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The world has taught us too much independence to the point of our own destruction. Now we have forgotten that we are living in an inherently interdependent world. We have been brought up to be strong and independent and to rely only on our own strength because ultimately we are alone in the universe. Yet life is not worth living without deep and caring interdependent relationships with our loved ones and without concern for the betternment of the whole humanity. Religion has taught us that salvation is purely an individual thing but how can we be really happy in heaven knowing that many are suffering? Are we ever really alone in our spirituality? Can one be really free knowing that the rest are slaves? We are told that man is supreme over nature and lord it over nature in his independence even to the point of destroying nature and eventually destroying ourselves. We have sacrificed love and relationship in the service of autonomy; idolized private property to the point of making others starve to death; we have asserted our national independence even to the point of destroying lesser economies just to benefit our own; we have glorified individualism in an era where all humanity is actually working as a group to make our society a reality. We have become so impersonal to the point of being mechanical and machine-like. In an interconnected and intricately related world, we have asserted our independence like cancer cells sickening the whole body of humanity. Is this already irreversible just like a terminal cancer? Can we do something to unlearn our false independence and put real independence in the context of interdependence? The answer lies somewhere in our hearts and in the work of our hands...

Tags: Independence Interdependence

We live in times where knowledge is overflowing and yet wisdom has become scarce. From the moment we go to school we are bombarded with so much knowledge about the world and we grow up feeling powerful and in control because of our knowledge. Formal education produce graduates in every field and experts in many aspects of life. We know so much about the world and yet surprisingly we understand so little about life. Wisdom is being delisted in our vocabulary. Try some words of wisdom with your friends and you will get sneers and giggles. Some would say you are sick or have a fever. For the world has valued only facts but not the value behind the facts. We have learned to appreciate the how to's of everything but detest asking the question why. Yes we can reach the moon but why? Yes we can create nuclear bombs but why? Sam Keen quotes, "Knowledge and fact has overwhelmed us and, in direct proportion, wisdom has disappeared." Thus we grow up lopsided in a lopsided world. Diseased mindscapes creating diseased landscapes. We drown in knowledge and lose sensitivity to the most poignant aspects of being human--to see with the heart and to touch with the soul. So much knowledge has driven our senses unfeeling. Our preoccupation with facts has disregarded our values and left them out in the cold.

Tags: Knowledge Wisdom Fact Value

Come to Newborn babies are always older than us from the point of view of genetics and evolution. Think of it this way, our present genes have evolved through millenia incorporating novel ways of being until we are now what we are. At present we are the highest product of evolution surpassing the skills and accomplishments of our ancestors. We have quality genes because so far we have survived...remember survival of the fittest? This means that we are the fittest even we are living up to now. We pass on our genes to the newborns. When we choose partners with which we will produce children, we unconsciously choose the best genes in town. Thus the baby will have the best genes ever. From the point of view of the oldest development then, the babies are oldest. Hahaha. If you believe in reincarnation, you would count how many lifetimes you would have. Most probably, the baby has more lifetimes than you because he has just acquired another lifetime by being born.

Tags: Evolution Baby

Richard Bach once said, "Perspective. Use it or lose it. The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly." The frog living at the bottom of the well was once asked, "How big is the sky?" The frog answered, "The sky is as big as the mouth of the well." A butterfly perching on the tree was once asked, "Is the tree alive?" The butterfly answered, "Of course not. I have been here all my life and it has not even moved." Perspective is very important. In the field of the knowledge, the framework who can encompass the widest perspective and can include all within its embrace is the greatest. Try a change of perspective. A cannibal and a soldier once met. The soldier said to the cannibal, "Oh you are so barbaric and inhuman. You eat human flesh eek!" The cannibal said to the soldier, "You are so wasteful. You kill people by the thousands and you don't even eat them."

Tags: Perspective Outlook

Our planet earth is just a small planet in the solar system. We are seven light minutes and 29 light seconds seconds away from the sun. This means that if the sun were to explode right now, it would take 7 minutes and 29 seconds before we know it. Because it takes that long for the speed of light to get here. The next nearest star is alpha centauri which is four light years away. And there are about one hundred billion stars in the Milky way galaxy where we belong. In the whole universe there are a million galaxies. This is just about how small we really are in the whole wide universe. Imagine an exploding firecracker. Can you conceive that one particle from this explosion suddenly developing consciousness and begin to unravel the mystery of its fiery origin? Its impossible but its the story of our humanity. Now we can make super giant radio telescopes to get a glimpse of the big bang from where we call came. Amazing that if the earth is 30 days, the homo sapiens sapiens came only a minute ago. Such powerful and beautiful and intelligent creature---such dangerous being.For in the span of that minute we were able to discover our fiery origins and at the same time we were able to create nuclear bombs enough to destroy ten planets the size of the earth. Is humanity boon or bane? Is humanity gift or curse? The answer lies in our hands...

Tags: Cosmos Humanity

In the Old Testament, Babylon was considered the "Prostitute" when it was actually a powerful nation that conquered the Israelites. Although in captivity, the Chosen People were living in relative ease and comfort in what was called "the golden city". At that time, the conquering Babylon was the center of commerce and trade and it was so grand and opulent, and yet there was an unconquenchable loneliness in the hearts of the people--for it was a city built to glorify greed and selfishness and not God. It was a time of economic boom where high zigurrats wer built as a testament to man's pride and achievement and vanity but hides the gnawing emptiness of the spirits within. Thus David composed the hymn in the psalm, "I will look up to the mountains, from whence cometh my help? (PSALMS 121:1) FOR these were the mountains that divided Babylon and Jerusalem; the difference between captivity and freedom. The difference may seem subtle but it is actually enormous---where commercialization says you can buy everything you need except your happiness--where there are glitters everywhere but there is darkness within---Where you can check out anytime you like in Hotel California but can never leave---where you can own the earth and still all you own is earth until you can paint with all the colors of the wind. This must be why Babylon was called the prostitute---you can have all the sex you want in Babylon but love is out of the question.

Tags: Babylon Conquest Commercialism

Indeed the challenges of our times can really make us better persons. The new world is preparing us to become part of it by making us better persons. When truth is being twisted, our times call for us to be more courageous rather than considerate. When justice is at stake there are so many people who are suffering from hunger or loneliness or both, we are not only called upon to comfort the ones who are hurt but also to hurt to comfortable to drive them away from their ivory towers and begin to make the world a better place. Now we are not only called upon to embrace the world in all its frailties but also to condemn the world in all its darkness and oppression. The wars of our times compel us not only to seek peace but promote justice. Now is the time when we must remain calm but not silent; sweet but ruthless in pursuing a better world. Now is the time to maintain an overall attitude of goodness combined with resoluteness; of endless flexibility but unwavering principle; of unconquerable thirst for justice; of undying passion and love for humanity.

Tags: Better Persons Better World

Amazing to think how Christianity became global when it started only as a cult of a young crucified son of a carpenter preaching about a Kingdom of God here on earth. It was the first Christian martyrs who sealed their commitment to the Kingdom with their blood. The Gospel writers themselves were not spared. Matthew was slain with a sword. Mark was dragged through the streets until he expired. Luke was hanged upon an olive tree. John was put into a cauldron with boiling oil though he miraculously escaped. Al the first apostles suffered a gruesome death pursuing a Kingdom of God that is to come. James, the greater was beheaded in Jerusalem. James the less, was thrown from a tower and beaten to death. Bartholemew was flayed alive. Andrew was bound to a cross where he preached until he died. Thomas was pierced with a lance. Jude was shot to death with arrows. Matthias was stoned and beheaded. Barnabas was stoned to death. St Paul was beheaded in Rome.
Even now we dream of a new world and a better world of peace and prosperity and ironically the list of present day martyrs continue on. Here in the Philippines the list continues on to this day. Rev. Edison Lapuz, a happy man who stood for the oppressed farmers in their province was shot in front of his family. Rev. William Tadena who gave relief goods to ailing sugar workers fighting for just wages was hailed with bullets. Joel Baclao who stood against large scale mining lost half of his face. Pastor Andy Pawikan was abducted, tortured and killed. Pastor Raul Domingo, an ardent human rights activist was murdered. Pepe Manegdeg, a layman who stood against corporate mining was riddled with bullets. Romy Sanchez and Albert Teredano, both working for the poor were shot dead on the spot. Marcus Bangit worked for the indigenous peoples was blasted. Dr. Chandou Claver who served the poor was ambushed where his wife was killed in front of their child. Oh it grieves me as the numbers increase by the day.
At first we all react: “What nameless terror!” But looking back at the shining examples of their lives dedicated to service, we say “What astounding beauty?” Their deaths were not a triumph of darkness but mighty explosions of light that guide the way of our pilgrimage to freedom. And no matter what the world would say that they were such fools for the cause of the Kingdom, the Foolishness of God is still wiser than the wisdom of men. And in the end, ours hearts are thankful and filled to the brim with gratitude for the gift of their lives in honor of the Kingdom.

Morris West, in his book, The Shoes of the Fisherman” quotes:
It costs so much to be a full human being
That there are very few who have the enlightenment or courage to pay the price…
One must abandon altogether the search for security and reach out to the cost of living with both arms.
One must embrace the world like a lover, and yet demand no easy return of love.
One must court doubt and darkness as a cost of knowing.
One must be stubborn in conflict but apt always to the total acceptance of every consequence of living and dying.
Remember, in accepting the mission that God wants us to do, it is not in our power to control death…it is inescapable…the only sure thing that will happen to all of us. It is not in our power to add years to our life but it is in our power to add life to our years. Life is not measured by the length of your years but by the gift you have made of ourselves for others.
Remember---that Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away. And the most Breathtaking event of all, is Love.
Having Love, we can now go to our personal missions and baptize men and women of every tongue and nation in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, remembering that the Lord is with us till the culmination of time…In the end, it is our love that will show all men that we are Christ’s disciples.
We dream and never stop dreaming with joy and exhilaration as we anticipate the coming of the glory and the power of the Kingdom, a New World….

Tags: Struggle Better World Kingdom Of God

Give me a cause to live and die for,
But let it be a great cause,
Exceedingly great and momentous,
Something that would take all the fight in me,
Something that would draw from me,
Wracked and panting with weariness,
And in the very face of death, and disaster,…
A song of victory.
(anonymous) And although this all seems so easy in words, in truth even the Son of Man, cried tears of blood, saying, “Lord let this cup pass away from me…” For in truth, God’s Mission is the most terrifying work of all--- The Kingdom of God is such that to usher it, one must go not to the wide paths where it is easy but the narrow paths where there are thorns. It is such that one must risk honor and reputation, and slander, and bear being called a fool, a rebel, an atheist or whatever abominable names that the oppressor can conjure, just for the sake of the Kingdom. The Mission area is an area where even angels fear to tread, where one must walk where even the brave dare not go. The mission is where even St Peter, the Rock himself, would have escaped from when he left Rome only to be confronted on the road by Jesus Himself. St. Peter asked, “Qou Vadiz, Lord?” Jesus answered, “To Rome to be crucified once again.” And thus St. Peter went back to Rome, to face his own crucifixion in the tradition of the Master—for no servant is greater than the Master. Are we really ready to face the Missions? Or in other words, Are we really ready to face our own crucifixion? Honestly, for my self I am not sure. Yet history has given us so many shining examples of those who followed the Will of the Father and lived.

Tags: Mission Cause To Live And Die For

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