a result of the reduction of domestic prices of petroleum products.” The fund was supposed to work the other way also i.e. the oil companies were supposed to pay the government back for any over recovery. But since when do the prices of petroleum products go down? So, in reality, OPSF is the government paying the oil companies tax money so that they could sell their products at a lower price to the tax payers. What is wrong with this? It is still us who are paying for the difference in the supposedly low fuel prices. Another problem with subsidies, like the OPSF, is that those who do not use petroleum products are subsidizing those who do. This is also the argument for the removal of subsidies for MRT and LRT commuters in Metro Manila? Why would the Visayans and Mindanaoans pay for the train fare of the Metro Manilans when the money could be used for their own regional needs? Subsidies are not good for it is discriminatory.

Until we find alternative sources of energy, we are hostage to the continuous increase in the prices of petroleum products.

 

Bn Laden's death

When I heard that Osama Bin Laden was killed by American forces, my feeling was ambivalent. On one hand, I felt that somehow the world became a little safer with the chief terrorist gone. Terrorism is evil because it targets the innocent civilians. Its aim is to disrupt the normalcy of the ordinary citizen’s lives. With Bin Laden gone, Al Qaeda’s operation may temporarily be disrupted but it does not mean that its terroristic activities will stop. On the other hand, with Bin Laden’s death, there’s fear that the group may conduct terroristic activities to avenge their leader’s death.

Bin Laden has been the object of fear and hatred of the western world for almost two decades. He was the chief boogieman of the United States that has been used to justify military operations against Arab countries. With him gone, the US is now targeting Zawahiri, the terror group’s number two man.

On the other hand, I felt sad that Bin Laden was gone because, somehow, he was the only terrorist leader that had defied and hurt the United States by planning and executing the world’s greatest terrorist act so far, the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York. He proved that the US is not invincible. Blame it on the Filipino’s propensity to side with the underdog, but Bin Laden’s war against the United States won my admiration (not sympathy). He has eluded the most powerful intelligence and armed organization in the world for a more than a decade despite the 25 M dollar bounty on his head. That proved that he was no ordinary man. He was a gifted terrorist (a terrible gift).Well, he’s dead and a dead terrorist is a dead terrorist.

There was celebration in the US when Bin Laden’s death was officially announced. Interviewees were praising the US Navy Seals for their daring operation which is understandable especially if they have loved ones killed by Al Qaeda’s attack. But on the other side of the world, Muslims are hailing (in secret of course) Bin Laden as a hero and a saint. His death will inspire more to take up the Islamic cause against the west. It’s a cycle with both sides claiming God is with them.

Of course, all of us, maybe even the late Bin Laden, want peace. We all want to live a a life free from fear and strife. Terror begets terror. Hayyy...why can't we just leave each other alone.

Bad Trip...a short story

“So how was your trip to Batugalang?” I asked my kumpareng Brownie, “Bad trip,” he bitterly replied. “Care to tell me the details Pare,” I said to him as I took a seat at the other side of the bench. “Okay, but we better have something to drink to make the story flow smoothly.” So I, knowing the cue, got up and went to Kalbo’s store and bought a half a case of beer. Here was his story:

My wife came from a remote village in Batugalang, wherever that was, and her village celebrates its fiesta once every five years, which was really weird. Being observed every five years, the fiesta was an extravagant event in the village. So, it was very important for her to come. She asked me to go with her, and I did. I packed my bags and accompanied her on the most unforgettable trip of my life.

After debarking from the boat, we rode a tetanous jeepney for four agonizing hours, then rode a horse that looks more like a dog than a horse for two hours, and then trekked the mountainside for eight more hours. “No wonder the village celebrates its fiesta only once in every five years” I sarcastically told my wife, “the travel alone would take you a year”. When we finally got to the village the first thing I noticed were the carabaos. They were well groomed some of them even had leis of flowers on their necks. What surprised me most was that they were not working the fields; they were kept tied in the balcony of the houses like a pet dog. I asked my wife about this, and she told me that in their village it was an honor to own a carabao. They were treated the same way we treat a pedigree pet dog or cat. “Weird, but to each his own,” I replied.

After three days of traveling, at last I met my in-laws. Theirs was a very simple and rustic like like most of the people in the village. Their house was a classic nipa hut with no electricity and running water. It seemed that time stopped here and even the clothes they wore were pre-Spanish in style. Their Tagalog was so pure untouched by English, Spanish, and Chinese that I thought I was in another country. We ate dinner and I enjoyed the meal they prepared for us. The vegetables were sweet and the chicken meat, although dark, was rich and delectable. Curious about the carabaos, I jokingly asked my in-laws about the grooming and the flowers. I told them that in our province carabaos were working animals and not pets. They were angry at hearing my words “Carabaos are beautiful creatures. They are not made for work. Here we respect and treasure them for we believe that they are the reincarnation of Apo Kalimagmag’s dog. The dog that saved the life of the revered Apo. It’s an honor to own one,” they angrily told me. That was the end of the dinner; I did not made a good impression with my in-laws.

Hoping to make amends, I told my wife to discreetly ask how much a carabao would cost. I was hoping that if my allowance would allow it, I would surprise my in-laws with one. She came back and told me that they cost two hundred pesos each. I was elated. “Two hundred pesos! That’s just a kilo of pork in Manila.” I told my wife, “Go and buy five, let’s surprise your mother and father,” I added.




I can’t describe my in-laws reaction when they saw the five carabaos tied to their house post. I thought they would collapse on the floor. They were so ecstatic that my father-in-law even kissed me. I was happy at what I had done. Five carabaos for them, they were millionaires in the eyes of these people. And for only two hundred pesos each, it’s a bargain. I was almost asleep when my in-laws went to their side of the hut. They were still talking about the carabaos.

Early the next morning, I was awakened by the noise of people talking. When I rose from the bamboo cot and peeped outside, I saw ten people’ who all bowed to me, talking with my in-laws. My father-in-law invited me to join them in their discussion. After having coffee and rice cake I joined them. “Son, these people are the elders of the village, and it is the unbroken tradition of the village for the giver of carabaos to christen each in ceremonial feasts before the receiver can formally accept them. We were touched by your generosity. The village council had to be convened because this is the first time in the entire history of the entire village for someone to give five carabaos at the same time. And now we are discussing the details of the ceremony: like the twelve customary sets of godparents for each carabao, the musiko’s, the feast, and the traditional three-day announcement of invitation to the whole village. Since you gave us five we are discussing of having the feast at five day successions, of course the actual village fiesta will not be included in the five day count.”

I lost consciousness and remember nothing more of the conversations. The next thing I knew was the albularyo saying some strange words to my ears. “ Pare, aside from exhausting my ten thousand pesos allowance, I had to sell my watch, my wife’s watch, my camera, my necklace, our wedding ring, and even my extra pair of rubber shoes so that we can go home” he cried.

I had never seen my kumpare cry before even after his father’s death. I was surprised when he did this time.

I don’t know if my kumpare’s story is true but from the way he reacts every time he sees a carabao I’d say he’s had a traumatic experience with them.

Light, Christology, Salary, Paradigm Shifts....

Where am I? Ohhhh…I’m sorry. The last time I left my dumb discussion about light (I was washing the clothes so I had to stop typing) I left you (whoever you are) to watch Dr. Quantum as he demonstrates the famous double slit experiment to show the wave-particle duality of light and the quantum paradoxes of the observer and the observed.

Scientists were dumbfounded about the nature of light,so, they come up with the most ingenious solution—they combined both properties of light and called it the wave-particle duality.

Excuse me…I will meander into theology specifically Christology for a little while because the question of the duality of the nature of Christ had divided churches and believers for a long time and somehow I see the debates about the dualities of nature or in nature as somehow related to …hmmmm….everything even to the quantum duality, the relationship may not be directly related as pertsining to natures but at least there is similarities in the paradoxes and the proposed solution. The orthodox (How do we define orthodox? Well, orthodox does not necessarily means correct, although ortho- means straight or correct as in orthodontics or orthopedic…sometimes it simply means what the majority accepts or believes…anyway) The orthodox doctrine or dogma about the nature of Christ is that he is both fully human and fully divine—or the hypostatic union of natures—I dare not explain it. Of course some human beans find this unacceptable for its illogicality.

In philosophy there’s a guy by the name of Hegel or Georg Friedrich Hegel, whose philosophy is considered as one of the most difficult to understand because the guy failed his Handwriting Proficiency Course in College. He had this idea about a thesis (not thesis in a college—thesis here means an idea or it could be a fruit) and an antithesis (opposing idea or an opposing fruit) that combines to form a higher idea or truth (fuirt + opposing fruit=fruit cocktail or halo-halo) which is sometimes used to describe the hypostatic union of Christ. Divine (thesis) + Human (antithesis) = human and divine (Christ) or in algebra x+y=xy and not a z. Anyway…Christology is much more difficult to grasp than quantum mechanics (no math) hehehehe….(don’t understand them both, though).

Well, anyway, getting sleepy with myself, anyway and anyway, what is now being realized is that the idea of opposites is not a real hhmmmm…hmmm…okay we tend to reject logical opposites because of the way our mind has been trained to think: we think in an either/or mentality and you have to blame Aristotle and the western schools for that. Either or mentality means we think in a this or that way or simply put—we are dumb. The Asians especially the Chinese are different for they are synthetic and organic in their thinking: the yin (thesis) and the yang (anti-thesis) are always kissing each other and opposites does not exist in the way we think it is because for them, the Asians and the Chinese, the opposites has little meaning because what is important is the balance, for them what is evil is the disruptions of balance—it’s not the black or white but balance…everything is about balance blah, blah, blah…Maybe one of the reasons why the Chinese are good acrobats (not intended as derogatory).

Back to light…so after…enough talk about the duality and the yin and yang. Let’s talk about another property of light that makes it weird and why Einstein thinks it’s the constant that he thought it was. We will now talk about the speed of light. The velocity (speed) of light is clocked at around 300,000 kilometers per second. Pretty fast here on earth but in astronomy, the speed of light is turtle pace considering Alpha Centauri our nearest neighboring star is 4 light years away. (Compute: 9,460,730,472,580.8. x 4 = nevermind ) One thing to understand is that in astronomy, because of their digits, numbers break down and lose their meanings.

It is widely accepted that the velocity of light does not change—constant. Of course, passing though materials like liquid, gas and transparent and translucent objects, light changes its velocity causing distortions like refraction, but in vacuum, it is constant.

So, let us imagine light as a red car traveling at 300,000 km/s. A pretty fast car like what Traci Chapman drives. So, this red car has a broken accelerator, it does not and cannot change speed. (Speed is velocity with direction, but we will use the term interchangeably to avoid repetitions). That is constant. But what If I’m driving a blue Honda civic at a speed of 300,000 km/s.away from light. What is the velocity of light then? Common sense dictates that the speed of light is negative to the speed of the traveling car because it is traveling in opposite direction. But the speed of light does not change; it is still 300,000 km/s. What if my blue civic Honda is traveling along side light? What would light's velocity be? Again, a simple calculation would say that the speed of light would be equal or zero since the Honda is traveling alongside it. Imagine two people walking and talking with each other because they are traveling at the same speed. But that is not so, the speed of light is still 300,000 km/s if the red car and light is traveling in the same direction. How is that? My Honda's speed is 300,000km/s while light's speed is 300,000 km/s then in order for light tp travel 300,000 km/s relative to my blue Honda, light must accelerate to 600,000. But that is not so... slight's speed is still 300,000 km/s, constant.  What if my Honda is on a head on direction with the speed of light? What would light's speed be? At point of impact, would it multiply by a factor? No, the speed of light would still be 300,000 km/s. Light is constant because the speed of light is independent of the motion of the observer, and the speed of light does not vary with time or place. Another thing that made light constant is that it constantly drives physicist insane. Though the Michelson-Morley may have proved the constancy of the speed of light but we have to take into considerations the precision of the instruments used because every time new technologies are introduced and new measurements are made, theories go down the drain-its the natural cycle of falsification and affirmation. Actually it was Einstein who assumed that light is constant—he put his eggs on light, no! NOt that egg. Since Einstein has bad hairdo, everybody thought he was right.

Unfortunately many do not accept the constancy of the speed of light. Einsteins theory is on a shaky contingent constant (my blog, my terms!) so Einstein's constant may not be a constant at all.

We have to forgive Einstein and the rest of the gang. Theories have lifespan though they affect science and the whole world by creating paradigms; they have expiration dates too. (What in the camote que is a paradigm? Nakakain ba yan? A paradigm is a model and a (world) view that is, according to the Philosopher Thomas Kuhn, called the normal science...the normal science of the day. One could not (even imagine) think outside the normal science unless a new paradigm is created. Kuhn identified the Copernicus' heliocentric theory of the solar system replaced Ptolemy's idea that the sun revolves around the earth and Einsteins replacement of Newton's theory pf gravity, space and motion as two of the recognizable paradigm shifts.Maybe the election of GMA may also be one of them.

We are all moving, the earth is moving, the solar system is moving, the galaxy is moving, the universe is moving and expanding and a moving body's position is relative to another moving body's relative position similar and the only thing that is constant is the teachers low salary—hey, make it relative…move it up…make it relative to the prices of commodities!

Nahhhhh sleepy….my wife is away and I had nothing to do.

Light, Einstein, Relativity, Particle, Wave and blah,blah,blah...

Light has puzzled human beans from the beginning of time (except the blind) when they saw that sunlight creeps every morning to chase the dark of night away. Many stories have been made up about the primary source of our light, the sun. The sun has been deified ever since humanity discovered that sunlight could  make daing and tuyo and that it can dry clothes.

Anyway…this piece of crap is not about the sun, I am going to talk about light-the mysteries of light and how Einstein put his eggs on light. No, I did not mean that egg, what I meant is how Einstein hmmmm…made light as the constant in his relativity theory. The most famous of all equation: E=mc2 where c2 is the constant a.k.a. the speed of light (of course, ask any ordinary citizen what is c2 and they will tell you that it’s a bottled tea drink). Why light? Here’s the problem: everything is relative. What constant can be used from which to measure things? The problem is that mass and size is affected by velocity. As you go faster, you become shorter. That is why short people walk faster, or it’s the other way around. As a body goes faster, it becomes shorter and its mass increases. The problem is that the earth is in constant motion; everything is motion-no constant here.  Einstein was eating his sandwich when he saw sunlight bouncing off Niels Bohr’s bald head. Einstein was hit by the bouncing light and intuition hit him and he shouted, “Hey, light is constant.” (nnaaaa…not true)

Anyway, again, this piece of crap is not about Einstein’s relativity Theory, it’s all about light. So how is light constant? Of course we all know want constant means. We do not have to be theoretical physicist to understand that constant is something that does not change. Applied to ordinary things the word constant is relative. For example, my neighbors are constant gossipers which is true but when my neighbors die (hope not) they are not constant anymore….They become dead neighbors. The way we apply the word constant in our daily lives…I would call it the contingent constant (my blog, my term!) because it is relative to many things like time, space, mass etc. To quote Jose Mari Chan, “Life is a constant Change….rah,rah,rahhh…”

We need to find a constant becuase without a constant we could not tall a  relative truth from another relative truth. Everything is lqiuid becuase there is no solid...hmmmm...something from which things or ideas could be take shape--everyhting is moving. So, a constant from which to stand is necessary. Its like Archimedes boasting, “Give me a place to stand and I shall move the earth.” Scientist realized that in order to measure or state something truthfully (mathematically, theoretically and even ethically speaking) there has to be a constant! A terra firma to stand from which any explorations could be made or else, without this terra firma, we are like the fly inside a car telling his friends “look guys! I am the fastest among you!” Then the driver opened the car window and they all got sucked by the partial vacuum created by the speeding car’s velocity and they were splattered on the next car’s windshield.

Anyway, again and again, this piece of crap is not about constants, it’s about light. We may be wondering what made light a constant. What is it that made light the terra firma of theoretical physics explorations? Here we go into the realms of the metaphysics. The spiritual and the mysterious realm of reality where our common sense will leave us begging cursing, what the…..

What the… what’s matter anti-matter?

Let us first explore the nature of light. There were many speculations about the nature of light. Some have proposed theories about the nature light that seemed reasonable because of the lack of sophisticated equipment, they were refuted and debunked. Anyways…let us leave the heavy stuff to Wikipedia and other sites…Some says light are particles--whatever they are called (electrons or phtons etc.). Imagine sand or buhangin, imagine that every time you turn a flashlight there are billions of tiny glowing sands that flies out of your flash light giving illumination. This is true because light gives off particle energy. Light particles can be detected bouncing off things the fancy name for this phenomenon is the photoelectric effect. This is observable in solar panels. Heee…getting heavy…but unfortunately the particle theory is wrong or may just be incomplete. One simple experiment that made the particle theory inadequate or (wrong) is the flashlight experiment. Take two flashlights; turn it on, cross their beams. If the particle theory is correct, that light is composed of particles…there would be a detectable disruption or distortions… but there is none…To show the point of experiment more clearly: hold two water hoses, turn them on, and cross their squirt the water and cross them, there is disruptions because water molecules are getting in each other’s way. The same with light, if light is particle then these particles should bump into each other creating disruptions and distortions.

Another theory of light is the wave theory. Light is compared to sound. It has no particles but it emits waves. But the problem is…if light is like sound. It needs a medum to travel or to for a conductor. Here on earth, the theory holds because we have air to conduct sound and light. But what about light in vacuum? We all know that the light from the sun travels gazillion of miles in vacuum to reach earth. So, defenders of this theory proposed a medium called the lumineferous ether that conducts light everywhere…unfortunately…up to now…the lumineferous is still in the dark. No one has proved that it exist and is now considered one of those hypothesis meant to support another theory….does not work that way (Occam’s razor).

So a third theory was proposed the wave-particle theory. Basically it’s the combination of both particle and wave theory-ha, pretty obvious. The two slits experiment proved this.

Ayaw ko na….tuuloy ko na lang tomorrow maglalaba pa kami ni myra…nagagalit na na! Panay daw ang type ko! Ano daw ang ginagagawa ko! Bye.

Just listen to Dr. Quantum explain this experiment and introduce you to quantum paradoxes.

 Damn...I did not discuss why light is constant! Later, I will talk about it....

Tielhard de Chardin, noosphere, evolution, computers, internet...blah,blah,blah

“…I am convinced that only when the church sets out to re-examine the relationship between Christ and a universe now grown fantastically immense and organic will she take up her conquering march again.”-Tielhard

 Tielhard de Chardin was a mystic who foresaw the development of the information and communication technology web to its ultimate evolution-the emergence of a planetary consciousness or as he called it, the noosphere and the culmination of the convergence of consciousness into the Omega point.

My view of Chardin’s thoughts is not authoritative and I do not I claim complete understanding of his writings, I am just exploring and meandering in the richness of his ideas.

Chardin’s view of evolution did not end with the progress of individual species into its culminating ultimate development. The Darwinian view of evolution is biological and adaptational. Darwin’s  theory is a natural conclusion of formulation based on the observations that each specie adapts to its environment by mutating certain characteristics for adaptation. To differentiate Chardin’s view, Tielhard proposed that the evolution of Homo sapiens will lead to the development of a collective consciousness.

What is this collective consciousness? Most of us think of consciousness in our own subjective ways, a feeling, communicating and interacting. That is why we do not attach the term conscious to inanimate and non living objects like a stone, or a house, etc. and we also do not attach (though some may disagree) the term conscious to nonresponsive living organism like plants, trees, etc.  Consciousness is not necessarily an exclusive attribute of  a living organism. Our definition of life is unfortunately too specist . Such properties we relate to life like movement, reproduction, growth if we really think hard about may also be applied to "inorganic" on to non-living things. Are we sure that mountains do not move? Are we sure that rocks do not multiply? All these attributes of life are also time-bound-observable. What I mean is this what if a thing or a living thing breeds once in a thousand years? What if they move 1 millimeter in a century? What if they speak one syllable in a millennium? How could we be sure that they are not conscious? Imagine an organisms whose life span lasts a second, their definition of life and consciousness would be bound with their perception of time. For them an organism that lived up to 80 years old...their definition of life cannot comprehend it.

To think of consciousness as a detached or a separate entity would result to inconsistencies. The question of the relationship between the physical body and the non physical or the psychical consciousness has led to the meandering speculations of philosophers and to the growth of the different schools of thought from Plato’s dualism to the epistemological conflict between the idealist and the materialist, to the skeptics’ and even to the diverging schools of the philosophy of language. Though the relationship may not be clearly understood as to how a non-physical or the psychical mind is able to relate to the body, it is still clear that they exist as one and whether the mind has precedence over the body or the body over the mind is still open to exploration, experience shows that both exist indeterminate from each other.

Now what I’m leading to is that consciousness may not necessarily be an exclusively to an organic or carbon based organism.  Quantum physicists have wondered and some have hypothesized about the relationship between the relationship of the observed and the observer.  They have often wondered why these sub atomic wave-particles behave in an unpredictable manner as one physicist humorously puts it “the damned electron is watching us…if we observed that they behave like a particle, they change their minds and starts to behave like a wave and vice versa.” This phenomenon is called the Heseinberg Uncertainty Principle. 

This (may) shows that consciousness, or its basis or units, may well be that we are composed, theoretically and with some science behind it, of conscious units of sub-atomic wave-particles, judging from their behavior of indeterminism, this may well be the foundations of our consciousness. The observed and the observer relationship shows that as each observation is made and as each observation produces new result ,sit shows the direct relationship that the observer is directly changing the observed. Imagine every time this happens where in the interactions of change between the observed and the observer happening at the quantum/atomic level continuously working at the very atoms and molecules of our beings, organizing and somehow despite the randomness and the in-determinism there’s an ordering and organizing that may have its principles in the…here’s where I go blank…God factor.  As Einstein puts it, “God does not play dice.”   Einstein’s supposed said this when he   saw the implications of quantum mechanics. 

Our bodies are (or maybe) composed of conscious units at the sub-atomic level or at the quantum level. This may well explain the freedom in our thoughts because of the un-deterministic behavior of wave-particles at the sub atomic level and the programmed growth and development of our body as a result of the deterministic behavior of the macro world. In a way, and maybe using a larger picture, we are, our consciousness, may have its analogy in Chardin’s idea of the noosphere on a planetary scale.

Chardin proposed the development and envelopment of thinking layer over the earth. This he called the noosphere. This is the “collective consciousness of humanity which will have its convergence in the “Omega Point.” The Omega Point is open to many interpretations especially theological ones, and I will leave it at that. One way of understanding Omega point is that there will come a time when humanity will stop thinking as individuals, and as time progresses, humanity will also stop thinking in terms of nations and nationality, and there will come a time when the whole humankind will converge at one point and think on a planetary level and usher in a new age of consciousness ruled by peace and harmony. 

Imagine this at the quantum level. This convergence on a sub-atomic and atomic level and imagine each individual sub-atomic and atomic wave-particle as having consciousness and converging to form a higher state of unity and consciousness each one contributing to the development of a larger consciousness, the energy forming matter and then controlling these matter to combine to form organism with evolving consciousness as each micro-consciousness converge and merge. This is comparable to the coalescence of materials of the universe right after the big bang and what is happening on the sub-atomic level may be happening at the planetary level, of course the perception of time , space and consciousness differs at each  level.But with each converging materials it carries with it the consciousness of the sub-atomic units of matter. Are inorganic matter conscious too? It now depends on the instability and relativity of the term and definition of "life." It may be that all matters possessed some parts or may I call them units of consciousness at their subatomic level. 

If we look at the human and understand the human nervous system, even at an elementary level, we could see that what makes the nervous system, which is the physical seat of our consciousness, works-the neural network. Without the neural network each individual nervous cells, though it contains the information, the electricity or the energy, individually it cannot create a system capable of collective consciousness. Though it may not be far fetch to think of them as having consciousness since they are capable of retaining and transferring information, unfortunately individually each nervous cell or neuron (whatever you call them) is incapable of processing all the data. The solution is the networking. The idea  of this neural network when applied on a planetary level may be unthinkable because we think of neural network exclusively pertaining to our body. Also we cannot think of an inorganic object creating and having tnrves. This is because we are biased into thinking that a living conscious organism is mainly carbon based. We cannot process the possibility that life and consciousness may exist other than that of a carbon based. But it may not necessarily be so.Its  just we are to biased and a specist-individualist that we find it hard to picture each individual person as just part of a nervous cell or a neuron in the evolving planetary nervous system as is now happening with  the  growth of the earth's neural network- the net. The evolution is now on its second phase.

Using the nervous system as an analogy of the development of the omega point, we may also take to notice how the computers have been evolving. There is a possibility that we may be creating life in an evolutionary fashion. From monster mechanical computers to vacuum tubes to transistors and solid state to integrated circuits to microchips etc. and then there’s the development of the internet. The internet may be likened or maybe it is the neural network that is slowly making the convergence of humanity into the creation of the noosphere and the culmination of the systems called the omega point.

The creation of a larger consciousness with the transformation of the earth to a living conscious Gaia amy have us wondering what will happen to me or to humanity…would they exist in a ‘Matrix like world” feeding the machine. I don’t know….I dare not speculate….but if I understand the relationship of the sub-atomic world to the macro world, the sub-atomic “people” somehow maintained their  in-determinism or freewill, if I may so, while at the macro level the laws of physics and determinism applies. 

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I am troubled because quantum mechanics seems to be favorable and compatible the eastern religions that's why many quantum physicist are taking up Hinduism and Buddhism. Tielhard is the only Christian theologian that I know of (actually I only knew and read a few hehehe) that somehow offers possibilities for the exploration and dialog between Christian theology and quantum mechanics. There is an impending paradigm shift and are we prepared for it?

Anyway….ayaw ko na nagugutom na ako....

A Modest Proposal

I have not been hearing much about General Light lately. I am worried because many Filipinos have a short attention span and the propensity to leave things half done. Now that Ex-General Ligot and his cohorts’ case are taking a backseat from the media’s limelight because of more important news like the marriage of His Royal Highness Prince Harry and Miss Kate Middleton and Honorable Rep. Manny Pacquiao’s bout against Mosley, I fear that Gen. Ligot could wriggle and pay his way out of the plunder and tax evasion case being heard against him and his wife.

The government filed tax evasion cases against El Heneral de Mandarambong Ligot and his alipores. This strategy was first used by the FBI to prosecute the gangster Al Capone since no criminal charges could be filed against him for lack of witnesses. Now the government is using the same strategy against Ligot.  I think the government may be using the strategy as a plan B lest the plunder case filed against the general does not prosper in court. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t but the tax evasion case should be treated as a secondary importance to the plunder case being built up by the prosecutors because all the paper trails, the properties acquired and other shadowy investments made by Ligot, his wife and their dummies are pointing to it. 

I heard that one of the outcomes of this case is the turning over of some military operations like acquisitions to the civilian people of the Department of National Defense. This may be good, but any new proposals or corrective steps that the government might undertake may not be taken seriously by everybody unless Ligot with his family and the other generals are persecuted and convicted of plunder.  It has so far been the practice of government to change the system in within a department whenever corruption was discovered but few perpetrators have been convicted and punished because most of them are just transferred or relieved. What is needed now is to show to us, the concerned citizens, that big fishes are actually being caught and punished to the full extent of the law. This is more important than changing the system, for now, because this will show that corruption does not pay in the government. Any system has its flow, and any official who has inclinations to steal could always work and play around it.

I have suggestions for the military:

Since many generals, especially those in administration and in services, grow fond of their tables and lose their sensitivity to the needs of the frontline soldiers, I propose that these generals should be given frontline combat assignments as a sergeant for three months so that they could be in touch with the real situation on the ground. This way they would experience firsthand how it is to fight in battles using substandard equipments. Also, generals should be issued Huey Helicopters as a standard vehicle for transportation.  

 As for congress, both houses should create laws specifically designed to give equitable retribution in the military for generals convicted of plunder. My suggestion is to make a special law specifically designed for the military to make plunder and other corruption in the armed forces punishable by a public firing squad or a public guillotine beheading. I don’t know if the bullets will penetrate their skins or if the guillotine blade will cut through their skins but the effort is worth the try.

And for the family members of the generals that benefitted from the plunder money whether they are the wife or the children above eighteen years old, they should be given combat duty in Basilan or in the NPA infested mountains of the country. This is just fair because they benefited from the soldiers pay. They should be made to experience the ordinary soldiers’ combat situation so that they could realize that the luxury they are experiencing are at the cost of the misery of ordinary soldiers and the family of those who are slain in battle.

The dummies used by the plundering generals to hide their money should be used as dummies for testing nerve gasses, rubber bullets and tactical nuclear shells. They could also be useful as cannon fodders.

These are some of my modest proposals…

Reunion stories

What I love about our reunions is not the food (though the food is always outstanding); it’s the preparation of the food. The women in one corner chopping, washing and cooking while talking, giggling like they were little girls and then bursting into peals of laughter. They “murder” their husbands, complain about their children, complain about money, complain about the weather…. Their stories sometimes meander to actors, national issues, about neighbor’s lives, classmates, jueteng…and of course, sex ( they could be very naughty at times). They are enjoying their company. 

As usual, the men were under the tree drinking and laughing and telling jokes and tall stories that we all knew were meant to be humorous rather than factual. The family is a musical family, the guitar and the naughty songs were there. 

My brother-in-law bought a half gallon of lambanog. There are good lambanogs and there are bad lambanogs. The best way to judge them is to taste them. Anyway (look around) I looked at the lambanog .It looked good because of the fruits floating in it. I smelled it and decided to taste it. No, I don’t drink anymore but this time it’s out of curiosity. So, I asked for a taste. I took a shot, and booommm…like drinking gasoline. 

One thing I don’t like about lambanog is the after taste. I have tasted many types of liquor before, but lambanog is different because it’s after taste lingers for hours that even chewing a gum could not remove it. According to my father in law, it is not safe to drink lambanog anymore because some distillers add chemicals to their products. The shot gave me a throbbing head ache anyway. 

It was a good thing that my brother in law had a motorcycle because I was able to enjoy the trip to the market. I did not have to ride in a tricycle- a bumpy, uncomfortable that takes about thirty minutes to get to the public market. But with the motorcycle, I felt freedom. The coastal road was lined with trees and the panoramic view of the sea overrode the desire to go fast but rather, it made me slow down to enjoy the breeze and the views. 

Everybody was looking for their children. Everybody was shouting somebody else’s name. Of course they could not find them, they were swimming in the sea. The little children that used to run naked were now young girls conscious of the minutest details of their looks. Taking pictures whenever the urge came…they were lucky because in our days pictures use film so every shot had to count. But with digicams, they could take pictures of anything, anytime and anywhere. In a few years from now the generation gap would be evident. 

The children loved the reunion. They had special food, the beach, games and what was most important was that they felt love not only from their parents but also from their uncles and aunts. The memories will forever bound them till they grow old. 

There was also sadness. When we left to go home, my parents-in-laws were crying tears of joy and tears sadness. My wife’s parents are getting old, and I could see the longing in their eyes to be with their children more often. My father in law even proposed that we held our reunions twice a year. Of course, if this was possible, we would not deny them of this request but there were many things to consider like time, money, the distance etc. But it’s hard to say no especially when they started talking about death and dying. Why do they have to blackmail us with death? Maybe I’ll understand them when I reach their age. It’s the empty nest syndrome.

We must please our parents especially in their twilight years.. They have sacrificed so much and the least the children could do is to grant their requests whenever possible. They deserve it. It is good that our children see how much we love their grandparents for it would set a good example for them when we too became old.

Reunions...

As a Chinese proverb says: "Reunion after long separation is even better than one's wedding night." 

Looking forward to next year’s…

Drake Equation, Alien Abduction and, Is Jesus an Alien? Questions a Christian would not dare explore, but I do

I have been watching much sci-fi lately and one of the most troubling areas of exploration of sci-fi, i.e. if one gets past the monsters and the fight scenes, is the question are we alone? Are we the only intelligent life on this universe? I think this question requires exploring just as much as the profound existential questions that has troubled humanity ever since they discovered that life is not just about hunting, propagation and war, or in the more contemporary setting, life is not all about birth, school, work and death. There must be something more to this world rather than the archaic thinking that this big, elaborate and incomprehensible expanse we call the universe was created for one single life form, the miserable human bean…err…I mean human beings.

In mathematics the probability is enough to convince even the most skeptical skeptics that there is other sentient life in the universe. The most famous mathematical expression that shows the probability of other sentient life existing in the universe is the Drake Equation. N = R* f_p n_e f_l f_i f_c L Click on the video for Dr. Sagan's explanation of the equation. 

Though most of the alien researchers are being ridiculed as nuts and insane with the exceptions of the astronomers and the astrophysicist with their equations and hypotheses which some how gives them credibility, yet the exploration requires serious contemplation because the realization that there are intelligent life form other than us will create another paradigm shifts or a Copernican revolution that will move our intellectual equilibrium as well a our egotistical belief that we are special and by default the owner of the universe. Paradigm shifts in history maybe observed as from a theocentric (God centered) to an anthropocentric (humanity centered) to a non exclusivist and this time to an inclusivist understanding (we have neighbors in outer space! It’s just that they are too far away) that we maybe just one of the many life existing in this universe.

Will this affect our self understanding and even our understanding of God?

Though humanity by its nature is a xenophobic creature, I think we will have no problem encountering aliens if we would get past the Roswell and H.G. Wellsians misconceptions of aliens as hydrocephalic belligerent creatures out to destroy and conquer this planet. Aliens that are so far ahead of us technologically but are not even aware that germs and (or computer) viruses exists which may annihilate them in a sneeze. I am with Isaac Asimov in the belief that alien abductions and alien invasions are too below the aliens to even conceive to do. Why would they abduct people and invade this miserable planet if they are too ahead of our technological development? Why would alien abduct humans and study us if they could establish direct contact? Would they waste all that energy just to abduct a few individuals? For what? And it is really nothing but pure egotism and delusions to think that aliens may be interested in us.  It is even more presumptuous to think that aliens think and behave the way we, humans, behave-warlike and destructive out to conquer anthills.... Anyways…

Christian theology is not ready to tackle this alien question because Christian theology is grounded upon the revelation and the understanding that God’s life and existence revolves around humanity. Though the belief is the humanity is for God, in actuality, and if you really think about it, the relationship is reversed. (Feuerbach may have a point here).  Everything that God designed, created and planned is for the benefit of humanity. We may still call this the humanity-centered cosmology of Christianity (This is my blog, so I will use any terms I like!). Though the destruction of the Christian theocentric view of the world which was brought upon by the skeptics who espoused doubts and denying the truth of experiences and facts that freed humanity from the yoke of ecclesiastical control and restraints and ushered in the modern era in the industrial, economical and especially in the intellectual sphere, humanity has not escaped the belief that he is unique-a one and only begotten son. Of course the skepticism has its culmination in the Humean denial of a God to even the nihilistic destruction of God and religion by Nietszche and the existentialist thinkers who espoused atheism and Sartrean responsibility which freed humanity from the fear and even guilt of atheism. Though I am still on the belief that the atheistic freedom carried with it the unbearable burden of living an absurd and meaningless existence which Nietszche tried to soften by espousing the concept of the Uberman and Sartre’s suggestion that by being free and living an absurd existence, we could create our very meaning for our existence, there is some hope in faith. But of course the realization that we live our lives so that we could have salvation to live an eternal life in heaven has its own absurdities too that is more painful…

Anyway, his provincial outlook that we are God’s one and only begotten son in the universe may have to change to take Paul’s words we should not be confined to Jerusalem, we have to go to Judea, Samaria and all the nations….err…why not to the other life forms… The ladder of consciousness may take another step further directing our scientific as well as our intellectual and even our theological enterprise to get past our understanding of our souls and our confinement of our little planet to the reality that God may have other children and flock outside the fold and outside this planet (no, I’m not losing my mind…).

Of course, with the alien question, the greatest threat and Christian theology’s greatest fears are the repudiation of God’s revelation and the displacement of humanity from God’s universe. (Personally, I, me, and myself alone, believes that the existence of alien life forms or ETs does not, in anyway, endanger God.) The fear is that with the possibility of even thinking that there may be life in the universe other than ours runs counter to God’s special creation of humanity and God’s special revelation . This thinking, unfortunately, may be the last firewall and defense to the acceptance of the probable reality of the existence of alien life forms. This cannot be avoided since Christianity, just like other religions, are built upon special revelations. And special revelations are not open to emendations, they only allow re-interpretations.

Is God an alien? Is Jesus an alien hybrid?

I believe that God will not take it against me to sometime think this way because I believe when he has given me an intellect (distorted to some it may be) God has given me the freedom to think on my own. God has given me the freedom to question, to think, and to even make up my own reality. God will be the last to call me an heretic and insane. Anyway, is God an alien? Yes! Because if we study the Bible, Jesus is always telling us that this is not God’s world. This is not God’s plane of existence. God’s has plans for us, God has created a world with many rooms for us. This is what we look forward, this world is not ours. God will give us a new body, an alien body designed to inhabit a new alien world. By the fact that God cannot show his face to us, gives me inkling that God is an alien-he is not of this world.

Is Jesus an alien-human hybrid? After an introduction into the bloody christological controversies and the mind bending and unintelligible solutions of what is termed as the hypostatic union of natures in Christ, which is really a medieval construct  influenced by the medieval thinking…anyways…maybe its time to look at it through our postmodern eyes and to define terms using our own world...looking through it using the lens of our time.


 I’m having headaches already…

More into the future….

  

Motorcycle, Disco, Penitensya and a little theology of pain

Yesterday, I was on a motorcycle and listening to KC and the Sunshine Band singing “That’s the way” and following a crowd shouting “crucify him!” while two centurions carrying two large bamboo piggy bank go from jeepneys to bystanders asking for donations made me stop, look, listen and scratch my head. The irony and the incongruity of it all almost made me want to get down from the motorcycle, grab the cross, carry it, then sing “That’s the way I like it” while swaying to the rhythm of disco’s groove and horn…Of course this  sounded sacrosanct, but, sometimes the mind had its own way of dealing with absurdities, go insane or to be more adaptive and survivalistic,  think of little crazy things. 

Anyway, for all the traditions and the holiness we attached to holy week, there’s one thing that I need to talk about. It’s the question that nags me every time I see penitensyas done in the street: Why there has to be pain? If you ask me, Lent especially Good Friday is one big sadistic traditional festival very similar to that of the hedonistic Mardi gras that is also, incidentally, part of the observance of the Lenten season, where exhibitionism and flagrant sensuality rules the day. (Mardi gras in English is fat Tuesday. It is the tradition of celebrating and eating all you can before the beginning of the fasting season of lent which is Ash Wednesday). There is a thin line, actually the relationship is direct and complementary, between pain and sensuality.Orgasm and dying are both ecstatic-medically speaking of course.

In the Philippines it is belief that self inflicted suffering like whipping and the literal crucifixion of a devotee to imitate the sufferings of Christ brings with it forgiveness and washing of sins, and, also expected are healing, blessings, and the granting of prayers.

Although many religion practice self inflicted pain as an initiation rite and also as a way to induce ecstatic experience, the Christian tradition, or understanding,  of pain and death of Christ is that of representational  or vicarious in that the sufferings and death of one man, the second Adam, all may live. So, if I follow, Christ suffered and died to give life, and that is by ransom, by redemption, that resulted in our justification before God. Christ's death sufficed. Although many saints suffered and was martyred, it’s not because they intentionally chose to, but it’s because of the hostility of their era to Christ and Christianity and to expect Christians to suffer in the way these saints did is absurd. That is why Paul stressed the spiritual aspect of suffering and the nailing on the cross of our fleshly nature because of the dangers of Christinity going the way of Stoicism, which Paul fought vehemently during his time. The teachings that espouses the denial of the body and the glorification of suffering and physical pain. Unfortunately, the mythologization of the lives of the saints, real or fictional, resulted to the glorification of self mortification at the expense of the joys and the blessings of a saving relationship with Christ.

Penitensyas, unfortunately, still espouses the discredited and dumped dogma of indulgences because it deemed self mortification as a bargaining chip, not different from that of the excess merits of Christ and the saints, to win favor from God based on what humanity could give and not grounded upon the grace and perfection of God. What can humanity add to the sufferings of Christ? Nothing. It is the acceptance and the realization that the suffering of one man is enough for us all-that is what we must to-accept grace for we cannot add anything to God's perfection.  

Penitensya is odd because if it is to be understood as an imitation of Christ, it does not accomplish much. Observe that after the lashings and the crucifixions, after a few days, most of these people are back to their former selves with not a trace of change in them. Experiencing Christ does not necessarily has to be painful, but it must be life changing.

The practice and tradition of self mortification has its scriptural source in the writings of St. Paul; Romans 6:13 “If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye live through the Spirit to mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”; Col. 3:5 “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” Though the implications of the verses are spiritual and do not necessitates self mortification, the traditionalization of the penitnesyas may well be the result of the Catholic Church’s institutionalization or at the very least toleration of the penitensyas.  

 It is only lately that the church, as a whole, started issuing strong repudiation of the necessity of self mortification on a Biblical as well as for health reasons. Also, with the attention that penitensyas are getting, the evil of commercialization is starting to rear its ugly head. People are not getting nailed on the cross for religious and even ecstatic reasons; the primary motivation now is manna-money, the love of which St. Paul rightly said as the root of all evil. Because of this the Catholic Church realized that the religious and spiritual aspect of most penitensyas is taking a backseat and is now just a peripheral justification for the observance of penitensyas and what is emerging is one lucrative business: the religious-cultic-tourism. They are now taking steps but centuries of traditions and the pull of making money cannot be changed in a day.

Why is there pain? I don't know gaadddaafffi...

 The absurdity of it all is saddening. Its like riding on a motorcycle, listening to KC and the Sunshine Band singing “That’s the way” while watching a young boy dressed like a Christ re-enacting crucifixion. Where is this leading to?

Back to basics people! Jesus saves.

And back to my breakfast...I like blogging while eating!