Ang Buhay ay May Layunin (Life has a Purpose)
I was 16 when I first heard her message. It was a morning inspirational read by the youth worker who organized our group. We listened, but we did not really "hear". We were too young, the concepts were too complex, and our minds were full of teenage concerns.
Elo, as we fondly called her (Mrs. Consuelo A. Herrera), was past president of the Philippine Social Worker's Association and Philippine YWCA. She was past Executive Director of Philippine Youth Welfare Council and when we met, she was the Executive Director of the Rizal Youth Development Foundation (RYDF)- the agency that together with the Province of Rizal, would in time, send me to Canada.
As a 16-year-old, I had other priorities. Fresh from high school graduation, my goal was to go to college - but that required working in a factory so I could afford to take night classes at the university. Although I had been a member of the APKA youth group,(the model for Kabataang Baranggay) I did not have nor was interested in any leadership role. That was Ate Lodi's (my elder sister) job. The closest I got to leadership then was writing my sister's speeches.
I did not learn about the scholarship being offered to APKA members until after the other youth leaders they sent from our town failed to qualify for interviews. Finally, the social worker asked my sister to take the written test. Somehow, I ended up going instead of her. I took the three-hour test, passed it and then found myself being interviewed by a panel of people headed by this lady in a white dress with very kind face and a warm smile. I've seen her in the youth rally I attended a couple of years back. I remember being told she was the head of RYDF. She always wore a white dress that's why it was easy to remember.
The interview went well and in a week, the ecstatic social worker came to our house with a letter informing me that I made the cut and I was to attend training and preparation. I got the scholarship. I was going to Canada.
Then I heard it again. "Life Has a Purpose". This time, I heard past the words. I actually started to understand some of the contexts. "Life Has a Purpose" was the blueprint of what Elo believed in. In it, she spelled out theories that were foreign to me - she introduced me to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the Jesuit priest whose ideas she embraced and passed on to us. His take on evolution from a single cell to a complex being - the fusion of the scientific and the holy - all based on the consciousness that is God and the love God has for us. This thesis seems to be in direct contrast of the concept of creation and the original sin and was therefore vigorously contradicted by the Holy See. (His book The Phenomenon of Man (Le Phénomène Humain, 1955) was shunned by the Catholic Church in the 50s, but Pope Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI both have expressed positive attitude towards some of Chardin's ideas.)
Elo explained how through the development of his consciousness, man surpassed all other species. I remember how it clicked on my mind when she mentioned how man did not grow wings, but he learned how to fly (airplanes, balloons,etc); how he did not grow additional feet but could travel faster than a team of horses (cars, locomotives, etc.); how he did not grow additional hands and arms but could do the work of as many arms and hands through inventions of appliances and other creations of comfort; his head did not get bigger but through computers, he is able to analyze complex mathematical theories and applications and store more information than he could ever dream of. Evolution for other species stopped when their bodies were formed. Evolution for man did not stop when he learned to walk upright. It continues through his consciousness, to this day.
"Life Has a Purpose". She explained how small we are, as compared to the universe in which we belong. How we are nothing but a small dot in the galaxy of stars and other heavenly bodies, and yet, in our smallness, we have a purpose. God has a purpose for us - and that purpose is to love.
The concept of love that she espoused even then was quite revolutionary. She (and Chardin) explained how we as human beings are enriched by our contact with another human being; how through love, in its purest sense, man is able to continue to grow in consciousness. Imagine how your life would be different if you did not meet the people who have influenced you, for the good (to emulate and for inspiration) or for the bad (to avoid). Our encounters with fellow human beings are what enable us to grow, in our consciousness, in our hearts.
Man's purpose is to love one another - and with that love comes the solutions to all the ills of the world. Through love, man could learn to share. Through love, man could learn for forgive. Through love, man could fulfill his destiny. Through love, the world could see Christ in us.
The problem is, we love ourselves more and we do not know when to stop wanting and when to start sharing.
But here is why I am writing about it. I have since discovered something: life is empty without a purpose. One could amass so much wealth, power, fame, skills and knowledge to serve and satisfy one's self and ego. If one's purpose is for self aggrandizement, it could be claimed that the purpose had been achieved. However, in the midst of what may look like a success, happiness remains hallow, emptiness still lurks. One's purpose is still unfulfilled.
I may have not have been aware of it, but I am constant in search for a greater purpose in everything I do, in the choices I make, in the situations I find myself in. Elo has penetrated my consciousness and I didn't even notice.
"Life Has a Purpose". That purpose is to love. Love is you, love is me, in the flesh.
Tomorrow is my birthday. I started blogging five years ago when I decided I wanted to share my thoughts - the profound and the mundane - with folks I care about.
I take you with me in my journey, because I love you. You are part of my purpose in life.
Elo, as we fondly called her (Mrs. Consuelo A. Herrera), was past president of the Philippine Social Worker's Association and Philippine YWCA. She was past Executive Director of Philippine Youth Welfare Council and when we met, she was the Executive Director of the Rizal Youth Development Foundation (RYDF)- the agency that together with the Province of Rizal, would in time, send me to Canada.
As a 16-year-old, I had other priorities. Fresh from high school graduation, my goal was to go to college - but that required working in a factory so I could afford to take night classes at the university. Although I had been a member of the APKA youth group,(the model for Kabataang Baranggay) I did not have nor was interested in any leadership role. That was Ate Lodi's (my elder sister) job. The closest I got to leadership then was writing my sister's speeches.
I did not learn about the scholarship being offered to APKA members until after the other youth leaders they sent from our town failed to qualify for interviews. Finally, the social worker asked my sister to take the written test. Somehow, I ended up going instead of her. I took the three-hour test, passed it and then found myself being interviewed by a panel of people headed by this lady in a white dress with very kind face and a warm smile. I've seen her in the youth rally I attended a couple of years back. I remember being told she was the head of RYDF. She always wore a white dress that's why it was easy to remember.
The interview went well and in a week, the ecstatic social worker came to our house with a letter informing me that I made the cut and I was to attend training and preparation. I got the scholarship. I was going to Canada.
Then I heard it again. "Life Has a Purpose". This time, I heard past the words. I actually started to understand some of the contexts. "Life Has a Purpose" was the blueprint of what Elo believed in. In it, she spelled out theories that were foreign to me - she introduced me to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the Jesuit priest whose ideas she embraced and passed on to us. His take on evolution from a single cell to a complex being - the fusion of the scientific and the holy - all based on the consciousness that is God and the love God has for us. This thesis seems to be in direct contrast of the concept of creation and the original sin and was therefore vigorously contradicted by the Holy See. (His book The Phenomenon of Man (Le Phénomène Humain, 1955) was shunned by the Catholic Church in the 50s, but Pope Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI both have expressed positive attitude towards some of Chardin's ideas.)
Elo explained how through the development of his consciousness, man surpassed all other species. I remember how it clicked on my mind when she mentioned how man did not grow wings, but he learned how to fly (airplanes, balloons,etc); how he did not grow additional feet but could travel faster than a team of horses (cars, locomotives, etc.); how he did not grow additional hands and arms but could do the work of as many arms and hands through inventions of appliances and other creations of comfort; his head did not get bigger but through computers, he is able to analyze complex mathematical theories and applications and store more information than he could ever dream of. Evolution for other species stopped when their bodies were formed. Evolution for man did not stop when he learned to walk upright. It continues through his consciousness, to this day.
"Life Has a Purpose". She explained how small we are, as compared to the universe in which we belong. How we are nothing but a small dot in the galaxy of stars and other heavenly bodies, and yet, in our smallness, we have a purpose. God has a purpose for us - and that purpose is to love.
The concept of love that she espoused even then was quite revolutionary. She (and Chardin) explained how we as human beings are enriched by our contact with another human being; how through love, in its purest sense, man is able to continue to grow in consciousness. Imagine how your life would be different if you did not meet the people who have influenced you, for the good (to emulate and for inspiration) or for the bad (to avoid). Our encounters with fellow human beings are what enable us to grow, in our consciousness, in our hearts.
Man's purpose is to love one another - and with that love comes the solutions to all the ills of the world. Through love, man could learn to share. Through love, man could learn for forgive. Through love, man could fulfill his destiny. Through love, the world could see Christ in us.
The problem is, we love ourselves more and we do not know when to stop wanting and when to start sharing.
But here is why I am writing about it. I have since discovered something: life is empty without a purpose. One could amass so much wealth, power, fame, skills and knowledge to serve and satisfy one's self and ego. If one's purpose is for self aggrandizement, it could be claimed that the purpose had been achieved. However, in the midst of what may look like a success, happiness remains hallow, emptiness still lurks. One's purpose is still unfulfilled.
I may have not have been aware of it, but I am constant in search for a greater purpose in everything I do, in the choices I make, in the situations I find myself in. Elo has penetrated my consciousness and I didn't even notice.
"Life Has a Purpose". That purpose is to love. Love is you, love is me, in the flesh.
Tomorrow is my birthday. I started blogging five years ago when I decided I wanted to share my thoughts - the profound and the mundane - with folks I care about.
I take you with me in my journey, because I love you. You are part of my purpose in life.
posted by PHLOR TORREJOS at 9:07 PM
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