Jim Paredes's Blog, page 17

It can happen anywhere

HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE By Jim Paredes (The Philippine Star) | Updated November 24, 2013 – 12:00am

It has happened before and it is happening again. The world is coming together again. But this time it is doing so at a level and intensity that seems unprecedented. I am talking about the relief efforts being undertaken by a great number of nations on earth to help the ravaged islands of the Philippines after it was hit by Category 5 typhoon Yolanda.

It seems like representatives of almost country in the world are here with their planeloads of relief goods, their doctors and rescue workers. And they brought with them the needed relief that will not only help rescue the victims but also rehabilitate their homes and rebuild their lives.

Every day, I hear of stories daily that uplift my spirits. Foreigners post in their blogs how much they are touched by the suffering they see on television. Many have opened their wallets and sent money to government agencies and NGOs doing relief work apart from what their own governments have done. Every effort is, of course, much appreciated.

This is all good. Apart from the obvious fact that the resources coming in will speed up the efforts, I see it as a sign that humankind is perhaps awakening to the awful truth about how we have all trashed the planet.

There is the painful fact that climate change is indeed already upon us. Mother Nature has been acting out too strangely and out of the norm. Super typhoons, storms, hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes are happening way too often. Many scientists say that these catastrophic weather patterns will be the new “normal” and we all must adjust to it from now on.

I saw a meteorologist on TV mention that weather phenomena that used to happen in the Philippines only once every century (based on existing records) are now happening with greater regularity in the past eight years. He also said that other unusual and deadly climate patterns are happening everywhere on the planet. Indeed, records are being broken everywhere in many countries in terms of temperatures (high and low), amount of rainfall and snow and the intensity of the weather disturbances.

In short, what just happened in the Philippines can happen anywhere now. A city, a nation, a continent may be assaulted severely with a weather phenomenon that can destroy it and kill its people as intensely and quickly as what typhoon Haiyan just did.

Two weeks ago, we as a nation got hit. Who knows which country will be hit next? While many governments still deny that climate change is real, the majority of humankind believes it is indeed upon us. Maybe that explains why all this aid is pouring from everywhere. There is the compassion factor of course that motivates people to give, but I believe it is coupled with the remote but real possibility that someday, they too may need help from everyone else.

The world is getting smaller every day. Communication, travel, migration and cyberspace have made us all immediate neighbors living in one big, wild Gotham city. It’s a good metaphor to use, except that in times of catastrophe, there is no Batman to save us and make things right.

More than ever, we are awakening to the fact that we live in one interconnected world. We are interdependent, and close cooperation, unified concerted action are needed more than ever to solve our problems.

“My brother’s fears are my fears, yellow white or brown.

My brother’s tears are my tears the whole wide world around.”

These lyrics from a song titled Because sung by Peter, Paul and Mary have always touched me because it rings true. And it summarizes the reason the world is responding to this terrible tragedy in our part of the world.

While I am awed at the idea that more and more of humanity is coming around, I am hoping that governments of the world will also awaken to the message that we sorely need new economic, social, psychological and structural templates that will change things for the better. The idea of exploiting nature to the point of extinction of its species to feed world’s appetite for consumption needs to be addressed. At the rate we are going, the lifestyle every country aspires for is actually unsustainable. Something has got to give, and the truth is, a lot of what holds us together now seems to be giving way.

The world’s uneven distribution of wealth, the mindless consumerism, hunger and extreme poverty are also something to worry about. In practically every country, the percentage of the nation’s wealth the rich own have only gotten bigger and it is at the expense of the middle class and the poor.

For our country, I feel that the response we have to this tragedy will determine in a big way how our character as a nation will be shaped in the coming years. We could fall and drown in the cynicism and negativity that many in social media are unknowingly promoting. We could listen to them and wallow in distrust of our government, our institutions, the character of our countrymen and even in our own capacity to rise out of this.

Or we could set aside this self-defeating attitudes and take action beyond mere complaining. Everyone can do something concrete. For example, by going to any center and actively repacking goods to bring relief to our countrymen, we are making things better. In these times, it is always a harder challenge to be optimistic. And yet one must be optimistic. After all, it is the positive, hopeful people who end up doing more than those who merely whine about everything. And God knows, we need less toxicity and more optimism if we are to survive this tragedy and thrive as a nation.

It will take years to rebuild. In fact, it will even reach decades. But I believe that where there is crisis, there is the opportunity to learn new things. We as a people together with the rest of humanity must embrace a level of commitment that will continue even when this big story moves to page 6 in a few weeks.

And this commitment shouldn’t be just about relief, but a host of resolutions that will contribute to effectively address the consequences of climate change. This is the time of reckoning. We can either passively accept and resign ourselves to the fact that more of this will be happening and so just continue doing what we have been doing with the planet, or we can take action now to alter the course of human history.

It’s up to us, and we must act now before it is too late.

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Where are you, God?

HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE (The Philippine Star) | Updated November 17, 2013 – 12:00am

Illustration by rey rivera

I’m feeling it again. The same sick feeling I felt when the tsunami hit Thailand and other places, and when the deadly Fukushima incident happened.

I find myself easily on the verge of tears. I have cried three times and I still can’t get to the bottom of the sadness in my heart. It is possible that I never will. Every time I see images of what happened last week in Tacloban, Cebu, Capiz, Samar, Aklan and Iloilo, I can’t help but fall into a feeling of helplessness and bafflement. It seems as if the whole earth I stand on has been pulled from under me and I am in a free fall as I speculate on the reasons why tragedy happens.

Tragedy seems to be easily explainable when it happens in far-flung places. One can intellectualize and think and “understand” what just happened. One can easily be objective. Shit happens and the collateral damage is factored in. For example, in the deaths of thousands of people in places we have never visited, a people whose color or ways are just too foreign and different from ours, in such tragedies of epic proportions, we might simply pay homage and respect to with a deep sigh and a silent prayer before going back to our business.

But when it happens to our own home, countrymen, or even relatives in places where we may have been born, grown up or even just visited, the distance and objectivity disappear. There is a deep pain that takes over and turns into a shock to our entire system.

I feel physically, psychologically, mentally, socially, economically and spiritually assaulted in a bad way. And I am not even a victim of Yolanda.

What does it feel like when in just a few hours, you lose your home, loved ones, possessions, your neighborhood, and everything that was your comfort zone transforms into something unrecognizably hellish? What’s it like to not have food, water, shelter, medicines for days? What’s it like to live with the stench of the death of your loved ones whom you cannot bury for personal, religious or logistical reasons? What’s it like to lose the comfort, familiarity and safety of your community, when everything that comprised your life is brutally taken away from you?

I read the blog of DSWD secretary Dinky Soliman who is in the front lines in Tacloban, administering to the walking wounded. In her observation, the lawlessness and looting which spontaneously started on day one was an angry reaction to the sudden, unexplainable loss of everything. She speculated that perhaps people who at other times were friendly, good and decent, were angry at God who had turned their lives completely upside down and destroyed everything they had. The God who ruled much of their lives had abandoned them and they started grasping at anything they could hold on to.

I, too, have been thinking about God in this tragedy. In an essay I wrote when the tsunami in Thailand happened in 2004, I posted a lot of questions about God. I would like to quote extensively from it (published in my book As Is, Where Is) since I am feeling the same way now as I was feeling then.

Where is help going to come from? From God? Who is this God anyway? In times like these, many people, including myself, are tempted to ask if God is a caring God. If He is, then please somebody ask Him why there is so much suffering in this world He created? Why is this God so cold and unfeeling, allowing people, even helpless children to suffer and die painfully and needlessly every single day? I cry as I ask these questions. Why? Because if I cannot turn to God for solace or reasons that make sense, or find in Him some physical relief from the torments of life on earth, then what is really going on?

I feel like a fool as I realize once again that this whole concept of a God of Comfort and Safety, which is my default understanding of Him, has once again turned into a fairy tale. Forgive me for saying this, but a God that allows all this is not an easy God to accept, nor understand.

Yet I still hold deep in my heart and so want to believe that the God I know is love, as so many have said and as I have experienced from time to time. And yet, if all this suffering is a manifestation of His love, then what kind of lover is He? And what kind of ‘loving relationship’ is He trying to have with mankind? Or is this all a joke, another hare-brained take by men on a subject no one really knows anything about?

God seems to periodically retreat from the image we know of Him, (or at least wish Him to be and that is the loving God), and sometimes manifests as a repulsive, cruel and inscrutable deity who must be pleased with blood sacrifice. This is truly a mystery that baffles anyone — even those of great faith.

And this contradictory God, this paradoxical God is where I see an invitation, a challenge to go further in our query and our understanding. Exactly what draws me deeper into a seeming abyss that these questions lead to may be the whole point of it all. And the black hole goes beyond the suffering and right straight to the mystery of a God whose expressions of love can be cruelly inscrutable and baffling.

What is His love all about? What is the love that He speaks of in the light of all this suffering? Sometimes I think that God the Lover wants to up the ante in the relationship by leaving us mystified and thus wanting us to probe deeper. Ponder, ponder, ponder and find out for yourself the ‘love’ in all this.

To engage the hard-to-understand and the seemingly unfathomable aspects of this God is the bait that can lead our consciousness to an ever-growing, ever-expanding and an ever-inquiring one. A consciousness that is willing to go to the edge of everything it knows and take a leap of faith, and hope that it will be rescued by something — anything, hopefully nothing short of a full understanding, or at least some reasons that will pacify or quell our confusion and anger. God seems to be saying, “There’s more to me that you need to understand.”

And in the process, there is more to us that will also come to light about ourselves. So I dare go ahead and ask all these questions. But I must get bigger to find the answers.

God, you draw out everything in me. I still haven’t decided though whether what you bring out is my best or worst. It does not matter. My miniscule understanding of You is once again being challenged and upgraded. And as I am getting bigger, so are You!

Meanwhile, as I waste precious time pondering these ageless, unanswerable theological questions, life must go on. There is much to be done. To wait for a clear answer from God is to waste time.

The typhoon victims must be fed, the dead buried, communities must be rebuilt and life must continue and normalize. For these to be accomplished, donations must be made, food and clothing must be packed and shipped, and funds must be raised now and in the many years to come. This will need a big portion of our personal time, effort, dedication, patience and sense of purpose.

The only response to the meaninglessness of it all is, strangely enough, concrete action. Maybe in so doing, we can find where God really is.

12 steps to national recovery from corruption

HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE By Jim Paredes (The Philippine Star) | Updated November 10, 2013 – 12:00am

Recently, I’ve been reading about Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) 12 Steps to Recovery, a program that helps people conquer their addiction to alcohol and other substances. It has been around for many decades and has helped transform hundreds of thousands of addicts all over the world.

The 12 Steps are powerful and transformative. I know people who have used them to great effect. I have seen them remarkably sober after many years of malingering substance abuse. They managed to return to their functional lives before they were swallowed by their drug habit and have remained alcohol and substance free for years now.

Addiction can be catastrophic. It can disrupt the social and moral fabric that holds a person, a family and a society together. The addicted gets trapped in an illusory world where he becomes totally enslaved by his addiction.

The 12 Steps have been used successfully to treat other addictions as well, such as gambling, sex and others. Now here’s a wild thought: What if the 12 Steps of AA were applied to help us as a society face our pathologies and conquer them so we can be less dysfunctional as a nation? Can it help us conquer corruption on a personal level so that we become less prone to it as a people?

Think of our milieu—family, neighbors, colleagues, and everyone in our country as belonging to some sort of fellowship trying to honestly grapple with our own personal weaknesses.

Imagine that we are in a town hall or barangay in a gathering similar to that of an AA meeting. We open ourselves to each other, exposing our vulnerabilities. There is no judgment or condemnation and we let down our defenses as we recognize the possibility that we ourselves are co-dependents of corruption. How can we not be? We voted for the corrupt and continue to do so.

It is in this context that I imagine the possibility of the 12 Steps working its gifts on us. Addiction is a spiritual disease, and the 12 Steps are a spiritual path to recovery.

Here are the 12 Steps with my commentary on how they can apply to our situation. To make it more relevant, I have replaced the word “alcohol” with “corruption.”

The exercise begins with the introduction: ‘I am ________ I am a Filipino and I am addicted to/ or a co-dependent of corruption.’

• We admitted that we were powerless over corruption — that our lives had become unmanageable.

The first step towards recovery is to admit there is a big problem that must be faced. It has become so pronounced that we can’t deny it anymore, not even to ourselves. Recently, we as a nation have awakened to the reality that we are corrupt, that corruption is pervasive in our political, social and personal lives.

Look around us. It is everywhere. People like Napoles and even corrupt high government officials continue to be prominently well-placed in our society. The corrupt are rewarded while the honest are given a hard time.

• Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

We are slowly realizing that we cannot rely on a few people or institutions to save us from the curse of corruption. That’s a complete copout. We must ALL be involved in purging this pathology that has permeated our social and moral fabric. Through the power of the many, we will we become consciously aware and act together to save ourselves.

• Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

Since corruption is a spiritual issue that erodes character, believing in the power of conscience, God (or our Higher Power), reminding ourselves of the simplest moral code common to all people, can help us say “no” to corruption. We must go back to the basics of our beliefs and trust that God will empower us to help us free ourselves.

• Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Let’s be brutally honest in our assessment of ourselves. Let’s purge ourselves of our delusions. Let us admit to both our strengths and weaknesses. Full disclosure is what is being demanded here. An excruciating reality check is in order. Individually, we must also admit that we have somehow contributed to our society’s moral decay. We have engaged in bribery ourselves at one time or another, or at least allowed it to happen and did nothing to stop it.

• Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

We all must do an admission of guilt, both those who have been accused and those who accuse. Nothing less is expected. We must know the entire story of how we got here. Admitting we have wronged the nation, ourselves and each other in big or small ways, and accepting full accountability for our actions is key to breaking free from corruption. We must own up to our actions. This is an act of responsibility, humility, honesty and great courage. It is also an act of liberation.

• Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

We must be willing to completely dismantle the structure, habits, practices, mindsets, attitudes that perpetuate this pattern of corruption pervading in our lives. There must be structural, spiritual and psychological change in all levels. We must also work on ourselves so that we do not contribute to the culture of corruption in any way.

• Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

Have the humility to admit that we are part of the problem, and ask our better selves and our God to give us the moral strength to help us be freed from this addiction to corruption.

• Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

Let us reach out to those members of society we may have unknowingly deprived of their rightful share of opportunities and gifts in our corrupt pursuit of wealth and money. We must reach out to the communities especially those that continue to suffer from the injustice we have perpetrated, and do our part in alleviating their situation.

• Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

There is real compassion and there is idiot compassion. The idiotic kind is toxic and perpetuates further co-dependency. We must have a compassion that liberates people, the kind that does not deny them their dignity while we are helping them. Otherwise, we are merely feeding their dependence addiction and opening them and ourselves to more potentially corruptive situations.

• Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

Adopt and embrace a culture of self-awareness where we are willing to subject ourselves to constructive criticism to improve as individuals and as a people. We must learn to accept feedback. As a society, we must be honest enough to admit our faults and go beyond merely talking about it and actually doing something about it.

• Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

We need to be connected and answerable to a Higher Power — God, however we see and understand Him. We must also listen to our conscience so that we may be inspired to pursue real personal and social change. That means going deep into ourselves and everything we believe and value, and drawing strength and direction from our core to transform ourselves, and eventually our nation.

• Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to the corrupt and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

We must become true to ourselves and to our Higher Power in every way possible. We must mean what we say and say what we mean. We must spread the true word to others by example. We can liberate each other through inspiring actions. We must apply the moral standards we expect from our leaders to our own selves.

If we all actually walk the talk, others will see that change is possible.

Prisoners of comfort

HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE By Jim Paredes (The Philippine Star) | Updated November 3, 2013 – 12:00am

As a human living in the most modern of times, I am amazed at how much freedom and material comfort there is to enjoy. I am speaking as a person who has visited parts of the world like the US, Japan, Australia, etc. This even applies to the Philippines but perhaps to a lesser degree. Aside from the usual democratic space and convenient lifestyle, there is so much information and technology we have access to that opens to us an ever-expanding freedom of choice about what to buy, do and how to live our lives.

But even as I type this and search the Net and listen to music, watch TV and eat a sandwich all at the same time, I can’t help but think of how much the whole set up can also be oppressive to the human spirit. No, I am not just being a whiner or a spoiled brat.

Just take a look around you. In a way, we are all prisoners of comfort and convenience. We are dependent on our gadgets. We are like our own appliances and computers that can only function when connected to the grid of modern life. More and more, we live bigger chunks of our lives online. We are also tied to schedules, deadlines, mortgages, debts, routines and all the new social obligations brought about by modernity.

While the times we live in has undoubtedly seen great strides forward in the areas of human freedoms and liberation from hunger, ignorance and poverty, it has also created new “prisons” for us to languish in.

Let’s examine two of the contemporary social and psychological templates we are subscribed to as individuals and societies. These determine how we see and act in the world. Let’s ask ourselves if we are happier, more integrated people with these new values and if we are creating and building more inclusive communities.

Take a look at modern societies’ view of aging. Many of them see people getting old as a problem. I detect a cultural pathology here. Perhaps because of our cult of youth, we see people who move further and further away from what we think youth is, to be less productive, less functional members of society. More and more, they are seen as a burden on the social safety nets and a drain on the incomes of those responsible for them.

The elderly in Australia, the US, etc. suffer the pain of abandonment and alienation of being put to pasture in an old folks home. I know this is a real dilemma for a lot of people. As much as some would like to keep their parents with them, the society is structured as such to make it almost impossible to do. Where generations should be more connected, modern societies choose to alienate the young from the elderly. Could this be an offshoot of rugged individualism gone crazy? A utilitarian, throwaway materialistic culture where we get rid of or set aside what cannot be fixed, retooled or upgraded?

Contrast this to how the elderly are treated in less modern societies. The aged are part of the family/community and are generally seen to have earned their respected place. They are looked at with affection for being the younger generations’ link to their family heritage and life itself. And mainly because they have survived long enough, they are presumed to be repositories of some wisdom. And yes, they mostly live with their families.

Sometimes, I feel that the less modern societies have a more holistic view of life. It might be because they are more in touch with nature. They still witness and participate in its seasonal changes and cycles, from sowing to reaping of harvests, birth to decay, youth to adulthood, sickness to death—all in a more intimate family or communal setting.

Another thing that moderns need to address is the constant bombardment of commercialism and materialism. I have talked with a lot of young people who have consciously chosen the pursuit of money over passion and what they consider as more meaningful endeavors in life. In my time, most young people chose the latter hands down. It seems that money itself has become the meaning of life for many. This I find really unsettling. But at the same time, it is inevitable that many think this way.

The cult of money and materialism in modern life is so strong that very few can resist it. The never-ending quest to have the newest, latest, fastest, most modern, highest versions, upgrades of toys, goods and products has become an epidemic. The cycle and speed of technology seems to double every few years causing an ever faster cycle of consumption.

The flash and glitz of materialism has captured the hearts and souls of many people. Instant gratification is the mantra of the age. The modern view of living is to experience everything before one gets old. To be modern is the fashion and the passion. And one needs money to live fashionably and passionately with the times.

And yet the more important things in life demand from us a patience, a quietude, and a lot of internal sorting out to be able to live sanely and humanely in a shallow, noisy, and soul-killing world. At times, one must be able to dis-identify and disengage with the world and transcend the call of the life of comfort, style and conformity. We need to see through the illusion of the emptiness materialism brings and be alive to life’s other gifts. There is more to life than endless acquisition.

Many years ago, I had a conversation with a fast rising star in a dressing room of a television station. After I congratulated him for his many successes, we got out of the usual showbiz topics and talked more deeply about life. I asked him if he was happy. He was perplexed and did not know how to answer. He paused for a while and merely said, “I am supposed to be happy because I have all this fame and money. After all, everybody wants these.”

To win this battle for our hearts and souls, we must look at each other beyond the functions or labels that the world has given us. We are more than consumers, users, customers, clients, followers in a market of endlessly enticing goods, gadgets and services. We are humans who have dreams, ambitions, passions and yearnings that the pixie dust of the world cannot fulfill.

To fulfill them, we must learn to accept the pain and wisdom to love, to struggle, to attach and detach, sacrifice and surrender, and to see the difference between the kicks that go with the novelty of something worldly, and the profound joy that goes with the free but enduring spiritual gifts in life.

I have often caught myself defying the world. I chose passion over money in the pursuit of my career. I have occasionally stood against the sometimes coercive call of political correctness and its conventions and social expectations. I have turned down many things that I knew could be beneficial materially but would not have served my spirit and those I love.

No, we are not being asked to abandon all things material and walk the desert. It is not a denial of the world but a balance that must be attained. We live in the world and enjoy its gifts but we must keep it a sustainable place for everyone. This demands an amount of spirituality. No to runaway materialism. We already know where that has brought us to.

We must heed the call of a spirituality that can help us look at the world and ourselves in a more holistic manner. And this means going way beyond the mere materially beneficial relationships we can exploit. We need more of the human, spiritual connectedness that binds us together.

This is what will make us free.

Some thoughts on fame

HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE By Jim Paredes (The Philippine Star) | Updated October 27, 2013 – 12:00am

I have walked among the famous for more than 40 years. Some were famous momentarily and were gone quickly while others were famous for quite a long while. Some were instantly famous and stayed for a long time, and there are those who worked their way to fame for years and lingered there.

Fame confers on a person some kind of royalty status. Everywhere you go, you are recognized, sometimes even adored. People actually gaze at you approvingly. You can cause a minor, sometimes even major commotion, depending on how well-known you are.

I have been famous, in varying degrees and depending on the occasion. When I was with APO, we were sought after, followed, praised, adulated by record buyers, concert-goers, radio-listeners who loved the songs we wrote and sang. There were also the TV viewers who watched us faithfully and supported us by writing fan mail, and shrieking when they saw us in our concerts and personal appearances. We were, well, idolized.

There are so-called perks that go with being famous and idolized — money, privilege, respect, and the feeling that one belongs to some kind of royalty. But I am most uncomfortable with fame and the adulation that goes with it. This is primarily because of my egalitarian, middle-class upbringing. My mother always reminded us that although we were special in her eyes, we were really just like everyone else. I could never reconcile my feelings about fame with my mother’s voice in my head. Why should I be singled out, be treated specially and adored just because I may have done a few good things under the spotlight?

Another reason was, I was quite insecure about my skills as a songwriter, singer and performer. Every time anyone came up to me and said how great a certain song I wrote or show we did was, I would smile and say thank you. But inside me, I wondered if I deserved such praise. Was this person just flattering me? I often asked that of myself. A built-in self-deprecating attitude instantly burst my bubbles before they could even come up.

But it would be a lie to say I did not enjoy the applause we would get during concerts and the good reviews for our records, even if it took me almost 20 years to accept it without the “guilt” of being undeserving.

How do fans choose whom to idolize? There is a “play,” or what is called a “participation mystique” that happens between performer and audience, idol and fan, leader and follower, and it goes something like this: a performer makes a call to an audience to watch him or her at a certain time and venue, promising to take the audience to a psychological state where they feel good, or a place where they have never been. In that state, they will experience surprise and delight in varying levels. Surprise and delight can be delivered in many ways. Athletes and physical performers, for example, wow people by pushing their physical limitations and seemingly defy gravity with grace. Musical performers evoke deep feelings and emotions through song. Magicians leave you wondering how they defy reality. Great orators and politicians will mesmerize and transport you to some ideal place. Religious leaders and priests perform rituals that evoke the presence of God.

Metaphysically speaking, the “performer” who can make you forget your own limitations as a human being and demonstrate a magnificence that brings you to a sublime state of transcendence, is a successful one. And the performer will enjoy fame as long as he can do this consistently and keep his audience engaged. When a performer stops delivering, the participation mystique ends.

In my experience, fame has been a blessing and a bane. My kids have certainly enjoyed some privileges for being my offspring. However, while perks and opportunities may have opened up for them, being the rugged individuals that they are, their connection to me has also made them work harder to come into their own.

I have lent my name to many commercial ventures. I have done the same for more noble causes such as saving the environment, damning the dictatorship, promoting OPM and clean elections, supporting certain candidates, promoting RH, etc. Those times when I did, I put my relative fame and influence to some good use, and not for the self-aggrandizement it is mostly cut out for.

We’ve heard it said that to whom much is given, much is expected. I have often wondered how much responsibility famous people should shoulder for being famous. After all, while a beauty queen speaks of world peace and harmony, she is not expected to sit down with Al Queda and the US government to initiate reconciliation.

I find it quite funny, no, abhorrent actually, when people who are on the other side of political and social issues, for example, express disappointment and threaten to withdraw adulation because I am not on their side. They use their fan status as a weapon to hostage my support and force me to behave a certain way. They must feel empowered because they think that since they made me famous, they can take it all away, at will. In the process though, their arguments weaken and what takes place is a pathetic attempt at power play which descends into name-calling. When such things happen, my usual respect for ideological adversaries quickly dissipates.

Most famous people I know would not be affected by fans who withhold or withdraw their support or admiration in situations like this. What affects them more is stalkers. If you want to sow fear in the heart of a famous person, say something like, “I like you so much I am so obsessed with you. I know where you live and I know you were wearing your favorite running shoes for three days last week.” Or say something like, “I love you the way Chapman loved John Lennon.” Then watch them really get worried.

The public will want to run your life if you let them. They feel entitled to do so since they “made” you. But I wonder why some famous people get away with outrageous things while others do not. Paul McCartney spent 10 days in a Japanese jail for drug use years ago. John Lennon was cursed for saying candidly that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ. Miley Cyrus shocked parents of teenage girls with her audacious performances. And lately, there’s Freddie Aguilar who has earned the ire of some for his politically incorrect choice of who to fall in love with.

I have been a recognizable person for too long. In truth, if all this disappeared tomorrow, I would not cry over it. My ambition is no longer as great as it used to be. But I would be grateful if you took time to listen to my new songs, read my writings, watch me in concert or attend my workshops.

While I have admittedly made great strides in my career, I still have this discomfort in being “famous.” I never liked being called a “star.” From Day One to the present, I have carefully chosen my words when I refer to people who like what I do. In interviews, I rarely call them fans. I prefer to call them friends, or my audience who enjoy my music. It feels more right. I am not someone unreachable “up there,” and they are not “down there” looking up at me.

As a performer, I will continue to try and surprise and delight my audience and I hope they continue to get a kick out of it. But when the show is over, I want to get back to my real human size and dimension. Maybe that’s why I enjoy Australia where my celebrity status is practically nil. As an Italian proverb says, “When the game is over, both pawn and king go back to the same box.”

Suffering binds us together

HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE By Jim Paredes (The Philippine Star) | Updated October 20, 2013 – 12:00am

It started like an ordinary day in Cebu and Bohol last Oct. 15. But a few hours into the day, a big earthquake struck and not too long after, both were declared as provinces in a state of calamity.

Even though we know that earthquakes, typhoons, tsunamis and the like happen, it is still a shock to experience them. One is immediately humbled at how small and helpless one can actually be. How can the state of things be shaken and changed so quickly and dramatically? “Just like that,” as people describe it while in shock and awe. All it took was over a minute of tremors to transform these two places from beautiful, vibrant tourist attractions to calamity areas.

All this makes one think of the impermanence of things. Even if I have written about the topic of impermanence many times — about how everything is always in a state of flux — it seems like a fresh subject each time it happens this dramatically. That’s because we are forced beyond just an intellectual appreciation of it. We may entertain disastrous situations and scenarios in our minds but there is nothing like the real thing to give us a big jolt of reality.

Looking at the world around us, we can see so many things happening that no one could have imagined just two decades ago. The most powerful country in the world, the USA, is suffering economically and almost defaulted again on its payments. The Philippines is being looked at as a bright spot in the world economy. Cases are being filed against really powerful people in our country. Climate change is undoubtedly upon us and the geographical state of planet earth is rapidly changing.

Who would have thought these would be happening?

Everything in fact really changes. There is nothing permanent in this world. “What is now” is always becoming “what was.” The wheel is always spinning, sometimes predictably but oftentimes out of control.

The human quest to create order and civilization was always about how to control life and the world around us. It still is. We build human systems of beliefs that we apply to governance, religions, morality, sciences and philosophies to be able to make some sense of everything. It is our way of feeling secure, assured that there is predictability to life. And because we can forecast events, we can plan and build our lives.

But as it stands now, it still seems that most calamities and disasters are totally oblivious to the carefully laid-out plans of men. Against the wishes of nature, all these schemes and layers of protection and predictability we have built are not always reliable and will not always deliver us to safety. We may be able to forecast storms, disasters and the like to a certain degree, but we humans do not as yet hold all the cards to control or understand nature. And I don’t think we ever will completely. Mother Nature will always have the last say on how the world should be.

So what are we to do when we can’t rely on our systems and knowledge base to spare us from suffering?

I have observed that when people find themselves suddenly helpless, vulnerable and in danger, they turn to other people. There is a switch that turns on, which makes you notice the persons around you. Suffering opens something inside both the sufferer and those capable or in a position to help.

Perhaps it is the fear and fascination of something like a disaster which no one can fully comprehend that makes people band together. Somehow a calamity makes people seek others. The suffering of others arouses it. One comprehends a human-to-human link. The urge to ease the burden of those suffering is awakened.

Here in Sydney I suddenly found myself riveted to the unfolding story. Like many others, I checked the news and social media for any information about the earthquakes.

One might logically argue that all this connection stuff I talk about is because I know people from Cebu and Bohol and I have emotional ties to friends there. And that’s what is arousing all this concern. Yes, of course. That is surely a factor. But we can’t ignore the fact that stories about suffering in other parts of the world also affect and move us in the same way.

Why are people drawn to stories about Malala, for example? Isn’t it because we were drawn to the inhumanity she suffered? Whether the suffering is in Syria, Pakistan, Sydney or wherever, once we decide to look and listen, we are awakened to our common humanity.

But it is not just suffering that binds us together. There is also what is called “greatness of spirit” that equally rivets us.

I was once a member of the board of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards Foundation, an award-giving body that recognizes and supports people and institutions that make a difference in many countries. In choosing the awardees, we were required to read tons of data and information about the nominees. It is not an easy task to sift through papers that stack up to almost three feet high to choose the deserving candidates. I often found myself up till 4 a.m. reading about lives of obscure people from distant lands fascinated by the compassion, courage and generosity they have towards their fellowmen.

These are people who risk their lives while doing community service in the hope of changing the trajectory of the future to something better. They have that greatness of spirit, that bigness of heart, the selflessness that erases the boundaries between them and others.

Malala’s response to adversity is also an example of this greatness of spirit. For her, it may have started as a personally painful experience. But because this barbaric act done to her drew a massively sympathetic universal response, her misfortune turned into an inspiring story that galvanized her courage, precocious wisdom and fortitude.

Albert Einstein once observed that most lives are lived in separateness and isolation from others. This he feels is an “optical illusion of consciousness,” which is contrary to his belief that we are all integrated and part of the whole universe. He says, “Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

For those who are suffering because of the earthquakes and other tragedies that have beset us, and for those who are moved, this is a golden opportunity to unleash the greatness of spirit that can inspire and transform pain into action. Compassion already resides in us all.

Let us turn the loss into a triumph. This is a call not just for community action but a call to experience our spiritual oneness. Let us awaken the compassion and let it move us all into action.

Let’s do this.

The call

HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE By Jim Paredes (The Philippine Star) | Updated October 13, 2013 – 12:00am

What if God talked to you? Would you answer? What if he asked you to do something, would you really do it?”

I once posted those questions on Twitter and a majority of respondents said they would answer and obey whatever God bid them to do. I smiled to myself, upon seeing how easily most of them gave their answer. I felt they probably didn’t give it much thought and I wondered how many of them would actually respond positively if God actually called.

I’ve been thinking about this question lately. I must confess I’ve detected “callings” at certain points in my life. I have ignored some and responded to others.

I do not want to get into biblical accounts about those who claimed to answer God’s call, like Moses or Noah. I do not want this article to lean in any way towards any Christian group’s understanding of what God’s call or will is.

“The call” is something that happens to everyone and I want to focus on the down-to-earth human aspect of how people in the modern world respond to it, or if they still hear God (or whatever they want to call the Source) talk to them.

I find it interesting that Pope Benedict stepped down because, he said, God told him to. I know he is a man of discernment and has spent much of his life interpreting the Catholic faith. I can believe that he can determine a real call from a false one. Some cynical people may see his stepping down for less divine reasons and compulsions. But I will grant him his claim and take his word for it.

David Capra, an Australian writer on the art scene, wrote about a woman named Elizabeth who claimed to have been called by God to fulfill a certain mission years ago. The call was simple: God supposedly told her to ride trains and shake hands with people she would meet and spread the love of God, through that simple human contact.

Capra writes about meeting Elizabeth and seeing her in action.

“I will never look at a train trip the same way after my evening with Elizabeth. Elizabeth believes God has commissioned her to shake people’s hands and offer her hand to entire carriages of people. It was pretty captivating witnessing it all unfold before me. It was like theater, the train transformed, opening up potential for a very ordinary yet thrilling human exchange. People responded in all sorts of ways from laughter, bewilderment, to anger. In a recent phone conversation, Elizabeth said, ‘Please let people know that I am congratulating them for making it this far, because life can be hard.’”

I imagine that when Elizabeth heard “the call,” she must have struggled with it. She must have felt in her heart that the voice she heard was authentic. And that was the problem. The call must have also seemed ridiculous at first, and illogical. And it could have been easily construed as silly. And yet she developed the courage to follow it and she has been shaking hands with people for years.

I have no doubt that everyone is called by God to do something. It may not always be dramatic, such as saving the world or things of that sort, or doing something that will create a visible impact that everyone will notice. Sometimes, it can be a simple call to get married and raise a family, or take on a certain profession, or befriend someone, or perform an act of kindness. It can be anything. But the call will always demand courage and faith. It is each person’s discernment that will help him or her determine what he or she is being asked to do.

We all make deals with God. I know people who promise to alter their behavior if certain favors are granted. I am guilty of doing that quite often. And, regrettably, I do not always fulfill my end of the bargain, even when I get what I ask for.

Speaking of which, last week, I did my very first concert in Sydney as a solo artist. The project had a rough start. It went through three producers before it finally got off the ground.

In the last two weeks before the concert, the production hit big snags that discouraged our optimism and enthusiasm. While maintaining a go-go-go attitude on the outside to keep the enterprise in high spirits, I began to doubt the viability of the project.

In the midst of my doubt, I prayed silently and asked God to use the outcome of the concert as a sign to let me know if I should continue performing solo, or just quit and retire altogether.

I asked God for a clear sign if He wanted me to retire and do something else. I was ready to accept that painful prospect. If the concert were a failure, I would see it as a sign to stop performing. But if, by some miracle, it turned out to be successful despite the problems, I would continue to do what I’ve always loved to do.

APO had a great run of 41 years. Was I being stubborn and not reading the handwriting on the wall? Maybe I had run my course. Showbiz is a young people’s world. Was I in denial?

Was it time for me to go full-time into teaching, writing and other stuff? Was it time for a total sea change and plunge my energies into something else? If I was being blind, I prayed that God would please give me a jolt so I could see things clearly. I kept all this to myself.

But when concert day came, what transpired was a dream come true. Everything about it exceeded our expectations. It turned out to be a roaring success, both critically and commercially. Everyone, including my guests, producers, sponsors and audience, were more than happy. I had a great time and felt that my life work was validated.

Even if the cynic in me could “explain” in hindsight how the concert had a successful outcome, I have a positive feeling that my questions were divinely answered. Am I reading too much into the situation? Some may argue that yes, I am. But then again, maybe I am not.

Regardless, I felt that my prayer was answered. I trusted my intuition. I was not asking for any material gain. In fact, I had laid everything on the line. I was ready to give up something I loved to do if that was “the call.” I asked for direction and clarity, and I feel in my heart that I got it.

I am not a religious person. I will confess that there are a lot of things about religion I am not comfortable with. But I have always been spiritual and my engagement with a God I have been trying to understand has been a life-long affair.

Yes, I will continue pursuing my “calling,” my pursuit of my musical passion. I do not truly understand the whys and hows of divine messages, but I feel assured that it came. I was not merely talking to myself. I asked for it, and I got an answer.

Thank you, God.

Is there a God? An afterlife? A hell? Why are we here?

HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE By Jim Paredes (The Philippine Star) | Updated October 6, 2013 – 12:00am

There are enigmatic questions in life that we are hard-put to find answers to. They touch on philosophical, spiritual and psychological themes that bring up fundamental questions about meaning, which, I am sure, at some point in our lives, we dared ask.

We asked with great earnestness but we never got definite, authoritative answers that should keep us quiet and content forever. We probably never will. And the answers we get seem to change over time, or perhaps it is our understanding that changes. I am not sure.

I have been asked many times what I think are the answers to some of the hard questions in life. By attempting to answer them, I know I will end up baring my spiritual soul and also my biases. I also run the risk of ticking off some readers who might find my views fit for burning.

So, dear reader, please remember that these thoughts are mine and I am in no way imposing them on anyone. And they are my answers, for now. You can stop reading now if you do not wish to be disturbed or challenged on this beautiful Sunday.

1) Is there a God?

I do not wish to answer this with anything I have learned in school or from any book I have read. I have always looked at this question as something that can’t be answered by cut-and-dried dogma. When I was younger, I was content to accept the Church’s teachings without question. But growing up makes one discover things for oneself.

I now feel that my honest answer can only come from direct experiences I have had with this question. These are the fleeting moments when I felt or intuited the answer.

Have I stayed up at night troubled, abandoned, desperate and feeling like there is no one out there listening? Yes, I have. So did I sense a God during those moments? There were times I did and there were times I did not. But when I did, it felt like a presence of love that wrapped me close and assured me that everything would be all right.

I have had more experiences in the past 15 years where I felt the intense presence of every living thing radiating in unity. Beyond everything resides a Great Unseen. During moments of what seem like True Seeing, I would sense the presence of something I wish to call God, in a blade of grass, a block of stone, the whispering wind, a person passing by. I would feel the perfect presence of the world just as it is, with its joys and sorrows, and I would be enveloped in an extremely sacred and complete experience of what I call God.

I am everything and everything is inside of me. And I have had that feeling of being wide-awake with the wonderful certainty that there is nothing at all, that is not God. The sacred, the profane, the paradox, the uncertainty — all of life itself is God manifesting.

I have had two kinds of experiences with God — a personal one and a transpersonal one. This personal God I know and understand is Someone who helps me get what I want and need. It gives me the support I need to tide me over. It gives me my “daily bread.” My personal God is a salvific God.

My transpersonal experience of God, however, is something else. This God appears when “no one is home,” meaning, my ego or “self” is not trying to run the show that is my life. I slip into a state where an experience of total presence of God happens. I am “lost” yet “found” in the Oneness, in the ever-present scheme of things that plays out in life.

Everything is sacred, including what seems profane. God’s hand is everywhere. A common thread that runs between my two types of experiences of God is that in both the personal and transpersonal, God is expansive and loving.

2) Is there an afterlife?

Religion will tell us there is, but some scientists will argue that there is no proof of life after death at the moment. But I have had glimpses of timelessness and eternity, ironically within the field of time and space called the here and now which is ever fleeting. And each time I do, I sense a consciousness that has no beginning and no end. I feel quite strongly that my own consciousness is a mere satellite of something infinitely bigger that has always been there and always will. I am certain it will overcome death, and my own consciousness will return and fuse with the Source, like a drop of water returning to the ocean.

3) Is there a hell?

I cannot believe there is a hell, at least not one where our souls will go to rot as punishment for being bad. If there is a heaven, I believe we will all end up there due to God’s unconditional love. “Unconditional” means without conditions. What is unconditional love if it means you have to be good or believe certain things or be subscribed to a certain religion to get to God? It’s a contradiction.

God is Love. That’s what I understand. And yes, we choose love mostly, or try to choose it because it is our nature to do so. We are impelled towards it. When we choose otherwise, we act contrary to our nature, brought about by self-will.

But yes, I believe there is a hell, and we create it here on earth with our choices, both conscious and unconscious. These choices are the fear-based ones that do not open us to greater love but constrict us for fear of being rejected.

This hell on earth ends when we die.

4) So why are we here? What, then, is the meaning of life?

The meaning of life is up to us to define. For some it can mean to build a career, to love, to amass wealth, power, etc. To me, the meaning of life keeps changing. There was a time when it meant work, family, etc. I used to think the meaning of life was to change the world into some ideal place. I still do sometimes. This is a lingering theme in my life.

These days, I think the meaning of life can be found in awakening to the “is-ness” of things, and grasping the truth of the world without the confusing artifice of intellectualism or any imposed standard of correctness, but simply opening up to it with fresh intuition and senses, as simply as one can. It’s like the way the little boy in the story “The Emperor’s New Clothes” saw through the clutter of hypocrisy. Only a “beginner’s mind” (to borrow Roshi Suzuki’s term) can be as fresh and as direct as that.

This tells me that we should probably cut through the B.S. and get to the creative power we all have, the original blessing we were all born with.

Therein, methinks, lies the mother lode of meanings.

So why are we here? It is simply to experience and be One with the great wonder, love and power of the Spirit behind all of life, and carry it with us in our every waking moment.

Thoughts on creative rut

HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE By Jim Paredes (The Philippine Star) | Updated September 29, 2013 – 12:00am

When it rains, it pours.” So the saying goes. And we have all experienced this both literally and figuratively. Sometimes, there seems to be an overabundance of stuff going on in our lives. When it is good and pleasant, one can only be thankful. When it is not, then we wait and sit it out until it passes and some sort of balance is restored.

Lately, I’ve been in some sort of doldrums. I catch myself losing my cool too easily. I have a hard time being patient, paying attention long enough to allow things to happen, unravel and get resolved. My equilibrium does get shaken a bit easily these days.

I am talking about my creative output mostly. I am having a hard time getting things done lately. I have tons of music I must write and there is this weekly column I must do every week, which gets done, thank God, but more often too close to deadline.

I know I have always been quite creative. I have been so, especially the last 44 years. I can often pull magic out of a hat with little effort. And some of the stuff I have made I am proud to say is worth sharing.

But I feel that in my continuing creative journey, I am walking at the moment in arid territory. The lush creative vegetation once common and accessible is quite sparse right now with just a few small remote patches here and there. While I generally trust my creative capacity, I sometimes (though rarely) entertain the possibility that I could lose it. There are dry spells, after all.

I have heard of artists who drop what they are doing for days, weeks months, even years. They stop painting, writing, performing, playing, acting or whatever it is they are doing for some unexplainable reason. They just lose their mojo.

I read a book written by a psychiatrist who had as his patient a big jazz artist. The musician was in a depression. The author described how this creative genius just suddenly seemed to contract into a silence and retreat into a dark corner where he seemed lost, insecure and helpless. He could not snap out of it. He had gone so far down the road of depression that he had lost touch with the best of what was in him. He had lost his confidence. When the shrink played some of the artist’s most brilliant recorded work back to him, the musician actually asked him who was playing.

I know a local brilliant songwriter with an impressive catalogue of hits who seems at the moment to be in a similar situation. He has hardly written anything in years, maybe even more than a decade. What was once an activity that gave him delight has lost its attraction. When I asked him why, he said it was because he felt like he was already old hat, a has-been. He could not identify nor compete with the new music young people were making. He felt so out of it. In frustration, he asked me what use it was to continue to write songs when it would not be played on radio, or television anyway. His feelings are completely understandable.

I asked him what got him to writing in the first place. He said it was because it gave him a great sense of relief in expressing deep emotions. It was a release valve that helped him cope with life. I asked him what he does now to take the place of songwriting to help him cope with the emotions he must still be feeling. He answered that nothing has replaced songwriting. No wonder he feels frustrated.

I am nowhere close to suffering a serious creative crisis such as the two examples I mentioned, thank God. But there are two valuable things I learned from two separate sources about handling creative rut. One of them is something I learned from my own experience and that is to show up for whatever it is you want. If you are not there, then nothing happens. This is absolutely true. It is not enough to have intentions. One must be there to animate one’s dreams into being. As Stephen Sondheim says in the song Putting It Together:

A vision’s just a vision if it’s only in your head.

If no one gets to hear it, it’s as good as dead.?

It has to come to life.

I have learned to always show up in whatever condition I am in. And, almost always, it seems that just being there is already half the work done.

(As Woody Allen once said, “Half of life is just showing up.”)

Sure, there are days when I do show up but without the full presence of my being. I am there physically but minus my usual enthusiasm, curiosity and can-do spirit. That happens, too, which brings me to lesson No. 2. The second lesson I learned is something that I picked up from a recovering alcoholic. He says there are days when he is so tempted to drink. To thwart the urge, he uses a strategy that he calls, “fake it to make it.” Basically, he pretends to not feel like drinking until the moment of temptation passes away.

Applying it to creativity, it is pretending you are enthusiastic, positive, open and willing enough to do what you must do until you do begin to actually feel all of the emotions you need to do it. In short, you talk yourself into doing it. You internalize what needs to be done. This to me is a very powerful tool that has helped me turn negative feelings and situations into more positive ones.

These past months, I have been procrastinating a lot especially when it comes to writing. Getting myself to sit and write this particular article is the result of these two practices I have learned and used through the years. I was in my resistance mode before sitting down a while ago. But I notice that once I show up and commit, I almost always end up writing something, anything. I almost never end up frustrated because a blank page is staring back at me.

The reason why an artist does what he does is because he is an artist. And making art is what artists do. It should be that simple. While it is difficult to ignore it, public approval should be looked at as a secondary aim, or maybe even best considered as merely a serendipitous result. In other words, it is a bonus. Fantastic as the feeling can be when one is acclaimed, it is not the primary aim of being an artist. If that is the main aim, then one may get trapped in shallowness and soon enough lose his ability to enchant, surprise and delight even himself much less his own audience. An artist creates new things. He does not tumble because his audience wants it.

I would like to end this with a very snobbish, presumptuous comparison. I would like to compare being a creator to being THE Creator.

God is The Original Creator. God did not and does not need anything or anyone to create. God certainly does not need our approval to continue creating. What He gifts us everyday is not based on how we react. If God did, then the wonders of sunsets, molecular physics, and the beautiful processes of physical science should have ended long ago since we do not seem to show enough appreciation for them. God would have simply stopped doing them by now if he cared about our reactions. God is as God was/is/will be. God simply creates. All creators must simply strive to do the same.

My favorite philosopher Ken Wilber was asked one time why he thought God created mankind when He/She did not need to. His succinct answer was simple but profound. He said, ‘Because no one wants to have dinner alone.’

Maybe that’s how artists should look at their audience so they don’t feel too intimidated when doing their work.

New rules

HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE By Jim Paredes (The Philippine Star) | Updated September 22, 2013 – 12:00am

There are new rules.

No, you and I were not consulted. No one was. But for the few who were astute enough to observe them while they were being written, the new rules are less of a surprise.

Take the weather. The unbelievable amount of rainfall happening in many parts of the world is unprecedented. Photos of the Colorado floods taken from space went viral a few days ago and it showed a huge portion of the state overrun by dangerous rushing waters. Guangjou in China experienced something similar a few weeks back. It looked like the Pacific Ocean which they been claiming to be part of China was suddenly theirs — except that it was right inside their own country!

We don’t even have to look that far. Our weather patterns right here in the Philippine have been going crazy. Extreme weather, which used to happen rarely, is happening now every three to five years. Massive flooding in many parts of the country will be more common. This is one of the new rules. Extreme weather is the new normal. So we better plan our cities, our architecture, agriculture and the rest of our lives around this.

In our own Gotham City that is Metro Manila, things like payday, Midnight Madness sales in malls, Baclaran day, Divisoria day, a rainy day, rush hour, rallies, strikes, the heavy presence of trucks, buses, a few stalled cars, a shootout between cops and criminals can create a standstill in our major thoroughfares. And it can happen in just a few minutes. It seems like we are living at the edge of chaos. There should be new MMDA rules now about scheduling events in EDSA that will ensure mobility is not too curtailed or hampered.

A lot has been happening lately.

Zamboanga woke up two weeks ago to a siege by MNLF terrorists. They have been making life miserable for everyone there. They have also enraged the rest of the country.

Meanwhile, 38 people, including senators and congressmen were charged with plunder and malversation of funds last week. There was also the uproar about Vice President Binay’s so-called “ceasefire” which never came to be.

All these may seem unrelated but the conspiracy theorist in me is suggesting they may be telling us something important. What is going on?

There are new rules quietly playing out and we may not be aware of them. New ways of doing things are being suggested and they are not fully evident yet. And the confusion will continue because people are not ready to sweep the old rules away.

I have listed above some of the problems we have, namely, traffic, the new weather patterns, terrorism, corruption, insensitive and corrupt public officials. There are many more.

I also mentioned some new rules that are already playing out. Here are some more:

1) People now more than ever want and expect things to function as they were meant to.

For example, streets, roads, highways, waterways were made for movement of people and goods. They must be kept that way. Rallying, occupying streets, or building on places like esteros that impede the flow of traffic or floodwaters is now a clear no-no. The relative ease of moving informal settlers to other places and the general public support for this seems to bear this out.

Notice too how many people went to the anti-pork Million Man march in Luneta. It was popularly supported not just for the reason that people care intensely about the issue, but also because the organizers took pains not to inconvenience anyone by holding it in a park instead of a public thoroughfare. That was well appreciated by the public. They even encouraged the picking up of litter and garbage after.

On the other hand, people did not go in big numbers to the EDSA shrine rally last Sept. 11 partly because they did not want to burden fellow citizens by contributing adversely to traffic in EDSA. People want to express themselves but do not want to inflict suffering on others while doing so. It also seems to suggest that people want things done more orderly and with predictability.

2) People want better governance that delivers solutions quickly and effectively.

While we still live with a lot of mediocrity and even downright lousy government service, it is clear that people are demanding better accountability and governance. The days are disappearing when people simply grin and bear the hardship, or sigh passively in frustration at news about inefficiency, scams and corruption by officials. They now want things solved quickly and effectively.

And people are not asking for martial law or any drastic disruption of the democratic process for things to get done. What they want is for the existing democracy to perform up to speed with the times and their growing expectations.

The generally positive response to the charging of the first batch of officials involved in the PDAF scandal shows this. They appreciated the relative speed and determination in filing the cases against powerful people. Hopefully, the next few weeks will further strengthen the confidence people have in our legal system.

On the Zamboanga siege, I sense that more people want the situation ended conclusively — meaning they prefer the rebels caught and brought to justice, or even killed rather than having a “ceasefire” or cessation of hostilities in exchange for free passage for the MNLF. They have caused too much trouble already. People want real solutions that solve problems with finality.

For the same reason, people are also supportive of the peace talks with the MILF and other factions because the roots of the problem are finally being addressed. We have seen ceasefires played out so many times before between warring forces that did not bring a lasting peace. People feel that this deal, through painstaking effort and goodwill from government and MILF has gone farther than any attempt in the past. As of now, it is seen as the best hope for a real peaceful settlement.

There are many reasons why people saw VP Binay’s ceasefire overtures in a suspicious light. Rightly or wrongly, the people saw it as a blatant attempt at engaging in “epal” politics.

They also saw in it an opportunity for the rebels to once again escape the heat of war giving them a chance to possibly regroup to fight another day. People want justice. Unfortunately, the Binay ceasefire, at least in the eyes of many, had all the makings of what previous administrations had done, which ended in failure. Netizens especially were turned off as they watched with disgust at what seemed like old discredited politics rearing its ugly head.

People are tired of ad hoc solutions. People want to see the proper authorities, the chain of command including the military and justice system perform their jobs within the framework of a lasting and just peace.

3) People want participative democracy more than ever.

More and more citizens are now discussing issues and expressing opinions, thanks to the Internet. As of last year, there were already more than 40 million Filipinos on Facebook and Twitter. The politicians had better take time and effort to listen or suffer the consequences.

Winning elections every few years is simply not enough. People want more engagement with their leaders. They want to express approval or disapproval of their leaders’ actions in almost every issue now. And they do so with speed. Note that

Enrile was a hero last year during the Corona trial. Revilla and Jinggoy were popular. But only a few months later, they are all reviled for the pork barrel scam. Opinions can change in a snap. And so can political fortunes.

4) While participative democracy is here, it is also important for everyone to be more informed.

Most information anyone needs is a few clicks away. There is nothing more insufferable than to read tweets, posts and rants coming from pure ignorance of facts and processes and a severe lack of understanding of the proper contexts involved.

The Internet is not a one-way street where we talk and our leaders must listen. We must also listen, even if critically, to get a greater grasp of the depths of our problems and the solutions open to us. The dialogue must be constant, dynamic and meaningful if we are to get anywhere.

I know these so-called new rules have been in existence in other societies for quite awhile already. But it is time for us to now adapt them and make them work for us. It’s time to make our democracy more mature, responsive so we can ensure a more egalitarian, efficient and orderly future.