by Jevin Sarmiento
It was mentioned in our lectures that the probably the first step into becoming a being for others is to be opened up. This opening up is caused by traumatisms- traumatisms that stray away from the common misconception of a psychological condition that has lasting harmful effect, but is seen as a way of being opened up to the reality beyond oneself. It is through these traumatisms that one is made aware of others and thus, leads him/her to start his/her path in becoming a being for others.
I could see this being closed and opening up in the act of going abroad. Taking my insights from Kent Nerburn’s book, “Letters to My Son,” when one leaves his/her home, he/she takes either one of two identities: the tourist and the traveller. What makes them is whether one opens up. When one is a tourist, he/she is protected by his/her credit cards, lavish hotels, and just visits a country for the sole reason of being able to say, “I was there.” He/she spends time within the comfort inside his/her hotel room, eating the finest food, which could be found from where he came from. He/she might go out for a while, going to the famous landmarks, taking selfies and posting them on Facebook or Twitter as soon as he/she finds an Internet connection. In short, a tourist is one who stays within him/herself, afraid of leaving the confines of his/her comfort zone and thus deprives him/herself of the chance to engage in another society’s culture, people and traditions- the chance to experience another country or area. The traveller, on the other hand, loses himself in the new culture of the countries he/she visits. He/she does not need the fanciest hotel rooms because of he/she would be too busy learning other people’s culture, way of life, language. He/she does not take selfies because he/she is taking pictures of him/herself with other people. A traveller is one who experiences the other/s and in some way learns more than a tourist can.
I’m not saying that being in nice hotels or having private tours is a bad thing, it’s just that one must remember to engage with the country and experience its people. It is in experiencing the other that a traveller sees another country and its people not as a sight, but as another country with its own people who have their own reality that is beyond his/her own. Don’t be afraid to open up yourself to their ways, so the next time you come back home from a trip abroad or out of town, you could look back and call yourself a true traveller.
Showing posts with label social networking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social networking. Show all posts
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Thursday, January 9, 2014
The Precariousness of Presence
by Lyka Gonzalez
One could probably liken watching his or her favorite band or artist perform live to the spectacle of arriving in a city one has longed to explore. For one thing, the experience is magical. It’s magic: Intoxicating.
An instantaneous roar fills the arena upon the sound of the band’s opening song. The thundering energy of the crowd races your heart along with the tiny strands of hair in your body. Suddenly, you are in a moment of disbelief. The songs you used to continually listen to from your computer, radio, iPod or record player you are now hearing live. You are caught in this dreamlike state until a 9.5-inch tablet is raised before you virtually blocking your view.
Concert-goers often end up drowning in a sea of smartphones and tablets as other attendees exhaust their efforts in getting a recording of the event for themselves. What are their intentions behind this? Perhaps they intend to have a memento they can look back to from time to time. Perhaps they intend to post it on their Instagram and Facebook account afterwards. Would it not be more satisfying to look back on a lasting memory of the experience rather than trying to “relive” the performance on the screen? Is a digital recording really what you are paying for in that event? Whichever the reason, what is common between the two is how absent they makes us in the present.
Though aimed at improving the quality of life, technology makes its primary goal questionable today. In a society with growing number of social media platforms and constant advancement of technology, we unconsciously allow ourselves to be too forward-looking. We preoccupy ourselves with what we can look back to later on and what we will post afterwards that we fail to just be and experience the now. The digital age tries to connect us more with one another and perhaps with ourselves as well, but it has also enforced us to be overdependent on technology. The mindset we have grown to have and the dependency it has caused make us even more disconnected with each other and with the present. It puts genuine relationships and lasting experiences (pagsasamahan) into uncertainty. Instead of making us more in tune with ourselves and with each other, technology has distracted from lived experiences that make life more meaningful. As with all things, learning to live the experience begins in the littlest of changes. Often, it starts with a self-reminder. By calling your impulses to attention, you make yourself more mindful of your actions and opens your mind to other options. You become aware of yourself and your surroundings. Then, it continues in letting go. Being present and being in the present also start by simply putting that gadget down. Let go of your temporal inhibitions about what to save or “Share” afterwards. Shake those worries off. Listen to the music around you. Watch the lights dance before you. Immerse yourself in the vibrations of the crowd--of the moment.
Sing. Dance. Scream. Jump. Cry.
Just live it.
One could probably liken watching his or her favorite band or artist perform live to the spectacle of arriving in a city one has longed to explore. For one thing, the experience is magical. It’s magic: Intoxicating.
An instantaneous roar fills the arena upon the sound of the band’s opening song. The thundering energy of the crowd races your heart along with the tiny strands of hair in your body. Suddenly, you are in a moment of disbelief. The songs you used to continually listen to from your computer, radio, iPod or record player you are now hearing live. You are caught in this dreamlike state until a 9.5-inch tablet is raised before you virtually blocking your view.
Concert-goers often end up drowning in a sea of smartphones and tablets as other attendees exhaust their efforts in getting a recording of the event for themselves. What are their intentions behind this? Perhaps they intend to have a memento they can look back to from time to time. Perhaps they intend to post it on their Instagram and Facebook account afterwards. Would it not be more satisfying to look back on a lasting memory of the experience rather than trying to “relive” the performance on the screen? Is a digital recording really what you are paying for in that event? Whichever the reason, what is common between the two is how absent they makes us in the present.
Though aimed at improving the quality of life, technology makes its primary goal questionable today. In a society with growing number of social media platforms and constant advancement of technology, we unconsciously allow ourselves to be too forward-looking. We preoccupy ourselves with what we can look back to later on and what we will post afterwards that we fail to just be and experience the now. The digital age tries to connect us more with one another and perhaps with ourselves as well, but it has also enforced us to be overdependent on technology. The mindset we have grown to have and the dependency it has caused make us even more disconnected with each other and with the present. It puts genuine relationships and lasting experiences (pagsasamahan) into uncertainty. Instead of making us more in tune with ourselves and with each other, technology has distracted from lived experiences that make life more meaningful. As with all things, learning to live the experience begins in the littlest of changes. Often, it starts with a self-reminder. By calling your impulses to attention, you make yourself more mindful of your actions and opens your mind to other options. You become aware of yourself and your surroundings. Then, it continues in letting go. Being present and being in the present also start by simply putting that gadget down. Let go of your temporal inhibitions about what to save or “Share” afterwards. Shake those worries off. Listen to the music around you. Watch the lights dance before you. Immerse yourself in the vibrations of the crowd--of the moment.
Sing. Dance. Scream. Jump. Cry.
Just live it.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Silence
by Kyla Relucio
Before going to bed this evening, I did my usual routine of checking emails and notifications on Facebook. This evening however, I could not help but feel very disheartened and disappointed as I scrolled through my news feeds for the only thing people are posting about are their complaints on the current situation our fellow Filipinos face and their angry comments full of discontent with the assistance of our government, most especially our President.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that there is nothing wrong. I just think that during moments like this, people online who can obviously have the time to sit in front of a laptop in their peaceful homes while other Filipinos are out there trying to survive and put together what’s left of them, should clearly just be silent.
Now is not the time to ask whose fault it is or why this is happening to us. Probably this is the time to answer how we could make things better. The answer to this question however can only be seen and given meaning through our actions.
I understand that some of us may feel angry, because we want things to get better and we feel like people who have that power to make things better aren’t doing their best. I also understand that it is very difficult to “let it go”, and to just ignore other angry comments or articles involved in criticizing the current situation we all face as Filipinos.
What must we do then?
The challenge for us is to be silent and to be peaceful. Our complaints wont do anything to make things better. It will only exacerbate the situation by putting emphasis on how unfortunate things have been. Silence does not mean we do not care or that things do not matter. Silence simply means that we do feel something yet no words can capture our emotions and sentiments.
Today, we are challenged to be human. Human, not in the sense, that it is innate for us to be angry and to react to this tragedy, but human in a sense that we can overcome and acknowledge our capability to do so.
Before going to bed this evening, I did my usual routine of checking emails and notifications on Facebook. This evening however, I could not help but feel very disheartened and disappointed as I scrolled through my news feeds for the only thing people are posting about are their complaints on the current situation our fellow Filipinos face and their angry comments full of discontent with the assistance of our government, most especially our President.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that there is nothing wrong. I just think that during moments like this, people online who can obviously have the time to sit in front of a laptop in their peaceful homes while other Filipinos are out there trying to survive and put together what’s left of them, should clearly just be silent.
Now is not the time to ask whose fault it is or why this is happening to us. Probably this is the time to answer how we could make things better. The answer to this question however can only be seen and given meaning through our actions.
I understand that some of us may feel angry, because we want things to get better and we feel like people who have that power to make things better aren’t doing their best. I also understand that it is very difficult to “let it go”, and to just ignore other angry comments or articles involved in criticizing the current situation we all face as Filipinos.
What must we do then?
The challenge for us is to be silent and to be peaceful. Our complaints wont do anything to make things better. It will only exacerbate the situation by putting emphasis on how unfortunate things have been. Silence does not mean we do not care or that things do not matter. Silence simply means that we do feel something yet no words can capture our emotions and sentiments.
Today, we are challenged to be human. Human, not in the sense, that it is innate for us to be angry and to react to this tragedy, but human in a sense that we can overcome and acknowledge our capability to do so.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
From Computer Screens To The Real World
by Anna Grafilo
Social networks changed the way we communicate with other people these days. It became easier for us to talk with our friends and relatives through instant messengers like Skype and Facebook messenger and e-mails. The purpose of these technologies is primarily to bring people who cannot be physically near you closer by allowing us to have a faster way to communicate with them. Some people say that social network is one of the things that caused this world to be fragmented. They say that the technology that was supposed to bring people closer also is one of the reasons why our society becomes more and more fragmented. An example of how social networks show how fragmented we are, are in the photos itself. Humans are social beings and it reflects on some older photographs where most of them feature a family or a group of friends but we can see a shift that from family and friends the photos that we take are slowly becoming centered with ourselves. In one Facebook account we could see that the owner has may be hundreds of thousand of photos with them but there is also sometimes one album besides the profile pictures album containing their 'selfies'. Selfies are basically pictures of only yourself and no one else.
But it is not with the pictures that we see how social networks are instruments or further fragmenting the world we live in. We could see it also by the way we interact with each other. Sometimes I would see people in the cafeteria sitting across each other but their attention is not with the person they are with it is with the person on the phone or sometimes they are with the person physically but the attention is not there it is with their phones or laptops playing games or another person they are talking to. For me it is rude because you are together supposedly to spend time and interact with each other but what happens was that they are there physically but not mentally.
People say that because of social networks our interactions with other people becomes more and more distant, in a way we prefer to talk to them facing the screen than talk to them face to face because it is more comfortable. We have thousands of friends in Facebook but we do not know all of them personally. But is it really the social networks are not really the ones to blame for the further fragmentation of the world, we are the ones to blame. Going back to the purpose of social networks it was created by the people who wanted it to be an instrument to connect people all over the world to bring our loved ones closer. It is us that give these technologies a purely selfish purpose and then blame them for the growing distance among us mentally and emotionally.
I think that the world that was broken years before us and our own broken world are the same. The world during 1950’s are the same as 2013’s people go on with their lives without a care for what other people do and what they are experiencing. But we can still try to repair this broken world. It may not fully heal but we can still try by doing simple things like greeting other people or like trying to relate to other people and not just the class you belong in by getting ourselves to be more exposed to the reality that not all of us have it easy. Maybe the world will never fully heal from its fragmentation but maybe just maybe we try to reach out and give an effort to heal it.
Social networks changed the way we communicate with other people these days. It became easier for us to talk with our friends and relatives through instant messengers like Skype and Facebook messenger and e-mails. The purpose of these technologies is primarily to bring people who cannot be physically near you closer by allowing us to have a faster way to communicate with them. Some people say that social network is one of the things that caused this world to be fragmented. They say that the technology that was supposed to bring people closer also is one of the reasons why our society becomes more and more fragmented. An example of how social networks show how fragmented we are, are in the photos itself. Humans are social beings and it reflects on some older photographs where most of them feature a family or a group of friends but we can see a shift that from family and friends the photos that we take are slowly becoming centered with ourselves. In one Facebook account we could see that the owner has may be hundreds of thousand of photos with them but there is also sometimes one album besides the profile pictures album containing their 'selfies'. Selfies are basically pictures of only yourself and no one else.
But it is not with the pictures that we see how social networks are instruments or further fragmenting the world we live in. We could see it also by the way we interact with each other. Sometimes I would see people in the cafeteria sitting across each other but their attention is not with the person they are with it is with the person on the phone or sometimes they are with the person physically but the attention is not there it is with their phones or laptops playing games or another person they are talking to. For me it is rude because you are together supposedly to spend time and interact with each other but what happens was that they are there physically but not mentally.
People say that because of social networks our interactions with other people becomes more and more distant, in a way we prefer to talk to them facing the screen than talk to them face to face because it is more comfortable. We have thousands of friends in Facebook but we do not know all of them personally. But is it really the social networks are not really the ones to blame for the further fragmentation of the world, we are the ones to blame. Going back to the purpose of social networks it was created by the people who wanted it to be an instrument to connect people all over the world to bring our loved ones closer. It is us that give these technologies a purely selfish purpose and then blame them for the growing distance among us mentally and emotionally.
I think that the world that was broken years before us and our own broken world are the same. The world during 1950’s are the same as 2013’s people go on with their lives without a care for what other people do and what they are experiencing. But we can still try to repair this broken world. It may not fully heal but we can still try by doing simple things like greeting other people or like trying to relate to other people and not just the class you belong in by getting ourselves to be more exposed to the reality that not all of us have it easy. Maybe the world will never fully heal from its fragmentation but maybe just maybe we try to reach out and give an effort to heal it.
Monday, September 10, 2012
The "Garaponated" Self
by Richard Dy
30 August 2012
Discussed Text: Gabriel Marcel, "Primary and Secondary Reflection," The Mystery of Being
During the August 30th lecture, we tackled the final chapter in the Gabriel Marcel series of our handouts. I think it is the pinnacle of what we are trying to struggle with for all these weeks. As the midterms draws near, many of us have no choice but to wilfully reflect on what we have learned so far. The last lecture struggled with what defines the self? Who am I, really? When am I? and How am I? Frankly, the topic raised more question than it answered but I'm grateful that it did.
About myself
The sub-header above is the bane of all the social networking website. Don't you love it when you sign up for a social networking site and it asked you to describe yourself? But how can I really describe myself in 600 characters of less? This is where the "garaponation" happens. Of course a normal person would not turn philosophical in a snap and really think "deep". Most likely, people will answer what they think they are. I, on the other hand, sometimes find it hard to munster up words to put in the little box on the website for everyone to see. I really had to second guess myself if those adjectives really fits who I really am and how it'll be "agreeable" for others who view my profile.
The problem with personally describing yourself is that you don't really know yourself that much. I remember during my INTACT class, we were asked to write adjectives describing ourselves and then made required to pass around the paper and ask others to describe the person on the paper. Most of us were shocked that some adjectives are very far off from what we think of ourselves and how we present ourselves to others. It is really weird and wonderful at the same time that we are blocked off from our subconscious and that the opacity is enough to make us rethink entirely of ourselves.
With this in mind, are we ourselves if not because of others?
The Society
I believe that one of the important factor for our being is that we have others. We are a social being, we simply cannot be without others. May it be your mother who raised and loved you to a special someone who makes you feel whole inside. It is a crucial part of who we are. I remember my Sociology and Anthropology professor talking about how we are just a reflection of the society and how our upbringing is totally a product of consequences over the years. It is indeed a superficial statement but its not less true if you really think about it. On the other hand, blessed with philosophical insight, aren't we unique anyway because of how we've become?
We may be different on how we are when we're alone and how we convey ourselves when with other people but aren't we practically, still us? We experience two aspects of our lives that WE choose to live. When still in doubt about our true selves, we appeal to another part of our existential being, something greater.
Something Greater
We have already tackled with a greater force that operates the universe around us but now we're finding ourselves asking if are we are part of this greater force's inner workings. Are we just here because we are here or our purpose is ingrained in the fundamental workings of the society. Heck, even I think that I am writing this blog post because I was chosen by this greater force (not Sir Earl btw!) We find it interesting how we're not the center of the world but merely a part of it. Sometimes we feel that merely experiencing a great loss should compel everything in the world to just stop. The Sun shouldn't shine, the birds shouldn't chirp and people should stop what they're doing. But we quickly realize it is never the case.
Our being is based on experience. We transcend because of experience and we oftentimes let go and participate in this source greater than ourselves.
Moving Forward
I particularly find myself in an existential crossroad in this point in the class lecture. Many thoughts have crossed my mind, we exist because we are. Are we then nonexistent when we cease to be, or do we live through others we have influenced in our life? It is quite an interesting thing to reflect upon being's eccentricities at least now, we can move forward always being aware that we are aware of ourselves.
With that, I leave a quote which I can't get out of my head for the past few days. It really contrasts the question "What experience then does the true self emerge?" may it be personal or societal.
30 August 2012
Discussed Text: Gabriel Marcel, "Primary and Secondary Reflection," The Mystery of Being
During the August 30th lecture, we tackled the final chapter in the Gabriel Marcel series of our handouts. I think it is the pinnacle of what we are trying to struggle with for all these weeks. As the midterms draws near, many of us have no choice but to wilfully reflect on what we have learned so far. The last lecture struggled with what defines the self? Who am I, really? When am I? and How am I? Frankly, the topic raised more question than it answered but I'm grateful that it did.
About myself
The sub-header above is the bane of all the social networking website. Don't you love it when you sign up for a social networking site and it asked you to describe yourself? But how can I really describe myself in 600 characters of less? This is where the "garaponation" happens. Of course a normal person would not turn philosophical in a snap and really think "deep". Most likely, people will answer what they think they are. I, on the other hand, sometimes find it hard to munster up words to put in the little box on the website for everyone to see. I really had to second guess myself if those adjectives really fits who I really am and how it'll be "agreeable" for others who view my profile.
The problem with personally describing yourself is that you don't really know yourself that much. I remember during my INTACT class, we were asked to write adjectives describing ourselves and then made required to pass around the paper and ask others to describe the person on the paper. Most of us were shocked that some adjectives are very far off from what we think of ourselves and how we present ourselves to others. It is really weird and wonderful at the same time that we are blocked off from our subconscious and that the opacity is enough to make us rethink entirely of ourselves.
With this in mind, are we ourselves if not because of others?
The Society
I believe that one of the important factor for our being is that we have others. We are a social being, we simply cannot be without others. May it be your mother who raised and loved you to a special someone who makes you feel whole inside. It is a crucial part of who we are. I remember my Sociology and Anthropology professor talking about how we are just a reflection of the society and how our upbringing is totally a product of consequences over the years. It is indeed a superficial statement but its not less true if you really think about it. On the other hand, blessed with philosophical insight, aren't we unique anyway because of how we've become?
We may be different on how we are when we're alone and how we convey ourselves when with other people but aren't we practically, still us? We experience two aspects of our lives that WE choose to live. When still in doubt about our true selves, we appeal to another part of our existential being, something greater.
Something Greater
We have already tackled with a greater force that operates the universe around us but now we're finding ourselves asking if are we are part of this greater force's inner workings. Are we just here because we are here or our purpose is ingrained in the fundamental workings of the society. Heck, even I think that I am writing this blog post because I was chosen by this greater force (not Sir Earl btw!) We find it interesting how we're not the center of the world but merely a part of it. Sometimes we feel that merely experiencing a great loss should compel everything in the world to just stop. The Sun shouldn't shine, the birds shouldn't chirp and people should stop what they're doing. But we quickly realize it is never the case.
Our being is based on experience. We transcend because of experience and we oftentimes let go and participate in this source greater than ourselves.
Moving Forward
I particularly find myself in an existential crossroad in this point in the class lecture. Many thoughts have crossed my mind, we exist because we are. Are we then nonexistent when we cease to be, or do we live through others we have influenced in our life? It is quite an interesting thing to reflect upon being's eccentricities at least now, we can move forward always being aware that we are aware of ourselves.
With that, I leave a quote which I can't get out of my head for the past few days. It really contrasts the question "What experience then does the true self emerge?" may it be personal or societal.
"It's not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you."
- Rachel Dawes, Batman Begins
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