Evil Show

When slavery died, another evil, called segregation emerged and took its place. When communism died, another evil, called terrorism emerged and took its place. The hidden evil, however, has been and still is the terrible fact that for centuries the corrupt businessmen in cahoots with the corrupt politicians have made not only huge profits but also enjoyed power and glory maintaining and supporting, if not replacing the death of old evils with the birth of new evils. Poch Suzara

Confucius

"Man,” said Confucius, “differs from an animal only by a little. Most men throw that little away.” If I may add, one day, hopefully, our emotion will catch up with our reason, our wisdom with our knowledge, and our purpose with our destiny. Then at last we shall all have behaved like decent human beings capable of creative thought that should transform into creative action. Poch Suzara

Love of Money

A great many people believe they are poor because they have no money. On the contrary, the worse kind of poverty is the poverty of the mind. Among those who are truly rich are those who are rich in thought. Here's what Bertrand Russell wrote: “Love of money has been denounced by moralists since the world began. I do not wish to add another to the moral denunciations, of which the efficacy in the past has not been encouraging. I wish show how the worship of money is both an effect and a cause of diminishing vitality, and how our institutions might be changed so as to make the worship of money grow less and general vitality grow more. It is not the desire for money as a means to definite ends that is in question. A struggling artist may desire money in order to have leisure for his art, but this desire is finite, and can be satisfied by a very modest sum. It is the worship of money that I wish to consider: the belief that values may be measured in terms of money, and that money is the ultimate test of success in life. This belief is held in fact, if not in words, by multitudes of men and women, and yet it is not in harmony with human nature, since it ignores vital needs and the instinctive tendency towards some specific kind of growth. It makes men treat as unimportant those of their desires which run counter to the acquisition of money, and yet such desires are, as a rule, more important to well-being than any increase of income. It leads men to mutilate their own natures from a mistaken theory of what constitutes success, and to give admiration to enterprise which add nothing to human welfare. It promotes a dead uniformity of character and purpose, a diminution in the joy of life, and a stress and strain which leaves whole communities weary, discouraged, and disillusioned.” Principles of Social reconstruction by Bertrand Russell

A SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

June 16,2005 MANILA STANDARD TODAY Dear Editor: If the truth were at the foundation of our social values, we would admire the truth-seekers and truth-tellers of our society. Unfortunately, however, our society is structured on lies, deceit, and falsehood. Indeed, we just carry on with the same traditional delusions that keep even our officials in government busy with virtually nothing but to be in the business of power struggle in order to maintain the circus that makes us all famous as the Sick Man of Asia. Ten million Filipinos now live and work today in some 180 foreign countries. They are enjoying decent standard of living and the higher standard of thinking. Such developing countries enjoy two very simple but most powerful sentiments benefiting them tremendously: Love of country and love of fellow-citizens. In such countries, our Asian neighbors, such sentiments are quite basic within their system of education. We Filipinos, on the other hand, have yet to learn how to love of our country, to love fellow citizens, to love law and order, indeed, we have yet to love growth as a people and maturity as a nation via the love of science and technology. To think that the corrupt men and corrupt women in our corrupt government are the products of the most prestigious colleges and universities in the Philippines: La Salle, Ateneo, UP, Assumption, San Beda, UST, Mariam, Letran, Santa Scholastica, and not to mention (AIM) the Asian Institute of Management. But then again, what can we expect of schools, colleges, and universities where education of values and indoctrination of religious beliefs tantamount to exactly the same thing? Indeed, what is biblical is practical and what is practical is biblical in this God-forsaken country. Look at China. She has been irreligious since the 11th century. Look at her today growing to become a world power not because of faith and trust in divine providence but simply because of hard daily work and discipline while taking full advantage of human intelligence behind science and technology. Look at the Philippines in this already 21st century. Since the 16th century, we have been the only Christian country in Asia. But due to our illusions and delusions, we continue to wallow in our social and political and religious confusion. For the Philippines, it means poverty, not national prosperity. It means stagnancy, not national maturity. All for the sake of our faith in divinity and trust in the holy mystery. Sincerely, Poch Suzara

Letter to TIME MAGAZINE

TIME Dear Editor, President Gloria Arroyo repeated the same words past presidents of the Philippines have faithfully declared again and again. Have “faith and trust in divine providence” during hard times. Indeed, democracy without education means hypocrisy without limitation; it means the degradation of high office into cheap prayers in order to serve the rulers and deceive the ruled. Meanwhile, growth as a people and development as a nation have yet to take roots. Unfortunately, our government officials are just waiting for divine providence to provide. Indeed, we Filipinos have been taught to believe that God will solve our problems for as long as we never lose faith. History, however, fails to prove that the creation of human decency throughout the land has ever been a priority with divinity. Corruption is the privilege of our elected officials and prayer rallies are organized if there were any proposal to alter the patriotic tradition. Our democratic failure is due to the popularity of ignorance. A Filipino has a better chance at winning high government position if he or she has achieved a reputation in mediocrity. Is there hope for the Philippines? Yes, there is. As soon as we begin to become the intelligent masters rather than the stupid victims of religion. Golly, even the daily prayers addressed to God in this country are as similar in form and content to letters children write to Santa Claus. But if God would rather fulfill the needs of the devil rather than save the Philippines away from the same old evil – why should the leaders of this Republic continue to have faith and trust in divine providence? Where is our science and technology to remedy the religious mess that is keeping us Filipino poor as a people and the Philippines backward as a nation? Yours sincerely, POCH SUZARA June 15, 2005

Rizal, the first Flipino Humanist

Before he died at the age of 98, mathematician-logician-philosopher-humanist Bertrand Russell said, “If we must die, let us die sober, and not drunk with lies.”
As a great admirer of Jose Rizal, I believe he died sober; but those in power who had him executed at the age of 30, and those who concocted his retraction story, were the ones drunk with lies.
I defy anyone who believes Jose Rizal, the first great humanist the Philippines has ever produced, died a coward engrossed in childish fairy tales.
And why do I say Rizal was a great humanist? What else do you call a man who was committed to the application of reason and science and to solving human problems of the here and the now?
What else do you call a man who deplored efforts to denigrate human intelligence, who did not seek to explain the world in supernatural terms, and who did not look outside nature for salvation? A man who wanted to leave this world one day a better place than he found it.
What else do you call a man who valued scientific discoveries that have contributed to the betterment of human existence? Who was concerned with securing justice and fairness by eliminating discrimination and intolerance in society?
What else do you call a man who attempted to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based on race, religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual orientation, ethnicity and who worked for the spread of common human decency?
What else do you call a man who believed that developing his creative talents to the fullest constituted the greatest happiness in life here and now?
What else do you call a man who believed in the cultivation of moral excellence, respected the rights of others, believe in human integrity, and was open to critical and rational way of thinking?
What else do you call man who was concerned with the moral education of children? Who wanted to nourish them with the passion for reason, love, and compassion?
What else do you call a man who rejected the theologies of despair, the ideologies of violence, and the sacraments of mediocrity?
And finally, what do you call a man who believe in optimism rather than pessimism, hope rather than despair, learning in place of dogma, truth instead of sacred lies, joy rather than guilt and sin, tolerance in place of fear, love instead of hate, compassion over selfishness, beauty instead of ugliness, and reason rather than blind faith?
Jose Rizal, indeed, believed in the fullest realization of the best and noblest that anyone is capable of as a human being, He was the greatest of Filipino humanists. And he died intellectually sober, not drunk with religious lies.
To Jose Rizal, wherever you are, I have the greatest love you as a fellow human being, and I have the highest respect for you as a priceless rarity among Filipinos.
Poch Suzara

Rizal's Unfinished Revolution in our country

Rizal called for the revolution of the mind to throw off the exploitation of man by man under the inspiration of superstition.This was a century ago. But due to our fear of the Lord and our love for that pie in the sky, Rizal’s call for that revolution of the human intellect ended up to what is recognized today in the history of the Filipino people as “the unfinished revolution.” Rizal wrote: “ I am not writing for this generation, but for those yet to come. If this one could read what I have written, it would burn my books, my whole life’s work. But the generation that deciphers these characters will be a learned generation; it will understand me and say: Not everyone slept during the night of our forefathers! These strange characters – the sense of mystery they will create – will save my work from the ignorance of men, just as strange rites and the sense of the unknown have preserved many truths at the hands of priests. ” Poch Suzara

Lies About Rizal

Rizal never said or wrote: “It was my pride that ruined me.” Those words were written by his official prize-winning biographer Leon Maria Guerrero who believed, as a Catholic, the Rizal retraction story concocted by the sciolistic friars. Moreover, Rizal never “got rid of his political appetite, moral perplexities, and intellectual pride.” On the contrary, Rizal chose to die proudly. After the friars stripped him of his dignity, it was no longer possible for him to go on living as a thinking man should. Poch Suzara

Rizal and the Spanish Friars

If the Spanish friars had only introduced the concept of humanism instead of establishing in the Philippines organized barbarism and other forms of supernaturalism, Filipino priests like Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora need not have been garroted to death for wanting reforms within the Catholic Church in their time. Moreover, great thinkers like Jose Rizal need not have been executed by firing squad for writing to promote common human decency for the Filipino enjoying throughout the land pride and dignity. Poch Suzara

Rizal A Great Thinker

Rizal was a great thinker. He saw clearly in his day what we vaguely see around us today: religion and diseases flourishing hand in hand under ignorance, filth, hate, and poverty. What irked the friars against Rizal was his refusal to continue to believe in Christian values and beliefs; for, he learned to be on the side of humanity. For my part, if there’s life after death, it’s great thinkers like Rizal that I should wish to be with. Otherwise, if I will just find myself in the company of the likes of Opus Dei gang – the kind of people who had Rizal put to death, please Lord, I would rather be in hell. Poch Suzara

Rizal's Enemies

Rizal’s enemies were the theologians who gave themselves fancy titles: soothsayers, seers, charmers, prophets, enchanters, sorcerers, wizards, astrologers – all more popularly known as the Spanish friars. In brief, Rizal’s enemies were fear, ignorance, and superstition as embodied in the Catholic Church that felt threatened by Rizal’s writings. Rizal indeed aimed first at redeeming the Filipino mind damaged by indoctrination, as well as redeeming the Filipino heart impoverished by revelation. Rizal was a heretic in the eyes of the theologians – the power behind the Spanish authority. It is said by millions of Filipinos today that it does not matter whether Rizal retracted or not. This is so ridiculous; for, if Rizal had retracted why was he still executed and not exonerated to benefit from the sacrament of forgiveness? Poch Suzara

A Century After Rizal's Death

After a hundred years, how influential has Jose Rizal been on the Filipino as a people? Millions today would readily give credence by listening to the words of a Mike Velarde of El Shaddai preaching pastoral nonsense derived from bible – a book written not by Filipinos but by foreigners. Only a handful of scholars would care to read and understand the real Rizal and carry out his principles and ideals for the achievement of pride, dignity, intellectual and scientific honesty for the Philippines as a nation. And to think, the Jews, the Chosen People of God, never considered the bible as a holy book at any time in their history. Poch Suzara

Rizal The Humanist

Rizal struggled not against Spain, but against superstition. He fought not in the battlefield, but in the minds and hearts of men and women. Rizal was Asia’s first scientific-humanist thinker put to death a century ago by a theocracy behind musketry. The same theocracy today that is keeping the Filipino youth via education to fear new and fresh ideas in the free market of ideas, and to hate, at the same time, the freethinkers. “Blotting out their brains,” Rizal wrote, “in faith, prayers, masses, novenas, superimposed these onto native superstition.” Poch Suzara

Rizal's Threat to the Friars

Due to his highly developed intellect in the scientific way of thinking, Rizal got to be a threat to the friars. That is why the friars worked hard to get rid of him. If Rizal, however, had retracted, the friars would have been the first to spare his life and used Rizal’s intellect to perpetuate more power for the Church in the Philippines. But Rizal was nevertheless executed which paved the way clear for more of the same commercial in cahoots with the theological activities throughout the land. The result for the Philippines? She got to be one of the most religiously faith-based and therefore the most backward country in Asia today. Poch Suzara

Rizal's Education

Jose Rizal pointed out that evolution in education, ( not reliance on foreign investments ), is the best hope of the nation to enjoy the highest standard of living and thinking. The system of education for the Filipino must be based on science and technology, and not on prayers and theology. Indeed, according to Rizal, a free nation can rise no higher than the standard of beliefs and values set in its schools, colleges, and universities. In there hope for the Philippines? Yes, there is! But first its system of education must be radically revamped. No more stupid prayers to support stupid theology. Only the intelligent scientific way of thinking to generate more science and technology. Poch Suzara

Rizal Versus Jesus

Rizal was more involved not only with the cultivation of the freedom of the mind but also with the development of the human intellect. The exact opposite of what Jesus Christ stood for – infantile emotions, sentimental illusions and delusions. Consider Jesus: he never uttered a word against slavery or even tyrannical oppression. Jesus appealed not to the intellectual power of man, only to man’s childish hopes and dreams. And to think that most Filipinos have more love and respect for Jesus who was born in a foreign country some 2000 years ago, than they care to study and learn from a great Filipino thinker born in the Philippines some 150 year ago. Poch Suzara

Rizal's College Years

Rizal was a product of Ateneo and Santo Thomas; yet both Catholic universities continue to assassinate the character of this great humanist only because he learned on his own initiatives, outside academic walls, how to think more deeply and how to embrace intellectual honestly. Indeed, to this day, all Catholic universities still teach that during Rizal’s last day on this earth, just hours before he was executed for his principles, noble values, and rational beliefs, he retracted and went back to the Catholic Church. What brazen lies! It is no less than a tall story. Otherwise, after his death, he would have been given a Catholic burial and his dead body not just put inside a sack and thrown in the Paco Cemetery in the corner where heretics are stashed away or just buried. Poch Suzara

The Shame in Rizal's Life

The shame in Rizal’s life is not the retraction of his deeds, writings and conduct. Such retraction was only a frailocratic figment of the imagination. The real shame comes from the Filipino historians and other Catholic writers who believed not in Rizal’s power of intellect, but believed instead his enemies – the friars – who invented sacred lies about this great thinker. Via the control of the system of education in the Philippines, these friars have and still are blocking, expediently and consistently, Rizal’s qualified and legitimate entry into the world stage as one of mankind’s greatest thinkers. But then again how can the world know of Rizal since even the Filipinos themselves know so little of his scientific intellect? Poch Suzara

Rizal's Biographer

Rizal’s biographer – Leon M. Guerrero, clearly notes that Rizal returned to the Church of his youth in extremes of self-abasement, frenziedly in childlike fashion, spending the remaining hours of earning indulgences from purgatory by confessing four times, and obsequiously attending to Fr. Balaguer and Villaclara’s wishes. In brief, according to this biographer, Rizal died as a timid coward. According to this official government commissioned biographer, our national hero in the end turned out to be a turncoat.
Four years before his death, however, Rizal in 1882 wrote a letter to Gregorio Aglipay: “In all parts of the world where an honest man tries to achieve reform he is crucified on Golgotha. Christ had nowhere to lay his head, when Pilate governed. It is probable that I will be executed – then they will try to bring along my moral death by covering my memory with slander.” Poch Suzara

Rizal's Revolution of the Mind

Unlike the rest of our national heroes, Rizal was the first and only Filipino revolutionary of the mind. He was the first Filipino who thought human dignity and intellectual integrity should be at the foundation of Filipino culture. And so, due to the successful retraction lies, Filipinos today believe of Rizal not as a great freethinker, not as the revolutionary of the mind, but only as a faithful servant of the priesthood industry. Poch Suzara