1. NCB42 Wikispac es.com 7/31/09
I‘m glad you are here. Welcome. The content of these pages are my own opinion,
reflections and meditations in my ate,mpt to reach the Truth. No one has the monopoly of
Absolute TRUTH. Come join with me in this attempt! Good luck and God bless us. NCB
42.
We begin by asking”Who are we? A simple answer is “We are living beings
endowed with intelligence so we know ourselves and our surroundings. This is not a
simple answer in fact because it involves many other concepts, like”an Endower”,
“life,””intelligence””beings”.
Let’s talk first about “Life”.
Students in Biology learn about life from their study of this same course which
means a study about life from the Greek bios (life) and logos (study).hence, biology.They
categorized life into “families”, technically known as genus. So we have the animal
family and the plant family. Both families have “life” in them.. Various thinkers define
“life” as “anything that moves by and in itself.” If a thing moves itself, it has life. Ex.g.
the animals and plants as cited above. But then we ask “ WHERE DOES THIS SELF-
MOVEMENT COME FROM?” It must have a Source, a prime Mover, we call by many
names: “ I AM WHO AM ,Eli, Elohim, , Yahveh or in its corrupted version
Jehovah”early languages have their own words; Theos (Greek) Deus (Latin) Dios
(Spanish) God(English). But the idea is the same. We learn this from Revelation where
{God Himself revealed his absolute self to man} for without it man will never come to
know him as He is He made all things to share in his glory for He is not a selfish God
who hordes everything for himself alone!
The plant family serves one purpose alone: to support animal life. The animal
family supports itself through a food chain. We know what happens when one stops
eating for a long period of time. Death is the absence of life. This is what happens. The
chain is broken and death follows.
The life in the human family is unique for it includes consciousness. The French
philosopher Rene Descartes in contemplating about life, remarked” I think, therefore, I
am!” His famous “Cogito, ergo sum!” Which comes first? Consciousness in thinking, or
being in existence? There can’t be consciousness if there is no being that thinks. I’d
rather say the reverse: I am, therefore I think” This makes sense, doesn’t it?
Consciousness originates from intelligence. Intelligence makes us know ourselves
and everything outside ourselves.Intelligence is what God gave to man to infuse life – the
intellectual life. With this intelligence there is no limit what man can do. Think about the
infinite combinations of words that has been invented by man for a more perfect
communication. Without it, man is reduced to mere brute animals that only operate
through instincts. They don’t understand as men do. For example, when they see a man
with a rifle, they instinctively run away for their lives. It is not because they understand
they die when the rifle blasts. It’s instinct that pushes them away to safety.
Life in the plant and animal family comes from the same source which is God, but
they don’t operate in the same way. We see this through Nature and Revelation. Their
Author designs it so.
From compostelacebu@yahoo.com
2. COMPOSTELA Wikispaces.com 8/01/09
I once heard a radio broadcast regarding the sad state of our educational system. It’s not
enough to teach our kids the three R’s anymore. After the mastery of these three subjects,
teachers must add the two C’s: Church and character to the curriculum.
Why Church? Because it is the basis of all character education. Without being
anti-constitutional, just change the word “church” to good moral values. Or as politicians
call it “family values”. We are safe under the Constitution.
Let’s begin with the family. This is a child’s first school. Whatever the child
learns here is reinforced by the school. It is important for parents to know what is being
taught in school. Only then can they reinforce it at home.
A link between school and home must be open. This calls for another branch in
the system, I call “the home-school link”(HSL Branch).. Parents who are already engaged
in home-schooling their children will have to report to this branch to validate what their
children are learning according to the State’s Standards. I know this sounds odious to
politicians.
