Your mantra for the week: “I am moving forward to greater success—I am unstoppable.”
My disagreeing with the Vatican is usually because it veers away from the true Jesus Christ teaching, summarized in the Lord’s Prayer that has been translated directly from Aramaic to English.
A lot of beliefs and practices of Roman Catholics in the Philippines are really those of Emperor Constantine I (325 AD), who was also considered the first emperor-pope. Many have forgotten that what we call Christianity today adopted all pagan rituals as agreed upon with the early Christians who were about to revolt against Rome.
So, my Catholic friends who accuse me of being a pagan are perhaps the real pagans, because they claim to be practicing Christians but are actually Churchans practicing Churchanity.
Observe that even the Church’s version of the Lord’s Prayer is quite different from the original and only prayer that Jesus of Nazareth taught:
O cosmic Birther of all radiance and vibration! (Our Father which art in heaven)
Soften the ground of our being and carve out a space within us where your Presence can abide (Hallowed be thy name)
Fill us with your creativity so that we may be empowered to bear the fruit of your mission (Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done)
Let each of our actions bear fruit in accordance with our desire (On earth as it is in heaven)
Endow us with the wisdom to produce and share what each being needs to grow and flourish (Give us this day our daily bread)
Untie the tangled threads of destiny that bind us, as we release others from the entanglement of past mistakes (And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors)
Do not let us be seduced by that which would divert us from our true purpose, but illuminate the opportunities of the present moment (Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil)
For you are the ground and the fruitful vision, the birth-power and fulfillment, as all is gathered and made whole once again (For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory)
Only one Christian
No wonder, the great philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said, “There was only one Christian, and he died on the cross.”
Unfortunately, the Philippines is truly a Churchan country.
Greatest achievement
In town recently for a series of lectures was Dr. Baldomero “Toto” Olivera, Harvard Scientist of 2007.
A distinguished professor of biology at the University of Utah, Olivera is into neuroscience, biochemistry and biodiversity. However, to his classmates, including me, his greatest achievement is that we went to the same institution, the University of the Philippines (UP) High School.
Olivera hosted dinner at Mirèio for high school mates including Etta Rosales, former Commission on Human Rights chair and GMA 7 chair Henry Gozon.
Globally Smart
The discovery of the evening was that Gozon and I still use analog mobile phones. Olivera, however, beat us once more—he does not even own a mobile phone! No wonder he has become one of the Globe’s most noted scientists—and that is because he is simply Smart!
E-mail the columnist: georgedfsison@gmail.com