PASSION AND PASSIVITY

            ‘An uncritical life is not worth living’ said the great Greek philosopher Socrates. It means to live a life lovingly and critically. Let me explain the title.Passion is the drive that forces human being in accomplishing a particular task with greatest love and desire. Passivity is the reflectivity in the accomplishment of the task. As human, human being always worries about and broods over in completing tasks but rarely he/she reflects on the completed tasks for furthering better performance of the tasks. Passivity also calls for what he/she is doing is in conformity with or meeting the expectations of the standards of the community and society at large.

PASSION	PASSIVITY
Chosen	Cultivated
Maximum Pull to act	Maximum reflection in the action
Untimely act	Occupies time
Accompanied by love and desire	Accompanied by ambition

         Passion is a call to live life and passivity is living that life call critically. When both passion and passivity reflect in the accomplishment of the task,  marvels of harmony, peace and fruitfulness happen. As such both should go hand in hand. No domination of one over the other. They promise life to the full without compromise which human being looks forward to. Let us be then passionate about being critical and at the same I can critically evaluate my passion.

GOD - “THE AUTHOR OF GOOD”

  I am not sure whether the title arises in you a question. But certainly when I sat down to write, the title arose in me a simple but yet profound question and that is God not creator of bad?

            After a deep and intense reflection, I conclude and affirm that there is nothing bad or profane in the universe. All that exists and crated was good. To quote in the words of Sacred Scripture “God created everything and found good.”  The problem arises because in the everydayness of carrying on with life, the human being undergoes or rather comes across events that are bad or experiences the bad itself in its fullness. If God not cause for it, who is the cause? Who can take the responsibility for the cause of bad in the world?

            Nothing is bad but something becomes bad if it is used not the way it is supposed to be used. Let us take for example, the burning issue sex. It is not bad. It is good in as much as used by the legally married couple for the furthering of creation. But same sex becomes bad, when lovers or people do it for enjoyment, pleasure or money. Very many examples can be quoted but one provides space for reflection.

            After all, everything depends on the perspective of human being because he/she is able to make something good into bad and bad into good. And so, ultimately the cause is in not out there but it is very much in.

THE WONDER OF HUMAN BODY

            Is there something to really wonder about human body? It is largely believed that human being is not the cause of his/her own existence. In simple words, he/she is the effect of amalgamation of different causes. In this sense, the fact of human existence itself is a great wonder. Let me do justice to the title.

            The human body, for that matter even animal body, to be wondered for the well fixation of different parts of the body in their proper and own place. Just imagine if an individual had leg in the place of head and in the place of nose fingers. This even becomes beyond imagination. Then do we wonder about our body?

            God, the author and cause of life and above all, ongoing life-giver, so logically yet aesthetically, so theoretically but yet practically, and so beautifully and attractively placed every part of the body to be wondered and to be in awe.

WHERE ARE YOU?

 

Where are you? Don’t you listen?

The voice, in the gentle whispers of breeze

In the chirpings of bird, in the rustling of the leaves

And dearly and lovingly in the silence of heart.

Where are you? Is not the calling so loud?

As the dark of the night, as calm as the ocean,

As powerful as the monster, as loud as the sound of thunder

And as good and clear as running waters in the stream

Where are you? Are you deaf to hear and respond

To that call, which responded in due time,

Grants you life in abundance, then come on

Hurry up, wake up, heed and answer.

SACRED WASTE

            What is Waste? It is something that we don’t like to keep it to ourselves. It is something that is unwanted, unnecessary and useless.  What is sacred Waste? It is something that comes out of abundance of heart. It is wasting oneself for the good of the other. It becomes the good of the other when one feels that something is waste that is something is useful to me but more useful for the other. It is journey from self to selflessness, possession to Non-possession. It is this feeling of waste that makes it sacred.  The feeling of wasting oneself results from the fullness. It is the willingness to give or throw oneself at the disposal of the other

            The whole history of human kind is the record of people who wasted themselves fully what is good in themselves for the good and benefit of others.  For example the Great Buddha wasted himself after the enlightenment, Christ wasted himself after forty days of prayer, and Mahatma Gandhi wasted himself for the good of the country. There are umpteen numbers of examples to quote but reflection fro you and for me starts here.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF “YES” AND “NO”

            Yes and No are the two most powerful answers to the questions of life. To choose between yes and no is a freedom of choice. Yes and No are like real and unreal, living and dying, truth and untruth, certain and uncertain,possession and non-possession. Yes and No make people to become what they are and what they are not.

            ‘Yes’, I would like to learn. It is this kind of yes that opens the door for fullness of life, provides space for opportunities and gives luck for improvement. But this yes involves taking risk, crossing the boundaries, breaking the pot and making the horizons meet. In this creativeness flows automatically in the opportunities carried out. ‘No’, what I know is sufficient. It is this kind of no that closes the door for life, blocks the chance for improvement and becomes obstacle in taking up opportunities. This No makes a person to be what he is and then gradually becomes what he is not. This involves an easy going life that any tom dick harry can live.

            Let us turn the coin. ‘Yes’ I know it. This kind of yes does no more good than making me what I am. It ends all my possibilities to be. In other words I remain what I am. ‘No’, but I desire to know. This type of no provides the possibilities to be what I am not that is becoming new. It makes an individual journey ongoingly from being to becoming.

            After all yes and no are freedom of choice that involves the presence and at the same time awareness of doing the work from the perspective of the individual. 

What and Why of Christmas

CHRISTMAS

            I would like to speak on Christmas with some philosophical background. It may sound a bit out of the way. But I believe these thoughts have emerged as an outcome of my reflection on the nativity of the Lord.

What of Christmas

            The simple question that struck me while reflecting on Christmas was what is actually Christmas? In simple words, it is the celebration of the birthday of Christ. But, is it not obvious to celebrate the birthday of a person who died 2000 years ago! Does it make any sense to celebrate? Do we celebrate the birthday of great persons who left the earth? But then, are the Christians foolish to celebrate Christmas? As Christians and more so as religious, we are called to search wisdom in foolishness. We celebrate the birthday of Christ because we believe that he is alive. He is alive in our hearts through the Holy Eucharist and sacraments. Let us go a little further to erase the doubts by asking yet another question What led to Christmas? The scripture is very clear why Christ was born and what made him born. Let me answer this question from three points of view: (1) Christmas is Christmas because of the Love of the Father: God so loved the world that he sent his only son to give eternal life (Jn 3:16). In other words, to make us, the sinful human beings, into children of God as Jesus was. (2) Christmas happened because of the Humility of Mary: Let it be done to me according to your will Lk 1:38. (3) It is the condition of the human beings that made the birth of Jesus possible.

            In this case, Christmas is not once a year business but it is everyday business. We should be able to celebrate Christmas everyday. I would like to narrate an incident. A Street children Director once wrote to benefactors: we celebrate Christmas whenever a boy knocks at our door asking for shelter, food and clothing.

Why of Christmas

            Why do we celebrate Christmas? For mother Mary and Joseph, Christmas was paradoxical. It was not only painful but also a moment to rejoice. But for us, modern Christians, it has become celebrations and is limited to it. Thus, it is a call to transcend the festivities of the earthly world to discover the true joy of heavenly world.

            Still, the inner meaning of Christmas is the birth of Christ which was not so for Mary or not even for Jesus himself. HE is being sent to the world, to give his life for the sins of humankind. If this is the case with Jesus, it must also be the same with us today. We are called to give, spend, and sacrifice our life for others and it is for others that we are here as Jesus was and is.

Christmas – Summation of Evangelical Counsels

            Does Christmas bear witness to the Evangelical Counsels? I think, it is very much true that Christmas is the convergence of Obedience, Poverty and Chastity if we look at them differently as will, generosity and love.

Christmas as a Sign of Obedience

            Christmas as an event took place because of the docility of Mother Mary when she said, “Be it done to me according to your will’. It is the acceptance of Mary that led to Christmas. What does it indicate? As Mary obeyed the will of God, Christmas invites everyone of us to obey not simply but to accept happily and cheerfully the demands of obedience and to give our self wholly, especially our time, energy, talents and everything.

Christmas as a Sign of Poverty

            God did not choose a palace for his son to be born but a manger amidst the animals. It also makes us remember that he was born in a manger because people refused him a place in their own house. What does it indicate? It indicates not so much the material poverty, but the rigidness of heart of human being which is the poverty of heart. For us, Christmas is a call to make the heart rich to make it abode of Jesus. This is not a simple task but difficult and requires everyday attention. This can be nurtured only by the Holy Eucharist and sacraments, personal prayer, and other moments of prayer.

Christmas as a sign of Chastity

            It is the love of the Father towards the humankind that made Jesus come into the world. Chastity is love of equilibrium towards all. What does it show? Christmas should be a method of love and not for this or that human being but for all equally. Love erases unwanted and indifference leading to the manufacture of concern and care for each other.

I would like to conclude my reflection by asking yet another question:  Am I able to give birth to Christ? What does this mean? It is not so much a physical birth but the capacity to reflect Jesus in my self to others. If we are not able to reflect Jesus through our actions, words and behaviour, then Christmas does not make any sense. It passes by like any other Christmas. But, let us make this Christmas a true Christmas by being reflections of Jesus to our brothers and sisters not only on the day of Christmas but everyday of our life.

Science and Religion

MEDIA AND RELIGION

The title caused in me a sense of wonder, amazement and so did confuse me a little bit. Anthony Toffler in his book ‘Three Waves’ speaks of three shifts that human life has taken from the beginning: The first wave according to him is Agricultural wave, the second is Industrial Wave and the third is Digital Wave. The post-modern human being is in the digital wave. It is all the science and the miracles of science. He/she is in the digital wave, amidst the science, living in the world with the human being. And so there arises a need for human being to know briefly about the universe, human being, religion and science as they are fundamental and basis for human life. They shape and fashion the human being as religious in religion with the media.

Universe, Human Being, Religion and Science

            The universe, that we live in and have our being, is believed to have originated 14 billion years ago. There are different view points as regards to the origin of the universe. The Bible says in the book of Genesis, “The universe was created by God and everything with in it and He found everything Good.” The modern science affirms and proves that “First there was an atom and from it came the whole universe or in other words combination of different Atoms made the universe to originate.” However I don’t claim my self to any theory but my point is that there is universe now and human being is in the universe.

            The human being is from the beginning of the universe or came in between is still a hot debate. However the history of human being is recorded from 6, 00,000 years ago. There are different stand-points regards to the creation of human being. The holy Bible says, “Man created by God with the mud and breathed into the nostrils the life, and after a while taking a rib from the man he created woman.”  On the other hand science says “Man has evolved from monkey to the present status.” Here also I neither claim to Bible nor to Science, because the fact is, that he/she exists both influenced by God and Science.  

            Religion is a strong binding force that unites human being to God and it was there from the beginning of universe. We know the Religion proper and have history from 2,500 years ago and the eminent figures were Gautama Buddha, Mahavira and Jesus Christ. Not claiming to anything I affirm, that Religion has its roots in the heart of man for his ever-evolving and ever-emerging desire to connect him self to God and thus becomes the founder of Religion.

The science, the cause of drastic change is of just 500 years ago. But in the modern world it has become the power, the change of the modern world. It changes everything. In the modern world everything is in the preview of science. Science the most powerful monster in the modern world, whose strength is incredible benefits to the humanity and at the same time it is also dangerous to humanity and destroys universe if not properly handled.

In the post-modern and scientific and technological world, the so- called science is becoming God of the world. The world every minute is no more the world of one minute ago. At Every minute there is a new discovery, new invention, and a new creation wiping out completely the old and giving birth to the new. And the media has a dominant share in the complete change of the world. As a consequence the faith of the religious and also widely the faith of the modern human being is being tested and challenged constantly. One of the miracles that dominates and influences the very being of human in the world is Media.

Religious Life and Media

           

            Really speaking there is no connection between religious life and media neither in history nor in the growth of human being. They are independent of each other. One can stand strong without the support of the other. This is the past. The present scenario is that it is media that dominates. All gaze towards the media and not towards the religious life. In other words, in the present day, religious life has become stagnant and where as media has become a dynamic reality evolving and that evolves everything. It is both active and passive

            Religion gives birth to religious life. Religious life is almost from the beginning of the first century with the St Anthony of the Desert (in Christianity). It can be defined as unwillingness to live in the pleasures of the world and being fed up with the world. Anthony chose to live away from the world to be one with God. Religious Life is actually to live in a secluded place and a way of being with God to become God. The whole life is a commitment to God in and through the service rendered to people of God. This revolution had primarily flooded whole of Europe and then to the whole world. This is the past. The present is that God is digitalized and mediated through the media by religious to the people where in the beginning their life was media that communicated God.

            Media is a really a marvel and a miracle of Science. Media can be defined as “any means used to communicate to the people through paper, television, internet and mobile and etc… The modern means of media like mobile and internet (30years old), television (70 years old), and computer (60 years old) are just recent inventions that rule the world. Strictly speaking it has history of 150 years old and not more than that. The modern human being is in the net of media that shows him/her life process and not the way of life. 

Conclusion

            The Modern religious should make media, not God but Good use of it to proclaim God, not a slave to it but a master over it, it is a help in the mission and not a hinder in the mission, not a necessity but a want, do not become a victim but a victor over the media, not get influenced but influence people through it, to come near God. The media constructs or destroys the self. The religious should construct God through media and make Him known through all the earth for this is the cause that should force, drive and motivate the religious. 

Language- A Lovely Medium

LANGUAGE IS THE MEDIUM OF COMMUNICATION TO RELATE AND TO UNDERSTAND THE OTHER (WORLD, GOD AND HUMAN BEING) FOR AN AUTHENTIC LIFE

According to the philosophy of Existentialism, Human Being is thrown into the world. As a being who is thrown into the world, humans need to act. They act primarily towards searching for an identity through authentic life. Authentic life for human beings is a conscious and continuous that springs from relationship with and understanding of the other. In this pilgrimage towards authenticity, language becomes a pathway that determines our experience and influences the way we live and relate and understand a reality.

Language distinguishes human beings as human beings. It is more true to say that language makes them than we make the language. This way, as Heidegger says, language is the very essence and nature of human beings. In possessing language as fundamental dimension and direction of their existence, human beings primarily describe, and capture every reality within their capacity, through thought, imagination, interpretation, and conceptualization toward the solution of the problems they meet with in their lives. Human being is in a world where authentic life would be difficult without language. Language by its very nature designed for communication. It shapes human thinking, colouring human knowledge and thus operates the world.

Authentic Relationship and understanding require dialogical openness in which beings are opened to the other to facilitate the process of communication. Every relationship with reality presupposes knowledge of that reality. Every understanding of reality presupposes an interpretation. Knowledge-Interpretation and Interpretation-Knowledge are in language as they have their foundation in the language.

In the present existential scenario of rapid change and evolution, humans find it difficult to live an authentic life. This human quandary is accentuated by the ambiguity of human communication, which can be distorting and violent and on the one hand, therapeutic and transformative, on the other. Our human task as beings of language, in journey towards authenticity, is to relate and understand the other.

Language is a symbol that helps human being to conceptualize thought through articulated speech, sign and touch that promote the process of communication between the sender and the receiver. Inevitably this leads to I-It relationship and when strong to I-Thou relationship. It further leads to I-It understanding with/of every reality and when sturdy to I-Thou understanding for an authentic life with the Other.

Personal Educational Philosophy

PERSONAL EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY

                Personal Educational Philosophy is really something Greek[1] to me till before the course on Philosophy of Education. At once it wonder struck me and made me to philosophize, reflect and wonder as to what is my educational philosophy? After my own reflection and the guidelines of the professor, the educational philosophy that I arrived at is this:

                I arrived at my educational philosophy not as inheritance but as the gift of my own heart and mind through reflection inside me and outside me.  The nature of human being is according to me is fragile and so always needs care, support, instruction and guidance. I very much believe this comes from education.[2]  Education is needed to make human being a person, a person of integrity with prudence to choose between right and wrong. In the process human being recognizes in him a person. It becomes pointless and meaningless when an educated person is not sensitive to the needs of the people. It becomes a hidden treasure when it is not shared.

                There is nothing called what counts as successful teaching. There are no successful teachers. Only fruitful teachers whose intention to give and instill in the values of life in the learner at no cost by their exemplary and simple life not only in the academic premises but everywhere all the time gives fruitfulness in the life of educator. This requires a healthy relationship between an educator and a learner. Educator sees to that the learner is taught with care and love and in turn the learner must accept teachings with the same care and love of the educator. It is not superior and inferior relationship but a relationship that exists between a mother and a son. The student should see in the educator a loving mother whose love makes the learner to do everything out of love and joy.

                The curriculum according to me must not only be subject oriented which is bare minimum but also must be bringing the learner in a holistic perspective the perspective that not only makes the learner live in the world but helps to cope up with the world. In other words, it is educating the learner to life. The learning happens in the learner through communication. It is only through language[3] that knowledge is passed from one to another. The only method that I use in imparting knowledge is the method of emptying.[4]

                In the process of teaching and learning both the educator and learner are beneficiaries. It is not one way but mutual. As for my experience goes this is very natural.[5] The wall between teacher and student collapses when there is realization that educator is both a teacher and a student and that a learner is both a student and teacher.

                This is in gist my educational philosophy in which I believe strongly because it is the fruit of my own reflection and philosophizing. It may not be perfect but a perfect from my own point of view.

---

                [1] Greek would mean not thought about it.

                [2] Education as for me is getting degree (secondary) plus commonsense (primary). It is not only the property of the schools but also of family, street, shop and every place of that human being dwells.

                [3] For me language is both oral and verbal.

                [4] The method of emptying means giving out everything without keeping inside me.

                [5] Last year I was teaching in a school where I experienced that even the students can teach me in their own and limited way irrespective of their age and class.