These I know to be true
Humming in My Universe
Philippine Star
Nov. 26, 2006
(If you’re getting a deja vu experience right now as you read this, I admit I wrote a very similar entry on this blog about a year and a half ago. Having learned new stuff, I updated it a bit. I probably will be doing this from time to time since knowledge is after all, dynamic). Please write and tell me what you know to be true!
Followers of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of the revolutionary Waldorf schools situated all over the world believe that we go through stages in life. Other psychologists have expressed similar views. I am not really familiar with Steiner’s stages and know too little about anyone else’s ideas on stages to discuss them. All I know is that I am still going through one particularly extended stage at this moment.
The past 10 years have been a growth spurt for me, especially in my inner journey, which includes my psychological, emotional, mental and, most especially, my spiritual life. It’s like I suddenly awakened to a world that somehow was reconfigured differently overnight.
I started questioning, sometimes doing very intense investigations about my own existence and its meaning(s) some 10 years back, and continue to do so almost daily. I have done inner expeditions, meditations which at times have led me to unmistakable and lucid glimpses of what to me are life’s great mysteries. It often seems like I have walked to the edge of all I know and have contemplated jumping into the abyss. At times, I have actually taken the leap and by so doing, I have picked up some important things that I hold close to my heart.
There are also things I have learned from many masters, from their lives and work, and their books, much of which I have resonated with. I suspect many of my readers would too.
Here’s a caveat before you continue reading. I greatly appreciate the Buddha’s advice regarding the acceptance of any teachings. He said:
Rely on the message, not on the personality of the teacher.
Rely on the meaning, not just the words.
Rely on the real meaning, not just the provisional meaning.
Rely on your wisdom and insight, not just on your ordinary, judgmental mind.
I hope you consider the above as you read on.
These truths, I know, are real for me.
1) That the second rule of life is survival and the first rule is that all are one.
Thanks to Joseph Campbell for expressing this truth that I discovered as evident during moments of grace in my own life. One of those moments was during the great flooding in Aurora province last year. I felt such an oneness with the suffering that I actually solicited clothes, goods and money to send to the victims.
2) That life is composed of contradictions. The pair of opposites such as good and bad, ugly and beautiful, etc. will always be there. They are necessarily with us because they not only validate each other but are inextricably linked. What is white if we do not know black? What is joy if we do not know sadness?
Many times I notice that opposites are also interchangeable. Haven’t we found ourselves eating our words and changing our beliefs, opinions, views and even our morality as our knowledge expands?
3) That everything is perfect just as it is when we surrender to life. Only when we insist on an ideal does life become a struggle and the world, a perennially horrible place.
4) That the divine likes to show up in disguises. If you’re lucky, your spiritual journey reaches an important and happy phase (though fleeting) where almost everything you see and encounter is God and there seems to be nothing else but God.
5) That if we can’t find heaven in the here and now, we will never find it.
6) That if we could ask God what life’s meaning was, God would say, ‘It’s up to you’.
7) That the biggest source of unhappiness is the refusal to be living in the moment, and the second one is rejecting the call to be fully conscious and accepting of one’s power to create one’s reality.
8) That only what is eternal is real, that the spiritual journey is all about finding the eternal, timeless truths in this temporal setup called ‘life’.
9) That we have it wrong when it comes to dying. Contrary to our beliefs, death is probably the happiest moment in one’s life since everything false and unreal about us disappears and what remains is only what is eternal and true. And we finally get to meet God and know the unknowable.
10) That despite the level or state of our spirituality and enlightenment, we still have to do the mundane tasks of living. The house still needs to be cleaned, the dinner plates have to be washed, laundry done and other worldly matters attended to. Enlightenment is not exchanging earth for heaven but finding heaven on earth.
11) That life is complex, and to understand life is to appreciate its many layers of meaning and to accept it as such is a step toward living its richness.
12) That the truth really sets you free but sometimes it can first make you extremely mad and uncomfortable. You have to show up ready to accept it.
13) That there is the so-called little truth and there is the big truth. Little truth has a near expiration date. After a while it just ceases to be true. On the other hand, Big Truth is such that it has not reached its expiration date, and it may seem like it never will.
14) That what we do for work speaks about what we have and what we do for leisure speaks about what we are. And lucky is the man whose leisure activities bring him what he has.
15) That symbols take us out of the literal and into the magical, mystical reality of God. All religions are true symbolically but become problematic when we interpret them literally, or worse, like scientific documents.
16) That while man’s greatest yearning is to have a divine experience, God’s greatest kick is having a human experience through people. If religions are to be believed, God likes to tinker with human lives, or even be human! Our lives are God’s ‘out-of-spirit’ experiences.
17) That every moment is fresh and renewing and to partake of its gifts, we must learn to let go of baggage from the past.
18) That to harbor revenge and hatred is like taking poison but hoping someone else dies. This I learned from the writer Gerald Jampolski.
19) That no matter how much we love and idolize someone, time will come when we will have to outgrow them to come into our own.
My 20th rule is equally important to accept and understand:
20) That there are days when I am stupid, dense, unconscious, and not attentive and so none of the above can seem true for me.
And that’s all right! ###
http://jimparedes.com
write to jim_paredes@yahoo.com if you want privacy.
11) That life is complex, and to understand life is to appreciate its many layers of meaning and to accept it as such is a step toward living its richness.
life is so mind-boggling, so great.. next to God of course. He’s the only one greater than life.
20 rules… wow.
after 10 years, you’ve come up with something MOST people wanted to know. most especially those who’s living in confusion. Like me, sometimes.
And in just 20 rules… it’s like a father’s advice for the life ahead or a friend’s lecture when everything doesn’t make sense anymore. Or life doesn’t make sense any longer. That living was just a waste of breath.
I contemplated for 30 minutes and began reading it again. And again. And again.
And when I finished I said to myself…
…Oo nga no?!
PS:
I hope you may allow me po to recommend this blog of yours to some of my friends…
After this, I shall live my life the way God wants me to live it. =)
Maraming Salamat, Sir Jim! =)
Hi, Jim – re #2, naalala ko yung librong Book of Embraces ni Eduardo Galeano na ginawan ko ng rebyu – Pakay ng Yakap: Isang Baligtarang Kontradiksyon – kung saan isinagisag ang pagyakap sa mga bagay na salungat. (Kadalasan nga naman pagmamahal ang hayag ng pagyakap, pero maaari din itong maging murderous act – kapag nilingkis mo’t dinurog ang buto ng iyong kayakap.)
Hayy buhay, kailangan na rin yatang mag-ingat sa beso beso.
princess porsha-yes indeed!!
greenmangoes–Glad it helped you in some way. I hope you don’t worry too much about being confused. I am like that many times. IT only means your map of the world is changing and a bigger reality will set in. It’s a software upgrade.
cbs–long time no hear. Gaya ng dati, laging malaman ang mga mensahe mo sa blog ko. Masarap basahain sa Pilipino yung “ang pagyakap sa mga bagay na salungat”.
Siguro maganda kung isalin ko sa Pilipino yung article.
17) That every moment is fresh and renewing and to partake of its gifts, we must learn to let go of baggage from the past.
im holding unto this. thanks for the unsolicited inspiration you give out by simply posting things like this in your blog…
yet another good one sir Jim! thanks once again for sharing; you’re like one of my “guru” or master somehow. it feels like I’ve been going on my own inner journey in the past couple of years (probably how I got to your blog in the first place). reading through your list of truths, i found that several are real to me too, most specially #2 & #6 – struggling with accepting #3 though. anyway, maybe i should write this in an email..
honestly I was thinking about making my own ‘What I know now’ list just a few days ago! hehe in the form of an artwork. I’ts comforting and reassuring to read this blog.. it’s the kind of things I wish my own parentals would tell me… maybe I’ll just strike up a conversation w/ them about it =) Anyway Thx again!
Maria
Wow Sir Jim,
What an interesting and clear cut guidelines in living life to the fullest. I sometimes get overwhelmed with the rigidness and complexities of life, I become miserable and depressed – the contradictions of living.
We all need to undergo, experience and live within our spiritual “spurts”…to become more humanized, to become more soulful and spiritual.
Life can poke you in different and unique ways…sometimes in funny ways. It’s up to us to hold, mould and grasp our perfection.
Mabuhay!
Good memories came to me when you asked the scholars to do the 48-hour assignment.
If I could point to a time when I learned to take responsibility of my actions and just own up to whatever the consequences are, that would be it for me. Years ago, you gave us the very same assignment.
I tend to not watch Reality Shows, but thannks to that, I pretty much made an exception.
sarah–yo are welcome
chay–the inner journey is not easy but it miust be done.
maria–you should. it would be interesting to know what your parents think about these things, di ba?
bass poet–salamat. It would be interesting to read your list.
marcelle–Ha ha. Our creativity classes were such fun. The 48 hour journey, while terrifying is liberating as well. Glad you felt good about the exercise. I thought I’d bring it out of the small confines of the Ateneo into the world.
THAT ALL WE REALLY NEED IS LOVE!
Ganda nun, doranne.
hello Sir Jim. we’re so sad that PDA is about to end in two weeks :(( its not going to be the same anymore. i mean, i got hooked to it soo fast and i really really love the show. there are times when i had to be absent for school because of PDA. i rarely sleep na talaga because of the 24/7. if only pwede pang i extend ung stay nilang lahat! im gonna miss them soo much. i really love this show. dito lang tlaga ako sobrang na-adik ng husto. uhmm.. Irish and Ronnie are soo bagay. dami pong may gus2 sa kanilang dalawa sa PEX. and even Chad and Irish sobrang bagay din po! grabeh sana makarating ito sa kanila na maraming may gus2 sa kanila.. Yeng and Jay-R are soo bagay din 🙂 hehe sana may number ung lima na to sa grand dream night. sana din po konti lang mga guests. wag ng magsama ng mga taga SCQ at loveteam loveteam. gawin po sanang exclusive lang sa mga scholars dahil last night na nila un :(( kalungkot tlaga!! u guys did a very good job!! i salute you Sir Jim. you’re so bait, lalo na nung cnabi nyo kay Davey na ur willing to drive him from Manila all the way to Baguio. dami pong humanga sa inyo dun! hindi lang kau isang headmaster kungdi isang kaibigan talaga 😀 we dont want PDA to end :((:((
19) That no matter how much we love and idolize someone, time will come when we will have to outgrow them to come into our own.
Hi Sir Jim!I have a lot of idols when I was a young kid. And I seemed to have outgrowned them. And in the end you seem to aidolize yourself.
Still, Jesus, will be my idol forever. Right now, I know idolize you, due to all the struggles you went through life and you remain to stand still. Like you who went through cancer, I have problems with my kidney like my parents. Hope it won’t get worse, ’cause I don’t want to go through an operation.
“In my life I’ve only learned two truths: One, that there’s a God, and two, that I’m not Him” (as paraphrased from the movie “Rudy”).
nice.
thanks.
visiting my site:
http://adipexx.4t.com
nixx– Yes, pda has become a habit. But I guess part of its charm is that it WILL end at a fixed date. There are strong emotions that surface because we have learned to love the kids and all.
tricia–salamat. one day i will write an article about this that will get your head spinning. One of my biggest realizations is rule 19.
treu– are you sure you are not God? (joking but not really!!)..
Jim– Really, Sir? Well, can’t wait for that. Anyways, what do you mean by ‘keep your head spinning?’ I lke people who went through a lot of struggles in life(I am struggling as a matter of fact). They’re inspiring after they make it through.
Hi, Kuya Jim. 🙂
I found your site through a friend’s blog and I’m so glad that I did!
“Finding heaven in the here and now”–I like that. It isn’t that easy to do (I get distracted and discouraged by everyday worries so easily sometimes). But reading your words reminds me that it can be done.
Have a great weekend!