The translation of experiences to beliefs: Sumerian and Egyptian Histories

Introduction
One wonders how beliefs are formed in the psyche of human individuals or a collectivity of people. Different explanations are advanced to give light to this phenomenon. My experience in teaching Asian Civilization gives me an opportunity to explore and prove that this phenomenon really happens. Marvin Harris, in his Cultural Materialism approach to understanding cultural development suggests that the physical environment plays a very significant role in this process. But to limit the formation of beliefs from the influence of physical experience is to postulate that no other factor or factors impact the emergence of the same. In political science, the concept of political geography connotes that geography plays a unique role in the formation of political ideas and thoughts in managing the society. Although the first correlation is crucial in understanding, say the food preference of a group of people, it is also equally logical to consider other factors, such as the collective social experience, to logically understand why people act or think the way they do. Although the logicality of Harris’ theoretical explanation of the emergence and formation of cultural patterns and practices cannot be discounted, there is still a need to consider other avenues of explanation to strengthen one’s understanding of the phenomenon.
The interplay of gamut of factors to fully grasp the relations between the mundane experiences of people and their conceptualization of these experiences to become significant aspects of their psychological and religious mind set must be taken into consideration also. Not to mention the impact of these to their behavioral patterns and tendencies as well as the nature of their social relations and interactions.
Focused civilizations are the Egyptian and Sumerian Civilizations. Both are found in the SWANA (Southwest Asia and North Africa) region of the world and both provided significant legacies to the entire world, so much so, that Cultural Diffusionism theory posited that Egypt is one of the few cultural centers where other civilizations and cultures in the world borrowed cultural items and practices from.
This is a modest and naïve attempt to understand how people’s beliefs, which are in the domain of psychological, are formed and transformed into psychological realities in their minds, so that cultural patterns and practices are maneuvered to reinforce these beliefs.
The primary theoretical postulate of this paper is that “the geographical and social experiences of a collectivity of people translate into beliefs in the passage of time.” In attempting to explain its process, geography, and social and cultural experiences will be called into the picture to provide enlightenment to this phenomenon.

EXPERIENCES TO BELIEFS
The Role of Geography and other contributory factors in the Egyptian experience.
Both civilizations are found in the SWANA region, as mentioned above. It is a known fact that the region is characterized by arid climate and low precipitation. It is not wrong to assume that rainfall in this region is truly lacking and if not for the presence of major and important bodies of water, such as the Nile River in Egypt and the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Mesopotamia (present day – Iraq), the whole region is literally dry and may be uninhabitable. And while oases are welcome topographical variations in desert areas, rivers like the three mentioned above, are a welcome refuge in this all too harsh and dry region. Surrounding land forms and other geographic formations also significantly affect the overall condition of the regions. Locations of ancient civilizations also greatly contributed to the nature of their interactions with other civilizations. Interactions may be very dynamic, which includes warfare and battles or simply economic where trade is the usual reason for contact. In all of these, geography plays a pivotal role. In the ancient times, geography dictates the rhythm of interactions and the dynamic of interrelations. When civilizations are located in the crossroads of other civilizations, once should expect that the interactions among peoples will be significantly dynamic and even volatile. By simply looking at either a political or geographical map one maybe oriented into the nature and realities of the region. See the map below:


Ancient Egypt, from The Atlas of Ancient and Classical Geography by Samuel Butler, Ernest Rhys, editor (Suffolk, 1907, repr. 1908).

The map above shows Ancient Egypt. Notice that Nile river runs the whole length of the country from south to north (the Nile flowing from the south to the north where the Nile River Delta can be seen). It is eye opening to know that unlike other civilizations who shared the water system with others, Egypt and the Egyptians in the ancient period singularly experience the bounty and generosity of this body of water. Considering that it was Ancient times, Egypt having its geographical characteristics, seemed to look quite isolated. The map above shows that it is bounded in the North by the Mediterranean Sea (the biggest inland sea) serving as a barrier to any attempt to subdue the kingdom from this direction. On the south, as per simple analysis, it can be said that southern or Upper Egypt’s elevation is high (notifying that “water seeks its own level”). While the Nile travels the stretch from present-day Nubia, it is featured by some cataracts. Cataracts of the Nile are sections of the Nile River characterized by extreme shallowness and a number of obstacles which make them difficult to navigate. Historically, six sections of cataracts along the Nile have been particularly notable, and there are a number of smaller cataracts which have come and gone with the Nile's changing terrain. (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-cataracts-of-the-nile.htm.) The presence of these cataracts makes it difficult, especially for ancient people, to navigate the whole length of the river. At least five (5) of these major cataracts are located in Nubia while the sixth is found in Egypt proper. The western boundary of Egypt is with Libyan Desert. The Libyan Desert is located in the northern and eastern part of the Sahara Desert. It occupies Egypt west of the Nile (hence the term 'Western to describe its Egyptian portion), eastern Libya and northwestern Sudan alongside the Nubian Desert. Covering an area of approximately 1,100,000 square kilometers, it extends approximately 1100 km from east to west, and 1,000 km from north to south, in about the shape of a rectangle. Like most of the Sahara, this desert is primarily sand and hamada or stony plain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan_Desert).

The Libyan Desert
Side by side with Libyan Desert is the Sahara desert (as large as Europe itself). The Sahara is one of the hottest regions in the world, with mean annual temperatures exceeding 30°C. In the hottest months, temperatures can rise over 50°C, and temperatures can fall below freezing in the winter. A single daily variation of -0.5°C to 37.5°C has been recorded. The Sahara is also extremely windy. Hot, dust-filled winds create dust devils which can make the temperatures seem even hotter. The extreme aridity of this area is a relatively recent feature. Much larger areas of the Sahara had adequate water only 5000 to 6000 years ago. It is not clear how much of this ecoregion was covered with vegetation, but in other parts of the Sahara the vegetation was closer to the savanna woodlands of eastern and southern Africa. Currently the ecoregion is in a "hyper arid" phase, with high summer temperatures, lower winter temperatures and rainfall between 0 and 25 mm per annum. (http://www.eoearth.org/article/Sahara_desert)

The Sahara Desert
These two formidable deserts bordering Egypt in the west are a great challenge to aspiring invaders of Ancient Egypt. Its vastness and unforgiving climate is enough to kill initiatives, more so, the desire to subjugate Egypt from this direction. The East is bounded by the Red Sea and a mountain range where the Ancient Egyptians cut the boulders they used to build the pyramids on the west bank of the Nile. The only inviting ingress to this highly secured ancient culture is through the Gaza Strip which presently borders Egypt and Israel.
The geographical features of Egypt contribute to its relative isolation. Experiencing the fertility of the Nile, which the Egyptians called Black River because probably of the black silt that it deposits on the valley surface whenever it inundates the whole area, its length that run across the whole of the country, its relative tameness as compared to other rivers and the presence of the teeming life forms that benefits from it, ancient Egyptians had the best of life. In spite of the regular bearable flooding that erased and buried canals and dikes, the Nile is still the reason for Egypt’s existence. No wonder Egypt is called “The gift of the Nile.”
Historically, due to the relative absence of outside disturbances from other emerging civilizations in the region as well as the affluence of life both economically and politically, Ancient Egypt worked on its unification. Upper and Lower Egypt were united under one government and ruled by one ruler. This remarkable historical development resulted into peace and stability with the help of technological advances and efficient governmental administration. The Egyptian society embarked on its initial building projects, the pyramids. The emergence of pyramids, which are gargantuan government projects, projected the relative peacefulness and stability of the society. This period of peace and stability cascaded down to the lowliest sectors of the society who shared in building the monuments for the gods and the kings. The pyramids themselves are an epitome of the affluence of life in the area, since no civilization would be able to erect structures as large and as expensive as the pyramids in the absence of good funding and efficient administration, Egypt was on its way to providing its people with a long period of good life. It is, in the modern context believed, that economic growth is related to social stability.
The pharaohs were considered as benefactors of the people, that though they are more or less isolated due to their assumed nature of godness, they are also revered by the people and considered as the source of all material and social benefits. Although ancient Egyptian period, before and after the unification and re-unification, was disturbed by intermittent internal disturbances such as civil wars, in its long history of existence, from 3000 BC to about 1500 BC, only once was it successfully invaded and ruled by foreign power, the Hyksos, who were already living within its ingress corridor and were for a long time interacting with the Egyptians.
The presence of a singular government and benevolent rulers, almost absence of outside invaders, the fertility of land and the life provided by the Nile River, as well as the unification of the two Egypts, not to mention the security brought about by the geographical consistency, all interplayed to elevate the sense of peace and affluence Ancient Egyptians experienced.

The Sumerian version of existence
Sumeria is one of the known civilizations that thrived in the Mesopotamian Region of South West Asia. It is located in southern Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia is found within the larger area known as the Fertile Crescent (the quarter moon shape green area in the map below.

Known as the present day Iraq, Mesopotamia is located in a region that is known as the center of dynamic interactions among diverse civilizations. The place being dubbed as the “Crosssroad of the Worlds” was where the conglomeration of multifarious groups of people belonging to different cultural orientations transpired.
Geographically, Mesopotamia is bounded on the north by the Anatolian Peninsula, more specifically, it is bordering with the Armenian Knot, a mountainous region where mountain ranges collide with each other in their eternal game of squeeze, push and adumbrations. This is the source of the two major rivers that dominate the whole area - Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. These rivers are like dancing partners in the music of tectonic and plate movements and like twin lightning that strike the same plain of field characterized by electrical intensity. Sometimes, due to the thawing of snow in mountain caps, the rivers swell into very unmanageable size and overflow its own banks, subjugating and destroying everything in its path, so that whenever flooding is over, the whole area is a picture of devastation and destruction. Structures were destroyed, crops were devastated leaving a psychologically disturbed people, whose lives are at the mercy of the rivers’ moods and tendencies. Though, the place is bounded in the East by the Zagros Mountains, in the West by the Taurus Mountain and Arabian Desert, and in the south by the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea, it was nevertheless one of the most disturbed regions in the globe. Located at the cross road of the worlds, Mesopotamia experienced the dynamism of interactions expressed most of the time in warfare and battles. Unlike Egypt, where invaders were put at bay by the mere geographical security, Mesopotamia is the favorite meeting place of various groups of people whose primary objective is survival. The interactions between and among civilizations which compete for supremacy in the region is unparalleled in history, never was a place where actors became so engrossed to claiming their individual niches in a relatively small area and forced others to accept, if not imbibe their political, economic and social supremacy.
Sumeria, one of those civilizations which found and successfully established their niche in the region, is located in the southern portion of Mesopotamia, a place compared to the north, is more fertile but also more socially dynamic and disturbed. Sumeria itself is divided between some thirty city-states each with a patron deity and a ruler generally called Ensi (http://ancientneareast.tripod.com/Sumer.html). This set up must have contributed to the already volatile relations amongst the city-states. Notice that one of the most compelling forces that drive people to action is their fanatical belief in their gods. Fueled by the role of Ensi, whose function is a mix of political and religious responsibilities, the cultural ethnocentrism of the people belonging to a particular city-state is enhanced. Drives for expansion, not to mention the pride brought about by having their own separate and distinct god or gods, fueled them to push beyond their own borders, which are very small considering their number in relation to the available space, and collided with other city-states with the same tendency and aspiration. Add to it the suffering and insecurities brought about by the constant influx of new groups to the region, is a bowl of life full of traumatic ingredients and spillover emotions.
In this light, the lives of the Sumerians are a constant enslaving service to appease the gods, whom the Ensi or priests class taught them to be the source of their sufferings and continuous failures. Famine and hunger is a familiar experience to the Sumerians. Their familiarity to it is epitomized by the constant vigilant attempt to survive the times and probably fear of dying.

A comparative view
The Egyptians view of the afterlife is good. Mirrored by their natural experience and nurtured by the security brought about by different circumstances mostly sprung from geographical conditions. Afterlife is a continuation of this life, and thus whatever expectations and experiences they have in this life, to their psyche, will continue into the afterlife. The interplay of factors that made the ancient Egyptian lives more bearable and even enjoyable, in spite of constantly building temples and pyramids, was extended to the psychological domain and stretch to the imagination related to the life after.
The Sumerians with their not so bearable experience, forced to protect and guard themselves against the constant threat of being eliminated even by their own kind, developed a very gloomy outlook in the after life. Life after death is not desirable, unlike the belief of the Egyptians, Sumerians feared, fought and defied death. Their constant preoccupation to serving their gods, conveyed the belief that the gods were the reasons and causes of their sufferings. In their psyche, life after death is as grave as the present life. To the Sumerians, after life is not a refuge and, like the Egyptians, a continuation of present life, only - worse. It seems, everything in Sumeria (Mesopotamia) during those times were against humanity. Geography, topography, social conditions, economic life and even the gods who belong to the domain of the spiritual, are construed as against life in this unforgiving region. This was not a place for feeble hearted men, but of hardy, selfish, brutal and warlike individuals, who were constantly ready and equipped to defend themselves against anybody who would attempt to deprive them of their miserable and hardy life.
The dynamism of the place, which was regularly expressed in warfare and battles, so much so, that Mesopotamia is constantly in the state of siege from emerging powers and cultural groups, aiming to subdue all oppositions to their desire and aspiration of monopolizing and accumulating power in the region. Nights, I would say, are not a time to sleep and rest but a time for high vigilance. Rest is a mistake and would lead to destruction both due to human elements and nature itself.
These two civilizations located on a similar geographic region, but are separated by geographical and social collective experience develop an opposite belief in life after. The Ancient Egyptians believed that the afterlife is good. Owing to their pleasant experience in the mundane life, they conceptualized, considered and believed that the afterlife is the continuation of this earthly life, its affluence, its joys, its victories, its peace, its blessing. This belief was manifested in their material cultural expressions. The expensive and elaborate preparation of the dead such as mummification, the presence of material (life size) objects needed to live in the tombs of the dead, the names inscripted in the walls of the tombs. All of these suggested that there is something good to expect in the life after. What else is its meaning if not an anticipation of something good if not better.

BELIEFS TO MATERIAL AND BEHAVIORAL MANIFESTATIONS
It is astonishing to know that human societies after developing beliefs out of their own experiences reinforce these beliefs with material cultural productions and even behavioral patterns to psychologically translate these mental images to symbolic material reality. Since the process that took place was the translation of experiences to beliefs, these beliefs must have their own manifestations in the material world to fully satisfy the need of the psyche’ to grasp the perspectives that relate to the spiritual (if not mental or psychological) world. Religion and cultural practices anchored in religious teachings and patterns strongly reinforce these mental translations of experiences by teaching and even enforcing cultural patterns that would mould the human mental condition to accept the reality of psychological perspectives. Material manifestations of these beliefs must be created to add some more ingredients of reality to these mental images. More so, patterns of behavior strengthen these beliefs as they are imposed by religious precepts and practices.
In Ancient Egypt, the manifestations of these beliefs found its way in pyramids and other death related activities such as mummification and the inclusions of material possessions in the burial place of the dead.
The Egyptian Pyramid
Although gargantuan pyramids are monuments for the greatness of a particular pharaoh, it is nevertheless a manifestation of the Egyptian belief in life after death – a happy life after death. The elaborate and expensive pyramids that contained the mummified body of the dead ruler summarize everything that the Egyptians believed in the afterlife. It is a physical manifestation of the immortalization of the pharaoh, a material evidence that there is life after death and such needs to be reinforced. The pyramids are mundane evidences of the afterlife – a life that existed clearly in the domain of the psyche’ of Egyptian people. This is one way of materializing the immaterial, of allowing the finite human mind to grasp the reality of a world that exist not apart but beyond this mundane life. A world that cannot be seen but can be imagined, a certain world that preoccupies the psyche’ of Egyptians, so much so, that its symbolism must be seen and a part of it must be experienced by the living. This is not only the dead’s living witness to beyondness and immortality but also a manifestation of the reality of the life after.
Mummification is another way of immortalizing the dead. The elaborate preparation that the Egyptians did to mummify a dead body is a manifestation of their belief that the preserved body will again rise from the dead and start its journey to join the gods. A brief description of the process is presented below for purposes of emphasizing the vital role it played in Egyptian belief in life after death. Mummification Process in Ancient Egypt
Mummification was reserved for the richest and most powerful in Egyptian society. The process was long and expensive. There were three main people who took part in this process; the scribe, the cutter, and the embalmer. It was the scribe’s role to oversee the cutting of the body. The incision was made by the cutter. This procedure was considered unclean, which limited the cutters position in society. The embalmer was a class of priest which would then prepare to remove the internal organs and prepare the body. The mummification would take place in a workshop often near the site of the tomb. The process of mummification would last often over two months. The body would be stripped and placed on a board. The brain was extracted though the nose. The empty brain cavity would be later filled with resin or a combination of linen and resin. The chest would be cut open and the main organs would be removed with exception of the heart. The organs, after being removed, would be stored in Canopic jars with a drying agent. These jars were normally in a set of four, representing the four sons of Horus. These organs may also be wrapped in four packages and placed back in the abdominal cavity or be wrapped in one package and placed on the mummy's legs. Slightly different procedures would be used depending on the time period in
Egyptian history.
The body cavity would be washed and packed with natron, a natural occurring drying agent in Egypt. The body would dry for up to 40 days. After the body is dried, it is sewn back together and the cut is sealed with wax or metal. At times, the body may be filled with linens, saw dust, salt, or ash to keep the body firm. Their eye sockets would be filled with linen or fake eyeballs depending on the time. The body would be cleaned and wrapped in a very thick layer of linen. When this was completed, the body was ready to be transported to the tomb prepared for it.
Before the body is laid to rest, a burial mast would be placed over the mummified body. The most famous burial mask was found in the tomb of King Tut (shown on the left). The body would then be placed into a sarcophagus, or type of coffin to protect the body. The more wealthy and powerful they were, the more elaborately decorated these were. There also may have been several layers of caskets into which the body would be placed.
(http://www.historylink101.net/egypt_1/religion_mummification_process.htm)
What else is the reason for this expensively elaborate process of preserving the human cadaver? Our modern way of preserving the dead is dwarfed by the technology appropriated by the Ancient Egyptians to prepare the dead for his journey to the land of the dead and to the gods. It is therefore safe to say that in the psyche’ of the Egyptians, afterlife is so real that human actions and behavior contributed to its further realization in the material world. There are many similar manifestations that cascaded among the classes of the Ancient Egyptian society. They are shared both by the wealthy and the lower classes. The process or procedure maybe different or slightly different but the purpose and the psychological peace experienced by the relatives and love ones must have been the same. The Egyptian’s experience of good life on earth cannot be stopped by death – it must continue to its full realization in the land of the dead. Never was it so vivid to a people’s psyche’, that death is not the end but a continuation of what is – a happy and good life.
Sumerians on the other hand manifested their belief in after life in an entirely different manner. It is true that all civilizations possess a set of beliefs regarding the afterlife – but the Sumerians had it so gloomy. It seems nobody wants to die and experience it. Like the Egyptians, the Sumerians believed in the afterlife. But their mundane experiences shaped an entirely different understanding and psychological picture of the life after. Although the dead were buried in Mesopotamia, no attempts were made to preserve their bodies. (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/154412/death/22185/Mesopotamia) For the Sumerians, the sole purpose of life was to serve the gods, to carry the yoke and labor for them. Offended gods withdrew their support, thereby opening the door to demons, whose activities the malevolent could invoke.
(http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/154412/death/22185/Mesopotamia).
It is no wonder that the mundane life of the Sumerians is spent in serving the gods. They believed that the causes of their sufferings are the gods, and thus appeasing them is their primary consideration and preoccupation. Coupled this with the human collective interactions in the Mesopotamian region, resulting to constant battles and invasions, life became miserable and unbearable. On the other hand, death does not offer a better alternative. To die is to continue experiencing the wretched life. Is it therefore safe to say that in the Sumerian psyche’ “they don’t want to die”. At least in this earthly existence, they can fight and defend their lives against different aggressors, in death they are at the mercy of the gods. No elaborate preservation of the dead, no elaborate tombs and sarcophagus to contain the dead body, they were buried and that’s it. Death was conceived in terms of appalling grimness, unrelieved by any hope of salvation through human effort or divine compassion. The dead were, in fact, among the most dreaded beings in early Mesopotamian demonology. In death, the dead “live in darkness, eat clay, and are clothed like birds with wings.” (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/154412/death/22185/Mesopotamia) If these were the conditions or realities of life after, who wants to celebrate the departure of a loved one if his destiny is a worse place than what he experienced in this life, more so, prepare an elaborate funeral and perform elaborate burial rituals. Earthly life maybe harsh and brutal for the Sumerians, but they would rather prefer to endure this life than spend eternal damnation in the abode of the gods who will let them eat dust and dress up in bird’s feathers. Sumerians’ psychological perception of the reality of the afterlife must have been unnerving that it figuratively would repel the dead back to life due to its harshness and griminess.

Everything that man experiences leaves an imprint in his memory and are formed into beliefs which are manifested either in material cultural productions or in the mode of social interactions he would have with other humans.

Reaction to "Changing Vison and Mission of Higher Education Research Amidst Globalization."

A Reaction to former Education Undesecretary Victor Ordoñez’s Opening Remarks entitled “The Changing Vision and Mission of Higher Education Research Amidst Globalization” during the Asia Pacific Conference on Higher Education Research held in Manila Hotel in August 2004

Prepared by: Mr. Gerry A. Marcelo
It is true that the last five years have brought tremendous eco-socio-political changes in the world compared to the last fifty years. I remember during my college days the concepts of globalization was used but not given so much attention and did not bother universities and governments alike. Acronyms like CPU, LCD, DLP, MP3, MP4, Ipod, Podcasting were never in our set of college vocabulary. And that was only less than 20 years ago. Now, the phenomena of globalization, interconnectedness and interdependence are the bywords in many educational, corporate, and international conferences. Never did these phenomena rocked our peaceful (that’s relative) existence, until now.

On the other hand, reflectively, globalization and the introduction of internet made our world smaller to our advantage. Having spent some months abroad myself, this globalization and all its corollary developments have served me much. A click and I was connected to my wife here in the Philippines and was updated about the changes that happened to my newly born son then. No need to send letters through the snail mail, no need to wait for the mailman along the street to find out if there is a letter for you or whether the “money order” coming from Mindanao has arrived. A browse in the net will give one, more information in 30 minutes than a whole day in the library. Corporately, top managers do not need to dictate to their respective secretaries who were slaves of their Olympia or worse Underwood typewriters, the content of the memorandum to be sent down the corporate line. Today’s managers are equipped with internet and Intranet browsers and e-mail capabilities helping them to disseminate information or send memoranda down the bottom of the corporate pyramid in a flash.

Expectedly, we thought that globalization with the help of internet capabilities will allow us to improve our collaboration, the quality of life in general and the level of understanding, and equity between the marginalized sector and the affluent sector of the society, the developed and developing countries (I don’t want to use first world and third world or underdeveloped – they sound depressing and discriminative to me!). That domination (so political) by the west of the east will be significantly reduced and that the flow of benefits will be more or less mutual between these spheres. But to our demise, they have not. It is fitting that Dr. Ordoñez dubbed the globalization phenomenon as the phenomenon of increasing multidimensional interdependence transcending not only local but international scale and permeating all spheres of the interdependence. Education, especially higher education is not immune to the encompassing repercussions of this dominant phenomenon. Being at the helm of knowledge and value dissemination, it is challenged to evaluate its framework and come-up with a paradigm shift to respond effectively to emerging needs of the global community. Unfortunately, according to Dr. Ordoñez, it failed. Education is tasked implicitly by the society to provide solutions to the rising concerns of the entire society – especially business.

I am tasked to react to the speech (or to the ideas) delivered by Dr. Ordoñez – a difficult task. Can I, with my shortsightedness against the impeccability of Dr. Ordoñez’s assessment of the reality? Try, I will! To my own demise!

Just recently, the Commission on Higher Education changed the curriculum for the Nursing Course. I am not so sure about their reasons, but it’s probably related to the inability of higher education to provide the necessary skills (this is just one of the many) nursing graduates are expected to learn and master. The originally four year nursing course is now a five year course. This change, I assume, is a response to the skills needs, which nursing schools failed to provide and develop among graduates that the market is looking for. I will not react to Dr. Ordoñez’s claim that higher education has failed to effect paradigm shift in the advent of globalization, rather I will use the example above (Nursing course curricular change) as a springboard to relate the idea to policy analysis. But before doing that – an apology – “I do not really know if my analysis will even pass for a policy analysis because I believe mine will be very shortsighted!” I will not look into the issue and analyze it in broad scale encompassing all aspects that needs scrutiny but concentrate on the sudden change effects within the institutions, specifically FEU.

Let me begin with the institutional repercussions of the CHED memo on Nursing curricular change. CHED failed to consider the systemic nature of the structures within educational institutions offering nursing course. Like other courses, Nursing graduates are required to take service subjects (don’t want to call them – minor subjects) which are offered by the Institute of Arts and Sciences or in other universities College of Arts and Letters. Most of these subjects are liberal subjects which I consider as crucial in enhancing and strengthening the humanitarian side of the students, making them more “humane” in the process. Quoting Svi Shapiro, David Gabbard in A Nation at Risk – Reloaded Part I, reacting to Goals 2000 of the Clinton Administration said that “ this is an approach to education “without heart or soul, a discourse about education that accepts reduces the education of the young to skills, knowledge, and competencies, one that liberalism’s excision from it of moral and spiritual concerns. It is a language that accepts a disastrously limited view of what it means to nurture a new generation for a world in crisis and pain.” The systemic nature of structures among educational institutions requires that other structures other than nursing be considered before implementation was effected. The sudden change created major disruptions in the subject offerings in the Arts and Sciences aside from the long range effect on the morals and values of the recipient students. Changes like merging of Philippine History with Political Science, Taxation and Agrarian Reform and Philippine Constitution, World History with Philippine Literature and restructuring the timing of subject offering in the nursing course affecting liberal arts subjects resulted into disruptions in the loading schemes among the departments in the Arts and Sciences. Dr. Ordoñez said that “there was …….inequality ratio...” (page 2) due to globalization. My application of this statement by Dr. Ordoñez will be on narrower context – specifically in the examples cited above. The merging of five areas in one subject (course) created a great shortage of subject offerings in the Department of Social Sciences and thus creating major worries for many faculty members who rely on the number of units for income ( I don’t want to discuss the long range economic effect of this to the faculty and their families). They will compete for lesser subject loads in the future (presently, they are experiencing a sudden pouring of subjects but come next semester, it will be a great drought!) The restructuring of the timing of subject offering will result in the same problem but longer lasting.

This is probably an example of what Dr. Ordoñez called as “ministries are far too busy with … emergency administrative problems”(page4) but instead of delegating research to the universities which will be affected by the change, CHED did the freedom (I assumed) to do the research on their own (?) and flunked. This failure to consider and solicit the research capabilities of Higher Education Institutions to pre-evaluate the institutional effects of the change resulted and will continue to result to problems that will disrupt the whole educational institution to which the same is not ready to face. This problem will be aggravated by the fact that most service subjects will be moved to the higher year levels of nursing course, further exacerbating the issue.

Is this an example of “research agenda becoming more policy maker driven and less institution driven”(page 5) which in effect made universities as recipients of the decisions of the CHED as a policy maker and not as participants in the policy generation? FEU and other universities implemented the curricular change – probably they don’t have a choice. Or because they do not have the research capability to prove that the change will spell disaster among their faculty. The universities then are transformed by the CHED memo abruptly (willingly?) without taking “adequate account of the environment it serves, never reaching the core of how” they would “transform themselves” (page 6). In other words, CHED and the Universities failed to think systemically.

The question of focusing “on effectiveness issues rather than efficiency issues” (page 6) as pointed out by Dr. Ordoñez is now put into the limelight. Reshuffling, merging or removing the subjects is not the correct solution to attain effectiveness or efficiency. Will removing and merging and reshuffling the subjects for nursing course result into effective nursing graduates? Probably the best way to resolve this issue of nursing graduates not skillful enough on the job is to probe on the effectiveness of instructional delivery and not increasing the number of years nursing students should spend in the university (that violates efficiency) or removing or merging subjects. While the whole world is gearing towards specialization, CHED wants us to become “jack of all trades, master of none.” In defense of the Liberal arts subjects – the nursing institute and nursing students – at least in FEU – are acting more like prima donnas - that is with liberal arts. What more with lesser liberal arts (this is my own subjective observation)? During the incumbency of Dean Dumadag in the Nursing Institute (FEU) major curricular disruptions were also implemented and we, in the Arts and Sciences were greatly affected. Reacting politically and in relation to the recent amendments to Tax Law that changed the withholding tax schemes for the minimum wage earners – Don’t the non-minimum wage earners feel the exorbitant increases in the price of prime commodities and everything else in the Philippine society that only the minimum wage earners are subjected to the new tax scheme? Is that an example of Class Legislation? Or that the implementation of this CHED memo without considering the repercussions to the other structures of the education sector or without considering the social, economic or political implications a form of shortsightedness among the technocrats in the Commission of Higher Education? Just thinking and reacting!!!

Reaction to "Changing Vison and Mission of Higher Education Research Amidst Globalization."

A Reaction to former Education Undesecretary Victor Ordoñez’s Opening Remarks entitled “The Changing Vision and Mission of Higher Education Research Amidst Globalization” during the Asia Pacific Conference on Higher Education Research held in Manila Hotel in August 2004

Prepared by: Mr. Gerry A. Marcelo

It is true that the last five years have brought tremendous eco-socio-political changes in the world compared to the last fifty years. I remember during my college days the concepts of globalization was used but not given so much attention and did not bother universities and governments alike. Acronyms like CPU, LCD, DLP, MP3, MP4, Ipod, Podcasting were never in our set of college vocabulary. And that was only less than 20 years ago. Now, the phenomena of globalization, interconnectedness and interdependence are the bywords in many educational, corporate, and international conferences. Never did these phenomena rocked our peaceful (that’s relative) existence, until now.

On the other hand, reflectively, globalization and the introduction of internet made our world smaller to our advantage. Having spent some months abroad myself, this globalization and all its corollary developments have served me much. A click and I was connected to my wife here in the Philippines and was updated about the changes that happened to my newly born son then. No need to send letters through the snail mail, no need to wait for the mailman along the street to find out if there is a letter for you or whether the “money order” coming from Mindanao has arrived. A browse in the net will give one, more information in 30 minutes than a whole day in the library. Corporately, top managers do not need to dictate to their respective secretaries who were slaves of their Olympia or worse Underwood typewriters, the content of the memorandum to be sent down the corporate line. Today’s managers are equipped with internet and Intranet browsers and e-mail capabilities helping them to disseminate information or send memoranda down the bottom of the corporate pyramid in a flash.

Expectedly, we thought that globalization with the help of internet capabilities will allow us to improve our collaboration, the quality of life in general and the level of understanding, and equity between the marginalized sector and the affluent sector of the society, the developed and developing countries (I don’t want to use first world and third world or underdeveloped – they sound depressing and discriminative to me!). That domination (so political) by the west of the east will be significantly reduced and that the flow of benefits will be more or less mutual between these spheres. But to our demise, they have not. It is fitting that Dr. Ordoñez dubbed the globalization phenomenon as the phenomenon of increasing multidimensional interdependence transcending not only local but international scale and permeating all spheres of the interdependence. Education, especially higher education is not immune to the encompassing repercussions of this dominant phenomenon. Being at the helm of knowledge and value dissemination, it is challenged to evaluate its framework and come-up with a paradigm shift to respond effectively to emerging needs of the global community. Unfortunately, according to Dr. Ordoñez, it failed. Education is tasked implicitly by the society to provide solutions to the rising concerns of the entire society – especially business.

I am tasked to react to the speech (or to the ideas) delivered by Dr. Ordoñez – a difficult task. Can I, with my shortsightedness against the impeccability of Dr. Ordoñez’s assessment of the reality? Try, I will! To my own demise!

Just recently, the Commission on Higher Education changed the curriculum for the Nursing Course. I am not so sure about their reasons, but it’s probably related to the inability of higher education to provide the necessary skills (this is just one of the many) nursing graduates are expected to learn and master. The originally four year nursing course is now a five year course. This change, I assume, is a response to the skills needs, which nursing schools failed to provide and develop among graduates that the market is looking for. I will not react to Dr. Ordoñez’s claim that higher education has failed to effect paradigm shift in the advent of globalization, rather I will use the example above (Nursing course curricular change) as a springboard to relate the idea to policy analysis. But before doing that – an apology – “I do not really know if my analysis will even pass for a policy analysis because I believe mine will be very shortsighted!” I will not look into the issue and analyze it in broad scale encompassing all aspects that needs scrutiny but concentrate on the sudden change effects within the institutions, specifically FEU.

Let me begin with the institutional repercussions of the CHED memo on Nursing curricular change. CHED failed to consider the systemic nature of the structures within educational institutions offering nursing course. Like other courses, Nursing graduates are required to take service subjects (don’t want to call them – minor subjects) which are offered by the Institute of Arts and Sciences or in other universities College of Arts and Letters. Most of these subjects are liberal subjects which I consider as crucial in enhancing and strengthening the humanitarian side of the students, making them more “humane” in the process. Quoting Svi Shapiro, David Gabbard in A Nation at Risk – Reloaded Part I, reacting to Goals 2000 of the Clinton Administration said that “ this is an approach to education “without heart or soul, a discourse about education that accepts reduces the education of the young to skills, knowledge, and competencies, one that liberalism’s excision from it of moral and spiritual concerns. It is a language that accepts a disastrously limited view of what it means to nurture a new generation for a world in crisis and pain.” The systemic nature of structures among educational institutions requires that other structures other than nursing be considered before implementation was effected. The sudden change created major disruptions in the subject offerings in the Arts and Sciences aside from the long range effect on the morals and values of the recipient students. Changes like merging of Philippine History with Political Science, Taxation and Agrarian Reform and Philippine Constitution, World History with Philippine Literature and restructuring the timing of subject offering in the nursing course affecting liberal arts subjects resulted into disruptions in the loading schemes among the departments in the Arts and Sciences. Dr. Ordoñez said that “there was …….inequality ratio...” (page 2) due to globalization. My application of this statement by Dr. Ordoñez will be on narrower context – specifically in the examples cited above. The merging of five areas in one subject (course) created a great shortage of subject offerings in the Department of Social Sciences and thus creating major worries for many faculty members who rely on the number of units for income ( I don’t want to discuss the long range economic effect of this to the faculty and their families). They will compete for lesser subject loads in the future (presently, they are experiencing a sudden pouring of subjects but come next semester, it will be a great drought!) The restructuring of the timing of subject offering will result in the same problem but longer lasting.

This is probably an example of what Dr. Ordoñez called as “ministries are far too busy with … emergency administrative problems”(page4) but instead of delegating research to the universities which will be affected by the change, CHED did the freedom (I assumed) to do the research on their own (?) and flunked. This failure to consider and solicit the research capabilities of Higher Education Institutions to pre-evaluate the institutional effects of the change resulted and will continue to result to problems that will disrupt the whole educational institution to which the same is not ready to face. This problem will be aggravated by the fact that most service subjects will be moved to the higher year levels of nursing course, further exacerbating the issue.

Is this an example of “research agenda becoming more policy maker driven and less institution driven”(page 5) which in effect made universities as recipients of the decisions of the CHED as a policy maker and not as participants in the policy generation? FEU and other universities implemented the curricular change – probably they don’t have a choice. Or because they do not have the research capability to prove that the change will spell disaster among their faculty. The universities then are transformed by the CHED memo abruptly (willingly?) without taking “adequate account of the environment it serves, never reaching the core of how” they would “transform themselves” (page 6). In other words, CHED and the Universities failed to think systemically.

The question of focusing “on effectiveness issues rather than efficiency issues” (page 6) as pointed out by Dr. Ordoñez is now put into the limelight. Reshuffling, merging or removing the subjects is not the correct solution to attain effectiveness or efficiency. Will removing and merging and reshuffling the subjects for nursing course result into effective nursing graduates? Probably the best way to resolve this issue of nursing graduates not skillful enough on the job is to probe on the effectiveness of instructional delivery and not increasing the number of years nursing students should spend in the university (that violates efficiency) or removing or merging subjects. While the whole world is gearing towards specialization, CHED wants us to become “jack of all trades, master of none.” In defense of the Liberal arts subjects – the nursing institute and nursing students – at least in FEU – are acting more like prima donnas - that is with liberal arts. What more with lesser liberal arts (this is my own subjective observation)? During the incumbency of Dean Dumadag in the Nursing Institute (FEU) major curricular disruptions were also implemented and we, in the Arts and Sciences were greatly affected. Reacting politically and in relation to the recent amendments to Tax Law that changed the withholding tax schemes for the minimum wage earners – Don’t the non-minimum wage earners feel the exorbitant increases in the price of prime commodities and everything else in the Philippine society that only the minimum wage earners are subjected to the new tax scheme? Is that an example of Class Legislation? Or that the implementation of this CHED memo without considering the repercussions to the other structures of the education sector or without considering the social, economic or political implications a form of shortsightedness among the technocrats in the Commission of Higher Education? Just thinking and reacting!!!

Traditional Children's Games and Cyber Games: Their functions in social stability

Traditional Children’s Games and Cyber Games: Their functions in Social Stability
Prepared and Written by: Mr. Gerry A. Marcelo

It is but natural for societies like the Philippines to change towards the direction of modernity. It seems to be the more logical collective action and movement in the light of fast pacing changes brought about by computerization. Except for a few, the advent of computerization, sharpened by the introduction of Microsoft software by Bill Gates, is a very welcome development. With it is the promise of security in all its forms and variations that one is perceived to be doubly ignorant for not possessing even the slightest know-how or familiarity with the most used software and office program.
The push towards computerization in almost everything permeates almost all aspects of the human society. It is literally impossible to escape its tangling effects and the tentacles of its influence. All generations simultaneously existing in the present age experience the resultant clout of the cyber world and the youth, with open arms and expectant enthusiasm welcome the advance, to their fold, like the morning embracing a new day. Of all the generations now exist, it is the youth who are the recipient and hosts of this new technological advancement that even the aspect of games are invaded and transformed by this astonishing development.
George Herbert Mead significantly discussed and explored the pattern of the development of Self as going through two stages in childhood development. He termed them, the Play stage and the Game stage. Between the two, the Game stage seemed to usher the completion of the development of the Self. In this stage, the child should take the role of everyone else in the game. This stage allows the development of generalized others – the attitude of the whole community or the entire group to which the child belongs. It is important that the child engages in cooperative social activities for him to develop a complete Self. The development of the Self is beneficial to both the individual and the society. It contributes to the total stability of the society because, the Self, as product of the game stage and the resultant agency of the generalized others, is expected to live up to the group or society’s expectations.
The picture of the Self as a product of group social activities, characterizes the actual games children play in any age. In the past, traditional games such as “tumbang preso”, “agawan base”,” luksong baka”,” patintero”, or “piko” served as the venues for a child to develop the self and learn the generalized others. Rules dominate these group games where children assume particular roles systemically related to all other roles played by all participants. A very strong sense of belongingness, compliance and cooperation are exhibited by children playing traditional games, that the slightest violation of group norms (generalized others) results into temporary ostracism by the entire group. This temporary ostracism produces an impact to the child and learned in the process the twin virtues of compliance and cooperation. These traditional games produce among children the expected internalization of acceptable and desirable values and norms significant to the group. In microsociological perspective, games initially prepare a child to participate and assume roles in the larger society. The system of rewards and punishments for compliance or violation of group norms and rules results into the internalization of these same experiences and thus conditions the person (formerly a child) to positively comply and avoid violating social rules in general. The internalization of the value of compliance and the pain associated with violating group norms produce in an individual child (later an adult) the affinity to seek approval from the group and later the larger society, culminating in his desire to follow social precepts and regulations. The process and experiences result gradually to the attainment of stability in the society. Like all games, traditional games promote competition between groups. The goal is to outplay the other team or group by strictly following rules governing the game. But these traditional games are not vent on totally eliminating the opponent merely outplaying them and enjoying the game in the process.
It is therefore significant that children are encouraged to play games with other children so as to learn the rudiments of socialization and familiarize themselves to the rules governing social relations. It is through interaction in games that norms and social rules and compliance to them are subtly learned and internalized by the child and forces him to abide by them. Games are not known to be used, except in Roman Empire, as a venue to release the frustrations of the populace. It was never like this, since the advent of modern times where traditional games have lost their influence over the young. Today, the young are busy playing not traditional games but internet and cyber games. These games are characteristically violent, aimed at eliminating the opponents who are either on the same computer center or far away in another country. Cyber games which are originally designed to entertain and probably to stimulate the thinking process and hand-eye coordination of the child now became more violent and disturbingly vandalistic in character. Unlike the first wave of games of this nature such as “Super Mario”, newer games like Counter Strike”, “Ragnarok”, “Dota”, “Ran”, “Flyff”, “Red Alert”, “ Guild Wars”, “ Tantra”, or “Age of Empires” depict more violence and enhance the violent behavior of children and adult alike. A very astounding phenomenon regarding these games is that, not only children play them but have also captured the imagination, interest and enthusiasm of adults. These games seem to be turning into a game of all ages and its very nature permeates the individuality of the players. Admittedly, cyber games are very creative and challenging. They even allow the players to improve and enhance the character they choose to play and thereby defeat the enemies. One psychology student said that cyber games allow a player to create his own alter ego and has become a venue for many to release the frustrations and tensions they have in life. This is probably the reason why even adults play the games.
Cyber games have replaced the traditional games children played before. Truly, it is undeniable that these games also socialize the individual and mold him in the shape of the group. But the values they are promoting have shifted from group cooperation for collective survival to group cooperation aimed at ultimately eliminating even the group-mates themselves. Games mirror the reality of the modern times which is characterized by anomie and fleeting relationships of individuals. Karl Marx discussed that human relations are determined by economic needs of the inter-actors, while Durkheim posited that as societies become more and more advanced, people become less and less attached to each other. This reality is manifested in the tendency of the cyber games players to enhance their games alter ego and in the long run, depending on the level attained, sell the character to the highest bidder. Although, such practice can only be observed among adult players, the nature of the games has been altered and has entered the domains of economics and business. If the creation of alter ego of players is a manifestation of their frustrations, thus it is probably safe to assume that the modern times has made the younger generation more and more stressed, less and less attached to each other and has become truly materialistic. It is only fitting in the light of these developments, to say that the ideas of Durkheim regarding the anomic and egoistic tendency of people has become the characteristic nature of the modern society. In the past, when traditional games are played, the feeling of frustration was never a motivation or the challenge to eliminate the opponent, the ultimate goal of the game. Today, cyber games have become the legitimate and acceptable, though not desirable venue for pent-up emotions and frustrations the younger generation have been going through corollary to modernization and technological advancement.
Traditional games are functional in the sense that they allow the child to internalize the values of cooperation and compliance to the rules. Multiply this phenomenon to the members of the society results into the over-all promotion and attainment of order and generally, social stability. The same is true in cyber games they, like traditional games, promote cooperation and compliance among group players and has probably the same effect to the society. Both are functional to the society. The difference is that, cyber games serve as an outlet for the players to release their tensions and frustrations as products of their superficial relationships with other people.
Are cyber games products of human frustrations or that it has become the outlet for frustrations? To answer this, it is probably wise to make an analogy. In the beginning, societies are created due to the conglomeration of individuals who wanted to survive. Man created societies but societies in the long-run created man. The societies that man created became a potent force that imposed upon them its norms, values, goals which men themselves created. Thus, societies are created by men, but in time, societies evolved to control and devour man. In the end, man cannot survive without it. Likewise, cyber games were created due to man’s frustrations, that in his frustration regarding human relations, he needed his own creation to relieve him of his frustrations. The new generation has found an outlet for their frustrations on their own creation. In this way, cyber games have become very functional to the modern generation. (Is it also true that the modern generation cannot live without it, just like man without the society?) Societies, to follow the tradition of the organicists in sociology such as Comte and Spencer, are designed to attain balance whenever there is disequilibrium created by new developments. Technology and modernization, the new religions of the modern times have their own effect among people, as pointed out by Durkheim, these have made people very unattached to each other that human relations seem to become just a by-word. Even families are invaded by new values ushered by modernization and technology. The nucleus of the society has fallen victim to the new theology of modernization and technology. The disequilibrium created by the advent of modernization and technology (i.e. frustrations and dissociation) is so widespread that the society seeks to strike a new balance by tapping an already existing structure to provide and serve as a tool to return to equilibrium. Cyber games are now relieving the society of the same ills it has created when it chose to ride the pale horses of modernization and technology.
Traditional games have served the society well and contributed immensely to the continuity of the same. The twin values of cooperation and compliance are successfully internalized by the older generation resulting into social order and stability providing the society with a very strong and enduring foundation and made it ready to face the challenges of modernization and technology. But like the nature of almost everything, traditional games are now outlived by the society and new developments introduced by modernization and technology are calling for fitting solutions to the rampage of advancement. A state of disequilibrium was created and re-created by the same advances humanity has made. Veneer relationships even among members of primary structures of the society observed to be taking one of the greatest tolls against human societies. Children of very young age have become disillusioned by technological advancement that possessing them was made a new standard for being in. Humanity, young and old, become doubly preoccupied with the dizzying changes in technological realms, and the race for the acquisition of newer and better technologies, consequently, man has become more and more alienated from himself and others. Technologies are supposed to help bring man nearer to each other but the opposite is true. It has widened the distance between them.
In the end, man, especially the younger generation instead of gaining distance created wider gap between each other and between them and the older generation resulting into anomie and evidenced by frustrations expressed in their continued indulgence to cyber games. Nevertheless, cyber games are helping humanity to once more endure the tumor of social alienation.
(Disclaimer: The writer does not intend to develop nor advance a theoretical understanding of the emerging technologies rather this article is merely a plain and simple comparison of the two types of games played by different generations of the Philippine society. The use of sociological ideas such as those advanced by Durkheim, Marx and George Herbert Mead are partial applications only and does not claim that they are directly referred to by these great writers.)

The Essence of Democracy

The Essence of Democracy
By: Mr. Gerry A. Marcelo
The Philippines is known as the earliest democracy in Asia, whose democratic institutions were established in the light of the democratic principles of governance. Equality is the byword in a democratic society. It is frequently invoked whenever there are assumed violation of the principle of freedom. It seems very easy for Filipinos to speak of democracy and equate it to equality in any democratic circumstance they are into. The government and the opposition exchange heated arguments whenever there is a new issue at hand. Whether it be the doling out of five hundred pesos to the poor or making peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Mindanao, be it the MMDA removing the vendors from their sidewalk posts or relocating them to remote places where they can’t find any job, be it the rich accumulating so much wealth or the poor not having anything to eat for the day. We speak of equality and freedom everyday of our mundane lives, as if we really understand the nature of these two great principles of democratic societies. Democracy is desirable. It is a condition most, if not all people, across the globe dream of. We boast of our democratic way of life and scorned when Lee Kuan Yew commented that EDSA 1 was a mobocracy and to prove him wrong, we had another one in 2000. We cherish the moments when we choose our government officials in the process of general elections but we are also elated when we remove them in revolutions. We boast of participating in multifarious political activities, ranging from elections to collective actions such as rallies and street parliaments but our voices remain unheard by the same government that we elected into office. We pride ourselves of the manner by which we process politically motivated issues in the Congress and in media. We disdain other countries when they “undemocratically” process political issues. We laugh at Singapore because it imposes harsh (it’s relative) laws that we consider curtailing the political rights of its citizenry. All of these we consider democracy. Our own brand of democracy!

Has our brand of democracy worked for us? Has our brand of democracy brought us the economic, social and political stability we long aspired for? Has our brand of democracy allowed each individual citizen to develop his potentials and become a good member of the society? Has our socio-economic and political principles fitted and suited to our cultural and traditional roots? These and other questions related to the society will be addressed to provide a basis for the brand of democracy suitable given our cultural and traditional development.

Although democracy allows the individual to express himself in manners which he deemed beneficial for himself and his interests, he is still a member of a greater society. The ideas of Thomas Hobbes and John Lock suggest that the making of a society began in the forging of social contract between and among individuals to ultimately protect themselves against each other. Augusté Comté assumed that the society is real and the individual subjects himself in it. These ideas endow the individuals the knowledge that though each is given freedom to do what he wishes to do in the society, he remains a member of the society and is presumed to exercise these freedoms not to ultimately elevate himself above all others but to contribute to the general welfare of the society. In this light, individual freedom is not defined with the intention of elevating oneself above everybody else in the society but contribute to help others elevate themselves to a level where human individuality (such as talent and skills and morality) is given its true expression. Individuals who are not elevated to this level will not be able to fulfill their destiny and worth as members of human society. The society was not created so that the strong and those endowed by nature with superior intellectual competence are given the arena to express their superiority in such a manner that they devalue others who were not given the same gift by nature. The state as a conglomeration of individuals and as a superior entity than each of the individual persons within, is expected to ensure that freedom of expression (by freedom of expression here I mean, the freedom to manifest human individuality (such as talent, skills and morality) for the welfare of the society) is guaranteed and protected so that the whole society benefits from its fruition, because there is no pride and humanity in the expression of individual freedom whenever it deprives others of the avenues to express theirs. The individual is free only so long as he acts, serves and becomes an instrument (by instrument, I mean, the pride of being of service to others with the aim of helping them develop their individuality and become of service to others too) for the development and expression of others freedom.

The State
What in this light is the role of the state and its manifestations like the government and other state institutions? The government is created as a manifestation of the willingness of each individual within the state to subject themselves into the control of everyone else. The state is the collectivity of morality and the collective expression of the spirit of humanity and individualism. Individualism can only be more pronounced whenever it acts in the context of collectivity. Therefore, individuality loses its individualism if it goes against the will of the collectivity and expresses itself contrary to the collective morality of the society.
The state is the active manifestation of individuality. Its role is to ensure that individuals do not destroy each other for individual survival. It is the common manifestation of the control each one in the society wishes to curb greed and evil. One area the state should manifest people’s control is the distribution of wealth. By distribution of wealth, I do not mean that the state through its government and other institutions impede the ability of the individual to enrich himself using his skills, but that the state through its government, restrain the greed and evil individuals might manifest whenever they have accumulated wealth beyond their own needs and luxuries. Karl Marx as well as Max Weber somehow agreed that wealth allows for the construction of social classes. Social classes if not restrained will wield itself inimical to the welfare of the entire society. This is the reason why Karl Marx advocated for the destruction of social classes. Classes must be seen also as an articulation of collectivities and individuality and ultimately freedom and equality.
It is the function of the state to guarantee the welfare of everyone in the society. I do not assume that absolute equality can be attained. There will always be some degree of differences (not degree of inequality) to satisfy human cravings so that he feels he is making progress and still improving his quality of life. Thus, it is imperative that the state limits the gap between the poor and the rich (haves and haves not) so that poverty is eliminated and exploitation discontinued. Being poor or rich is relative to the distance between these two classes. The greater the gap between them, the poorer the poor feels and becomes and the richer the rich feels and becomes. I consider it dysfunctional for agencies of the state as well as other institutions in the society not to be able to alleviate the condition of the poor and provide them with avenues to redeem themselves from the quagmire they’ve been long into. Public or private institutions, secular or religious groups or whatever its form is, each must aim to assuage the condition of the members and therefore partake into the larger and greater function of the society to eliminate poverty and discontinue exploitation. But if these institutions promote the antitheses, they must be debunked.
The state is there to function as an earnest for the realization of human potentialities, not to dwarf them, by promoting laws and policies advantageous to their development. Taxation, economic policies, and social policies must be designed to attain just this. Political parties should be in moral opposition with each other and not opposing each other to promote and sell themselves to the electorates. The state should epitomize the general and superior will of the people and should manifest this in policy making and economic decisions. The qualification of the government to intervene in the economic freedom of business dwells in the morality of its leaders and sincerity of its intention to guard the welfare of those who may not have the economic capability to extricate themselves from their enslaving condition. The kind of society a people create depends on the people’s social construction of what true freedom and equality is.
Freedom and equality is not the absence of classes but the presence of decent food in a family’s table, the availability of decent jobs, the financial capability to provide medical health care for the members of the family, the availability of quality education whether private or public, the happiness to work locally and live with one’s family comfortably. The absence of line for NFA rice, absence of paupers along the community’s streets, absence of houses without water supply, without electricity, without food, etc. These are the cravings of Filipino families. Thus if freedom and equality is the presence of these, and that democracy is the bulwark of freedom and equality, therefore, the Philippines is one of the most undemocratic societies in the world, because it is characterized by the absence of these desirable experiences and conditions.
The state as the amalgamation of the people’s will and aspiration should create a society where everyone is given equal opportunity to develop and improve his/her skills, not only to live comfortably with his/her own family but to manifest the true essence of their humanity and morality.

The Church
The church is tasked to strengthen the morality of the people sharing the same society. Moreover, it is tasked to enlighten the people’s spirituality and complement it with material and social life. I presume that material conditions determine the quality of social life and level of spirituality a person or even a people might attain. Just like what Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it is expected that the satisfaction of material requirements be accomplished initially before social and spiritual needs can be attended to. It does not mean that the church, as an agent of socialization and the spiritual guide of the people is relegated to the end of the line but must be given primacy in pursuing the material affluence of the citizenry, because the attainment of spiritual completeness is dependent on the fundamental requirement of a dignified life – material and social needs. The church, true to its role, pursues activities that will help the government and the state to accomplish its functions. Social structures are not created to stand on their own, entirely separate and distinct from others, but are systemically interrelated and interdependent. Institutions are designed to structurally function, to collectively realize their functions so that the society attains stability. Some may even argue that the presence of the poor is functional. I argue that the presence of this class only shows the inability of the different structures to collectively reach stability. Structures only become dysfunctional when individuals and class who manage these structures become so engross with their own well-being and greed rather than the welfare of the society as a whole. The church being the bulwark of morality serves as a beam to provide light for the society to see its path clearer as it pursues to give people their desired quality of life. The success of the church can only be measured when its members are not only spiritually full but also materially satisfied. The church should cease to be the spiritual guide if it does not contribute to the material welfare of the people. It should cease from ignoring the primacy of material well being of the people and should begin to re-evaluate its role in the society. It is an injustice when people are expected to be spiritually strong when their stomachs are aching due to hunger, when the children are working for their own food, when families are degraded due to poverty. It is not godly to expect a high degree of spirituality from people who cannot even provide for a meal. Spirituality though considered a personal responsibility, should also be the concern of the state. Unless the state and the church pursue the same goal of uplifting the quality of life of the people, spirituality can be remotely achieve.

To be continued…….