Mushy, Lengthy, Inspirational Speeches

by Nats Barretto

18 September 2012

Discussed Texts: Rene Descartes, Meditations on the First Philosophy

                            Gabriel Marcel, "Primary and Secondary Reflection," The Mystery of Being

Reflection comes in the weirdest parts of the day. One minute you're hurrying on your way to school, one minute you're reflecting about existence. This happened to me once while I was crossing a street and a motorcycle slowed down to give way to me. I remembered philosophy class: the mere fact that the motorcycle driver slowed down for me was proof that I do exist.

 

I also find it hard to control when to reflect sometimes, since it only comes when I'm "in the mood". One time I was reviewing for a long exam when a line from a song suddenly popped into my head. The line was, "wish that you could see what I see when it's gone". I really couldn't remember what the song is, but I knew that it was a song I always listen to. Because of this "disquiet", I stopped reading what I was reading and searched my iTunes. I kept on browsing and browsing, listening to songs I felt was a good candidate for the line. I did this for more than an hour until I finally found the song I was looking for. It was a song I kept on ignoring for the past hour.

 

The thing is, I thought I knew the song too well that I wouldn't mistake it for as the origin of the line. But maybe that was the problem: I knew the song too well. When we're too familiar with something, we tend to have a hard time recognizing it sometimes.

 

This concept can also be applied to our relations with people. Knowing a person too well can make it hard for us to describe them sometimes. Many lectures ago, I remember Dr. Garcia summarizing this idea with, "the more we know, the more we don't know".

 

Those two reflections involved the totality of "me". It didn't just involve my body: it also involved my soul. It's center, or "fulcrum", was the totality of my being. Realizing my existence doesn't only involve the existence of my body, but also the existence something beyond my body, something which controls and gives life to my body: my soul. Realizing the meaning behind "knowing less as we know more" also just didn't involve my body. It involved the experiences of my body: listening to a song and being familiar with it, having a friend and knowing him for a long time.

 

Okay, I already have these insights. Now what do I do with it? I wrote about it, but maybe there's something more I can do with these insights. Maybe these insights can help me "convert" for the better. Knowing of my existence and being conscious of it can help me make better decisions in the future. For example, seeing a girl carrying a huge heavy block of wood, I know that I can help and I do help being aware that I can help. It's a menial example, but it can lead to something greater. Being aware that I exist, I know that I can help more people other than the girl carrying the huge heavy block. (Dr. Garcia suggested in class the corporal works of mercy.)

 

Reflection is the main source of wisdom. It is the source of the mushy, lengthy and inspirational speeches we usually hear at the end of a movie or a TV show. These reflections teach us about life. They are the ones that make our day "less bad", or in a more positive way, "more happy". Though maybe not all reflections have obvious "life applications", I think these reflections still contribute to how we think as a whole. The insight I've gained from my second account probably sounds too "theoretical" in a way that it's hard to put it into use. But then, maybe it doesn't have a direct use. Maybe it's just suppose to make you feel close to someone when you realize you find it hard to describe them. Maybe, maybe not, no one can really know. As Fr. Ferriols said, the totality of some insights are really hard to grasp. Maybe this is one of those insights.