Thoughts on graduation day
(1) These were my thoughts as a senior on his graduation:
Tribute: A Memory of encounters
by Jason Cabañes (The Guidon, 20 March 2003)
Roland Barthes, on the topic of reference, wrote, "I am not invoking guarantees, merely recalling, by a kind of salute given in passing, what has seduced, convinced, or what has momentarily given the delight of understanding (of being understood?)." So, I, standing on the sturdy shoulders of those who have taught me all these four years, write:
After all the tons of books, lectures, and research papers, it's quite ironic--although entirely proper--that come graduation, one of the most important things I learned at the Ateneo is that I know that I do not know (Socrates).
To begin with, throughout my university education, the very meaning of what it is to know has become more and more evasive. I used to think that knowledge was what one acquired from gobbling up the Encyclopaedia Brittanica, memorizing the Guinness Book of Records, fixing the TV on the Discovery Channel, and the like. The school has taught me, however, that there are other ways of knowing beyond positivist data.
Aside from the vaunted logic of the mind, there is a knowing (a) derived from seeing the convergence of signs, as in the event of Christ's resurrection (Dr. Ma. Christina Astorga), (b) that doesn't seek to grasp but allows the Other flourish away from the light of comprehension (Emmanuel Levinas), (c) that can only be understood by the heart of a lover, who sees the higher value in the beloved that nonlovers can't see (Max Scheler), (d) or by the hearts of God's true lovers who believe in God out of sheer love for God, even when all the external signs pointing to God seem to have failed (St. John the Mystic). With all these (and many other related) thoughts floating in my mind, I've now a very muddled understanding of knowledge. But then again, this seeming confusion affords me a taste of the non-thematizable, much deeper, and endlessly richer meaning of reality beneath my usual superficial apprehension of it (H. Mertens).
Because of the above, any attempt to define myself becomes riddled with yets. I am the person in my resume--name, sex, nationality, creed, and all that. Yet, I am more than those measly tidbits about myself (Gabriel Marcel). I may be limited by my historicity, by my partialities that I may not yet be aware of (Edmund Husserl). Yet, I am also a rational being capable of transcendence (Scheler), or even the loftier excendance, a total going out of oneself towards the Other (Levinas).
Indeed, some thinkers claim that I am but an "intersection of linguistic, mythological, or ideological forces" (Colin Davis on Strcuturalists) or an "outdated humanist illusion to be demystified" (Davis on Post-structuralists). Their well-articulated thoughts notwithstanding, I continue to assert that I am not an object easily dissected and analyzed. In fact, essential to my being a person is my characteristic of mystery (Martin Heidegger), or more radically, of secrecy (Levinas).
Certainly, the difficulty of defining myself also extends to any endeavor of trying to know others. I have fallen into the trap of pigeonholing others based on things that I notice during first encounters, prime of which are facial characteristics (Social Psychology), and sex (Gender Studies). Sometimes, I also make the common mistake of judging others according to their familial lieange (Confucius), their race (Orientalism), their sexual preference (Queer Theory), and many ther highly-reductionist and simplistic bases.
In the university though, I have become more conscious of my hidden biases, of my penchant for trying to know others like I know objects. Instead, I must be open to the surprise that the radical otherness of the Other brings (Levinas). A Philosophy 102 lecture put it best by saying that the more you know the Other, the more you begin to realize that you do not know him/her (Dr. Leovino Ma. Garcia).
These earthquakes I experienced at the university--all telling me that there is just so much more that I do not know--have nurtured in me an attitude of unceasing wonder (Jostein Gaarder) and questioning (Heidegger) as regards how I see things. I can no longer be lulled by predominant yet distorted worldviews--Materialism, Imperialism, Patriarchy, etc. My education has so disturbed me at my deepest core that it has "destroyed" me for life (Dr. Astorga). I will forever be haunted by the voices of the great thinkers of the world and my great teachers at the Ateneo.
As I go out into the ideal-barren real world (Joyce Bernal), I shall carry on with my quest to forever ask and ask more. The important qualifier here is that I won't question with my mind only ("activity of the soul..."), but also through what I'll choose to do ("...in accordance with virtue") (Aristotle). It will indeed be a Herculean task to dare disturb the universe (Devi Ignacio-Paez). Just quick look at the local news is enough to drain anyone of their idealism. Nevertheless, I shall try. After all, more than achieving my goal, it is the journey towards it that is of greater value (Marcel). In the end, I might just make it. Who knows?
(2) These are my thoughts as a teacher on his students' graduation:
Remember your very first encounter with Comm Theory? Abby (Louie?) describes it as "harsh but fun." Haha!
Remember the celebration before my Singapore stint? The most pressing concern you had then was your SA research!
Little did I know that when I got to Singapore, you'd pester me with your new concern: Comm Res. I distinctly remember having several YM windows open, all of them questions about theories and methods. :P
Remember the time you all turned Korean? I'm still not spilling about which play was better. Secret forever. :D
Remember the times when you guys did me proud by doing one for media literacy? There was Franz on news reportage...
...and then there was Dre and her excellent condom ads reparte with Atty. Imbong. Hehe!
Oh yeah. There was also Fran, who showed that beyond his expertise in writing literature reviews, he also had extreme physical prowess...
...and Yumi, who kindly agreed to become the photographer of the day...
...and Kristel, Sam, and Aiu, who did an amazing job as MediaTalk cheerleaders.
I'll never forget your insanity, e.g., Meggie and Dre in this photo...
...your insanity that's also a genius, e.g., Aiu, Yumi, and Abby in this photo.
I shall miss you dearly Comm 2009! :')
Tribute: A Memory of encounters
by Jason Cabañes (The Guidon, 20 March 2003)
Roland Barthes, on the topic of reference, wrote, "I am not invoking guarantees, merely recalling, by a kind of salute given in passing, what has seduced, convinced, or what has momentarily given the delight of understanding (of being understood?)." So, I, standing on the sturdy shoulders of those who have taught me all these four years, write:
After all the tons of books, lectures, and research papers, it's quite ironic--although entirely proper--that come graduation, one of the most important things I learned at the Ateneo is that I know that I do not know (Socrates).
To begin with, throughout my university education, the very meaning of what it is to know has become more and more evasive. I used to think that knowledge was what one acquired from gobbling up the Encyclopaedia Brittanica, memorizing the Guinness Book of Records, fixing the TV on the Discovery Channel, and the like. The school has taught me, however, that there are other ways of knowing beyond positivist data.
Aside from the vaunted logic of the mind, there is a knowing (a) derived from seeing the convergence of signs, as in the event of Christ's resurrection (Dr. Ma. Christina Astorga), (b) that doesn't seek to grasp but allows the Other flourish away from the light of comprehension (Emmanuel Levinas), (c) that can only be understood by the heart of a lover, who sees the higher value in the beloved that nonlovers can't see (Max Scheler), (d) or by the hearts of God's true lovers who believe in God out of sheer love for God, even when all the external signs pointing to God seem to have failed (St. John the Mystic). With all these (and many other related) thoughts floating in my mind, I've now a very muddled understanding of knowledge. But then again, this seeming confusion affords me a taste of the non-thematizable, much deeper, and endlessly richer meaning of reality beneath my usual superficial apprehension of it (H. Mertens).
Because of the above, any attempt to define myself becomes riddled with yets. I am the person in my resume--name, sex, nationality, creed, and all that. Yet, I am more than those measly tidbits about myself (Gabriel Marcel). I may be limited by my historicity, by my partialities that I may not yet be aware of (Edmund Husserl). Yet, I am also a rational being capable of transcendence (Scheler), or even the loftier excendance, a total going out of oneself towards the Other (Levinas).
Indeed, some thinkers claim that I am but an "intersection of linguistic, mythological, or ideological forces" (Colin Davis on Strcuturalists) or an "outdated humanist illusion to be demystified" (Davis on Post-structuralists). Their well-articulated thoughts notwithstanding, I continue to assert that I am not an object easily dissected and analyzed. In fact, essential to my being a person is my characteristic of mystery (Martin Heidegger), or more radically, of secrecy (Levinas).
Certainly, the difficulty of defining myself also extends to any endeavor of trying to know others. I have fallen into the trap of pigeonholing others based on things that I notice during first encounters, prime of which are facial characteristics (Social Psychology), and sex (Gender Studies). Sometimes, I also make the common mistake of judging others according to their familial lieange (Confucius), their race (Orientalism), their sexual preference (Queer Theory), and many ther highly-reductionist and simplistic bases.
In the university though, I have become more conscious of my hidden biases, of my penchant for trying to know others like I know objects. Instead, I must be open to the surprise that the radical otherness of the Other brings (Levinas). A Philosophy 102 lecture put it best by saying that the more you know the Other, the more you begin to realize that you do not know him/her (Dr. Leovino Ma. Garcia).
These earthquakes I experienced at the university--all telling me that there is just so much more that I do not know--have nurtured in me an attitude of unceasing wonder (Jostein Gaarder) and questioning (Heidegger) as regards how I see things. I can no longer be lulled by predominant yet distorted worldviews--Materialism, Imperialism, Patriarchy, etc. My education has so disturbed me at my deepest core that it has "destroyed" me for life (Dr. Astorga). I will forever be haunted by the voices of the great thinkers of the world and my great teachers at the Ateneo.
As I go out into the ideal-barren real world (Joyce Bernal), I shall carry on with my quest to forever ask and ask more. The important qualifier here is that I won't question with my mind only ("activity of the soul..."), but also through what I'll choose to do ("...in accordance with virtue") (Aristotle). It will indeed be a Herculean task to dare disturb the universe (Devi Ignacio-Paez). Just quick look at the local news is enough to drain anyone of their idealism. Nevertheless, I shall try. After all, more than achieving my goal, it is the journey towards it that is of greater value (Marcel). In the end, I might just make it. Who knows?
(2) These are my thoughts as a teacher on his students' graduation:
Remember your very first encounter with Comm Theory? Abby (Louie?) describes it as "harsh but fun." Haha!
Remember the celebration before my Singapore stint? The most pressing concern you had then was your SA research!
Little did I know that when I got to Singapore, you'd pester me with your new concern: Comm Res. I distinctly remember having several YM windows open, all of them questions about theories and methods. :P
Remember the time you all turned Korean? I'm still not spilling about which play was better. Secret forever. :D
Remember the times when you guys did me proud by doing one for media literacy? There was Franz on news reportage...
...and then there was Dre and her excellent condom ads reparte with Atty. Imbong. Hehe!
Oh yeah. There was also Fran, who showed that beyond his expertise in writing literature reviews, he also had extreme physical prowess...
...and Yumi, who kindly agreed to become the photographer of the day...
...and Kristel, Sam, and Aiu, who did an amazing job as MediaTalk cheerleaders.
I'll never forget your insanity, e.g., Meggie and Dre in this photo...
...your insanity that's also a genius, e.g., Aiu, Yumi, and Abby in this photo.
I shall miss you dearly Comm 2009! :')