Patch Aure

Woe to the deliberately ignorant; blessings to the humble

Woe to the deliberately ignorant; blessings to the humble

Luke 6:17, 20-26. Ministering to a great multitude

This gospel is a version of the Beatitudes, but complemented with a series of “woe to you” in contrast to the more positive “blessed are you”.

What I appreciate most from the preachings of Jesus is the importance of humility in all dimensions: material, intellectual, social, and spiritual. The “woes” stated in the gospel provides insight on what we should not do; and these are related to willfull ignorance and settling for what is comforting to our senses. As the cliche goes, ignorance is bliss, and the innocent deprived of a real opportunity to reflect and to act are showed mercy.

Writing daily reflections for over a month already, I find newfound respect for the priests and reverends who provide daily questions for reflection; this requires humility, stamina, and a spirit of curiosity. I realize that insightfulness is not necessarily just about IQs or genius-levels, but rather, a disciplined commitment to reflect. I come to appreciate that wisdom is the fruit of iterative reflection and action, i.e., virtuousness. To pray for wisdom is to pray for stamina to live a more virtuous life.

It is not easy. Humility means being open to correction, and to realize that all human insights are fallible. It is being open to criticism. And if God is the grand giver of feedback, I realize that opening our minds, hearts, and spirits to God is not necessarily a sensually pleasing experience, akin to a mentee being corrected by a master.

In a society that over-rewards confidence, charisma, and loud voices, I wonder how managers who are still rising up the ranks could live an authentic and integrated life? In companies where profits (at the cost of environmental externalities) and ruthless efficiency (at the cost of dignity and well-being) reign supreme, how should we groom future business leaders?

As we have taught our Applied Corporate Management students, MBA students, and doctoral students to diagnose structural and systemic injustices in organizations

and craft humanistic intervention proposals, the proverbial cross becomes heavier. The gravity of real change required can make any person feel anxious and paralyzed.

Should we feel guilty when we can point out injustices and tentative solutions, but find ourselves incapable, anxious, and afraid to put these into action? Is it a sin of omission to know but feel incapable?

… I do not know (yet). Perhaps, these dilemmas are the precise moments when reason alone seems insufficient.



[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 44: FEBRUARY 13, 2022]

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Nourishment is more about giving and less about receiving

Nourishment is more about giving and less about receiving

Mark 8:1-10. Jesus feeds the crowd loaves of bread and fish

From a supernatural miracle perspective, this gospel accounts for how Jesus seemingly multiplied loaves of bread and fish. From a more realistic/skeptical perspective, this gospel shows how Jesus can inspire His followers to give what they have so that everyone may be full.

For me, both the supernatural and realistic perspectives illustrate what nourishment means.

In the perspective of integral human development, material and bodily needs can be considered as most basic. These are required for us to at least function; but material and bodily needs alone do not grant us understanding of our purpose in life.

Loaves of bread may make our bodies full, but the Bread of Life makes us whole and nourishes our soul.

Meal times and feasts are also about the people we are with, the potluck we bring, and the stories we share. My memory can forget the food and beer I drank with my barkada, but I cannot forget the wacky stories and laughter we shared. Yes, I may have felt full and even tipsy, but the bonding definitely nourished my social well-being.

From a personal and professional perspective, perhaps the invitation is: what can we keep on giving without expecting anything in return? What talents and abilities can we share as charity?

Lately, from a teaching or pedagogical perspective, I have tried to further hone my feedback-giving skills (this is informed by the principles of flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: immediate feedback can induce flow experiences). Chat groups and breakout rooms in Zoom have been my go-to strategies for this. Teaching undergraduate research methods this term, I understand that this is hard: imagine a total of around 15 research groups across 3 sections, each with their own particular research topics!

The funny thing is, I think I am “forced” by my professioral job to do this, but at the same time, the act of giving feedback to research is also a flow activity; a reward in itself. The dialogue and accumulation of insights nourishes the mind and the soul, even if it can sometimes fatigue the body. And I pray that I reach a point where providing insightful feedback is almost automatic (as in, almost auto-pilot) like how a guitar master can seemingly perform licks out of thin air.

Again, this takes virtuous painstaking deliberate practice.

To end this reflection, I see parallels in rethinking what nourishment means and the conditions of flow as an activity that is a reward in itself. Nourishment is more about giving and less about receiving, because the act is a reward in itself. I’d like to believe that this is a useful analogy or approximation of what we call God’s infinite capacity for love and charity.

It is in giving that we are more nourished; it is in giving that we become more like Christ.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 43: FEBRUARY 12, 2022]

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Patch Aure

How do we become like Christ?

How do we become like Christ?

Mark 7:31-37. Jesus heals a deaf-mute

First, happy feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes! As a proud Lourdesian alumnus from LSQC, I would like to reflect on our mission-vision: becoming like Christ. I would like to relate this with what my current student, PatYu, asked me to reflect on: “If it is God’s will, it will happen.”

Reading the gospels, reflecting on the journey of Job, and discerning the nature of the parables — my insight is that we cannot reasonably claim that we can fully know God’s will. We can infer and retroduce based on faith, reason, and tradition, but I think it would be hubris to say that “I 100% know the entirety of God’s will!”

Thus, I propose that when we try to express anything related to God’s will, it should always be in the form of a question for reflection. What is God’s will? What would Jesus do? How do I become like Christ?

We can only arrive at tentative insights that we are obliged to responsibly act on. Then we correct our understanding and judgements, and do things better. I think we should not separate the role of human agency and authenticity; and thus, passively surrendering (as in the Filipino “Bahala na!”) is not congruent with human nature. We have the tendency to be curious, a pure desire to know, and that desire to know implies that we want to improve our way of thinking, feeling, and being. In other words, virtue.

In today’s gospel, Jesus again ordered His followers: do not tell anyone! But the more Jesus mentioned this, the more the followers mentioned to others. As I reflected on the previous gospels, my interpretation is that Jesus did not want others to treat miracles as a spectacle. The miracles of healing should be invitations to reflect and to discern.

Thus, becoming like Christ is a journey of inquiry, not a journey of mechanically following a recipe. Rather than expressing, “If it’s God’s will, it will happen” (which, to me, connotes passive surrendering contrary to the lessons of Job and the parable of the talents), perhaps it is more virtuous to inquire and reflect: “What is God’s will? How can we make it happen?”

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 42: FEBRUARY 11, 2022]

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Analytically different, but really entangled

Analytically different, but really entangled

Mark 7:24-30. Jesus cures the daughter of a Gentile woman

Does Jesus really distinguish between Jews and Gentiles? This gospel, together with the parable of the good Samaritan, demonstrates that regardless of a person’s background, as long as the person seeks what is truly good, that person shall be healed and made whole (i.e., integrally developed).

In business and management, we are always keen to draw boundaries – externalizing costs, segmenting the market, distinguishing what is inside and outside one’s business model. From a cognitive perspective, boundaries are comfortable; the constraints we place help focus our thinking given our limited understanding.

However, the trap we should avoid is conflating an analytical or epistemic perspective with what is actually or really “real”. Analytically different, but really entangled.

From an analytical perspective, we can distinguish the different parts and systems of our body: fingers, toes, arms, legs, nervous system, respiratory system, etc. But in reality, these parts are really, complexly, and beautifully entangled. Our being is more than the “sum” of our parts and subsystems. Analytical models are simplified, useful, but fallible; it is our duty to always update our models and to recognize that reality may be a beautiful mess of entanglement different from the convenient analytical differences we may prefer.

This makes our fascination for bandwagons and exclusive tribes unfortunate, like the politics in our country. The derogatory labels we ascribe each other — pinklawans, dutertards, etc., — these are more driven by ego, and it may divide us further.

Today’s gospel continued the trend. Jesus wanted no one to notice His healing, and I stand by my interpretation: Jesus did not seek to be a cult leader that others only follow because of sheer amazement. Rather, Jesus sought that others follow the True Good through their own discernment, without regard to a person’s accidental background or context.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 41: FEBRUARY 10, 2022]

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Patch Aure

The unseen interior

The unseen interior

Mark 7:14-23. The things that come out from within are what defile

“Perception is real, and the truth is not.” Lauren Greenfield’s documentary on Imelda Marcos captured this remarkable quote from the former first lady. This statement epitomizes the age of post-truth and the battle of narratives. How have we come to this point?

The age of social media was supposed to democratize content creation and provide real channels for the public to voice out opinions. Yet, too often, we as a society like to prioritize our sense-experiences, maximizing pleasure and avoiding pain. Maybe we have fallen to the trap of extreme hedonism instead of being stoic or choosing self-restraint. It is easy to ride an emotional wave, engage in cancel culture or even outright trolling, for the sake of sensual pleasures. We may have neglected our unseen interior, i.e., our capacity to reflect, in favor of dopamine hits.

Facts became a matter of preference; arguments are not about the truth but the personality or idol we have become fanatics of. (Side note: I do not think Jesus intended to have followers who are fanatics; He wanted His Apostles and the audience to arrive at virtue-oriented conclusions based on their own insight journeys.)

This coming national elections and with the official start of the campaign period, I anticipate more mudslinging and throwing of bullshit from fanatics from all camps. These are the things that come from within that defile.

If we settle on believing that perception is real and the truth is not, this is the same as accepting a life of bullshit – stenching and defiling our person and our spirit.

Is this the life we have agreed to live? If yes, then the devil has manifested his greatest trick: an illusion of pleasure, but a defilement of the spirit. And we are complicit.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 40: FEBRUARY 9, 2022]

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Appearances, hypocrisy, and BS

Appearances, hypocrisy, and BS

Mark 7:1-13. The Pharisees question Jesus on seeming non-compliance with tradition

It’s easier to rely on appearances, sense-experiences, and empirical evidences compared with the actual or real unseen. The irresponsible faithful (hypocrites) and traditional politicians (trapos) are masters of appearances, bastardizing the law and tradition by neglecting the spirit, virtues, and principles underlying these rules.

Jesus did not hold back criticizing hypocrisy. Perhaps, this is the allure of the authentic Catholic and Christian faith to me: the call for reflection, an invitation to seek the underlying virtuous meanings and spirit behind traditions and commandments.

Businesses could fall to this hypocrisy (i.e., bullshit). The infamous corporate scandals are usually characterized by utter misrepresentation of financial performance or product development.

Thus, if we are to view the business and management professions as vocations, it is the moral and even spiritual imperative for the manager to gain not only technical-factual, but also, spiritual insight and judgements in performing responsible decision-making.

Of course, these are easier said than done. But if we are to live and practice an authentic life and profession, this is a cross we should be willing to bear.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 39: FEBRUARY 8, 2022]

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How should we pray for supplications and healing?

How should we pray for supplications and healing?

Mark 6:53-56. The crowds begged Jesus for healing

We have used the image of a loving father and a just king to represent God, trusting that though we try to comprehend Him as much as our finite minds and hearts could, He is on a different realm of understanding.

How, then, should we pray our petitions and supplications that seek healing?

Too many times, we have fallen to the trap of only praying when we need something, like someone who is only present when in need, but disappears when the other is the one in need. We colloquially refer to this as “user-friendly”.

Perhaps a better prayer is to pray for opportunities, because asking for opportunities (instead for the gift itself) seems more reasonable and humble. Praying for opportunities does not place the burden on God to manifest miracles to save us, but instead, it is more collaborative. Let God provide the opportunities while we practice our gift of personal agency to manifest our good desires.

Praying for opportunities could also become a means for meditation and a heightened form of awareness, attention, and sensing of experiences and opportunities.

We Filipinos are familiar with this: the need for “diskarte”. “Nasa Diyos ang awa, nasa tao ang gawa. God provides mercy (and opportunities), but it’s on us to seize them.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 38: FEBRUARY 7, 2022]

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On vocations and callings

On vocations and callings

Luke 5:1-11. The calling of Simon the fisherman

Did the Apostles follow Christ because of mere awe towards His miracles?

The beauty of Christ’s miracles is that it is not about His ego nor personality. It is always about others. And maybe that’s why Jesus did not want others spreading hearsay about Him, because it could send the wrong message. We have the tendency to focus on the leader’s person and ego, rather than his vocations and virtues.

When we are called to respond to our vocations, it is the same call to shift of our focus from ego to others. It seems like a paradox: the act of authentic and critical reflection affords us self-appropriation, which may apparently be a selfish activity. But this same activity allows us to get in touch, even by a bit, with the Primary Mover, Cause, Designer, and Insight. In this sense, self-reflection is an authentic pursuit towards fulfilling our image and likeness of God, whose other name is Love.

It’s easy to be enamored by charisma and miraculous spectacles. Of course, Jesus possesses these. But these are distractions from why we are called to our vocation; it is not to appear superior, charismatic, nor spectacular. Rather, it’s about acquiring a thorough yet evolving self-understanding, understanding our role or niche in God’s grand design, then fulfilling it for the common good.

Spectacular successes feed the ego, but vocations nourish the authentic soul.


[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 37: FEBRUARY 6, 2022]

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Patch Aure

Hustle culture versus resting

Hustle culture versus resting

Mark 6:30-34. Come away and rest awhile.

Music cannot be without rest. The stops or the breaks help heighten the emotional impact of bridges and the final chorus.

The basketball player who only knows sprints are predictable, compared with those who use rest, fakes, and tempo strategically. Athletes need rest after strenuous trainings.

Rest and slack are needed to incubate creative insights.

These examples make our fascination with ruthless efficiency and productivity perplexing: why do we glorify hustling so much? Why should we feel guilty about resting?

The relevant virtues are temperance, stillness, centeredness, being at peace; neither extreme pleasure nor extreme pain. Discerning when enough is enough is a life skill in this day when hustle culture is being endorsed by rockstar entrepreneurs, billionnaires, and Shark Tank investors.

The lazy Snorlax avoids races, the proud rabbit is either in a suicide mission to win a single race or feeling complacent so as to lose a race it should have won; but the disciplined and serene turtle marches at its own pace, winning the marathon of life on its own terms.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 36: FEBRUARY 5, 2022]

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Self-appropriation as a means to counter temptations

Self-appropriation as a means to counter temptations

Mark 6:14-29. Herod beheads John the Baptist

The story of why Herod beheaded John the Baptist seems parallel to Solomon’s fall from grace: driven by temptation and worldly desires.

Lonergan offers the general empirical method and authenticity towards self-appropriation, that is, acquiring the ability to objectively look at one’s emotions, thoughts, values, and tendencies through critical reflection. Understanding our tendencies allows us to assess our weaknesses and conditions which we are most likely to succumb to temptation.

The stories of Herod and Solomon illustrate that even the most poweful or the wisest are not immune from temptations. I realize that knowledge and wisdom are insufficient; we need the virtue of fortitude and temperance to aid our pursuit of a truly responsible decision-making and action.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 35: FEBRUARY 4, 2022]

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