Neo-moral issues, is there such a thing?
The question of how a person should act has been asked ever since man started using his reason and intellect. Moral issues, if scrutinized, have been the same for as long as man can remember.
Whatever moral issue I put in this homework won’t be new, it will be as old as time, for there are no neo-moral issues, each generation just recycles and digs what dirt his forefathers buried.
Let me elaborate.
Stem cell research, if scrutinized, is abortion.
The Human Genome Project is body modification and mutilation.
If we look at the basis why certain issues are considered immoral, we will find that all of our moral issues today are based on these foundations. Nothing is new, it’s just modified.
So the problem is not with having “new” issues, but with why we recycle, modify and complicate the past mistakes the generation before us did.
We can say that technology and pursuit of education may be the “neo” issue of our times (though this issue is still as old as time for education and technology has been around for quite some time). Definitions and meanings become blurred as our pursuit to become educated intensifies. Education in itself is not bad, but the definitions and the things that we learn in our formal and informal years of studying mold and modify the way we perceive moral issues. The word “success” is a good example. We learned formally and informally that to be successful is to be rich (rich is different from prosperity, rich means having lots of cash, prosperous or prosperity means being wealthy). That blurred definition alone makes us perceive that we must do ANYTHING in order to have money, whether what we do is moral or immoral.
Before, dirtying the name of an officemate was considered immoral, now it’s considered as being smart; chivalry is now dead because women won’t consider men who treat them with respect (respect nowadays is so blurred that I’m having a hard time explaining it); promiscuity was considered immoral before, but now it’s just having “FUN”. The list goes on when it comes to misconceptions to what words really mean. How we stop this, I don’t know, for language evolves as fast as the day turns into night.
So, Mr. Motol, I don’t think there are new moral issues to be considered. We just have to evolve with it in order for us to stay moral.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
A for another homework
It took me an hour to write this line.
And it took me another hour to write the words below that first line. I won’t elaborate why it was tedious for me to do this homework, but I’ll let the readers know the cause: the professor wanted us, the class, to say who God is objectively.
I’ve studied in UST for two years before I transferred to San Beda Alabang, fortunately, my stay there have instilled in me who God is.
This is the most objective of the proofs of who God is because it uses logic.
St. Thomas Aquinas' Quinque Viae
God is the ultimate mover.
God is the beginning.
God is a necessity.
God is perfection.
God is the intelligent designer of all things.
For further explanation:
The First Way"The Argument from Motion"
Nothing can move itself.
For any object to move, something must move the object.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Therefore, If any object moves, then there must be a mover.St. Thomas called this Unmoved Mover "God." Why? Because God is eternal, from everlasting to everlasting; God has no beginning and no end. Why doesn't it make sense to humans? Because we're locked in a dimension called "time."
The Second Way"Argument from Causation (Creation) and Existence"
There exists things that were caused or created by other things.
Nothing can be the cause of itself (or create itself).
There can not be an endless string of things causing other things to exist.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Therefore, there must be an uncaused first cause.
St. Thomas is saying that everything has a beginning, and that beginning is God.
The Third Way"Argument from Contingent and Necessary Objects"
Contingent beings are caused (every contingent being depends on another being).
Not every being can be contingent (there must be something that isn't dependent on anything else.)
There must be a being which is necessary to cause contingent beings.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Therefore, this necessary being is God.
The Fourth Way"Argument from Degrees and Perfection"
Qualities of things differ (everything in the universe has a different level of quality).
There are many different levels of quality.
There must be a perfect standard by which all such qualities are measured.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Therefore, these perfections are contained in God (perfection personified). Something in the universe might be perfect to a degree, but not to a perfect perfection.
The Fifth Way"Argument from Intelligent Design"
There is an observable universe and order in nature.
Common sense (also known as judgment, by using the 5 senses) tells us that nature works in such a way.
A person can conclude that everything was designed by an intelligent designer.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Therefore, God is the Intelligent Designer of all physical laws of nature and order in the universe.
And it took me another hour to write the words below that first line. I won’t elaborate why it was tedious for me to do this homework, but I’ll let the readers know the cause: the professor wanted us, the class, to say who God is objectively.
I’ve studied in UST for two years before I transferred to San Beda Alabang, fortunately, my stay there have instilled in me who God is.
This is the most objective of the proofs of who God is because it uses logic.
St. Thomas Aquinas' Quinque Viae
God is the ultimate mover.
God is the beginning.
God is a necessity.
God is perfection.
God is the intelligent designer of all things.
For further explanation:
The First Way"The Argument from Motion"
Nothing can move itself.
For any object to move, something must move the object.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Therefore, If any object moves, then there must be a mover.St. Thomas called this Unmoved Mover "God." Why? Because God is eternal, from everlasting to everlasting; God has no beginning and no end. Why doesn't it make sense to humans? Because we're locked in a dimension called "time."
The Second Way"Argument from Causation (Creation) and Existence"
There exists things that were caused or created by other things.
Nothing can be the cause of itself (or create itself).
There can not be an endless string of things causing other things to exist.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Therefore, there must be an uncaused first cause.
St. Thomas is saying that everything has a beginning, and that beginning is God.
The Third Way"Argument from Contingent and Necessary Objects"
Contingent beings are caused (every contingent being depends on another being).
Not every being can be contingent (there must be something that isn't dependent on anything else.)
There must be a being which is necessary to cause contingent beings.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Therefore, this necessary being is God.
The Fourth Way"Argument from Degrees and Perfection"
Qualities of things differ (everything in the universe has a different level of quality).
There are many different levels of quality.
There must be a perfect standard by which all such qualities are measured.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Therefore, these perfections are contained in God (perfection personified). Something in the universe might be perfect to a degree, but not to a perfect perfection.
The Fifth Way"Argument from Intelligent Design"
There is an observable universe and order in nature.
Common sense (also known as judgment, by using the 5 senses) tells us that nature works in such a way.
A person can conclude that everything was designed by an intelligent designer.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Therefore, God is the Intelligent Designer of all physical laws of nature and order in the universe.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
H for homework
Suffering and pain is man’s reality.
If pain and suffering is inevitable in this world while we are still alive, then we as sentient and rational beings are bound to look for something to relieve us of that burden.
When Professor Motol asked the class to cite a quote from a movie that tells us something about our being man, I immediately knew what movie to cite and discuss. Shawshank Redemption is about a prisoner named Andy Dufrense who made a friendship to a colored inmate named Red. The movie showed 20 years of Andy’s life inside the penitentiary and how he managed to get the most out of the cruelty and harshness of being incarcerated.
The line that I chose is that of Andy in a letter to Red, “Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
What Andy said is true. What is essentially good and real will never die. And being a human being, we are bound to hold on to hope and know that positive outcomes will rise from our sufferings and pain.
The ness of being a human being or a man is then his ability to hope for better things to happen despite experiencing suffering and pain. What makes man unique to other creatures on earth is his ability to hope.
We could also say that man is the only creature on earth that feels and understands what suffering and despair is. One could not hope if there are no sufferings or despair, like one could not know the color white if he doesn’t know black.
If one looks into the major religions of the world, a third of them teach the virtue of hope (virtue comes from the Latin word virtus, meaning strength, hoping then is the strength in all of us to endure and persevere through suffering, hope).
Judaism is still waiting for their messiah or Elijah to comeback and their waiting for their savior to come is hoping that despite the harshness of the world, they still know and look forward to be saved, thus hoping for better things to happen.
Buddhism has four noble truths. The first of the noble truths is Life means suffering. But the Buddha, or the enlightened one, doesn’t stop there. He states that suffering can end through enlightenment. The third noble truth shows us that Buddhism practices the virtue of hope: The cessation to suffering is ATTAINABLE. The Buddhists’ practice of the Eightfold Path is parallel to that of hoping. There wouldn’t be practitioners of Buddhism if they knew that there was no end to suffering, thus they are hoping that their suffering would cease and that they would reach the state called nirvana (Nirvana is enlightenment, this is the ultimate goal of Buddhists).
And then, there’s Christianity, we are taught that hope is a grace from God. I wouldn’t elaborate on the topic completely as this might pertain to digression.
The movie is considered to be one of the greatest movies of all time because of its content and message. What I wrote in this homework only touches little of what the movie is trying to say about the essence of man. To surmise what the movie is about and what I’m trying to say about hope, I’ll quote Andy again:
Get busy living, or get busy dying.
Andy chose the former and lived to see his hopes come to reality, we should do the same.
If pain and suffering is inevitable in this world while we are still alive, then we as sentient and rational beings are bound to look for something to relieve us of that burden.
When Professor Motol asked the class to cite a quote from a movie that tells us something about our being man, I immediately knew what movie to cite and discuss. Shawshank Redemption is about a prisoner named Andy Dufrense who made a friendship to a colored inmate named Red. The movie showed 20 years of Andy’s life inside the penitentiary and how he managed to get the most out of the cruelty and harshness of being incarcerated.
The line that I chose is that of Andy in a letter to Red, “Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
What Andy said is true. What is essentially good and real will never die. And being a human being, we are bound to hold on to hope and know that positive outcomes will rise from our sufferings and pain.
The ness of being a human being or a man is then his ability to hope for better things to happen despite experiencing suffering and pain. What makes man unique to other creatures on earth is his ability to hope.
We could also say that man is the only creature on earth that feels and understands what suffering and despair is. One could not hope if there are no sufferings or despair, like one could not know the color white if he doesn’t know black.
If one looks into the major religions of the world, a third of them teach the virtue of hope (virtue comes from the Latin word virtus, meaning strength, hoping then is the strength in all of us to endure and persevere through suffering, hope).
Judaism is still waiting for their messiah or Elijah to comeback and their waiting for their savior to come is hoping that despite the harshness of the world, they still know and look forward to be saved, thus hoping for better things to happen.
Buddhism has four noble truths. The first of the noble truths is Life means suffering. But the Buddha, or the enlightened one, doesn’t stop there. He states that suffering can end through enlightenment. The third noble truth shows us that Buddhism practices the virtue of hope: The cessation to suffering is ATTAINABLE. The Buddhists’ practice of the Eightfold Path is parallel to that of hoping. There wouldn’t be practitioners of Buddhism if they knew that there was no end to suffering, thus they are hoping that their suffering would cease and that they would reach the state called nirvana (Nirvana is enlightenment, this is the ultimate goal of Buddhists).
And then, there’s Christianity, we are taught that hope is a grace from God. I wouldn’t elaborate on the topic completely as this might pertain to digression.
The movie is considered to be one of the greatest movies of all time because of its content and message. What I wrote in this homework only touches little of what the movie is trying to say about the essence of man. To surmise what the movie is about and what I’m trying to say about hope, I’ll quote Andy again:
Get busy living, or get busy dying.
Andy chose the former and lived to see his hopes come to reality, we should do the same.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
N for nonsensical
Respect, focus, respect.
Respect, focus, respect.
Respect, focus, respect.
These are the rules to live by in order to survive in the world of Ms J and Mr Palma - the rules to live by in order for the team and my batch to survive the efforts of outside forces to penetrate what we have.
Respect, focus, respect.
Respect, focus, respect.
These are the rules to live by in order to survive in the world of Ms J and Mr Palma - the rules to live by in order for the team and my batch to survive the efforts of outside forces to penetrate what we have.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Another life lesson from a little boy
Blame the little boy (or me).
A lump the size of a golf ball has appeared on my right ankle last night. I can’t walk and I’m in a bit of pain due to this sprained - I’m hoping that it’s just a sprain - joint of mine.
When I was in my hell mode, I accepted physical pain gladly to mask the emotional turmoil within me. Stupid as it seems, I self-destructed those days. But now that I’m in a happier phase, this injury and pain is not a friend at all. I’m all for physical pain, but when it interrupts my happy time, it sucks. Number one happy-time that the little boy jeopardized is my retreat. I’m an NPC (non-practicing Catholic) but I have other reasons why I want to go to the retreat (Now I can’t spend time with her). Number two happy- time that is affected is my training. I love sports and my sprained ankle is hindering my training for our competition.
Why does that little boy have a near-to-perfect kick,
And why did Migo try to outdo the little boy and imitate him?
Let the little boy speak!
Little Boy:
Ewan ko ba kung bakit ako ginagaya nun ni kuya. Muka namang nageenjoy sila nung isa niyang kasama mag-training. Patapus na nga yung session pero gusto ni master na gumawa pa daw kami ng advanced kicks.
Lagi kasi ako nagprapractice sa bahay sumipa kaya lagi din ako pinupuri nila master. May diin daw yung sipa ko. Siguro naiinggit yung isa kaya ginaya ako. Ayun, namali yung bagsak… yung paa niya tuloy yung sumalo nung bagsak niya.
I’m guessing that’s what the little boy would say if you asked him what happened. Imagine a ten-year old kicked my ass before we even started sparring.
Life lesson:
Be happy with what you have
and
Injuries come easy to old people.
A lump the size of a golf ball has appeared on my right ankle last night. I can’t walk and I’m in a bit of pain due to this sprained - I’m hoping that it’s just a sprain - joint of mine.
When I was in my hell mode, I accepted physical pain gladly to mask the emotional turmoil within me. Stupid as it seems, I self-destructed those days. But now that I’m in a happier phase, this injury and pain is not a friend at all. I’m all for physical pain, but when it interrupts my happy time, it sucks. Number one happy-time that the little boy jeopardized is my retreat. I’m an NPC (non-practicing Catholic) but I have other reasons why I want to go to the retreat (Now I can’t spend time with her). Number two happy- time that is affected is my training. I love sports and my sprained ankle is hindering my training for our competition.
Why does that little boy have a near-to-perfect kick,
And why did Migo try to outdo the little boy and imitate him?
Let the little boy speak!
Little Boy:
Ewan ko ba kung bakit ako ginagaya nun ni kuya. Muka namang nageenjoy sila nung isa niyang kasama mag-training. Patapus na nga yung session pero gusto ni master na gumawa pa daw kami ng advanced kicks.
Lagi kasi ako nagprapractice sa bahay sumipa kaya lagi din ako pinupuri nila master. May diin daw yung sipa ko. Siguro naiinggit yung isa kaya ginaya ako. Ayun, namali yung bagsak… yung paa niya tuloy yung sumalo nung bagsak niya.
I’m guessing that’s what the little boy would say if you asked him what happened. Imagine a ten-year old kicked my ass before we even started sparring.
Life lesson:
Be happy with what you have
and
Injuries come easy to old people.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
L for Learnings
A broken heart and a myriad of heartaches forced me to search for the sense of what had happened.
These are what I managed to salvage from the people around me and from myself:
- You're giving the person that you love the right to hurt you. Even if that other person doesn't love you back
- Love is really Pain.
- We cease to be human when we reject love...
People don't use their memories until they need it.
These are what I managed to salvage from the people around me and from myself:
- You're giving the person that you love the right to hurt you. Even if that other person doesn't love you back
- Love is really Pain.
- We cease to be human when we reject love...
People don't use their memories until they need it.
Friday, June 8, 2007
H for Her and Happiness
This will hurt badly. This will be painful.
This is the stage – I think – where I admit that I was happy when I was with my ex. Yes, I know that I was happy back then, because if I wasn’t, then I wouldn’t be this sad at all. I guess that I really have to admit to myself that I was happy with her in order for me to move on and get over what I once considered the “love” of my life.
She made me really happy. She made me smile a lot. She made me want to share joy and happiness to her and to others. She made me want to be good for her.
Happiness was she.
The bitterness that I’m feeling stems from me telling myself that I wasn’t happy. It was one of my defense mechanisms from the pain; I told myself that I was never happy with her; at its freshest, denying that fact did help me get through, but now that the realization that it’s really over have sunk in, it’s not healthy to deny the happy times anymore. I know that acknowledging those ‘times’ will help me in the long run.
And with this I believe I’m a step closer to fully achieving what I want: completely getting over the loss.
After this line, you don’t have to read any further, but if you’re still interested, then read on.
Writing and recalling these things stings right now.
I’m letting go of the happiness and the memories.
Starting to loosen my grip on the things and events that made me happy with her:
- When I would lull her to sleep with the use of my fingers. I would make little circles on her shoulder or on the small of her back with the use of my fingers. She will then close her eyes and fall asleep like a baby. She’s a wonder to gaze at when she looks so peaceful. And I was really happy to bring that ‘peace’ to her…
- When she asked me “may dumi ako sa face?” I told her, “yes”. It was her mole. I thought it was something else. Touching that small brown spot on her left cheek always made me happy.
- When ever she feels down, I always manage to act stupid – not purposely – and this makes her smile. This in turn makes me happy… Even in my most stupid state, she still smiles.
- Being excited to go back to her whenever there is rowing practice and school.
- Every little thing that we did… the small things that didn’t matter but really made us happy.
- When her eyes light up whenever I give her a piece of paper with my writings on it.
- When we would sing like crazy because my car hasn’t got a radio.
A whole lot more happy times. but this is enough.
it stings really bad.
goodbye.
This is the stage – I think – where I admit that I was happy when I was with my ex. Yes, I know that I was happy back then, because if I wasn’t, then I wouldn’t be this sad at all. I guess that I really have to admit to myself that I was happy with her in order for me to move on and get over what I once considered the “love” of my life.
She made me really happy. She made me smile a lot. She made me want to share joy and happiness to her and to others. She made me want to be good for her.
Happiness was she.
The bitterness that I’m feeling stems from me telling myself that I wasn’t happy. It was one of my defense mechanisms from the pain; I told myself that I was never happy with her; at its freshest, denying that fact did help me get through, but now that the realization that it’s really over have sunk in, it’s not healthy to deny the happy times anymore. I know that acknowledging those ‘times’ will help me in the long run.
And with this I believe I’m a step closer to fully achieving what I want: completely getting over the loss.
After this line, you don’t have to read any further, but if you’re still interested, then read on.
Writing and recalling these things stings right now.
I’m letting go of the happiness and the memories.
Starting to loosen my grip on the things and events that made me happy with her:
- When I would lull her to sleep with the use of my fingers. I would make little circles on her shoulder or on the small of her back with the use of my fingers. She will then close her eyes and fall asleep like a baby. She’s a wonder to gaze at when she looks so peaceful. And I was really happy to bring that ‘peace’ to her…
- When she asked me “may dumi ako sa face?” I told her, “yes”. It was her mole. I thought it was something else. Touching that small brown spot on her left cheek always made me happy.
- When ever she feels down, I always manage to act stupid – not purposely – and this makes her smile. This in turn makes me happy… Even in my most stupid state, she still smiles.
- Being excited to go back to her whenever there is rowing practice and school.
- Every little thing that we did… the small things that didn’t matter but really made us happy.
- When her eyes light up whenever I give her a piece of paper with my writings on it.
- When we would sing like crazy because my car hasn’t got a radio.
A whole lot more happy times. but this is enough.
it stings really bad.
goodbye.
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