Best Vantage Point

Psychology states that we have our own personality that predisposes how we respond to the world. In Philosophy, we call it framework. I have been having questions about how we handle perspectives in life these past few months. Some rocky sailing had even made me doubt my own perspective of life (and I believe that was a terrible experience). It is not easy to answer what is true and real in a situation involving so many personalities, moods, and emotions, a hodge-podge brew of disaster.

Perspective is essential in life. It is how we see the world and from it we base how we react. Most of the time our perspectives are healthy and sometimes, because of biases, they are not. Real hard facts, conscience, counsel, and friends help us form good perspectives. Yet even among the good people, perspectives can clash.

It is so easy to find excuses from pop psychology to justify our own perspective. We can easily blame it on our upbringing. "That is who I am," is the best excuse I have heard so far. We can also be single-sighted that all other perspectives except our own are wrong. So how should we view the world? What is the best perspective or vantage point?

I was meditating on this during my dark nights and I was surprised that the answer is very much available (and visible). It is written on bands worn on young hippy wrists: WWJD. What would Jesus do?

We may have grown up with our own biases, some too stubborn to be scrubbed away by good counseling, but we are not left without a guide. There is always the best vantage point - the vantage point of God. "How would God want you to respond to this situation? What is He telling you to do?" Isn't these the questions of spiritual counseling?

But having the right answer does not to the question does not give the results. We have to work it out. In Jesus' words, "leave everything, carry your own cross, and follow me". Because most of the time, God's perspective is very much different from our own and to accept it is to let go of so many things dear to us. This is how the world hates God so much, because it can't let go of its own self and looking at the Transcendent One shames the self-centered.

Umibig Ka Pusong Malimutin

Umibig ka pusong malimutin
Nalimot na sa pag-ibig sa akin
Bumalik ka sa ganda't hiwaga
Isinulat ko sa iyong mga tala

Umibig ka pusong malimutin
Sa hangin muli mong langhapin
Hinga na aking habilin
Upang buhay ko iyong maangkin

Umibig ka pusong malimutin
Tandaan muli ang pangako
Isinulat at isinumpa sa aking puso
Hinding-hind kailan man mapapako

Umibig ka pusong malimutin
Pangalan ko bay sasambitin pa
Sa gitna ng gulo nasaloob ng 'yong diwa
Tawagin mo muli aking payapa

Umibig ka pusong malimutin
Tumibok muli para sa akin
Pukawin ang apoy na angkin
Pusong ligaw bumalik sa akin

Pagpangga ug Pangilin

Kun sa kaugmaon ako mapanaw
Ug pangalan ko sa yuta mahanaw
Kanimo di ko kapugngan nga ihambog
Akong gugma nga wa'y isig-kaisog

Kahilimtan man sa kalibutan
'ning kinabuhi kong nahimungtan
Apan di ko tapigan ni tagu-an
K'ing halad ko nga tanan

Saksi ang mga adlaw sa akong paningkamot
Sa kasing-kasing nga di malimot
Ginapos sa gugma, kini nagtibok
Maabot lang ang mga panghinaut

Sa kangitngit ang bulan nahibalo
Sa mga pag-ampo ug pangamuyo
Nga kagabhi-on lang ang namati
Mga damdam nga wa'y pili

Gugma sa kahilum nag-alaab
Para sa hinigumang nahisalaag
Bisan sa silop ang awit magpabilin
Pagpangga ug pangilin