“Philosophers have interpreted
the world, but the point of it is to change it.”
-Karl Marx
It is way too boastful to call
myself a philosopher in the enterprise since I am in no sense recognized by the
world. But let us reciprocate the triangular schema of power to a point wherein
I can claim to be a philosopher without even any world recognition. Call anyone
who loves knowledge or wisdom and in the perpetual pursuit of it a philosopher
and since everybody is capable of such an endeavour then everybody can be a
philosopher but another borderline is yet to overcome between authenticity and
inauthenticity. As a third party I am not to condemn others of inauthenticity
but I can be critical to some point that I can make the other reflect upon to
re-evaluate himself. Branding names is
not my concern but I merely am a voice of conscience reminding them of what a
superman one could become.
I have been reflective over the
days whether if I served humanity right in enlightening the minds of the youth
into a critical path because I have been dubious whether if I had brought the
message straight to them. All the while I am proving myself everyday of the
things that I have learned and haven’t learned so far. Even though I am the
teacher, but it is like I begin to learn a lot more and more and it is I who is
assured that I have learned something or I am ignorant. But my duty is not only
to myself but also to the students who paid (forced or willingly) me to speak.
I then looked upon old anecdotes
or stories that speak about wisdom and all of them include man’s capability to
weigh things before decision or simply the ability to rationalize. But I do
agree that not all can be measured upon by thought, but at least in the emotive
side there is a just cause for any of its manifestations to occur. Let us say
the story of Solomon and the dispute over two women over a rightful claim over
the child. Solomon used wits and therefore he is wise. Jesus rebelled against
Jewish hypocrisies. He is critical on culture, politics and to the individual
in relation to God. He opened the eyes of the common people with those charades
that masked truth with trivialities and for that he is wise. Confucius speaks
of the gentleman or the sage who wherein has come to a certain age attains
wisdom from all the errors he has undergone in his life. Socrates speaks of the
wisest man being aware of his own ignorance and for that continually opening
one’s way to possibilities outside the reach of his mind, and for that he is
wise. Many people like them are wise for they have thoughts that are left
unravelled in one’s own head and they made one see what was not seen. For this
they are also the so called “teachers”.
Here I am now, a teacher in
profession but have been successful in opening the eyes of almost anyone who
has been under my gaze? I tend to break free from the chains of an industrial
kind of education that encapsulates the mind of the youth into a box. I know it
is necessary for one to imitate in order to learn, but in due time let us give
them the ability to use their head not in simple agreement of instructions but
one who could redefine instructions, destroy instructions or reconstruct them
or ultimately to create one in all power generated by reasoning or to follow
instructions not in blind faith but also not forsaking reasoning in the
deliberation process. But have I brought this message to my students or have
they followed me in fear of failure or in mere compliance of desired
curriculum? That I am bothered because it tethers my soul in the satisfaction
of the service I give to humanity in general.
I can understand the pressure
laid down for me as sometimes unsystematic, but I would like to say that I
destroy in order to create, or I simply re-evaluate. I negate to discover a
hypothesis that I need to rest upon in order to negate again and until I am
convinced of myself and not only that, but others with me in the struggle of
perfection. Say it is ideal and lofty, but to surrender one’s quest is to
simply not live at all. Let it be a final statement of the incapacity to reach
the ideal only when I have done all I could to reach a yard’s length.
Logic, Philosophy of Man,
History, Rizal, Humanities, Psychology and maybe more subjects to come. Have I
been wasting such magnificent names to unproductive ears or am I not an
effective inspirer of thought to make them hear? I have been radical in my ways
in movement, image and even in words only to prove that there are alternatives
at hand that can change our futures for the better. But slowly I can only say,
that I am momentarily convinced that I am learning, but have I transmuted the
learning? I am a teacher by name and by profession but can I be like Jesus,
Confucius, Socrates or Solomon or any other people out there with their extreme
piety of thought giving justice to our human nature? Yes, the system wants
machines to run the nation soon, but it is all too lifeless when the future
only glares at one possibility and deprived of the ideals in life to make one
in creativity and spontaneity like an artist does.
My students threw already stones
at me for being radical but it is thus the fate of every man who is thus
willing to make one see the world in a different kind if light. I already
accepted my fate as the miserable yet the noble, but have I been the teacher
really? Or the philosopher maybe? Have I not just said only to be heard and not
to be listened? Have I just interpreted the world absent contribution to
change? Or have I initialized the change already? Or have I changed it already?
I want to rest with a meaning and
not to pass away empty or but an emptiness after all meanings fall short.
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