trivial post #4
I had to put my blogging spree on hold because of today's Physiology exam.
The exam covered the respiratory and renal systems. In short, I've spent the past three days holed up in my condo and the past three nights in Matteo Ricci trying to cram all the information I can into my decreasing supply of brain cells. I've been eating a lot of junk food too, which is what I tend to do when I study Physio, and I try to rationalize this by telling myself that I'll burn off all the calories anyway because of all the brainwork I'll be doing. But nope.
Three days ago I went to Rustan's to buy myself some study food. After a long debate with myself about the best type of chocolate to purchase (nuts or no nuts? milk or dark?) In the end, the winner proved to be a bar of hazeulnut Lindt. It was pretty big (and, at P98, was kind of expensive) so I thought it would last me a week or two. Who the hell was I trying to kid? I finished it in a day. Mmmm.
. . .
Monday was my oral exam with Sir Roy, who teaches me Philosophy of Religion. In my exam, I explained that Marcel's view on believing didn't quite make sense to me. And then he asked me, "So what does it mean for you to believe?" And then I told him this:
Say for example you're in a room with another person, and you really need to fart. The problem is, you don't know how this person is going to react: Will this person laugh at you? Will this person ridicule you? Will this person still continue to be your friend afterwards? Will this person just ignore the offensive odor once it infiltrates the nostrils of said person? You can never tell unless you just go ahead and... release.
Believing in God is like this, in a way. In believing, we kind of just have to admit that we will never really know how God works in the world. If God is so good then why does God permit evil? We will never know. But perhaps this blind ignorance is what makes belief more honest, more genuine. Perhaps what it really means to believe is, in the face of our mortal ignorance, simply: to trust.
The fart analogy made Sir Roy laugh. Then he said, I don't know if it was jokingly or not, that my analogy wasn't quite right, because farts are by-products of human existence, and if belief is something lived out, then it cannot be a by-product but rather... a process? I don't remember. Anyway, I think that moment stood out for me as one of my favorite oral exams in college (sharing in the ranks of Dacanay orals of course).
So here I am at the end of my midterms season, wrapped in a blanket while typing away at my laptop. It's been very cold in Manila (and extremely rainy in CDO; what the hell is up with the weather). I like the coldness. It makes me feel like somebody left a gigantic refrigerator open, and now we're all going to freeze into peoplesicles. I like that.
The exam covered the respiratory and renal systems. In short, I've spent the past three days holed up in my condo and the past three nights in Matteo Ricci trying to cram all the information I can into my decreasing supply of brain cells. I've been eating a lot of junk food too, which is what I tend to do when I study Physio, and I try to rationalize this by telling myself that I'll burn off all the calories anyway because of all the brainwork I'll be doing. But nope.
Three days ago I went to Rustan's to buy myself some study food. After a long debate with myself about the best type of chocolate to purchase (nuts or no nuts? milk or dark?) In the end, the winner proved to be a bar of hazeulnut Lindt. It was pretty big (and, at P98, was kind of expensive) so I thought it would last me a week or two. Who the hell was I trying to kid? I finished it in a day. Mmmm.
. . .
Monday was my oral exam with Sir Roy, who teaches me Philosophy of Religion. In my exam, I explained that Marcel's view on believing didn't quite make sense to me. And then he asked me, "So what does it mean for you to believe?" And then I told him this:
Say for example you're in a room with another person, and you really need to fart. The problem is, you don't know how this person is going to react: Will this person laugh at you? Will this person ridicule you? Will this person still continue to be your friend afterwards? Will this person just ignore the offensive odor once it infiltrates the nostrils of said person? You can never tell unless you just go ahead and... release.
Believing in God is like this, in a way. In believing, we kind of just have to admit that we will never really know how God works in the world. If God is so good then why does God permit evil? We will never know. But perhaps this blind ignorance is what makes belief more honest, more genuine. Perhaps what it really means to believe is, in the face of our mortal ignorance, simply: to trust.
The fart analogy made Sir Roy laugh. Then he said, I don't know if it was jokingly or not, that my analogy wasn't quite right, because farts are by-products of human existence, and if belief is something lived out, then it cannot be a by-product but rather... a process? I don't remember. Anyway, I think that moment stood out for me as one of my favorite oral exams in college (sharing in the ranks of Dacanay orals of course).
So here I am at the end of my midterms season, wrapped in a blanket while typing away at my laptop. It's been very cold in Manila (and extremely rainy in CDO; what the hell is up with the weather). I like the coldness. It makes me feel like somebody left a gigantic refrigerator open, and now we're all going to freeze into peoplesicles. I like that.
 |
| Unrelated pictuer from Bato-balani by Rodel Talapa. Check out this surreal exhibit at the Ateneo Art Gallery before it closes! |
Comments
Post a Comment
Thanks for caring :">