Innate Dignity and Value
By Gary Granada
A popular singer-composer, Gary is a member of Kaalagad, an ecumenical interfaith community that works with various groups in promoting environment concern, sensitivities to issues of birth and person, economics of sufficiency, solidarity and critical pluralism, and communitarian accountability. As a participant in Sanib-Sining’s signature drive for the “Credo forSynaesthetics” (LD, May-June 2005), and long-standing member of Kamalaysayan, Gary is part of Pamayanang SanibLakas, the synergism community organized by the SanibLakas ng Taongbayan Foundation.
[English translation of the first of six informal but very insightful and informative short bi-lingual lectures by popular singer-composer Gary Granada presented in a single CD titled “HIERARCHIC SELECTION: The Evolution of Social Substructures.” Gary’s lectures trace the roots of the basic social substructures of Ecology, Genders, Economics and Belief Systems to the even more basic building blocks of Biology, Physics and Ethics. It attempts to construct a coherent template with which to make sense of the confrontations that chart the major plots of the story of the inhabitants of the Earth. “Everywhere in the world, societies such as ours operate according to a complex ranking system that promotes ecological, personal, economic and ideological strife,” the CD’s jacket explains. “Humans against their own habitat, racial and and gender stratification, child abuse, capitalists versus workers, and ethnic, religious and ideological wars of attrition. If we are to stem the winds of war in the hope of forging peace, the general public, particular ly the young, has to step up and step in. And Step No.1 is popular instruction.”
In a text message to LSD’s editor, Gary said the intention of this CD project is to be of some assistance to the work of educators.]
.
ONE of the most profound questions of philosophy is .“What makes us human?” Pupuntahan din natin ‘yan, eventually, but for now let’s keep to the simpler approach. We are humans because biologists call our genus “homo” which means human in Latin. So whether we admit it or not, we are all homos, humans!
Our species is called “homo sapiens,” where sapiens is the Latin word for wise. So, that means “wise human.” Ha!
Hindi na tayo sigurado ngayon, we no longer know for sure whether we are all homo sapiens! And there is even a sub-species that they call “homo sapiens sapiens,” to distinguish between modern humans and recent humans. We are the modern humans, those who are hung up on mp3, chatting, texting, and lived within these last 100,000 years or so.
Why are there species? So you will know if you and your “crush” are compatible. If two individuals are of the same species, there is a possibility for them to have grandchildren. For example, kung ang asawa mo ay unggoy, if you are married to a monkey, it is still possible for you to bear offspring, but because you belong to different species, your offspring cannot bear their own offspring. Buti na rin ‘yon, di ba?
What’s the point? This: It is a contest of numbers and of durability. Contest ito ng paramihan at patibayan. While you are numerous, your species will thrive. If there is a scar city of food or habitat and there has to be a contest for it, or if there are floods, storms, earthquakes, the numerous and durable will survive. Matira ang marami at matibay.
..........If you still remember, in high school we learned that because of mutation, and gene flow, new species emerge every so often. And through natural selection, and random genetic drift, the fit and the lucky survive. At ang marurupok ay nauubos at nae-extinct. Now, is this okay? Is it good or bad that species become extinct? That depends on who is asked. If you are the one who is going to be extinct, you would consider that bad!
And this is the first of the contests, ang unang tunggalian. The contest between the human species and the non-human species. This is the first hierarchy. And the dictionary calls this “anthropocentrism,” a system, doctrine or attitude in which realities are regarded as centered about humans, or in terms of humans. Anthropos – tao; centrism – sentro; nakasentro sa tao. According to one quote, “man is the measure of all things.” Pangunahin ang tao; higit sa lahat, tao. The humans look down on the non-humans. “Hayop ka!” you would hear when one is angry. And those who become comatose, with physical or mental dysfunction, are pitied for having become like vegetables. “Kawawa naman, gulay na!” Humans are supposed to be high up, plants are below and so are the animals that are non-human.
And because of this overfocusing on the human, our environment has gone haywire – nagkanda-leche-leche na! Land has been destroyed, seas have been poisoned. And the air has been polluted, all for the sake of human satisfaction. This is very ironic because it is actually in the interest of the humans that the environment be conserved, because this is the habitat or home of the human. We have seen the destruction brought about by calamities that are really human-made. Kagagawan din ng tao! For example, those greedy loggers of the woods in Quezon province.
Unfortunately, humans have refused to admit culpability. People from the place are blaming the logging companies, the logging companies blame the residents who would cut and cut timber without any permit. Others blame the rebel army who have turned logging into a fund-raising enterprise, instead of preventing logging, they simply collect “revolutionary tax” on the activity. Civil society is blaming government, giving permits to logging concessionaires in exchange for much money that winds up in the pockets of DENR offici als. And the DENR is blaming the typhoon! Kaya, awa ng Diyos, natapos ang kwento nang walang naaresto!
Nature is crucially vital to us. Human conditions are dependent on the conditions of the environment. Obvious ba?!
The old folks would call it “simpol aritmitik!” Negating the consequence implies negating the antecedent. It is a simple equation. If p implies q, then by contraposition, not-q implies not-p, where p is endemic in q, meaning, that p is a subset of q, and that for any n that is not a subset of q, p is not a subset of n. Hehehe! It only means that because humans cannot survive without nature, when humans destroy nature, humans are destroying humans.
.......Perhaps it can be said that this view is still centered on the humans, where the human values nature only because it is in the best interest of the human to do so. Pero mas mabuti na yon, it is much better than not caring for the environment at all!.........
Others would accept that message, but not narrowly limited to the self - interest of humans. For them, nature was created and accorded dignity. Integrity of Creation!
.......Christians, for example, would say, the word “creation” presumes that there was/is a Creator. So for people who believe that there is a God who created this entire universe, it is part of their appreciation, thankfulness and obedience toward their God to cherish and conserve what that God has created. Pagpapahalaga at pangangalaga sa Kanyang nilikha.
.......What may be presented as a simple parallel to this is receiving a love letter or gift from someone who loves you. The natural thing to do is to treasure this, as a gesture of your love for the sender. You would not treat it like dirt, but on the contrary cherish it close to your heart as very valuable.
On the other hand, there are others who do not believe in the existence of any god, but they hold it as truth that aside from human beings, all beings are imbued with inherent dignity and value.
Bakit, maganda ba ang ipis? Can we find any beauty in the cockroach? Let’s ask its own mother! Deep Ecologists call this “ecosophy,” the philosophy of the ecology. Wala pa yata ‘yan sa dictionary.
......In a gist, it states that aside from the human, other life forms or expressions of existence, whether living or non-living – flowers, worms, large lizards, tadpoles, stones and brooks, mountains and volcanoes, include also the dawn and the new moon – all have their innate value, likas na ka kabuluhan, in their own right, and in relation to other beings.
And this intrinsic and inalienable integrity of all beings does not have to be derived from a supreme being, or God, or Creator. And even among the materialists, without believing in any god, many consider Nature as sacred.
So, sabi nga ng nanay ko, “entonces,” whether you do this because you still want to live on, or you are striving to live the will of God, or to uphold the intrinsic beauty of nature, whether or not there is a god for you, our common “denomi-nature” is Nature.
Thus we can unite on our first message. Because it is true that nature is valuable, our intention is to care for Nature. But as the present reality is that humans are destroying Nature, our demand is that this destruction of Nature be stopped.
=
=
=
=
.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BACK TO LSD-2 TABLE OF CONTENTS
To post FEEDBACK on this article, click HERE, join as member, and send your comment as a message.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment