by Dan Yamsuan
When this school year started, I felt lost, even though I felt I was given another chance to start all over again. With all the uncertainties and bitterness that were brought because of my experiences last semester, it became hard for me to recover from them. That time, I thought people didn’t care about me, as they could easily just abandon me like a disposable tetra juice pack left around the park. I have always been given time to other people that I have forgotten myself in the process. Because of that, I have tried isolating myself from other people and became stiffer with the way I handle things around me. It seemed that there were things I haven’t let go of yet.
When I had Philosophy classes, the lectures reminded me of the ideals I used to hold on before I fell into my misery. Slowly, it made me realize that I haven’t given time to develop myself into a better person and to appreciate what I have that are important to me. So, I started to meet new people, at the same time, be more aware about my capabilities. These required a sense of humility and maturity to be able to understand myself and other people better. In the end, what I have learned in Philosophy entailed me to walk along the path of acceptance. This path helped me mend the broken pieces I had before, until I was able to stand up and believe in myself and other people once again.
As classes are coming to an end, I realized that the path to acceptance was long and difficult to tread on. It required much patience and trust not only of oneself, but also of other people as well. But, I can’t say that I have forgiven myself yet, neither can I say that I have reached the end of the road, as there is still a lot to learn along the way. But, I can say that I am on my way to become a better person by enjoying life, even at its smallest things, and I would eventually become more confident in dealing with other people as well.
For that, I am grateful that learning Philosophy as one that helped me see everything around me in another perspective, where hope is still present.
Showing posts with label hope. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hope. Show all posts
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Sunday, December 9, 2012
A Series of Insights
by Nats Barretto
Last Thursday's philosophy class was probably the best philosophy class for me so far.
"Time is not a line, it's an instant. Every instant is created anew with every instant."
This is an instant. And so is this. And so is this. Get it?
Fuck.
"The future is a promise. Whatever I have done in the past, I can still change meaning by what I do in the future."
Writing that word "fuck" up there was a mistake from the past. But I was able to change its meaning by using it as an example for a concept.
"Whenever I'm still alive, there's still hope."
True.
I think that line was the point of last Thursday's discussion. I'm still alive, there's still hope. We do not know what the future holds.
We can choose to believe that the future holds sadness and despair.
But why believe that? We can believe that the future holds beauty and joy.
There are many beautiful and joyful things in life, which the future can hold. And the first step in attaining those beautiful and joyful things is believing that you can attain those beautiful and joyful things.
So that you'd have the motivation in working for those beautiful and joyful things.
"Appreciation of time as very precious. It's poignant: it's beautiful, but it won't last forever."
Isn't it sad?
Nothing lasts forever, but that's just how life works. Beautiful and joyful things in the past must give way to other beautiful and joyful things that will come in the future.
"The best is yet to come."
Last Thursday's philosophy class was probably the best philosophy class for me so far. But I believe that the best is yet to come.
Last Thursday's philosophy class was probably the best philosophy class for me so far.
"Time is not a line, it's an instant. Every instant is created anew with every instant."
This is an instant. And so is this. And so is this. Get it?
Fuck.
"The future is a promise. Whatever I have done in the past, I can still change meaning by what I do in the future."
Writing that word "fuck" up there was a mistake from the past. But I was able to change its meaning by using it as an example for a concept.
"Whenever I'm still alive, there's still hope."
True.
I think that line was the point of last Thursday's discussion. I'm still alive, there's still hope. We do not know what the future holds.
We can choose to believe that the future holds sadness and despair.
But why believe that? We can believe that the future holds beauty and joy.
There are many beautiful and joyful things in life, which the future can hold. And the first step in attaining those beautiful and joyful things is believing that you can attain those beautiful and joyful things.
So that you'd have the motivation in working for those beautiful and joyful things.
"Appreciation of time as very precious. It's poignant: it's beautiful, but it won't last forever."
Isn't it sad?
Nothing lasts forever, but that's just how life works. Beautiful and joyful things in the past must give way to other beautiful and joyful things that will come in the future.
"The best is yet to come."
Last Thursday's philosophy class was probably the best philosophy class for me so far. But I believe that the best is yet to come.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
On Reflection and Life
10 July 2012
Discussed Texts: "Paul Ricoeur of Happy Memory," "The Promotion of Responsibility and Hope"
Paul Ricoeur (1915-2005) is known as the "philosopher of all dialogues," as he actively engaged with theology, the social sciences, literary theory, and critics, in order to gain new insights and answers on the question of being human. His interest in various disciplines led him to a struggle to know the self, particularly through expressions: actions, symbols, myths, metaphors, and texts that a people has, which reveals basically a particular way of life and an understanding of being human.
He engaged in a form of philosophical hermeneutics (from the Greek God Hermes, who brought the message of gods to people), an investigation on the interpretation of historical and fictional narratives. His works stress on how these came to be through the creativity of the human being who, able to remember what transpires in life through time, puts everything together in order to make sense of it, in such a way that in those materials which he has done shows but at the same time conceals something from us and about us.
Ricoeur emphasized the capacities and capabilities of being human in the midst of his finitude, a capability to speak, bring out a reasoned discourse, act, tell a story of himself/herself, and ultimately, to feel responsible for one's actions, which includes keeping promises, forgiving others, and expressing hope. It seems that Ricoeur here, on his emphasis on the capable human being, asserts that because we can, we will! We are called to action, towards the exercise of what we can do and an encounter with the possibilities that we are faced with, towards being creative with our lives.
The masters of suspicion (Freud, Marx, and Nietzsche) tells us that there is some form of meaninglessness, that he/she is no part of a grand design, no reason to exist and no metaphysical or divine destiny to lean on. However, Ricoeur says that faced with the meaninglessness and absurdity of life, we have the capability to exercise our freedom, to act, to be creative, and to find a superabundance of meaning, a sense of hope that in one way or another, our lives are worth living. There is a sort of negation of life in the acceptance of the finite, but there is the joy of the yes in its midst, and Ricoeur invites us, in our own ways, to affirm our lives through our capabilities.
But we cannot reach this point of affirmation without reflecting on the things that we have done, and after doing so, act once again knowing that one has seen something different in one's life. This is Ricoeur's own response to the dichotomy between theoria and praxis that Marx has set, and one that points out to the fact that philosophy is lived experience becoming aware of itself.
But what does philosophical reflection consist of? What is it for? Ricoeur answers these questions by showing the task of reflection on three levels of our lives: everyday life, scientific life, and the meditative life.
On the level of everyday life, it is the role of reflection to bring into reason (and rational discourse) one's own existence, wagering that even in the face of finitude, life does make sense, that there one is actually going somewhere, that there is a direction in life that leads to happiness. But in order to determine it, there is a need to distance ourselves from our lives momentarily, especially with our obsession over techniques, planning and calculation management (we use reflection in the common sense, as with our own act of looking in a mirror, an image that seems so distant from us). Reflection puts a certain perspective in a prospective society, to determine the goal and purpose of these things that not only seem to have no purpose or goal but also seem to make us lose our own sense of purpose or goal. Reflection continually bridges the gap between who we are and what we desire, reminding us that both ends should meet and interact with each other. Ultimately, the purpose of reflection is for us to find that which will make us blessed and happy (beatitudo), the point in life where we truly become what we truly desire to be. This calls us consequently to find our passion in order for us to not only spend our time with it but also determine what we really desire to do with our lives.
On the level of scientific life, Ricoeur says that reflection helps us enter into a dialogue between philosophy and non-philosophy, especially the sciences which focus on what is quantifiable and empirical, setting on a path of specialization that yearns to know more and more but in the end knowing actually less and less. Philosophy, according to Ricoeur, should not compete with science but instead show its limitations and foundations, to return to lived experience. The task of reflection is to point out where science comes from as well as its limits in order to avoid a reduction of reality into a scientific one. Water is not merely H20, and a tree is not merely an organism with a scientific name, but more than that, they contain stories, memories, and other meanings for human beings that ought to be known with much wonder and enthusiasm.
Lastly, on the meditative life, which is concerned with the most fundamental questions of existence, particularly the question of Being, philosophical reflection helps us to understand ourselves in two distinct ways. The first which Ricoeur calls "atheistic humanism," is one's affirmation of one's own human capabilities, and the second, called "theistic humanism," a recognition that there is something that lies beyond. Ricoeur says that these are two aspects of our being human and actually do not contradict each other, a believer and unbeliever within us that affirms our capacity but at the same time accepts transcendence.
Such is the task of reflection, which we are invited to undergo in these various levels in order to set out into a journey that would help us answer, "What is the meaning of being human?"
Discussed Texts: "Paul Ricoeur of Happy Memory," "The Promotion of Responsibility and Hope"
Paul Ricoeur (1915-2005) is known as the "philosopher of all dialogues," as he actively engaged with theology, the social sciences, literary theory, and critics, in order to gain new insights and answers on the question of being human. His interest in various disciplines led him to a struggle to know the self, particularly through expressions: actions, symbols, myths, metaphors, and texts that a people has, which reveals basically a particular way of life and an understanding of being human.
He engaged in a form of philosophical hermeneutics (from the Greek God Hermes, who brought the message of gods to people), an investigation on the interpretation of historical and fictional narratives. His works stress on how these came to be through the creativity of the human being who, able to remember what transpires in life through time, puts everything together in order to make sense of it, in such a way that in those materials which he has done shows but at the same time conceals something from us and about us.
Ricoeur emphasized the capacities and capabilities of being human in the midst of his finitude, a capability to speak, bring out a reasoned discourse, act, tell a story of himself/herself, and ultimately, to feel responsible for one's actions, which includes keeping promises, forgiving others, and expressing hope. It seems that Ricoeur here, on his emphasis on the capable human being, asserts that because we can, we will! We are called to action, towards the exercise of what we can do and an encounter with the possibilities that we are faced with, towards being creative with our lives.
The masters of suspicion (Freud, Marx, and Nietzsche) tells us that there is some form of meaninglessness, that he/she is no part of a grand design, no reason to exist and no metaphysical or divine destiny to lean on. However, Ricoeur says that faced with the meaninglessness and absurdity of life, we have the capability to exercise our freedom, to act, to be creative, and to find a superabundance of meaning, a sense of hope that in one way or another, our lives are worth living. There is a sort of negation of life in the acceptance of the finite, but there is the joy of the yes in its midst, and Ricoeur invites us, in our own ways, to affirm our lives through our capabilities.
But we cannot reach this point of affirmation without reflecting on the things that we have done, and after doing so, act once again knowing that one has seen something different in one's life. This is Ricoeur's own response to the dichotomy between theoria and praxis that Marx has set, and one that points out to the fact that philosophy is lived experience becoming aware of itself.
But what does philosophical reflection consist of? What is it for? Ricoeur answers these questions by showing the task of reflection on three levels of our lives: everyday life, scientific life, and the meditative life.
On the level of everyday life, it is the role of reflection to bring into reason (and rational discourse) one's own existence, wagering that even in the face of finitude, life does make sense, that there one is actually going somewhere, that there is a direction in life that leads to happiness. But in order to determine it, there is a need to distance ourselves from our lives momentarily, especially with our obsession over techniques, planning and calculation management (we use reflection in the common sense, as with our own act of looking in a mirror, an image that seems so distant from us). Reflection puts a certain perspective in a prospective society, to determine the goal and purpose of these things that not only seem to have no purpose or goal but also seem to make us lose our own sense of purpose or goal. Reflection continually bridges the gap between who we are and what we desire, reminding us that both ends should meet and interact with each other. Ultimately, the purpose of reflection is for us to find that which will make us blessed and happy (beatitudo), the point in life where we truly become what we truly desire to be. This calls us consequently to find our passion in order for us to not only spend our time with it but also determine what we really desire to do with our lives.
On the level of scientific life, Ricoeur says that reflection helps us enter into a dialogue between philosophy and non-philosophy, especially the sciences which focus on what is quantifiable and empirical, setting on a path of specialization that yearns to know more and more but in the end knowing actually less and less. Philosophy, according to Ricoeur, should not compete with science but instead show its limitations and foundations, to return to lived experience. The task of reflection is to point out where science comes from as well as its limits in order to avoid a reduction of reality into a scientific one. Water is not merely H20, and a tree is not merely an organism with a scientific name, but more than that, they contain stories, memories, and other meanings for human beings that ought to be known with much wonder and enthusiasm.
Lastly, on the meditative life, which is concerned with the most fundamental questions of existence, particularly the question of Being, philosophical reflection helps us to understand ourselves in two distinct ways. The first which Ricoeur calls "atheistic humanism," is one's affirmation of one's own human capabilities, and the second, called "theistic humanism," a recognition that there is something that lies beyond. Ricoeur says that these are two aspects of our being human and actually do not contradict each other, a believer and unbeliever within us that affirms our capacity but at the same time accepts transcendence.
Such is the task of reflection, which we are invited to undergo in these various levels in order to set out into a journey that would help us answer, "What is the meaning of being human?"
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