Complete joy goes beyond pleasure and enables a surplus of meaning

Imagine a basketball player running drills, performing “planting rice”, vomitting in between, then lifting weights, doing a hundred push-ups, then shooting a thousand shots. At that moment, it can feel like the world is ending. All that blood, sweat, and tears, for a mere game?

Yet, the catharsis of winning a meaningful game transforms those suffering into deeper meaning. In this sense, joy and suffering are not incompatible; they are even synergistic, almost two sides of the same coin. A state of flow and total engagement demands a balance of skills and challenge; fighting both boredom and anxiety.

Maybe suffering is indeed a part of life, similar to pain. In itself, it is not necessarily bad; suffering and pain can be indicators of growth or a signal that somewhere in our body, mind, or heart, we need healing.

Thus, for a discerning person, the question is not how to eliminate pain and suffering altogether, but rather, how to exercise one’s agency to choose a cause worth suffering for. Maybe it’s family. Friends. Loved ones. Or country even.

Perhaps the journey towards flourishing and complete joy, like most things in life, is all about balance – pain and pleasure, skills and challenge, boredom and anxiety.

John 15:9-11. So that my own joy may be in you and your joy be complete.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 139: MAY 19, 2022]

Sense of peace and sense of “flow”

At that precise moment of “flow” or “being in the zone”, isn’t that also the precise moment we personally experience a sense of peace? Csikszentmihalyi wrote that flow can come to be when there is a balance of boredom and anxiety; where one’s skills can reasonably adapt to the challenge or dilemma to be overcome.

And maybe the key to experiencing that sense of peace and flow is to hone our skills, especially in paying attention to ourselves and the experiences of others.

That sense of peace and flow is not a metaphorical switch to be flipped, unlike what fictional sports stories seem to suggest. One must understand one’s personal context very well before one can enter flow.

Team flow is more important; there should be synergy born from thorough understanding and insight of each other – a very strong sense of active empathy.

Kung ihahalintulad natin sa tunay na bayanihan, kailangan mag-usap at magkaintindihan tayo kahit ano pang pangkat ang kinampihan natin nitong eleksyon.

John 14:27-31a. My peace I give to you

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 137: MAY 17, 2022]

Is social media really for love and democracy?

“… The alleged ‘openness’ and ‘freedom’ of social networks are, as a matter of fact, neither open nor free. Instead, they are used by corporate and political agents to collect data from users, manage and manipulate the flow of information and influence voters and consumers.” (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14767430.2020.1805278?scroll=top&needAccess=true)

Both the US and Philippine elections have demonstrated how social media platforms can breed echo chambers and fake news to influence user behavior (thanks, Cambridge Analytica!). When Facebook and all other kinds of social media platforms began spreading in the early 2010s, the world felt hopeful. Social media can be a platform of interconnections and information exchange. It could democratize access and content creation for anyone who had internet.

But… What happened?

The research editorial I linked above provides some hints, and what stood out to me is the way social media is really and practically structured. Social media platforms make it easy to make impulsive reactions – a like, share, or retweet is just a click away. Facebook’s psychological experiments have been discovered and documented, and we have to be mindful of the forces that may subconsciously affect our thoughts, emotions, and actions.

(See: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/02/facebook-sorry-secret-psychological-experiment-users)

This presents a problem, because the ideals of democracy or even just the framing of love as an authentic decision and action presumes a person’s agency for self-determination and authenticity. If we are not mindful nor aware of how our views may be manipulated, we become unconsciously inauthentic; and worse, love and democracy just become distant concepts subject to the whims of the powers that be.

In this world of instant gratification, impulses, and hedonism, perhaps the principle we need to practice is temperance or restraint.

Do not instantly react to the post because our intuitions can easily be toyed with.

Do not instantly share posts because our minds can fall into thinking and logic traps.

Actually read the longform versions, not just the snippets and comments of a popular post.

This means that if we really want social media to be for love and democracy, we should reject being spoonfed and reclaim our agency.

Or else, we’ll be destined to become trolls.

John 13:31-33a, 34-35. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 135: MAY 15, 2022]

“Pakiramdaman” versus “pakiramdam”

Natutuwa po ako na may mga estudyante at mga kaibigan na nag-PM o nag-comment tungkol sa mga pagninilay ko. I feel fulfilled that my election and politics-related reflections helped others make sense or acquire more meaning in this “darkness” of confusion, uncertainty, and anxiety.

Isa sa mga puna sa mga botanteng Pilipino ay masyadong emosyonal bumoto at di siniseryoso ang halalan (“eleksyon lang yan!”). Masyadong naka-base sa personal na pakiramdam.

Napaisip lang ako bigla – diba ang mga Pilipino rin ang magagaling sa “pakiramdaman”? Magaling tayong umalam kung ano ang pulso ng isang grupo at umayon na hindi maka-istorbo o direktang kumompronta dito. May mga oras na nakakainis ang pakiramdaman kasi imbis na sabihin na lang, paliguy-ligoy pa.

Pero nasaan kaya ang pakiramdaman habang eleksyon? Masyado na ba tayong nakatuon sa personal na pakiramdam at kampihan, na pinipigilan natin na pakiramdaman ang iba?

Bakit kapag usaping pulitika, parang nagiging pustahan ang labanan?

Kaya naniniwala ako sa mensahe na “radikal na pagmamahal”. Mas tinitignan ko ito bilang “unconditional love”. May mga nakikita ako sa Facebook at Reddit na ginagawa itong “radikal manampal” at sinasabing “tough love” naman. Gets ko ito parehas. Marahil ay ang hirap ng standard ng “radikal magmahal” at mas masarap din magsabi ng “sinabi ko na sayo eh, ginawa mo pa rin! Heto, maturuan nga kita ng leksyon!”

Baka idealistic masyado, pero mas nababagay sa kultura natin ang radikal na pagmamahal at pakiramdaman. Pwede rin naman tayong magparanas ng “tough love” na hindi nakatuon sa pakiramdam na “vindication”.

Siguro, mas ituon natin ang “tough love” sa mga pinunong hinalal natin. Bumoto man sa kanila o hindi, ginusto nilang maupo sa pwesto.

Pwes, hihingan natin sila ng resibo.

John 14:1-6. Do not let your hearts be troubled.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 133: MAY 13, 2022]

Liwanag sa dilim at “unity”

Two days after the election, para bang mas nag-sink in sa akin na ito na talaga ang estado ng pulitika at ng Pilipinas. Mas emotional ako ngayon, at napaluha ako habang homily ng DLSU community online mass kanina. Swak na swak kasi ang ebanghelyo ngayon. Literal na nitong mga nakaraang araw, karamihan ng sumasagi sa utak ko, kung ano ba ang magiging kinabukasan natin.

Sa mga nakikita ko sa news feed ko at sa mga kaibigan kong kakampinks, iba-iba ang coping mechanism. May galit. May malungkot. May mga gustong mag-move on na rin at tanggapin na agad ang pagkatalo. Ang coping mechanism ko ay magsulat ng mga pagninilay ko, para maisaayos ko ang naiisip at nararamdaman ko.

May mga pro-BBM naman na isinasabuhay ang campaign message na “unity” at nagpapakita ng optimism at nirerespeto kahit paano ang “pagluluksa” ng kakampinks (dito ako umaasa na sana tama nga po kayo at makakapagtulungan pa rin tayo). May iilan naman na medyo mapang-asar ang tono, puro trash talk lang ang alam (ignore na lang!).

Maliban sa “unity”, magiging focus daw ng bagong administration ang ekonomiya at oil prices. Mukhang si Sara na rin ang magiging secretary ng DepEd. Maliban dito, hindi pa klaro kung ano ang mga susunod na habang at plano. Ika nga ni BBM sa mga presidential interviews niya, ayaw nila magplano beyond May 9, hanggang di pa sigurado na panalo na sila sa eleksyon. Marahil ito ang nagbibigay ng pakiramdam na “madalim” o walang katiyakan, kasi hindi pa nakalatag ang mga plano nila.

Kung tinatadhana na maulit ang kasaysayan, hindi natin masisisi ang mga hindi pabor kay BBM na makadama ng takot. Well-documented ang mga masasamang nangyari nung panahon ng tatay niya, at ni minsan, hindi humingi ng paumanhin ang kampo nila dito. Medyo fascinating: may sinabi si BBM, “Judge me not by my ancestors, but by my actions.” (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-61381594)

Supporter man ng UniTeam o mapa-kakampink, sabihin na natin na bilang mamamayang Pilipino, responsibilidad natin na maghanap ng resibo mula sa mga hinalal natin.

Sa mga tulad kong nakakaramdam na parang naliligaw sa dilim, siguro ang hamon sa atin ay suyurin ang Liwanag; at parang mga kandila, sana ay mahawaan Niya tayo ng alab ng katotohanan, tapang, hustisya, at radikal na pagmamahal.

Si BBM na mismo ang nagsabi, “Judge me not by my ancestors, but by my actions.”

Sinulat nga ni Rico Blanco,

“At sa paghamon mo sa agos ng ating kasaysayan
Uukit ka ng bagong daan, oh, oh-oh (oh-oh)
Ikaw ang aawit ng, ‘Kaya mo ‘to’
‘Sang panalangin sa gitna ng gulo”,

Tumindig tayo at magsilbing liwanag sa dilim, para sa isa’ t isa, at para sa bayan. Tututukan natin na isabuhay nila ang “unity” na pinangako nila.

—

John 12:44-50. I came into the world as light

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 131: MAY 11, 2022]