TOPIC 1

Developing a Discerning Sensibility Human faculties which prevent humans from tackling the
truth
Attached reading:
THE NEED FOR CERTAINTY – William J. O’Malley, 1. Absolute certitude (reductionism)​ – looking at a
S.J. complex world from a ​simplistic​ perspective
THE COMPONENTS OF ANY CHOICE – Pierre Wolff ● Certitude – certainty, confidence in truth of
an assertion
I. What We Know ● Simplistic – reduce something in an undue
way
A. Instagram and other such ‘story-telling’ apps o Example: Humans are more than just a
● In social media nowadays, we create an flesh; nativity – you stop thinking
embellished, publishable version of
ourselves. a. Fundamentalism – domesticates (tame –
● We recreate our identity – an internet make it less powerful, easier to control)
identity, in such a way that it is presentable truth
and neat, mainly to please anyone. i. A firm rigid adherence to a
fundamental set of beliefs
B. Concepts​ (a review of philosophy) ​– This happens ii. Usually expressed in religious
because we think in terms of concepts like our embellished texts
version of ourselves; a clear and distinct idea; a thinking iii. Examples:
apparatus which help humans grasp the truth 1. Direct interpretation of
the Bible
1. Basic education: every question seeks an answer; 2. Absolute ideology – ​take
every problem seeks a solution; a principle or idea and its
a. Question: ​But there is always a gap in adherent support and
human knowledge make it as a foundational
b. Problem: ​We always try to grapple with principle or idea​, ​from
the question which all else must derive
c. Understanding or be deemed
i. As such whenever we get to know philosophically
something, we always say inconsistent
“nakuha ko na” b. Relativism – destroys truth
ii. I have control over the subject i. Truth is dependent on the
matter individual or a group
iii. whole purpose of basic education ii. If we manipulate our opinions to
– train minds to come to suit our own predictions, as
trustworthy decisions, valid relativists do, if it’s all up to the
opinions individual, then no further
d. Limited. discussion is necessary, or even
i. Knowledge of anything is limited logically possible
iii. Objective truth does not exist
2. Are all questions meant to be ‘closed’? iv. Example:
a. Categorical practical questions – questions 1. Catcalling in 2000 – a
answered in day to day activities form of compliment
2. Catcalling in 2010 – a
C. The Questions of Ultimate Significance​ ​– ​types of form of objectification
questions that govern the way we live our lives; these are
existential questions, which are not meant to be answered c. Both fundamentalism and relativism do
but sought for not take truth seriously.
 i. They do not respect the values of
the truth by either destroying
and/or domesticating the truth.
2. Losing a sense of mystery
a. Mystery – yet to be known; not
something absolutely known, but neither
is it something absolutely
obscure/uncertain (not discovered or
known about, uncertain)
i. Mystery is not a hotdog​, where
one can see or determine its
content
3. Pressure towards perfection
a. This happens (lose a sense of mystery)
because we are perfectionists
b. Questions are uncomfortable – it
challenges uncertainty
c. As such, we tend to avoid flaws and make
mistakes mistakes; tendency to control;
tries to fit a certain mode
i. The perfect is not real
ii. The real is not perfect
iii. The perfect is not excellence
d. “We rush towards being the person we
want to that we might be losing sight of
the process of becoming that person.”
e. Do not let perfect be the enemy of the
good
f. Do now forget that growth often happens
in moments that do not make perfect sense
4. It is dangerous to avoid these questions or to
answer them with finality.
a. Because it is during these moments that
we forgo a sense of wonder; a sense of
journey;
b. If one is already certain, one is already
satisfied with their own situation, one has
full control of everything
i. As such, there will no excitement,
no journey
5. Think about the dynamics of courtship and
intimate relationships.
a. Pagtataya
i. Calculated risk
ii. Faith is neither submission to
evidence that compels nor a blind
leap in the dark.
iii. It is a calculated risk​.
iv. Certitude is a judgement not of
any statement, but of the degree of
confidence within any believer.
v. It does not exclude the possibility
of error, but only reasonable fear
of error, each of which they held
still validly “certain.”
b. We cannot own that which we truly value.
D. Wonder
● Seeing things fresh
1. Constantly revisiting the ordinary
2. Engaging and allowing
a. Ask questions, thinking, experiencing
b. Example: traveling abroad – not just pure
research, but you engage yourself and go
3. Order and chaos
a. Order – to rigid
b. Chaos – enables change, no direction
4. Reasonable certitude (‘calculated risks’)
a. Being firm with convictions, but open to
revisions
b. Give space to be wrong
c. Requires humility
i. “humus” – ground soil, a sense of
grounding
ii. Striving for number 2
Bottom line: ​We have no absolute grasp of the truth. That
is why we need to ​discern​.
II. The basics of discernment
● Making the right judgment
A. The ability to make distinctions
● Distinguishing what is true from what is not
1. A holistic enterprise
a. Involves the heart (affectivity), brain
(intellect), bounded by time and values
b. Discernment is a process leading to a
decision that uses the intellect and the
affectivity by values without disregarding
time.
c. Time – take your time because you do not
have a lot of it
2. From a religious perspective: In the religious
sense, discernment is the ability to make
distinctions ​in light of one’s faith in God.​
a. Discernment is a process leading to a
decision that uses the intellect and the
affectivity by values that are enlightened
and purified by faith in a systematic way
and without disregarding time.
b. Faith does not change the structure but it
amplifies it.
B. The First Principle and Foundation (from the
Spiritual Exercises​ of St. Ignatius of Loyola​):
● Religious perspective (in light of the faith)
o Ultimate significance of discernment
● Discernment ​according to St. Ignatius is the
ability to perceive God’s will in one’s life
o The following is from the beginning of the
First Week of the Spiritual Exercises of St.
Ignatius of Loyola with a contemporary
translation by David Fleming, SJ
(emphases in ​bold​ are mine). The original
English translation can be found in
Appendix A​ of this discussion outline:
● The goal of our life is to live with God forever.
God, who loves us, gave us life. Our own
response of love allows God’s life to flow into
us without limit.
1. God
a. False images
i. Big brother – surveillance figures
ii. Puppet Master – “aloof”
iii. Greatest ​Being
1. Anything that exist
2. God is not an entity
iv. Greek gods – symbol of instability
b. ipsum esse subsistens​ (St. Thomas Aquinas,
Refer to ​Appendix B​) – the very act of being
itself, Being – no potency and actuality; first
mover – does not have a cause
i. A non-competitive existence
1. Not a competitive force against our
flourishing as human beings
2. When God asserts its power you do
not experience chaos or destruction,
but it is flourishing
ii. One that enables absolute charity
1. Context: Man is conditioned as
beings and cannot love
unconditionally
2. But, because of the sheer perfection
of God, he loves unconditionally;
He himself is not a being
2. The goal of our lives (a reflection on ​desire​)
● A strong feeling of wanting to have something
or wishing something to happen
a. gloria dei vivens homo​ (St. Irenaeus)
i. The glory of God is the human person
fully alive
b. Created things are ​good​.
i. All the things in this world are gifts of
God, presented to us so that we can
know God more easily and make a
return of love more readily​.
ii. As a result, we appreciate and use all
these gifts of God insofar as they help
us develop as loving persons.
c. But you must be careful not to be attached to
anything.
i. Disordered attachments – Attachments
that present themselves as an end
1. Gives us a myopic (lacking
imagination, foresight, or
intellectual insight) view of the
world
2. Shrinks the world
 ii. But if any of these gifts become the
center of our lives, they displace God
and so hinder our growth toward our
goal.
d. Ignatian ​indifference​.
i. Maintaining a vision of the whole
ii. Setting one’s life in balance before all
created things
iii. Does not mean not caring, it means
balance
iv. In everyday life, then, we must hold
ourselves in ​balance ​before all of these
created gifts insofar as we have a choice
and are not bound by some obligation.
v. We should not fix our desires on health
or sickness, wealth or poverty, success or
failure, a long life or a short one.
vi. For everything has the potential of calling
forth in us a deeper response to our life in
God.
vii. Our only desire and our one choice
should be this: I want and I choose what
better leads to God’s deepening his life in
me.

III. Synthesis Points (​What makes a discerning

sensibility?​)

A. Discerning using all our human faculties.

● Right judgement using experience, values,
feelings

B. Acceptance of our limitations

● All decisions are imperfect
● No absolute certain of truth
● Humility – core of discernment

C. Living the question.

 TOPIC 2
The Battle for Wholeness
Attached reading:
HOPE FOR THE FLOWERS – Trina Paulus
A HIDDEN WHOLENESS (excerpts – Chapters 1 – 3) –
Parker Palmer
THE LITTLE PRINCE – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
I. Who I Am
A. What defines my life? (Reflections from Henri J.M.
Nouwen.)
● Tend to answer in three ways (tangibles)
o What I do (role)
o What people say I am (reputation)
o What I have (riches)
● Temptations of God
o Stones to bread (role)
o Jump from the highest point (reputation)
o Bow to me; all these will be yours (riches)
B. The soul
● Not a ghost-like figure
● An unseen individuating principle of any living
being
● Goes through a transformation from childhood to
adulthood
1. Children
a. Most in touch with the soul
i. Have more time and space to be
themselves mostly because they
have less responsibilities to do
b. Integrity
c. Kids are able to deal with dark abysses by
sailing across them on the winged energy
of delight.
2. Adults
a. Assume more responsibilities
b. Define ourselves to our work
i. As we become more obsesses with
succeeding or at least surviving in
the world, we lose touch with our
souls and disappear into our roles
ii. Become attached to certainties
iii. This then serves as a mask, an
armor, or shield which protect us
from the uncertain.
iv. Our obsession to tasks – tend to
associate with our masks
v. False notion to construct our
deepest selves, thus falling in
danger to divided life.
3. The ​battle​ for the soul’s salvation.
a. We lean to inclinations which try to tear it,
thus we need to grapple for the salvation
of our soul, to restore its pristine state
II. The Divided Life
A. False Self (the ​ego ‘​ self’) – define ourselves according
to the false self
1. False Self (ego)
a. Defines our outer shell, not who am I
b. Constructed from roles, riches, reputation
– all made from brittle material
c. As such, it is something that needs
constant defense – it breaks when things
do not get our way
d. I am a failure vs. I have failed
e. Example: VST and company – not live
according to an audience
2. True Self (soul)
a. Solitude
b. A sense of security
B. Brokenness – define ourselves according to our pain
1. Malicious / deliberate.
a. Pain inflicted deliberately
b. Done consciously and intentionally
i. Took time to do it and has the
intention to do it – there is a
perpetuator and a victim
2. Accidental
a. Collateral damage
b. Example
i. Separated parents – associated
with a friend – killed off spirits –
accidental pain
C. Acedia (ἀκηδία – akedia)​ – do not bother finding
wholeness
● The loss of care due to:
 1. tristitia de bono divino.​
a. A sorrow towards spiritual good
i. You feel sorrowful when good is
unattainable
ii. Give up something to attain the
good
2. taedium operandi.
a. Disgust towards work
i. Procrastination
ii. Busy at wrong things
iii. Rooted in despair
iv. Give up, you feel helpless
v. A sin against charity
i. Pure light – someone who does not
want to learn
ii. shadow – point where growth happens
d. Mobius strip
i. Endlessly flows in and out
ii. Symbol of the lack of walls
iii. No demarcation of inner and outer self
iv. Someone who is authentic
3. Magnanimity – grounded in trust
a. “being generous”
b. From the words – “anima” (soul) and “magna
(great)
c. To have a great soul
d. Willing to expand itself
e. Can entail something uncomfortable

III. A Life of Wholeness

● Not about perfection
● Accepting one has flaws but you are not a flaw
A. Biblical images
1. ‫​( ָשׁלוֹם‬shalom​)
a. At peace, harmonious order
b. Well-being
c. Things are properly ordered, they yield good
d. Example: first creation story (chaos to
cosmos), orchestra
2. μακάριος (​makarios​)
a. capacity to receive, to be detached
B. Finding the True Self
● bigger than your flaws
● Rumi: the wound is the place where the light
enters you
1. Wholeness is not about perfection
a. Does not refer to the absence of flaws and
brokenness
2. Integration
a. State or quality of being entire, complete
i. Doing good without an audience
ii. Consistent: an unreflected life remains
scattered
b. Life beyond the tangibles – to know yourself
c. Accepting life as lights and shadows
4. Pusillanimity – grounded in fear
a. “pusilla” (small/shrinken) and “amina (soul)
b. Cowardice, convenient, unwilling to expand
c. Example: first year Louie
d. See all things even the good as truth
e. Fear is a survival mechanism; but life is not all
about survival, it is also about risk and
adventure
i. Example
1. Hope for flowers – being a
butterfly
2. Little prince – rose,
grown-ups in small planets
IV. Synthesis Points (​The spiritual battle.)​
A. The Two Standards.
● Standard of Christ vs. Satan
o Christ – standard of unity and integrity
o Satan – standard of chaos and division
● When we choose Christ, we become freer, not
only in material attachments but also in the
non-material like fear and expectations
B. The challenge is to discern for the True Self.
● Discover who am I first
● A community effort
o Help: aid you in non-judgmental wats
o Hinder: impose you what to do
C. Living the life of the Beloved.
● Accept that I am loved I. Who I Am
● What made Jesus say “No” in the temptations of a. What defines my life? (Reflections from
the devil Henri J.M. Nouwen.)
o Baptism: “This is my beloved Son if b. The soul
whom I am well pleased i. Children
● I do good things not to receive love but to show ii. Adults
the love within me iii. The battle for the soul’s salvation.

II. The Divided Life

a. False Self (the ​ego ​‘self’) – define
ourselves according to the false self
b. Brokenness – define ourselves according
to our pain
i. Malicious / deliberate.
ii. Accidental
c. Acedia (ἀκηδία – akedia​) – do not bother
finding wholeness
i. tristitia de bono divino.​
ii. taedium operandi.

III. A Life of Wholeness

a. Biblical images
i. ‫​( ָשׁלוֹם‬shalom​)
ii. μακάριος (​makarios)​
b. Finding the True Self
i. Wholeness is not about perfection
ii. Integration
iii. Magnanimity

IV. Synthesis Points (​The spiritual battle.)​

a. The Two Standards
b. The challenge is to discern for the True
Self
c. Living the life of the Beloved

Summary