Education of the Heart

(A book review submitted to our Social Work Education class)

    
    The Education of the Heart is a book of readings and sources for care of the soul, soul mates and the re-enchantment of everyday life. It is edited by Thomas Moore. 

    The book has a very catchy introduction and reading such made me decide without any apprehension that this is the book I would spend time reading and then willingly review. 

     Education for me has been a challenge because for me to finish until college, I had made so many sacrifices. I had to live away from my family. I had to learn how to work. I had to discipline myself and balance time. Coming from that, I know that I knew ever since that education is something of value. But although education has a personal effect and has really been a part of my life, I had to admit that the pages of the book had made me realized that education should be more than that. It’s about time to see and feel education not just a requirement for a job, not just for earning for a living, not just for personal credentials or prestige. It is about time to feel education not as a need, not as something to be forced at the ‘self,’ not something to be scared about or to be tired and sick of. It’s about time--- and should have been a long time--- to place education in a very sacred space of our being--- in our heart, in our soul. It is about time--- and should have been a long time that we love education and let it love us. Having such reflections is making me happy now because it is making me feel that as my perception and relationship with education is changed, my life is also about to change. 

     The book made mention of education as an eduction. Education is the art of educing or bringing out what is latent in a person. Education is not the piling on of learning, information, data, facts, skills or abilities- that’s training or instructing- but is rather making visible what is hidden as a seed. I find such lines really beautiful and true especially in my profession. The essence of social work education for me is bringing out the best in the self, in the others, and in the world. Education is about enlightenment and empowerment. It is about inspiration. It is about making dreams reality. 

    Starting with the ceremonial cosmic walk, I was able to experience together with my classmates that sense of awesomeness of the space I have here in the universe. While I was involving myself in the unfolding process of the Earth, I was able to appreciate the life that I am having now; knowing that it had came from a very sacred history, or should I say herstory. I am amazed of my uniqueness and the same time of my commonality with other creatures in terms of origin. To be educated of that story with the entire community of the earth in this single sacred universe is a transformative experience and I think that is the essence of education too. 

     We had visited in the first part of our class how education has been as time passed by. During primitive times, education among people was directed to ensuring survival of the group, clan, or tribe through training of the young in skills and arts necessary to maintain life. After that we discussed about Renaissance which was a revival or rebirth of learning, a belief of dignity of human beings, a renewed spirit of nationalism, an increase of trade among countries, and a period of exploration. 

     In the Philippine Education System, we can trace that during the Pre-Spanish Period, the early Filipinos considered education as a way to preserve their culture and transmit this knowledge to future generations. During the Spanish Regime, schools were established with the objective of rearing children to learn skills acquired by the youth in Spain. The educational system was under the control of the Roman Catholic Church. 

     During the American era, education was a means by which people can be oriented toward a democratic way of life. They made education accessible to all. During the occupation of the Japanese, education was an instrument for Filipinos to embrace Japanese ideologies. It promoted vocational education and inspired people with the spirit of labor. 

     In the post war, all educational institutions shall be under the supervision of and subject to the regulation of the State. The government shall establish and maintain a complete and adequate system of public education, and shall provide at least free primary instruction and citizenship training to adult citizens. 

     As part of the Legal Basis, the country has the Educational Act of 1982 (Batas Pambansa Blg. 232) which applies to both private and public schools in the entire educational system. It aims to provide that the basic policy of the State is to establish and maintain a complete, adequate and integrated system of education relevant to the goals of national development. 

    Article XIV of the 1987 Philippine Constitution stated that “The State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make education accessible to all”. Yes, education should not be a privilege for those who can afford it and to those who have the opportunity. Education is a right. It should be within the reach of the people. But the book speaks not only education to be something around, but also something that is inside. Deep education entails an emergence of character and personality, and often takes the form of initiation. The Introduction of the book sights that a person can be educated by the death of a relative or friend. Experiences teach people. It gives them insights. It leads them to change. Education should be something that we experience on a personal level too, and not just in the classroom and in the school. To be educated, a person doesn’t have to know much or be informed, but he or she does have to have been exposed vulnerably to the transformative events of an engaged human life. Let this world be a school too. As a social worker, I am being taught more about this profession by the lives and realities of the clients that we serve and the community where we are needed. 

     I agree that one of the great problems of our time is that many are schooled but few are educated. True to our modern values and vision, we tend to the instruction of the mind and the training of the body, while we generally neglect the soul. It’s not surprising that as our culture advances in information and technology, we seem to become more inarticulate about matters of the heart. We quantify ‘human behavior’ and I believe if social workers will not be conscious of this, we too can fall into trap of quantifying human behavior. We develop programs of therapy and treatment, but do they really have much effect? That question really caught my attention. Do I understand the matter of the soul? I think I am one of those who could still encounter the soul chiefly as a set of intractable problems rather than as a creative and constructive source of life. Now is the time to be more reflective. Now is the time for me to meditate on the specific events of my life, and think about what they are telling to me as a whole. 

      I really like how the soul is being described in the book. The soul is more enticed by the past, especially by the beauty and wisdom that is our world heritage. We have to learn from our ancestors. I think on the personal level, an important part of being truly educated is to be able to learn how to reflect on the struggles and victories of people before us. In my opinion as well, that is the beauty of being able to write our auto bibliographies. In the process of recalling what we had been through, we are able to re-visit decisions, actions, perspectives and events that had taken place in our lives. We then maintain our connection with our entire being and we establish recognition and relationship with our soul. 

     The book has contents which require feelings before one can actually understand what has been expressed. I had to re-read them and then recall particular experience before I was able to get into what the writer has been saying. True, I agree in the book that we should not be taking a purely mental approach to the selections. We should read them with and by heart. It is shifting from a mechanical to a soul-centered world by giving up the intrusive quest for information, clarity, definition and answers. Instead, enter into the beauty of language and thought. And so I just find myself meditating on the book, reading passages aloud, writing them down for future reference, posting some quotes in face book and telling them to friends. For me, one of the main messages of Charles Cooley then is that this is not just about us. We cannot totally be far from others. These are just some of the ways of committing them to memory and then sharing them to others which for me is the goal of education. These are all ways of educating the heart. 

      One of my favorite parts of the book is this line: there is much to lose when we focus only on meaning. I agree with this, as I too, had several conversations with a friend about trying to understand events in our lives. Most of the time, we end up getting tired over-analyzing things, and when I had read that line, it seems like the heaven has given me an answer. We had been so meaning-focused, that we had sometimes failed to enjoy things as they are. As it is mentioned in the book, from the soul perspective, meaning is less important than meaningfulness. Ideas that move us with the grace of their presentation penetrate the heart and serve purposes that go beyond understanding, as they foster passion, interest and decision. In my life, I am glad to witness how I am growing each day through participation and then, contemplation in the experiences which has molded me. 

        I also agree that writers of the past still speak and have a presence in us, and this is also one of the reasons why I had always believe in the power of writing, and that’s one of the reasons why I had never stopped writing my experiences through poems, short stories and narratives. We can hear their voices in the words, phrases and sentences of their books. We are present to them as they present themselves to us. It was really an opportunity for me to enter in many conversations in the book. In the process, it expanded my own community. I was able to engage in the voices of the past with my heart and soul. For me, this is also a validation of how important reading is in our life-long education process. If we want to widen our horizons, we must never stop reading. 

       Without an education, the heart presents itself as a cauldron of raw emotions, suspicious desires and disconnected images. Dreams appear stupefying, longings inappropriate, and relationships confounding. Without an animating, educated heart, the intellect appears superior, and we give too much attention and value to it. Our institutions and ideas then lack the humanizing breath of the soul. Education of the proper kind brings into view the order and sense in matters of the heart that otherwise seem elusive, and position the heart to play a significant role in affairs of the mind. For me, this means that we should put heart to knowledge. Why are we studying? What is it making to our relationships to others and to the environment and in our commitment to the society? For me, education should be purposeful. It should lead to service, to peace and to love. 

       Soul is a strange word. For me, it will always be mysterious, and not just because I was able to review the book, then I could already go out and claim to everyone that I had understood the depth of the human soul. But something beautiful and life-changing happened to me in the process of reading the book. I was able to listen to my soul. It is really there, and it is telling me a lot: from pain to happiness, from sorrow to hope, from confusion to peace, from hatred to love…Wondering about the soul, seeking adequate language for it, wanting definition and insight, all mark the beginning of the process of bringing soul to life. Care of the soul begins in a felt acknowledgment of its reality and importance. The soul becomes more present as we consider it in our conversation, writing, meditating and the thoughtful living of our everyday lives. But because the soul has such deep roots in personal and social life and its values run so contrary to modern concerns, caring for the soul may well turn out to be a radical act, a challenge to accepted norms. Now, I am accepting that challenge courageously and excitedly! 

       James Hillman in Re-Visioning Psychology defined soul to be a perspective rather than a substance, a viewpoint toward things rather than a thing itself. This perspective is reflective; it meditates events and makes differences between ourselves and everything that happens. Between us and events, between the doer and the deed, there is a reflective moment-and soul-making means differentiating this middle ground. Yes, I agree. How can we say that we were really educated if we were not able to experience and practice the process of reflection, leading towards transformation? 

     As the book pointed out, love, desire and pleasure are the chief signals of the presence of soul. The soul will be called out from hiding and then we will be educated in the deepest sense. Indeed, it is a lifetime of contemplation on certain phrases and ideas. Yes, I should that the selections in the book are so deep, yet on a very positive way, for it is inviting me to think by heart. I could never fully grasp their meaning but in the process, I would be more intimate with their mysteries. This is how I put heart and soul to my learning and that is something I should be doing in process forever. Every time I learn something, it should change me positively. And I should inspire others to be renewed positively too, and then there would be a true change in the world, and only then, we can truly say that we had put justice, heart and soul to what education really is.

Bantayan Island, Cebu
Gawad Kalinga Build Challenge 2011

  

Sagada's Sumaguing Cave

Social Work Board Passer's 2011 Oath Taking
Manila Hotel 

The Hidden Treasures of Majayjay Falls

April 6, 2013: Our First Chilling Dip

It was a bit difficult to smile when the skin felt so cold, but when photo opportunity came in, everything else was just manageable.

At the outskirts of Mt Banahaw:

The hidden treasures of Majayjay Falls 

     We took on that trip without knowing how that trip meant to each of us. For others, they traveled to places with people they had known for so long--- people they had lived with since day one of their lives, people they had shared precious stories before, people they had sense of familiarity and a lot of similarities…

     But God has special ways of connecting people to each other. He has special ways of crossing paths and when His ways work, and we start to realize it, then we will just be left in awe. And one of the amazing ways of crossing paths is the multiplier effect that friendship has. I think and had felt for several times the beauty when the friend of your friends become your friends too. Sahid or Toi, as what I would prefer calling him has been my friend because of my graduate school classmate and Hongkong-Macau trip buddy Dhitz. And as the multiplier effect in friendship goes, Jaytee (I know I should call him Kuya, but his coolness seems to be of same age as mine, and I actually don't feel younger talking with him too) has been introduced to me by Toi. 

     From Buendia, me and Toi took a bus going to San Pablo, Laguna while Jaytee traveled his way to meet us there. It was there in the bus where we had experienced the first drop--- out of the many other doses of bloopers for that day. We were so engaged in the Gandang Gabi Vice Replay episode that we forgot guarding where we should alight, and more minutes of delayed might even lead us to Quezon Province already as our bus is bound to Lucena. And so there we were, rushing down and really got surprised of the distance that we had to travel back. While waiting for Jaytee, we had our loudest laugh because of our negligence but we had absorbed the lesson that much that Toi was already busy asking the local people of the way going to Majayjay Falls. He was carefully noting in memory where we should get off but we had forgotten to ask something--- that was if how much it would cost--- and it was only revealed to us in a very funny way. We were riding our second jeepney ride after reaching Sta. Cruz (this time, the three of us) and we had assumed of the same eight-peso-fare only to know that its P49. And although our initial reaction was laughing out loud again because of the disparity in the payment we had given, we were surprised because that only means that it would be a long ride, or in short, Majayjay is actually far and we had underestimated it. It was past lunch time already--- and we laughed loud again because Toi discovered that the bottle of sandwich spread that he brought along with him from Quezon City was actually way more than a quarter empty. Looked like big bottles can be deceiving...

    But the long journey towards the falls did not in any way spoil our excitement, but made it more intense. And in the midst of summer heat, we know that it will be worth it. And when God's hands move in the course, He will just give us anything that we need: warm and responsive driver and guide turn into one and his young side kick, a perfect weather, and a very beautiful place to discover. 

    With some u-turns in the road surrounded by fields and trees, just 20 pesos entrance fee and few trekking down, we were welcomed by the fresh air from the woods, the natural sound created by the running water and the music of the chirping birds. Jaytee was even welcomed by a dragonfly and I had seen in his eyes that he was really delighted by it. 

     Because it was already late afternoon, it felt somehow weird to walk going towards the falls while majority of the people are making their ways back home. But it was just making it clearer that in visiting places, there's no such thing as being there first, or being their last, or being there once or hundred times. Visiting places is always a first-hand experience, and for every person, though they had stepped on the same ground, rock or waters, the feeling is still unique. With a new pair of eyes, a new beating heart, a new soul coming from another group of people with different individual past, collective present and different perspective of the future, and a new purpose of a traveler, tourist, pilgrim or explorer, there will be a new memory of the place. Each moment will be an authentic piece of life experienced in a piece of paradise on Earth. 

    Finding for place to stay has been a challenge somehow, because of the crowd and the presence of many tents in the area. Majayjay falls is a camping place. I've seen cooking pots, grilling areas and a lot of empty bottles of beer around. After finding where we will place our things, we excitedly headed to the falls, and that has made me forget the road trip and the bloopers. It was truly worth it. The water was very cold, that it made us shivered. I had trauma in falls as I had creatively described in a paragraph in my blog entry Finding New Life. But Toi and Jaytee's presence and the laughters of people around have made me overcame it. And Toi had even made me experienced how it was to be showered upon by the rushing water. The coldness had made me forgot it was summer and from there, I had understood why these two people had developed a liking of discovering falls. Falls is something to find, and that's why I prefer describing it to be hidden and that it has treasures on it. And I think the treasure comes not only on how it is being seen by the naked eyes and felt by the skin. Its treasure also comes from the story of its formation, of erosion, of becoming wider, or shallower or deeper, or hitting up the bottom. Its a story of having many names and even forgotten names. Its a story of being at the foot of the mystical Mt Banahaw. Its a story of people coming there and people wanting to go back. 

     And so I thank Toi and Jaytee for making me laugh out loud non-stop for a day; for their soulful videoke performances during snack time; for sharing our well-deserved classy dinner at Si Cristina Gateau Sans Rival at the heart of San Pablo Plaza, and for making me sing and for guessing the songs that fast thereby making our agonies faster in our standing ovation journey back home. And though, it was knee-aching bus ride, It has just made the trip even special for it gave us something to experience aside from the usual, which I had imagined myself doing because of having full stomach "I slept on my way home." 

    And thank you Majayjay Falls for revealing your hidden treasures to us; for your chilling waters; for the nature, and for another splendid day of experiencing God's creation. 

    And before that trip ended, I had known what that trip has meant to us. For sure, it is not just for Toi to add another blue color on his map and for Jaytee to assess another place for family getaway, and for me to record another blog entry here. I strongly felt that it was also a trip of personal reflections and of getting a charge from people who used to be strangers. I don't know to others, but for me, when I travel with those who doesn't know much about me yet, I get to discover much of the things too that I had not known about me, or possibilities of who I can be. You can be the craziest you---and be you, having no identity to be stood upon or identity to be negotiated. You can feel free and not be obliged to explain the sadness in your eyes. You can deal with the darkness you are in, you get the words from the songs, you get refuge from the water, and you don't worry of taking the fall, for you are in good and God-given company to catch you and bring you back to your senses. They are just as crazy yet as sincere as I am (so I thank God too for the multiplier effect of friendship), that the next thing I know is that I am experiencing joy again; for its just a truly-found-again-treasure, when you realized that you are laughing hard again, and its an authentic one.

I love this picture because other Majayjay Falls explorers posed excitedly with us too.

A glimpse of the mystical Mt. Banahaw

Jaytee and Toi were fresh from singing and getting perfect and almost perfect scores! 

Time to be Home: Few Hours Away from Midnight

Standing with joy and music all throughout. 

Youth and Students Advancing Gender Equality: Experiencing Authentic Sisterhood and Brotherhood

Valencia, Negros Oriental

With other delegates of the 3rd Young Women's Camp on Gender Issues, Sexuality and Prostitution

Organized by the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women- Asia Pacific (CATW-AP) 

      
     CATW-AP conducts camps on gender issues, sexuality and prostitution addressing the vulnerability of young women to sexual exploitation and reducing the number of perpetrators among men. Graduates formed Youth and Students Advancing Gender Equality (YSAGE). YSAGE CATW-AP's youth arm, is a national advocacy organization campaigning against prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation and inequality. YSAGE multiplies CATW-AP's efforts in the Philippines to educate the public, especially youth on gender issues but most importantly gender inequality, as manifested particularly in sexual exploitation. 

     

1st IndonesiaYoung Women's Camp
Yogyakarta, Indonesia

       We are graduates of youth camps on gender issues, sexuality and prostitution organized by the Coalition against Trafficking in Women – Asia Pacific (CATW-AP). Our lives were changed since, and most of us organized “echo camps” which produced even more gender advocates, and they, too are with us. Having established chapters of the Youth and Students Advancing Gender Equality (YSAGE) in the cities/municipalities of Cotabato, Palawan, Davao, Negros Occidental, Batangas, Cordilleras and NCR, as well as in Indonesia and India, we have sustained the objectives of CATW-AP in organizing the camps and intend to reach more youth and students who will pursue the vision of a world free from sexual exploitation, especially trafficking and prostitution, where there is equality between women and men.

      In our fight for equality, we had learnt about what sisterhood and brotherhood truly mean.

                                                 1st YSAGE Assembly and Reunion Camp
                                                                        Baguio City 

2nd YSAGE Reunion Camp

Preparing for the 4th Young Women's Camp
Cagayan de Oro

                                       

With delegates of the 5th Young Women's Camp
Sagada, Mountain Province

1st Indonesia Young Men's Camp
Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Negros Echo Camp Graduates

Few Mondays Changing My Succeeding Days

 Asian Festival 2013

    From the first Monday of 2013 that I was able to sit in his class, my Mondays with him and with my classmates had then became so different from the previous Mondays of my life. The timing was indeed perfect because the class came in at the time when there were a lot of reflection papers to be done in other subjects and reflecting has then become challenging. That class came in at the perfect timing because it has re-defined to me what reflection really is. The way that the discussion flowed has something to do with how we are able to think over how things were usually done, how we had been submissive to the system, how evasive changes has been for us and how we had been perceiving and acting upon on the call of the times. Ever since that first Monday, the act of reflecting has been an exciting and fruitful journey. Since then, reflection has become so vital and much beautiful. 

    We started with a very mind-enriching introduction about culture. I thought that I had understood what culture means until Sir Gois posed to us several points to think about and that has revealed to me that something to be attentive about is how culture is for us, and how it is really a part of our life or not a part of us anymore. I had then found myself so guilty for seeing culture as something being put into exhibit. I had witnessed and in a way, supported culture becoming more of a commodity and a showcase activity. And that class really challenged me to go beyond that. Though culture is something not clearly defined and not easy to define, it is certain that our culture is part of who we are. However, we negotiate our identities every day. We are constantly changing and it is part of dynamics of culture. If culture does not evolve, it becomes static. It dies. In a way, I was able to see human beings to be like that. We are constantly changing, not just biologically but in all aspects. In a deeper sense as well, if we remain so stock in just one way of thinking, one way of doing, and then confined in a box forever, we are also losing much in our lives. 

    The concepts introduced in Asian Studies are what seemed to be like a paradox to me. One of the first statements that struck me is this: the first thing to know about Asia is that we don’t know Asia. Sounds weird, but upon reflecting on it, it is really making sense. I had lived 22 years in Asia but I don’t it yet fully, not even Philippines or even just the Visayas island. Our discussion about Asia’s history of discovery and colonization is also a realization to me that arrived like a paradox. We were so diverse and when we realize our differences, part of our psyche is a struggle of preserving identities and independence. But once we become independent, we should think as well of how we will deal another struggle, as the struggle becomes inside. In my personal life, I think I had several instances of fighting for freedom as well, and then moving the struggle within, addressing doubts and conquering fears, and then, learning lessons. I can also say now that Asian Studies class is a class that has enlarged the classroom. It has enlarged the classroom into Asia and into the world! 

    The journey towards understanding Sufism as one of the worldviews and that of my classmates was a journey of entering the socio-political and cultural milieu of the previous time in which they emerged and how that had triggered transformational processes. As Professor Gois said in class, if we stay stock in the realm of religion, we will have problems in interpreting our life today. Whatever it is that we believe, we should have deeper understanding on it and appreciation of how it could make us better persons yet still critical, sensitive and responsive to what we are called to do in the present times. And so, therefore, true to what has been said in the beginning, the views that we had been holding, defending and using as guides in our living, will then have an impact not just to ourselves but to the society as we promote peace and fight any form of violence and injustice. 

    Asian Studies will also be a very memorable subject for me because of the Asian Festival. It felt like we had placed the entire Asia in a single room. It felt like we were trying to put the different periods of history in a single event. What has made that night different from all the other nights was our convergence itself. As I’ve said before, coming together was not easy! We were really so diverse and our differences had even made the meetings and the practices, all the preparations and everything that goes along with it, much exciting and challenging. There were some misunderstanding and little tensions, communication barriers, and different point of views on how things are to be done--- and that was understandable as we come from different backgrounds and has varied cultures and beliefs. Looking back, I was able to say that the event was successful not just because of the positive feedback from our guests but more so of our harmonious convergence. Our success comes from being able to work as one despite our differences. We can all work together for a common goal, and then triumphed. From that moment, therefore, I was able to capture the energy, the courage and the inspiration that I can always hold on most especially in facing adversities caused by our differences. 

    The attempt to have a much analytical look of the situation of street children in the Philippines has also challenged me to be critical. When this world is really an awesome place to live in, I had to recognize that there are so many things that have to be changed in this world. And our Asian Studies class is actually a persistent call for me to be part of the struggle for change. We could be happy to be called as social workers, priests, nuns, development workers and so on, for it gives us something to do. But in one of our sessions, Sir Gois has asked us to think, and really think. He challenged us to reflect on what we are actually been doing. Have we questioned when will the problem end, or are we just embracing the idea of just keeping the issues years and years? We were challenged to come out of our comfort zones and go beyond. 

    This is a world where there is so much to fight for. But before anything else, we should start by really believing that there is something out there worth fighting for. We could not just continue thinking only for ourselves. We could not just accept how things are because we felt we are really not affected that much. We should find what we can do to make this world better and fair. Asian Studied has helped me re-discover the world with more understanding eyes and responsive soul. There is not just one way of looking at the problem. We should value and encourage collective thinking and find the richness therein on the sharing of views and acting together. 

     Asian Studies is not just a subject but a process. This is a process that has helped me feel free to think and reflect and then motivated me to see in a different, and a brand new lens what can I be part of. We could go out into the world as someone with a master’s degree but what is the use of that if we had not been of impact to the larger classroom? Change could come not so fast but our willingness to be part of the process and instead of maintaining the systems, challenging them, could actually be doing some impact. As Sir Gois said and I had found myself accepting the challenge, something we have to work out in our generation is how we develop the great capacity to reflect and then to lead change. We should bring in much thinking into the process especially that the struggle we are faced with could have last for hundred years. This is a struggle that we should not surrender easily, and at the times that we are already on the fight, we should grip in at those moments. 

      Asian Studies has helped me a lot in my process of becoming critical and appreciative at the same time. It has helped me towards becoming someone who is reflective and hopeful. My greatest glory then, is to be someone who can bring out change everyday, someone who has never given up the fire that has burnt, and the hope that can be passed on to others and to this planet. And as my life goes on, my struggle towards peace, justice and integrity of creation goes on too. And that was how few Mondays of 2013 spent with him had then changed all the days of my weeks for a lifetime.