Unfolding

    Being a philosophy major has immersed me in the world of thoughts and thinking. And undeniably I came across a magnum opus such as Kant’s “Critique of Pure Reason”, Marx’s short but meaty “To Make the World Philosophical – Ruthless Criticism to Everything Existing”, Sartre’s voluminous “Critique of Dialectical Reason”, Marx’s essential “Critique to Hegel’s Philosophy of Right” and the list goes on. Even without the word critique in the title, philosophers still give critiques within their works. You can have Nietzsche’s critique of Europe and Christianity which you can find in his “The Anti-Christ” or any of Kierkegaard’s books critiquing Hegel. Critique has made it possible to help reevaluate anything under its gaze which can even lead to new thoughts, realizations, or even creates new perspectives with the goal of achieving truth. However, critique is scorned upon by those who mistake being criticized as being insulted.     Hurling insults at someone is attacking the person mor

               Ignorance is a disease, and from it, is a curse bearing more fruits. Lies, deceit, confusions, misinformation, disinformation, and manipulations are all part of the produce. Add that with a huge missing chunk, or if not, no brain at all from the Filipinos, and you have the perfect mix of idiocy, incompetence, being lost, and plain stupidity. And as a devoted educator and thinker, this terrible situation is alarming and is the reason why I continue to talk.               Thinking, dissecting facts, doing research, and reading a lot are noble things to do. However, a majority do not have the luxury. And the worst is that others have the opportunity but are misguided. With more emphasis on obedience than thinking even in a typical family set up, duping the people or getting duped is a piece of cake. Include a culture of discouraging thinking, and all the means to get there is tagged along.               Conformity has always been the norm, and dissent becomes a cr

              I have been reflecting amidst my isolation from the teaching profession, and I have nothing but meager social media posts and quick conversations that can help me assess my profession’s impact. As much as I poured my heart out to the call, much of the people I came across after their meager time with me in the classroom was more of heartache rather than reaping fruits. Thus, for them, their time with me was just a passing phase in their privileged or desperate academic life. Designing minds cannot be done in a classroom because the school is just a fraction of a student’s time. A student imitates and learns more from the environment he or she is exposed to. Whether it be at home, community, or the virtual, to where they spend most of their time influences them a lot. Moreover, schools, which are synonymous to education, are but a requirement to have a job. And only a rare few can see the value of its enlightening potential.               Home is the first truth fo