UBCORE VALUES

CHAPTER 1: LOVE OF WISDOM ARISTOTLE: "All knowledge comes from sense experiences " OSHO: "Purify your love and it becomes prayer. Purify your intelligence and it becomes wisdom " I. UNDERSTANDING WHAT A HUMAN PERSON IS ARISTOTLE - believed that among the different existing beings in this world, the human person is placed at the top of the hierarchy. Scala Natura (Ladder of Nature) Humans Mammals birds Reptiles and amphibians Whales and tortoises Fish Squid and octopi Lobsters, crabs, etc. Snails, clams, etc. Insects,spiders, etc. Jellyfishes,sponges, etc. Higher Plants Lower Plants Inanimate Matter OSHO - believed that those people who are focusing too much on their physical satisfactions than on acquiring knowledge are actually debasing themselves to lower beings like irrational animals. The man has been endowed with the capacity to order and classify. Man has memory and imagination. Man has this natural inclination towards thinking in order. Two Realities in the Human Person: 1. That the object of man's intellect is the truth (adequatio) 2. That the object of man's will is good/beautiful II. Man as a Friend and Lover of Wisdom ● As a being endowed with rational abilities, the human person is naturally inclined to have a continuous search for knowledge. ● Man is living with the purpose of uprooting his deeper being. ● Man will naturally incline himself to a continuous search for the truth and will find his way towards knowing the meaning of his existence ● Homo narandus - narrator of the meaning of existence ● Perennial search - never-ending search for the meaning of everything Philosophy ● It comes from the two Greek words; philein means "to love " and sophia means " wisdom ". ● Philosophy is a love of wisdom. ● Philosophers are lovers of wisdom. ● Pythagoras coined the term philosophy, according to him, a man is a friend, and eventually, a lover of wisdom. Lawrence Blum wrote that sympathy, compassion, and human concern which he calls, misleadingly, the altruistic emotions and character traits, and which he regards as being non-obligatory, play a fundamental role in friendship; hence "in this sense, friendship is an altruistic phenomenon and a locus of the altruistic emotions.""In friendship, " he continues, "one desires and acts for the good of the friend, not simply because he is another human being but precisely because he is one ' s friend." UBCV2-4 PRELIMS REVIEWER AGUDA, STEPHEN DAVID M. XII-FARADAY Following this line of thinking, there is need for a human person to understand: ALTRUISTIC EMOTIONS - It can be considered as the energy in motion. PHENOMENON - It is to be considered as man’s experience of a thing as it appears to him. "LOVER" JOSEPH FLETCHER: In order to have better understanding of the concept of "lover", it is necessary to discuss first the three types of love: ● Erotic Love (eros) ● Filial Love (filius) meaning ' son ' ● Agapeic Love (agapeic) THREE TYPES OF LOVE: ● EROTIC LOVE - sexual love that exists normally between a man and a woman; a man between a man; and a woman between woman ● FILIAL LOVE - the love between a parent and a child, and between brothers and sisters ● AGAPEIC LOVE - refers to one's care and concern towards others; best example is Christian love In view of the love of wisdom: ● Man is oftentimes afraid of learning new things. ● He does not want changes and innovations especially when it comes to broadening and deepening knowledge. ● All of us have the tendency to just take what is useful and practical to the point of forgetting the ideal. ● Thus, Filipinos would sometimes say: "Pasensya na, tao lang" SOCRATES: "To know the good is to do the good." A person can only know the good if he is in the right mind. And having a right mind would mean that a person will put into action all the things that he knows is right and proper. A human person has a lot of things in his mind. The problem is: ● WHAT IS REALLY THE BEST OPTION? ● How can a human person consider it best if he intentionally neglects the options and the possibilities in his mind? Realizing the broad gamut of knowledge: ● Man will be able to lead himself to a humble attitude after realizing his limitations. ● As a human person commits himself to knowledge, the more humble that person will become. ● As we aspire for greater knowledge, the more that we will be able to know that there are still a lot of things we do not know. As a human person: ● Unfortunately, all human dealings do not usually end up according to one ' s expectations. ● Even in our decisions in life, we still experience uncertainties no matter how great our thoughts and our efforts would be. III. The Confluences of Uncertainty and Truth as a Process of Purification of Intelligence (wisdom) "There are always two sides of a coin. " As there is happiness in life, there will also be pains and sufferings. If one experiences success, he also experiences failures. Yin and Yang ● In Chinese philosophy, it means there is always a balance in nature. ● Yin stands for a constellation located at the north side of a hill and denotes shade, darkness, cold, negativeness, weakness, femaleness, etc. ● Yang is located on the south side of a hill and denotes light, heat, strength, positiveness, maleness, etc. ● According to the Taoist philosophers, In order to have an interaction with these two opposing principles, a third principle is needed in order to provide the basis and a context for its relation ● The great contribution of Lao Tzu was is recognition of the Tao as the basis for the interaction of the yin and yang. UBCV2-4 PRELIMS REVIEWER AGUDA, STEPHEN DAVID M. XII-FARADAY ● The followers of Taoism believed that in order for a human person to find peace and contentment, each and everyone should follow the Tao or the Way of Nature. Rene Descartes ● He purported the idea "Cogito, ergo sum, " meaning "I think therefore I am." ● He began his philosophy by doubting everything including his own existence and the things around him. ● Because of his reasoning, a new method was developed in philosophy at the beginning of the modern period. ● He eventually became the Father of Modern Philosophy Socrates died while holding faithfully this principle: ● "My wisdom consists in accepting that I knew nothing." ● "An unexamined life is not worth living." CHAPTER 2: THE SHAPE God is always giving each of us a responsibility. We are given different responsibilities and said responsibilities differ depending on our capabilities. In this regard, whenever God gives us responsibility, He would always equip us with what we need so that we may be able to accomplish the tasks. SPIRITUAL GIFTS ● Our abilities are called gifts because no person can earn responsibilities by himself alone. ● Inasmuch as God loves variations, he wanted each one to be special. This is also the reason why no single gift is given to everyone. ● One's gift is different from what the others have received and no individual deserves to receive all gifts. Discovering Your Gifts God's purpose: To teach us to love and defend each one FOR others. One's spiritual gifts were not given for one's own benefit. Rather, gifts were given for the benefit of others. REMEMBER: An unopened gift is worthless. It is important to discover the spiritual gifts that have been given to us. The discovery of our own spiritual gift can enrich our minds as well as our hearts. And this will be helpful in decision-making. NINE IDEAS TO HELP YOU DISCOVER SOME OF YOUR NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GIFTS: 1. Ask others to let you know; 2. Look for gifts in adversity, (i.e.., during hard times we can choose between letting our best qualities or our worst qualities come out). When times are tough, focus on discovering and using your best qualities and gifts. 3. Pray for the help to recognize your gifts; 4. Don’t be afraid o branch out; 5. Search the Word of god; 6. Look outside yourself; 7. Think about people you look up to; 8. Reflect on your family-(gifts that your parents, siblings and grandparents have too; 9. Receive and study your patriarchal blessing. RICK WARREN He stated that there are two things that we should avoid as we receive our spiritual gifts: ● Gift envy - occurs when we compare our gifts with others or when we are still dissatisfied with what we have ● Gift Projection - happens when we expect everyone else to have our gifts HEART ● It describes the bundle of desires, hopes, interest, ambitions, dreams, and the affections that we have. ○ Desires - wants ○ Hopes - the feeling of expectations ○ Interests- wanting to learn/know ○ Ambitions- to do/to achieve something ○ Dreams- cherished aspirations/goals UBCV2-4 PRELIMS REVIEWER AGUDA, STEPHEN DAVID M. XII-FARADAY ○ Affections - gentle feeling of fondness/liking ● Our heart represents the source of all our motivations. ● Our heart reveals the real us - what we truly are and not what others think we are or what circumstances are forcing us to be. ● "ex abundancia cordis os loquitur" meaning "from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks" ● In this regard, a human person has to be true to his heart. ● Another word for heart is passion ● Passions are the things that we desire so much about. ● Passion reveals the nature of one's heart. What is it that we are interested in now? ● Do not ignore your interests. There is always a reason why we love to do things that interest us. ● Be wise. Know the reason why we love doing what we are doing. ● When we are doing what we love to do, no one has to motivate us, challenge us, or even check us on it. ● We often do actions just for sheer enjoyment and not for anything else. ● There are times that we will be doing some great things even without rewards or payments, or applause. ● We also sometimes do some actions just because we love serving in such a way. ● But when we do not love what we are doing, we will either not do anything, or we will just be doing it half-heartedly. ● There are even times we will create alibis just to be able to escape from doing something that we do not want to do and in most case, the result may be disastrous. REMEMBER: ● The greatest things in life are not things. ● Meaning is far more important than money. ● Be wise. Let us not waste our life in a task that does not express our heart. REMEMBER THESE SIMPLE GUIDELINES FOR HAPPINESS: ● Free your heart from hate. ● Free our mind from worry ● Live a simple life ● Give more ● Expect less APPLYING OUR ABILITIES Man’s abilities are the natural talents the one is born with. Some people have a natural ability with words, others are gifted with mathematical abilities, others have natural athletic abilities, and others have great musical talents or high technical abilities. WHAT IS OUR ABILITY? HAVE WE ALREADY DISCOVERED OUR HIDDEN ABILITIES? To use these abilities in order to be of service to others will make us even wiser. ● We are the only people on earth who can use our own abilities. No one can play our role better than we do. ● As we try to examine our abilities, we should also be able to know our limitations so that we will be able to know what to avoid or what not to do. PERSONALITY ● Man’s uniqueness is a scientific fact of life. ● God created each human person with a unique combination of personality traits. One’s personality will affect how and where one uses his spiritual gifts and abilities. ● BE WISE. We have a personality that we alone possess. We are designed for a special purpose. EMPLOYING ONE’S EXPERIENCES Psychology would say that man is a product of his nature and his nurture. All of us are mere products of our heredity and environment. We are shaped b y our own experiences in life. ALDOUS HUXLEY ● “Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you.” UBCV2-4 PRELIMS REVIEWER AGUDA, STEPHEN DAVID M. XII-FARADAY JEAN-PAUL SARTRE ● He believed that our future lies in our hands because we are the author of our life. What we are going today will determine what we will be in the future. 6 IMPORTANT EXPERIENCES THAT CAN HELP A HUMAN PERSON REALIZES HIS VALUE FAMILY EXPERIENCES ● What did we learn when we were growing up with our family? The greater the love that one receives in the family, the higher the possibility that we will be able to learn to love the others as well. EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES ● We may never be able to realize it now since we are still in our educational institution. But later in our life, we will eventually realize that there is value in the said painful experience. SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES ● Spiritual experiences can oftentimes happen if we are in the down moments in our life. BOYFRIEND/GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCES ● Have we been in love? ● Our bf/gf experiences can both be painful or wonderful. FRIEND EXPERIENCES ● Whenever we would be able to recall such moments, we would oftentimes desire to go back to the past and cherish such a moment. PAINFUL EXPERIENCES ● Painful experiences may be coming from family experience, from BF/GF experiences. MESSAGE ● We should not be wasting our pain. Instead, we should be using such pains in order to help others. Such pains can also be used in order for us to aspire for something greater so as not to experience the same pains and sufferings again. ● Pains and sufferings can develop us into becoming a WOUNDED HEALER.