tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55582800815195107512024-03-16T15:08:10.485+08:002RiversThe New Filpino Writings of Jonathan AquinoJonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.comBlogger1529125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-5103400521024241572020-07-08T00:30:00.000+08:002020-07-08T00:30:11.872+08:00Meron Bang Swindling Na Naganap?<img height="640" src="https://headtopics.com/images/2020/2/20/abscbnnews/basahin-mensahe-ni-carlo-katigbak-presidente-at-ceo-ng-abs-cbn-corporation-1230516206852923395.webp" width="640" /><div><br /></div><div><div><font size="5">... Ang binayaran ni Pangulong Duterte sa ABS-CBN para sa mga political ad ay 182 million pesos, naka-laan sa national (117M) at local (65M) ads. Na-ere lahat sa national. Sa local kasi, first come, first served, at may mga ad na binigay May 3 pero May 7 tapos na ang kampanya. Nasa 7M ang hindi nagamit. Na-refund na ang 4M. Ang na-delay na 2.6M ay ibigay na lang daw sa charity, sabi ni Duterte. </font></div></div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Photo courtesy of ABS-CBN News</i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-67917082009298728812020-07-07T00:30:00.000+08:002020-07-07T00:30:01.612+08:00Ano Ang Nangyari Sa Congressional Hearings Tungkol Sa ABS-CBN?<img height="426" src="https://media.philstar.com/photos/2020/03/24/congress-special-session-mar24_2020-03-24_11-17-12.jpg" width="640" /><div><br /></div><div><div><font size="5">... Naglabas ng cease and desist ang NTC. Umapila ang ABS-CBN sa SC. Sabi ng BIR, bayad ang network sa lahat ng buwis. Sabi ng DOLE, nagre-remit ito ng SSS, PhilHealth at Pag-IBIG. Sabi ni NTC Commisioner General Gamaliel Cordova, sakop ng franchise ang PPV. Sabi ni SEC Commisioner Ephyro Amatong, ang PDR ay investment instrument at hindi certificate of ownership. Hindi nalabag ang Saligang Batas ...</font></div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Photo courtesy of Philippine Star</i></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div>Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-32346399801822070242020-07-06T00:30:00.001+08:002020-07-06T00:30:07.838+08:00Bakit Galit si Pangulong Duterte Sa ABS-CBN?<img height="640" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EXfsAkqUwAEKK61.jpg" width="638" /><div><font size="6"><br /></font></div><div><font size="6">.</font><font size="5">.. Bakit galit si Pangulong Duterte sa network? May political ad noong halalan tungkol sa mga batang ayaw sa ugali ni Duterte na nagmumura at nagsasabing papatay. In-ere ito sa ABS-CBN at GMA-7. Sabi ni Duterte, isasara niya ang ABS dahil dito at sa mga binayaran niyang mga ad na hindi pinalabas. Minura din niya ang mga may-ari ...</font></div><div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Photo courtesy of CNN Philippines</i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-62891458172119792202020-07-05T02:39:00.000+08:002020-07-05T02:39:50.768+08:00 Bakit Pinasara Ang ABS-CBN?<img height="640" src="https://scontent.fceb2-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/106944093_3625336494148701_233026667862651084_o.jpg?_nc_cat=109&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=2GK9NFPko08AX-EahJp&_nc_ht=scontent.fceb2-1.fna&oh=bb146463d234204b3616682f5281e187&oe=5F2734D6" width="640" /><div><br /></div><div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;">Bakit pinasara ang ABS-CBN? Kailangan nito mag-renew ng congressional franchise bago May 4, 2020, pero hindi ito inaprubahan ng Kongreso. Marami sinilip ang mga mambabatas. Sila mismo ang magsasabi na walang kinalaman ang pangako ni Pangulong Duterte na isasara ang network kahit anong mangyari. Sa serye ng mga public hearings, pinakita nila ang kanilang kalidad at antas ng pagkatao ...</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Photo courtesy of Twitter</i></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-38511902191399901072020-07-02T15:45:00.001+08:002020-07-02T15:45:49.701+08:00Bakit Bahagi Na Ng Buhay Ko Ang ABS-CBN<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDL_umvZXitsWMvkdlsqSABo5CuRZpB4sbJBYJk6zLbscobztuKzUmyI_l95lis2Dfef9XyC_g1z-sYkYPW9E8eJO2YDVYlagrWdJuDZfQdAzV8nIi_CBtXDB6VFnXQe4TEtF7-SGSb4M2/s657/abs+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="657" data-original-width="600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDL_umvZXitsWMvkdlsqSABo5CuRZpB4sbJBYJk6zLbscobztuKzUmyI_l95lis2Dfef9XyC_g1z-sYkYPW9E8eJO2YDVYlagrWdJuDZfQdAzV8nIi_CBtXDB6VFnXQe4TEtF7-SGSb4M2/w584-h640/abs+blog.jpg" width="584" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="font-size: x-large;">Halos lahat ng nagustuhan kong palabas na Pinoy ay sa ABS-CBN – <i>MMK, MGB, May Bukas Pa, Munting Paraiso, Angelito, Pangako Sa 'Yo, Tayong Dalawa, Mula Sa Puso, Inside Story, Probe, Assignment, Dong Puno, Tabing Ilog, Hiraya Manawari, Sineskwela, Matanglawin, 'Sang Linggo nAPO Sila, Hoy, Gising! </i>Siyempre<i> Ryan, Ryan Musikahan </i>at<i> Oki Doki Dok!</i> Higit sa lahat, <i>Bayani</i>, na tinuro mula sa kasaysayan na ang lahat ng umabuso sa kapangyarihan ay hindi kailanman nagtagumpay.</div></div>Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-42819985614589319722019-10-26T00:00:00.000+08:002019-10-26T00:00:06.855+08:00Old Man Logan<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="1ola5" data-offset-key="6672s-0-0" style="background-color: white; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;">
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<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think "Logan" is the second greatest superhero movie of all time. There is a scene where Charles Xavier – Professor X – suffered a brain seizure. Since he was the most powerful telepath in the world, everybody around him could die. It seems the professor killed all the X-Men when he had an attack.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The supervillains had conquered and divided the United States. Red Skull is now the President, while Magneto, Abomination and Doctor Doom have their own territories. Magneto would later be killed by Kingpin, and Abomination would be defeated by Hulk. The Avengers, except two, are all dead. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our story begins after all of these. Logan has retired and became a farmer, but he was being harassed by the Hulk Gang, the grandchildren of Bruce Banner and She-Hulk. Then came Hawkeye, but he is now blind. He knows Logan needs money, so he offers him a job to accompany him on a deadly roadtrip. </span></span></div>
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Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-57122440271472375532019-10-19T00:00:00.000+08:002019-10-19T00:00:00.136+08:00John Constantine, Hellblazer<br />
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John Constantine, Hellblazer</div>
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October 19, 2019</div>
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In 1999 before working in South Korean school as a teacher, I was already an English tutor for Koreans. I had a friend who had many pupils and he gave me some, which was good for both of us. He would conduct his classes in his condominium in Pasay, and I would be at the KFC at the corner of F.B. Harrison and Vito Cruz.</div>
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That area has a lot of good memories. I was always carrying a sketchpad, and I would draw at the nearby Cultural Center of the Philippines complex and at the Baywalk. Another favorite hang-out was the National Bookstore at SM Harrison Plaza where I would always read the John Constantine "Hellblazer" graphic novels.</div>
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John Constantine is a detective with occult powers, and evil spirits hate him. But he might be dead before they get to him because he has lung cancer, and he would be dying anyway. The "Constantine" TV series got the character right, but the film version with Keanu Reeves which had nothing in common with the source material.</div>
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And I just came across the first issue of "John Constantine, Hellblazer," after all these years. Constantine fights the hunger demon Mnemoth, who makes people eat voraciously as they slowly die. His friend Gary Lester exorcised it from a slave in Tangiers, but the demon controlled his mind, and so he bought it to England</div>
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Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-9555174502823551942019-10-12T00:00:00.000+08:002019-10-12T00:00:10.916+08:00Batman: The Killing Joke<br />
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Batman: The Killing Joke</div>
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October 12, 2019</div>
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In Todd Phillips' "Joker," Arthur Fleck is a man with mental issues, with an amazing portrayal by Joaquin Phoenix. It is inspired by Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" and "Batman: The Killing Joke" by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland.</div>
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Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" was also inspired by "The Killing Joke." In my opinion, this is the greatest superhero movie of all time, with Heath Ledger's Joker as one of the best acting performances in screen history. </div>
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Still another inspiration for Nolan's film was Michael Mann's "Heat," with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. The comic story even has an animated movie version where Joker was voiced by Mark Hamill – Luke Skywalker. </div>
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The graphic novel is a reimagined origin story of the Joker. It began with Batman going to Joker's cell at Arkham – but it was not him. The real Joker had escaped. He then bought a carnival, and killed Barbara Gordon – Batgirl.</div>
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Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-41853155007091841102019-10-05T00:00:00.000+08:002019-10-05T00:00:09.780+08:00The Rosales Saga<br />
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The Rosales Saga</div>
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By Jonathan Aquino</div>
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October 5, 2019</div>
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I grew up in Antipolo, a town in Rizal Province about seventeen kilometers from Manila. Our house – in the middle of the street – was in a new suburban area (called a "subdivision") so there were few houses back then. When I peer out the gate or above our high walls, all I could see was trees and grass. I wasn't allowed to go out but we had a big garden and an even bigger backyard, and I had a dog named Hutch so I was fine. There was a talisay tree out front, and more trees at the back – mango, avocado, santol. The avocado tree was slanted, almost uprooted from a storm, and that was the easiest to climb. </div>
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All these came back when I read "Don Vicente" by F. Sionil Jose, National Artist For Literature. I'm not a sentimental person by nature, but I do have so many wonderful memories. I'm blessed to have a happy and prosperous childhood, like the narrator who also lived in a big house surrounded by nature. I once told a friend that I like to go to hills overlooking whole villages, ride a carabao though rice fields, and swim in a flowing river where women are washing their clothes at the banks. My friend said those days are gone now, but this is how I see Rosales in Pangasinan before the war. </div>
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I've seen the great writer F. Sionil Jose in person. I was at his bookstore Solaridad on Padre Faura Street in Manila years back, just browsing. He came out from the back and stood on the counter. I was four feet away. I have creds because my first short story was just then published in Philippine Graphic and I had just sent a manuscript to Philippines Free Press, but I was too shy to approach. I'm a great fan, and I admire him for his novels, especially his masterpiece, the five-book Rosales saga – Po-on, Tree, My Brother, My Executioner; The Pretenders and Mass. The story of the two-novel "Don Vicente" is Tree and My Brother, My Executioner.</div>
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The story of "Tree" begins when the unnamed narrator was still a young boy. He was the only son of a wealthy landlord, Don Espiridion, who is also the right-hand man of the richest man in Rosales, Don Vicente Asperri. They own the land, and the farmers, known as tenants, would pay them to plant and gather the harvest. They have many servants, mostly the children of the tenants who are unable to pay them back. A man named Baldo tried to change the situation, but he lost, and he died. My favorite scene is when the boy and his grandfather, the beloved former gobernadorcillo, went to the fields in Carmay after the harvest. "Boy, the silence of a field can give a man beautiful thoughts," Grandfather said on the day he died peacefully. "Here, more than anyplace, you are nearer God."</div>
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Narrator – Daniel Padilla/ Nash Aguas</div>
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Teresita – Kathryn Bernardo</div>
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Father – Robert Arevalo</div>
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Grandfather – Tony Mabesa</div>
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Baldo – Coco Martin</div>
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Pedring – Jericho Rosales</div>
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Clarissa – Kristine Hermosa</div>
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Marcelo – Cesar Montano</div>
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Benito – Eddie Mesa</div>
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Padre Andong – Jaime Fabregas</div>
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Doro – Noel Trinidad</div>
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Antonia – Celia Rodriguez</div>
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Sepa – Caridad Sanchez</div>
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Angel – Vandolph</div>
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Ludovico – Yul Servo</div>
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Andring – Baron Geisler</div>
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Martina – Alessandra De Rossi</div>
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Nimia – Dina Bonnevie</div>
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Father's mistress – Tessie Tomas</div>
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Hilda's father – Menggie Cobarubias</div>
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Ludovico's father – Bodjie Pascua</div>
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Angels mother – Gina Pareño </div>
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Angel's father – Pen Medina</div>
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Chan Hai – Tsing Tong Tsai</div>
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<i>Photo courtesy of Amazon</i></div>
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Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-17166826685308602392019-09-28T00:00:00.000+08:002019-09-28T00:00:00.855+08:00Into The Mind of God<br />
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Into The Mind of God</div>
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By Jonathan Aquino</div>
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Saturday Stories</div>
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September 28, 2019</div>
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I</div>
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One of my greatest heroes is the late Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., the beloved political leader whose assassination on August 21, 1983 had triggered a nationwide outrage. This led to the historic February 1986 People Power Revolution that brought down the twenty-year one-man rule of Ferdinand Marcos. Ninoy's widow, Cory, was the unifying force of the opposition groups, and she ran and won against Marcos in a snap election. But it was rigged, and the people rose up in a peaceful revolt and recognized her as the rightful President. Ninoy is the soul of People Power that inspired the bloodless revolutions in Europe that ended communism and tore down the Berlin Wall.</div>
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Ninoy's life is unprecedented. In the history of the Philippines, he was the youngest war correspondent at 17, the youngest mayor at 23, the youngest vice governor at 25, the youngest governor at 27, and the youngest Senator at 35. He would have been the youngest President at 40 because he was the shoo-in for the 1973 elections. But martial law was declared before that, on September 21, 1972, and Ninoy was thrown in jail for false charges because he was the greatest threat with his popularity and brilliant mind. Ninoy was in prison for seven years and seven months, and five years of those was in solitary confinement. There was nothing he could do and nowhere to go, so he turned within.</div>
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Many years later, in 1982, he talked about his ordeals and his spiritual transformation at "The 700 Club" with Pat Robertson. Pat knew that one of the thousands of books that Ninoy read in prison was "The Imitation of Christ," the 15th century Latin devotional attibuted to the theologian Thomas a Kempis. Here is one of my favorite passages: "If thou wert good and pure within, then wouldst thou look upon all things without hurt and understand them aright. A pure heart seeth the very depths of heaven and hell. Such as each one is inwardly, so he judgeth he outwardly. If there is any joy in the world, surely the man of pure heart possesseth it, and if there is anywhere tribulation and anguish the evil conscience knowth it best. As iron cast into the fire losesth rust and is made altogether glowing, so the man who turneth himself altogether unto God is freed from slothfulness and changed into a new man."</div>
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Ninoy became a better man precisely because of his sufferings, and I find it so inspiring. In solitude and loneliness, he found God and became a true Christian, one who would gladly carry the burden for His glory. In the book, a Kempis wrote "Jesus hath many lovers of His heavenly kingdom, but few bearers of His Cross. He hath many seekers of comfort, but few of trubulations. He findeth many companions of His table, but few of His fasting. All desire to rejoice with Him, few are willing to undergo anything for His sake. Many follow Jesus that they may eat of His loaves, but few that they may drink of the cup of His passion. Many are astonished at His miracles, few follow after the shame of His cross. Many love Jesus so long as no adversities happen to them. Many praise Him and bless Him, so long as they receive any comforts from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and withdraw from them a little while, they fall either into complaining or into too great dejection of mind."</div>
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CD6jKICYFEE" width="560"></iframe></div>
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<i>Photo courtesy of Christian Book Distributors</i></div>
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Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-32305277350065469362019-09-21T03:13:00.000+08:002019-09-21T03:13:06.158+08:00Jumper<br />
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Jumper</div>
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By Jonathan Aquino</div>
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Saturday Stories</div>
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September 21, 2019</div>
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There is a small one-way street between the building where I work and the next building. The side of the other building has landscaped grass behind a stretch of concrete that acts as a long bench. I was sitting there the other night before going up, having iced tea from the nearby Jollibee. I had made a request to be in the night shift so that was around eleven, an hour before midnight. When I'm alone and it's quiet like that moment, my mind is at peace. I wasn't thinking of anything in particular, just enjoying the moment. </div>
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Earlier that night I've been reading the novel "Jumper" by Steven Gould, where they based the movie. Then I thought how it would be nice to just teleport upstairs, but if someone sees me appear literally out of thin air, he or she will definitely spread it, so I should to land in the stairwell instead. If I'm a teleport, I could literally go anywhere, but if I go to a mall, where would I appear without causing a commotion? It's always easier to teleport back to my house coming from anywhere, but, hey, like they said, there ain't no place like home. </div>
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In the movie version, David Rice, a.k.a. Anakin Skywalker, is a jumper, a teleporter. He can go anywhere in an instant, and all he has to do is to visualize that place. He first knew about his power when he fell into a frozen lake and reappeared in a library, soaking wet. When he needs money, he just goes directly inside bank vaults and take what he needs. But jumpers are being hunted and killed by a fanatical group called the Paladins, led by Jedi Master Mace Windu. Anakin first encountered them at the Colosseum in Rome where he had taken his girlfriend Millie. That's where he also met the jumper Griffin who became an ally.</div>
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I like the movie and I'm waiting for the sequel, but I like the book better because it is so human. Griffin and the Paladins are not here. David did not fell into the lake: the first time he jumped was when he was being beaten by his father. David's mother had left when he was five because David's father also beat her, and the reunion between mother and son was very moving. There were some very vivid characters in the book who are not in the movie, like the magician Bob The Magnificent, the trucker Topper Robbins who tried to rape David, the cop Sergeant Washburn who beat his wife every night, the terrorist Rashid Matar who killed David's mother. I guess that sometimes, even if you can anywhere, there are some things you cannot escape from. </div>
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<i>Photo courtesy of Libros Gratis</i></div>
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Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-59629617051617007282019-09-14T00:00:00.000+08:002019-09-14T00:00:05.991+08:00The Last Word <div style="text-align: center;">
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The Last Word<br />
By Jonathan Aquino<br />
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Saturday Stories</div>
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September 14, 2019</div>
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There was a time some time ago, when I still in Manila, that a friend was telling me about Freemasonry. But he was not a member, and what he said about the group sounded really sinister. I asked him how he knew those things, and he said that someone told him. He then realized that he had readily believed what he had heard even though he didn't really know the truth. For all he knew, the person who told him probably got it from someone else who also knew nothing. I also realized there had been times when I too had been gullible and naive. It was an a-ha moment for both of us.</div>
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Yet I have another friend who is very familiar with secret societies and esoteric knowledge. He knows many things about Freemasonry, The Knights Templar, the Illuminati, the Rosicrucians. He knew about Jesus and Mary Magdalene and the bloodline years before Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code." It was from him that I learned that the Founding Fathers of the United States were Freemasons. Perhaps it simply means that they knew things that the masses don't, and they used that knowledge to build a government that is still growing strong even after two centuries, so I think that's a good thing.</div>
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III</div>
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Personally, I deeply admire how every American President since George Washington has upheld and protected their Constitution. It is still the same Constitution drafted on July 4, 1776, to which they just add amendments to fit the changing times. To put it in perspective, here in the Philippines, various elements have tried to void the entire Constitution to create their own. I think there is something to be said that the United States never had martial law, and her Presidents would always step down after their term of office.</div>
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As I read "The Lost Symbol," also by Dan Brown, I was intrigued even more about the Freemasons, about how they built the city of Washington and founded a nation that respects individual freedom above all else. There is a legend that the Masons hold the key to infinite power, but the symbologist Robert Langdon is skeptical. He thought: "I wasn't a member of Odysseus' crew, but I'm certain the Cyclops is a myth." I love the books of Dan Brown, with their meticulous research and surprising plot twists. The treasure is hidden in ancient symbols, and naturally, if there is someone who can crack the code, it would be Langdon. (Here is the "cast" of the movie on my mind as I read it):</div>
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Robert Langdon – Joe Mantegna</div>
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Peter Solomon – Michael Douglas</div>
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Katherine Solomon – Sigourney Weaver</div>
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Inoue Sato – Michelle Yeo</div>
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Warren Bellamy – James Earl Jones</div>
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Mal'akh – Ralph Fiennes</div>
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Colin Galloway – Max Von Sydow</div>
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Trent Anderson – Neil McDonough</div>
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Turner Simkins – Holt McCallany</div>
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Trish Dunne – Kirsten Vangsness</div>
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Nola Kaye – Mayim Bialik</div>
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Jonas Faukman – Danny De Vito</div>
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Officer Nunez – Michael Peña</div>
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Omar Amirana – Riz Ahmed</div>
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Mark Zoubianis – Jesse Eisenberg</div>
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Rick Parrish – Rami Malik</div>
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<i>Photo courtesy of Amazon</i></div>
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Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-56674419958578023932019-09-07T04:50:00.000+08:002019-09-07T04:50:02.672+08:00Smaller and Smaller Circles<br />
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Smaller and Smaller Circles</div>
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By Jonathan Aquino</div>
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Saturday Stories</div>
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September 7, 2019</div>
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I have never been to Payatas, the 13-hectare dumpsite in Quezon City, but I heard that mountains of garbage stood high above hundreds of shanties. Many people make their living there – picking though the endless piles and selling anything they find that could be sold. But there have been a lot of landslides. The most recent was on July 2000, and 218 people died.</div>
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In 1997, Payatas became the scene of a series of murders. Director Francisco Lastimosa of the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) has requested the help of Father Gus Saenz and Father Jerome Lucero, Jesuit priests who were also trained forensics experts. This is the story of "Smaller and Smaller Circles" by F.H. Batacan, published by Soho Crime in New York in 2002 – winner of the Palanca Award, the National Book Award and the Madrigal-Gonzalez Award.</div>
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The victims were all young boys, their ages ranging from eleven to fifteen. Their bodies would be found mutilated and in an advanced state of decay. They were eviscerated – the hearts were taken out. The genitals were cut off. And their faces – surgically peeled off the skulls – were gone. It was ghastly, but Saenz and Lucero have allies like Lastimosa, veteran crime scene investigator Ading Rustia, NBI Deputy Director Jake Valdez, even the reporter Joanna Bonifacio.</div>
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But Lastimosa had a heart attack on live TV, and he had to go the U.S. for an emergency operation. Then their adversaries, the lawyer Benjamin Arcinas and the political appointee Philip Mapa, began to grab power at the NBI. Saenz was being stonewalled, but he has other enemies. He had been pursuing a priest named Ramirez, who he accused of being a pedophile, but no less than a Cardinal, Rafael Meneses, was the protector. Then, one day, he got a call, but all he heard was someone breathing. While reading the book, I was also the "director" of my imaginary movie, like David Fincher, and here is my cast:</div>
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Father Gus Saenz – Alvin Anson</div>
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Father Jerome Lucero – Epy Quizon</div>
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Joanna Bonifacio – Mylene Dizon</div>
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Francisco Lastimosa – Ronaldo Valdez</div>
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Benjamin Arcinas – Tirso Cruz III</div>
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Ading Rustia – Dante Rivero</div>
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Jake Valdez – Raymond Bagatsing</div>
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Philip Mapa – Albert Martinez</div>
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Councilor Mariano – Tonton Gutierrez</div>
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Father Emil – Bodjie Pascua</div>
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Monsignor Ramirez – Michael De Mesa </div>
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Cardinal Rafael Meneses – E.A. Rocha</div>
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Alice Panganiban – Nova Villa</div>
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Gino Sta. Romana – Manilyn Reynes</div>
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Mrs. Salustiano – Irma Adlawan</div>
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Arcinas' secretary – Luz Valdez</div>
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Sister Miriam Taguibao – Laurice Guillien </div>
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Flora Carlos – Gina Alajar </div>
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Mr. Carlos – Joel Torre</div>
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Carding Navato – Alex Medina</div>
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Rommel Salustiano – Vandolf</div>
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Isabelo Gorospe – Allan Paule </div>
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Tato Ampil – Ketchup Eusebio</div>
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Emong Ricafrente – Jhong Hilario</div>
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<i>Photo courtesy of IMDb </i></div>
Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-90622957445687758432019-08-31T02:24:00.000+08:002019-08-31T02:24:26.661+08:00Breaktime<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Breaktime<br />
By Jonathan Aquino</div>
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Saturday Stories</div>
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August 30, 2019</div>
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After years of being offline, I logged in again on Facebook on January 2017 just so I'll still have my contacts. And to have a reason to log in, I'd feature original Filipino music. The first four songs were my favorites – "Reaching Out" by Gary Valenciano, "So It's You" by Raymond Lauchengco, "Friend of Mine" by Odette Quesada and "Constant Change" by Jose Mari Chan. I'd go to YouTube first, and share the video on my Wall.</div>
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And then, for some reason, all shared videos had disappeared. It happened after more than a hundred songs – the 100th Song is "Kayganda Ng Ating Musika" by Maestro Ryan Cayabyab and Basil Valdez. Just for fun, I call it The Huggybear OPM Show, and I wanted to continue it, so I instead, I posted the lyrics of the songs and photos of the albums, which eventually became movie themes in an evolution of its own.</div>
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At some point, I would write things and post them on Facebook. I seem to have this urge to put down my thoughts on paper, which is a metaphor because I type stuff on Notepad. I realized that, instead of being too open to the public, it would be better if I just talk about the books I've read, if I were to talk at all, because if I were to do anything at all, it would be to read.</div>
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And what I write are essays, like diary entries (not reviews nor critiques) but within the confines of a book so the personal essay won't be too personal. I read mostly ebooks, and they are on my tablet under different folders, so I sometimes I would read one or two chapters from four or five books before I go to bed. But some of what I've been reading last week are things I find a bit complicated to talk about – the Law of Attraction, mystical healing, astral projection, lucid dreaming, "A Course In Miracles" and "The Lost Years of Jesus" and many more. In other words, I don't have a non-controversial book to write about this week. As for last week, there is a totally non-literary reason, and though I have a lot to say, I'd rather not. </div>
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<br />Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-41858131840649985962019-08-17T00:00:00.000+08:002019-08-17T00:00:08.069+08:00Jabez's Prayer<br />
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Jabez's Prayer</div>
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By Jonathan Aquino</div>
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Saturday Stories</div>
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August 17, 2019</div>
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If there is a song that would sum up my life, it would be from Barry Manilow:</div>
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"I made it through the rain,</div>
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I kept my world protected,</div>
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I made it though the rain,</div>
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I kept my point of view,</div>
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I made it through the rain</div>
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by the others who</div>
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and made it through..."</div>
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It sounds corny but it's true. There's actually another song that's perfect, from Tiffany:</div>
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"All this time, </div>
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all in all, I've no regrets,</div>
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the sun still shines, the sun still sets, </div>
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and the heart forgives, the heart forgets..."</div>
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At this point in my life, I now know there is a God, and I thank God for all the many wonderful things He showered in my life, and that belief has come to the point of knowing. Yet I still have moments that I don't like, and sometimes I can feel peace in the middle of chaos, but sometimes I don't. But it's okay because that's what it's like to be human.</div>
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I pray but I'm not a religious person; I meditate but I don't think of myself as spiritual. I have also noticed that my faith does not shield me from the negative things that I've attracted, which is my own responsibility because our thoughts become things. But after all is said and done, my life has been so blessed, but "I had my share of life's ups and downs," like in the song by Gladys Knight and The Pips. And though I never suffered, I still know how it feels to reach for help.</div>
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That is why I'm intrigued by a simple man named Jabez who lived during the Old Testament era. In 1 Chronicles 4:9-10, it says that "Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, 'I gave birth to him in pain.' Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, 'Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.' And God granted his request." In his bestselling classic "The Prayer of Jabez," the author Bruce Wilkinson, who had prayed his prayer everyday his entire life, says: "I want to introduce you to the amazing truths in Jabez's prayer for blessing and prepare you to expect God's astounding answers to it as a regular part of your life."</div>
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<b>I Made It Through The Rain</b></div>
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<b>Barry Manilow</b></div>
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Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-54699678937591182242019-08-10T03:26:00.001+08:002019-08-10T03:26:30.236+08:00Ask And You Shall Receive<br />
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Ask And You Shall Receive</div>
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By Jonathan Aquino</div>
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Saturday Stories</div>
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August 10, 2019</div>
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I'm inspired by the life of Bo Sanchez, the Catholic lay preacher, entrepreneur and bestselling author, when I read his "8 Secrets of The Truly Rich." But by "rich," he meant it was more than material supply. Wealth has many forms – good health, peace of mind, a sense of purpose, meaningful relationships, success in career, and a sense of connection with God.</div>
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Bo was twelve when he had a spiritual awakening. That was when he learned about tithing, the Biblical tradition of giving away ten percent of your earnings. He began with his allowance, where he would tithe ten percent, which was hard for a boy who always wanted ice cream. Now, he gives forty percent of his income, and his goal is to give more. He says, "This is why I'm truly rich: because I'm a giver."</div>
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He began to preach when he was thirteen. One of his greatest influences was Saint Francis of Assisi, the 13th century friar and founder of the Franciscan Order, known for his generosity and love for his fellowmen, even lepers. Bo was happy to serve the poor, living with them. He didn't care about money or any material things. Then, one day, he was ministering to a woman who was distraught. It turns out that she couldn't afford to pay her daughter's tuition. Bo was surprised that it was just a small amount, but he didn't have it either.</div>
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So he prayed, and that's when he began to realize that he could help more people if he had money. But first, he had to change his beliefs. Now he is rich, and he says that anyone can be. "You can get out of debt, save enough for the future, be very generous to the poor and God’s work," he says. "So who’s stopping you? Here’s the answer: YOU. No one else can stop you. Not your family, not your friends, not the government, not the poverty of the country. And God? He won’t stop you too. Why would He? He invented wealth."</div>
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Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-6576890952337297782019-08-03T00:00:00.000+08:002019-08-03T00:00:09.518+08:00Once Upon A Time In Japan<br />
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By Jonathan Aquino</div>
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Saturday Stories</div>
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July 3, 2019</div>
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I am great fan of Christopher Nolan as screenwriter and director. I like his twists like the twin in "The Prestige" and the spinning top in "Inception." His stories are grounded in logic, like in "The Dark Knight" where the batmobile is a prototype of a military vehicle. In "Interstellar," our astronauts were gone for decades because they landed on a planet next to a black hole, and the extreme gravity caused time to dilate so one hour on the surface became equivalent of seven years on earth. </div>
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Time is relative, not a universal constant, like the one by Planck, as we first thought. Einstein says, in simplest terms, that time slows down the faster you go. This naturally brings us to the Twin Paradox, where one stays on earth and the other one goes to space at the speed of light then comes back. Who is older? The one on earth will be older because the time for the one in space would have moved slower. So how could one twin be much older? That's the paradox.</div>
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Hundreds of years before space travel, a tale is told about a boy who vanished for many years, but to him it was only a few days. The story of the young fisherman Urashima Taro was a famous story with many versions in Ancient Japan. Taro rescues a sea turtle, who would later reward him by taking him to the Dragon Palace of the Sea King. There he met and fell in love with the Sea Princess, Otohime Sama, and they got married. </div>
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He was happy, but soon he felt homesick. He told his wife that he wanted to visit his parents. She reluctantly agreed, and she gave him a sealed box and told him never to open it, which doesn't make any sense at all. And so, Taro went home, but everything was different, and he knew no one, and no one knew him. They told him that a boy named Urashima Taro used to live in his house and he went to the Dragon Palace and was never seen again, but that was three hundered years ago.</div>
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<i>Photo courtesy of eBay</i></div>
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Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-65348429909489918342019-07-27T00:14:00.000+08:002019-07-27T00:14:20.728+08:00Powers of Your Inner Mind<br />
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Powers of Your Inner Mind</div>
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By Jonathan Aquino</div>
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Saturday Stories</div>
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July 27, 2019</div>
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My first time to talk to Jaime Licauco was through text. That was many years ago when I was still in Manila and my radio could reach the station. Licauco is a bestselling author and the leading parapsychologist and paranormal researcher in the Philippines. It was on his Sunday night program Inner Mind On Radio with the Superman theme as the intro. His co-anchor during that time, the late hypnotherapist Frances Gloria, read my message.</div>
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I asked him if it is possible to be vulnerable to witchcraft if you don't believe in it. He said you can dismiss weak spells, but can be very dangerous when you deal with powerful black magic. That was so wise and nice of him. Since then, he and his next cohost Charmaine Cruz have read my texts and answered my questions through the years. I haven't met him in person, but I added him on Facebook and he was nice enough to accept. I just got the notification yesterday that it was his birthday. </div>
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All this came to mind as I recently found a ebook copy and re-read his classic "Exploring The Powers of Your Inner Mind," first published in 1986, and composed mostly of his articles from his first Inner Mind column at the Times Journal. Then in 1987, Inner Mind began to be published at the Philippine Daily Inquirer. His Inner Mind On Radio show first aired on June 1992 at DZMM, the AM station of ABS-CBN. </div>
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His first guest was Lucresia Kasilag, National Artist For Music, who also wrote the book's foreword. Coming full circle, my favorite story about Jimmy Licauco is about witchcraft. He was talking to a friend who said that it's not real. So Jimmy played a psychological game. He said, "Very well, why don't we conduct an experiment? I have a friend who is a good mangkukulam (witch). I'll ask him to get your stomach bloated for one day..." But his friend vehemently protested – "Of course not! Don't let him do anything to me!" </div>
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Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-56407249300962540512019-07-20T00:00:00.000+08:002019-07-20T00:00:08.236+08:00Myth Universe<br />
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Myth Universe</div>
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By Jonathan Aquino</div>
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Saturday Stories</div>
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July 20, 2019</div>
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The Big Bang came about fourteen billion years ago. The first living beings were Gaia the Mother Earth and Ouranos the Father Heaven. Then came the Titans, then the gods. The Titans Cronus and Rhea gave birth to Zeus, who would become the most powerful of all gods. Zeus would later rebel against them, and the wise Titan Prometheus would side with him. When humans were created, Prometheus give them fire. </div>
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This made Zeus angry, and he chained Prometheus on the top of a mountain in the Caucasus, the mountain range in what is now Eastern Europe. It was partly punishment, but there is also a secret agenda. There was a prophecy that one of his sons would rise against him, and he wants Prometheus to tell him who is the mother because he had so many children. Prometheus never revealed it despite the extreme torture of his being eaten alive by an eagle everyday because he can't die. Later on, one of Zeus's sons, Hercules, would set him free. </div>
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There are so many stories in Edith Hamilton's 1940 classic "Mythology," where she collected many of the stories in Greek, Roman and Norse myth. The greatest demigods are all there – Hercules, Theseus, Achilles, Odysseus, Aeneas, the wonder twins Castor and Pollux and more. A whole chapter is for famous love stories, like about Orpheus and Eurydice where he went to Hades to get her back, but on the way home, he looked back at her though he wasn't supposed to, and she was teleported back to hell. There is also the tragic affair of Pyramus and Thisbe, where Pyramus thought Thisbe was dead so he killed himself, but Thisbe was alive, and when she saw Pyramus dead, she also killed herself. </div>
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And there is Cupid and Psyche, a story from the second century Latin writer Apuleius. Psyche was a beautiful young mortal girl, and the God of Love, Cupid a.k.a Eros, fell in love with her. They married, with the condition that she never look at him. So of course she did, and he left. She looked for him, finally confronting his mother, Venus, a.k.a. Aphrodite. What followed next was a real Filipino soap opera, with the wicked stepmother maltreating the martyred heroine. But it has a happy ending, and they all lived happily ever after on Mount Olympus. </div>
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Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-69071709449961566852019-07-13T00:00:00.000+08:002019-07-13T00:00:17.855+08:00Doctor Strange Episode One<br />
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Doctor Strange Episode One</div>
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By Jonathan Aquino</div>
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Saturday Stories</div>
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July 13, 2019</div>
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If I were to become a Sorcerer Supreme like Doctor Strange, it would take me many years of study and practice. Fast forward, I could invoke spells and manipulate energy, but I won't have the Sling Ring so I can't teleport. But that's okay because what I like best about his powers is the ability to project out of the body at will at anytime.</div>
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The origin story of Doctor Strange is the same in the comics as in the movie. Stephen Strange was a great surgeon, but he was a jerk. One day, he got into an accident which destroyed his hands. He then searched the world for a cure, and ended up in Tibet. There he met the Ancient One, the mysterious monk who taught him the mystic arts.</div>
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He had spent his last money to get there. It was all or nothing – either he finds a cure or die. Then, in the Himalayan mountains, he got caught in the middle of a snowstorm, and he thought it was the end, when he saw, in the distance, the monastery appeared, as if by magic.</div>
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He also met the Ancient One's apprentice, Mordo. In the comics, first published on July 1963 and created by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee, Mordo was his arch enemy from the beginning. In the MCU film, Mordo was first his friend who helped him train, and even shared with him the meaning of Shamballa – the WiFi password. But in the sequel in 2022, Mordo would turn to the Dark Side.</div>
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Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-22207322026282176522019-07-06T00:00:00.000+08:002019-07-12T02:43:17.610+08:00Meeting A Messiah<div style="text-align: center;">
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Meeting A Messiah<br />
By Jonathan Aquino<br />
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July 6, 2019</div>
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Richard Bach once wrote, "Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you're alive, it isn't." The aviator and author Richard Bach is one of my favorite people in history, along with Mitch Albom and Og Mandino and Paulo Coelho, because his uses his talent to share inspiration to the world. In personal ways, his novels "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" and "One" and "The Bridge Across Forever" and "Illusions: The Adventures of A Reluctant Messiah" are all special to me. People like him, those who lift his fellowmen, are one of the many reasons why life is beautiful and worth living.</div>
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After "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" was published and became a phenomenal bestseller in 1970, everybody was asking Richard what he'll write next, but he had no idea. He was a pilot, and he would often go out to small towns and give rides in his Fleet biplane, an open cockpit plane with a pair of wings one on top of the other. Then he met another pilot, also giving rides and flying a white and gold Travel Air 4000 biplane. His name was Donald Shimoda. He had black hair, but I've read the book many times and I can only see Sean Connery and nobody else as Donald Shimoda – who is also the Messiah.</div>
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As the Messiah, Donald has godlike powers, but it didn't affect him. He had been an auto mechanic, and people from all walks of life had come and gathered in his shop to seek healing and salvation. Donald was born on Earth, and he learned the things we all learn in life, but he also remember the things he learned from other lives, and people respond to that. He went to the countryside but the crowds followed him, so he began to teach. "Within each of us lies the power of our consent to health and to sickness, to riches and to poverty, to freedom and to slavery," he said. "It is we who control these, and not another."</div>
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I think that any message about self-empowerment has to be heard. If I were a teacher of men, I would remind them that we have more control over our lives than we think, and that we alone are responsible for the circumstances of our lives – lessons that I also needed to remind myself from time to time. Donald has given Richard the "Messiah's Handbook: Reminders For The Advanced Soul," where the opening quotes comes from. "The simplest questions are the most profound," it also says. "Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you going? What are you doing? Think about these once in a while, and watch your answers change."</div>
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<br />Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-80777572233663439052019-06-28T00:30:00.000+08:002019-06-28T09:00:22.620+08:00Remembering Morrie<br />
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By Jonathan Aquino</div>
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Saturday Stories</div>
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June 29, 2019</div>
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When I was a little boy, I thought that the most terrifying thing in the world was to be buried alive. I got the idea when I read "The Cask of Amontillado," a story written in 1846 by the great Edgar Allan Poe. It is about a young man named Fortunato who has been sealed in a dungeon by his friend, Montressor. "For the love of God, Montressor!" he said, as the man began to build his tomb brick by brick. But I'm a grown-up now, and I have realized that there is something far worse – amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.</div>
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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, is basically the gradual loss of control of muscle movements, with the person not being able to walk, to eat, and soon, to not be able to breathe. It is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease because it came in 1939 to Lou Gehrig, the New York Yankees baseball star. Recently, it was what happened to the legendary physicist Stephen Hawking who died in 2018. In the Hawking biopic "Theory Of Everything," the most unforgettable scene was when he was in a wheelchair, and he cannot talk and he cannot move, and his eyes were pleading for his wife not to leave him. I think I'd rather die than suffer like that, and yet, that same medical condition could not defeat a frail old man who gave so much inspiration to the world.</div>
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His name was Morrie Schwartz, the one in the novel "Tuesdays With Morrie" by Mitch Albom, and he was a real person. When I first read it in 2013, I was Mitch in my mental movie version, and Morrie was Eddie Garcia as he was in the 1991 Lino Brocka movie "Kung Tapos Na Ang Kailanman," which is also my favorite Eddie Garcia role. It was sad to hear that Eddie just died a week ago, but I'm also happy for him because he lived his life to the full and gave so much, and I will always think of him as young. I also thought there should be a Hollywood version, but I can't think of anyone as Morrie except Burt Lancaster because he was so magical in "Field of Dreams," but he died in 1994, the same year Morrie got the symptoms. Then I saw the movie, with Jack Lemmon as Morrie and Hank Azaria as Mitch, and all I could think of is that I just wish everybody could see it.</div>
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I love the way they turned the narration into dialogues, like when Morrie asked, "Are you giving to your community?" then after Mitch answered, he asked next, "Are you at peace with yourself?" like a regular conversation. On their first meeting after 16 years, Morrie told him: "You know, dying is just one thing to be said about, living unhappily, that's is another matter." My favorite scene, in both the book and the movie, is when Morrie described how he was going to die, which is really painful to even contemplate, but he said not everyone was as lucky as he. "Lucky?!" exclaimed Mitch. Morrie told him in the book: "It's horrible to watch my body slowly wilt away to nothing, but it's also wonderful because of all the time I get to say good-bye."</div>
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<i>Photo courtesy of Amazon</i></div>
Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-88759792212003083632019-06-22T00:30:00.000+08:002019-06-22T00:30:00.854+08:00Heaven, I'm In Heaven<br />
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<b>By Jonathan Aquino</b></div>
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Saturday Stories</div>
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June 22, 2019</div>
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Haruki Murakami once said, "Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it." Personally, I am not afraid of death. Yet it does not mean I want to die now. I see life as precious because I have seen many times how it has been touched by Grace. I see all around me the countless miracles of this world, and I'm so filled with gratitude for my own life and for being here. But if it is my time, then I am ready. I remember a scene in "Deep Impact" years back. A giant asteroid was about to destroy all life on Earth. A man and her daughter were at a beach to watch it hit the ocean and create a giant tsunami. They hugged each other as the waves came, but they stayed where they were. That is how I want to face my death – with supreme courage and quiet dignity.</div>
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What happens to us after we die? After the near-death experience – finding ourselves floating above our body, trying to talk to people but nobody could hear us, going through a dark tunnel toward a light, a being of radiant light welcoming us, and the sense of peace and homecoming and completeness – what comes next if we are not coming back anymore? I have been listening to the lectures by Dolores Cannon, the pioneer in past-life regression and the creator of Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique. She shared the stories of people who have actually died. Then, which is probably just a coincidence, I found a now out-of-print book from Ruth Montgomery that speaks about the exact same thing.</div>
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Ruth Montgomery was a political correspondent in the sixties when she began her work in the paranormal. I have her books "A Search For The Truth" and "Threshold to Tomorrow" where she talks of her encounters with nonphysical entities and departed loved ones through automatic writing, and of the Walk-In people – highly evolved souls who take over a body if the original occupant wants to leave. The book I found about life after life is "A World Beyond," the account of her communication with the psychic and trance medium Arthur Ford after he died on January 1971 of a heart attack. They had been very close friends so Ruth was able to confirm that it was really him.</div>
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This is what Heaven is like in Arthur Ford's own words, "I found that it was as I subconsciously remembered, although no one can quite recall the beauty and the deep affinity that one has for others of like-thinking here. It was like coming home, to slip through that door and release the tired old body. In an instant, without conscious thought, I was here surrounded by relatives." Our prayers for our departed loved ones are important. "Let me say that prayers do indeed help all of us here," says Ford. "We strongly feel the vibrations for good that those yearning, loving prayers provoke." As in all prayers, everything is heard.</div>
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<i>Photo courtesy of of Abe Books</i></div>
Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-74825225443919050452019-06-15T00:30:00.000+08:002019-06-15T00:30:01.338+08:00Power Of Now<br />
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Power of Now</div>
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By Jonathan Aquino</div>
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Saturday Stories</div>
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June 15, 2019</div>
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Eckhart Tolle writes in The Power of Now, "The greater part of human pain is unnecessary. It is self-created as long as the unobserved minds runs your life." I love Eckhart Tolle. I feel a sense of comfort when I hear his voice in YouTube. But his spiritual awakening came in the midst of a severe depression. "I cannot live with myself any longer!" he thought, and then he wondered if the "I" is the same as the one who was thinking the thought. Then he felt himself drawn to what felt like a vortex of energy, and he was afraid, but a voice said "Resist nothing." He surrendered to the power, and when awakened, he was the never same person anymore.</div>
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But understanding is different from knowing. I understand the sense of bliss he felt, but I can't say I know it because I haven't experienced it in that way. But I know the feeling of looking outside of yourself because it happened to me, and it happened most recently at a crucial time in my life. It is not something that I would normally share with the public, but I have to say it because it is part of the story. I was at a hospital emergency room last Monday night after I suffered massive pain on my chest for over an hour. I never felt pain so intense, and I thought it was the end for me. Yet, my soul was at peace, and I was ready to die.</div>
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But I didn't die. A part of me was looking forward to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but a part of me believed I would survive and move on with my life. I lay at the bed, watching the nurses attach all these wires on to me – the heart rate monitors, the oxygen, the I.V. drip – but I was also watching myself watching them. I was thinking that I don't want a funeral – I repeat, I do NOT – yet I was also watching my thoughts. There was no future, there was no past, only that moment, and I finally understood the meaning of being in the Now.</div>
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Eckhart taught me a deeper way of meditation and prayer. Instead of doing what I normally do, think, I would just sit in silence, and contemplate the Presence within the silence. The Presence is the space of consciousness that lets me observe my own mind, helping me to be aware that the "I" of my consciousness is more than than my thoughts. "So when you listen to a thought, you are aware not only of the thought but also of yourself as the witness of the thought," he writes. "A new dimension of consciousness has come in. As you listen to the thought, a you feel a conscious presence – your deeper self – behind or underneath the thought, as it were. The thought then loses its power of you."</div>
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Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558280081519510751.post-41332397863762783852019-06-08T00:24:00.000+08:002019-06-08T00:24:32.997+08:00 Prince Caspian and Schroedinger's Cat<br />
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Prince Caspian and Schroedinger's Cat</div>
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By Jonathan Aquino</div>
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Saturday Stories</div>
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June 8, 2019</div>
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One afternoon recently, I was on my way home as the street lights came on. It made me think of the nature of light. Light is made of photons which can sometimes be like a wave or a particle, so it can also be both a wave and a particle at the same time. This reminds me of the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics, first posed in 1925 by the Nobel Prize-winning Danish physicist Niels Bohr, that says a quantum particle exists in all possible states at once, and the state it will appear in would depend if there is an observer. So, if no one is looking, a thing is also something else simultaneously. </div>
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And, naturally, it calls to mind Schrodinger's Cat. In 1935, the Nobel Prize-winning Austrian physicist Edwin Schrodinger posed this idea as an argument against the Copenhagen Interpretation. Imagine a steel box, and inside the box there is a cat and a vial of radioactive poison that is set to be released at a random time. In other words, our hypothetical cat will die but we don't know when. And since the box is sealed, we can only assume that the cat is dead or alive, but it can't be both alive and dead at the same time. </div>
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And so I thought: is it really possible for something to be one thing and be another thing simultaneously? For example, can a person be in one place, but also be somewhere else? More to the point, can a person be in London and in Narnia at the same time? In C.S. Lewis' "Prince Caspian," the second book in "The Chronicles of Narnia" series after "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe," Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy had stayed in Narnia and reigned as Kings and Queens. They were there for many, many years, but when they found themselves back in London, they realized they have never been gone at all. </div>
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Time is a curious thing, probably since it is relative, because when they got back to Narnia after a couple of days, it turns out they have been gone for a thousand years. Appparenly a lot of things have happened. Narnia was now ruled by the cruel King Miraz who had stolen the throne from the rightful heir Prince Caspian who is his nephew, like what Claudius did to Hamlet, or what Seth did to Horus. Their castle, Cair Paravel, is now in ruins. There they meet the dwarf Trumpkin, a.k.a. Tyrion Lannister. In the movie version, they saved him from the Telmarine soldiers who were about to drown him. Susan aimed her arrow, and she said, "Drop him!" The idea was to save him, but the soldiers took it literally, and so they threw him into the river. </div>
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Jonathan Aquinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835628942875448114noreply@blogger.com1