From the early inky darkness
of humanity’s ascent, through its dawning antiquity and now the almost naked
clarity of its modern times, there has always been embedded in the deep
recesses of his latent longings the gaping need for deliverance. Essentially, that common thread that ran
through the ages has been the strong desire for liberation from the
vicissitudes of daily living. Man since
his novice years has never had an easy life, as we are taught in the holy
books. He came into this world with a
very flawed nature, not in full grasp and control of the contravening forces
that inhabit his daily living; forces that appear to go against his very
nature.
In early times, man had
always banked on the arrival of somebody or some things that would offer him
release from his almost inborn sufferings from the world. And in those times, he had always hoped that
some extraneous forces would suddenly appear in the skies to bring him that release.
The ancient Jews also had
identical expectations of Christ. The promised
Messiah that would snatch them away from their temporal miseries and lay them
down to the Promised Land. Unfortunately
for them, Christ had a quite different idea.
Instead he had impressed upon them with the way he had lived his earthly
life that deliverance would not come from outside of man, His excellence and
Godhead notwithstanding.
Instead further he had
impressed upon them that their rescue would ensue from the necessary changes to
be wrought in their own lives. The
radical change being that they all should follow the life of Christ since only that
imitation would ensure deliverance for them.
He had said, I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Fast forward to the current
times. Our time. And we are still looking for our deliverer, and
still from one of flesh and blood. In
the person of our leader, Dear President.
We vociferously shout to him to deliver us from our vicissitudes. And he appears to be inattentive, and to his
detractors, clueless, about how to bring about that discharge.
His mumbled or jumbled
utterances appear to come from nowhere – from nowhere that would give us
understanding and wisdom. Words and
ideas seemingly articulated with a careless smirk, a mocking sneer, and even
willful disregard and nonchalance for his constituents
Thus, the US and its
boundless benevolence cannot save us, not the EU, Japan and whatever hosts of
altruistic countries or organizations people can litanize. Neither can our deliverance come from those
that could provide us with most effective and lethal armaments man or country
could devise.
Listen then to the hazy
rhetoric of Duterte and in our hearts of hearts try to unravel if we can find
parallels and connections with how our deliverance may be wrought for us. That the overarching message may be that the
Way is to cut umbilical ties with all the extraneous forces that we have been
attached to all these times, and try working with our own resources and
ingenuity to bring about our own progress and development.
Look not from without, but
from within.