The Dream Behind Our Reality

 

 All of us humans dream and we focus our efforts in attempts to make our dream a reality. Once accomplished, our dream becomes our reality.  Said differently, our dream is the reality where we have hitched our heart and mind to.

Here in the US, most Americans opine and pontificate about the American dream – a life of bountiful opportunities available and taken, of material successes acquired as a result, of satisfaction and contentment, and maybe even peace, enjoyed as its fruits.

Many of us immigrants also migrate to the US with the profound intention of getting our share of the American dream, which typically may not have been possible in the old homelands we came from.  Once acquired, the ensuing reality is doubly enjoyable and valuable.  More penetratingly felt and treasured when compared with the others.

But dreams conceived and sought after are not static; they change as time passes, as personal conditions change or as perceptions change.  As new experiences are gathered and assessed, dreams take on new colors or  perceptions could morph.  At times it could engender frustration and depression.  Thus many could wonder what went wrong, where they erred or whether the dream acquired is as it was conceived and pursued.

Especially true with first generation immigrants who came to the US as adults, laden with the entire emotional luggage acquired from their left-behind lives.  So that as they grow older and able to nurse more free time to think about the rest of their lives, they begin to think differently and start assessing how and where their waning lives could be better spent.  They do have the option not enjoyed by most natives of the US.  They usually could go back to the old homeland and try to resume their old lives, bringing with them scarce resources acquired in the adopted country, resources which could garner more mileage and value in the old country.

And many do commit themselves to doing such a thing, to pursue the alternative hoping to better their retirement lives.

So that in  our own family circles, we count members who have started their exodus, winding down whatever business and concern that need to be addressed and plan for that big leap back to more familiar surroundings.

For this group then, the current reality becomes the nightmare that will have to be remedied and replaced with a somewhat recycled dream that involves retracing old steps and old haunts that had initially produced the dream that resulted in migration.

But for their children, unhindered by emotional luggage coming into the adopted country, the reality continues to be the dream they had envisioned and pursued.  They are at home with their current surroundings, almost oblivious to the option that their older parents may have always had in the back of their minds in all the years that they spent in the adopted country. The new generations then are almost unable to perceive living elsewhere as an available option.

In summary, the American dream may be viewed differently even within the same family.  For the children of the original immigrants it will continue to be the dream of their reality.  But for their surviving parents the reality they left behind to pursue their dream may now be the dream they would like to pursue.

Eagerly hoping that that dream becomes their reality soonest.

We each pursue the dream that will be the reality following it.

 

 

 

 

CDO Night Café: Post-Mortem?

When the two-day night bazaar has ended and the weary purveyors have all packed up and gone their separate ways, those with hefty profits having driven away a-celebrating while whose who lost in their enterprises are content with nursing their hurts, what is left at the scene?

These random shots in and around the plaza, scene of the excitement the previous two nights, starkly reveal an ugly underbelly of a city grown beyond its capacities to take care of many of its dispossessed citizens, many now reduced to being nocturnal denizens of the dark and seedy corners of the city and eventually uninvited tenants to the plaza.

Taken at about 7:20 am Sunday, the occupants of the plaza are shown in various sleeping positions allocating for themselves whatever little comfortable niches they can find, dead and unmindful to the flexing flurry of activities typical to an awakening city.

One elderly gentleman though asleep looks decently dressed and ready to travel, with his neat bundle of luggage serving as props to his arched body cozily adapted to the size and contours of a smallish plaza bench. A spot to sleep for!

Others in literally hard places – cold, dirty, and rough sidewalks, or concrete plaza benches not even comfortable enough for sitting in. Others go for the more spacious concrete benches near or surrounding the several statues of famous men revered locally and nationally.

Surprisingly one still senses the self-same stubborn peace and serenity we always associate with sleep, especially deep sleep, viewing their arched bodies and unwashed faces. Overall, showing the unmistakable signs of how hardy life is on the streets –deeply dirty clothes, badly sunburnt skin, and unnaturally aged faces showing even among the younger ones.

In other areas, clusters of neatly dressed young adults looking well rested and refreshed occupy the unused benches, happily giggling amongst themselves. Definitely not residents of the plaza and more like students waiting for their rides or friends to some happy excursions. The area is noted as a meeting place for those who signed up for white water rafting in the city’s now famous river.

Thus, everything appears well and good. And the city moves along to another day.








And lastly, another stolen shot - shooting back at yours truly:


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CDO Nite Cafe - Still

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Scenes Around Divisoria Park - 1

Mirror, Mirror on The Wall..

Who is the most beautiful of them all?

What Would Christ Say Or Do?

In sticky and confusing situations when it appears that many possible paths are judged to be meritorious, it is not unusual for people to raise the question:
What would Christ say or do in this situation if he were alive today?

Thus, in real life situations you find such quandaries being framed this particular way. I can even recall the hot-button issue of what vehicle to drive given the present predicament of exorbitant gas prices and calamitous problems with the environment. Thus the question came out in media. Would Christ purchase an SUV? It may sound silly but still that does not prevent people from expressing it anyway and soliciting feedbacks.

But truly, some real life situations deserve to be framed in that familiar and profound frame. What would Christ do?

And going around the blogosphere and observing both hosts and commenters act and react one senses that Christ and his unique philosophy definitely have many grave concerns to address, by way of advising and admonishing these 21st century Christians frenetically engaged in this technological phenomenon.

Let me then irreverently, arrogantly and undeservedly allocate and assume the persona of Christ and look around the vast firmament of the blogosphere for possible scenarios to comment on.

Without much ado, my readings of Christ through his many erudite disciples immediately bring one archaic but still high-strung word to the fore. The word is pertinacity (borrowed from T. Aquinas, though he much preferred the word, effeminacy) Anyway, it is a vice that makes a man cling to his opinion and judgment long after facts have shown that he is wrong. The pertinacious hombre perseveres doggedly in his wrong course of action even after right reason shows that he is wrong, not letting facts stand in his way. The “soft” man/woman cannot countenance perseverance, since he/she has no desire in the attainment of good which usually delays in coming. Examples in the current political discussions would be the still loud claims that a million Iraqis have been killed in the current war, or even that Bush or Blair “lied” about the waging of the war. Well-worn talking points that should have lost their bite and sting a long time ago, amidst the preponderance of evidence to the contrary.

But I digress from my main purpose. Therefore, here is modern-day Christ, street-smart man of letters and revolutionary ideas, addressing our beloved bloggers and commenters, steeped and serious in their pursuits for punditry and Pyrrhic victory in the war on words or ideas:

Ola, denizens of the blogosphere, that means you there, blog hosts and regular commenters (BTW, if you are just a commenter without a blog, please refrain from assuming the handle of blogger. Remember a blog from its infancy on forward is a personal journal of an author. If you do not maintain one, you are not a blogger. Capisci?). Please perk those ears up and listen.

Sons and daughters, hey you still are those since I am the God-sent by Him who breathed life to all of you), please do not waste too much attention and sympathy, and eyeballs, on the witty and catchy language of men. They may sound beautiful and endearing. My time-tested standards as before are still not based on words. I want and need actions, man.

Those enduring gems of wisdom that I with heart-rending difficulty in my short life here inculcated in my followers, remember those are still meant to influence and guide your actions in the daily living of your lives. They have not faded or burnished.

If you abide and live by them, it will be cool because then you get to prove your love and loyalty for me. So remember only pure-gold genuine actions can satisfy this granite heart of mine. Anything else, no puede. No cigars.

The best eloquent prose you can create can probably qualify you as being loquacious and renowned by your peers, but hey, nothing beats the one who speaks less and does more.

And one bit of advice for those locked in the same journey. Never read, learn, and spend precious time on anything for the sake of appearing wise and sagacious before your peers. Do these things singularly for the purpose of improving yourself first, not your flighty neighbors or your countrymen.

Those who do otherwise are those I call vain and seek only vain-glory, because in so doing, they do not become better in action. As a good tree is known by its good fruit, so too a good man known by the goodness of his thoughts, words, and deeds.

Hey, I am not saying that I am not pleased with good desires and aspirations; it’s just that you can only convince me with your actions. How hard do you pursue your good desires? That counts because that measures your fealty to me. Remember my old saying, “If you want to be my buddy, hang on and follow those precepts of mine”.

And remember those who are in the habit of warbling sonorously in my presence, “Lord, Lord” they do not necessarily get to party in my cool domain. Only those who follow the words of my Father get backstage passes.

So keep focused and learn of me and I guarantee you will acquire the best knowledge that will be useful in your daily lives. Though I do not guarantee that people will look too kindly on you or make you buddies. But string up your needs for praise and admiration from those of my domain, not from man.

Many things on earth are unimportant. They are diversionary distractions that muddle your focus toward me and my teachings. Therefore, keep things simple and uncluttered, and do away with the extras.

And I end with this little summary. Words are meant to point out truth, and good desires help me reach out for it, but action is still by far the most convincing proof for a life well-lived.

How Big Is Your World?

(Stray thoughts corralled during unguarded moments of an introspective round-up.)

A few days ago for some inexplicable reason at about 8:30PM I was all about ready to drop to bed unable to keep droopy eyes opened in spite of the colorful visual perks on TV and the Internet. So off to soft warm comfort I plopped before 9PM, undoubtedly unusually early for me. Before long I was roaming dreamland.

But by 1AM I suddenly nudged and sleep was interrupted, with eyes and mind unerringly flashed back to reality. And the lingering warmth of the prior sunny day was no help in my half-hearted attempt at getting back to sleep. Thus unleashed, the unrestrained mind started racing through whatever figment of any idea floated through.

Suddenly the question. How big is your world? I mean that physical world that you can presently perceive, participate in, personally interact with, and in so doing somehow influence. And on the other hand, I do not mean the world that one has access to either virtually, remotely, vicariously, or from afar. The world that opens up for you when your imagination takes over, or when you turn your TV on, or when you read books, or when one plays video games, etc.

I emphatically refer to the concrete world of reality that we daily have to either enjoy through or labor under, a world we cannot hurry or slow down, a world we may exert some influences on but not really much.

I immediately thought about the suddenly ubiquitous politicians and their surrogates, this being the midst of the political season, and whose political ambitions and boundless rhetoric media have unilaterally co-opted as its addictive business to repeatedly delve into and broadcast wide to all and sundry.

By purpose and choice, the politician’s world has to be big and wide. They have to know and interact with lots and lots of people because of the very nature of their profession. They have to know most of the bureaucratic people in government, the motivated people in their frenetic campaigns, the harried people in business or those stodgy people oozing with money, and in most abundant numbers, the faceless and numberless masses falling under the term, electorate. It goes without saying that they have decided to allocate for themselves the biggest world they can have, acquire, keep, and influence.

And undoubtedly, there are many other equally motivated people who find themselves in likely situations. The smart business entrepreneurs would have the same goals, but for reasons of their own, essentially so their businesses would have extensive exposure and clientele, and the bigger the better. Churchmen and purveyors of religion also have the same though spiritual designs, to reach as many potential devotees as possible.

But for the multitudes of us, we would rather keep our worlds easily manageable, comfortably small, and maybe uncluttered and easy to gather and discern. All in the cozy and safe embrace of the mantle of personal privacy and privacy rights where many of us find shelter and have ordained to keep our domicile. Thus, we are easily incensed when we discover any attempt whether by government or through any private initiative to invade or curtail that aura of privacy, and thus attempt to make our worlds larger. We will fight ferociously to keep our privacy cove clandestinely isolated and intact and its well-guarded boundaries and parameters sacrosanct. We do not welcome intrusions.

To arrive at some proof or validation, I did start to take stock of my own personal situation to determine what size my world was.

The idling mind then ambled to its next likely chore, trying to determine for me how big or small my world was, especially in these new environs where we have purposely decided as migrants to install ourselves in. We did choose this place to be near our immediate family members, our married kids and their families. A married daughter and her family are only 5 minutes drive away in the same city. But aside from them, the nearest relatives are at least 50 miles away in different directions and contacts are essentially through the phone. We do attend church services, but beyond communal prayer and worship, we have not really had deep social interactions in the different groups available in the parish. And we do shop regularly in some retail stores for our daily needs, but nothing much beyond just having nodding acquaintances with a few sales people. Even within the tight housing development we are in, we cannot in honesty really say that we have acquired new friends, and mind you it is not due to a simple lack of trying. And mark another nil in the work environment, since I have not really sought any local employment, while the wife preoccupies her time taking care of a family member a couple of miles away. Any other sectors missed?

All things considered, it is quite a narrow miniscule world I inhabit, if I may say so. Although being first generation immigrants (regardless of the considerable length of stay here), we still regularly interact with the old world we left behind in the old homeland, through regular protracted visits.

Inversely, we inhabit other worlds which in some ways may not easily lend themselves to size measurements. The daily and at times prolonged incursions in the unfathomable depths of the Internet allow the subject not only access but real-time interaction with a vast uncharted world of differing interests and subjects, encompassing whatever drives one’s fancies and curiosities. The regular sessions in front of TV serve up a plate-full of worlds just as varied and exotic, and all this in high definition. Newspapers, books, magazines, even those colorful business ad flyers collectively derided as spam, bring one to worlds that could stagger anyone’s vivid imagination in terms of its diversity and volumes of subjects.

We do include the mystical and vertically-oriented world we visit during prayers and worship, during solemn times of spiritual contemplation and introspection, where we leave the world of reality and ascend to one more ephemeral and ennobling.

And lastly and almost needless to state, I do have bouts with my fertile imagination as venue, seeing myself soaring through the air above some remote verdant canyons in the province of Bukidnon, expertly maneuvering and guiding my trusty gyrocopter through cascading treetops and adroitly outflanking shifty winds, etc. A world suspended in eager anticipation of the day when my real-life preparations for such activities will have been undertaken and accomplished.

What exactly is the relationship between these twin-category worlds, the real and the virtual? Do they grow or constrict in inverse proportion to each other? Or do they both grow side by side, complementing and supporting each other?

This might be the next interesting avenue to explore come next time when the same fertile mind is given free rein anew during moments of quiet and idle introspection.

Personally then the early but interrupted sleep was parlayed into a meaningful purpose for me. Gave for me new meaning to the cliché, sleeping on one’s problems.

Graphics:
1. Sculpture made by G. Ruggeri, from Tuscany, Italy. 14" statue of Blessed Virgin with infant Jesus. Made of bonded Carrara Marble and Alabaster, and finished by hand with remarkable detail, and hand painted.
2&3. Clarinet set, dismantled and in case.

The Reason For The Season

The reason for the season, an oft-repeated phrase thrown out there more like a monkey wrench, serving as timely reminder, and at times subtle but still loving warning, for each Christian approaching these Christmas holidays, or winter holidays as many secularists would like everybody to refer to it.

Observing around one can truly say that we have gone a long way from our ancient understanding and celebration of the true reason for the season. Man’s boundless creativeness and resourcefulness, and throw in there, unparalleled business acumen and entrepreneurship, have heavily candy-coated the recurring holidays so much so as to completely submerge its more mystical meanings. In its place we have collectively anointed the superficial manifestations of materialism and secularism to co-opt its rightful place. Even the very name of Christ-mas has been rigorously challenged in many public spheres.


Credit the Christian churches for doggedly keeping the flame aglow, maintaining the same holy vigil and subdued celebration of this most significant event in Christian history, so profound and shrouded with mystery as to escape the easy discernment of the typical Christian today.

In most Christian practices, this liturgical season continues to be referred to as Advent, coming from the Latin word, adventus, meaning the coming or arrival. And this well-anticipated event has been wrapped around the great mystery of the Incarnation. The taking on flesh of the Word of God, who deigned to become one with us and to dwell amongst us.

And this is the central theme that has been gravely diminished in the citizenry’s secular celebration of these holidays, save for the meager or occasional attendances to church rituals and festivities. Our undivided attention and avid participation in sumptuous food-taking, the mad scramble for exciting gifts, the well-planned vacation getaways, the lemmings-like rush to well-attended games, and etc. have all conspired to remove our hearts and minds from the true reason of the season.

How many present-day Christians have even bothered to learn about the implications and ramifications of that great mystery of the Incarnation? And more importantly, what one’s Faith requires from each member to discern and accept about the Incarnation? And one fears that learning sufficiently about this mystery, one may be well disposed to henceforth treat the holidays with a less than spirited enthusiasm if one cannot learn to accept the boundless leap of faith required of each Christian about the Incarnation.

Regarding this mystery, here is what the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD) laid out as its infallible definition:

“We confess that in these latter times the only-begotten Son of God appeared in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation – the distinction of natures not having been taken away by this union.”

Stripped of its archaic language and baring its essentials we come up with the following: In the Incarnation we have One Person, the Son of God, and two natures, one divine and the other human, and these two natures are united in one Person. Of great importance in understanding this then is the clear delineation and distinction between “nature” and “person”.

Admittedly, this is a doctrine not very easy to comprehend, much less swallow, and simply because it is beyond the finite ken of human understanding to fully grasp the preternatural significance of this most unique union in one Person. There is absolutely no model to compare this with. Nothing in the past to even hint of any similarity. But accept we must, if we want to keep our faith; and on a more corporeal level, if we want to continue with our devoted celebration of the recurring holidays we all have become so automatically fond of.

Before you leave maybe in your confused state, ask yourself these questions. Does Christ then have two personalities? If not, where is the human person?

A Question and an FYI

When you view your blog, do you see this HTML tag added after each (or most) paragraph?



I see these added strings in some of the blogs I visit.

I learned that this is due to proprietary HTML tags created by Microsoft word or other MS applications.

Also learned that there are ways to strip your blog entry of these unintended and unnecessary additions. One way is to try exporting one’s draft entry to Blogger as a filtered HTML.

Or, I am made to believe that there are programs out there that can perform the stripping for exported messages or entries. Will try to research.

Hope this helps.

BTW, tried broadcasting this “error” to friends, quoting the exact same tag and Blogger’s comment box will not allow it as acceptable HTML.

Any ideas?