Short Disparate Thoughts Collated

Risking War 

At this point of the game, or war in this instance, the elemental question to ask is: How does the world deal with a troubled man drunk with grand designs, without fully satisfying his blood lust? As a kid, I recall that when a mad-dog roams, we simply scamper for safety anywhere and wait for somebody to end the dog's miseries. At this point nobody is daring enough, or maybe, reckless enough to risk a nuclear holocaust. God help us. Can we say that it is common in wars that the more deadly damages are not done by military superiors on the ground? That they are made by politicians and pundits in the background, who make clueless, reckless, and what have you decisions/opinions in utter abandon? Unable or unwilling to realize the dire consequences of their inane actions? And why not? They are very rarely killed in battle. There is very little attrition in their numbers. 

Lost Hope at the Height of the Pandemic In every real and virtual way, the Corona Virus has taken over the world. It has become all too powerful and omnipotent. It is there wherever we turn, in every which way our ken is directed. It has preoccupied our waking hours and beyond. Even our reveries may already be dealing with its deadly results. It has become the “crown of thorns” of the world. And what is more, it is indiscriminate. It destroys not only the good things humanity has made possible, but even the evils men do are not spared from it. Like Noah’s time, everything in the world is being levelled. It might as well be the end of creation. Hard to imagine that this nemesis so small and insignificant could possess such unimaginable destructive powers. But we recall God did create the entire universe out of nothing. To dust and nothing is our conceivable end. Best to accept and welcome it. On this our salvation hinges and is to be found.

Should we be alarmed?  Other than the fear of contracting the virus.

Climate change extremists ought to be celebrating because the result of coronavirus is pushing the world toward their version of nirvana.

Global travel or movement of population and goods  has already been greatly curtailed.  Economic activities in many countries have been greatly reduced, and thus their deleterious effects on the environment have been immediately curtailed.

As reported, emissions in China greatly dissipated because of shutdowns. Countless peoples are just staying home idle and not productively engaged.

 

In other words, worldwide production has been deflated to levels to slowly becoming comparable to earlier and cruder times.  Aggravated no less by the utter dependence of the rest of the world with China, who is now responsible and accountable for many manufacturing output, ranging from the most basic to those highly technological. And this will continue as the virus spreads and infects more.

Let us see, how long the world can continue to exist the way it has been existing if this trend prolongs.

In faraway Cagayan de Oro, there are several well-patronized discount stores selling mostly Chinese goods.   Well patronized because of very affordable prices, and with products ranging from light bulbs to all sort of tools for carpentry, automotive repairs, gardening, etc.

My favorite is one named Novo, which is very accessible right in the heart of the poblacion.  Plus, I hold a discount card purchased with initial discounts made on purchases.

 

At the cashier’s counter yesterday Sunday, I mindlessly remarked about the spreading virus not thinking that all their products came from China.   The cashier nonchalantly intoned that yes they too were mindful and careful.  And that their store has already stopped import shipments.

So pretty soon, can we expect their shelves to be empty?

And more.  In distant Alae, the wife purchased pears in one fruit stand by the highway.   This definitely is no local fruit.  Where do you think it came from?

 

Trump Derangement Syndrome One More Time Excerpted from the Nation, an avidly liberal newsmagazine: 

 ‘Do you consider Donald Trump to be an aspiring authoritarian? There are certainly demagogic aspects of his behavior: disregard for institutional limits of his own authority, disregard for democratic norms and human rights, bullying and threatening political opponents, scapegoating of the vulnerable, mischaracterizing opposition to his plans as treachery, and a seeming indifference to understanding the US Constitution. But it’s also important to recognize the broader authoritarian currents in the American polity that put him in power.’ 

 Funny, but I thought the author above was describing largely the administration of Barack Obama, rather than the fledging administration of Trump which has barely warmed its seat. I believe this just goes to show that it is easy to make a case against anybody, by simply throwing around statements and claims that appear to bolster a given hypothesis or premise. All this to support the current reality of protests. When in fact the reason for the protests can simply be attributed to this. 

 During the time of Obama, the opposition accepted its defeat readily, and planned and waited for its turn during the succeeding election cycles. This time around, the losers simply cannot accept its utter defeat, and thus will do everything even before the inauguration to delegitimize or destabilize the new administration. Shades of things happening locally, too. 

 These organized protests have nothing much to do with what the current administration is doing. As a matter of fact, Trump is simply trying to fulfill his campaign promises. So why no protests during the campaigns when all his plans had already been made public? Why no claims of him being authoritarian then? 

 Aquinas to the Rescue In these dreadful times around the globe in both free and not so free countries, we are reminded of simple truths about the FREEDOM of our Creator and his creatures, particularly man. Here to remind us are words from the preeminent voice of Christian philosophy, Thomas Aquinas. Thomist philosophy pervades the teachings of the Catholic Church.

  “There is an inherent absurdity in the notion that omnipotence by sharing its goodness through creation lost something of its power and all of its freedom. We have managed to swallow this indigestible morsel on the human level in our own times. 

 It has been seriously argued that the State which is man’s creation for political life automatically supersedes its creator. The radically revolutionary argue that the state devours a man; THE MERELY LIBERAL, THAT IT ABSORBS HIM. 

 In either case, he is small change compared to the state. To accept this same humiliation on a cosmic scale is to replace the fact of creation and divinity’s perfection with a Frankenstein myth of total universality. God’s creation towers over His creation and ultimately destroys Him. 

The enlarged proportion of the tale do not diminish its childishness. Common sense would put aside this pettishness and look squarely at the obvious question: what can God do in the world?

Another brother crossed the bar

                          JOSE V. NERI

                   Born June 19, 1938

                 Died January 10, 2023

               

For man crossing the bar is one imperative nobody in this world escapes from. Still, every time, we give pause to ponder on such passing.  The uniqueness and significance of any one such event reminding us of the ultimate care the Creator showers on each person, down to the pettiness of knowing and keeping in existence each strand of hair he possesses.

In keeping then with such tradition, I mark and set aside time to delve on the life of my brother who just crossed the bar.

In the stillness and quietude of my brother's life,  we can discern many instances when he showed and understood the nobility of life and the filial care we each should have of every other of our kind.

Without noise of words, he showed in his own unobtrusive ways and loud actions that he truly believed these very basic premises, though at times because of our flawed nature, he may have fallen short in his interpretation and in his guidance.

Early in his life he had discovered and nurtured the idea of service to humanity.  In school, he showed not only serious demeanor in his study but also in extra-curricular activities such as serving Mass and teaching catechism to youths in the city.

As no surprise then, right after graduation from high school, Dodong joined the Society of Jesus with a group of his classmates, starting the pursuit of their vocation at the novitiate in Novaliches, Manila.  He stayed there for about 2 years.

As far as we could gather his leaving was a cooperative decision between himself and the society.  It was the common decision that since he did not possess enough of the vocation to pursue it to its end  that rather he would be more fulfilled and suited for some other career in life.

And this he did, and decided instead to pursue the study of medicine, which even then revealed his deep conviction in service to humanity.

From pursuing a vocation tasked with the saving of souls, he would instead choose a profession that would pursue preserving and saving the human body.

The study of medicine was a long and arduous one even for a very passionate and dedicated person like Dodong.  Many challenges stood in his way.  First and foremost was financial, thus most times he had to be a part time medical student taking on employment on the side.

But his sacrifices paid off, finally finishing all studies by 1972. It was the onset of Martial Law in deeply-troubled Philippines, so Dodong decided to travel to the US.  And there he would stay till his retirement, again running through a gauntlet of countless challenges presented not only under the new environment, but even with the very practice of the profession that he had sacrificed for in his old homeland.   But persevering, he overcame them all, practicing pediatrics in the State of Michigan for many years. Then retiring after age caught up with him.  But in all those intervening years enjoying the manifold blessings of his adopted country, he ever missed any opportunity to help and assist  family members who were left behind.

He came back to his homeland almost 5 years ago before his death, registering a life lived to the full measure and more.

Life’s A-wastin’

 Life’s  A-wastin’

Your earthly life is so very short.  So do not waste any of it.

This conscious stream of thought strings along my morning jog.

Keeping company as I negotiate the twists and turns of my rote.

And invariably of the ups and downs of daily living, too.

A casual admonition constantly hammered in our minds.

Most expectedly for those of us in the twilight of our years.

Rivulets of counsel feed the besieging river on the subject.

Perchance we may be off-footed what this beatitude is.

Why seekest thou rest (and pleasure), since thou art born to labor?

We hear a’ Kempis chime in with such serious tone and sense.

.

So, we ask ourselves this itchy question.

How is life then wasted or not wasted?

A Bottled-Up Life

 A Bottled-Up Life

Time was from the constricting walls of adolescence,

when I felt that life was one heavy onus dropped on me.

In which society's demands on life reigned supreme.

That life was one of purpose, and of destiny.

That life stayed within certain acceptable boundaries, 

Bottled up and neatly labeled for good measure.

Acquire actionable knowledge and passable skills,

Sufficient enough to raise and support a healthy family,

to dutifully enlist in civilization's inexorable forward march.

 All artfully designed to fulfill destiny and sustain humanity.

So it came to be for me, to fit snugly as a compliant cog,

in an efficient and ever-whirring machine of grand design.

But routines started to leak out and  break apart.

I ceased working for a living and commenced living for life.

It was then I felt a crying need from a gaping hole within.

The urge to lend to words to life events and inspiring ideas,

 racing through my suddenly awakened mind,

 all loudly vying for time and space.

Taking reins were pesky things that wanted to rule my life.

Of some deterministic obsession about what I ought to do.

Driven to extremes by compulsion hard to shunt aside.

All this I found awaited me like a siren call.

With reluctant gusto, I did what had to be done.

Committed to the written word dimly-lit memories in mind.

Egged on by some  formidable duress within,

coupled with urgency of  life about to be extinguished.

And now having gone out the wringer, I feel completed.

A published book it shall be for posterity and heritage. 

One designed to transcend the limits of temporal life.

And hopefully, worthy enough for those near and dear.

A Perspective: How The Person of Jesus Christ Actually Looked.

To commence to conjure images of the person of Christ after he had ascended,  we first allowed our own individual fertile imagination to roam free, to  festoon and emblazon the resulting images every which way until they became accepted.  This we have done over the centuries, creating differing images to the point of confusion, and even to the point of contention among those who would not accept any other but their own.  Jesus of a hundred faces!  That is what the world of Christianity has created.

This is when stodgy science crept in an attempt to settle the score and to extricate the bones of contention.  So using scientific methods tested and honed through years of studies, it has come out with its own most likely image of Christ, taking into account written data and fossilized figures derived from the same milieu as Christ.

The resultant scientific image of Christ makes Him look just like any Tom, Dick, and Harry, of his own milieu.  Looking very ordinary, insignificant, and maybe mediocre in facial features.  Somebody one can lose easily in any crowd.

Can we accept this as our reverential representation of the Son of the Almighty God, whose very name the ancient Jews could not even assign and/or name, or worse, write down  for fear of displeasing and desecrating Him?

It is ironic but for most significant personages of the ancient world, man has been able to collate enough data, fossil, or representations, to enable him to create passably accurate images of them.  Persons like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, even further down the historical holes, like the Neanderthals or the Cro-Magnons. etc.

But for Jesus Christ who lived only over 2000 years ago, we have not been able to till now. One wonders what is behind this unsaid inhibition or reluctance to define the one "official" image of Christ.

Personally, I take ownership of this novel perspective that I will lay out below, just strictly my own.

Before proceeding I consider this caveat.

Over the years, we have read, though mostly heard, that in his sojourn on earth Christ was seen as visiting other faraway places like those in Asia.  Scanty though the accounts may be still many stand by their own truths about such events.  Though Christ was said to have lived amongst such foreign people one has yet to hear about any physical description of Christ coming from those sources.  Somehow, these people must have sensed Christ as nobody any different from them, allowing him to sit amongst them and expound his doctrines.

Many would counter that such incidents are physically improbable given all the circumstances.  But the staid practice  of Parapsychology, a field of study now  generally accepted by pertinent authorities,  has given us some insights.  It has defined and proved to us the unique concept of bilocation or multilocation, which is power an individual has to be present in more than one location at the same time.  In a real way suspending the constraints of time and physics as we humans have learned to believe.

Any Being possessing or predisposed of having such powers must definitely also have other more subtle powers beyond the purview of natural phenomenon.

Thus, Christ in his earthly life when he appeared not only to crowds but to each individual person must have projected himself in ways that the viewer would find as the incarnate manifestation of someone originating from such mystical sphere.  Christ after all was not only more than human but he was perceived as the Redeemer of the entire human race that had been seeking deliverance from its earthly vicissitudes.  Thus to those who beheld him, he/she saw the human perfection of the Being as materialized in each and every unique individual lens that we possess.  Christ as seen not only in the differing grades of vision we each individually are gifted with, but including and not even limited to the prism that we individually perceive our Redeemer to be.

The anonymity of Jesus to his companions who had known him prior, on the road to Emmaus after the resurrection, in a way prods us to think that Jesus dictated how people would view His Person when they saw him. Or to not recognize him at all which the companions on the road to Emmaus did declare.

Thus, a black person sees Christ as the manifestation of perfection in his blackness.  A Chinese or Japanese for their parts would be to manifest Christ in their unique visions of perfection.  Same with the Middle Eastern.  And we could truly say and declare that those are  the correct images of Christ, as the latter allowed himself to be seen by them.

To the white person then, Christ is how he is typically depicted in books, magazines, calendars, etc., which we now currently witness around us.  And that would be accurate, though as an Asian person with an Asian set of perspectives my representation of Christ is obviously different. 

In the final analysis we can only prognosticate about these things, because Christ still is the Final Arbiter.  And as the limited representation of paper, we cannot fully understand the existence of the pencil.