THURSDAY. 26 JUNE, 2003:

Hmm... I must say that I've been enjoying Dr. Barbazza's class quite a deal. Yes, the language may be difficult to adjust to, but when you get down to it, it's actually easier to convey what you mean when you speak in the vernacular. I'm sincerely glad that I took a chance on this, and if I bleed hard enough, I prolly will still be able to get an A in spite of a failed quiz... heh.

(Again, since my readership is apparently bereft of people who can't speak Filipino, I don't see the need to translate this... But any grammatical errors / spelling errors I make, PLEASE CORRECT ME! I need the practice.)

Para kina Platon at Socrates, magkaiba ang katawan at ang kaluluwa. Kung ang sapatero na siyang gumagamit sa kanyang martilyo, pako, at iba pang mga gamit ay iba sa kanyang mga ginagamit, hindi malayong isipin na ang tao ay hindi ang kanyang katawan, dahil ginagamit niya lamang ito.

May magsasabing ang tao ay ang pagsasanib ng katawan at diwa, subalit kung ang diwa ang nangingibabaw dito, hindi ba't malabo nating isipin na totoo ito? Hindi sila magkapantay: dahil dito, ayon kay Platon hindi maaaring sabihin na ang katawan at kaluluwa na magkasama ay kung sino ang tao. Dahil sa ang dalawang posibilidad na ito ay hindi maaari, iisa na lamang ang natitira: na ang tao ay diwa.

Sa paniniwala ni Platon, mabuti ang kaluluwa, at masama ang katawan, dahil sa mundo ng Ideya o Eidos, ang mga purong porma ng lahat ng bagay ay nanatili at maaari lamang matanto ng ating mga kaluluwa. Nagiging balakid ang ating katawan sa ating pag-atim ng "pagbabalik" sa mundong ito.

Kung gayon naman, bakit hindi na lamang tayo magpakamatay, upang mapalaya natin ang ating diwa mula sa pagkakagapos sa kamunduhan ng ating katawan? Simple lang naman ang kadahilanan: ayon rin kay Platon, sa ating pang-araw-araw na buhay, kinakailangan nating mabuhay ng matiwasay upang buong galak tayong palalayain ng Poong Maykapal mula sa ating katawan. Sa madaling salita, hindi nakasalalay sa ating sarili ang ating mga buhay, kundi sa Panginoon. Ang kamatayan ay hindi isang parusa sa ganitong punto de bista, kundi isang gantimpala.

Marahil na malakas ang puntong ito na nilalahad nina Platon at Socrates, subalit hindi natin ito maaaring tanggapin na lamang ng walang pag-aatubili. Unang-una, kahit hindi man lang natin banggitin ang mga pamimilosopiya nina Kant o Heidegger o Marcel, malinaw na ang lahat ng mga gamit ay pawang mga ekstensyon ng ating mga katawan. Kung gayon, ang ating katawan, na ginagamit ng ating diwa, ay siya ring ekstensyon ng ating diwa. At masasabi ba natin ng may katiyakan na hindi isa na namang ekstensyon ang ating mga diwa? Nagkakaroon tayo ng isang regressus ad infinitum dahil dito, at hindi natin maaaring ipagkaila na hindi ito maaaring isantabi na lamang ng mga naniniwala kina Platon at Socrates.

Malinaw na patungong kamatayan ang Pilosopiya, subalit hindi natin maipagkakaila na may halaga pa rin ang katawan, na ang tanging paraan nating maiwasan ang regressus ad infinitum na ito ay ang pagsang-ayon kay Marcel na ang tao ay hindi mayroong katawan, o ang tao ay isang katawan; sa halip ang tao ay kinakatawan.
(That man does not have a body, nor is he merely a body; rather, he is embodied.)

*jaded* sat beside me while I was typing this yesterday. I must say that it's been great seeing her again, after all this time. She was reading some of my older posts that she couldn't access because she didn't have an LJ account, and it was nice to get some input from her, plus the fact that she still refuses to believe that my ecchi level, on a scale of 1 to 10, is only a 6. But I'm so chaste... ::gets hit by a dimensional hammer::

Grace and I met up again, as she had to give me my shoes for the wedding on Saturday... I'm sure she'll be very gorgeous come Saturday.

Maia, on the other hand, seemed to have some misgivings regarding the Education building in U.P., courtesy of her heightened senses and the urban legends about their campus. I've never believed in ghosts, but I'm more inclined to believe in diabolic apparitions, which are obviously scarier than ghosts, since they wouldn't hesitate at all to harm you.

I also got to speak to an old friend of mine, Diane. She's also in Ateneo, but I knew her from St. Paul's Pasig, when we had an interaction there back in High School. That was my second interaction in that school, so imagine how this wouldn't have been possible had I not been involved in the student council, I'd have never known her. Or my former best friend, Gladys (Out of sight, out of mind. It's hard having an uber-strict, uber-protective PSG person for a dad. Your every move is being watched...), for that matter. I haven't seen her nor heard from her in ages. Same case with Diane, though at least, I last saw Diane in Ateneo late last semester. It's interesting to note that she's the only Chinese Prospect® I have who smokes, yet I still have second thoughts about striking her off the list. That's weird, because Carla isn't in the list precisely because she smokes... ah, well. We had a lot of catching up to do. I guess she's doing fairly well and I was having a nice time speaking to her again. I was asking her about a lot of things, especially since she seems to have been fairly busy for the longest time. It was too bad I didn't get to invite her to any movie premiers, but well, at least she's doing fine. I hope to see her soon in school...