Dr. Emiliano Hudtohan

Educator, Business Writer, Industry Expert and Entrepreneur

Elements of Spiritually-driven Management in a Catholic Business School: a literature review

Written By: SuperAdmin - Jun.05,2023

Elements of Spiritually-driven Management in a Catholic Business School: a literature review

Dr. Emiliano T. Hudtohan, EdD

San Beda College Graduate School Research and Development Journal

 October 2015

Based on a review of related literature on spirituality and religiosity in general and at the workplace in particular, three spiritualities emerged: Maharlikhan spirituality, devotional spirituality, and global spirituality.  The convergence of the three spiritualities resulted to: folk spirituality, social-activist spirituality, and personalist non-denominational spirituality. These six variants are suggested as elements of a spirituality-driven management framework at an academic workplace. The study made use of heuristic research in presenting the researcher’s personal spiritual insights culled from his experience with Lasallian educational management for almost six decades as student, administrator and faculty.  The framework for a spiritually-driven management was traced from Lasallian humanistic education to social-activism; a review on the history of spirituality in general and spirituality and religiosity at the workplace in particular contributed to the concept of a spiritually-driven management. This study reviewed in retrospect the development of Lasallian business-liberal education in creating a prospect for a spiritually-driven management framework.

Key words: spirituality, theology, humanistic education, management, social formation, social teachings, vortex and babaylans.

Introduction

The rise of spirituality as context in the workplace is a signal that humanistic management, which is a reaction against a materialistic business worldview, has progressed towards a value-based and faith-based management. Spiritually-driven management has been practiced as purpose driven leadership and meaningfulness of work. It is extensively discussed in empirical studies as spirituality in the workplace (SW) and spirituality and religiosity in the workplace (SRW). This paper is a sequel to an earlier article, Spirituality in the Workplace: Quo Vadis? (Hudtohan, 2014).

Historically, humanistic management came about as a reaction to an extreme pursuit for wealth through bottom line profit, characterized by business in the industrial revolution period.  It was the Marxist-socialist movement that mirrored the ‘inhumanity’ of business.  It was the social doctrine of the Catholic Church that declared and continues to uphold ‘human’ dignity of the workforce, operationally responsible for business products and services and bottom line profit.

But Marxist-socialists and capitalists continue to debate on a materialistic business management platform. On the other hand, the Catholic Church continues to espouse the dignity of the human person in business. The idea that key players in business are spiritual beings seems to be anathema to many.  On the contrary, I believe that the problem of business management is spiritual. And from a macro perspective, I join Walsch’s (2014) observation that “The problem of humanity today is a spiritual problem.”

Objectives

The primary purpose of this paper is to develop the elements of a conceptual framework for a spiritually-driven management in a Catholic business school. It seeks to review the historical roots of spiritual activism at De La Salle University that resulted to its current social activism. It revisits the pre-Spanish Maharlikhan spirituality intended to culturally anchor the concept of a spiritually-driven management. Lastly, it seeks to demonstrate the use of heuristics, historiography and storytelling as research tools in arriving at the concept of spiritually-driven management.

Significance of the review

First, this review challenges the faculty, students and administrators, who are attached to their respective institutional spirituality, to have a panoramic view of other spiritualities. A new spiritual perspective opens a worldview that is needed in a global academic and business environment. Second, academic decision-makers who wish to innovate may use the spiritually-driven management framework as platform for enhancing business curricular and co-curricular programs. Third, the spiritually-driven framework may be used to establish empirical data on the six spirituality variables in studying management and spirituality programs in a Catholic business school

Methodology

I made use of heuristic research, historical research and storytelling in narrating and exploring the concepts related to spiritually-driven management.

Heuristic research attempts to discover the nature and meaning of phenomenon through internal self-search, exploration, and discovery (Moustakas & Douglass, 1985).  As an axiologist, I explored my corporate and academic experience, which ultimately led me to further explore spiritually in the workplace (Hudtohan, 2014) as driver of management practice. It helped me discover the nature and meaning of spirituality in the context of business management.

The historiography (Bloch, 1962) provides a retrospect-prospect perspective (Gonzales & Tirol, 1984; Hudtohan, 2005) on spirituality.  A historical review of related literature on spirituality in the workplace (SW) and spirituality and religiosity in the workplace (SRW) by Geigel (2012 and Karakas (2010) showed empirical support in conceptualizing a spiritually-driven management framework.

Storytelling (Pillans, 2014; Brown, 2012) gets a personal message across and helps the reader’s “internal perspective and in cases where choices are unconscious, it can provide a new viewpoint that is more conscious” (Simons, 2001). Samuels and Lane (2003) assert that “Restorying reality is…changing a person’s belief system and instilling hope and spirit.”  In restorying a spiritually-driven management, I experienced catharsis in articulating my views on spiritual issues.

This is a qualitative research; it integrates my experience as an axiologist immersed in business ethics and social responsibility in the graduate school of business.  A heuristic-historical approach allowed me to narrate my spiritual viewpoint as experienced in the academic and corporate environment for almost 5 decades.

Related Literature on Humanistic Education and Social Activism

Christian education

I traced the humanistic education at DLSU through my experience as guidance counselor of the grade school department in 1976 before it was transferred to De La Salle Zobel, Ayala, Alabang. Had the university retained the grade school and high school departments at its Taft campus and had there been a vertical academic integration in the 70s, the implementation of K-12 would have been less cumbersome for DLSU.  The evolution of Lasallian devotional-activism to humanistic social-activism could have been also vertically integrated.  For almost four decades, spiritual-activism (1941-1983) at De La Salle University (DLSU) was driven by the Baltimore catechism and the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine that addressed personal holiness and sanctification.  By 1983, the university entered into a phase of social activism. It was driven by Lasallian concern for the poor, a calling of the Philippine Church to give preferential option for the poor and the Roman Catholic Church’s call for social justice.

In transition, the social concern of the university may have soft-pedaled the need for devotional spiritual practices that anchor the social activist to a personal religious experience while being of service society. Personal spiritual development remains the foundational core of social responsibility and corporate social responsibility in the 21st century.

Historically, the school of business of DLSU came almost a decade after it was founded in 1911.  Maison du De La Salle became De La Salle College when it was incorporated in 1912 and it served as residencia of the Brothers’ Community and student boarders and escuela for Filipino boys. Administratively, the director of the Brothers Community was primarily responsible for both the spiritual life of the Brothers, the students and the faculty. Fundamentally, the spiritual leadership was in the hands of the director who managed both the Brothers and the school.

In 1920, it offered a two-year commercial course, five years ahead of the courses in humanities.  For this reason, DLSU has been identified primarily a business school. In 1925 it offered courses for an Associate in Art, Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts. In 1930, the college was authorized to confer the degrees of Bachelor of Science in Education and Master of Science in Education. These non-business courses are balancing the business interest of the middle class with classical education in liberal arts.  By 1961, it offered a five-year double degree: Liberal Arts-Commerce and Liberal Arts-Education.  Since then, a humanistic education was enshrined. St. Irenaeus (185 AD) said, “Man fully alive is the glory of God.”  And St. John Baptist De La Salle on the feast of St. Andrew, the apostle, affirmed St. Irenaeus when he said, “It is in the company of Jesus that you work for the glory of God” (Meditations, 78, 2).

When the nine pioneering Christian Brothers arrived in the Philippines in 1911, they had “a clear understanding of their primary mission…To give a Christian education to boys.” (Baldwin, 1982)  The mission “to give Christian education to boys” cited in the Bull of Approbation of Pope Benedict XIII in 1724  specified that the Brothers “should make it their chief care to teach…those things that pertain to a good and Christian life… they chiefly imbue their minds with the precepts of Christianity and the Gospel” (Common Rules and Constitution).

Humanistic religious education

In the 70s, Banayad and Carillo of the Institute of Catechetics in Manila developed the human evocative approach (HEA) to catechism. The approach was learner-centered and experiential, significantly veering away from the kerygmatic, Gospel-centered catechism. It was gleaned from the conferences in Bangkok (1962), Katigondo (1964), Manila (1967) and Medellin (1968) which advocated an experiential learning anchored to an anthropocentric theology (Clarke, 1970; Ordoñez, 1970; Erdozain, 1970; Moran, 1967). 

The grade schools of De La Salle-Manila and La Salle Green Hills became the breeding ground for the human evocative approach (HEA) in teaching religion (Caluag, 1972; Carillo, 1976; Hudtohan, 1972, 1976; Surratos, 1988). Fallarme (1983) noted that the social sciences shared similar HEA techniques in helping the learners relate with others at Philippine Women’s University-Jose Abad Santos Memorial School.

Hudtohan (1972) suggested using HEA as basis for integration of religion class and guidance at De La Salle Grade School. This is supported by Erikson’s (1968) epigenetic principle of personality development and spirituality indicates that each stage of human development is part and parcel of spiritual development. Fowler’s (1981) stages of faith show how the spiritual life of an individual grows over a period of time until a universal faith is attained upon maturity.  Caluag (1980) assessed the humanization and Christianization in five De La Salle schools in the Philippines and concluded that the spiritual needs of the youth be addressed.

Endaya, Br. Andelino Manual Castillo FSC Education Foundation (BAMCREF) director (1983-1996), introduced the catechists to HEA teaching catechism in the public schools.   In 1997, a new catechism, Modyul sa Katisismo at Kagandahang Asal series aligned with HEA was published under guidance of Br. Andrew Gonzalez, FSC and Director Louie Lacson. A humanistic religious education has found its way into the public school classrooms through professional Bamcref catechists. By this time, spiritual formation has been humanized through the HEA.

Social Formation

In 1983, the Center for Social Concern and Action (COSCA) was established by Br. Andrew Gonzalez, FSC and Juan Miquel Luz to make Lasallian education relevant and responsive to the needs of Philippine society and prepare its students to become socially responsible. This started a new era of institutionalized social-activism; it eventually eroded the spiritual-activism that focused on catechetical evangelization through Sodality of Mary members, student catechists, and professional catechists.  In 1952 the student catechists in public schools were replaced by the Bamcref professional catechists. But by 2014, more than six decades later, all the professional catechists were permanently retired. 

The shift from evangelization to community involvement was based on a realization that the existential need of the poor is not spiritual.  This movement is supported by liberation theology (Gutierrez, 1973) that influenced many Catholic institutions to focus on social action for and social justice among the oppressed. Significantly, after Vatican Council II, a shift from theocentric to anthropocentric theology expressed humanistic maxims like: Christianity peaks in the fullness of being truly human (Schleck, 1968).  This shift veered away the focus of Catholic Action (CA), which made the laity a ministerial extension of the clergy for: 1. evangelization, 2. formation of Christians, 3. spiritual renewal through piety and action, 4. defense of the Catholic faith and Christian morality, and 5. spreading of Christ’s kingdom and the common good of society (PCM II: 1997).

The CA stampita prescribed a devotional spirituality; members declared that: “It is my primary duty to strive for personal holiness.  To accomplish this: I shall hear Mass daily if possible; pray the rosary daily; receive the sacraments at least once a week; make frequent visits to the Blessed Sacrament; spend at least 15 minutes a day for spiritual reading and meditation; and every year attend spiritual retreat and periodic recollection” (Hernandez, c1960).

In 1994, the DLSU mission statement declared that it considered itself a dynamic resource of the Church and Nation involved in the process of national transformation.  The social activism of the university was in “solidarity with the poor.” In 2001, its vision-mission it strengthened its social responsibility by creating “new knowledge for human development and social transformation” and “building a just, peaceful, stable and progressive Filipino nation.” (DLSU, 2003).

While it updated the original religio, mores, and cultura values of the 1911 founding Brothers within the framework of human and social development, this shift may have been detrimental to the religious, and more so the spiritual, aspect of personal development of the students and faculty.

Historically, the service learning under COSCA has its roots from two Lasalian organizations: The De La Salle Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Student Catholic Action. On June 28, 1941 De La Salle College Br. Flannan Paul, FSC met with the members of Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary to prepare them to teach catechism in a public school in Fort McKinley (Hudtohan, 2005).

By 2011, the DLSU Community Engagement (CE) conceptual framework of COSCA advocated (a) active collaboration (b) that builds on the resources, skills, and expertise, and knowledge of the campus and community (c) to improve the quality of life in communities (d) in a manner that is consistent with the campus mission. (AUN, 2011)

The CE Framework became a guide for all Lasallians to anchor themselves to the overall DLSU vision and mission in dealing with the current social realities, using a preferential option for the poor lens.  It follows a progression cycle from awareness and partnership building to actual community engagement, leading towards personal and societal change; it envisions a socially aware and active Lasallians; it works for empowered, sustainable, and disaster resilient communities (Primer on the DLSU CE Framework, 2011).

Tupas (2012), in addition to COSCA’s social engagement framework, included Vickers, McCarthy and Harris (2004) service learning framework, Brown and Keast (2003) citizen-government engagement and Stevenson and Choung (2010) TQM for the DLSU Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business social paradigm. He enumerated the various curricular subjects in business as content for service learning. The courses on Lasallian leadership, business ethics and social responsibility are being aligned with social activism through community engagement. Service learning (Hudtohan, 2013; 2014) as co-curricular program in coordination with COSCA is a major shift from the DLSU spiritual activism in the 60s.

However, the social focus of service learning has somehow lessened the personal relationship between the faculty and students in terms of coaching and mentoring them as they journey not only in social service engagements but more importantly in their spiritual formation. Lost in transition amidst the whirlwind of activities is time for personal reflection after community engagement. By sheer number of 40 plus students under one faculty member, the reflection paper is not enough and the one-time community engagement is not enough either.  I am proposing a spiritually-driven management to address a sustainable spiritual development.   

Related Literature on Spirituality

Challenge to Catholic Business Institutions

At the De La Salle University (DLSU) Management and Organization Department (MOD), I saw a need to move forward its humanistic management thrust to that of a spiritually-driven management.  Its inclusion of faith-based management and Integral human development in the curriculum and co-curricular fora is an excellent springboard to pursue a spiritually-driven management as a business perspective.  This is in line with MOD’s tagline: Bridging faith and management practice.

DLSU, like all other Catholic business schools, must renew its understanding of faith and spirituality beyond the bounds of its religious tradition in order to develop a management spirituality that is inclusive of all other spirituality and religiosity (Rahner, 1968; Ebner, 1977; Hudtohan, 2014).  Culturally, it should be driven internally by the Maharlikan kalooban (Reyes, 2013; Mercado, 1994; de Mesa, 1987; Enriquez, 1992) an inner consciousness based on a personal reading of the signs of the time and a belief that God still speaks through history (Moran, 1967). Spirituality in this context need not be dictated and compliant to hierarchical and clerical authority (Helmick, 2014). Teaching globalization without addressing the corporate “heart and soul” of the individual deprives them as business students an in-depth perspective on how to deal with the local and global realities of business (Kilmann, 2001; Livermore, 2010).

What is spiritual?

According to Rentschler (2006, p.29), spiritual has at least four major usages; it refers to: 1. to the highest of any developmental and transrational cognition, transpersonal self-identity (Wilber, 1980); 2. a separate developmental line itself like that of Fowler’s (1981) faith development; 3. a state or peak experience (Maslow, 1964) like nature mysticism (Chopra, 1997; Cowley, 2009; York, 2003), mysticism (Johnston, 1970), mystagogy (Rahner, 1972) and mystery present (Ebner, 1977); and 4. a particular attitude or orientation like openness, wisdom or compassion, which can be present at virtually any state or stage (Wilber, 2000).

A spiritually-driven management makes use of any or all of the four usages of Rentschler in addition to the socio-cultural and theological dimensions as foundational concepts of this study.  A management that is spiritually-driven means that the manager and corporate leader are powered by a highest level of personal development which is spiritual in fulfilling the management functions of planning, leading, organizing and controlling for relational and productive excellence in the workplace.

What is spirituality?

An open definition of spirituality is “people’s multiform search for meaning interconnecting them with all living beings and to God or Ultimate Reality. Within this definition there is room for differing views, for spiritualities with and without God and for an ethics of dialogue” (European SPES Institute, n.d.).

Dyck and Neubert (2011, p.490) define spirituality as “a state or quality of a heightened sensitivity to one’s human or transcendental spirit.”  Western authors use the word ‘meaning’ to imply a transcendent value which directly or indirectly implies spirituality (Tolle, 2005; Ulrich, 2012; Kilmann, 2001; Hicks & Hicks, 2010; Pape, 2014; Craig & Snook, 2014). Warren (2002) is more direct in weaving purpose as meaningful experience of God. Fifty years ago, Van Kaam (1964, p.42) noted that “Ultimate meaning…is grounded in [man] himself, others, and the ultimate Other.”

In 2015, Unilever in London commissioned Authentic Leadership Institute (2014) to design their Purpose Drives Leadership Program 2020, a workshop intended to “make sustainable living commonplace in the UK and Ireland” (Radjou & Prabhu, 2015). Unilever’s 2020 workshop considered purpose as spirituality s crucial to the workforce. Julian (2014) in his book, God is my CEO, cites the faith-work experience of 20 executive leaders.  He used the Bible as point of reference in grounding the principles and values of the chief executive officers in America.

According to Aumunn (1985, p.3) Christian spirituality in the Catholic tradition is about “the lives and teachings of men and women who have reached a high degree of sanctity throughout the ages…[that] the perfection of charity can be attained by any Christian in any state of life.” Downey (1997) opines that “Christian spirituality…is the Christian Life itself lived in and through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. It concerns absolutely every dimension of life, mind and body, intimacy and sexuality, work and leisure, economic accountability and political responsibility, domestic life and civic duty, the rising costs of health care and the plight of the poor and wounded both at home and abroad. Absolutely every dimension of life is to be integrated and transformed by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.”

From a psycho-spiritual point of view, spirituality considered as wholeness and wholeness is equated to holiness because human and spiritual development is intertwined (Erickson, 1968; Shea, 2004; Caluag, 1980).  Friel (n.d.) says, spirituality can be defined as a “fully human phenomenon, and it is a phenomenon of the fully human.”  

Geigle’s (2012, pp.18-23) review of related literature on workplace spirituality listed 70 studies from Europe, America, Middle East, Africa and Asia.  In Asia, studies from China, India, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Sri Langka were mentioned but none from the Philippines. He also reported that Oswick (2009) who compared “the two 10 year periods ending in 1998 and 2008…found the number of books on workplace spirituality increased from 17 to 55 and the journal articles increased from 40 to 192” (Geigle, p.14.)

Karakas’ (2010) reviewed 140 related studies and listed 70 definitions of spirituality at work.  He concluded that spirituality provides: 1. a human resource perspective, 2. a philosophical perspective, and 3. an interpersonal perspective that drives organization performance.  Spirituality is a driver well-being, sense of meaning and purpose of work, and sense of community and interconnectedness. Spirituality “enhances the general well-being of the employee by increasing their morale, commitment and productivity and by reducing stress, burnt-out and workaholism” (Karakas, p.12).  Spirituality “provides employees and managers a deeper sense of meaning and purpose at work” (Karakas, p.16). Spirituality provides a sense of community and connectedness, increasing their attachment, loyalty, and belonging to the organization.

Kouzes and Posner (2003) argue that emotionally, spiritually, and socially barren workplaces can turn around to become abundant workplaces by providing solutions that incorporate spirituality.  The ultimate result is spirited workplaces of the 21st century that are engaged with passion, alive with meaning and connected with compassion.

Benefiel, Fry and Geigle (2012, p.184) assert that “Spirituality and religiosity in the workplace (SWR) is an emerging area of scholarly inquiry that has an atypical history in that it has its roots in philosophy and psychology of religion and spirituality.” They likewise cited Mitroff and Denton’s (1999) landmark study where “SRW has begun to experience some convergence, both theoretically and empirically, on the importance of an inner life or spiritual practice in fostering a vision and a set of altruistic values that satisfy fundamental spiritual needs for calling and community, which in turn positively influence important individuals and organizational outcomes.”

A plethora of studies on spirituality in the workplace (SW) and religiosity in the workplace (RW) led me to combine studies on spirituality and religiosity in the workplace (SRW). But Geigle (2012, p.17) observed that “There is little empirical literature concerning mystical/religious constructs many use in their definitions, such as transcendence and interconnection with non-physical entities.”  He also cited the following research gap questions: 1. Is it possible to develop spirituality in employees? 2. What is the relationship between secular spirituality and religious spirituality? 3. How can work spirituality constructs differ from related constructs in organization behavior, organization development, and positive psychology?

Employees are spiritual beings

Studies in management have concluded that employees are spiritual and that spiritually-driven leaders (Pruzan & Miller, 2003; Miller & Miller, 2002) make a difference in the workplace. Empirical evidence based on studies on spirituality in the workplace and spirituality-religiosity in the workplace has established that the corporation is manned by spiritual beings, no longer machines of the industrial age, no longer labor for production, and no longer human beings with rights but spiritual beings with human corporate activities.

Maschke, Preziosi and Harrington (2008, p.11) concluded that “spirituality exists in corporations, simply because all employees are spiritual beings.” They affirmed Teilhard de Chardin (1957) who much earlier said that we are not human beings with spiritual activities but spiritual beings with human activities. To De Chardin, the human-spiritual development in Chardin’s view is powered by the same universal laws that are operative in the material world. He wrote, “[E]verything is the sum of the past [and] nothing is comprehensible except through its history. Nature is the equivalent of ‘becoming’, self-creation: this is the view which experience irresistibly leads us…There is nothing, not even the human soul, the highest spiritual manifestation we know of, that does not come within this universal law” (De Chardin, 1920). 

That employees are spiritual is a giant leap from a medieval paradigm which declared that only kings are divine and have divine rights. Walsch’s 21st century paradigm considers every human being as divine. The acceptance of employees as spiritual beings forms a basis for a spiritually-driven management.

Further, before Teilhard de Chardin died in 1955, he announced that we are spiritual beings with human activities. Neale Donald Walsch (2014, p.160) courageously announced that “human beings are divine, each having the all the divine qualities within them.” Finally, after more than four decades, he echoes Rahner (1966) and Ebner’s (1977) pronouncement that “All people are divine.”

Related Literature towards a Spiritually-driven Management

Based on my review of related literature on spirituality, I classified three spiritual tenets that influenced contemporary Catholic believers in the Philippines.  These are: A. Maharlikhan spirituality, B. Devotional spirituality and C. global spirituality as shown in a linear, historical development in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework for Spiritually-driven Management: a linear-historical development of three spiritualities

Maharlikhan spirituality

Maharlikan ethnic spirituality was practiced before 1478 when the islands belonged to the Royal Kingdom of Maharlikha (www.rumormillnews.com/pdfs/The-Untold-Story-Kingdom-of-Maharlik hans.pdf) under the Srivijaya empire that ruled from 683-1286 (Munoz, 2006) and the Majapahit Empire that ruled from 1293-1500 (www.rumormillnew.com/pdf/The-untold-story-of-Maharlikans.pdf).  According to the Nagarakretagama (Desawarñana, 1365), the Majapahit empire stretched from Sumatra to New Guinea and it included present day Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, southern Thailand, Sulu Archipelago, Manila, and East Timor (http://dbpedia.org/resource/ Majapahit).

The Laguna Plate dated 900 AD (Postma, 1992) had an inscription that condoned the debt of the descendants of Namwaran (926.4 grams of gold) which was granted by the chief of Tondo in Manila and the authorities of Paila, Binwangan and Pulilan in Luzon. The words were a mixture of Sanskrit, Old Malay, Old Javanese and Old Tagalog.  This establishes the Maharlikan connection with the Srivijaya empire and Majapahit empire.

This is one of the reasons why Philippine national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, is referred to as “the pride of the Malay race” and “the Great Malayan” (Trillana III, 2014). In fact, Malaysian leader Anwar Ibrahim has recognized Rizal as the “greatest Malayan” and an “Asian Renaissance Man” (Palatino, 2013).

In 1478, the Moslems came to power and in 1521, through Ferdinand Magellan, Spain colonized the island up until 1898.  But prior to the Moslem and Spanish conquest, the Maharlikans were ruled by the rajahs and the babaylans were already ministering to the spiritual life of the barangays through song, dance, healing, worship, and metaphysical connectivity with Bathala.  

Nona (2013, p.8) in her research, Song of the Babaylans, retrieved and reclaimed “the ancient indigenous sounds that heal, and which have been passed from generation to generation through the present and remaining babaylans – the ritualists, oralists, and healers.”  Cacayan (2005) narrated her personal encounters with the babaylans of Mindanao and their sacred tradition of worship and spirituality through dance. She concluded that the spirituality of the babaylan is wholeness.

Velando (2005) reported a babaylan art exhibit at the Kennel’s Center Commuter Art Gallery in New York City. It was noted that the babaylan knows all things; that all people and all existence are connected; and this connection is our ethnic pakikipagkapwa. Villariba (2006) cited the relevance of the babaylans in the 21st century as priestess, healer, sage and seer.  According to her, the babaylan lives and breathes the Divine Source because “I Dios egga nittam nganun.”  God is in all of us, as found in Mangurug, Ibanag creed and Ba-diw Ibaloi chants. She also cited the role of the babaylan in the context of contemporary justice and peace issues in the Philippines, reminiscent of the participation of the babaylans in Philippine revolution. Melencio (2013) acknowledged them as spiritual and political leadership of the babaylans who, due to Spanish persecution, eventually participated in Philippine revolution.

Vergara (2011) observed that biblical references were used to demonize the babaylans.  He cited the derogatory Spanish words that referred to the babaylans as las viejas (old women), sacerdotisas del demonio (demon’s priestesses), hechicheras (sorceresses) and aniteras (priestesses using anito). Veneracion (1998) noted that the Spanish priests instituted the beaterio as a convent haven for Yndias in their effort to suppress and eventually replace the babaylans

Cruz (2002) theorized that the babaylans eventually entered the fold of Christianity and became beatas. Salazar observed, “[T]hese babaylans became part of the colonial society…as church women tasked with organizing and heading processions…who will assist the priests in their services at the altar” (Salazar, 1999, p.19)  

Geremia-Lachica (2012) cited the takeover of the Asogs (male babaylans) in Panay. Kobak and Gutierrez (2002) noted in the book of Alcinas (1668) that asog means effeminate and its Bisayan synonyms are bayug or bantut. It also refers to “a man who behaves like a woman and dresses as a woman. Alcina showed that the office of the priest in ancient times was held by the asogs or effeminate men eventually became a male babaylans (Kobak & Gutierrez, 2002, p.489 & p.155).

Alcina’s (1668) Historia de las islas e indios de Bisayas describe 17th century Filipino spirituality under the leadership of the babaylans and asogs.  Maharlikan culture then was declared non-Christian based on Catholic doctrines.  The Jesuit evangelizers attempted to use the word diwata in reference to ‘true God.’  But the political strength of the Dominicans and the Augustinians in early Christianization of the Philippines blocked this early inculturation of Filipino concepts within the Catholic theology and spirituality.

Contemporary Filipinos “are spirit-oriented…[they] have a deep-seated belief in the supernatural and in all kinds of spirits dwelling in individual persons, places and things…Filipinos continue to invoke the spirits in various undertakings.” (Catechism for Filipino Catholics, 2002, p.15).

Filipino theologians, sociologists and anthropologist have done enormous researches in understanding the ABC of indigenous Filipino culture and Catholic paradigm, where A is Maharlikan ethnicity, B is Colonial Catholicism and C is the result of A and B factors. However, C identified in this paper a folk spirituality no longer faithful to dogmatic tradition of the Roman Catholic Church.  Filipino theologians tried to retrieve the lost pre-Spanish cultural tradition but they never succeeded in presenting the imago dei of the Maharlikan period. The effort to reconcile culture with Catholic dogmas ended with views that made Catholic theology dominant. Since then, Filipino spirituality has been described as dual Filipino-Christian split-level spirituality (Bulatao, 1966), folk-Catholicism (Belita, 2006), and inculturation of pre-Spanish indigenous values and Catholicism (Ramos, 2015; Reyes, 2013; De Mesa, 2003; Miranda, 1987; Mercado, 1975).

In all these discourses the babaylan spirituality, from the point of view of mainstream Roman Catholicism, was declared pagan. Thus, the 21st imago dei of a Filipino was greatly shaped by an overpowering ecclesiastical hierarchy whose spirituality conforms to the dogma, moral, and worship prescribed by the Roman Catholic Church. For more than 400 years Catholicism has theologically and practically obliterated the Maharlikhan spirituality.

Given the current clerical and authority-centered governance of the Catholic Church (Helmick, 2014), the Mahalikhan spirituality vis-a-vis current devotional Catholic spirituality has a minimal chance to be mainstream, unless the crisis of confidence in the Catholic Church snowballs into a Copernican spiritual revolution (Hicks, 1987).

Devotional spirituality

The Catholic Church in the Philippines and the Catholic Church in Rome have articulated the importance integrating local cultural values with the universal goals of Christianity. The outcome of this glocal initiative is devotional spirituality.

The Catechism for Filipino Catholics (CBCP, 1997, p. 416) quotes the National Catechetical Directory for the Philippines (1984) which declares that the ordinary Filipino Catholic “knows Catholic doctrinal truth and moral values [which] are learned through…devotional practices.” The Second Provincial Council of Manila (1996, p.157) states that lay formation “refers to the particular spirituality of the lay person which needs to be developed …so that he or she might properly fulfill his/her functions. The spirituality to be formed should…seek to respond to the call to holiness (PCP II). The spirituality should have “a distinctly Filipino character…living out of traditional values like pakikipagkapwa-tao, pakikisama, pakikiramdam, utang na loob, lakas ng loob, hiya, bayanihan, etc.” (PCM II).

The Compendium of Social Doctrine of the Church (2004, p.335) states that “The lay faithful are called to cultivate an authentic lay spirituality by which they are reborn as new men and women, both sanctified and sanctifiers, immersed in the mystery of God and inserted in society.”  As such, they contribute “to the sanctification of the world, as from within like leaven, by fulfilling their own particular duties.  Thus, especially by the witness of their own life…they must manifest Christ to others” (Lumen Gentium, 78)

Devotional spirituality is church-mandated spirituality rooted in the believer’s concept of imago dei (man as image of God) in accordance with her/his religious affiliation to an institutional church. Teloar (2005) in a collection of papers on theological anthropology, reported that the ecclesial traditions of the Orthodox Church view on soteriology (doctrine of salvation) as ‘deification’ where humans participate in the divine fellowship and commune, which is based on creation in the image of God. He concluded that in theological anthropology, salvation is “understood not so much as theosis (deification) but as anthroposis: our becoming more fully and authentically human as our relationships participate in the divine koinonia” (Teloar, 2005, p.3). The World Council of Churches on theological anthropology (Teloar, 2005) in Australia affirmed the humanistic interpretation of God’s salvific action in Christ’s redemptive act which has been espoused for the past four decades (Rahner, 1966, 1968; Endorsain, 1970; Ordonez, 1970; Schleck, 1968; Ebner, 1975 & 1977).

The imago dei in the Philippines was nurtured by the Catholic-Protestant tradition during the colonial period (1521-1946).  In 1593, Doctrina Cristiana was published and it became the first manual of hermeneutics that introduced to the Maharlikan culture the fundamentals of religious belief based on Catholic dogma, morals, and worship. The early Jesuit evangelizers attempted to use the word diwata in reference to ‘true God’ but the theological influence of the Dominicans and the Augustinians successfully blocked this inculturation of Filipino concepts within the Catholic theology and spirituality (Alcinas, 1668). Forever lost is the imago dei of the Maharlikhan Bathala who created Malakas and Maganda nestled in the bamboo nodes. Eugenio’s (2001) collection of folkloric literature cites the myth of Maharlikhan creation in Hiligaynon which has parallel versions in other Filipino dialects (Belita, 2006, p.111).

The massive presence of religious orders during the evangelization period brought about distinct Catholic spiritualities based on the founders of the respective religious orders in the Philippines. Thus, we still have the spirituality based on the Augustinians vita apostolica [living alone but in a community] that dates back to the monastic West of 4th century; the Dominicans of the 13th century carried a “doctrinal spirituality and apostolic spirituality” assiduously based on the sacred teachings of the Church; and the Jesuits  post-Tridentine devotion moderna spirituality Ignatius of Loyola’s 1548 spiritual exercises (Aumunn, 1985).

Devotional spirituality is founded on a theology of supplication (Walsch, 2014); relying heavily on the intercessory power of a third party that links the supplicant with God. This practice in the Catholic Church is manifested by the statues and images of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin and an array of saints whose special intercessions are invoked through novena prayers, either in private or in community. In particular, Wright (1999, pp. iii-iv) published Lasallian Prayers in a University Setting, making available formula prayers seeking, among others, the intercession of 11 Lasallian saints and blessed for students and teachers in the classroom.

Catholics schools carry the spirituality of their founders: Agustinian La Consolacion College, Benedictine San Beda College and St. Scholastica’s College, Dominican University of Santo Tomas, Ignatian Ateneo de Manila University, Lasallian De La Salle University, Escrivan University of Asia and the Pacific,  and  Millerettian Assumption College to name a few.  Vatican II has mandated the renewal of these religious orders to capture the spirit of the time. But daily, at regular intervals, Catholic schools continue a devotional practice with a short prayer and ends by invoking the name of their respective saint and everyone responds, “Pray for us.” Under the banner of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines, devotional spirituality among Catholic schools, colleges and universities is systematically practiced.

Global spirituality

Lynch (2007) introduced a new strain of spirituality called progressive spirituality in the 21st century. He also introduced a variation of pantheism, which traditionally has been identified by the Roman Catholic hierarchy as worship of nature.  Pan(en)theism, according to Lynch “promotes sacralization of nature as the site of divine presence and activity in the cosmos – and the sacralization of the self, for the same reasons” (p.11). He rewrites pantheism as pan(en)theism to veer away from worship in nature identified historically with paganism.

He says, “The emphasis on the ineffability of this divine presence leads advocates to progressive spirituality to regard all constructive religious traditions as containing insights that can be valuable for encountering the divine.  But at the same time, progressive spirituality is highly critical of aspects of these traditions which are patriarchal and offer a ‘top-down’ notion of a God, separate from the cosmos, who seeks to order human in an authoritative way” (Lynch, p.11).

This commentary of Lynch affirms what Helmick (2014) observed that the root of crisis of confidence in the Catholic Church is due to the stranglehold of clericalism and authoritarianism that control the spiritual life of faithful and the church hierarchy.   He asks, “Can we indeed have a Church without this aura of clericalism and authoritarianism?” (Helmick, 2014, p.13).  Kellerman (2012, p.73) made a similar observation: “In the last decade, the Catholic Church endured a crisis in confidence.  To have witnessed church officials from the pope down, succumb to the demands of the people has been to witness the diminution of political influence.” 

The 21st spirituality has been driven by “1. The desire to find new ways of religious thinking and new resources for spiritual growth and well-being that truly connects with people’s beliefs, values and experience in modern, liberal societies. 2. Various initiatives to develop a spirituality that is not bound up with patriarchal beliefs and structures, and which can be relevant and liberating resource for women. 3. Attempts to reconcile religion with contemporary scientific knowledge and in particular in attempts to ground spirituality in a contemporary scientific cosmology, and 4. Moves to develop a spirituality which reflects a healthy understating of the relationship of humanity to the wider natural order and which motivates constructive action to prevent ecological catastrophe ” (Lynch, 2007, pp. 23-35). 

Global spirituality is supported theologically by Ebner’s (1977) human race church, Rahner’s (1969) anonymous Christian, Schlette’s (1966) great religion as ordinary way to salvation, McBrien’s (1969)  Kingdom of God not the Church as absolute, and Hick’s (1987) Copernican revolution to renounce religious superiority.                                                                                              

Figure 2. Conceptual Framework for Spiritually-driven Management:  a relational convergence of three

Spiritualities.  Legend:     = vortex of a sustainable spiritually-driven management.

As shown in Figure 2,  Maharlikhan spirituality merged with devotional spirituality merged results to a folk spirituality; devotional spirituality with global spirituality becomes asocial-activist spirituality; and Maharlikhan spirituality with global spirituality becomes personalist spirituality.  The question of change in one’s spirituality may be viewed in the context creative fidelity (Johnston, 2000). Gonzalez (2002, p.4) supports such fidelity by being “faithful to the traditions of the Catholic Church and at the same time being responsive to the current issues of the time.”  On the other hand, Dyer, Gregersen and Christensen (2011) indicate that when creativity is applied to an existing reality, it becomes a disruptive innovation.  Spiritual change inevitably includes disruption of existing devotional practices and mainstream beliefs.

Browning (2005) posits that the current state of a person is the result of the interplay between nature (DNA), and nurture (environment) called emergentics.  She defines emergenetics as “the constantly emerging combination of genetics and environment…a pattern of thinking and behaving that emerge from your genetic blueprint” (Browning, 2005, p.31).  Kragan’s (2003) biological metaphor is simple: A+B=C and C is neither A or B. Figure 2 shows that Maharlikhan spirituality is A; Devotional spirituality is B; and Global spirituality is C.  The convergence of the three spiritualities is a vortex of sustainable spiritually-driven management. The convergence of A and B resulted to Folk spirituality; B and C to Social-activist spirituality; and A and C to Personalist spirituality. The creative process of combining the three major spiritualities resulted to another three spiritual variants.  In the process, the two basic spiritual elements are disrupted when experiencing a new spiritual mode: folk, personalist and social-activist spirituality

Folk spirituality

Filipino spirituality is founded on folk Catholicism. Sison (2015) describes folk Catholicism as “an attempt to combine contradictory beliefs and melding different schools of thought.” Belita (2006, p.14), making a distinction between folk and popular religion, says, “The word ‘folk’ when put before ‘religion’ is intended to mean the religion of rural folks, more preliterate than literate and the phrase ‘popular religion’ is made to refer to religion that is associated with urban and literate society.” In demonstrating popular religion with popular Catholicism among Filipinos, Belita (2006) narrates Ilonggo spirituality in terms of harmony with nature (tabitabi lang), harmonization with one’s own spirit (dungan), and ginger shamanism (paluy-a).

Folk spirituality is a manifestation of split-level Christianity (Bulatao, 1966); it is inculturated Christianity among Filipino theologians like Ramos (2015), De Mesa (2003) and Mercado (1976). For them, inculturated spirituality is an integration process of interlocking Filipino values and cultural practices with Catholic doctrines and practices.

Split-level spirituality is based on the observation of Bulatao, a psychiatrist-theologian, who described the contemporary Filipino as a split-level Christian.  The issue raised is about Catholic doctrines and the application of these principles in real life; the problem of faith and good moral conduct; and the question of being a totally committed Catholic.  Inculturated spirituality is based on De Mesa’s (2006) theological appreciation through contextualization, which sees Christianity as a dynamic movement towards inculturation of Catholic teachings with Philippine cultural ethnic values.  He is joined by Mercado (1976, 1992) who argued that Christianity must be inculturated through indigenization.  Folk spiritual rituals have been observed in fiestas, processions, pilgrimages, novenas, and devotional practices either individually or communally (Ramos, 2015; Eleuterio, 1989).

The problem with folk spirituality, split-level Christianity, and inculturated spirituality is the attempt of theologians to influence the Maharlikhan ethnic culture using Roman Catholic standard of moral, dogma and worship official pronouncements.  As Browning and Kagan observed when two elements are mixed, unless one overcomes the other, a new and distinct culture will emerge.  In this case the phenomenon of folk, split-level and inculturated spiritualities are new spiritual realities.  The reality is that Catholicism continues to dominate the cultural-social-spiritual life of the Filipinos and this has been going on for more than 400 years.  This means that the Maharlikan spirituality is almost at a minimal state when the two spheres of influence intersect in Figure 2.

The Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (1992, p.76) acknowledged that “Our history shows both the fruits of inculturation and the sad consequences of its lack…to inculturate both the Church and the Gospel…We have to raise up more and more Filipino evangelizers, formed in a ‘Filipino way.’  We have to develop a catechism and theology that are authentically Filipino, and a liturgy that is truly inculturated.  We have to develop ecclesial structures responsive to Filipino needs.”

Social activist spirituality

The combination of Catholic spirituality and contemporary 21st spirituality produced social-activist spirituality. Social activism in the Catholic has shifted from labor-management issues to environment-management concerns because of global warming and climate change. Pope Francis leads in Catholic social activism. He wrote Heaven on Earth in 2013 and issued an apostolic exhortation in Evangelii Gaudium (2013). He underscored the importance of saving God’s creation in the face of climate change in Laudate Si, mi Signore (2015) and connected us to Mother Earth when he said, “The violence present in our hearts…is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life.”  Pope Francis is seeking to reverse the effects of global warming and climate change by “reconnecting with the biosphere and harmonizing world industrial activities with nature” (Rockstrom, 2015). He echoes what the pristine babaylans were practicing prior to Western colonization and global industrialization in the Philippines. His leanings toward the poor reflect his own assessment as communist in nature.  In his visit at Latin America he said, “I talk about this [land, roof, work], some people think the Pope is a communist…They don’t realize that love for the poor is at the center of the Gospel” (Inquirer, 2015).

For more than a hundred years, the social teachings of the Church addressed the labor-management issues and Marxist-capitalist views related to creation of profits in business: Rerum Novarum (On the condition of labor) of Pope Leo XIII in 1891, Quadragesimo Anno (After 40 years) of Pope Pius XI in 1931, Mater et Magistra (Christianity and Social Progress) of Pope John XXIII 1961, and Centesimus Annus (The Hundredth Year) of Pope John Paul II in 1991.

A number of encyclicals were written to encourage the lay members of the Church to take an active part in changing the social conditions of the oppressed. Populorum Progressio (On Development of Peoples) addressed the development of all people belonging to various religious tenets by Pope Paul VI in 1967.  Laboren Excelens (On Human Work) addressed the dignity of labor by Pope John Paul II in1981. Solicitudo Rei Socialis (On Social Concerns) called the attention of Church regarding global poverty and human deprivation by Pope John Paul II in 1987. Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World) became a key social doctrine on how the Church should be part of the modern society after Second Vatican Council was held in 1965. The Octogesima Adveniens (A Call to Action) cited the involvement of the laity as pastoral partners by Pope VI in 1971.

The hierarchical mandate and exhortation of the Catholic Church on social issues are voluminous. Rifkin (2003, p.19) says, “Roman Catholic teachings are a distinct blend of doctrines often viewed by outsiders as conservative on lifestyle issues and liberal on social welfare issues.” But as Helnick (2014) observes, the crisis in the Catholic Church today is that of clericalism and authoritarianism.  While the pastoral encyclicals and exhortations are trumpeted as directional guidelines and framework for social activism, the Catholic Church to simply doing a pastoral activism.  The logic seems to be that the Church hierarchy makes announcements; the Church laity implements the mandate and the invitation to action.

On the ground, the laity has accepted the responsibility passed on to them by the ecclesiastical hierarchy but the Catholic hierarchy and its attendant representatives like the religious orders are not ready to share their power politically, and much more financially, in joining the laity perform the task for concerted action.

Personalist spirituality

The outcome of Maharlikhan spirituality and contemporary 21st century spirituality is a non-denominational spirituality, no longer founded on church-based or religion-based spirituality. This spirituality according to Ebner (1977) is founded on contemporary theology which is both personalist and existentialist.  It is personalist because it relies on self-revelation in contrast to Church-based revelation regarding theological dogma and truth, and existentialist because it addresses the current experience of  the believer.

The theology of application, in contrast to Catholic theology of supplication,  encourages that “we apply in our lives what we know to be true about our relationship to God, that God lives in us, through us, as us, and that the qualities of divinity are ours to apply in our daily lives, including wisdom, clarity, knowledge, creativity, power, abundance, compassion, patience, understanding, needlessness, peace and love” (Walsch, 2014, p.90).

Two Filipino personalist non-denominational spiritual advocates: George Sison (2009) and Tato Malay (2014). They are also metaphysical-spiritual writers whom I consider as modern asogs, male babaylans (Alcinas, 1668) of our ethnic past and modern urban shamans (Samuels & Lane, (2003)..  They profess the innate power of human nature in the tradition of Page (2008), Edwards (1999, 1997), Walsch (2014), Bushnell (2005), Ferguson (2010), Boorstein (2007, 1997), Nemeth (1999), Vitale (2007), Day (2007) and Ohana (2005) who advocate the relevance of consciousness in the 21st century in the fashion of Grabhorn (1992, 2004), Williamson (2008), Dyer and Hicks (2014) and Hicks and Hicks (2010).

In Ebner’s (1977) paradigm, a non-denominational spirituality is a personalist-existentialist expression of God present as mystery. His Human Race Church embraces all beliefs and faith traditions, and here I must say, the Maharlikan spirituality is included “For not all men, presumably, are called to be Christians or Buddhists, but all men are called to be Godians and mysterians. He explains mystagogy as “the approach of the missionary who goes not to benighted pagans but to people already in touch with the divine” (Ebner, 1977, p.44).  Rahner’s (1972) mystagogy reaffirms the pristine value of Maharlikhan spirituality whose God is Bathala. Walsch explains this new spirituality as “simple but startling acknowledgement that our Ancient Cultural Story contained so many inaccuracies…Might it be that God who is continuing to send us the Original Message, and continuing to invite us to hear it and receive it over and over again through the millennia, each time with new and maturing ears?” (Walsch, 2014, p.18)

Sison (2009), as an asog, advocates reinventing one-self. In more ways than one, he is teaching his readers to become a babaylan or asog, whose power to perform miracles come from a realization of that power from within which is a gift from Above. He says, “Fine tune your imagination…get rid of your dislikes,” which Hicks and Hicks (2008) and Walsch (2014) likewise proclaim that we must state and claim our preference. His discussion on Have Your Ways of Reaching Out says that giving advice is really adding vice.  Therefore give alternatives, but don’t add vice because miracles of healing come from within. His discussion on Acclimatize Yourself to Affluence is akin to Hicks’ teaching that desires have a frequency and vibration.  He recommends moving towards the frequency of our dreams.  And finally, his discussion on Reawaken to the Truth is a celebration of our divinity, because the truth that “You are God as you.” will set you free as you meditate on “I am becoming me.”

Malay (2014) is a reincarnation of an asog of Maharlikhan tradition.  From his book, Lessons I Never Learned in School, his chapter on Universal Laws of Success summarizes 21st century spirituality discussed by Neale Donald Walsch; he reechoes the teachings of Sison that God is within us. He explains in a more doable way the teachings of Beck (2012) and Esther Hicks and Jerry Hicks (2010) on how to manifest desires and it illustrates in a practical way the universal laws as explained in Real Energy by Phaedra and Isaac Bonewits (2007).

The chapter on I am Kamalayan ends with a personal truth, rather than a mere truism: What one can conceive, one can create.  He knows very well how he can make this world a reality. He says, “A kamalayan learner believes that one’s level of consciousness is the power that creates one’s reality.” (Malay, 2014, p.36). Like a guro and guru for and of the 21st century spirituality, he mentors people to reconsider their beliefs. He says, “If what you are experiencing now is not exactly favorable, examine your beliefs and you’ll get an idea where it is coming from and why it is there.  Why are you not achieving and living your dreams?” (Malay, 2014, p.92).

Inside the vortex

The vortex of a spiritually-driven management is the convergence of all the six variants of spirituality.  According to Hicks and Hicks (2010) inside that vortex is the vibration of energy of life itself, defining Who We Really Are. Getting into the vortex “means focusing your mind upon the thoughts that allow your alignment with the broader part of who-you-really-are.  And who you really are…is already in the Vortex” (Hicks & Hicks, 2010, p.xii).

 Inside the vortex is “vibrational energy [that] can resonate within you about your essence, about finding yourself in the deepest level” (Samuels & Lane, 2003, p.18).  Walsch asserts “In the moment that we accept that we are, each of us, individuated expression of The Divine, we realize as well that nothing can happen to us, and that everything must be happening through us…but at our mutual spiritual behest…we might collectively create and encounter conditions allowing us to announce and declare, express and fulfill, experience and become Who We Really Are.  It is in this condition that God is made flesh and dwells among us” (Walsch, 2014, p.123).

According to Pillans (2014, p.11), “Wellbeing is comprised of the mutually supportive relationship between the physical, psychological and social health of the individual.” But Dyck and Neubert (2011), Karakas (2010) and Robert, Young and Kelley (2006) refer to wellbeing as a dimension of work spirituality.  On the other hand, Hicks and Hicks (2008, p.311) define well-being as “The universal state of feeling good.” They go on to explain it, metaphysically and spiritually, that “The basis of All-That-Is is Well-Being.  There is no source of anything that is other and Well-Being.  If you believe you are experiencing something other than Well-Being, it is only because you have somehow chosen a perspective that is temporarily holding you out of reach of the natural Well-Being that flows” (Hicks & Hicks, 2008, p.307).  

The babaylans and saints have discovered this vortex long time ago but their art of true living has been obscured in modern society. . Ancient wisdom describes the vortex in the words of Walsh (2007) as “The kingdom of heaven is within you.” in Christianity; “Those who know themselves know their Lord.” in Islam; “Those who know completely their own nature, know heaven.” in Confucianism; “He is in all, and all is in Him.” in Judaism; “In the depths of the soul, one sees the Divine, the One.” in The Book of Change; “Atnan [individual consciousness] and Brahman [universal consciousness] are one.” in Hinduism; and “Look within, you are the Buddha.” in Buddhism.

Inside the vortex is a higher state of spiritual life and energy “known by many names: enlightenment, liberation, salvation and satori, fana and nirvana, awakening and Ruah Ha-qodesh,  Different names, but all point to the highest human possibility, which, paradoxically is simply a recognition of who we really are” (Walsh, 2007, p.28)

Conclusion

In 1911, the pioneering Brothers came to the Philippines and opened a residencia for the Brothers and school boys and an escuela.  Their mission was simple: Christian education of Filipino youth.  From that mission, they granted a diploma for a course in business and later a diploma in liberal arts. Historically, the Brothers had kept a human touch in business. As it is today, DLSU has Liberal Arts-Commerce double degree, humanizing business as it were.

Spiritual formation

The call to provide a Christian life among the students did not end in the De La Salle classroom.  Spiritual development was further developed in co-curricular organizations of the Sodality of Mary and Student Catholic Action.  They served as an evangelization arm of the Church and at the same time a modality for personal spiritual formation. After Vatican II and after the EDSA revolution, the COSCA was born in response to local social needs. As it is today, COSCA leads DLSU in community engagements.

The spiritual pendulum swung from a personal spiritual concern to a social concern driven by corporate social responsibility and Catholic social teachings.  The emphasis on individual spirituality has been momentarily interrupted.  The proposal for a spiritually-driven management for MOD is an attempt to redirect its focus on the original mission of the Brothers:  Spirituality in the 21st century must go beyond faith-based management because of globalization and technological connectedness.  Most critical is the  the challenge is to rediscover our pre-Spanish consciousness in the pristine Royal Kingdom of Maharlikha in Southeast Asia. 

Spiritually-driven management                                                                                                        Spiritually-driven management is relocating oneself at the vortex of the three spirituality spheres in conceptual framework Figure 2: Maharlikhan spiritual DNA, Catholic devotional spirituality, and Global 21st century spirituality. Operating from that vortex, one is able to recognize experiences as a result of the convergence of these spiritual phenomena: folk practices (Maharlikhan DNA-devotional spirituality), social-activism (devotional-global spirituality), and personalist spirituality (Marhalikhan DNA-global spirituality).

Sustainable spiritual management                                                                                                              An educational leader who is immersed at the vortex of a spiritually-driven management can develop for herself/himself a sustainable new spirituality by applying the situational leadership matrix of Hersey and Blanchard (1988). Leadership in a Catholic institution should recognize that a spiritually-driven manager deals with three spiritual modalities with three spiritual variants.  As these six elements of spirituality are personally nurture, a spiritually-driven management at the institutional level would have truly embraced a local and global spiritual environment.

Recommendation

For the De La Salle MOD, the spiritually-driven management framework can be used in redesigning its business curriculum in coordination with COSCA’s co-curricular activities for community engagements.  First, using the spiritually-driven framework, MOD’s current programs in “bridging faith and management practice” may be reviewed and studied to provide an empirical data on the strength and opportunities of MOD as a spiritual agent in business management. Second, COSCA may review its role in promoting a social-activist spirituality in coordination with all the stakeholders its serves within the university. Finally, the De La Salle Campus Ministry may wish to promote Maharlikhan spirituality, social-activist spirituality and global spirituality among the students, faculty, non-teaching staff and administrators going beyond its current focus on Lasallian spiritual formation and services.

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21st Century is Century of Women

Written By: SuperAdmin - Jun.05,2023

21st Century is Century of Women

Dr. Emiliano T. Hudtohan, AB, BSE, MA, EDD

August 2021

Halu Oleo University

Kendari, Indonesia

Galactic Great Mother

The century of Women started in the 1980s and ends in the 2020s. According to Christiane Page (2008) “The Mayan calendar saw the beginning of an extraordinary journey of 36 years for the earth and its inhabitants, which reaches its conclusion just before 2020. For the first time in 26,000 years, the sun is most closely aligned with Great Cleft, Dark Rift or the Black Road of the Milky Way. Th road leads directly to the Galactic Center, or the heart of the Great Mother, and it is through this portal that we will gain access to the eternal source of all existence, the Mother herself. We travel and enter the Black Hole at the center of the galaxy. Here, we will experience the fullness of our potentiality, the unlimited realm of possibilities, and come know the true meaning of immortality.” (Page, 2008).

The vastness of the Universe is enshrined within us. Human is the microcosm of the Universe.  According to Bluestone (1997) , “Western and Chinese alchemist had one thing in common…the smallest object of material reality was a reflection of a larger cosmic whole.  [For] Monk Basil Valenti the human body was a microcosm of the universe.  In the Chinese Tao, everything on earth was a reflection of its divine form.” (p. 62).

Thus, a metaphysical view of a human being is that it is composed of quarks, whose chemical formation is the same as the molecules, the cells, the solar system, the galaxy and the universe.  Even the bubble formation in a coffee has similar formation.  The big bubble is surrounded by small bubbles. We are encapsulated by the Great Mother and the Great Mother is within us.

Mother Earth

Women are a manifestation of the Great Mother and Mother Earth. Redmond (1997) noted that in ancient times women used the drums to care and nurture their community and the Earth and preserved the beauty of nature.  But when men used the drums, ugliness was brought about by violence, conflict, and destruction. Women of old used the drums for healing, celebration, and sacralization of the Earth.  They were governed by moral beauty rooted in Gaia whom we call today as Mother Earth and Galactic Mother whose ethos is nurture and care for making things beautiful. 

The narrative on moral beauty is set in the context of Gaia in Greek mythology that has inspired writers to present new moral and ethical perspectives in the 21st century.  In ethics, Gaian myth serves a mystical function because she enlightens our experience as a mystery; it has a cosmological function because she helps us understand the material world and the metaphysical dimensions of life that are invisible; it has a sociological function because she supports and validates our experience of the social order and it has a pedagogical function because she teaches us how to live in all circumstances (Campbell, 1991; Houston, 1998 Walsh, 2007).

Accordingly, Gaia teaches us that “When we join together we are capable of giving birth to the form of the organization, to the plan, to the values, to the vision…The Gaian organizational process principle is:  Life seeks organization, but it uses messes to get there…And it involves creating relationships around shared sense of purpose…In Gaian story, this situation is influenced by the force of Chaos where creativity and freedom abound and by the force of Eros, where we are impelled to create through attraction (Wheatley, 1998). The women of the 21st century need to narrate their own story, having experienced daily the failure of the old story.  The Gaian voices of women need to break their silence and share this new vision they have come to know.

Bonewits and Bonewits (2007) trace the Gaia thesis to Oberon Zell-Ravenheart in 1970 which viewed Mother Earth as a living being composed of the whole biosphere (Lovelock, 1972; Margulis, 1998). Grauds and Childers (2005) argue that while plants, animals, and humans have their own conscious life and experience, they both partake of, and are transcended by Gaia’s consciousness.

In Gaian theory, “the biosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere maintain a homeostatic condition and the Earth is seen as a single living super being. The workings of Gaia can be viewed as a study of the physiology of the Earth, where the atmosphere is the Earth’s lungs and circulatory system, the oceans and rivers are the Earth’s blood, the land and the rocks are the Earth’s bones, and the living organisms like the plants and fungi are the Earth’s skin and sensory system. All these are tied up to an infinitely complex network of feedback systems to maintain homeostasis. (Bonewits, 2003; Chamberlain, 205); Edwards (1995) links the Gaian hypothesis with shamanic wisdom that sees nature as a living organism.  Shamans believe that “everything is alive.  Rocks and crystals are conscious beings” (Edwards, 1995, p.206).

Redmond (1997) argues that our civilization made a mistake by choosing a tradition that followed a male dominant worldview.  Climate change is happening because we are “divorcing ourselves from the natural world, we are doing violence to ourselves and to the planet.  The tradition that we inherited from warrior nomads who viewed the natural world as an infinite source of new pastures to exploit and abandon have led to rampant materialism. Even now when ecological crises have forced us to reassess our relations to the environment, politicians take steps to ‘protect’ our resources solely so that we may continue to exploit them….our culture persists in behaving as if nature exists to serve the desires of one species that values itself above all other”(Redmond, 1997, p.187). Crowley (2001) redirects us to that Gaian spirit by suggesting that we try to sense the divine presence in the natural world beneath the concrete of the streets, implying that the sacred natural order is primarily the non-human natural order resident in Mother Earth.

Myss (2016) asserts that the 21st century needs the Sacred Feminine, who is the balancing force to Sacred Masculine and its intellectual energies of reason and logic. The Sacred Feminine and its subtle and magnificent force penetrate into every expression of life, bringing us into an awareness of the crisis within Mother Nature and awakening our mystical senses and mystical history.  That Sacred Feminine is Gaia, re-emerging today as Moral Beauty to rule the conduct of society that has gone awry and in chaos.

Ethics of Care

Tong () emphasized gender feminism of boys and girls as a psychomoral development. Gender feminists believe that there are specific values and virtues that serve to empower men and disempower women in a patriarchal society. Thus, gender feminism seeks to liberate women from adopting male values and virtues and determine their own as empowered women. She hints at  dual parenting as the best means to achieve the end of gender equity in everything, including the practice of morality.

Carol Gilligan (1982) In a Different Voice  believes that men stress justice, fairness, and rights. But women focus on relationships and they stress on wants, needs, and interests of particular people. In Mapping the Moral Domain (Gilligan, Ward,  Taylor, & Bardige, 1988)   she and her colleagues  claimed that the ideal moral thinker might be more inclined to an ethics of care than an ethics of justice. It appears that Carol Gilligan has added to the literature of ethics which was dominated by male philosophers and ethicists by articulating her Ethics of Care.  This is in contrast to the Utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham, Rights of Immanuel Kant, Justice of John Rawls, virtue of Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas and McIntyre.

Women Gurus in Management.

There are two approaches to defining effective management (Max Weber). But it was Dyck and Neubert (2012) that coined mainstream and multistream management. Mainstream management emphasis is on materialism and individualism and its primary goals includes maximizing productivity, profitability, and

Competitiveness. However, Multistream management emphasis is on multiple forms of well-being and multiple stakeholders. There are nine elements of well-being.(Dyck & Neubert, 2012). Aesthetic: beauty, 1. art, poetry.

2. Ecological: natural environment, minimal pollution.

3. Emotional: satisfaction, positive feelings, hope, joy.

4. Individual: personal convenience, one’s own interests.

5. Intellectual: ideas, clear rationale, theory, concepts.

 6. Material: Finances, productivity, tangible goods, efficiency.

7. Physical: health, safety, security.

8. Social: community-mindedness, justice, helping others.

9. Spiritual: meaning, interconnectedness, transcendent,

 An emphasis on leading: The “human” era (1930-1950)

1. Mary Parker Follett emphasized human rather than technical side of management,

arguing that managers should facilitate rather than control the work of subordinates Mother of Modern Management,” believed that management was “the art of getting things done through people.” … Direct contact between employees and managers helps organizations avoid conflict and misunderstandings

Sammi Caramela

business.com Contributing Writer https://www.business.com/articles/management-theory-of-mary-parker-follett/

The Management Theory of Mary Parker Follett Feb 22, 201 Mary Parker Follett was an American social worker, management consultant, philosopher and pioneer in the fields of organizational theory and organizational behavior. Along with Lillian Gilbreth, she was one of two great women management experts in the early days of classical management theory

Mary Parker Follett, or the “.

Mary Parker Follett, or the “Mother of Modern Management,” believed that management was “the art of getting things done through people.”

Though she never managed a for-profit enterprise, she offered valuable insight on the importance of “powering with” rather than “powering over,” and integrating with employees to solve conflicts.

“Leadership is not defined by the exercise of power but by the capacity to increase the sense of power among those led,” Follett once said. “The most essential work of the leader is to create more leaders.”

Follett practiced these principles of coordination that helped develop her theory of management:

Direct contact. Direct contact between employees and managers helps organizations avoid conflict and misunderstandings. Holding regular meetings or discussing assignments in person is a simple way to practice this principle.

Early stages. Coordination should be learned and mastered straight away. No employee should feel less important than the next; each has a significant role that compliments the roles of others.

Reciprocal relationship. Every worker, regardless of their level in hierarchy, is responsible for pulling their weight and integrating with the rest of the organization. No one person should be trying less or more than another – it’s a team effort.

Continuous process. Coordination must be maintained. Don’t just learn it and forget about it; channel it in everything you do.

Known well for her mediating tendencies and managing tactics, Follett created a management theory that is still in favor today. Its main principals include:

Integration

Follett thought that workers of all levels should integrate to reach the organization’s goals. If conflict arises, there should be a conscious effort to pull instead of push, and to work together as a team. Because each member is doing their part, overall, they’ll be more likely to be content with result.

Power with

Rather than establishing a strict hierarchy and delegating power to certain individuals over others, Follett believed that workers should practice co-active power. Powering with their team is better than powering over them; this way, each member feels just as valued as the next.

This is not to say that hierarchy should be eliminated entirely, however. Structure is still crucial, but employees should not feel like they are less valuable than their managers.

Group power

Group power should be valued over personal power. Organizations do not exist for one person’s benefit, but rather the entire company of workers. If this selfless mindset prevails, then all workers will feel like they’re on the same team, rather than in competition with each other.

2. Lillian Gilbreth studied ways to reduce job stress and argued for child-labor laws and

standard workday hours  Lillian Evelyn Moller Gilbreth was an American psychologist, industrial engineer, consultant, and educator who was an early pioneer in applying psychology to time-and-motion studies. She was described in the 1940s as “a genius in the art of living.”

Lillian Gilbreth August 8, 2017 by Gary McCormick was first published by Redshift

https://www.google.com/search?q=.+Lillian+Gilbreth&oq=.+Lillian+Gilbreth&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30l9.2048j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

How many industrial-engineering degrees does it take to be regarded as a pioneer in the field? For Lillian Moller Gilbreth, none—she had degrees in English and later received a PhD in psychology—but she’s a trailblazer all the same, one who envisioned a better work environment for all.

What makes her life and work significant to modern-day industry are concepts related to the field of workplace efficiency, which she spearheaded with her husband and on her own after his death. Applying the social sciences to industrial operations, the Gilbreths emphasized the importance of the worker—rather than machinery or other, nonhuman factors—to shape the workplace.

As a result of that work, Lillian Gilbreth was the first woman elected to the National Academy of Engineering; the second to join the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME); the first female professor in the engineering school at Purdue University; and until 2005, the only woman to have been awarded the prestigious Hoover Medal, which recognizes “great, unselfish, nontechnical services by engineers to humanity.” She received 20 honorary degrees in her lifetime.

“Lillian Gilbreth’s significant contributions in the areas of industrial management and business efficiency remain in use today in various forms, which is a testament to her lasting influence,” says ASME President Charla K. Wise. “The trail Lillian Gilbreth blazed for so many women like me who chose to pursue careers in engineering while contributing to ASME’s global community of members and volunteers continues to be inspiration for all of us.”

Born in Oakland, California, in 1878, Lillian Gilbreth was the oldest of nine children. She showed a talent for academics in high school and convinced her father to allow her to enroll at the fledgling University of California, Berkeley. Majoring in in English, she also took classes in philosophy and psychology (then part of the philosophy department).

She married Frank Gilbreth, 10 years her senior and the owner of a large construction company, in 1904. Frank Gilbreth was not university educated but was a follower of the work of Frederick Winslow Taylor, a leader in the field of scientific management. Frank Gilbreth encouraged his wife to pursue further education in psychology and apply it to the field of industrial management—which would help him in operating his firm and in finding ways to increase efficiency in construction operations.

The Gilbreths’ work in time-and-motion studies quantified and analyzed the factors affecting workplace efficiency: the number of motions involved in a task and, subsequently, the time required to perform it. They published their research in a book titled Motion Study in 1911; in 1912, Frank Gilbreth closed the construction business, and the couple became industrial-management consultants. Lillian Gilbreth’s education in psychology complemented her husband’s analysis of the mechanisms and physiology of workplace tasks, published in Fatigue Study (1916) and Applied Motion Study (1917). Her contributions emphasized the reduction of fatigue through better lighting, better-fitting chairs, and coffee breaks (far from a universal concept in 1916).

“Although they called it ‘motion study’ the Gilbreths were helping create the system now known as ergonomics,” says Jane Lancaster, PhD, author of Making Time: Lillian Moller Gilbreth—A Life Beyond “Cheaper by the Dozen.”  “Under the influence of Lillian Gilbreth, they added the ‘human factor’ to Frederick W. Taylor’s time study.”

That work is the basis for many systems of predetermined motions used today, both in industry and in the home, and is based on three fundamental principles: Reduce the number of motions in a task to increase efficiency, use an incremental study of motions and time to understand an entire task, and recognize that the goal of increased efficiency is not only increased profit but also greater worker satisfaction.

After Frank Gilbreth’s untimely death in 1924, Lillian Gilbreth, who had downplayed her involvement in the couple’s management-consulting work, faced the problem of continuing that work on her own while raising 11 children.

“Dr. Gilbreth’s active and cutting-edge career in industrial engineering, coupled with her rich family life, was an inspiration and blueprint for practicing and aspiring women engineers who struggled to find role models for their careers,” says Jonna Gerken, president of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE).

The gender inequality in American society was magnified in male-dominated industrial fields, and Lillian Gilbreth’s consulting work fell off considerably after her husband’s death. This financial uncertainty led to Lillian Gilbreth’s first salaried position, in 1935, at Purdue University as a full professor of management in the School of Mechanical Engineering.

Lillian Gilbreth found a niche within engineering that sidestepped societal constraints: analyzing and improving workplace efficiency in job functions performed by women. Much of the Gilbreths’ work together had focused on ergonomics—the study of the physical layout of a workplace and its effect on operational efficiency—and Lillian Gilbreth continued that work in her new modus operandi.

One example was her work with Macy’s department store, improving the workplace layout and equipment design in the cashiers’ department, a noisy room full of pneumatic tubes and motor-driven belts. Her recommendations reduced the time for new employees to reach near-peak efficiency from four months to two days. She made similar studies in the typing pool, developing a more efficient system for keeping employee records.

Lillian Gilbreth’s reinvention as an expert in women’s work issues extended to the home, specifically to the kitchen. Her concept of the circular kitchen—a physical layout that reduces unnecessary motions and improves task efficiency—is known nowadays as the “work triangle.” She also worked with GE and other manufacturers to help them improve appliance design, with the goal of reducing wasted time and effort in the home.

As in Lillian Gilbreth’s analysis of the home, the Gilbreths’ approach to workplace management emphasized the person doing the work and the effect that workspace layout and division of labor have on fatigue and efficiency. While time-and-motion study was primarily her husband’s forte, Lillian Gilbreth’s understanding of workers’ psychology led her to recognize the importance of direct incentives, like money, and indirect incentives, like job satisfaction and fatigue reduction.

These contributions to workplace efficiency are indeed foundational. “All these years later, Dr. Gilbreth’s storied career continues to be a source of inspiration for current and future engineers and one we honor through our endowed scholarship in her name,” says SWE’s Gerken.

That inspirational legacy is still felt at Purdue University Libraries, where the Gilbreths’ extensive collected works and papers are archived. “The Gilbreth collections are used regularly by scholars and students to support a wide array of research topics,” says Sammie Morris, professor and head of archives and special

ollections at Purdue. “An undergraduate student recently consulted the collection for information on the application of industrial engineering projects to household chores.”

Such research queries—not to mention concepts such as job standardization, incentive wage plans, task simplification, kitchen design, and even coffee breaks—will carry Lillian Gilbreth’s legacy forward for centuries to come

School for Boys and Girls

De La Salle Lipa, also known by its acronym DLSL, is a private Catholic Lasallian basic and higher educational institution run by the De La Salle Brothers of the Philippine District Of the Christian Brothers in Lipa City, Batangas, Philippines. It was founded in 1962. The school became co-educational in 1973. In 1974 De La Salle Lipa followed suit upon the directive of Br. Benildo Feliciano, FSC, Provincial of De La Salle Brothers Philippines.

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Gilligan, C., Ward, J. V., Taylor, J. M., & Bardige, B. (Eds.). (1988). Mapping the moral domain: A

contribution of women’s thinking to psychological theory and education. Harvard University Press.

Grauds, C.R. & Childers, D. (2005).Energy prescription. New York, NY: A Bantam Book.

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Johnnie Mazzocco, J. (n.d.). Rosemarie Tong, Feminist Thought: A More Comprehensive Introduction

https://pages.uoregon.edu/munno/OregonCourses/REL408W03/REL408TongSummaries/johnnie-tong.htm

Laszlo, E. (2006). Chaos point: The world at the crossroads. USA: Hampton Roads Publishing Company,

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Lovelock, J.E. (1972).Gaia as seen through the atmosphere. Atmospheric Environment (Elsevier) 6(8):

McIntyre, A. C. (1984). After virtue: A study in moral theory. Notre Dame, Ind: University of Notre Dame

Press.

Mill, J. S., Bentham, J., & Ryan, A. (1987). Utilitarianism and other essays. Harmondsworth, Middlesex,

England: Penguin Books.

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Humanistic Psychology, 25(3).

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Bear & Company.

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future: Women visionaries of today illuminate the path of the future. Berkeley, CA: Conari Press.

Hudtohan, E. T. (2005). 50 years of De La Salle catechetical program: Retrospect and prospect. Retrieved from https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/104

Dr. Emiliano T. Hudtohan, an axiologist; he earned his doctorate in values formation at De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines. He teaches at the De La Salle Araneta University, Malabon Graduate School and Jose Rizal University, He was management development consultant of Metrobank and training director of Malayan Insurance Company. He is Vice President of International Association of Management and Human Resource Development (IAMHRD), Indonesia. His field of interest and expertise is business ethics, spirituality in the workplace and corporate social responsibility.

Celestine Prophecy’s Insight: A Forum

Written By: SuperAdmin - Jun.03,2023

By Dr. Emiliano T. Hudtohan
Edited December 11, 2009
Updated April 4, 2012
Original title: Theological Forum on Celestine Prophecy
for Phoenix Educator’s Journal 1996

The Celestine Prophesy series of James Redfield has reached the 12th Insight.  It started the first nine insights with  in 1995 and it has escalated to the Twelfth Insight in Redfield’s 2011publication.  The now renowned  Mayan Manuscript that dated back to the early civilization in Peru has stirred many unsuspecting publics with fear and horror that the end of the world is coming.  Written in Aramaic, the language of the Old Testament, the said Manuscript intuitively invites the reader to connect the teachings of Christ with the Celestine Insights.  This review is an attempt to do just that.

While the Manuscript is silent on the role of Christ in history, it in fact endorses how every person fulfills the redemptive act of Christ by becoming a higher perfect being – a new creation, the culmination of evolution.  Celestine Insights on human force, love, and energy ultimately directs the reader to the New Commandment of Christ which revolutionized ‘the eye for an eye’ tradition.

The Celestine Prophesy heralds the fulfillment of the New Commandment, ushering an era of spiritual renaissance in the 21st century.

The following presentation is my dialogue with various writers whom I encountered in my research for the past 35 years.  They are von Balthazar, Gabriel Moral, Paul Tillich, James Ebner, Schleck, Gregory Baum, Teilhard de Chardin, and Langdon Gilkey.  Their ideas will help the reader interpret the Insights of the Celestine Prophecy from a non-traditional Catholic perspective.

1. The Celestine Evolution

Hudtohan: My research on integration of religion and guidance and counseling was in search for the holy in the profane and the Christian in mundane activities of the teachers and counselors.  I concluded that teaching and counseling are tools for human perfection, means for students and counselees to become better human persons. The Celestine Prophecy pursues similar goals of the noble profession of the teaching and counseling.  It advances the notion that every person is bound for a glorious experience of life; after all, every person is the crowing glory of the long process of evolution.

Redfield: The Ninth Insight reveals our ultimate destiny.  It reiterates that as humans, we are, thus far, the culmination of the evolutionary process. It deals with matter taking form and in increasing complexity, element by element, then species by species, always evolving into higher state of vibration.  Our destiny is to continue to increase our energy level, getting lighter, more purely spiritual.

Hudtohan: The Celestine Prophecy reopens the evolution box of Pandora.  At the time of Charles Darwin, the Church rejected his conclusion on the grounds that the spirit could never evolve from matter. Teilhard de Chardin’s paleontological investigation and his theological acumen led him to Christianize the concept of evolution. He pointed out that Christ’s redemptive action is operative in all of creation from beginning [Alpha] and end [Omega] of time, making all things new, sacred and holy.

Darwinian, Chardinian, and Celestinian concepts of evolution all suggest how divine action makes perfect and holy all of creation, including all of humanity.  All humans, after all, were made to the ‘image and likeness of God.’

Charismatic renewal groups boldly proclaim divine presence on earth through the Spirit of the Living the God.  The movement has ushered in the era of spiritual empowerment of humanity.

Celestine’s Insight of humans becoming ‘more purely spiritual’ matches the biblical description of man as ‘a little less than the angel.’  The Insight continues to say that in the 21st millennium a critical mass of spiritually renewed people will bring about a new of life on earth.

In a quiet way, God’s presence is in the life and movement of all created things and beings, like the slow movement of the earth, like the beat of our heart, like the butterfly effect of the quarks.  After all, it is in Him that we live and move and have our being, according to St. Paul.  God is actively working in us.  For what God is doing through the sacraments in an explicit fashion, He is doing in a more implicit manner through the very words and gestures that every person does in life.

Schleck:  Humanism, which shows an unlimited concern that every person continually discovers truth and becomes what s/he is potentially, is Christianity without all the proper names.

Anthropocentric theology affirms that the vocation to which God calls us is simply to be that person who is on the way to being restored to being fully human. Thus, the accent has changed: before we used to say that the human culminates in being a Christian; now we say the Christian culminates in being human; the true Christian being simply a true person, fully human.

Hudtohan: To be true to our humanity, we have to evolve; we have to change; we have to be transformed.  Schleck believes that the peak of that transformation process is Jesus…the Christ, the New Being of reconciliation, reunion, creativity, meaning and hope.  Jesus is the norm of human existence and the ultimate concern of every human person.

2. The Divine Presence

Hudtohan: The issue here is how God manifests His presence in every person and how that person does is present to God. Openly, scientists are beginning to recognize the spiritual dimension of the human person.

Del Rosario:  combining psychiatry with religion, Peck helps people discover their internal capacity to wellness – a practice which allows the intersection of science, religion and faith. His book, Further along the Road Less Traveled By, deals with self-awareness – the self as intrinsic divinity – the inner world of his or her divinity.

Redfield: The First Insight tells us that we become alert to the mysterious way our lives evolved.  Becoming conscious of the coincidences in our lives and having a hunch or intuition concerning something we want to do or to what happens to us.

Hudtohan: How does God move us?  The Celestine Prophecy suggests coincidences and uneasiness in our present life.  Coincidences are sometimes interpreted as pure luck.  Coincidences are also considered providential.  They in fact are manifestations of divine providence.  Theologically speaking, there is no such thing as coincidence or luck because all events are ordained by God’s will, God’s providence.  Seemingly unrelated pieces of events are not mere coincidences but in fact part of God’s infinite plan.  By nature, a human person controls his/her destiny and environment.  A spiritually transformed person is sensitive to the promptings of the Spirit, being open to what the Spirit is inspiring that person to do.  Thus, inspiration, intuition, discernment, and coincidences are all considered part of His unfathomable wisdom.

Rahner: The First Insight of the prophecy makes one aware of the mysterious ways one’s life evolves.  This is in alignment with the idea of God as mystery present in our lives.  The great mystery, God, remains eternally a mystery in absolute Self-communication as the Infinite, Incomprehensible and Inexpressible being whose name is God, as a Self-giving nearness to every human soul that experiences its own finite emptiness.

Hudtohan: God is communicating to us.  Our human experience is the ground of God’s revelation.  The restlessness we experience and the coincidences happening in our lives are revelatory of God’s own hand stirring our human spirit to action.

Ebner: The stress on mystery present makes it less necessary to visualized a third something between God and humanity.  Presence is immediate, without need to talk of grace and of finding God.  On becoming aware of Presence, which is also known implicitly as truth, suffering, joy, etc. and explicitly as the Holy, each person is invited to say ‘Yes’ to whatever circumstances that person face.

Edwards: When you are feeling bad, you are saying ‘No’ to the gifts of the Universe.  You only feel bad because the Universe is trying to help you.  It is warning you that your current thoughts are short-circuiting your energy flow.  You are disconnecting from Love. You are turning back on your dreams.  Time to turn around.  You are never alone.  The Universe is guiding you in every moment.

Hudtohan: The biblical vision of grace is primarily God’s mercy and love for us, His loving presence reaching out to the very core of our existence.  If there is a God, must not His voice be heard within our experience?  And as we listen, aren’t we invited to discover in our experience the call some great, unexpected mystery?  I am suggesting the presence of God to creatures is a presence that is undeniable. To know our contingency is to know that there is a God on whom our experience is grounded.

3. History and the Lord of Histor

Redfield: The Second Insight says that our culture is sensing this mystery and we are in a process of reconstructing our new world view. History is supposed to provide knowledge of the longer context with which our lives take place.  History is not just the evolution of technology; it is the evolution of our collective thought.

Hudtohan: We ask what the meaning of history is.  What’s the purpose and meaning of our own history: life, death, and suffering? Why am I here?  Why is this happening to me now?

Jasper: The quest for meaning of the whole has become the quest for the meaning of history.  The question of how to experience God has become the question of how we experience God as the meaning of history – in biblical terms, the Lord of History.  The acceptance of history as revelatory means the recognition and appreciation of human personality as openness to God.  There can be no revelation unless the human person is being discovered in relation with God and the human community.  This acceptance of personal history is not only the presupposition of revelation; it is in some way, revelation itself.

4. Divine Presence as Love, Energy and Mystery

Redfield: The Third and Fourth Insights: The universe is in reality a vast system of energy and that human conflict is a shortage of and manipulation for the energy.  We humans, although we are unconscious of it, have the tendency to control and dominate others.  The Fifth Insight reminds us that we could end the conflict by receiving an inpouring of this energy from a higher source.  The universe can provide all our needs if only we are open to it.

Hudtohan: Teilhard de Chardin has his own insight on the presence of God in the universe.

De Chardin: God reveals Himself everywhere beneath our groping efforts, as universal milieu, only because He is the ultimate point upon which all realities converge.  God enfolds and penetrates us by creating and preserving us.  Now let us go a little further.  Under what form and with what end in view, has the Creator given us and still preserving in us, the gift of participative being?  Essentially, the answer is: Our aspiration toward Him as the Omega Point, End Point.

Hudtohan:  Teilhard de Chardin discusses the presence of God in the universe.

Redfield: The Eight Insight is knowing how to relate in a new way to others, bringing out in them the very best. This is the key to keeping the mystery operating and the answers coming.  It describes the whole new ethic governing the way humans should treat each other in order to facilitate everyone’s evolution.  When the energy goes into people, it helps them see their truth.  Then they can give this truth to others.

Ebner: Creation is especially our self-creation, the process whereby we grow toward a ‘yes’ to ourselves, to others, to the mystery.  This means we struggle to remove the obstacles blocking the flow of universal love.  This grace – mystery’s presence as a gift – is rampant in the universe, not captured nor confined in one religion, one church, and even seven sacraments.

Balthazar: Christ’s love is the norm of human existence. Every Christian must ratify his consent fully throughout his life: In all that he is and does, and must try, however effectively, to approximate it existentially.  The same is found in the exhortation of St. Paul: Put on therefore, mercy from the depths of your hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forbearing one another and forgiving one another…And above all these things put on charity, which binds everything together imperfect harmony (Col. 3: 12-14).

Hudtohan: What do virtues do to us?

Balthazar:  Putting on Christ’s humanity opens man to the infinite and leads him towards a fulfilling unity.  It is essentially form giving, the ultima forma that confers meaning on the whole process of integration.  History as revelatory means the recognition and the appreciation of human personality as the openness to God.  There can be no revelation unless a human person is being discovered in relationship to God and the human community.  It must be perfection of what is truly human… Because God is speaking now to man, every activity that is truly humanizing has an inner relation to Christian revelation…Christian revelation seen from the perspective of its conclusion shows that man is moving toward a transformation which will be emptying out of his egocentricity.

5. Divine Indwelling in Human Personality

Redfield: The Sixth Insight urges us to clear our old repeated childhood dramas to find our true selves.  Clearing the past is a precise process of becoming aware of our individual ways of controlling learned childhood habits [paradigms].  Once we transcend this habit, will find our higher selves, our evolutionary identities.

Hudtohan: There are theories on personal growth and maturity:  Erickson’s eight stages, Freud’s conscious and subconscious structures, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Covey’s seven habits and Buddha’s enlightenment.  They all attempt to map out the ‘evolutionary processes of growth in every person.  Jesus revolutionized human development in His New Commandment of Love.  Celestine’s insight calls for getting rid of our old childhood dramas and finding our true selves.  But how do we find our true selves?

Redfield:  The Seventh Insight directs our attention to certain thoughts that come to us as our guide.  When a thought comes, we must ask ‘why’. Why did this particular thought come now?  How does it relate to my life questions?  The Seventh Insight sets into motion the evolution of the true self: through questions and answers; intuition of what to do. Staying in this magical flow is truly the secret of happiness in life.

Gilkey: affirming God’s presence begins from the existential condition of man who has either experienced the Void or has conquered the Void of fear, anxiety, and sense of contingency.  In one’s ultimate helplessness either idolatry results, where the finite being is raised to the level of the ultimate or the ultimate itself is discovered by the finite being. Thus, faith in a more special sense of an explicit awareness of the ultimate as God is necessarily called forth by the experience of the ultimate Void.

Van Kaam: Religious presence is a mysterious force in the core of my being.  It can be the underlying and integrating principle of unity of my life.  Religious presence gives a new and profound meaning to other ways of living.  Religious presence makes me truly alive in all these other dimensions, though I still transcend them.  It is the secret ground of my peace of heart and mind, the wellspring of joy and courage throughout all adversity.  In this light, personality can be seen as the harmonious integration of all modes of presence which I am at a certain moment of my life.

Moran: All of creation speaks of God and that God is revealed in the letting be of being, that is, in things simply being themselves.

Baum: The word of God is not only recorded in scriptures and proclaimed in the community, it also addresses us through people and the experiences of life itself.  The word of God speaks in human conversation.

6. Divine Universal Presence

Hudtohan: The Jewish concept of divine presence recalls the “Thou” in every moment of depth-relationship with animate and inanimate entities, meaning with people, animals, and things.

Buber:  Every particular Thou is a glimpse to the eternal Thou; by means of every particular Thou, the primary word addresses the eternal Thou.

Streiker: When we respond directly and wholeheartedly to a person in a variety of concrete encounters which fill the life of the authentic, we are addressed by the God of the moment, a moment God.

Tillich: A dialogue done in ‘listening love’ can be a tool of providence, a channel of Divine Spirit.

Hudtohan: Back to Celestine Prophecy.  I believe the writer of the Manuscript is someone whom Karl Rahner would call an Anonymous Christian.  His Insights speak of the presence of mystery, wonder and awe which I recognize in Hasidic Jewish writings and tradition.  The same mystery has also been recognized by James Ebner, Gabriel Moran, Hans Urs von Balthazar, Gregory Baum and Langdon Gilkey as God’s Presence.

Pure transcendence, its concept and experience articulate by humanity, is no longer an exclusive ownership of the Christian mind that discovers earthly, mundane activities elevated by divine grace.  Human activity freed from its downward tendency can be directed as a dynamic activity towards the God of the eternal who, in His own accord is concerned with one’s fulfillment here and now and eternally.

Thus, Christians ought to meet boldly those who do not wish to be Christian because they have a different ‘view of the world.’  However, if they see in them persons who have not yet become what they truly are and have not realized what is in the depths of their lives, that Christian will see in them, Anonymous Christians in whom God’s grace is working in innumerable ways.  They will not call their kindness, love, fidelity of conscience as ‘natural virtues’ but rather think that the grace of Christ is at work even in those who have never expressly invoked it, but who in their inexplicable nameless longing have nevertheless already desired it.  They will see in them persons in whom the unutterable sighs of the Spirit have invoked, requested and accepted the silent mystery which penetrates all human existence.

Ebner:  The new Church model consists of three circles wherein the Christian and Catholic churches are subsumed.  The Human race Church is the primary agency for salvation.  All men are called to God’s kingdom and this is the ordinary means of salvation; it is operating wherever men and women say some kind of ‘yes’ to self, others and the Other. The Christian Church, distinguished by its adherence to the papacy, is not the center of God’s plan, not the ordinary means of salvation.

Hudtohan: Fifty years ago, it was unthinkable to see ordinary Protestants and Catholics join in ecumenical worship. Predominantly Pre-Vatican II attitude would not have allowed it.  In 1999, Don Moen, a Protestant charismatic musical artist succeeded in gathering both denominations to sing and pray at the University of Life Theatre and Recreational Arena (ULTRA) in Pasig City.  As one community with one voice they praised the one Triune God.  That gathering was rehearsal for what is to come: The Second Coming.  It was a glimpse of the Parousia.  The work of redemption is not yet complete. We need to expand the ecumenical circle to a circle that embraces all of humanity.

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Written By: SuperAdmin - Dec.03,2018

Wellness and Quantum Healing

Wellness and Quantum Healing

Dr. Emiliano T. Hudtohan

December 16, 2008

Introduction

In 2005, Dr. Nenita Cura, Dean of Philippine School of Social and concurrent chairperson of Moral, Social, and Civic Education (MSCE) Department, announced that we will celebrate for the first time MSCE Day in conjunction with Philippine Women’s University Week.  I was tasked to prepare paper that would be of interest to the students and their families.  Thus, I chose the topic Family Wellness and Quantum Healing Technology to make them aware that wellness and health are within reach of everyone.

Wellness of ME and WE

Healing is about wellness.  As you read this article, kindly write on a piece of paper the first letter of the word wellness.  Is the base of your letter matulis (V) or bilog (U)?  Alin kaya ang mabisa, ang matulus o bilog?  Tingnan natin.  If we break the letter W, which is pronounced  double U (UU) into two letters, what do you get?  Kung matulis ang mga paa ng W, mayroon ka ng double V (VV) at kung bilog ang mga paa ng W, ylou have double U (UU).  Aling kaya ang masmabisa for Wellness, double V or U?  Para sa akin and double V ang pipiliin ko, kasi Victory for me and Victory for you in a relationship like a healing encounter.  Ang double U, eh, you (U), and you (U).  Ikaw at ikaw lang.

Healing needs another person.  That’s why in Wellness the first two letters are WE.  If you replace WE with I Wellness becomes Illness.  Too much preoccupation with the I, the self, can lead to Illness. As social being connected metaphysically to others, the ME is always living in relation with the WE.

May I ask: How do I find the WE in ME?  I say, you have to reverse the M in ME to find WE.Re-verse is rewriting the script in Me; it is changing My direction inside out by going a 360-degree turn. We must also remember that the word WE, W is double V; it means my Victory is connected with someone’s Victory and my Wellness is always with others.

Method of Presentation

This paper makes use of story-telling (  ) as a form of communication.  Foronda (   ) believes that oral history is a power tool that helps us understand ourselves.  Connecting with our cultural ethnic, indigenous self is necessary for sustainable self.

It is also phenomenological ( ).  What is presented here are stories that took place which in the physical science and its natural law cannot fully explain.  These stories are manifestations of metaphysical realities which are not quite the same supernatural in the theological and religious sense nor physical in the field of natural science.

This paper is experiential.  Transformational learning (Mezirow, 2000) calls for hands-on learning experience.  Since this paper was borne out of a workshop, section of three presents a step by step process in a healing session.

  1. I.              The Family Tree: Ground for Healing

Our illness or disease may be traced to our family ancestry. The genogram is used to paint a picture of our tree of origin. Tracing our family tree to four generations is quite a difficult task. But I met the owner of a restaurant in Bandung, Indonesia and he showed me a book that traced his family all the way to China that goes back to various dynasties.  A normal tree includes the first generation (siblings), second generation (parents), third generation (grandparents) and fourth generation (great grandparents).

It takes some research to be able to fill-in the details of the dates of birth and death, causes of death, career and special relationships to be able to complete a family genogram.  Family reunions are opportunities to gather stories and verify information.  At times, we have to contact relatives and friends to complete a big picture of our family tree.

In my MSCE course, I used the genogram to help my students discover the hidden generational issues.  I was particularly interested for example why they chose to enroll for a second course.  Their assignment was focused on locating where the nursing/medical profession and where the drive to work abroad were coming from.  In the process, other information like illnesses and causes of death were unearthed.  Some moral issues also surface, like murder in the family, early marriages, and pre-marital pregnancies.

Some genograms show a career in nursing and working abroad as a pattern, a goal to be a medical doctor was rooted from a great grandfather who was a Chinese herbal  doctor, and siblings having a love child as a repeated pattern.

CRP is a senior nursing student whose great grandfather was a Chinese.  He said, “I had long dreamed of becoming a medical doctor ever since I was a child.  I loved the sciences and I have this passion for science and technology. Unfortunately, my father passed away due to diabetes mellitus complications and I was left with so much responsibilities, being the only son.  In the Chinese set-up, the first-born son is given the power and authority to head the family.  I inherited the responsibility of taking care of my family, my mother, my older sister and her kids.  I tried to apply at UP-PGH and UST.  At UP I only made it to the first screening, then I was denied.  I was able to pass UST and all I needed was to enroll but tuition runs up to P80,000 per semester. With a heavy heart, I decided to take up nursing.”

MSD is a similar case.  Her maternal great grandmother was a nurse married to a doctor and her paternal great grandmother was also a nurse married to a doctor.  While her mother is a pharmacist and her father, an architect, she has opted to take up nursing, following the line of her great grandparents.

CBA’s nursing career and desire to work abroad appear to have been influenced by uncles and aunts from her maternal and paternal side.  There are 3 nurses and 1 medical technologist and 8 cousins work or live abroad in the United States of America, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and United Kingdom of Great Britain. She has one cousin who is a nurse from her mother’s side.  She comes from a family of 8 siblings.  Four of them are in the nursing profession and one is married to a nurse.  Four of her siblings are working or living abroad: Jeddah, Australia and Taiwan.  On the maternal side, she has 7 uncles and aunts.  On the paternal side, she has 8 uncles and aunts.  This size of big family comes from both sides.

JAB, on the other hand, comes from a clan of farmers and businessmen.  However, he and five of his siblings are in the medical field: nursing (3), doctor of medicine (1), and radiology technology (1).  This is a breakthrough generation.  It also demonstrates what is called horizontal contagion, where the career of one influences the career of other on a lateral scale among brothers and sisters. Another breakthrough example is that of RCC whose ancestors were farmers and craftsmen (dressmaker, shoemaker) and skilled workers (laundry woman, jeepney driver).  She finished a degree major biology and is now taking up nursing.

  1. II.                 The Family Tree: Ground for Healing

Our illness or disease may be traced to our family ancestry. The genogram is used to paint a picture of our tree of origin. Tracing our family tree to four generations is quite a difficult task.

I met the owner of a restaurant in Bandung, Indonesia and he showed me a book that traced his family all the way to China that goes back to various dynasties.  A normal tree includes the first generation (siblings), second generation (parents), third generation (grandparents) and fourth generation (great grandparents).

It takes some research to be able to fill-in the details of the dates of birth and death, causes of death, career and special relationships to be able to complete a family genogram.  Family reunions are opportunities to gather stories and verify information.  At times, we have to contact relatives and friends to complete a big picture of our family tree.

In my MSCE course at the Philippine Women’s University, I used the genogram to help my students discover generational issues.  I was particularly interested, for example, why they chose to enroll for a second course.  Their assignment was focused on locating where the nursing/medical profession and where the drive to work abroad were coming from.  In the process, other information like illnesses and causes of death were unearthed.  Some moral issues also surfaced, like murder in the family, early marriages, and pre-marital pregnancies.

One genogram showed a career in nursing and working abroad as a pattern, a goal to be a medical doctor was rooted from a great grandfather who was a Chinese herbal  doctor, and siblings having a love child as a repeated pattern.

CRP is a senior nursing student whose great grandfather was a Chinese.  He said, “I had long dreamed of becoming a medical doctor ever since I was a child.  I loved the sciences and I have this passion for science and technology. Unfortunately, my father passed away due to diabetes mellitus complications and I was left with so much responsibilities, being the only son.  In the Chinese set-up, the first-born son is given the power and authority to head the family.  I inherited the responsibility of taking care of my family, my mother, my older sister and her kids.  I tried to apply at UP-PGH and UST.  At UP I only made it to the first screening, then I was denied.  I was able to pass UST and all I needed was to enroll but tuition runs up to P80,000 per semester. With a heavy heart, I decided to take up nursing.”

MSD is a similar case.  Her maternal great grandmother was a nurse married to a doctor and her paternal great grandmother was also a nurse married to a doctor.  While her mother is a pharmacist and her father, an architect, she has opted to take up nursing, following the line of her great grandparents.

CBA’s nursing career and desire to work abroad appear to have been influenced by uncles and aunts from her maternal and paternal side.  There are 3 nurses and 1 medical technologist and 8 cousins work or live abroad in the United States of America, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and United Kingdom of Great Britain. She has one cousin who is a nurse from her mother’s side.  She comes from a family of 8 siblings.  Four of them are in the nursing profession and one is married to a nurse.  Four of her siblings are working or living abroad: Jeddah, Australia and Taiwan.  On the maternal side, she has 7 uncles and aunts.  On the paternal side, she has 8 uncles and aunts.  This size of big family comes from both sides.

JAB, on the other hand, comes from a clan of farmers and businessmen.  However, he and five of his siblings are in the medical field: nursing (3), doctor of medicine (1), and radiology technology (1).  This is a breakthrough generation.  It also demonstrates what is called horizontal contagion, where the career of one influences the career of other on a lateral scale among brothers and sisters. Another breakthrough example is that of RCC whose ancestors were farmers and craftsmen (dressmaker, shoemaker) and skilled workers (laundry woman, jeepney driver).  She finished a degree major biology and is now taking up nursing.

  1. III.           The Micro World of Quarks

The key assumption I have in healing the family tree is the reality of the unseen, micro world is governed by the force and wisdom of the universe.  It was Teilhard de Chardin who acknowledged the presence of the divine in the materiality of the universe.  It was Einstein who described the behavior of the atomic work by formulating the equation of energy in term of mass traveling at the speed of light.

Quantum physics, according to Gribbin (1998), deals with the micro world. Quantum is the smallest amount of something that is possible to have. It has electrical charge units that come in multiples of quantum charges and the fundamental quantum charge is about one third of the electron charge.  This is amazing because 40 years ago, in high school, our nuclear physics teacher, Dr. Alonzo del Callar, taught us that the electron is the smallest particle of matter. Today in the micro world, the smallest particle of matter is a quark. Quark is a charged particle which feels the force of color red, blue and green.  In the level of matter it is below the size of neutrons and protons.

Quarks: Light and Matter

The existence of quarks and its unique behavior has led scientist to define local and non-local reality. Using the Copenhagen Interpretation[1] of the non-local world, we discover that an electron is matter and a wave (energy) at the same time.  The behavior of one electron (quantum particle of quark) in one place can have an effect on some distant particle. The two are said to be correlated.  Practically speaking, in the quantum world, if we break NaCl into sodium and chlorine and bring the sodium in San Francisco, USA its quarks have a way of finding the chlorine we left in the Philippines.

A                                               B

Figure 1

In Figure 1, common sense tells us that an electron in a box has a definite location even if we don’t know here it is (A). The Copenhagen Interpretation says that the electron exists as a wave filling the box, and could be anywhere inside (B).  At the moment we look for the electron, the wave function collapses at a certain location (A).

A                                       B

Figure 2

In Figure 2, Common sense says that if we slide a partition into the box without looking, the electron must be in one half of the box A. Copenhagen Interpretation says that as long as we don’t look, the electron wave still occupies both halves of the box B. It only collapses on one side of the barrier when we look inside A.

A                                      B

Figure 3

In Figure 3, as long as we don’t look, even if we move the two haves of the box far apart the wave still fills both boxes (A).  Even if the boxes are light years apart, it is only when we look into either one that the electron wave function collapses, instantaneously, and the electron ‘decides’ which box it is in (B)

Our Connectivity with the Quantum World

The power of the quarks in transformed reality is like an experience of the power of Jesus’ resurrection.  Ten years ago, I was supposed to be in Roxas City, where bank officers and staff there will be joined by those from Kalibo, Aklan. My Manila-Roxas flight was at 6:00 AM.  But I was awakened by the church bell at 5:30 AM.  In a huff, I got a taxi at the corner of Quirino Ave. and Taft Ave. at 5:37 AM.  From Taft to Roxas Blvd. and all the way to the domestic airport, all the red lights were turning green. By 5:45 AM I was inside the office of PAL supervisor and by  5:50 AM  I was seated inside the plane.  In the context of resurrection, the law of physics governing time and space was violated.  In quantum physics, I entered a non-local reality.

Your wish is my command is a genie paradigm.  When my wife and I went to see a movie Greenbelt, we parked our car at the Corinthian parking lot.  The movie was so entertaining, we decided to do a repeat and by the time we left the movie house, we surprised to find out that the parking lot had closed.  When wife went to the nearby Makati security office, I tried my key to open the Yale lock that held the chain across the parking exit. Voila, the lock opened. This experience is similar to St. Paul whose chains  fell from his hands and feet while in prison.  In the world of microphysics matter behaves differently.  The Law of Attraction states that when we visualize the end-result and stay with our positive feeling, our wish is granted.

Our thoughts communicate to the universe and the quarks move to find solution to our predicament.  Eight years ago, I was invited to by Julie Yap Daza  to appear in Tell The People.  As the theme was house husbands the ABS-CBN crew scheduled me to an 11:00 AM Wednesday shoot at home. doing chores. However, they called me late Tuesday evening, giving me no lead-time to take a leave of absence. Wednesday morning, I immediately met my supervisor to tell him that I will take a leave because of my 11:00 AM video shoot. However, he insisted that I stay because our new division head announced that he will visit our office, and my presence was a must.  As I left his office, I heard his phone rang.  Minutes later, while I was conducting training in another room,  he came in and informed me  that it was our division head who was on the phone earlier, and that he cancelled our meeting .  Happily, I went home for the ABS-CBN video taping.

The quarks were amazing.  They read my thought and my intent and they communicated to our division head.  Bill Gates once said that business should run at the speed of thought through digital technology. I say, the speed of thought travels according to Einstein’s speed of light in the realm of quantum mechanics.

Quantum Physics and Quantum Healing

Br. Andrew Gonzalez (2002) in Adult Faith connected metaphysics and theology by referring to the ‘God of quantum mechanics’ whose supreme presence is in the smallest particle of matter (quarks). The phrase refers to a series of mental images or metaphors of the divinity ever present in the local and non-local realities of material existence.

O’Murchu’s (1998) quantum theology provides spiritual explanation of the phenomenon of quarks.  Deepak Chopra’s (1993) quantum alternative to aging accepts the quarks ability to defy physical conditions of cellular deterioration.

Ballantine’s (1999) healing model in homeopathic therapy breaks away from orthodox Western medicine by integrating the world’s great therapeutic traditions to create a new transformative medicine.

Gregg Badden (2007; 2008) uses quantum physics to explain spirit realities, miracles and spontaneous healing.

Why healing technology? 

Healing in this paper is defined as wellness of mind, heart, body and spirit.  I consider the heart, mind, body and spirit of the patient (healee) as the platform, a technology, from where the power of healing is generated.  When we talk about healing, we simply talk about the mechanics that revs up the energy in the human engine to effect healing.  The process of healing comes through a technology.

Quantum mechanics is thus far an appropriate metaphor to explain ‘healing’ that occurs in seemingly unexplainable physical and even medical paradigms.  Ballantine’s (1999) healing paradigm entails stepping into the unknown challenge of old beliefs, breaking taboos, understanding culture and getting in touch with ‘other reality’ to address the purpose of life.  Deepak Chopra uses quantum physics to defy aging.  His health pre-suppositions are the same pre-suppositions the healer can use to understand the dynamics of quantum healing.

The focus of this workshop is primarily skills building.  It is therefore appropriate to discuss healing technology.  Technology according to Merriam-Webster is science in actual practice; to work out practical problems.  Thus, healing technology simply means the healer’s practical approach to wellness problem.  It is about his/her practices, paradigm, and processes that create the environment for healing to take place.

There is truly an evidence of connectivity between with local and non-local world.  The world of matter and the world of the unseen (spirit). My experience is too real to deny transcendence of time and space.

Quantum God and Healing

Quantum leap is a leap of faith based on one’s belief that the power of Jesus resurrection is already given to us.  We are the children of the resurrection.  Quantum leap, however, is not a spiritual pole vault. The human and divine forces come to terms as portrayed by Michael Angelo at the Sistine Chapel. Let me relate my experience with  quarks in dealing of myoma, pregnancy, and cancer.

In Metrobank, a number of newly-wed tellers find it difficult to conceive.  Obviously, the difficulty lies in being exposed to money (germ carrier) and in being stressed counting money with precision and balancing transactions to the last centavo at the end of the day.

I get to meet them when they attend my training sessions.  In private, they asked to be  prayed over with a special request for a baby.  After a pray-over, I prescribe recitation of  the Angelus at 6:00 AM, 12:00 Noon, and 6:00 PM., underscoring the phrase, “And she conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  I also ask them  reading and meditate on lthe first chapter of St. Luke.

I received reports  of pregnancies across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao from 1993 to 2003.  The case in Gapan, Nueva Ecija is an interesting example. The teller who was being promoted attended the banks 6-month management workshop in Manila. Her husband was a medical doctor and for 12 years they failed to have a baby.  They had given up having one, so they adopted a baby.  I prayed-over in the presence of her co-trainees, and before the training period ended she was pregnant.  I understand her child is now 10 years old.

Girlie Borjal, a freshman from Ateneo de Manila, is a resident of Ayala Alabang Village, Metro Manila. She was referred to me by her aunt, Sr. Borjal, D.C. of San Juan de Dios Hospital. With her family and friends at Harrison Plaza three ago.  According to her x-ray from St. Luke’s Hospital, she had two leaks in her heart and was due for heart operation.  The last recourse was spiritual healing.  Three month later, her family came to see me and handed me a check in thanksgiving for the physical healing that occurred.  The leaks closed and it was not necessary to do a corrective operation.

  1. IV.          The Healing Technology

The healer’s mind, heart, body and spirit are a human platform, functioning like a computer that generates the power to help transform the healee’s ailing condition to wellness.

Clarity of Vision

The healer’s mind must have the clarity of vision.  This means s/he is able to visualize.  Precise image of what the illness is all about.  Where is it located; what is affected.  The shape of the growth or the specific organ infected has to be determined.  During the interview with the healee, s/he takes note of the ailment and the location.

Together with the healee he directs and gives the picture on how the cancerous cells, for example, turn color from bluish and dark dead cells (after radiation treatment) to pinkish, red vibrant color of a healthy cell.  The healer creates a picture of a healed, healthy organ functioning with vitality.  This picture has to be etched in his/her mind and most importantly in the mind of the healee.  The healee in a regular visualization exercise will use the same picture until healing is achieved.

Do not be surprised to have ‘flashed images’ while doing healing.  Entertain the image.  The vision you get is a guide to effectively manage the healing process.

Confidence of Action

The healer must have confidence of action.  This means s/he is anchored to a course of action that would bring result.  S/he exercises faith in the vision created. Faith in the goodness of the universe means that the quarks will move so that the infected cells reported by the healee will begin to change color and vibrate new energy, new life.

This energy is manifested in the healer through his/her spine.  I personally feel that energy up and down my spine.  I get goose bumps in my neck and arms. I can feel the heat in my palms, on my cheeks, and in my breath.  With eyes closed, I can see the white light descending upon the healee from the top of his/her head to the sole of his/her feet.  I can feel the energy flowing from above coming down my wide-open left palm and transfer from my right hand pointed towards the ‘infected’ body area of the healee.  I allow the flow of energy to continue while experiencing the goose bumps.  I am in a suspended animation thanking the Quantum God who is the source of energy and healing.  I praise Him in the name of Jesus and I acknowledge the power of His Holy Spirit.

There is a sense of expectation for something good, something great is about to happen.  I can feel my healee deeply engrossed in his/her petition to get well.  At this moment I empathize with the healee and I am one in spirit with him/her.

Charity of Intention

The healer must have a pure desire for wellness of the healee.  This means he is detached from the outcome because, after all, s/he is neither the cause nor the source of healing.  S/he is a channel of divine energy.  His/her quarks are activated to influence and activate the quarks of the healee.  Therefore, the life of the healer has to be aligned with the forces of the universe and the law of divine love.  S/he should be healthy physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

S/he should graduate from the self-preservation and self-actualization stages of life.  S/he must strive to be at the level of the altruistic and humanitarian level of conduct.  Altruism requires focus on what I can do to others.  Humanitarianism poses the challenge of what can I do that will make this person more than what s/he is right now.

Growth and development in these areas do not come overnight.  It requires discipline, daily discipline to train the heart, mind, body and spirit to be healthy and strong.  I take at least 10 minutes a day to connect to my self and to divine energy.  Silence and proper breathing are key to energizing oneself.  The use of readings, biblically based, helped me get in touch with divine power in print.  Lately, getting out of the house and staring, touching, and watering the plants moved my male feeling to a feminine nurturing attitude. I am fully conscious of the yin and yang growing in my.

The healing event is my moment of oneness.  This is oneness within me as I get my inner power to rev up the energy needed to move the healee.  This is oneness with my healee, as I empathize with him/her and connect my self mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  This is oneness with divine energy, as I connect my self and the healee with a spiritual force who alone does the healing.  Prayer at this point unites the healee, healer and God in one sacred moment where light and energy manifest the power of the quarks already present in the universe.

Preparing the Client

Ask what is to be healed.  The more detailed the description on where it is, the better the visualization image for healing.  As the healee is describing the ailment, the healer should already take tab of the shape and color of the normal/healthy organ.  By the time the description is over, the healer is able to his/her own prescription by giving a picture of a healed state of the organ.

If the problem is psychological, I use Louise Hays’ approach.  In her book, You Can Heal Your Self, she noted that for every psychosocial state (negative/dysfunctional), there is an equivalent physical locus of that feeling or disturbed emotion.[2]

The location of the ailment is very important because energy will be directed physically to that spot.  He healer should open his/her palm and put it near, without touching, to the particular spot. Charles and Frances Hunter in their Handbook for Healing: Supplement to How to Heal the Sick give direction and guidance on how to deal with ailments.[3]  They also provide the vocal/audio/words needed to remove, extract and even exorcise the ailment by casting it away from the healee.

The words and actions of the healer are in harmony when s/he is able to see the healthy state of the organ and s/he is inspired to choose the right words.  Sometimes I spontaneously pray following the ACTS formula. I break into adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, and supplication.  At times, I pray in tongues or remain in silence feeling the flow of energy through goose bumps in my arm and neck. Sometimes, I say formula prayers like Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be.  Sometimes, bible verses flow abundantly.  Sometimes, the invoke Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the names of saints related to illness, like Peter whose mother in law had fever or St. Blas for throat ailment.

The Healing Event

The healer uses his/her hands to direct energy.  S/he feels the warmth and at times the healer of his/her own hands.  This signifies presence of energy and it has to be directed to the particular of object of healing. As the hand is proximate to the healee’s ailing body part, the healer can also feel the heat being released.

This is particularly true when I place my palm above the head of the healee.  I interpret this as release of his/her negative energy so that good energy can have a place in his/her body.  The principle of feng shui follows displacement for replacement.  Something goes out for something to come in.  Einstein’s E=MC 2 tells us that nothing is created or destroyed in the universe; matter and energy are coherently related.  Thus, heat coming out will be replaced by heat coming in.

Healer-healee etiquette requires that during healing no physical contact should take place.  First, is to avoid transference of energy (collusion) through physical contact.  It is bad enough that heal would sometimes feel the physical state of the healee when s/he travails, a state deeper than empathy.  Second, is to avoid the impression that the healer takes advantage of the situation by touching the healee This does not mean that the healer cannot touch the head, hand, the neck or other non-sensitive part of the body. The impression is that there is a professional distance between the healer and the healee.

It happens that the healer will receive messages and images in a ‘flash’ of inspiration. The beginning healer must learn to be sensitive to these thoughts and images.  Divine inspiration is part of being a medium for healing.  The healer must listen and pay attention to his/her right brain.  Closing one’s eyes is one way of getting this flash inspiration.  Being in a comfortable, quiet place like a corner in an empty church or a prayer room would be an added advantage.  In pursuing a flash, the healer is able to see the actual state of the healee and the desired state for healing.  The flash also inspires him/her to formulate the words and the actions in behalf of the healee.

Post healing Ritual

In any intense human interaction, cleansing after the session is needed to avoid transfer of negative elements.  In healing where ailment or illness is being directly dealt with the healer is advised to do a cleansing ritual.

My practice is to say a cleansing prayer in the presence of my healee. I use the white light, light of the resurrection, to cleanse and purify the healee and plea that whatever came out of him/her nothing will be passed on to any of his/her and my  loved ones.  That the light of the Holy Spirit will cover us and keep us safe from harm.

If and when I forget to say this cleansing prayer with my healee, on my own I would ask for divine protection through the Holy Spirit.  Symbolically, it is good to rinse one’s hands with alcohol. Practically, this practice disinfects the hands from the possible contact with healee’s ailment.

To cool off from a healing session, the healer needs to sit for a while and take a minute or two for breather.  I ordinarily feel warm and most likely I am perspiring and my T-shirt is wet with perspiration.  A cool glass of water or soft drink would help wind the body energy down.

After 15 to 30 minutes of cooling the healer should be able to do his regular routine.  As I do my sessions after noon mass, it would be around 1:30 PM that I would take my meal.  By then, I would be able to enjoy the food.

IV. Conclusion

Let me close this presentation by allowing you to experience healing of your family tree. Earlier as we walked through the mechanics of healing technology, you must have prepared yourself by opening your spirit, your heart, your mind and your body to receive the gift of healing.  Earlier, as I gave example cases of nursing careers and travels abroad, you must have reflected on your own generational inheritance (mana).

For this ‘instant’ healing session, I will do two things: first, walk you through an intergeneration healing of forgiveness and second, we will pray the healing of your family tree.

Intergenerational Healing Prayer

According to Fr. Hampsch (1989), a brief prayer could help heal the family tree.  He adds, “The formulation of the words is not all that important, but the firm purpose of amendment for our own sins and the remorse for the fact that God was offended by the sins of our ancestors is the most perfect private prayer for this healing.  It would be much more if this were conjoined with, or in the context of, the celebration of the Eucharist.

Dear Heavenly Father,

We praise and glorify you for your love and mercy  that you have bestowed upon us and for the spirit of revelation working within us to reveal all hidden sins – both our own and those from former generations.  We now take authority in the name of Jesus Christ over all familial spirits, all generational bondage, all hereditary defects, genetic or of blood, or wrong inclinations that may have been transmitted to us from within our family tree or within spiritual families to which we belong, including the defects within the church that have had their effects upon us personally.  By the faith that you give us, we rebuke all sin and the forces of evil that lead to sin.  In the holy name of your Son, Jesus Christ, we take authority over all familial spirits and bondage and their manifestations within our lives.  By that same power of Jesus, we break the power of evil from ourselves and our families and destroy what otherwise might be transmitted to our descendants.  Help us to accomplish your perfect will and fill our hearts and minds with praise of you as we acknowledge your tender mercy.  Thank you, Lord, for total healing and deliverance, in Jesus’ precious name.   Amen.

Sharon Begley (2007). Train your mind : Change your brain. How the new science reveals our extraordinary potentials to transform ourselves. NY: Ballentine Books

Neuroscientist discovered that the brain retains its power of neuroplasticity.

The brain can be rewired.  It can activate long-dormant wires and run a cable to function.Neurons connected with thinking connect to those mostly with emotions and vice versa. What we were as a child because we excercised our brain can be changed as an adult by rewiring, reengineering if you may, our brain.  Stated the other way around what we experienced emotionally as a child can be rewired by reengineering our brain as an adult.  Remember that the neurons ultimate structure is the quark and it is both light and matter and out brain creating our thoughts has energy that transcends the physical world; it is a metaphysical reality.l

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Professional Overseas Filipinos Oiling the Philippine Economic Machinery

Written By: SuperAdmin - Jul.03,2018

Dr. Emiliano T. Hudtohan

Published in BusinessMirror

July 2 &9, 2008  Last year, the Philippine Chamber of Industrial Estate and Economic Zone and its President Audi Adiviso invited former NEDA Director Cayetano Paderanga to give an economic briefing at the Mandarin Oriental.  In that briefing, Director Paderanga noted that Malaysia made a profit of US$14 billion from fossil oil production.  He said that in 2007, the Philippines also struck oil — from the remittances of Filipino Overseas Foreign Workers (OFWs) amounting to US$14 billion.

This year, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas expects US$ 16.45 billion in remittances, a 10 percent growth in money sent by Filipinos working overseas despite economic slowdown in the US and in Europe. This forecast is on tract.  In April 2008,remittances from Filipinos working overseas already rose by percent: US$1.4 billion, an acceleration of 9 percent annual growth. BSP also announced that financial investments of overseas Filipino households doubled in the first quarter of the year from 21.9 percent in 2007 to 48 percent

It is a fact that Overseas Filipino remittances have been fueling the country’s economic growth and heavily financing the government’s domestic borrowing, making the Philippines the world’s third largest recipient of workers’ remittances. Their contribution is equivalent to over 11 percent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

In more ways than one, the talent and hard work of OFWs literally oil our economic machine.

Pinoy Professionals in Singapore
I just came back from a holiday in Singapore. Lucky Plaza on Orchard Road has always been knows as Little Manila there; domestic helpers go there to remit money home or buy the week’s supply of phone cards. You can hear a lot of people speaking in Filipino, Cebuano or Ilocano.  You can eat lutong bahay at the food court, and get served by a kababayan. Filipino money changers approach you and talk to you in Filipino. On a Sunday, Lucky Plaza is a point of convergence for Filipinos and has a fiesta feel to it.

But not all Filipinos are comfortable with going to Lucky Plaza. Whether they admit it or not, the growing community of Filipino professionals would rather be seen elsewhere. They prefer to chill out at the Paragon cafes, discuss books at Borders in Wheelock or go shopping at Takashimaya.  This new breed of Filipino expatriates in Singapore work with global corporations. Aside from being paid in Singaporean currency, many are housed in serviced apartments or sizable homes in Bukit Timah. They themselves contract the services of their fellow Filipinos for childcare and support with house work.

In Singapore as it is in other major cities across the world, the traditional image of the OFW has been changing over the past years. There are now several faces to the OFW – the corporate executive more and more being an alternative poster girl/boy to the nanny and seafarer.

Divergent Dreams
Filipino expats you meet in Singapore dream with a long term view – with their families with them, the ambition is often to become a permanent resident in a year or two, and maybe even a Singaporean citizen further down the line. On the other hand, a skilled Filipino worker dreams with immediate needs in mind as they sleep alone far from family — having enough money to rush back to the Philippines and pick up family life from where they left off.

For example I met a Filipina, formerly a Marketing Officer for a Manila shopping mall, now working as storekeeper of Cold Storage supermarket in Newton. She told me and my wife she felt awfully lonely living alone.  The 30 to 40 minute train ride home to the government housing flat she rents is often quiet time to think about how much she has already saved and how much more she needs to stick around for. Upon learning that our daughter is an HR Manager for a multi-national company, she sought references for work in the Philippines to rejoin her family. But with Philippine-based companies struggling to be competitive because of the high cost of doing business, job consolidation and retrenchment are in effect. Coming back home doesn’t look like a rosy alternative for our OFWs.

It’s a different story with Mickey [not his real name] who completed his collegiate studies at the National University of Singapore in early 2000. We met him at the Novena Church of the Redemptorist [like our Mother of Perpetual Help in Baclaran] where majority of the parishioners are Filipinos.  Mickey is now an officer of a Singaporean bank. Admittedly, he is Filipino by heart. But he timidly broke the news that he could not resist the offer of the Singaporean government for a permanent residency, then citizenship.  His parents can visit him longer, and he can now avail of the governments Central Provident Fund. He is also no longer tied to a single employer like those with work permits or employment passes. He can jump into the robust job market if he wants to.

Bangkok Expatriate
This summer I was also back in Bangkok after 35 years.   We had a chance to meet with the Filipino-American niece of my wife.  She is married to a Filipino who is a marketing director for a multi-national beverage company. The husband, an expat, enjoys the privileges of a very rewarding salary, housing and education for his children.  Her husband remarked that he has become much closer to his mom and dad because they visit for a number of weeks and they live together in the same condo. In Manila, they get to see them once a week and only for lunch or dinner. We found out that her niece prefers Bangkok to Manila despite the horrendous traffic and language gap.  She feels at home having learned Thai and her kids are already acculturated in a Thai school and their neighborhood. Thailand is also much safer than Manila, without bomb scares or constant political coups to worry about.

Along Sukhumvit my wife and I explored this busy commercial area for a food adventure. It was a pleasant surprise and relief to order food from Filipino waiters.  They smile, speak good English and get your orders right. No need to worry about being understood that “not spicy” means “no spice at all please.”  At a taco resto, an hombre sporting a Mexican hat greeted us, “Buenos dias and kamusta” in one breath.  The perfect character for the job was a marine engineer from Cebu waiting for a sailing opportunity. He was in Bangkok to hone his human relations skills.  He was comfortable because his Filipino wife was exercising her nursing profession in Bangkok too.

Once upon a time, we perceived Bangkok to be in the same quality of live index as Manila. I even remember the days when the Baht and Peso were 1 is to 1. But it seems those days are long gone – even going to Bangkok is a step up for Filipinos today. Is anywhere now better than home?

Sydney Auto Mechanic
Harry [not his real name] was an auto mechanic teaching at the Negros Occidental School of Arts and Trade in the Visayas.  In the late 70s he left for Sydney with his wife and two kids to work for the Australian government.  Today, he and his wife are retired Australian citizens and his kids are grown men in good jobs.

When we met them four years ago at their luxurious residence in Bankstown, Sydney, he told us that it was important to retire with money set aside because he continues to finance their folks in the Philippines.  Their two kids born in the Philippines hardly speak Hiligaynon, and they talk and behave like typical Australians.  They work 4 to 5 days a week and spend plenty of time at Bondi beach, and they travel regularly to the USA and Europe.

This generation of overseas Filipinos has hardly any cultural ties with their relatives in the Philippines.

And the third and succeeding generations will most likely be more Australian than Filipino. Nonetheless, Harry tried to pass on his favorite Hiligaynon dictum to his kids and to us: Imo ulo, imo kulo; imo kalag, imo bakero. [Your head is your concern and you shepherd your own soul.] – a typical Bisayan value of self-reliance, makinaugalingon.

The Future Overseas Filipino
My wife and I met Audrea [not real her name] at Jollibee, Harrison Plaza one breakfast morning.  Her dad works in Dubai as a flower arranger.  Already, her mom told us that Audrea has to study very hard at Aurora Quezon Elementary School and make sure she learns good English.  Audrea is a smart Grade III pupil who attends Aurora’s School of the Future. But this early, she is being recruited by her uncle residing at Perth, Australia.  Her mom proudly announced that as soon as she finishes grade school, she will be sent as a family scholar to Australia.  There goes yet another Filipino talent earmarked early on to be an OFW.

Talk about moms nursing students who all want to migrate?

In my generation adults used to think of migrating for the first time when they get married or start a family. Maybe we should move out to provide a better life for the kids, is the usual reflection question. But today, even our children have dreams of foreign lands as early as primary school. No doubt media has helped accelerate the wanderlust in their hearts far earlier than I ever imagined, and maybe seeing their parents toil without life changing significantly also contributes to this mindset.

Global Filipino
The overseas Filipinos whether in Thailand, Singapore or Australia remain Filipinos at heart with very close family ties. But with their experience of another culture, they have become global citizens whose familial concerns continue to fuel the economy of the Motherland through their remittances.

Their bank accounts are in US dollar, Singapore dollars, pounds or dinar but their hearts are Pinoy pusong mammon.