Carried away

EVERY TIME someone asks me why I write what they call as “deep thought pieces,” I don’t know but I uncontrollably become suspicious and defensive.

Experience warns me that though comments like that can be said as a compliment, many of them actually veil an unspoken criticism.

And that is that my articles are often too abstract or theoretical for local audience, a kind of armchair adviser. Worse, that they actually have neither relevance nor use for anyone! That they are just hot air and above people’s needs!

Of course, I’m fully aware that such comments are highly relative. Compared to writings of first-class intellectuals, mine sound like baby babble or a
child’s doodling.

Just the same, I heartily thank them for their comments, whether sincerely
given or with some hidden complaint.

In the event I get enough basis to think it’s the latter case, I try to reassure them that what I intend to achieve with my articles is to give readers at least another view of things.

Life is so rich and complex that it just cannot be seen and understood in modes we are accustomed so far to having. We have to welcome a more interdisciplinary way of looking at things.

At our age, I think we have to be more open to a rapidly increasing variety
of developments. This, of course, without getting lost or falling into relativism that largely considers every position equal. Not everything can be resolved by purely numerical consensus.

In my case, I try to put in a little of theology and spirituality to any issue at bar. I believe this angle, no matter how amateurishly done, contributes to a deeper understanding of things. It can give a finely nuanced dynamic of things.

Some may find this approach out of place in a world like ours today. But
that is the point. I like that whatever issues or questions we tackle in our public forums be given some theological treatment, since in the end no matter how mundane they are, they will always have some relation to faith and morals.

These issues are not purely political, economic or social. Unless they are given a theological context, opinions in these areas will tend to extremes of being coercive or chaotic. They easily get carried away by all sorts of biases and passions.

We have to overcome the ghost conflict between our earthly affairs and religion. We have to learn to appreciate the crucial link between them, because that link certainly exists and demands to be respected. We've been ignoring it for quite sometime now.

Our faith, especially enunciated in the social doctrine, provides a deeper underpinning and an integrating and sobering element to our diverse views that are often expressed in strident tones.

This is because our faith, properly understood, lived and applied with the
use of theology, links whatever position we may have in our affairs to our ultimate goal. It gives the continuing attention and the finishing touches to our discussions, providing a more universal scope than just parochial.

Our faith provides the constant impulses and the proper directions to our discussions. It takes us away from the pitfalls of entirely human arguments, often divisive, violent and loaded with negative elements.

It enables us to be charitable always, because in the end it will remind us that in spite of our differences and conflicts in views and positions, we are all brothers and sisters.

The unifying quality of our faith goes further than what our common historical and cultural heritage can achieve. This is because our faith gives the basis, guidance and direction even to our culture and historical life as a nation.

As chaplain of a technical school for boys, I always encourage everybody to go further than learning technical skills. The students have to have a clear understanding of the faith.

More than that, they should translate that knowledge into appropriate attitudes and virtues. Otherwise, they will be handily carried away by their passions, an easy prey to the many temptations lurking just about everywhere.