Posts filed under 'Philosophy'
Before leaving for work, I saw on 24 Oras a report about the couple physicians from Binalbagan, Negros Occidental. Dr. Pearle Tecson Pagunsan and wife Dr. Hazel Chua Pagunsan are serving their community instead of going abroad for better wages. The Pagunsans said that there are opportunities of going abroad promising better life that’s been coming their way, but they chose to stay in Binalbagan and serve their countrymen. These are the models every Filipino should look up to and follow.
Dr. Hazel Pagunsan said that weighing the needs and and love for the work, they both chose the joy in working to help the townspeople of Binalbagan over enslaving themselves overseas for better wages. If every Filipino professional has this mindset, then the Philippines would be one step towards the betterment of the country.
I sound hypocritical given I’m overseas, don’t I? I was fourteen when I migrated to the US. A step that I’ve protested from the beginning. I never wanted to come here, but I had no choice. It was a family choice. Then what am I still doing here now that I’ve grown to have my own decision? I plan to return to the Philippines in the near future. I’m just saving for a fresh start. I don’t exactly have anything if I came back, do I? I’m being patient and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I may not be bright enough to offer something for the nation, but I would be one man back.
The Pagunsans are selfless, why would someone like me who is selfish appreciate the act. To me though selfishness boils down to oneself, it does have a layer. Here, I am speaking of national selfishness where the layer is the choice of group. I’m being selfish for the group I belong to. I’m inherently contained in the group and I’m being selfish to achieve my own goals by making sure the group is successful.
What troubles me, though, is that the Pagunsans are also nurses. They took and finished nursing recently. That means they thought or still have thoughts of living the country and nursing foreigners abroad. We’ll see.
June 6th, 2008
“We The Living” is about a struggle of three individuals in Soviet Russia. Ayn Rand claims that the heroin inherits all the philosophical ideas from her.
In the beginning of the book, Kira was my model. She did not care about anyone but herself. She walked the path which would make her happy. She denounced society because according to her, oneself always comes first. The highest reverence of man is himself. Selfishness is a virtue.
A few chapters later, I lost interest on Kira. She contradicted herself because she fell in love. Her love affair(s) is unconventional. So what? She attached herself to another and that created a “society”. This is the beginning of her downfall and she never rose back.
I have been attempting to detach myself completely from everything — emotions, society, etc. I had the opportunity to complete the task 4 years ago. I also had another opportunity 5 months ago. Both opportunities were shattered by an emotion that everyone seeks and what caused Kira her downfall.
Once a man is detached, he shall live life like a comatose. So far, I have devised three phases in order to achieve complete detachment: (1) detach yourself from blood, (2) detach yourself from love, and (3) detach yourself from dependence. I shall explain each one.
Detachment from blood means to extract yourself from your family and relatives. This does not mean casting out of the house (you will do this in the third phase). What I meant here is to not care what happens to the family. You shouldn’t feel grief, envy, jealousy regarding the family. This may be the hardest because you grew up attuned to this form of collective. It’s the basic form of society — family.
Detachment from love means to not be in love with anybody. This is difficult as well because the emotions playing here are very enigmatic. However, this is the only phase where you have to overcome something that’s not inherent. It’s injected. It’s poison to selfishness. Total self control is needed in this phase. Strong will to resist external temptation is a must.
Detachment from dependence is not exactly independence. Independence is the result, but is not the task. This is the most difficult of the three because you will have to abandon all connections. You will no longer depend on others in order to live. You will not have a job, acquaintances, connection to the world. You will be completely alone.
The first phase, I have partially completed. There are still stray emotions I need to sort out. The second phase, I should have the full control in this. For now, I can’t say I have this taken care of. Lastly, I need to save in order to accomplish the third phase. I have a long way to go… What about you?
June 1st, 2008
I can’t sleep if I didn’t write something about this film. This film is one of the two best examples (the other being the “Thank For Smoking”) to tell the world that some things cannot be controlled however one tries to because these things are designed to be that way. There is no moral ground surrounding them.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, the movie is about a man who lobbies weapons to warring parties. When he was caught by an FBI, he was immediately released because “he is needed by the government.” If you are so naive about the world, war is caused during peaceful times to create a balance. There will always be war. Peace is a pipe dream. War does not have an antonym. It’s the reality.
May 28th, 2008
I had a short term absence online, if anyone noticed. I did it intentionally because nothing was coming out of my head, except the back entries that I will be posting tonight.They were posted offline in my i-touch-nothing-happens. I installed an offline WP there so that I can write directly through there and I don’t have to re-format my entries when I’m publishing online. Before my word processing software was formatting the entries when I copy & paste.
I vowed to halt my presence in the world wide web for a week. I didn’t even check if I had comments for moderation. I was going to reinstate my presence on Monday, but a slew of ideas came into my head and I didn’t want to lose them, so I’m writing this now while I’m on the ferry.
For some reason, I feel relieved from anger and all the negative thoughts that’s why I’m able to write again. I was reading so much of Ayn Rand that I realized I was bashing society so much. It is as if I’m emphasizing society, thus giving it more importance. Well, I’ll lay low on that topic for now. I was thinking of writing about emotions, especially pain. I heard a Dolores O’riordan song and it inspired me to personify pain and destruction. I don’t think I can, but I’ll think something along the way that’ll satisfy my urge to write about it.
May 15th, 2008
According to Thomas Hobbes, the state of nature is the state where each individual would have the right, or license to everything in the world. I believe that if society is stripped down — of everything artificial — we would be in that state. The world was originally in a state of nature.
Before I go any further, here I define a state as a point in space, not a governing one or a collective.
Hobbes’ assumption of the natural state led him into proposing a social contract — ultimately creation of society. For my own behalf, I will only accept the truthfulness of Hobbes’ assumption.
In the state of nature where a man can do what he wants is the foundation of my selfishness. If a man was originally allowed to do what he wished — free from constraints of society, then he should be forever allowed to do what he wants to do regardless of its effect on others.
It is not difficult to acknowledge the state of nature because it is always present, only hidden by the artificial curtains enveloping it. It is a sad thing, however, that when a man is born, he is conventionally acquainted to the artificial state and will take him a lifetime to realize that there is indeed a state with no constraints.
May 14th, 2008
Taken from We The Living, Chapter 9:
“Do you believe in God, Andrei?”
“No.”
“Neither do I. But that’s a favorite question of mine. An upside-down question, you know.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if I asked people whether they believed in life, they’d never understand what I meant. It’s a bad question. It can mean so much that it really means nothing. So I ask them if they believe in God. And if they say they do — then, I know they don’t believe in life.”
“Why?”
“Because you see, God — whatever anyone chooses to call God — is one’s highest conception of the highest possible. And whoever places his highest conception above his own possibility thinks very little of himself and his life. It’s a rare gift, you know, to feel reverence for your own life and to want the best, the greatest, the highest possible, here, now, for your very own. To imagine a heaven and then not to dream of it, but to demand it.”
“You’re a strange girl.”
“You see, you and I, we believe in life. But you want to fight for it, to kill for it, even to die — for life. I only want to live it.”
I always believe that satisfying oneself now should be the only task a man should have. Also, the task may be acted upon in any way he sees fit. That is living the life for me.
May 13th, 2008
Taken from We The Living, Chapter 6:
“For one reason, mainly, chiefly and eternally, no matter how much your Party promises to accomplish, no matter what paradise it plans to bring mankind. Whatever your other claims ma be, there’s one you can’t avoid, one that will turn your paradise into the most unspeakable hell: your claim that man must live for the state.”
“What better purpose can he live for?”
“Don’t you know that there are things, in the best of us, which no outside hand should dare to touch? Things sacred because, and only because, one can say: ‘This is mine’? Don’t you know that we live only for ourselves, the best of us do, those who are worthy of it? Don’t you know that there is something in us which must not be touched by any state, by any collective, by any number of million?”
Took the words out of my mouth. I did not base my philosophy of selfishness from Rand. I’ve already formulated my thoughts before reading any of her books - this being the first. Here she uses the word “state” which in fact is society. That’s because the setting was the Red Soviet and the Marxists emphasizes on the state rather than the people.
“… I don’t want to fight for the people, I don’t want to fight against the people, I don’t want to hear of the people. I want to be left alone - to live.”
May 12th, 2008
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