In A Trance

by Cole Tan

Reading Marcel, I honestly did not understand the word transcendence in the reading. Granted I was En 10 but even using context clues on the reading made me more confused. =)) Anyway, silently listening to Dr. Garcia, and yes I mean silent because again I had no idea what to recite, I started understanding the word transcendence.

Transcendence is doing more than what is expected, at least how I understood it. So like Dr. Garcia said “For example you’re in a corridor and you see people doing different kind of things, some people are laughing, some are studying, some are sweet you are aware of these people. Being aware that you are aware of others is like being transcendent. More than being conscious of others, you are conscious of yourself being conscious of others.” (I might have paraphrased a bit but that was the general idea ahahaha) And Sir Earl asked us what we have done recently that is in line with the whole idea of transcendence.

Last semester, I was faced with a grave dilemma (at least it seemed that heavy at that point in my life) whether to run for Second Year Batch Representative and retain my position in the Executive Board or drop my position and start from the bottom up for something I truly want. Like anyone would do, I weighed the pros and cons. If I stay in my position, I would have been EB for three straight years in the same position with only the first three characters in the title changing (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), the freshmen will remember me faster, I would still have a voice in decision making for the org, I will have free org shirts and lanyards, I get to go to Lex Camp for free and would probably have a greater chance of becoming a president having known the constitution at the back of my mind and the would have been three executive titles to back my campaign. Cons: It’s going to be another year of weekly 1.5 hour meetings and monthly 3 hour meetings, another year of texting all 135 LM majors for updates, another year of un-magis-like studying for long tests, and another year of questioning my worth to the org.

The pros truly outnumbered the cons. However, I knew I will not be satisfied nor will I be happy in that position. And so, I chose to give my position to a person I truly believe can do the work, trained her and I moved on to work under both the Executive Board and the Associate Vice Presidents as a Core Head, a Project Manager , and a Marketing Director. I have exemplified transcendence by choosing to do what I love and in extension doing more for my org rather than fulfilling my wants and my desire to be president. Well, as for that last part, there’s still a way. AHAHAHAHHA But we’ll still see.


xoxo

The Exigency of Transcendence

by Mikka Aquino

23 August 2012

Discussed Text: Gabriel Marcel, The Mystery of Being

There are certain events in our lives that are out of our control. These range from small moments to big moments that could instantly change the way we live our lives. They could come in the form of small realizations that urge the person to make a sudden judgment or action, or big events that are turning points that jar a person awake and into a kind of reality that they must face. In these moments, we may come to realize our own incompleteness – the lack in ourselves. We don’t even need to look too far away for us to discover things; if we look deeper into our own being, we’ll find something new, something we have overlooked or taken for granted.

This sudden realization of the flaws will stir unease and dissatisfaction within us, creating a yearning for completion, for the attainment of that one true Desire. In such moments, we are no longer simple people. We become aware of ourselves being aware, and in so doing, we may hopefully go beyond what is there, reaching forth and yearning to be what we would deem ‘perfect.’

Such is the exigency of transcendence.

Personally, I have come across certain tragedies that at some point in my life, I perceived them to be far greater than myself. They’re one of those moments that will forever leave you feeling amiss, or just put you into this state of perpetual questioning and wonder, perhaps even fear. I may even say that such experiences have left their holes in me. Whether they can be fully healed or simply covered beneath a patch, I am unsure. These are permanent, life changing events and I would be foolish to think that these could be brushed aside, as if I was left unchanged and unaffected. I will not stipulate what these are – suffice to say that these are losses- but these big things and even small things have helped shape who I am now. It was not by circumstance alone that I was shaped, but by the decisions I made as a response to that circumstance.

This response I had was something that I gave out of the need to be something else, something more than what I used to be. Regressing or even remaining the same after such tragic events would only serve to ruin me, to lead me further down and away into decrepitude. Obviously, I will not be doing myself any good. I will not be doing anyone any good, if I let myself waste away. And this desire to become more is not something that I could copy off of other people. It’s something that only I was capable of conceiving, for in the end, it’ll only be me who is accountable for the deeds I’ve done and for the person I’ve become. No one could have taught me what to do about such experiences, much as I would have liked someone to have told me how I could have survived better. Alas, life is not meant to be a how-to process. If that were the case, then there would be no point to life, for one would have just lived someone else's experiences.

Although this is a personal experience, it does not mean that it is a selfish one. For me, I wanted to move on, be stronger, be a better me because I wanted to, I needed to and I knew there were others who needed me to be stronger. It’ll never be just a personal experience for me, or for anyone. It will always be an experience that is tied to others. I’d like to think of it in this way: We can affirm, through other people, that we have changed, that we have done something good and that we have become more. We won’t see it for ourselves, not initially. It’s only when we see how our actions and how we as persons have affected people that we know who we are or what we’ve actually done.

That’s why we can’t be alone. It’s through other people that we exist, that we know that we exist. And it is through us that others come to be as well.

I think that these are things that we cannot force upon ourselves. It’s a demand, yes but it is a demand that comes from some unexpected occurrence. I think we need to be caught off guard for us to realize that there are holes in ourselves that we need to fill up. Moments like these humble us for it is when we become vulnerable to the elements, to circumstance, and to other people and even to our own scrutiny.

And I think it is a beautiful thing to realize that you’re incomplete, to realize that you’re flawed or ill-equipped to face a certain situation. It’s only when you see the bad side of things that you can fully appreciate what is good and beautiful about it, about you. It is only within that moment of weakness that we can find ourselves learning to be strong. Again, whatever we realize, whatever epiphany we have about ourselves, it’ll never be far removed from what is there within us or from what we have experienced. That being said, I think we shouldn’t be afraid to accept what horrors lurk beneath our skins, or what pockmarks we find upon our surfaces; we shouldn’t be afraid to question and to know ourselves more. It’s like mining – if you dig deep enough, you would have eventually struck gold.