Here is an excerpt from Paulo Coelho's "Maktub", freely downloadable from www.paulocoelho.com.br. "Maktub" is a collection of short, mostly fictional anecdotes and ... well, simply inspiring short prose from the same author of the bestselling "The Alchemist." I should say that this is not one of the best of all 170+ "anecdotes" from "Maktub". But it fits the previous series of topics in this blog.
--- excerpt starts here ---
The master says: "A great many of the primitive civilizations practiced the custom of burying their dead in a fetal position. "He is being born again, in another life, and we must place him in the same position he was in when he came into this world," they said. For those civilizations, death was only another step along the path of the universe. "Little by little, the world has lost its calm acceptance of death. But it's not important what we think, or what we do or what we believe in: each of us will die one day. "Better to do as the old Yaqui indians did: regard death as an advisor. Always ask: 'Since I'm going to die, what should I be doing now?'"
--- excerpt ends here ---
Wednesday, October 15, 2003
Sunday, October 12, 2003
first post + email add
Hi guys! Hope you enjoy the few thoughts I put into this website! Have fun reading! Don't forget to send your comments directly to my e-mail! God bless!
--ronjie aquino, 2003 :-)
--ronjie aquino, 2003 :-)
Saturday, October 11, 2003
letter to a suicidal
dear friend,
you have created quite a good picture of your situation, and i emphatize with you. though you may have heard this a million times already, please do not give up on life while there is still life. please hear me out.
well let me tell you this. i envy you because of the love that your mother is giving you. and i'm sure many others also. and i'm sure many others also envy you because of so many other things, like finishing a degree.
in the end, it is your choice, it is your will. i, your mom, or anyone cannot do anything about it.
but you can type! you can write! you just wrote a good story! you can write an inspiring story! and that's only one of many things you could do. you could still make a purpose out of your life. you are still alive.
and yet, though you may be dying. there are other people who are dying. there are people who were born dying, and born hungry, and born sick. you were not.
friend (i wish i knew your name), you are still alive. you died, and lived again. and at least twice. you have been given another opportunity. something awaits you. you still have a purpose, you will just have to figure that out (and perhaps maybe other people could help out). every moment that we live is an opportunity. be thankful for each moment that you have life.
but yes, it is not easy. but as long as you're not yet dead, there is still that possibility. don't you really think so?
you can still dream, right? then dream. and keep praying for those dreams. of course, there are irreversible things like age and time... and there are things that we really are not meant for. (like i wish i could meet jennifer lopez and kiss her!)
perhaps if you may only start to dream. everything could come from there.
well, that's all i could say for now. please tell your mother that what she's doing for you is the epitome of love, and that i really admire her for that.
God bless you, friend.
you have created quite a good picture of your situation, and i emphatize with you. though you may have heard this a million times already, please do not give up on life while there is still life. please hear me out.
well let me tell you this. i envy you because of the love that your mother is giving you. and i'm sure many others also. and i'm sure many others also envy you because of so many other things, like finishing a degree.
in the end, it is your choice, it is your will. i, your mom, or anyone cannot do anything about it.
but you can type! you can write! you just wrote a good story! you can write an inspiring story! and that's only one of many things you could do. you could still make a purpose out of your life. you are still alive.
and yet, though you may be dying. there are other people who are dying. there are people who were born dying, and born hungry, and born sick. you were not.
friend (i wish i knew your name), you are still alive. you died, and lived again. and at least twice. you have been given another opportunity. something awaits you. you still have a purpose, you will just have to figure that out (and perhaps maybe other people could help out). every moment that we live is an opportunity. be thankful for each moment that you have life.
but yes, it is not easy. but as long as you're not yet dead, there is still that possibility. don't you really think so?
you can still dream, right? then dream. and keep praying for those dreams. of course, there are irreversible things like age and time... and there are things that we really are not meant for. (like i wish i could meet jennifer lopez and kiss her!)
perhaps if you may only start to dream. everything could come from there.
well, that's all i could say for now. please tell your mother that what she's doing for you is the epitome of love, and that i really admire her for that.
God bless you, friend.
the great mathematician
Our Lord, our God, is a Mathematician. He defined our nature with constants and systems of equations, from the simple up to the most complex partial differential equations, that up to this date, we, human beings, as a whole, have not yet figured out completely. In engineering and science and research, this is what we seek to do, to define phenomena with mathematics. Up to this point, we engineers and scientists and researchers have not yet fully captured the behavior of natural material and phenomena with exact, very defining equations.
In the future--and this I dare say--we will come to that point were we will all, human beings as a whole, will have figured everything out. And there shall be pride among us. And we shall forget nothing but our purpose on this earth. And people and nations, left and right, shall claim to the success of man, the discovery of the perfect nature that God alone created. And love shall vanish. And when people realize that it is vanished, it shall be too late. The end of world shall dawn. And a new world shall arise. And the story of Genesis shall be re-written.
This shall all happen, when we forget our purpose here on earth. That we are to love our God and our Creator, and one another.
Let us not forget our purpose on earth. Let us not forget that we are created out of love, and that love we should create, that this may forever remain a prophecy.
In the future--and this I dare say--we will come to that point were we will all, human beings as a whole, will have figured everything out. And there shall be pride among us. And we shall forget nothing but our purpose on this earth. And people and nations, left and right, shall claim to the success of man, the discovery of the perfect nature that God alone created. And love shall vanish. And when people realize that it is vanished, it shall be too late. The end of world shall dawn. And a new world shall arise. And the story of Genesis shall be re-written.
This shall all happen, when we forget our purpose here on earth. That we are to love our God and our Creator, and one another.
Let us not forget our purpose on earth. Let us not forget that we are created out of love, and that love we should create, that this may forever remain a prophecy.
dead and alive
We have come to think that we are either dead or alive. Or that we should be either dead or alive. When keepers of the law are looking for violators of the law, they want them dead or alive.
Yet, we could be dead, but still live. We could be alive, but be dying.
Jesus died many years ago, but He lives among many of us, we see Him still perform miracles, or we still see millions of people still listen to His teachings.
We recognize many heroes and saints who have died and fought in battle, that, had they not, we would not be where we are, and we honor them by celebrating their triumphs on the occassion of their beginning or end of life as we all know.
And there are those among us, who live among us, sometimes under the same roof as ours, under the same moon and stars as us, and yet they are dying. They die when they are hurt, heart-broken. They die when we shout at them in anger, sometimes when they commit mistakes even when covering up for our mistakes.
And there are those whom we may have not met, and yet they are hungry, or they are paralyzed, or they are ill; they are dying. And yet they still inhale and exhale. And yet their hearts are still beating.
And there are those who are alive, and are dying, who choose instead to be dead.
And there are those who choose to live after they die.
Life and death are not two separate, exclusive things. They could co-exist. We cannot really choose between them. But by choosing death when there is life is the end of life. But by choosing life even after death, is life as it really is.
Many of us alive are dying. Do we choose to die and end life?
And yet, though we may be dying, life is still at hand. Why end life, when it is something given to us?
Instead, let us look into living after our death. Just as heroes, and martyrs, and saints have--people who, during their lives, did something so humble and yet so great so as to be remembered and remain here on earth in our hearts and in our minds, and sometimes even in our actions--let us choose life.
Yet, we could be dead, but still live. We could be alive, but be dying.
Jesus died many years ago, but He lives among many of us, we see Him still perform miracles, or we still see millions of people still listen to His teachings.
We recognize many heroes and saints who have died and fought in battle, that, had they not, we would not be where we are, and we honor them by celebrating their triumphs on the occassion of their beginning or end of life as we all know.
And there are those among us, who live among us, sometimes under the same roof as ours, under the same moon and stars as us, and yet they are dying. They die when they are hurt, heart-broken. They die when we shout at them in anger, sometimes when they commit mistakes even when covering up for our mistakes.
And there are those whom we may have not met, and yet they are hungry, or they are paralyzed, or they are ill; they are dying. And yet they still inhale and exhale. And yet their hearts are still beating.
And there are those who are alive, and are dying, who choose instead to be dead.
And there are those who choose to live after they die.
Life and death are not two separate, exclusive things. They could co-exist. We cannot really choose between them. But by choosing death when there is life is the end of life. But by choosing life even after death, is life as it really is.
Many of us alive are dying. Do we choose to die and end life?
And yet, though we may be dying, life is still at hand. Why end life, when it is something given to us?
Instead, let us look into living after our death. Just as heroes, and martyrs, and saints have--people who, during their lives, did something so humble and yet so great so as to be remembered and remain here on earth in our hearts and in our minds, and sometimes even in our actions--let us choose life.
Sunday, August 17, 2003
blog #1
Hi guys! How are y'all doing? I have not much to say this early afternoon of Sunday, 16 August 2003. It's just a little past noon, actually. And later I have to go to the office to do some overtime. I guess that should say it all for now.
Take care, everyone! God bless.
Take care, everyone! God bless.
Friday, August 1, 2003
prustrations blog thread
A new blog has been created. The "prustrations" blog. It is (obviously) a play on the word, "frustrations." But I have had "frustrations" with almost everything "P": piano, painting, photography, philosophy, purpose, prophecy. And thus, prustrations was born. The prustrations blog though is all about purpose, prophecy, and philosophy. Check it out.
Sunday, February 2, 2003
[thoughts] February 2, 2003
This is my first endeavor in writing a regular something. It's like a journal kind of thing.
Man, I just tried to be formal but I just can't. This is a personal thing, and thus, me being a not-so-formal-all-the-time person, opted to use my language.
Anyhow, I feel like I'm writing an e-mail to a friend. So consider yourself lucky. I don't know if my friends feel lucky, however; my e-mails are novels in themselves!
So why did I start to write this darned thing? Well actually, I just bought a new notebook (no, not a laptop. the traditional, made-from-a-poor-tree kind of thing!), something I'll bring to my prayer meetings with my Christian community. I've been attending our prayer meetings since mid-October but it's only now that I've bought a notebook for this purpose. Then I wanted to write down things I remember from our past two prayer meetings, but... Man, writing is just not my thing man! I mean not writing as in what I'm doing now; as in, writing as in using pen and paper! Don't get me wrong however, I love paper. I have this thing for pen and paper---paper mostly... I love the smell of paper! (I didn't mean that literally; I didn't also say that I did not mean that! Okay, I'm weird! Sue me! More of my weirdness later on!)
Okay! I'm starting to get lost again trying to explain one thing. Let's get back to the topic... So I started "writing" this thing, because I really wanted to "write" on paper, but, as I was trying to explain, my arms just get exhausted rather fast when writing down on paper. No thanks to computer keyboards, I'm a typer not a writer (or scribbler---now that's a better word!). So I thought, why not type it down and not write it down. I just hope this computer does not crash! Anyhoo, I hope I've explained that well now. Let's now go to what I was really gonna write about....
So okay, it's a Sunday today. Last Thursday was our last prayer meeting (we actually call it a "household meeting"; a household is our smallest unit next to the individual in our community), and the Thursday before that, was our, well, second to the last prayer meeting. I remember one of our sisters (she's not my biological sister, she's my sister in Christ; in that respect, she's your sister, too!) commenting something about money and recalling some elders saying that "money is evil." I, of course, disagreed. My mother would have disagreed also. My dad would have agreed. That's altogether a different issue! Anyhow, I just read a little part of Bo Sanchez' "Simplify," and indeed, as he had confirmed, it is not actually money that is evil. It's the "love of money." Come to think of it, Jesus Christ only wanted us to love just two things: God, and our neighbors. Not money!
Thinking about "Simplify..." I thought about this one definition of simplicity that I've shared with some of my close friends---the more sleep you get, the simpler your life is! Who are the simplest beings? Babies! Man, I'd love to be a baby again! :-) Although, I'm not sure, but if you have observed, for some reason, older people sleep less... I cannot explain why. Is it because of getting used to sleeping less during their prime, when they had to work (and work really hard for their children)? Or is it really just a biological thing, as opposed to being a socially influenced kind of thing? Anyhow, I do know that older people sleep in the afternoons...... Paging Mr. Sanchez, please quote me! ;-)
In the same prayer meeting we're still talking about (that's the prayer meeting on the Thursday before last Thursday; whew, we almost got lost again!), we had Bible sharing; that is, we read a passage from the Bible (the day's Gospel, actually). We were asked by our prayer meeting leader (or household head) to cite a word, phrase, or sentence that struck us, and I quoted the following verse: "And whenever unclean spirits saw him, they would fall down before him and shout, 'You are the Son of God.'" (Mark 3:11) Man, I didn't realize this would take long. So I'm postponing my reaction to this verse in the next issue!
We were also asked to answer the question, "What if you meet Jesus face to face? What will your reaction be? What would you tell the Lord?" Next issue!!! :-)
February 2, 2003
I don't really have any idea what I should be doing right now. It's 10:24 PM. There's this girl I want but... Am I just not the stupidest guy on earth... She has a boyfriend!!! Come on, RONJIE! Wake up!
What else could I do? I already know what I should do but... Man, it's one of those things that you know but you just don't, you know what I mean? This is just so hard.
Like before, I have known about all these things about God, and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, but I never really thought about them, grasped that knowledge to... Like I said in a group sharing session I had with then-strangers-now-friends, it's not enough that you know. If you know how to lead a nation but don't stand up and out and get noticed about it, you're just as worthless as that other person who's pretending to know...
So I am undergoing that dilemma again. What should I do now? Can anyone tell me? I'm sure there are those who can tell me. But can anyone show me what and how? Can anyone make me?
When it came to my faith, someone did it for me. Someone—perhaps God himself—reminded me. Someone showed me the way. Someone helped me do it. It looks like I need that someone again.
Maybe not the same person. But if we go by my Christian logic, that God is the reason of all, someone, a different person perhaps, will come up to me, and he or she will have been sent by God. Thank God for that person... or thing. Or persons, or things, or events. Whoever or whatever they are, or whenever they will come... I'm ready!!!
What else could I do? I already know what I should do but... Man, it's one of those things that you know but you just don't, you know what I mean? This is just so hard.
Like before, I have known about all these things about God, and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, but I never really thought about them, grasped that knowledge to... Like I said in a group sharing session I had with then-strangers-now-friends, it's not enough that you know. If you know how to lead a nation but don't stand up and out and get noticed about it, you're just as worthless as that other person who's pretending to know...
So I am undergoing that dilemma again. What should I do now? Can anyone tell me? I'm sure there are those who can tell me. But can anyone show me what and how? Can anyone make me?
When it came to my faith, someone did it for me. Someone—perhaps God himself—reminded me. Someone showed me the way. Someone helped me do it. It looks like I need that someone again.
Maybe not the same person. But if we go by my Christian logic, that God is the reason of all, someone, a different person perhaps, will come up to me, and he or she will have been sent by God. Thank God for that person... or thing. Or persons, or things, or events. Whoever or whatever they are, or whenever they will come... I'm ready!!!
Saturday, February 1, 2003
thoughts blog thread
a new blog has been created. the thoughts blog [thread] on ronjie.com.
thoughts - deep into the inner brain cells of a man called ronjie.
thoughts - deep into the inner brain cells of a man called ronjie.
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