support from buddhist philosophy

just found this quote from one of my notes:

SUFFERING = "clinging to that which changes" -- Buddhism

(source: de bekcer, g. 1997. the gift of fear. ny: dell, p. 217.)

>application: abusive men

"CONTROLLING may work for a while, even a long while, but then it begins not to work, and so he ESCALATES. he will do anything to stay in control, but his wife is CHANGING, and that causes him to SUFFER.... when men in these situations do not find out what is going on INSIDE them, when they do not get COUNSELING or therapy, it is a CHOICE to continue using violence...."

action is the final arbiter: my educational philosophy

it started with my educational philosophy, triggered by this beautiful edtech lecturer (sorry, forgot her name :-, poor auditory, better visual memory, esp with names) at dlsu who quoted confucius (+ 479 BC) saying:
http://www.quotehd.com/quotes/confucius-philosopher-i-hear-and-i-forget-i-see-and-i-remember-i-do-and-i

then, as i was looking at the pictures on google images, i found out about edgar dale's (1969) cone of learning which lends scientific evidence to confucius' philosophical view!

https://pandawhale.com/post/9248/i-see-and-i-forget-i-hear-and-i-remember-i-do-and-i-understand-confucius

the reason why i finally decided to write it here is that this morning, the homily of fr. edu apuyan, cfm was: "you will only understand if you do it!"

gospel (15th sunday in ordinary time, year C = luke 10:25-37):

scribe asks jesus about the 1st and 2nd commandments to TEST him. jesus, said, (my rephrase:) "i give you a 100% for your (cognitive, intellectual) answers, BUT you have to do (behavioral) it to UNDERSTAND the teaching / principle!"

Luke 10:28 " 'You have answered right,' said Jesus, 'DO this and LIFE is yours.'" (Jerusalem Bible) [in answer to the scribe's correct rendering of the two most important commandments]

and

Luke 10:37 "... Jesus said to him, 'Go, and DO the same yourself!'" [in answer to "Who is my neighbor?" and Jesus rendering of the Good Samaritan]

Fr Edu said (my paraphrase): "We will only UNDERSTAND love if we love the unlovable" and goes on to narrate what the Hospitaler Brothers are doing, i.e., feeding the mentally ill even if they are slapped by them in the process! Yes, i testify to this testimony of the Hospitaler Brother in Bocaue, Bulacan near St. Paul's (bro raymund? i think is his name) when i brought my psychology grad students of PWU there about 3 years ago and sent a practicumer there.

Then, i remembered the story of the guru and the scorpion. the former kept on trying to save the latter in the ganges river because he said his nature was to LOVE and the nature of the animal was to bite!

my thoughts: 

i only understood philosophy (my major!!!) when i realized it was limited and that THEOLOGY was needed to continue it. thus, the seminary academic preparation sequence of these two courses!

i am also actually living the CHALLENGE of loving beyond human capacity, i.e., accessing DIVINE LOVE!!! divine mercy! hesed yeshua!

ps: fr magling fabiosa, svd recalls the palestenian (samaritan) vs israeli (jew) conflict starting with the partition in 1947 up to the present! so, christ's saying of DO it has apparently not been heeded up to now!!!

pearl of great price in r.s. thomas' poem

Re: “The Bright Field” (poem)

Fr: R. S. Thomas (Welsh Anglican priest-poet, 1913-2000)

“I have seen the sun break through

to illuminate a small field

for a while, and gone my way

and forgotten it. But that was the

pearl of great price, the one filed that had

treasure in it. I realize now

that I must give all that I have

to possess it. Life is not hurrying

“on to a receding future, nor hankering after

an imagined past. It is the turning

aside like Moses to the miracle

of the lit bush, to a brightness

that seemed as transitory as your youth

once, but is the eternity that awaits you.”

=====================================

Commentary by Emily Ardagh 

(emilypoetmyblog.com/2013/10/23/the-bright-field-by-r-s-

thomas/)

Bright field = “shining moments in life – moments of grace, 

beauty, inspiration, epiphany – where we fleetingly 

encounter the divine or feel a deep connection to the 

universe”

Examples:

-- “the moment you see your child’s face for the first time

-- the moment you realize you’ve fallen in love

-- when you read and understand some complicated

scientific theory about the universe,

-- become transfixed by Shakespeare or an incredible piece 

of music,

-- when you pray or meditate, and feel a connection to the

divine.”

touching prayer of hezekiah

from the first reading for today: 2 kings 19

hezekiah's (king of judah) prayer at the temple when threatened and insulted by invasion by sennacherib (king of assyria):

[15] "... 'YHWH Sabbaoth, God of Israel, enthroned on the cherubs, YOU ALONE ARE GOD of all the kingdoms of the earth, you have made heaven and earth.

[16] 'Give ear, YHWH, and listen. Open your eyes, YHWH, and see. Hear the words of Seenacherib who has sent to insult THE LIVING GOD.

[17] " 'It is true, YHWH, that the kings of Assyria have exterminated all the nations. [1] They have thrown their gods on the fire, for these were not gods but the work of men's hands, wood and stone, and hence, they have destroyed them. [19] But now, YHWH our God, SAVE US from his hand, I pray you, and let all the kingdoms of the earth know that YOU ALONE ARE GOD, YHWH.'"

[35] "That same night the angel of YHWH went out and struck down 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp.

[37] "One day when he (Sennacherib) was worshipping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword anad escapead to the land of Ararat. His son Esarhaddan succeeded him."

dimensions of god's love # 4. RAHAMIN

RAHAMIN = Tender Compassionate Empathetic Love

>Isaiah 49:15 "Can a woamn forget her suckling child, that she should not have COMPASSION (merahem) on the son of her womb? Even though she may forget, yet I will never forget you."

I consider this God's feminine love. This is confirmed by www.divinemercy.org in stating:

"While 'hesed' highlights the marks of FIDELITY to self and of 'responsibility for one's own love' (which are in a sense MASCULINE characters), 'rahamin,' in its very root, denotes the love of a MOTHER (rehem = mother's womb).

>Confronted by evil, rahamin is manifest as MERCY (divinemercy.org).

>In the mother-child relationshipo, love is completely GRATUITIOUS, not merited; therefore it constitutes an INTERIOR NECESSITY, an "exigency of the heart."

>rahamin nuances
-- goodness and tenderness,
-- patience and understanding, i.e.,
readiness to FORGIVE.
-- (in OT) salvation from danger, especially from enemies
-- forgiveness of sins (individual and communal)
-- readiness to fulfill the promise and hope, in spite of human infidelity

>HOSEA 14:16 "I will HEAL their faithlessness, I will love them FREELY."

dimensions of god's love # 3. HESED YESHUA

HESED YESHUA = Saving Love / Mercy

Examples:
>all the martyrs, e.g., St. Maximilian Kolbe, Servant of God German Bishop Wilhelm Finneman, SVD, first Vicar Apostolic of Mindoro, Philippines (26 October 1942: thrown by the Japanese soldiers off the coast of Mindoro after a week of torture for defying their desire to turn Catholic convents & schools into prostitution houses for "comfort women").

>St. Padre Pio was quoted to have prayed something like: "Lord, if you are going to send a dagger, let it fall on me and spare the people."

This is the highest form of love. 
Question: Can I sacrifice myself for my enemy?

dimensions of god's love #2. HESED SEDAKA

HESED SEDAKA = Righteous or Holy Love / Mercy

This means that God's love is also TOUGH (yang of yin-yang). Getting out of order by violating physical and psycho-spiritual laws will have their corresponding karmic effects.

confirmation: 21 june 2016
fr: fb poster post of sis bernardita diamson

"RIGHETEOUSNESS is a term for covenantal relationship marked by FIDELITY. A righteous person cannot be unfaithful to God, who is the covenant-partner."