I REMEMBER an old song, happily revived in a movie some years ago, that has a line that struck me while I was watching the film. The line was: “I’ll be looking at the moon, but I’ll be seeing you.”
Of course, the song had a beautiful, haunting melody. That, in itself, was
enough to enthrall me, a hopeless romantic, especially in my younger years. But the line resurrected my curiosity in probing the difference between looking and seeing.
Both actions involve our eyes. But I think there’s a big difference between
looking and seeing. Looking is the more active and intentional act. While seeing is the more passive and receptive act.
Looking uses the eyes as its door of exit, projecting what is inside a person’s mind and heart. It gives meaning and color to what one sees. Like the mouth spoken of in the gospel—“Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”—the eyes used in looking practically reveal what’s inside us.
Seeing uses the eyes as its entrance door, apprehending things around and
eliciting instinctive reactions in our inner senses. It discerns qualities like shape, size, color, position and posture crucial for us to start to know and relate things.
It’s good that we learn to distinguish between the two so that we later on would know how to put them together. We may separate them from time to time, for some reasons, but in the end, they go together. As I understand it, the process looks like we first see things, then
we
look at them, then we see them again in a different light. The first seeing is an entirely sensible act. When we start to look, we apply our intelligence to what we see. That’s when we see things differently now.
Again as I understand it, the process is a continuing cycle that can either be an upward spiral toward our development and maturity, or a downward spiral to our regression and perversity.
Thus, a great sense of responsibility has to infuse our seeing and looking. We just cannot be complacent about this duty, simply allowing our instincts and emotions to rule over them. Our intelligence, then our faith, has to guide them. Nothing less than our dignity is at stake here.
I remember that in my teen years, someone close to me advised me to avoid
looking at certain things that I might see. He talked to me about developing a custody of the eyes, which later on developed into a custody of the heart.
I understood the advice, and was mightily thankful for it because it helped
me cruise safely those tricky and turbulent adolescent years. It was not easy, but I managed to survive, thanks be to God.
To a large extent, it’s skills like this, knowing how to distinguish and relate looking and seeing, that help us to maintain purity of eyes and purity of heart, crucial in seeing God, as the beatitude affirms:
“Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.” (Mt. 5,8). And again: “Blessed are your eyes, because they see…” (Mt 13,16)
The proper use of our eyes in the endless cycle of looking and seeing is indispensable if we want to immerse ourselves ultimately in God while still in this world.
With our eyes, we should not just be confined to the physical and natural world. With our eyes, we can enter the world of faith and love, of spiritual and supernatural realities. A living connection is then made between our senses and our soul.
This is actually what those mature Christian souls, the contemplatives, enjoy. These people may look like us, and yet they see things very differently. They can see God in everything.
Even the ugliest things our biological eyes see can occasion the presence and mercy of God when seen with the developed eyes of faith and burning love of God.
We should try to arrive at this condition of our eyes. When you have another eye check with your ophthalmologist, try to check your spiritual vision also.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Sunday, September 2, 2007
People power
I THINK the concept of people power has to be redefined, or better said, allowed to grow and develop into its more mature form. It’s been crying for this need. We should give more serious attention to it. It should not be wasted.
As it is now, it looks like it’s a tool exploited by unscrupulous politicians quick to cause mob rule to advance their political views. Often these views are clearly selfish and narrow but cleverly dressed as something good for the people.
For this purpose, many calculating politicians want people power to remain puerile and stunted, that can easily be swayed by any wind of sentiment and doctrine that happen to win popularity at a given moment.
That is, they want the people to be childish: shallow in thinking, rash in judgment, and drastic, even violent in action. They just want the people to hang on the politicians’ skirts, or to stick like a shadow of these men.
This clearly goes against what St. Paul advised: “Brethren, do not become children in sense, but in malice be children, and in sense be perfect.” (1 Cor 14,20)
Or what our Lord himself said: “Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be therefore wise as serpents and simples as doves.” (Mt 10,16)
People power has to gain more depth and insight, more prudence and active vigilance, better ability to effect change in a more human way. It has to stay away from the volatility and instability of raging passions and mindless mob actions.
This will obviously require continuing education. I hope that everyone helps, as well as realizes that he also has to learn. The families, schools and the Church should spearhead this. But the effort should also be reinforced by the media and by the politicians themselves.
There are basic guidelines to follow. A very fundamental virtue in this regard is prudence. It is the ability to weigh things properly. It involves study, data gathering, consultations and dialogue, then judgment, a plan of action, and action itself. Short of action, prudence would not be authentic prudence.
As a virtue, prudence has to be a permanent feature in our actions, a living element much like our heartbeat. We have to say this, because there are people who think prudence comes only when we are faced with special concerns.
Prudence, being a living virtue, should be open to everything. This does not mean that we assume the attitude of anything goes. It simply means we are willing to begin and begin again, do and redo things, reinvent and renew ourselves as often as necessary.
In this regard, it would be good to understand well the ways of freedom and
charity. This is crucial because in tackling different views and opinions, we have to respect one another’s positions. No need for intrigue-sowing, nor for bickering, judging people’s motives, etc.
No matter how we may disagree from one another, at the end of the day we
are all brothers and sisters who are obliged to love one another. Sooner or later, the best position, the most fair and acceptable, will prevail. We need to be patient and to have good control over our emotions and passions.
With a more prudent people power, we can calmly sift what are essential from what are not in any given issue, we can set proper priorities for our development strategies. We have to be wary of some politician’s diversionary, if not destabilizing tactics.
With a more vigilant people power, we can sooner or later detect moves and initiatives that are not really in step with the demands of the common good. We can discern those clever, manipulative, and self-serving actions of politicians.
We can be good watchdogs, knowledgeable, for example, about the steps projects have to take from start to finish, and able to monitor the flow of responsibility and money involved.
This is crucial to our social life and unity. It’s only in this way that we can hope corruption in government offices high and low can be minimized, if not eliminated and made a thing of the past.
As it is now, it looks like it’s a tool exploited by unscrupulous politicians quick to cause mob rule to advance their political views. Often these views are clearly selfish and narrow but cleverly dressed as something good for the people.
For this purpose, many calculating politicians want people power to remain puerile and stunted, that can easily be swayed by any wind of sentiment and doctrine that happen to win popularity at a given moment.
That is, they want the people to be childish: shallow in thinking, rash in judgment, and drastic, even violent in action. They just want the people to hang on the politicians’ skirts, or to stick like a shadow of these men.
This clearly goes against what St. Paul advised: “Brethren, do not become children in sense, but in malice be children, and in sense be perfect.” (1 Cor 14,20)
Or what our Lord himself said: “Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be therefore wise as serpents and simples as doves.” (Mt 10,16)
People power has to gain more depth and insight, more prudence and active vigilance, better ability to effect change in a more human way. It has to stay away from the volatility and instability of raging passions and mindless mob actions.
This will obviously require continuing education. I hope that everyone helps, as well as realizes that he also has to learn. The families, schools and the Church should spearhead this. But the effort should also be reinforced by the media and by the politicians themselves.
There are basic guidelines to follow. A very fundamental virtue in this regard is prudence. It is the ability to weigh things properly. It involves study, data gathering, consultations and dialogue, then judgment, a plan of action, and action itself. Short of action, prudence would not be authentic prudence.
As a virtue, prudence has to be a permanent feature in our actions, a living element much like our heartbeat. We have to say this, because there are people who think prudence comes only when we are faced with special concerns.
Prudence, being a living virtue, should be open to everything. This does not mean that we assume the attitude of anything goes. It simply means we are willing to begin and begin again, do and redo things, reinvent and renew ourselves as often as necessary.
In this regard, it would be good to understand well the ways of freedom and
charity. This is crucial because in tackling different views and opinions, we have to respect one another’s positions. No need for intrigue-sowing, nor for bickering, judging people’s motives, etc.
No matter how we may disagree from one another, at the end of the day we
are all brothers and sisters who are obliged to love one another. Sooner or later, the best position, the most fair and acceptable, will prevail. We need to be patient and to have good control over our emotions and passions.
With a more prudent people power, we can calmly sift what are essential from what are not in any given issue, we can set proper priorities for our development strategies. We have to be wary of some politician’s diversionary, if not destabilizing tactics.
With a more vigilant people power, we can sooner or later detect moves and initiatives that are not really in step with the demands of the common good. We can discern those clever, manipulative, and self-serving actions of politicians.
We can be good watchdogs, knowledgeable, for example, about the steps projects have to take from start to finish, and able to monitor the flow of responsibility and money involved.
This is crucial to our social life and unity. It’s only in this way that we can hope corruption in government offices high and low can be minimized, if not eliminated and made a thing of the past.
People power
I THINK the concept of people power has to be redefined, or better said, allowed to grow and develop into its more mature form. It’s been crying for this need. We should give more serious attention to it. It should not be wasted.
As it is now, it looks like it’s a tool exploited by unscrupulous politicians quick to cause mob rule to advance their political views. Often these views are clearly selfish and narrow but cleverly dressed as something good for the people.
For this purpose, many calculating politicians want people power to remain puerile and stunted, that can easily be swayed by any wind of sentiment and doctrine that happen to win popularity at a given moment.
That is, they want the people to be childish: shallow in thinking, rash in judgment, and drastic, even violent in action. They just want the people to hang on the politicians’ skirts, or to stick like a shadow of these men.
This clearly goes against what St. Paul advised: “Brethren, do not become children in sense, but in malice be children, and in sense be perfect.” (1 Cor 14,20)
Or what our Lord himself said: “Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be therefore wise as serpents and simples as doves.” (Mt 10,16)
People power has to gain more depth and insight, more prudence and active vigilance, better ability to effect change in a more human way. It has to stay away from the volatility and instability of raging passions and mindless mob actions.
This will obviously require continuing education. I hope that everyone helps, as well as realizes that he also has to learn. The families, schools and the Church should spearhead this. But the effort should also be reinforced by the media and by the politicians themselves.
There are basic guidelines to follow. A very fundamental virtue in this regard is prudence. It is the ability to weigh things properly. It involves study, data gathering, consultations and dialogue, then judgment, a plan of action, and action itself. Short of action, prudence would not be authentic prudence.
As a virtue, prudence has to be a permanent feature in our actions, a living element much like our heartbeat. We have to say this, because there are people who think prudence comes only when we are faced with special concerns.
Prudence, being a living virtue, should be open to everything. This does not mean that we assume the attitude of anything goes. It simply means we are willing to begin and begin again, do and redo things, reinvent and renew ourselves as often as necessary.
In this regard, it would be good to understand well the ways of freedom and
charity. This is crucial because in tackling different views and opinions, we have to respect one another’s positions. No need for intrigue-sowing, nor for bickering, judging people’s motives, etc.
No matter how we may disagree from one another, at the end of the day we
are all brothers and sisters who are obliged to love one another. Sooner or later, the best position, the most fair and acceptable, will prevail. We need to be patient and to have good control over our emotions and passions.
With a more prudent people power, we can calmly sift what are essential from what are not in any given issue, we can set proper priorities for our development strategies. We have to be wary of some politician’s diversionary, if not destabilizing tactics.
With a more vigilant people power, we can sooner or later detect moves and initiatives that are not really in step with the demands of the common good. We can discern those clever, manipulative, and self-serving actions of politicians.
We can be good watchdogs, knowledgeable, for example, about the steps projects have to take from start to finish, and able to monitor the flow of responsibility and money involved.
This is crucial to our social life and unity. It’s only in this way that we can hope corruption in government offices high and low can be minimized, if not eliminated and made a thing of the past.
As it is now, it looks like it’s a tool exploited by unscrupulous politicians quick to cause mob rule to advance their political views. Often these views are clearly selfish and narrow but cleverly dressed as something good for the people.
For this purpose, many calculating politicians want people power to remain puerile and stunted, that can easily be swayed by any wind of sentiment and doctrine that happen to win popularity at a given moment.
That is, they want the people to be childish: shallow in thinking, rash in judgment, and drastic, even violent in action. They just want the people to hang on the politicians’ skirts, or to stick like a shadow of these men.
This clearly goes against what St. Paul advised: “Brethren, do not become children in sense, but in malice be children, and in sense be perfect.” (1 Cor 14,20)
Or what our Lord himself said: “Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be therefore wise as serpents and simples as doves.” (Mt 10,16)
People power has to gain more depth and insight, more prudence and active vigilance, better ability to effect change in a more human way. It has to stay away from the volatility and instability of raging passions and mindless mob actions.
This will obviously require continuing education. I hope that everyone helps, as well as realizes that he also has to learn. The families, schools and the Church should spearhead this. But the effort should also be reinforced by the media and by the politicians themselves.
There are basic guidelines to follow. A very fundamental virtue in this regard is prudence. It is the ability to weigh things properly. It involves study, data gathering, consultations and dialogue, then judgment, a plan of action, and action itself. Short of action, prudence would not be authentic prudence.
As a virtue, prudence has to be a permanent feature in our actions, a living element much like our heartbeat. We have to say this, because there are people who think prudence comes only when we are faced with special concerns.
Prudence, being a living virtue, should be open to everything. This does not mean that we assume the attitude of anything goes. It simply means we are willing to begin and begin again, do and redo things, reinvent and renew ourselves as often as necessary.
In this regard, it would be good to understand well the ways of freedom and
charity. This is crucial because in tackling different views and opinions, we have to respect one another’s positions. No need for intrigue-sowing, nor for bickering, judging people’s motives, etc.
No matter how we may disagree from one another, at the end of the day we
are all brothers and sisters who are obliged to love one another. Sooner or later, the best position, the most fair and acceptable, will prevail. We need to be patient and to have good control over our emotions and passions.
With a more prudent people power, we can calmly sift what are essential from what are not in any given issue, we can set proper priorities for our development strategies. We have to be wary of some politician’s diversionary, if not destabilizing tactics.
With a more vigilant people power, we can sooner or later detect moves and initiatives that are not really in step with the demands of the common good. We can discern those clever, manipulative, and self-serving actions of politicians.
We can be good watchdogs, knowledgeable, for example, about the steps projects have to take from start to finish, and able to monitor the flow of responsibility and money involved.
This is crucial to our social life and unity. It’s only in this way that we can hope corruption in government offices high and low can be minimized, if not eliminated and made a thing of the past.
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