We are our own savior

This reflection was triggered by an opinion article published in Rappler Blogs and titled “Leni is not our savior.”

The author got it right when she wrote in her opening line: ‘I can’t help but be wary of that thin line between respect and hero worship that we Filipinos, historically, are so very susceptible to crossing.’ The article cited Leni, Duterte, Cory and Noynoy.

There’s a part in that Blog where readers may choose how they felt about the article.

I clicked the “sad” icon. That was because of its conclusion: “So yes, it is definitely okay to be proud of this woman and to encourage her to lead us. But it is not okay to just leave it at that, to put all of our hopes and expectations of a better life on her, to not recognize that a good nation is made up of many good people – not just the one.”

It smacks of personality politics – being promoted as we approach 2022 but which ironically has plagued this nation for more than a generation since the EDSA Revolution.

‘How are others are feeling’ about the article shows ‘40% are inspired,’ ‘21% are amused,’ and ‘14% are happy.’ This made me more sad.

Personality politics indeed remains the Filipino’s state of consciousness, brought about by years of a system that equally cradled it.

While there have been/are efforts to advance system change in our way of governance, many among our so-called educated countrymen and politicians alike oppose the idea, arguing that we have the best Constitution in the world despite years of sordidly living under it. They further argue that the problem isn’t in the system but on the people.

The words of retired Chief Justice Reynato Puno come to mind: “… I am sorry to say that elections will not resolve our political and economic problems. Unless we change the architecture of their constitutional power, we will end up in frustration. The key is to redesign the obsolete power structure in our Constitution. Until then, all we will have are their promises to the people… no better than post-dated checks that will bounce.”

While ‘Leni is not our savior,’ only we can be our own savior.

‘You are your own savior’ is a subject on which a transformational teacher wrote about and on which some of the following thoughts as they apply to us were lifted.

Everything exists only in different states of consciousness and we are free to move into whatever state we want, as consciousness itself.

All that is required is to realize that wherever we go, we remain true to ourselves.

Then we are free to play in this awesome event called Life as we come to realize that all we see and experience is of our own making.

We can change and transform our lives into whatever we want, reinvent ourselves, literally do whatever we fancy, because we know that everything is part of our own consciousness.

For this to become possible, we have to dare to look deeply within ourselves and start making some new decisions and choices.

With the right use of our mind and by learning to manage (and own) our energy, we can transform our lives and our nation.

We don’t have to believe what the world tells us is true or what the ego tells us is true.

Most people stay on one level of consciousness because it feels familiar and safe, or they have given their power away to someone or something outside of themselves and worship the ‘idol’ instead of valuing themselves and their own innate power.

When we worship or think someone or something as more powerful than we are, we get stuck in a state of consciousness because it gets fixed there, like transferring our power over to an external thing, condition, or person, and giving away our power to them.

Change is in our hands. What the driving force is, is desire. “There’s gotta be something more to life than this!” We have had this desire at some point in our life, but it’s also equally true that there is an answer, and it’s within our grasp.

Stop playing small and approaching life timidly. There is something bigger that is operating us and if we just leaned into that, into our truest and deepest desires for ourselves, our life would start to transform before our eyes.

To do that we need to go within to connect with your deepest desires, again, so that we can start walking a different path than the one we’re on now.

Dare to want the best. Let us be true to and trust ourselves, know ourselves as consciousness itself, play with it and be free to be who we truly are and want to be.

Be our own savior and start walking a different path, a path where we can have a deeper sense of fulfillment and purpose.

The study of both the theory and practices of government, and how power functions, is political science.

Science on the other hand is much more a way of thinking than it is a body of knowledge.

Political science thus poses these questions: What kind of country do we want to have? How do we get there, how do we begin?

– Norman Cabrera
kapatiranparty.org