R C

The world has ever evolved in a pace so fast that it left men blaming men to be the culprit to the ever-growing meaninglessness. Few would have ever reckoned that it is still a human trait to assume that meaning in life should not be confined in a lifetime but even beyond. Hence, the birth of a belief of the afterlife and the one who holds it came about, a meaning in life projected into a life after death. It was not until the European enlightenment period that a formal claim of a critique of religion has come into light.
Now more than ever, the quest has headed us into asking whether the religion of today has retained its primordial role to initialize meaning in the life of communities and of individuals. Many philosophers of religion have tried insofar as they have perceived to look at the role of religion in a different light. Some of them were Martineau, Tiele, Otto, Tillich and Schelleirmacher. Most of them have dwelt upon the idea of a phenomenological encounter between the believer and the one that they believe in.
In this encounter, man seems to have the responsibility of discovery, a seeming invitation to transcend his nature and reach for the divine. And insofar as it teaches man to go beyond his own self, it verifies his personality to more than what has been before. The problem, however, is sometimes it falls like a coin in the pit hole of superficial religious rhetoric that is most of the time, not rooted in the ordinary and basic human concerns for existence.
We see then that Martineau would focus upon faith as a particular human concern. Central to this is free will and the primacy of motives, an expression of the self that manifests his relation to the world. The interpretation of the Divine is apparently reliant on the ethical demand, an invitation to act for a higher end. Such ethical demand is seen by Martineau as the continuing divine revelation. In this sense, Martineau focuses on the individual’s duty to follow the continuous divine revelation that must succeed over self-centered motives. Whether his act is good or bad is not a greatness solely vested upon the individual but also with the divine revealing himself in the person throughout the course of history.
Stepping forward to Schleiermacher, we see man in as if ‘paralyzed’ state being absolutely dependent on the divine. This paralysis is attributed by his supposedly finite existence sharing in the infinity of the divine. This presupposes an inward quest, similar to pantheism, seeing one’s finite existence partaking in an infinite whole. In this picture, man sees himself as small dot in the reality of things.
Moving on to Otto, we see the phenomenological lift of considering the feeling of awe and fear as religious experiences. It encompasses the idea of mysterious reality that is the “wholly other,” the idea of the holy. It places the individual in the sense of conflicting struggle amidst fear and fascination with the divine. Man sees himself as a mere onlooker of something great in front of him.
Tiele would look at religion centering on the disposition of the person involved. This involves one’s behavior that must be pure and reverential. In other terms, central to Tiele’s notion about religion is the idea of piety.
Though there are differences in the way these four philosophers look at religion, there is an apparent similarity which is an inevitable ideal role projected in a bigger reality apart or shared by oneself. The struggle is left upon the individual to attain it. What’s puzzling is the inevitable fact that person only sees his existence meaningful if see a bigger role to play and not just a bit part. If we’ll look at them more closely they are not answering the ultimate concern of this era where the struggle of man is laid in the conflict amidst the basic needs for existence and the quest for identity. Not all of us will experience the “mysterium” referred to by Otto nor see our will as a divine revelation or even look at ourselves as partakers of something more. Indeed we are awed by something great, we fear power but they can never be enough to answer the concerns of today. What this generation need then is a tangible and uncompromising religion, something that is not alien to his own existence. Such definition asks more from the believers more than they give tangible answers.
Moving on to Tillich, he emphasized on the individuality of the human being and the human experience starting on the process of becoming. Central to which is dealing with the Ultimate Concern. Tillich is rightful in asserting that we should not limit ourselves with symbols because we should always look beyond towards what they symbolize. Hence, religion must also be seen as a process of becoming. But then again, transcending to a new horizon is the responsibility of the believer.
Nice assertions as they may seem, they look at religion in a different perspective but the substance is lacking. Tillich may be right in asserting the indiduality of persons when it comes to religious concerns and that we should always look beyond. However, he failed to explain why more and more people are losing their faith in religion. Would this be because, they are not anymore grasping its relevance in their lives? Why such concern in the authenticity of religion keeps on bombarding several generations? If there is one main thing lacking of all the five, it is the fact that they may have failed to look on the political and empirical dimension of religion. No wonder then that we are finding it hard to look at their viability in answering today’s basic human concerns.

Half-life Agenda...

Buhay pa ba ako?

Ngayon, noon...

Five More to a Hundred.

To mark it down, this is my 95th post in this blogger account. I know that I don't have much of the share of the elite fans but I must admit that I'm happy that even if it seems that I'm the sole reader of my own accounts, I am expressing myself freely though some, I must admit, possess subtle meanings. That which, of course, I cannot say directly in an on-line page.

Anyway, the photo is now 4 years old... Have I changed a lot? I don't really know and much less would I care if not for the people around me.

Candid

A happy night!
Christmas Party' o8 Romel Bldg.

Celebrating Life by Sharing...

Celebrating life by sharing it to the less fortunate is nobler than drinking a very costly coffee for the heck of a lousy sticker... I was deeply moved by the mere fact that I am here, living, blood rushing down to my veins and I haven't even thought of how I can touch others' lives this Christmas. The whole thing turned the ordinary to be meaningful. I know that things can never be enough but the time well spent in doing something good certainly cleanses the soul.

CHRISTMAS ANOREXIA

Changes are inevitable. It is a reality that counts more not just as a signification of new standards but the dawn of the rapid pace of commercialism. Have you ever reckoned that even our classic sign that ‘Christmas is near’ has changed? Wrapped by the banners of commercialism, we see that even the Christmas in the Philippines is now marked by the opening of new SMs in the entire country.
I can still remember what an SM official said during the opening of SM Valenzuela a couple of years ago, “We bring SM to the people.” By this, they mean that they are doing what is in dire good for the consuming public, that they don’t want people to look for SM. This “kapit-bahay” mentality is very prevalently used in the drive of our famous commercial centers to gain the majority of the availing public never minding other implications. They are putting on the white veil of a seemingly noble intention to cover-up the monster of greed within. This is so true notwithstanding the fact that its owner, Henry Sy, has now been proclaimed as the richest man in the Philippines.
Funny as it may seem but Christmas has turned out to be one of the most celebrated themes of commercialism within the year. A gift is a must. Again, this is very true notwithstanding the fact that they continually introduce another multiplicity of occasions including grandparents’ day and any other day just to cause a clamor, an invitation to buy.
This is just a wild guess: People are continually positioned in a state where there seems to be no international crisis coming. Even the government says that we are not heavily affected and we will not be heavily affected in the future. Well, anyhow, we are down under the plane’s economy class. That is why things would not really matter if the people get poorer and poorer as the richer ones get richer and richer. The new banner is “spend now, die of hunger later.”
Just a clause to end this Christmas commercialism scrutiny: BE PRUDENT AND SPEND WISELY!

ON PHILOSOPHY, RIGHTS, AND OUR SITUATION

Gone are the times when philosophy is seen as a field heavily studied only by those belonging to the higher epsilon of our society. Now more than ever, philosophy is projected as a daily affair in which we find ourselves entranced to come up with a sense of meaning. And as Socrates would necessarily argue, the unexamined life is not worth living for. It is a far cry from the elitist and religious conception that philosophy would only have a sense under the banner of religion. Much more would it not connote others’ assertion that philosophy is confined within the four corners of the classroom. Hence, philosophy may be seen as the story of human’s love affair with wisdom.
The aforementioned reality, though really noble in its own, is fettered by the chains of the situation where we find ourselves in to. More often than not, people see the ancient tradition of philosophizing as unnecessary and obsolete for the fast progressing time. Hence, we find schools scrapping Philosophy away from the roster of courses that they are offering. This is in lieu of the fact that fewer students are becoming interested of a discipline, that has become for them, an unprofitable diploma.
Simultaneously, the loss of meaning and identity has become prevalent. This is the time when people take pleasure in making public what Henri Giroux would necessarily assert, a private affair. Same is true otherwise. Now, we should not wonder why Pinoy Big Brother and other reality shows have been primetime favorites while the affairs of the government have been duly unnoticed by the majority of the public. In the course of things in the current social phenomena, it is no-wonder-why people have been becoming so apathetic about the supposedly, a public affair. It is because there has been a shift of priorities.
We see ourselves in an era of hopelessness and a quest for immediate survival is more necessary than thinking about the essentials of a human life. That is why some are not even wondering why political killings, poverty beyond human conditions, and other similar violation of human rights have been becoming more prevalent.
In one way or the other, the current situation has been deducing us and forcing us to be similar to animals that are mechanistically darted by the concurrent instinct for survival. It is true to the extent that even our basic human rights as well as the rights of others around us have been scuttled away for us not to claim for a dignity which is equally endowed for all of us. Deeply sentimental as it may seem but even philosophy, one of the few existing avenues for dialogue concerning the public affairs together with sociology and the political science, are not anymore promoted in schools.
What has happened to our goal to keep what is rightfully for the human person and his claim to dignity through his own rights and proper education? It is in this milieu that UNESCO has decided to keep alive a discipline that has been the mother of all disciplines by declaring the World Philosophy Day which was set on every 20th day of November. And for this year, 2008, in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights, one of the focal points in philosophical studies, the theme has evolved concerning, “Power and Rights: Reaffirming Human Dignity Through Just Social Institutions.”
Saint Louis University through the students and faculty of Philosophy has been celebrating it for a roster of years now. And it is quite amazing to know that we have pioneered its celebration in the entire Philippines by conducting forums and exhibits concerning Philosophy regarding relevant themes entwined with the goal to bring about ardent human affairs. It was only for this year that the Ateneo de Manila University, the country’s Center for Excellence in Philosophical Studies, started to celebrate the aforementioned event. Without further ado, we are joining hands with the international community in promoting the welfare of humans by bringing back the spirit of rights and philosophy not just for our school or for our local community but for our country and the world. As Dr. Jullius Mendoza of the University of the Philippines would say, Rights are like trumps which are far above any other considerations.
The Silang Lobby exhibit on philosophy which lasted from the 18th to the 22nd of November has been a momentary reminder on the existence of the unwavering connection between philosophy and rights and why both of them shall live on. The point is to carry on and live the message. The occasion is a call for everyone, may you be an advocate of philosophy or not, to be a defender of human rights. Without any pretensions, we must help each other remove all the blindfolds of injustice in our society. We are compelled to act in accordance to the innateness of our capacity to decipher a sense of meaning for our own existence and this meaning will only be completed if our rights are also guarded.