THE JOURNEY OF HUMAN BEINGS

Greeks says, “The universe was born, not created”. We, people of the modern time, would not believe on it but we do not also care about it. Let us now ask ourselves this following question and examine our existence: What is the universe for us? What is our purpose here? Where do we come from? These are question that we ignore. We must know the answer to know what are we suppose to do here.

The universe was not born but created. Yes; the universe was created by Being (as Heidegger names it). This Being is infinite, perfect and needs nothing further. He would not create something with no purpose for it would just be a waste so he created the world in order to be appreciated by the rational beings. This Universe was created imperfect and not fully finished, since the Being intended it for us, rational beings, to complete the unfinished project. So in order to complete the project he gave as a mysterious mind. Mysterious mind because we do not know how far its limit like the Being itself who is also mysterious in a way. This universe was given to us as a gift. Like a toy given to a kid, which must be use or else this gift would be useless. We must nourish this gift to continue perfecting this universe given to us.

Having the universe, the rational beings now are like travelers. They have journey to take. This journey would be there purpose of existing. First is the journey out. Here the beings unfold its level of perfection, he reveals himself through his action and participate it the act of existence. He needs to participate because of two reasons. (1). It is still poor that is he is limited and imperfect, in order to overcome the incompleteness of being and poverty, he needs to participate in the act of existence. Like the more it participate, the more it became perfect. (2). It is also rich in away it needs to share its goodness to others. It needs to participate to share the goodness given to him by the Ultimate Source. It must have the sense of give and take system in order for it to reach its act of perfection.

The second is the journey back. Here the beings needs to go back to the infinite Being, who from the start, created all things. We now have this goal to go back to the Source but our role here is not limited unlike the rest of the cosmos. They are just below us, lacking self conscious, intelligence and will. So now we become the mediators between the material world and The Supreme Being. We recognize the universe as a gift to us from the Being and we in return must appreciate and nourish it.

The universe can not go back on its own. It needed our service to complete the great circle of beings. Our service now is to help the universe to go back to the infinite Source by means of completing it for as we learned from the above it is an unfinished project. This is where now the second journey is completed by means of our existence and service.

This is what it means to be a human person. We are embodied spirit who is a traveller to take a journey back to the Source and to help the universe which is a gift to us to help it go back to the source along with us.

WHAT IS DEATH?

“Bryan, this is the mother of Alexandra. She died last Tuesday.” When I heard those things from her mother, I became weak and I wanted to cry. After that conversation, I began to reminisce the times she laughed and told me her problems. I was shocked with what her mother had told me.

I want to relate my story and connect it about being. What is a being? Can we consider the dead as a being? What are the differences between the dead and the living? Why is it that we only learn to treasure the existence of someone when he or she is dead?

According to the book, “Central Problems of Metaphysics”, being means that which is, or is present, in some way. It is also said that being includes everything. From the definition of being can we consider the dead people as beings? For me, the answer is yes because I still think of them. According to the book, beings are those we can think of. Even though the dead people have lost their existence, they are still considered as beings but with limitation. This limitation is on the way they reveal themselves or what we call essence. They are limited because they are unable to act. From we studied, a being reveals himself through actions and we know that the dead people lost their existence. Their essence as beings is now limited in the way they are put in.

The only thing that differentiates a dead from the living is that of their essence. A living can reveal himself in different ways like showing how good he is on something. The dead has the only essence of the just a dead body because it cannot act unlike the living. The only differ of action or their essence. For example, my dead friend cannot move anymore while I still can. The more I act the more I reveal myself. We differ from the way we express ourselves. She cannot express herself anymore because she is dead but I can still express myself to others because I am still alive.

I have been asking myself, “Why is it the time we only treasure someone when he or she is already dead?” I came to realize that when our loved ones are still alive, we do not think of the thinks they have done rather we think of the things they can still do. For example, a son does not think of what her his mother had done for him but he thinks of those things his mother can give like the things he does not possess or those things he longs for. We fail to appreciate the beauty of someone’s presence. We do not acknowledge even the little things they have done for us. We must in a way treasure every moment we have with them for there will come a time that they will or we will be dead.

I want to share with you my experience that is related to my topic. It was Easter Sunday, when I received a call from an unregistered number. I answered the call and asked who it was. The woman answered, “Bryan, this is the mother of Alexandra, she died last Tuesday.” When I heard it, I thought it was a joke but it wan not. Her mother continued talking. “ She has been suffering from leukaemia for more than five years. Then last Monday, she was totally depressed with you said to her but I will never blame you for her death. We have already accepted and awaited her eternal rest. She does not want you to know her condition because she does not want you to worry about her. And before she died, she keeps saying that she loves you and she is happy to die because at last she will be at your side, as she wishes. She also said that she would be you angel to guide you and look for you.”

I started to cry and blamed myself because last time I told Alex that she could not fall in love with me for the reason that I wanted to become a priest and in priesthood there is a vow of celibacy wherein they cannot marry. She cried and hanged up the phone. From then on, I lost my contact with her. I tried to find some way to see how she was doing. Until her mother told me the news, so I went to Manila last May to visit her grave. My knees became weak. Then I started crying when I saw something written on her grave. It was the last thing I said to her when she was still alive that is “We must accept what God wants.” While I was crying, I remembered the times we spend talking and debating on different topics. The times I would receive morning greetings and the moments she shared some of her secrets. Until now, I cannot stop thinking about her especially when I am alone. I always remembered the times she would wake me up early in the morning because of her nightmares.

I failed to show Alex how important she was and how I appreciated the things she has done for me like reminding me of something. Above all, I failed to show her how grateful I am for coming into my life.

The dead people are important to us. We always put them in our mind. We must show everyone especially those who are still alive how important he or she is to us in order to avoid the same mistake I have done. We must treat every moment with them as the last for we do not know what might happen next. We should respect them because someday we will also be dead.