WE are supposed to be creatures of faith, but I wonder how we are living according to that ideal. We can look around, and we can readily see signs and symptoms that faith is not lived as it should. Faith seems to be in crisis.
Faith is a human necessity. We cannot rely simply on our reason or intelligence, no matter how high it may be. Much less do we solely depend on our senses, no matter how indispensable they are.
We need faith. We need to believe, because we are meant for it. We need faith because we know there’s a world beyond what our intelligence can penetrate, and we need to enter it since it’s a world to which we belong also.
Our intelligence is more like the moon rather than like the sun. It reflects light, and thus its light is a reflected light. It’s not the original source of light. In our system, that light source is the sun. Our problem starts when we make our intelligence like the sun instead of the moon.
Our intelligence emits light insofar as it receives and processes data first from outside itself, and then once it has accumulated some data, it can emit light also from within itself. It has to receive something first, before it can give.
Usually we start using the information we gather from the material world. But from there, it can build its own reservoir of knowledge and can continue reflecting on it, emitting more light along the way.
Still our intelligence can detect that there is still another source of light other than the material world and itself. In fact, this source is the higher and the ultimate one, ever stimulating the mind to catch it but can never quite get it.
It’s the world of the spiritual, and more than that, the world of the supernatural, shrouded in mysteries that are truths that surpass our intelligence’s capacity to understand. This is where we simply have to believe. Of course, we can also choose not to believe.
This is the world where we are asked to have faith. This is where we are capable of going beyond the limitations of our human condition to merge ourselves into a deeper, richer albeit supernatural reality.
Our problem often is that we get stuck with the sensible and intelligible realities. We ignore the supernatural realities. We prefer to stay on the natural level, failing to see our nature’s longing for the supernatural.
We can even go to the extent of claiming that there’s nothing supernatural, nothing outside what is natural, what we can understand. But our catechism says:
“The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for.” (27)
Obviously, the skepticism about the supernatural world and about faith can stem from the fact that myths and superstitions have very often spoiled if not annulled whatever tendency we may have toward the supernatural.
We are afraid that all talk about faith and the supernatural world may just redound to some subtle human invention or some tricks that our mind and will can play on us, that is, that such claim really has no objective basis, that everything is purely subjective.
This predicament does not totally negate the existence of objective basis for faith and the supernatural world. Rather, it leads us to discern which among the different faith systems truly have an objective basis.
In the case of the Christian faith, it is based on a divine revelation—God coming to us—that is historical, involving a real person and other personages, and events and teachings that can be historically verified. It’s not a figment of someone’s or a people’s imagination.
We need to live by faith. For this we need to learn how to think using not only our reason, but also faith. This requires study and the development of certain habits—like praying, reflecting, recollecting, etc.
The ideal to reach is that we get to develop such a life of faith that would enable us to see God and his ways in all our daily events and activities big and small. We become contemplatives.
This is our crisis of faith. Not so much doctrinal controversies as our indifference to our task to live by faith at every moment.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Mountain retreatBy
I JUST had the very precious privilege to spend a few days in a mountain retreat somewhere in the elevated fastness of Bukidnon. It was a very cool place, windy, often wet and shrouded in mist and fog.
But when the air cleared up, it showed a breath-taking view of green rolling hills, valleys, trees swaying, clouds forming and chasing, with the hint of the sea in the horizon. It was as if God himself painted and was showing his work in all its splendor.
Beautiful flowers abounded. Cows, sheep and horses kept me company, and colorful birds simply decorated the pines and sky. For sounds, there was the murmur of the brook, the chorus of the insects, the fluttering of leaves. This must be paradise, I imagined.
Obviously, my heart was exploding in gratitude to God and to all, even as I ventured into that very delicate task of recollecting, reflecting, studying and praying. I strongly believe that we need to have a time for silence.Silence enables us to go deep into ourselves. We’ll be surprised that in spite of our age and experience, there still are uncharted waters and unmapped territories to be discovered. Truly, our human condition is soaked in mysteries.
The hubbub of the city, with all its comings and goings, has a way of paralyzing our spiritual faculties, of disorienting and even of alienating us from our own selves, not to the mention, from the others.
Imperceptibly, we build walls around us, separating us from the others, and establish our own mechanisms to complete our own make-believe world where God and the others become mere props, decors and tools.
With silence and the help of untouched nature, we can readily see the tricks played on us even by our own senses and reasonings. These powers, supposed to bring us to God and to reality, often hijack us to another world, if we are not careful.
Reality for us, of course, is a malleable thing. With our intelligence and will, with our freedom and creativity, even if there’s an objective reality established by God, we are capable of bending, molding and making it also according to our own designs.
The reality we live in is never rigid, fixed and inert. It’s constantly flowing and morphing. We have to understand that our subjective reality is supposed to coincide with God’s objective reality for us.
For this, a very dynamic process is involved. There’s always in our life an interplay between God’s will and ours, between God’s laws and our intelligence and freedom. We have to train ourselves rigorously to do our part well in this lifetime dance.
We have to frequently check what and how we are thinking, how we are using our will and freedom, to see whether we are truly in love and whether we are loving properly, that is, in the truth.
Silence helps us to see the basic structure of our mind and heart, and the objects to which they get oriented. This is where we see whether these human powers are in their proper condition and are properly used.
They are supposed to be locked on God always, immersed in him even as we grapple with our earthly affairs. But if we don’t take pains, they can dare to detach themselves from God and be and work on their own, an anomaly gripping many of us.
That’s when we start constructing our own world and reality. True, we are intelligent and free, and in fact we need to be so as best as we can. We just have to remember that our proper and constant object is God, and not just some earthly, sensible or intelligible matter.
We have to develop the proper skills and virtues to spend our whole life in God’s presence, driven with rectitude of intention, even as we handle mundane things. Thus, we need to continually renew and enrich our routine and lifestyle to fit this need.
Silence also facilitates internalizing things, attuning our senses and faculties to their proper object. It also merges us with time, allowing us to run from the present to the past and then to the future, rectifying and refocusing things along the way, until we reach the doorsteps of eternity and infinity itself.
I’d like to thank the owners of Mountain Pines Place in Kalubmanan, Manolo Fortich town for giving me this privilege.
But when the air cleared up, it showed a breath-taking view of green rolling hills, valleys, trees swaying, clouds forming and chasing, with the hint of the sea in the horizon. It was as if God himself painted and was showing his work in all its splendor.
Beautiful flowers abounded. Cows, sheep and horses kept me company, and colorful birds simply decorated the pines and sky. For sounds, there was the murmur of the brook, the chorus of the insects, the fluttering of leaves. This must be paradise, I imagined.
Obviously, my heart was exploding in gratitude to God and to all, even as I ventured into that very delicate task of recollecting, reflecting, studying and praying. I strongly believe that we need to have a time for silence.Silence enables us to go deep into ourselves. We’ll be surprised that in spite of our age and experience, there still are uncharted waters and unmapped territories to be discovered. Truly, our human condition is soaked in mysteries.
The hubbub of the city, with all its comings and goings, has a way of paralyzing our spiritual faculties, of disorienting and even of alienating us from our own selves, not to the mention, from the others.
Imperceptibly, we build walls around us, separating us from the others, and establish our own mechanisms to complete our own make-believe world where God and the others become mere props, decors and tools.
With silence and the help of untouched nature, we can readily see the tricks played on us even by our own senses and reasonings. These powers, supposed to bring us to God and to reality, often hijack us to another world, if we are not careful.
Reality for us, of course, is a malleable thing. With our intelligence and will, with our freedom and creativity, even if there’s an objective reality established by God, we are capable of bending, molding and making it also according to our own designs.
The reality we live in is never rigid, fixed and inert. It’s constantly flowing and morphing. We have to understand that our subjective reality is supposed to coincide with God’s objective reality for us.
For this, a very dynamic process is involved. There’s always in our life an interplay between God’s will and ours, between God’s laws and our intelligence and freedom. We have to train ourselves rigorously to do our part well in this lifetime dance.
We have to frequently check what and how we are thinking, how we are using our will and freedom, to see whether we are truly in love and whether we are loving properly, that is, in the truth.
Silence helps us to see the basic structure of our mind and heart, and the objects to which they get oriented. This is where we see whether these human powers are in their proper condition and are properly used.
They are supposed to be locked on God always, immersed in him even as we grapple with our earthly affairs. But if we don’t take pains, they can dare to detach themselves from God and be and work on their own, an anomaly gripping many of us.
That’s when we start constructing our own world and reality. True, we are intelligent and free, and in fact we need to be so as best as we can. We just have to remember that our proper and constant object is God, and not just some earthly, sensible or intelligible matter.
We have to develop the proper skills and virtues to spend our whole life in God’s presence, driven with rectitude of intention, even as we handle mundane things. Thus, we need to continually renew and enrich our routine and lifestyle to fit this need.
Silence also facilitates internalizing things, attuning our senses and faculties to their proper object. It also merges us with time, allowing us to run from the present to the past and then to the future, rectifying and refocusing things along the way, until we reach the doorsteps of eternity and infinity itself.
I’d like to thank the owners of Mountain Pines Place in Kalubmanan, Manolo Fortich town for giving me this privilege.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Labeling and branding
THE practice of labeling and branding is a fact of life. But I personally don’t quite like it, especially when applied to people, precisely because it tends to confine and stereotype us.
We are persons, not things, not animals. As such, we are intelligent beings and free spirits that could not and should not be reduced and straitjacketed to a set image or type.
There may be something permanent in us, or characteristics that are stable, but we should never forget that we also change, and in fact in certain aspects, we need to change.
We have to learn to grapple and blend these two facets. It’s no easy task, and given their ticklish linkage and the profuse confusion around, we really need to have the appropriate understanding and skills to carry it out.
Of the permanent category would be our nature as rational beings, as persons with intelligence and will, and as beings subject not only to reason but also to faith. We also are social beings, and not just individuals. These should always be a given, and continually reinforced.
But alas, nowadays and especially in some supposedly thinking circles, a few of these permanent features are doubted and questioned. Categories that used to be traditionally or culturally obvious and taken for granted are now put in reservation.
Our more stable characteristics would be in the area of our character, personality, social background, IQ, physical and biological constitution, etc. In our dealings with one another we should also consider all these to attain greater propriety in our relations.
But there are many things that change. Flux dominates our physical and affective life. And this is more so in our ideas, thoughts, desires and plans. And yet in this flow, certain steady traits can be noted, giving rise to the need for labeling and branding.
This is where we have to be most careful. This practice of classifying, pigeonholing and packaging should be pursued with the constant awareness that there are elements in us that change, or are capable of changing and should change. This needs frequent self-checking and self-renewals.
Especially in our social life, and in politics to be more specific, this unavoidable business of labeling and branding has to be pursued with extreme care.
Now that our politics is entering a more intriguing phase, especially in the more developed countries like the US where politics is increasingly reflecting a culture war, we need to be most charitable.
There, it is common to brand people as either conservative or liberal, right-wing or left-wing, etc. While there are valid reasons to do so, we should not allow this labeling to deteriorate into name-calling, insulting, carping and things like those.
We need to continually remind ourselves in our political discussions that we are dealing with persons, and not just a faceless crowd, a mob that can be treated without attention to refinement and charity, or mere points. We are all brothers and sisters, all children of God.
Our differences and conflicts should not undermine this basic requirement. Thus our Lord put it as the acme of charity to “love your enemy.” We just have to find a way to resolve our differences with patience, knowing that truth and charity cannot and should not be separated.
We have to go beyond top-of-mind responses, and learn to process and deliberate our reactions. We have to be good-mannered always, seeing to it that our emotions, while allowed to show always, should be under control.
Our arguments and reasons should be crafted with clear orientation to the common good. We have to learn to listen to one another, and to be magnanimous. We have to purify our discussions of any accumulating traces of resentment and bitterness.
The forcefulness with which we infuse our views, if we know, can be done with affection. It can even be given with a dash of humor. The result will always be a smashing hit that gladdens everyone, including our opponents.
What is more, discussions under these conditions facilitate the search for more fruitful and useful findings. They also foster solidarity among ourselves so we can attain our common good more easily.
We are persons, not things, not animals. As such, we are intelligent beings and free spirits that could not and should not be reduced and straitjacketed to a set image or type.
There may be something permanent in us, or characteristics that are stable, but we should never forget that we also change, and in fact in certain aspects, we need to change.
We have to learn to grapple and blend these two facets. It’s no easy task, and given their ticklish linkage and the profuse confusion around, we really need to have the appropriate understanding and skills to carry it out.
Of the permanent category would be our nature as rational beings, as persons with intelligence and will, and as beings subject not only to reason but also to faith. We also are social beings, and not just individuals. These should always be a given, and continually reinforced.
But alas, nowadays and especially in some supposedly thinking circles, a few of these permanent features are doubted and questioned. Categories that used to be traditionally or culturally obvious and taken for granted are now put in reservation.
Our more stable characteristics would be in the area of our character, personality, social background, IQ, physical and biological constitution, etc. In our dealings with one another we should also consider all these to attain greater propriety in our relations.
But there are many things that change. Flux dominates our physical and affective life. And this is more so in our ideas, thoughts, desires and plans. And yet in this flow, certain steady traits can be noted, giving rise to the need for labeling and branding.
This is where we have to be most careful. This practice of classifying, pigeonholing and packaging should be pursued with the constant awareness that there are elements in us that change, or are capable of changing and should change. This needs frequent self-checking and self-renewals.
Especially in our social life, and in politics to be more specific, this unavoidable business of labeling and branding has to be pursued with extreme care.
Now that our politics is entering a more intriguing phase, especially in the more developed countries like the US where politics is increasingly reflecting a culture war, we need to be most charitable.
There, it is common to brand people as either conservative or liberal, right-wing or left-wing, etc. While there are valid reasons to do so, we should not allow this labeling to deteriorate into name-calling, insulting, carping and things like those.
We need to continually remind ourselves in our political discussions that we are dealing with persons, and not just a faceless crowd, a mob that can be treated without attention to refinement and charity, or mere points. We are all brothers and sisters, all children of God.
Our differences and conflicts should not undermine this basic requirement. Thus our Lord put it as the acme of charity to “love your enemy.” We just have to find a way to resolve our differences with patience, knowing that truth and charity cannot and should not be separated.
We have to go beyond top-of-mind responses, and learn to process and deliberate our reactions. We have to be good-mannered always, seeing to it that our emotions, while allowed to show always, should be under control.
Our arguments and reasons should be crafted with clear orientation to the common good. We have to learn to listen to one another, and to be magnanimous. We have to purify our discussions of any accumulating traces of resentment and bitterness.
The forcefulness with which we infuse our views, if we know, can be done with affection. It can even be given with a dash of humor. The result will always be a smashing hit that gladdens everyone, including our opponents.
What is more, discussions under these conditions facilitate the search for more fruitful and useful findings. They also foster solidarity among ourselves so we can attain our common good more easily.
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