Seeking the philosopher’s stone Harry Potter gaining the philosopher’s stone not because he selfishly desired eternal life (unlike Voldemort) but because he selflessly sought to protect it is an important lesson about seeking “heaven”. Do we seek heaven because we yearn for eternal pleasure? Doesn’t that mindset scream selfishness? Perhaps seeking heaven is a beautiful […]
Finding authenticity in figures of speech What made me first fall in love with creative writing or reading creative works is the beautiful and meaningful use of figures of speech. A masterful use of figures of speech can evoke a heightened feeling of insight and surplus of meaning that simply cannot be conveyed by plain […]
When distance can make hearts grow fonder When it comes to romantic love, although I do know of pairs who were successful in having long-distance relationships or LDRs, it is often challenge and can cause anguish. The typical kind of romantic love, I think, needs some degree of intimacy to blossom. And even if technology […]
Grief and joy, suffering and pleasure: two sides of the same coin? Is it correct that we understand and appreciate joy when we know what it means to grieve? Is it correct that we understand and appreciate pleasure when we know what it means to suffer? In a way, pain is unavoidable for a person […]
Complete truth, incomplete understanding If we are to believe the existence of an objective truth (objective ontology), we recognize that such truth exists regardless of our understanding or personal narrative. The story of the five blind men and the elephant illustrates this: the blind men recognize the elephant (objective truth) but incompletely represents the complete […]
Businesses can touch the spirit What I loved about Kotler et al.’s Marketing 3.0 concept is that it called for brands to touch the human spirit. I wonder why they positioned Marketing 4.0 as more into the digital space, when it seemed to me that “touching the human spirit” is a greater and more noble […]
To advocate is to unite in spirit I was not very familiar with how Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as the Advocate. This made me reflect on how often businesses and media use the word “advocate” or “advocacy”. It seems that John, as interpreted by the Catholic faith, takes a stand to say that […]
The words we express are opportunities to demonstrate our sense of responsibility My mindset in using the internet and social media is that any “content” we upload or produce are forever available. Although I support data privacy, I assume that no data is truly private or secure. I don’t think that crafting a “digital persona” […]
Internal or external, we are all entangled It’s very convenient to externalize and avoid accountability. Why take the blame when it can be passed on to others? The one who catches the bomb when it explodes is just unlucky or is simply a sucker. It is convenient to draw boundaries; madaling magkampihan. But such hard […]
To suffer with When do we know the strength of one’s love? Is it by grand gestures and big surprises? Or is it through the accumulation of moments where one chose to suffer with another, no matter the context? Love is that continuous decision to choose the person. John 15:12-17. Love one another, as I […]