Knowledge VS Wisdom
Posted at 08:30 AM

"There is only one way to learn," the alchemist answered. "It's through action. Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.” (p132)

 

            Knowledge versus Wisdom.

            Knowing everything doesn’t necessarily mean that you are wise and being wise doesn’t necessarily make you a person capable of knowing anything.

            They say that to understand the future, we should analyze our past. Learn history that is. The theories that infest our minds when we enter college do all but show us the real thing. And so the experience believers were born.

            They are those that believe that experience is the better teacher. Take a case for example. Julian knows that beer is bitter and it make you go haywire when too much of it is in your system. She knows that it is bad but she still tastes it. Curiosity? Perhaps. But then she wants to experience it firsthand. Whether she gets hooked by it or affirms the theories about it, it is her personality that would decide.

            Let’s assume that learning and knowing are two different things. Learning is reading or studying about a particular thing or instance while knowing is actually learning the same thing in a first-person way. It may waste more time but you never digest what you learn until you truly know. It is what you know that gives you the conviction to do or not to do a thing. Learning, on the other hand, render things half-baked.

            But is experience the best teacher? Not alone perhaps. For we should not walk in the dark just relying on the other four senses. A candle would be handy. So that we would not stumble. So that we would not fall down. So that we can have even a vague sense of the other side. So that we may continue our journey.
the alchemist keyboard taps

The Parable OF The Sponge
Posted at 07:49 AM

“People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don't deserve them, or that they'll be unable to achieve them.” (p136)

            It is the one thing that holds others back. Fear. And with that comes ego. People are generally afraid to fail. It is the moment that they try to decide on something but when seeing the totality of it; they get afraid that they may be swallowed by the whole idea.

            It’s just like our professor’s story of feeling a bit afraid when facing the ocean on a beach. She thinks that the sea will come around her and engulf her to the point of being able to breathe. Well, standing (or sitting, for that matter) on a beach is just like reality. The ocean is life.

            We have the natural desire to control our lives. And with that inspiration, we tend to learn all things around us. And just when we learn it all, we will find out that there’s more. What we have stored in wisdom is just but a fraction of what is in the real world, of how things work and how things are. Our minds are just like a sponge the size of a big hand and the world is a pail of water. And still it is said that we only use less than 30% of our brains.

            So that makes us chickens. But yellow as we are, we should not rely purely on intuition and emotions. We should also know history and have hope and faith in imagination. Each time we try to think of a thing that seems impossible, we should try to see. Has anybody ever done it? If yes, then why can’t I? If not, then maybe I could if I do it right. In the end, optimism is a wishful answer.

            And yes, the sponge can suck up all the water in that pail. You just have to do it systematically.
Philosophy of MAn keyboard keys tappin'

Alchemy
Posted at 08:32 AM

“Men have never understood the words of the wise. So gold, instead of being seen as a symbol of evolution, become the basis for conflict”
-from the book The Alchemist

            Men have always been fascinated with the unknown. It makes sense. For they are constantly challenging their minds and exerting all efforts to prove that they are capable of inventing themselves. It is man’s nature to try to fill in what is empty within. In a particular case, knowledge.

            The search for knowledge is like a pyramid. Wherein the higher it is, the less space there is. And in some instances, it gets constricting and claustrophobic. Because as many fall and give up, the ones who pursue ends up having a steelier drive to get what they want. Even if it means doing all their means just to achieve their ends. Even if it means conflict or war.

            People fight to be on top. And to be on top means acquiring something that other’s don’t have. Sometimes it is about power. The ridicule of the haves and the not-haves. And as they go on their proverbial quests, they forget the real purpose of it all. What wise men say. That it is not about having a particular thing, but how to have that particular thing.  A quest for the prize. But the quest for that prize is a prize in itself.

            And so here is what I suggest. Find time to smell the flowers. Before embarking on a journey, make sure to know what lies ahead, what is there to hold us, to make or break us. Ask the question, is this journey a realization of reality? Or segment of illusionist fantasy that serves as a catalyst into a higher purpose of setting off. Smell the flowers if they are real, ‘coz maybe they’re not really there.

            Bon voyage caballero!
blues

Detour
Posted at 08:27 AM

 

“We make a lot of detours, but we’re always heading for the same destination”
-from the book The Alchemist

 

            The pessimists say that our final destination is death whilst the optimists say that at the end of the trip is the nirvana of self realization. Both are correct. It just depends on what kind of person you are.

            In this journey that we call life, we make a lot of stops. Some are to make us feel bad, and some to uplift our souls. Some try to break. Some try to create. And some are there to heal. But they are all there to make us who we are. All those are not meant to be regretted. But I can’t help someone feeling otherwise. After all, life is a bitch. And like a bitch, it laughs in your face. But bitches too are promulgators of pleasure in its own wicked sense. It is a part of life. Thinking about it reminds me of a famous cliché.

            “It’s not about the destination, it’s all about the trip (journey).”

            Who are we? What are we here for? Travelers, perhaps? Pilgrims? Just like a caravan of gypsies out to make their destiny. Or it can also be comparable to a bunch of Hebrews marching for a Promised Land. But be it gypsies or Hebrews, they are bound to arrive. And to arrive at someplace is parallel to their desire to arrive at a place where life is much easier for them and at the same time comparable to a man’s quest for answers that comprised the first two sentences of this paragraph.

            Life is not just about existence. It is also the purpose of existence. And if you don’t have a purpose in life, then you don’t really live. We are all going to die. But would be better if you die knowing that somehow, you lived?
magenta clicks and beeps

A Free Press For Sale
Posted at 09:28 AM

What drives a man to do evil? Is it his inherence to sin? Or maybe it is his needs that are to be satisfied? It can be likened to the rhetorical situation of a man stealing just to feed the hungry mouth of his offspring, or the sacrificing of a few to benefit the many.

It is of no surprise that journalism in former communist-turned-authoritarian Russia has morphed into a, in a phrase, a free press for sale. This is a country that has been under Soviet rule for years and is well versed in propaganda techniques of which have echoes of it until now, even after the fall of Communism. As wisenuts may say, “practices rooted in culture are hard to diminish.”

A classic example is the system of Zakhazukha, where companies pay publications or individual journalists for positive coverage-or no coverage at all. Here in the Philippines, we may see it as “envelopmental journalism” in a much more advanced state. Media expert Aleksey Pankin, editor of the Sreda trade magazine, estimates that of Russia’s 7,500 newspapers, TV and radio outlets, only 200 don’t take money on the side.

Transpose that to our country, the beautiful Philippine islands. Dubbed as one of the most corrupt nations in Asia (and even the world), we had our fair share of the tumult that envelopes the whole media industry. I’ve been to press briefings where we are handed a “gift” enclosed in an envelope afterwards. That’s not just it, once you don that ID with the blue and white MEDIA in it, politicians become extra sweet, treating you breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Suddenly, you feel like your level is a bit higher than those plastic scumbags, yet you are not, for it is you that is on the lowest level of the hierarchy. There are a whole lot more of “techniques” in the business. There’s ACDC, there’s the ATM and if you still are playing tough, you might as well join the ranks of over a hundred journalists “neutralized”. Scary thing, as we are at par with Columbia now, being the most dangerous countries for a journalist to live in.

Now, how do you think students who are gearing to be professional journalists, would react to that?

Imagine being raised in a decent university, which is advocating fair play and ethical practices. And then, you suddenly realize that when you graduate, the things that you know are not what is really happening. You are in the four corners of your classroom dreaming about doing what you want in the purity and whiteness of the chalk yet it is charcoal that the big men are using in real life. Depressing it may seem. But why are we still here? Is it the appeal of being in the industry? Is Media then, a perfect epitome of the “sweet lemon” cliché?

It is a vicious cycle. You enter with relative innocence. Innocence is bliss, so you are happy. Then your eyes are slowly being opened and you see the real light of it all. Yet you stick. For three reasons, perhaps. One, you learn to live with it. Two, have to live with it. And three, which is what is supposed to be, we stick because we want to change how we live it.

tug of war silence

On Love and Hate
Posted at 11:34 AM

How can you face the future if you can't let go of the past?

Since the dawn of humanity, there was love. The love that binds the existence of man. The duality that is male and female. Of God and servant, of darkness and light. It is this love that makes us conscious of things around us. It defines our presence in the universe. For we existed because of love.

Yet at times, it is also love that causes hate. For how can you feel hate without the former? Hate is a dangerous byproduct. It is its evil twin. There are many accounts wherein great love turned into great hate. What do you think is the culprit here?

Ignorance. Rumor thrives on ignorance and rumors when proven either consciously, sub-consciously or unconsciously generates loathing which eventulay turns into hate. Death, on its worst, is a bitter aftershock.

Love is a beautiful thing. But sometimes the love that you felt must be let out before it generates hate. Love looks forward. it moves forward, not backwards. For love is about the future, not the past.
Love and Hate

Mythologies
Posted at 02:55 PM

Myths and legends, by definition, are stories made by our ancestors to explain unnatural and unexplainable events throughout history. Though a bit exaggerated by modern standards, these stories captivated the hearts and the minds of the people, endearing them in songs, verses, poems and narratives. Eventually, literature came to be known as one of the things that define a culture, which defines a nation.

Take the example of Aponi-tulao, who, with his impulsiveness, caused a great flood in Luzon. Here’s my take. Every mythology, legend speaks of a great flood. China has the story of the flooding of the Yellow river. The Sumerians has the story of the epic of Gilgamesh. There’s even the great flood endured by Noah, during the Old Testament times. Scientists also discovered that there is a tendency for the earth to tilt on its axis every four thousand years as the ice on the poles gets heavier and heavier. This was emphasized by the book The HAB Theory (a fiction).

Another example is the epic of Lam-Ang in which, the hero has a superhuman strength. In fact, almost every legend exhibits of this extraordinary strength. From the godly powers of Hercules to the strength of Achilles. We tend to make the heroes in our story greater than they are. More powerful than they are. If Alexander killed 2 men at once, legend will tell that he killed a battalion single-handedly. Gandalf’s light staff, equipped with a candle or a torch, may be said to cause an inferno.

Myths are fun. And we know that it is exaggerated reality. Sure, they are didactic, tells tales of good and uses poetic justice. But what of the parting of the Red sea? The plagues of Egypt? Are the fiery chariots but a mere representation of human rockets?

Is the Bible a myth? Only time can tell.
the great flood non

System Defragmentation
Posted at 05:09 PM

It was one late afternoon when I felt my head throb like a heart on steroids in the heat of the scorching sun amidst the wintriness of December. The sultriness of the atmosphere that revolves amongst the tabloids is but a pinch compared to the totality of the country’s turmoil. I care.

After all, I am still a Filipino. Who is not to be proud of our country? We are overflowing with beauty and identity. Our rich culture can even make Alexander the great grit with envy. We are the workforce of the world. We are a mélange of different races marooned in a group of around seven thousand islands supposed to be complimenting each other working towards a utopian way of living.

However, wait and look back a little. Zoom out. See the bigger picture. Are we who we say we are? On the other hand, are we just mere pretenders living in a phony cognition that we are just okay and that the situation is tolerable? Do we see a light at the end of this dim tunnel?

Okay. Therefore, you want me to define what the quagmire that I am talking about is.

Look around. Find a nearby person as your subject. Then picture these in your mind. Do you think that that person is living his/her life with just the right happiness? Moreover, when I say happiness, I am talking about it in a matured way. Yes. Money. Is he/she getting the right amount and is happy about it? Then look around again and find another person. In a hundred people that you may encounter, you may find the majority to be barely just getting by life. Life in the Philippines.

So come to think of it. The once perfect right triangle of the division of social classes is getting more obtuse with each passing generation. With each passing president. With each passing government. In fairness to them, they do try their best to uplift Luzviminda’s status but it just does not seem enough. Not like how Lee Kuan Yew did to Singapore or Mao Zedong of China. The higher classes are becoming a smaller percentage of the total population. More of the middle class are going downwards in social status, and much more of the poor are diving into the abyss past the poverty line.

So what may be wrong? The people? The presidents? The personas in power? Or maybe, just maybe, the system?
Phil. Consti. hands down