The Truth Shall Set You Free

Many societal ills seem convoluted and hopelessly linked to larger ills that persist since time immemorial, and therefore, this leads us to believe that what we don't like about the world are unchangeable. We begin to think that this in turn gives us the license to do harm and that good is relative and non-binding. This type of assumption is fundamentally unsound reasoning because it does not factor in our internal capacity, mainly human being's capacity for manipulation to self-preserve. 

In other words, what seems like unsolvable, intractable, social ills that are hopelessly persisting since time immemorial may actually be our own failings and problems with ourselves that we refuse to let go of lest we are exposed to the sting of a disinfectant. It is like a wound we harbor and nurse and keep away from water and sunlight because we fear to take the steps to cure it until the wound festers and the sores run. Then, to hide our illness, we fool ourselves to think that it had always been this way. We cling to those that can confirm our manipulated reality. We become complicit in our own sickness and refuse to get better. We lie and engage in more lies. We bury the truth.

The truth is that nothing is as convoluted and intractable as we make it seem. We can heal our own illness. We should choose to heal social ills instead of profiting from it, whether in a monetary or in a psychological sense. Because the profits we think we gain from prolonging a fundamentally flawed assumption will only turn out to be the shackles that hold us back from becoming better.

Of Rights and Responsibilities

Everyone has the right to be respected and be treated with dignity. But nobody can save a person who do not respect themselves or those who choose short-term spoils over a dignified future. 

We, as conscious and free beings, decided to move away from a world dominated by privileges and move towards fulfilling the promise of equal rights and opportunities for all. But even now, in an age where we no longer dwell in physical dark caves, there are still some of us who have yet to make that decision, not for others and not even for themselves.

Those who cling to primitive fears and hate do so either out of a lack of capacity to be conscious and responsible for their own actions, out of greed resulting in a refusal to let go of inequities that serves them well enough at the expense of other people, out of not believing that the time of privileges for a few is over and never was an option to begin with, or out of a denial of this simple truth: that if we want to be free, then choosing to be ignorant and reveling in it is evil and that we owe it to ourselves to choose goodness in all that we do.

We are only as strong as the weakest link among us. The goal is for all of us to act for the benefit of each other in order that there will no longer be such as a thing as a weak link. Commanding the respect of others begins with respecting ourselves -- sa isip, sa salita, at sa gawa. Commanding the respect of others ends with each of us maintaining disciplined vigilance against any attempt at cheapening our freedoms.

It Was Heard

The lone voice in the wilderness was heard. The echo got through the haze and fog of the confused night. The message was received. With the break of the dawn, the ship will sail once more. All of those who heeded the call are onboard. They will bear with them the names of the heroes of the last voyage, as they forge a new path forward. And all of those who failed to hear the cry will fall behind. Until the lone voice in the wilderness once again rise up and proclaim that the time to repent is now, for the final judgment is at hand.

Destiny

What do you do when you've reached the end of the road? You look to the sky and start to fly.

Predestination only goes in one way. Those who are true and faithful live in this world but are not of it. It means you get it out of your system but it never gets in.

It isn't about the journey. It really isn't about the destination, either. It is about fulfilling what has long been promised. 

Shiny and New

Any new technology or shiny smart system can fall quickly into disrepair and rot before you can even get your money's worth from them. 

Just like how any new, shiny establishment can quickly become abandoned and haunted by the ghost of neglect, these new, smart, AI-powered tools being peddled as the quick fix to a lack of institutional transparency - by being an all-new, easy access, real-time monitoring system that can shine a light on all corners of an old, long-standing, corrupt way of doing things - can quickly reveal themselves to be nothing more than expensive, hyped-up gizmos nobody would even bother to take out of their junk storage when all the hype has died down and when the supposedly slain monster of corruption, neglect, and insincerity once again rears its ugly head.

It is never about the tools. It is always about who uses them and for what purpose they are used. Even the finest china tablewares will in no time be smashed into discarded pieces of unidentifiable shards in the hands of callous, unthinking, beasts. No tool can ever replace disciplined vigilance.

Pagsusuri sa Mababang Antas ng Agreeableness bilang Moderator sa Relasyon ng Karanasan ng Sikolohikal na Paghihirap at ng Pananaw ukol sa Paghingi ng Propesyonal na Tulong Pang-Sikolohikal

Kalakip sa blog entry na ito ang isang artikulo tungkol sa pagsusuri sa low levels of trait Agreeableness bilang moderator sa relasyon ng psychological distress at attitude towards professional psychological help-seeking. 

Ang pag-aaral na ito ay hango sa aking master's thesis. Ang aking master's thesis ay mayroong kategoryang "bukas sa lahat" at maaaring ma-access (ayon sa batas) sa ilang pambulikong silid-aklatan. Kung kaya, naniniwala ako na ang pagsa-sapubliko ng pag-aaral na ito sa blog ay walang linyang hinahakbangan nang hindi dapat. Naniniwala rin ako na ito ay maka-aambag sa literatura at kaalaman sa Sikolohiyang Pilipino, kahit pa sa maliit lamang na kapasidad, at kahit pa hindi mula sa isang opisiyal na publikasyon. Ang kaalaman ay dapat libre, malaya, at bukas sa lahat, lalo na sa isang disiplina tulad ng SP na nasa proseso ng pagbuo ng mas matatag nitong pundasyon bilang isang natatanging disiplina sa loob ng mas malawak na disiplina ng sikolohiya.

Ang artikulo ay nakasulat sa wikang Pilipino. Sa mga interesado itong basahin, narito ang link sa file: https://drive.google.com/Pagsusuri sa Mababang Antas ng Agreeableness bilang Moderator...

Boss. Tsip. Ser. Pogi. Madam Ganda.

Why is it that Filipinos won't do any agreed upon work unless you first genuflect low and butter up their fragile egos? Why is it that a no frills, serious, and impersonal tone at work is considered an affront and is taken offense at even at the expense of important work? And why even if you have the most malevolent intent do people give you a pass as along as you present a smiling and kowtowing front? The reason may be multifaceted; or it may be plain and clear as day (and we just refuse to see it? Sabi nga nila, pinaka-mahirap makakita ang nagbubulag-bulagan, at magising ang nagtutulog-tulugan lang). Whatever the reasons, one thing is for sure. This kind of attitude is a gateway to corruption and the padrino system, and ultimately handicaps us in professionalism.