blog@newfilipina

Pinay Power Q and A

2012-02-23T05:33:00.000-08:00

This is a question and answer writeup, done in October 2004, and emailed back to Melinda de Jesus, editor of Pinay Power: Peminist Critical Theory:

Hey Melinda! ...thanks for stimulating some activity from my head to my hands... i took some of the answers from something else I am writing to answer some of your questions. and than took the new answers to your questions that I wrote and added them into that thing i am writing... chuckle. got some work done with your help.

I discovered this word doc in a backup hard drive and just edited today February 23, 2012.

I can only answer these questions from a personal perspective.

My path has NOT been to articulate [these things] in an academic way, but rather to discover and experience it working in web publishing and thus in a creative way and an activist way.

1. How do we define PINAY POWER? Who has it?

The basic difference between women power and that of pinay power or power of a Filipina, is the story and legacy(past, present and future) that goes with the Filipino woman. And so Pinay Power comes from a woman who consciously (not necessarily vocally) identifies being Filipina and taps into being Filipino for powers of strength, inspiration, courage that come from valuing her heritage, culture, family, ancestry, etc.

Such potential power can be used for the good---growth, healing, harmony--- on several levels of relationships---personal, family, mates, local community/ies, global communities.

All Filipinas, Fil-Fils, Fil-Ams, and all Fils-abroad have the potential for tapping into their stories and their inner selves, although some are not aware of it, some are still becoming aware of it. Even Filipina mestizas have it--- the genes of their ancestors are within them, and in spirit, ancestors will always watch over us and hope and wonder if me, you, are that one, will be a descendant who awakens to the totality of who they are.

But those who are actively discovering their identity and finding their inner power and also exerting it in their relationships with others and the world… they are wielding their power.

In the Philippines, there has been a rise in the consciousness of Filipino identity for decades now. I studied at University of the Philippines, Diliman(a university known for student activism) and remember how my years there awakened my consciousness for me and how much more expanded I began to think outside of my own little life. There, Filipino identity was set against the forces of colonialism and colonial mentality. I knew that discovering that identity was a journey towards Pinoy Power. For me, People Power of 1986 was a climactic point in finding Pinoy Power in spirit and identity and so it wasn't just a political event for me.

When coming to the states, pinay identity consciousness is enhanced more for a Filipino-American woman or a Filipina in America, than let’s say, when a Filipina might be in the Philippines where a woman would simply identify herself as a “woman” or “female.” Pinay identity would come into a heightened consciousness when a Pinay is placed in any geographical or cultural setting where there are other cultures.

How is it different/same than other forms of feminist thought?

I cannot answer on the level of academes.

Isolating a concept and compartmentalizing it, being objective and scientific(5-sensory) is in fact a patriarchal institutional practice! I think we need to expand our perceptions of pinay power not just as a subset of feminist thought but also as a something more widely experienced. And so I’d like to be both objective and subjective when considering pinay power and when articulating it.

Let’s do this by first viewing feminism as a form of power and energy, that exists and manifests on both individual and collective levels of interaction. Then objectively(5-sensory), speaking, the only true difference between American, Pinay and/or other national forms of feminism are the different stories and settings (cultural, social, political, etc). that go with the experiences of discovering, cultivating and expressing inner power and community power.

On a subjective, multi-sensory level, Pinay power as an Energy, as experienced by individuals and collectives, overlaps with both women power and Pinoy power and humanity’s power. It energizes and is energized by both.

In the bigger picture than, the feminist movement is not just a story of individuals finding themselves and coming into their own, it is not just the stories of groups of women around the globe making a difference in their communities or even their countries, it is not just a story of women reaching out to each other in order to release and wield power, it is the story of humanity and it’s development and growth over eons of civilization.

Is it important to carve out a distinct space for Filipina/American feminism rather than emphasizing its place as part of global feminism?

I think both are important and that there should be an acceptance of both even if one is focusing on articulating one or the other or not working in either. If your focus is different from another’s, yours does not necessarily negate other peoples’ work and vice versa. But some people do operate that way. This competitive mentality is again a patriarchal institutional energy that has to do with the energy of battle/conquering/domination. One must be aware of the competitive energies within themselves---using it for accomplishing their work, but, not annihilating and/or reducing the importance of others’ works in an attempt to establish status and rank in some invisible hierarchy of value and privilege---again another patriarchal mindset. Pinay’s who are raising their consciousness must also include an awareness and skill of balancing applications of competitiveness and institutionalized processes vs compassion and subjectiveness.

I know that there are people who are working on various focuses. Their various backgrounds have put them on paths to the work that they are passionate about today.

My path has not been to articulate it in an academic way, but rather to discover and experience it working in web publishing and thus in a creative way and an activist way.

There is a point in coming to a higher consciousness, and we are all on journey’s towards that, that we find that all inner power, everyone’s lakas ng loob is the same, universal and is interconnected (pakikipagkapwa)

The biggest thing about a Pinay’s discovering her inner power (lakas ng loob) and going out there in the world, to interact in community and society, is that they then will come to experience pakikipagkapwa and interrelatedness with others who they have things in common with. And they may very well come upon others who are coming or have come into their own inner power. Following that experience is the realization that even those who on the surface are not they same as them, are in fact on the inside and that indeed everyone is interconnected. They then understand that lakas ng loob is in fact inner power which is a Universal thing AND vice versa.

2. Given the importance of decolonization and anti-imperialist thought in Filipino American cultural studies today, how do we address the impact of globalization and global capital in relation to definitions of FilipinoAmerican "success"?

Decolonizaton and anti-imperialism seek to deconstruct a world paradigm of a patriarchal hierarchy. This paradigm is based on an invisible, but very strong worldview that prestige and value exist on a structured, well-defined, scientific compartmentalization from the top down---God, Humans, Animals, Plants, Minerals, Earth. Within the level of Humans, there is a sub-hierarchy of Man, Woman, Child(gender and age), and then further sub-hierarchies based on race, culture, educational attainment, material goods, etc. Societies based on this worldview thus view “success” on the material accumulation of resources and acceptance from various groups within the sub-hierarchies of the Human strata.

This worldview also justifies domination and power structures based on the accumulation of resources and validates the exploitation of people and environmental resources, the use of violence to control others, and the reasoning of behind going to war.

We must learn to understand this worldview and learn to live within it. But at the same time, we must transcend our definition of happiness and success and the “American dream” as the mere accumulation of money, prestige and material things. We must expand to experiencing success as the allocation of resources---acquiring resources AND also giving them back, putting resources back out there. Filipinos would describe this as receiving blessings and sharing them. We must also include in our experiences of success non-material things---such as learning, self-knowledge, expanded awareness, social and environmental consciousness, creative fulfillment, community interaction, spiritual growth, inner peace and world peace.

(This is not my original idea, btw. I got this insight from Lynne Twist who co-founded The Pachamama Alliance, Turning Tide Coalition, and The Hunger Project[1] when she talked about “The Soul of Money.” She suggested that we have to change our perception of money as not just a material form that is a key to success and power, but rather as a resource, an energy form.)

I think that we have to be aware of our personal actions and that we have to be more conscious of the issues. We have to be aware that we are not just American citizens, pinoy citizens, or have double citizenships… we have to move up to the next level of being global citizens---human beings sharing one world.

We have to come to realize that we are not in fact isolated from the world even if we isolate our thoughts from the world. What happens in the United States affects the Philippines, affects the rest of the world. And that what happens in the rest of the world affects us no matter where we are. We just can’t think only in terms of our own personal success anymore. We have to think of how whatever we gain can not just be accumulated but also allocated. Many Filipinos already have this practice to a certain extent, whereby they work hard to accumulate resources and then share those resources with their family, including those back in the Philippines… But we must also extend out that capability and willingness to the larger community when we can.

We must remember that to see the changes that we want in the world, we must first be those changes in ourselves.

3. What are the cultural and spiritual bases for Filipina American theory and activism? How might they evolve over time?

The actual experience of Pinay Power for me comes from a cultural and spiritual basis and it is also a hybrid of Filipino and American influences. I feel that because of where I grow up and how I grew up in the U.S. I experienced it as global village, so my experience of coming to a stronger identity has been influenced by various world cultures and spiritual traditions.

I think I have been able to sort through my Philippine and American heritages for the best and strongest values. For example, I have replaced the Filipino philosophy of “utang ng loob” with an American influence that has recently been articulated as “pay it forward.” At the same time, I cannot forsake a Filipino tribal value of respecting, loving and heeding the wisdom of our elders and let it be replaced by an American pop-media perception that old people are fuddy-duddies, have no fun, are not interesting, and not of value anymore.

I have benefited from U.S. multicultural environments and centers such as New York City. I have also benefited from the U.S. opportunity for exploring other world cultures and spiritual traditions. In the U.S., I have learned that the basic values and highest hopes and aspirations of Filipinos and Americans and all nationalities are in fact the same. It is only the story’s geographical, racial, cultural, educational settings that might be different. But the loob, the important inside stuff, is the same. My experience here in America has helped me experienced pakikipagkapwa and understand better what global unity might be.

I was raised first in the U.S. and then in the Philippines, and then returned to the states. My mother, to an extent, Americanized while she was in the U.S. between ages 23 and 36, endowed my young mind with the desire to be open-minded. My grandmother, whom I met when our family returned to live in the Philippines as balikbayans in 1974, endowed me with an open-hearted attitude towards people and Life. Both my mom and Lola, and all the woman in my family gave me inspiration and cause to be spiritual, confident and loving.

The background experience of strength and wisdom of womanhood I witnessed came from my very own family of strong and admirable women. The primary American influence of women power came in with the idea, not of bra-burning, but rather, of being in charge of one’s own destiny.

I think that because I grew up first here in the U.S. and then in the Philippines and then returned back to the states that I have been able to gain a desire of being broadminded and encompassing of both old and new ways. I want to be conscious of choosing ways of thinking that make up a sensible whole and of what really, really works for personal growth and inner strength.

What I have learned too, is that the wisest and most valuable beliefs of any nation, from Filipino to European to Native American, or religion, , from Folk Catholic to Muslim to buddhist, turn out to be the same as other cultures and spiritual traditions---dedication to loved-ones, compassion, kindness, self-less service, goodness, diligence, belief in something Greater, love for God...

4. Given the patriarchal and racist nature of US culture itself, what Filipino American cultural norms prevent/inhibit Pinays from taking on leadership roles in the community, in business, etc?

One of the primary hindrances to any Pinay’s taking leadership roles is the belief that they must bow down and concede to established norms and traditions, to more powerful people, to authority. A colonized, genderized mentality continues to uphold the worldview of patriarchal hierarchy.

I think that these norms and social rules have become sets of voices in our minds, forms of social mind control. Some of them chant these self-negations:

· “Don’t rock the boat.”

· “Only men should be concerned with politics.”

· “Keep your opinions to yourself.”

· “Don’t question or contradict authority.”

· “Men work and women belong in the home.”

· “Concern yourself only with your family---getting married, having children---being a good wife and a good mother.”

· “Don’t cause any conflict and confrontation.”

· “Don’t get involved.”

· “Blend in. Don’t stand out.”

· “Stick to the rules and you will be accepted. Acceptance equals value equals love.”

I think that when most people, Filipinos, Filipinas, women, youth, hear these things in their environments when growing up in family and schools, then they eventually always hear them inside their heads, to the point that they are not even conscious of those thoughts anymore and it has become so ingrained and part of their subconscious thinking.

What can be done to address this?

Many of us who are going to be at the conference [FWN Leadership Summit in SF, October 2004] have definitely struggled with these shackling beliefs, may have become conscious of them and finally found the strength and courage to throw them out of their lifes. At the same time we may still listen to a lot of these limiting beliefs in our heads and thus they hold us back. We must release these limiting mantras to become better leaders. And we must find ways to teach our youth, our future leaders to no longer chant those silent chains to themselves.

How do we release and let go of such programming inside of our psyches. This has not been an easy task for most of us. Many of us were not even aware that we even went through such a process. But most of us have learned to break those rules, break away from those invisible shackles.

Developing a strong sense of self comes form learning the difference between our own inner voice, intuition, wisdom, and that of outside forces that they we can't make anything of ourselves.

I firmly believe in adopting affirmations. I also believe in practices of meditation and contemplation and other spiritual practices and self-help activities that increase self-awareness and self-knowledge.

I have witnessed one very Filipino cultural norm and that is to “give in” or to “give way” to the man of the house. To the point of servitude and subservience, it is almost ridiculous. The shakling beliefs that we must give in to the person who is whiter, earns more money, smarter, more highly educated, has bigger or more guns, speaks with a purer accent, is the one who is more privileged and powerful than us.

If we can live without subscribing to the world view of privilege and hierarchy of a patriarchal society based on race and color (Caucasianhood or mestizohood), maleness, age, and biological classification (man, woman, child, animal, plant, mineral kingdom), and see rather from an ancient wisdom standpoint, that is we are all connected and we are all the same in Creation… Switching your worldview from one that is hierarchy oriented to interconnectedness oriented empowers you and frees you from limiting beliefs.

5. How might we best reach out to young Pinays to encourage their interest in leadership?

Opening the heart of the youth to learn to love where they come from and possibilities of interaction within fil-am and multi-cultural contexts. Encouraging them to create their identity from the best of their Filipino, American and other heritages. Helping them to believe that there is potential in each and everyone of them. Teaching them to discern choices, make decisions and own the consequences of their choices, and to not use blame or denial. Helping them believe that there is good in them and that they in fact have an inner radar and they can listen to their own inner guidance system.

· Help cultivate in our youth the belief that in their heritage is a great source of personal power. Also to cultivate in them the belief that there is something good in them and if they let it out through their creativity, intelligence and talents, they can help others.

· Helping the youth to learn to love where they come from and become aware of various possibilities and choices of interaction within fil-am and multi-cultural contexts.

· Encouraging them to create their identity from the best of their Filipino, American and other heritages.

· Helping them to believe that there is potential in each and everyone of them.

· Teaching them to discern choices, make decisions and own the consequences of their choices, and to not use blame or denial.

· Helping them believe that there is good in them and that they in fact have an inner radar and they can listen to their own inner guidance system.

· Teaching them the difference in general on a multicultural and universal level.

· Cultivating courageand eliminating fears. Help youth recognize two paradigms of leaderships---one that comes from ambition and self-aggrandizement and another that comes from compassion and self-less service. And then tying into the latter type of leadership with the talent, intelligence and skills that they have.

· Enumerating various fields where leadership is found---not just in politics and activism, but also in the arts, in ideas, in vision, in community activities, in schools, in families…

· Help youth understand what wisdom and clarity mean and how that applies to their passions and their personal fulfillment of their own creativities. How does talent lead one to become a leadership---it is a combination of passion, new ideas, breaking new ground, being daring and not being afraid to break the rules or do what everybody else won’t do… being daring doesn’t necessarily mean being flippant, careless, heartless.

· Not being afraid to break the rules doesn’t mean being a rebel without a cause and disrespectful to other people…

6. How might we best translate academically-generated theories of Filipina American feminism to Pinays outside of the academy?

Melinda de Jesus’ anthology book on Pinay Power is actually the start! And since it is the first of its time I am looking forward to seeing more work like hers come out… because that book is going to give ideas, insights and inspire others to do their own thing in their own way to express their power and in turn again get others to do the same.

I want to see more projects that cite women manifesting in various forms their Pinay Power. These projects can be in the form of anthologies and also other forms of media such as film documentaries, calendars, coffee books… Maybe creativity workshops or classes can be developed that discuss Pinay power, its past and present manifestations (organizations, activists, politicians, literature and the arts, music, movies, music videos, novels, books, fashion) and how the energy can be created into other forms. In such settings, women and men can brainstorm how they can further tell the story of Filipino men and women via old and new mediums.

[1] Lynne Twist co-founded The Pachamama Alliance, an organization dedicated to preserving the earth's tropical rainforests by empowering the indigenous people who are its natural caretakers. She is president of the Turning Tide Coalition, a gathering of like-minded global organizations committed to inspiring a worldwide conversation for global sustainability. She was an executive with The Hunger Project

and the stereotyping goes on...

2011-10-30T12:07:00.000-07:00

I just today saw this post at answers.yahoo.com:

Rodney L: Where can i find pretty filipina girls? is there any dating sites exclusively for filipina?

9 hours ago

- 4 days left to answer"

Sadly, the first answer he got was from N who said "filipina are worst golddiggers ever." Nevermind the bad spelling or grammar or that N's avatar looks like a masculine woman or a feminine man... Crossdressers aside...

A Filipino or Filipina might initially think, "Ohhhh, isn't that niiiiiice---Rodney wants to marry a pretty filipina..." and "oh that mean N person calling filipinas the worst golddiggers... oh how mean..." yadayadayada...

But, if you search the key word of Filipina in google or other search engines the results yield dozens of matchmaking sites and dating sites for mostly foreign men looking for Filipinas as potential brides. Rodney L will obviously find that out soon... And i have no need to answer Rodney or N.

16 years ago, in 1995, when someone did such a search on "filipina" it yielded "mail order brides" and sex tourism sites(see other post on early Filipina sites online). Today, because of laws and regulation, the term mail order bride is no longer in use and people have changed their online services to "pen pal," "matchmaking" or "dating" sites. So still, it seems to be that at this moment in time and space, the term of "filipina" on the internet is about mostly foreign men looking for Filipinas as potential brides. This is what "filipina" yields at search engines on the internet. This is the narrow identity that the world wide web has accidentally come about for "Filipina." We Filipinas know it isn't true of all of us...

Still, the damage has been done. The stereotyping of Filipinas (see old post) and negative attitudes towards Filipinas towards the "dark side" of being good wives has been set. Some of it by unscrupulous Filipinas who are in fact locked in to their survival instincts to the point of being immoral, and most by a slew of services that have taken advantage of the large numbers of Filipinas who are looking for love and financial support from men who live outside the country of the Philippines with its high poverty levels. This is also globalization.

It's a mere fact. it is what it is.

We can each only do our own thing in the world to bust the stereotypes by being the best Filipinas, best women, best human beings we can be in the world.

Because as a collective whole we are not the narrow strip of stereotypes that some people have relegated us to in their own narrow experience of the world. Rather, we are a stunning array of different human beings who were born as females, born as Filipinas, who live our lives in so many different ways, and it is a sad, sad thing for a small percentage of people in the world to only know of us as pretty, only as nice, only as "worst golddiggers" when so many others of us are strong, kind, gentle, intelligent, independent, creative, pioneering, healing in our many different roles as sisters, mothers, daughters, wives, girlfriends, leaders, teachers, nurses, doctors, nannies, professors, dancers, filmmakers, artists, musicians, singers, scientists, judges, lawmakers, homemakers, managers, organizers and more...

If you're a Filipina, please become a member at Pinay.com, complete your profile, post your blogs, sites and pages and help us create a truer, more diverse identity for Filipinas online.

Curing Colonial Stupor, A booklist

2011-09-05T15:13:00.000-07:00

Why is decolonization and indigenization important to Filipinos today? One of the reasons is that it helps Filipinos become more integrated in their own cultural identity. It also helps them become strengthened as a collective of people who are of the archipelago called the Philippines or whose ancestry hails from there. Why do Filipinos have some sort of cultural identity crisis? Maybe this can help you find answers:

Here is the intro to a booklist called Curing Colonial Stupor, at amazon.com:

When an imperial power comes and colonizes indigenous people, takes away their culture and language and teaches native people to become eurocentric and to look down upon their own kind... a human sickness sets in that is called colonial mentality. This is a systemic and traumatic kind of educational and programming of minds. It is a set of dysfunctional human beings, with a superiority complex, teaching with brutal methods, another set of human beings how to have an inferiority complex and how to be innately dysfunctional as a human being.

This dysfunction, this colonial mentality and colonizers mentality can be cured.

How to find healing?

First, get very angry. The first book listed here will help you do that and is called The Forbidden Book for a reason. Who among the U.S. imperial forces want the little people, among those they colonized and in their own country, to understand the demented thinking they have that justifies their colonization of people who seek their own independence and ways of life?

Next, figure out that this whole Life thing and how people think is all a Game of sorts. The illusions that people project upon us, that we agree to uphold can be shattered.

Next, find ways to rid yourself of programmed thinking that you unconsciously began to subscribe to throughout your life. Aha! That's the catch---it takes years to deprogram. But a personal practice of meditation and self-reflection can help you achieve that.

Return to your roots.

Unsubscribe from belief systems that were constructed to benefit one people and take away from another.

Find healing, wholeness, Clarity.

This booklist includes titles such as:

Forbidden Book, by Abe Ignacio, Enrique de la Cruz, Jorge Emmanuel, Helen Toribio
Waking Up In Time: Finding Inner Peace In Times of Accelerating Change by Peter Russell
Coming Full Circle, by Leny Strobel
If Life is a Game These are the Rules by Chérie Carter-Scott
How to See Yourself as You Really Are... by by Dalai Lama

See the amazon booklist on "Curing colonial stupor" here

2011-08-28T08:29:00.000-07:00

I used to read Marianne Williamson's books faithfully. In this way, she has taught me a lot. This includes the need to not be afraid to shine and let other people shine.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

quote from Marianne Williamson.

Shine Mentality, a sure cure to Crab Mentality

2011-02-27T11:08:00.000-08:00

“I've learned that

people will forget what you said,

people will forget what you did,

but people will never forget how

you made them feel.”

---Maya Angelou

If the cure to colonial mentality is a mental and spiritual decolonization then the cure to crab mentality has to be what I now call Shine Mentality.

In 2002, I remember speakiing to a group of women in the Manila at a Wowee! Workshop on women's wisdom. When I told them that there is room in this world for everyone to shine because inside all women are fabulous---I got a lot of unbelieving looks. A lot of women around the world, even in the United States, the birthplace of the term liberated woman, don't believe that they've got fabulous-ness or the ability to shine within their own selves in the first place.

I know that most of those Filipino women, like me, were raised up to be quiet and demure---keep your legs closed and your thoughts to yourself....etc, etc. Little do most of us mahinhin/lady-like Filipinas realize that some of these tenets of femininity have suppressed our full expression of who we are and have prevented us from pursuing our dreams. It's how we're raised and how our environments influence us that cause us to limit ourselves, and to want to limit others too, even bring them down.

We all need to discover for ourselves how we can live life to the fullest and to also discover how we can want others to live to their fullest potential too. What keeps people from "shining"? What causes people to want others to not shine or to bring down others with their crab mentality?

Terms for shining and inner light are in our every day language...
I think you might be able to understand that people can shine by reviewing some terms in English whereby people talk about how people might shine...

The word "star" is a term used for celebrities who do well on the silver screen.

People like to describe smiles with "She has such a radiant smile."

And people might talk about one's characteristics with "he has such a sunny disposition."

When one does well in their work they might get "glowing reviews."

We like to give people we love (and who seem especially lovable) affectionate nicknames like "Sunshine," "bituin."

We might refer to something appealing in a person's eye with "they have a twinkle in their eye" or "there was a sparkle in their eye." Or to say about something eye-catching or someone charismatic that they are "dazzling."

In the Philippine national anthem we use terms like "silanganan" (brightness) and "na nagniningning" (sparkle).

"Shooting star" is a term used for someone who is in the limelight or public stage for a brief period of time or for a charismatic public figure who has lived a short lifespan but still has inspired large numbers of people.

And we also have ways of saying a woman glows when she is not just externally beautiful but when she seems to radiate with internal beauty. We also don't use the term "glow" for women as we seem to also use it for any person when they seem to radiate with happiness.

What's crab mentality?
When I came to the States, I finally heard the term "crab mentality." Some Filipinos think crab mentality is a Filipino trait, but rather, it is a human trait that might happen be strong among a large number of Filipinos within various social settings regardless of geographic location.

The Wikipedia definition of crab mentality, as of this post, is:

Crab mentality, sometimes referred to as crabs in the bucket, describes a way of thinking best described by the phrase "if I can't have it, neither should you." The metaphor refers to a pot of crabs. Individually, the crabs could easily escape from the pot, but instead, they grab at each other in a useless "king of the hill" competition (or sabotage) which prevents any from escaping and ensures their collective demise. The analogy in human behavior is that of a group that will attempt to "pull down" (negate or diminish the importance of) any member who achieves success beyond the others, out of jealousy, conspiracy or competitive feelings.

This term is broadly associated with short-sighted, non-constructive thinking rather than a unified, long-term, constructive mentality. It is also often used colloquially in reference to individuals or communities attempting to "escape" a so-called "underprivileged life", but kept from doing so by others attempting to ride upon their coat-tails or those who simply resent their success.

I think we all can see that crab mentality really is a human trait of envying others and of taking that negative feeling to negative action by pulling down the subject of one's envy by insulting them, demeaning them, attacking them, gossiping about them and maybe even spreading lies about them.

Sometimes people just like being miserable so much so that they like to picture everyone else around them miserable too. They try to make others feel just as miserable as themselves by being downright miserable, saying miserable things and treating everyone else, well, miserably. That's an extreme of course. It does exist though.

Sometimes it's subtle. There are people who like to make jokes and make fun of others, maybe even themselves. So why the put downs? Why is it necessary to say things that make people feel bad about themselves or to embarass them? If you ever do that do you ever think why you do or do you ever consider what subtle ripple effect into lives of others your words have?

In other forms, the spirit of crab mentality is like "keeping up with the Jones'," an American (U.S.) term that means a competition between neighbors whereby they buy material goods to out do each other (cars, clothes, pools, furniture, etc.) in order to uplift the illusion of their status and worth in the neighborhood, society-at-large, or just in their own eyes.

I'd like to emphasize "illusion." Because materialism and status as a source of one's self worth does not bring real, long-lasting happiness, only very very brief happiness. In my own personal opinion, it's all well and good to own nice things, and to be recognized for one's accomplishments, but those things can be fleeting, and so I truly believe that the source of my happinesses are my loving relationships with my loved ones and friends, with my self, with my Kapwa(kindred souls, that is all humans and all Existence) and with God/Goddess/AllThatIs.

I think an extreme form of crab mentality is racism. There is not enough space and goodness in the world, in a racists' opinion, for others that are not of his/her race.

Basically, crab mentality comes from Fear. The Fear that there is not enough of tangible/intangibles to go around for everyone to survive, much less, thrive on.

Ways I learned about Shine Mentality

The first way I learned about a "shine mentality" was through my relationships with my family and certain people who helped me feel good about myself. What was it about my family and about these certain people that made me feel good about myself? Well, I decided later on, when I was already a mother with three boys, that if there were people out there in the world who made me feel good about myself than I wanted to do the same for my kids, the people I love and do it consciously for other people, too.

The second way was by finding ways to help Filipinas shine online, through publishing sites for Filipinas(newfilipina.com and pinay.com) and in live events. This first started out as a fiery, indignant, laptop activist attempt to fight stereotypes online but soon became a work of love for my sister Filipinas, my Kapwa Filipino and my mother's motherland, the Philippines. When I chaired the FAWN2005 conference, I wanted to feature these amazing women who I admired and who embodied strength, grace and beauty — Sr. Mary John Mananzan, Evelie, Leny, Letty, Urduja, Malou, Celia, Tesa, Vicky, and more —each and every strong Filipina woman who spoke and/or attended to share her story and gifts so others could learn, benefit, grow. It was a win-win or shine-shine situation that was created. So many fabulous women were able to be present and sparkle, glow or glimmer there (and some men came too, and we love them for it).

The third way I learned about Shine Mentality was by doing personal inner work and looking for Universal wisdom, and through that process I have learned that all people have a Light within them at their Source that needs to come out and shine on others and into the world.

Shine Mentality vs Crab Mentality

One of the things I learned about inner light was by learning the meaning of the sanskrit greeting "namaste" that is said with a bow to another person upon meeting or leaving them. One interpretation in English of "namaste" is "the Light within me greets the Light within You." To be able to think in this way is so opposite of the keeping-up-with-the-Jones-way whereby people are thinking in their heads "the Mercedes Benz that I drive greets the BMW that you drive" or the "Coach bag and shoes I wear, greet the Gucci ones you wear." The first where, light meets light, is pure and beautiful. Is the latter beautiful? NOT! Well, it could be sorta fun depending on where you're coming from. But you have to admit that it is a bit small and insubstantial from the Soul's standpoint. Can we exist between two worlds such as these? LOL. maybe.

Sometimes, and I have witnessed this personally and even been guilty of it during my high school days(as a nitwit), we think that family name, land, wealth, status and privilege gives us the right to look down on other people. So we talk down on them in front of their faces. Or behind their backs. And we get a twisted pleasure out of it. Period.

Sometimes, as Filipinos, our regionalistic pride, causes us to put down on, maybe sometimes insult others from another region of the Philippines.

I think the act of stereotyping too is a form of Crab Mentality because it is a lazy way to understand people and makes a limited group of people feel better about themselves by looking down on others. People from everywhere like to stereotype people of different traits, race, country, language, etc., only because it is the easy thing to do and because sometimes the more demeaning stereotypes help them feel superior, in an illusory way. Sometimes.

Here are some differentiations between Shine Mentality and Crab Mentality that I can think of coming from my own life. Beware, you may not like some of the things you read here, but be patient with me and take time to think about these things:

Indicators or Acts of Shine Mentality	Indicators or Acts of Crab Mentality
The ability to see the good in others.	The ability to see mostly or ONLY the negative in others to the point of not being able to interact with people and accomplish constructive works
The willingness to sincerely compliment others often	The readiness to mostly criticize others and the un-willness to compliment others. Combined with the ability to only calculatingly flatter others if it helps you "get ahead"
The ability to state something in order to give others recognition	The inability to state something in order to give others recognition
The unwillingness to gossip or to say negative things about other people	The willingness to gossip or to say negative things about other people
The unwillingness to listen or to fabricate lies about another and to spread them around	The willingness to listen or to fabricate lies about another and to spread them around
The ability to detect when someone gives you a sincere, friendly smile and the ability to return that smile.	The inability to detect when someone gives you a sincere, friendly smile and the inability to return that smile.
The ability to sincerely enjoy affirming others and acknowledge others' talents, gifts and accomplishments.	The tendency to ignore others' talents, gifts and accomplishments or to downplay them.
would you like to add something?	would you like to add something?

Think about these carefully and see how you feel about them. Do you want to protest and disagree? Before you do, I gently suggest that you think about these things before you respond in anger and indignation. If you agree then I'd like to invite you to add something by posting your own comments below.

Causes of Shine Mentality	Causes of Crab Mentality
a big heart	a small heart
Love	Fear, Ego, Envy, Pain, Anger
Trust that there is enough recognition and goodness for everybody	Fear that there is not enough recognition and goodness for everybody
Generosity	Selfishness
Raised in a family that encourages your development and praises your merits	Raised in a family that did not at all or often encourage your development or praise your merits
Many experiences of goodness in your life (by goodness I mean pure good-heartedness from others)	Rare experiences of goodness in your Life (by goodness I do not mean material wealth or success but rather good- hearted-ness, such as kindness, generosity, patience, forgiveness.)
A sense or acute knowledge that everyone in this world has a divine purpose in the eyes of God	A lack of divine purpose
A positive measure of a sense of security and self-worth	A sense of insecurity and lack of sensing one's own worthiness
Positive outlook towards life	Negative outlook towards life
would you like to add something?	would you like to add something?

When I list these things here, I know that I have committed thoughts or acts of crab mentality when I experienced something negative and wanted to hurt someone, lash out or bring someone down. I too am a continuing student of Shine Mentality.

How do we learn and practice Shine Mentality?

I think that you can learn Shine Mentality by cultivating Love and a bigger heart within yourself.

If you are hurting from something in your past or present, then you have to recognize that, forgive and begin the path of healing from within.

You have to practice, everyday, saying good things to yourself within your own mind and heart, so that you are encouraged to Live, Love, Laugh and Shine too. (For more info and details see affirmations, these downloadable ones, and power thought, wisdom and inner peace cards at amazon.com).

You also have to be able to believe in your own innate goodness and that you too were born on this Earth for a purpose and a reason and that everyone and everything else is created in this way too.

You have to believe in your soul, your spiritual worth. You have to recognize your own inner light that exists deep down inside of you.

You have to believe that everyone and everything is connected and related at the Source, through God (what I call Pakikipagkapwa).

You have to trust that God loves you and that you are connected to the Divine even if you don't feel that way everyday, every moment. But if you practice it sometimes, it can become everyday, every moment.

Some things that also help: Prayer, meditation and contemplation. I practice yoga, like to garden, watch movies, read, make art and more. Having a hobby that helps you feel good about yourself definitely adds goodness to your life and helps you find it within yourself to be able to see the good in others and openly articulate what nice things you see in others.

Maybe you might want to try to cultivate a Shine Mentality in your thoughts, words and actions.

And because my fabulous, gorgeous friend Bec brought up this song that I love so much too, I want you to listen to Katie Perry's music video, Firework:

Can you sing or say or even think or feel the Firework lyrics to/for someone else? If you can't, then just start saying these kinds of words to your Self first. The more you can believe there's a light in you that can shine into this world, the more you will believe and say it can be so for others.

Do you know that there's still a chance for you

Cause there's a spark in you

You just gotta ignite the light

And let it shine

Just own the night

Like the Fourth of July

Cause baby you're a firework

Come on show 'em what you're worth

Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"

As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby you're a firework

Come on let your colors burst

Would you like to add something on how people can better learn and practice Shine Mentality?

perla daly perla daly perla daly perla daly perla daly perla daly perla daly perla daly perla daly perla daly perla daly perla daly perla daly

Thoughts for Valentine's Day in a new millenium.

2011-02-13T10:35:00.000-08:00

Your Circle of LoveThoughts for Valentine's Day in a new millenium.by Perla Daly

"… Real love is more than flowers, showy affection and candlelit dinners.
Its intimacy with each other, acceptance of each other,
supporting one another
& hoping for
each others' best life."

What is the size of your circle of Love? Do you love only your family and friends? Do you love only your family and have little room for friends? Do you love friends and family and also love people in general? Do you love your pets or love Nature but have little patience for people in your life?

The answers to these questions are hints to your own circle of Love.We all seek love. Romantic love is an ideal we all hope to find. Familial love is a blessing that we may not appreciate until after many bitter fights and even loss. Platonic love is a grace that when recognized shows maturity. There are many kinds of love--- servant & master(also student and teacher or worker & mentor-boss), child & parent, sibling love, love between friends, love between husband and wife, and sexual love... How many of us are open to all these loves?

The Great Love of Life
Many people may find their one great love of this lifetime. And even if they don't they can still come upon a Great Love of Life. We must all learn to not limit love to just family, friends and a romantic partner. Absolute love truly exists beyond one person, and one partnership. It exists beyond time and space. It exists beyond human definitions and expectations. The profoundest of love is to come to Love all of Life and Existence. To see the connectedness of all things and that the Source of all things is One.

When you know that whatever you come across in Life possesses Love deep down and is but hidden by layers of fear… then you know that your Circle of Love is growing and you are making progress as a human being. The newness and excitement you perceive in Life is directly proportionally to how big your circle of Love grows. Coming to Great Love means that you will no longer experience a dull moment for the rest of your Life.

And so for your time here on Earth, may you find Love and Peace in your heart. Happy Valentine’s Day!

BagongPinay shares with you thoughts on finding Real Love:

Love VS Lovelessness
Twin Flames and Soul Mates
Growing from Love
Admiration, Infatuation and Crushes
Sexuality and Love
Ownership and Love Don't Mix
Forgiveness
Nurturing Relationships
Conjugal Unhappiness
A Glimpse of the Heart as the Center

Retreat, January 2011

2011-02-06T12:42:00.000-08:00

I usually go on retreat every winter time at the beginning of the new year. I used to go to Kri Palu out in Massachusetts every year. One year I tried going to the Svinananda Yoga Ranch out in upstate New York.

Last year and this year I and my friends put together our own retreats. To name just some of our activites, there are discussions, sharing circles, meditation, healthy food, late-into-the-evening-chit-chats with friends old and new, and a good dose of laughter here and there. Oh, so needed for renewal and truly retreating from the outer world and its materialistic trappings and ego-based illusions. Here are my friends reflections on this retreat:

Tera's Reflections on the CFBS Retreat
Leny's Reflections on the CFBS Retreat, Jan 14-16, 2011

My own simple reflections for now:

Last night of the retreat. The lake was as still as a mirror.

i dreamed. i ate yummy food. i laughed. i cried. i jumped up and down and shrieked with joy. i posed. i grimaced. i yawned. i slept. i sneezed. i gave a careless whisper or two. i meditated. i took a walk and stepped on mud. i breathed a sigh of relief. i shared. i listened. i lost myself in giggles. i learned new things. i saw a mumo. i sketched. i wrote. i prayed. i remembered ancient pain and released it. i made taho-ginger-calamansi-tea. i watched a boat bear gifts of remembrance and gratitude. i saw the birds fly in a spiral above us. i gazed at a lake as still as a mirror. i breathed. and then i heard of the ancients' joy. thanks to my kindred souls at the retreat.

A guy is featured @Pinay.com!

2011-01-26T11:42:00.000-08:00

The first featured Filipino member at Pinay.com!

Antonio Ingles is the first Filipino Pinay.com member for the week of 1/28/11!

Deservedly so as he joined Pinay.com and as I got to know him better it turns out he is the founder of Aral Pinoy, a Philippine NGO. Aral Pinoy ay Pagaaral na Alagang Pinoy. Aral Pinoy is dedicated to education for life-giving relationships.

To make a vital difference in the lives of our kababayan has always been my vision, and I, Antonio Ingles, Jr., as Aral Pinoy’s Convenor, dream that one day if God’s generosity allows, I will build schools in the rural areas, schools for life that empower them.

This is inspired and born out of helping and working with the marginalized sectors of our society since my seminary days.

Today, education is an urgent call to action for and by the rural poor: the indigenous people, the rural women, the fisher folks, the farmers, the rural youth, the elderly, persons with disabilities and the informal sector.

Aral Pinoy Objectives:

1. Identify schools that need assistance especially those with insufficient instructional materials/equipment and insufficient budget or funds.

2. Train teachers to improve teaching and enhance students’ learning and to assure that the teachers that are trained actually apply what they have learned.

Aral Pinoy Solutions:

1. Identify partner communities/institutions/corporations that are willing to sponsor a sustainable teacher training programs to schools mentioned above.

2. Design and offer modules/manuals/short-courses to suit teachers with different needs at all levels.

He also contributes to the Pakikipagkapwa fan page on facebook, is a devout RC, is married and a dedicated father, has studied and teaches Philosophy and is now studying Applied Cosmic Anthropology at the Asian Social Institute in Manila…

rock on, Antonio!!!

http://beta.pinay.com/blog/u/perla/p/the-first-featured-filipino-member-at-pinayco/

Created: Wed, Jan 26, 2011 11:42 PM CST
Last updated: Wed, Jan 26, 2011 11:42 PM CST

2011 is here!

2011-01-01T05:15:00.000-08:00

2011 is here! Mabuhay---may you and yours be filled with Life, Light and Love

Dearest NewFiipina.com fans and Pinay.com members:

What does it mean to be Pinay or Pinoy in the Motherland and on Mother Earth? I have an inkling but it still seems to be a whole life journey. What I know most especially though is that I am very proud to be a Filipino and I know I was born a Filipina for a reason.

Well, I don’t know everything about the reasons as I’m still figuring it out myself. But along the way, I already figured out that there are things that are important to me.

Here they are, not necessarily in order of importance:

God/Goddess/AllThatIs. My family. My kids. My husband. My friends. My wise women friends. My babaylan friends. Diwata. Sacred Feminine coming forward and creating balance. The possible reasons that I was born being a Filipino woman. My Philippine heritage and DNA. My being born a human being. Laughter. Sunshine. Moonlight. Meteor showers. The Universe and the heavenly bodies. The Tree of Life. Seeds. Our ancestors. Our kids, their kids and theirs…

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” —- Lao Tzu

Wishing that for you all that Love, Courage and Strength be a deep and everyday part of your Life journey. May your talents be expressed and your blessings be abundant.

Maligayang Pasko at Manibagong Taon… Happy Winter Solstice, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year! ♥

Mabuhay—-Life, Light and Love
Perla

http://beta.pinay.com/blog/u/perla/p/2011-is-here-mabuhay-may-you-and-yours-be-fil/

Created: Tue, Dec 28, 2010 5:15 AM CST
Last updated: Fri, Dec 31, 2010 6:21 AM CST

...ancient indigenous ways

2010-12-28T10:47:00.000-08:00

Learning about tattoo practice & symbolism uncovers the beauty of Filipino ancient indigenous way

Before it was even released, I featured this book a couple of times at my BaybayinAlive blog. I finally got a copy last month and read the book for most of the day when I was home, in bed with the flu. I noted that the cover and paper are top quality and the book, in its fresh print run, even smells wonderful.

Filipino Tattoos: Ancient to Modern by Lane Wilcken. A book review at amazon.com.

Uncovers the beauty of Filipino ancient indigenous ways

Lane Wilcken's book Filipino Tattoos: Ancient to Modern is a result of around two decades of research, connecting with tattoo practitioners, masters and enthusiasts, and is also a result of a lifetime of experiencing Philippine traditions directly for him self via his family.

The book of Filipino Tattoos: Ancient to Modern may cover a significant amount of information that hasn't been published before. It isn't just a book with photos and drawings of traditional and modern tattoos. This book also has a large amount of information about the history of Philippine tattoo culture, the tools and processes of the traditional Philippine practitioners, the different traditional and modern reasons for tattooing, and more.

Both the traditional and modern reasons for tattooing, that are shared in this book can give people who have Filipino tattoos (and/or otherwise) or are planning to get Filipino tattoos, cause to consider more thoughtfully, even contemplatively, what their tattoos mean for them. Even non-Filipino tattoo enthusiasts can get something out of this book.

Wilcken also dedicates a whole chapter to tattooing motifs and practices that are shared among the Pacific Isles. The two forewords are written by Su'a Suluape Alaiva'a Petel, a master tattoo expert who hails from the oldest tattooing family of Samoa, and by Keone Nunes, a Hawaiian master tattoo practitioner(tofuga). The work of Suluape and Nunes has perpetrated the ancient art of hand-tap tattooing today (misterroadtripper.wordpress.com).

(Side story: After this book was off to the press, Nunes and author Wilcken traveled together with friends to the Philippines to meet with the Filipino master tattoo artist Apo Wang-Od, who resides in the mountainous region of Buscalan. You can read about that trip in an email of Nunes to blogger MisterRoadTripper aka Bob Baxter, editor of tattooroadtrip.com. Entitled "Keone Nunes Visits Buscalan," the email relates about the trip, meeting Apo Wang-Od, and the differences and similarities between traditional Philippine and Hawaiian hand-tap tattooing. The email also talks about why it was important for Nune to meet the very old, and thus senior (yet still energetic and lively) Apo Wang-Od, who by the way, is also featured in this book).

Because Christian and Muslim religions deem tattooing as pagan, thus evil, most Philippine people no longer practice this ancient art. What's worse, is that foreign religions not only turned the majority of Filipinos against the practice of tattooing, it also caused their thinking and perceptions to change so much so that Filipinos began looking down on and deeming inferior their fellow Filipinos who still practiced it. Wilcken makes it clear that this tradition is important to uphold and preserve and shares the unseen beauty of the practice. Wilcken is also specific in identifying the northern Philippine regions that still practice tattooing today and is respectful of their regions and identities.

An extraordinary chapter is dedicated to the spiritual aspects of tattooing. This chapter is especially significant because it gives actual examples of different beliefs and rituals that accompany the tattoos. That chapter explains to readers that tattoo motifs were not just a practice to embellish one's physical appearance, but that each motif, pattern and symbol had a deep meaning that imbued its wearer with specific energies, powers, and protection and in that process simultaneously created lasting and sacred connection between the bearer with his/her community, fellows (Kapwa), and with nature or the Divine, during different stages or actions in their life journey (Lakaran).

I think readers, especially westernized Filipinos, by reading this book, can begin to discover and realize that their ancient culture was more artistically sophisticated and esoterically advanced then their colonizers perceived them or how they themselves were taught to perceive themselves by their colonizers.

With Filipino Tattoos: Ancient to Modern, Wilcken balances out our perceptions of this dwindling Filipino tradition. He does a valid and truthful revelation of the beauty and meaning of Filipino tattooing. Wilcken's book uplifts the traditions of tattooing from decorative or supposed superstitious devices of so-called primitives, savages, and from the non-understood fringe movement of new tribalism. The book also enlightens tattoo enthusiasts and mere curious readers, such as myself, to the meaningfulness of the original traditions and even the practices that are persisting today. Wilcken helps the reader find the value and wisdom of ancient and modern Filipino indigenous culture and beliefs. This is an important process that some may identify with the term "decolonization" (for both the colonized and colonizer mind frames).

I want to add, that some of my baybayin and babaylan designs have been taken by others and turned into tattoos on their bodies because the art had deep meaning for them. I met Lane Wilcken recently and began working with him within the Center for Babaylan Studies to research, share, teach, promote indigenous knowledge systems and practices. I know, first hand, that Wilcken has worked on and written this book with the utmost passion for his Philippine roots, and with love and respect for his family and ancestry. He writes in the true spirit of Pakikipagkapwa---Sacred Interconnection with all Life.

Thank you, Lane Wilcken.

Here is a summary from the Table of Contents for Filipino Tattoos: Ancient to Modern:

Foreword by Su'a Suluape Alaiva'a Petel
Foreword by Keone Nunes
Testimonial by Leo Zulueta
Acknowledgements
Introduction

Chapter 1 - Early Accounts and Fragments of Philippine Tattoo Culture
Chapter 2 - The Tattoo Process and Tools
Chapter 3 - Reasons for Tattooing
Chapter 4 - Facial Tattooing
Chapter 5 - Spiritual Aspects of Tattooing
Chapter 6 - Shared Tattooing Motifs with the Pacific Isles
Chapter 7 - A Selection of Filipino Tattooing Motifs
Chapter 8 - Modern Filipino Tattooing

Appendix
Endnotes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

... All Things Have a Spirit...

2010-12-14T10:50:00.000-08:00

Ancient Filipinos Believed That All Things Have a Spirit and Meaning

We have to go back to prehistoric times to know how our culture developed to appreciate our cultural heritage as a people and rekindle the Filipino diwa (spirit) to guide us along the pathways of the 21st century.

-- Jocano

To understand that ancient Filipinos would indeed give their baybayin symbols meanings, we need to understand too, that ancient Filipinos were animists, thus they believed everything has a spirit, everything has a soul and thus, everything, even symbols, such as tattoo symbols or writing symbols would have meaning, even spiritual meaning.

Previously, I posted information about Lane Wilcken's recently published book "Filipino Tattoos, Ancient to Modern." Lane was raised with traditional spiritual beliefs of the Philippines passed on to him by his grandmother, a mangnigulut or midwife/healer, and great-great grandmother, a mangnganito (spirit medium). His parents style of teaching included metaphors and analogies. He grew up greatly interested in mythology, ancient legends and different cultural practices. He expanded his interest in symbolism by studying at the Southern Utah University and finishing BS Sociology with a focus on Symbolic Interactionism and a Minor in Communications. Lane has been researching the indigenous past of the Philippines and the Pacific Islands for nearly two decades, incorporating oral traditions, written history, linguistics, and personal experience. His ancestral ties to this work continue to motivate his research. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Book Description from Amazon
Tattooing is a very old and spiritually respected art form that has existed in many different cultures around the world. After many centuries of not being practiced in Europe, tattooing was re-introduced to the Western world through the inhabitants of the Pacific Ocean. Beginnning in the 16th century, European explorers came across many people who practiced tattooing as an integral part of their cultures.This is the first serious study of Filipino tattoos, and it considers early accounts from explorers and Spanish-speaking writers. The text presents Filipino cultural practices connected with ancestral and spiritual aspects of tattoo markings, and how they relate to the process and tools used to make the marks. In the Philippine Islands, tatoos were applied to men and women for many different reasons. It became a form of clothing. Certain designs recognized manhood and personal accomplishments as well as attractiveness, fertility, and continuity of the family or village. Facial tattoos occurred on the bravest warriors with names that denoted particular honor.Through the fascinating text and over 200 images, including color photographs and design drawings, the deep meanings and importance of these markings becomes apparent.

Some of the findings in Lane's book are about the meanings and spiritual significance of ancient tattoo symbols from the Philippines (and other Pacific Islands such as Hawaii and New Zealand(Maori)). The ancients of all nations gave symbols meanings and manytimes these meanings were deep and spiritual. To give all things meaning and a soul is the basis of animist spirituality. To believe that all things has a spirit is a source of respect and reverance for all of Life. This is also part of the indigenous mind and an indigenous worldview.

Antonio Ingles generously shared his notes on "Relationality in the Filipinos... bayanihan spirit lives on!" (Ingles is taking his PhD in Applied Cosmic Anthropology, is a professor at De La Salle-College, and is the founder/chairman of Aral Pinoy.)

He writes:

The Filipino indigenous construct reflective of the relational character or the relationality in the Filipino character refers to these two (2) Filipino values: (1) pakikipagkapwa (the principle of Filipino relationality) and (2) kapwa (the core of the Filipino personhood). The bayanihan spirit embodies these Filipino principle and core reflective of the ancient Filipinos who had been sailing together as one balangay/barangay (boat). It is an accompaniment where ancient Filipinos come alongside in a cosmic journey, moving forward and together towards life and beyond.

...the ancient Filipinos are people sailing together as one balangay/barangay/bangka (boat), and that they accompany one another [in bayanihan spirit] in a cosmic (cosmos = vanua/bangka/balangay) journey of life and beyond (afterlife). Jocano (1998) insists that we have to go back to prehistoric times to know how our culture developed to appreciate our cultural heritage as a people and rekindle the Filipino diwa (spirit) [bayanihan spirit] to guide us along the pathways of the 21st century (p. 19). The writer borrows the words of Jose Rizal to remind us of the importance of prehistory to our nationhood: "Ang hindi lumingon sa pinangalingan ay hindi makakarating sa paroroonan." [Free translation] "They who do not learn the lessons from the past cannot reach their intended destination" (as cited in Jocano, 1998, p. 22).

And what lessons were they? First, that today's relationality in the Filipino character is rooted in the prehistoric past, and second, it embodies the wisdom of our ancestors, thus the Filipinos' bayanihan spirit lives on.

http://www.facebook.com/notes/antonio-ingles/relationality-in-the-filipinos-bayanihan-spirit-lives-on/10150104120961807

Reading Ingles' notes led me to find and read Abrera's paper on The Soul Boat and the Boat-Soul: An Inquiry into the Indigenous “Soul”. Maria Bernadette L. Abrera, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of History at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines. In this paper are further discussion and findings about how ancient people in the Philippines gave meaning to objects, thought metaphorically(talinghaga) and had a reverance for all of life:

Intro
This paper will explore the indigenous world view in the Philippines and in particular, the concept of the soul in the animist context, as revealed in the pre-colonial rituals involving the use of the boats. These boats are commonly called by the general term bangka. The boat rituals as well as the boat terms are utilized to understand the belief system particularly in relation to beliefs about the soul and the afterlife.

Page 6
Inferring from this, the boat then possesses its own soul, which is fundamentally related to the tree that had been used for its construction. The entire boat building process and construction rituals are rooted in the belief in the soul: offerings are made to the soul inhabiting the tree so that it would remain in the tree when the log is transformed into a boat. It is this soul of the boat that gives it its good qualities as a boat. We can get a glimpse of what these qualities are from a rowing song among the Ivatans of Batanes. Upon the start of a sea voyage, the boatmen address the boat, asking it to be steady of purpose, to be forceful, and to be alert in finding land with a beautiful bay (Scheerer 315-316). Similarly, Malays pray to the soul of a boat prior to a voyage and appeal that it keeps the planks together (Skeat 279).

In the section on The Indigenous “Soul” Agrebe writes more about giving objects spirit or a meaning:

Page 4
Bagobos, an indigenous Philippine ethnic group in Mindanao, believe that all things possess a gimokud or soul, including man-made objects (Benedict 54, 65). Similarly, the Sama of Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi believe that the sumangat or soul is found in all nature, even inanimate things (Casiño 113). This is believed to be the intrinsic spirit of an object that may be revealed at a particular time, according to Bottignolo and which gives the object its desirable characteristics as such (41). This is the reason why warriors, for example, show a reverential attitude toward their weapons; it is not simply the physical object of a metal weapon but a blade that possesses the soul of a blade. The soul of that object is what makes it hard and strong, whose strength would be revealed during battle. Thus, warriors give names to their personal weapons6 not as ownership of the object but in recognition of its animism. Forging the weapon then becomes not an ordinary, but a sacred, activity in order that the soul of the blade may not depart from it. As another example, there is also a ritual involving the “rice-soul”. The Mandaya pray to the “soul of the rice” before planting7 so that it would cause the plant to bear many grains.

This basic animist principle of plants and objects possessing “souls” enable us to understand oral literature better, beginning with the epics. The epic “Kudaman” of Palawan island’s Tagbanua people, for example, reveals that when Kudaman went down the house, the handrail shed tears of sorrow for the hero’s departure.⁸ This would show that they believe that the house possesses a life and therefore a soul, and can thus display its own emotions. In the epic of “Labaw Donggon” the hero’s boat is believed to be magical and charmed, as it possesses powers of its own and the hero can talk to it to do his bidding.⁹

Filipinos' belief system in the soul was quite intricate:

Page 5
Bagobos believe that both men and animals possess two souls, the bad soul on the left and the good on the right. Man-made objects have only one soul, such as the soul of a betel nut box, or the soul of a lime container. Among the Ifugao, this has been rendered in English as “soulstuff” (alimaduan) which is different from the soul (linawa). The alimaduan is that which gives the object its distinctive characteristic. For example, the alimaduan of the rice is to yield grain; of the pigs and chickens, to grow and multiply; of the person, to have desirable traits (Barton 141-142). However, a knife that bends lacks soulstuff, so does a tree that does not bear fruit.

The term for soulstuff, alimaduan, is based on dua (two) which is also the root for kaluluwa (soul). This would indicate the belief in another, or a second, presence within the material object. The concept of an alimaduan is the reason why there are rituals to render proper homage to important objects: a ritual in forging a metal weapon, in weaving clothing, in making a boat.

A very clear example of this is in the belief in the amulet or charm. Amulets are considered animate objects, going by the terms used to refer to these: amulets are “given food” to mean that they are prayed on, for if they lack “food” (prayers), they will “sulk” (magtatampo) and “leave” (maglalayas). What this boils down to is that if an amulet owner does not offer up sufficient prayers, he will lose the amulet. Through these terms, the concept is clarified that the amulet is not only animate, but possesses a “soul” from whence its power emanates. Based on the concept of the alimaduan, one may infer the presence of the soul in an object for so long as that object possesses the qualities that are proper to it. The Malays believe that human, animals, birds, plants, fishes, crocodiles, rocks, weapons, food, clothing, ornaments, and other objects have each their own autochthonous soul (Skeat 53).

By understanding the animist spirituality of the ancient people in the Philippines, we can come closer to understanding how the ancient people of the Philippines could believe that baybayin and the individual symbols within the ancient writing system in the Philippines, would have deeper meanings.

To give all things meaning and a soul is the basis of animist spirituality. To believe that all things has a spirit is a source of respect and reverance for all of Life. This is also part of the indigenous mind and worldview.

----
Abrera, M. B. (2007). The soul boat and the boat-soul: An inquiry into the indigenous “soul”. Retrieved December 4, 2010, from ResearchSEA Asia's first research news portal: http://www.researchsea.com/html/download.php/id/71/research/The%20Soul%20Boat%20and%20the%20Boat-Soul%20(English).pdf?PHPSESSID=5hffeltgedgr0frlkfvmk1f8r3

mystical aspects of life

2010-10-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

In defense of the mystical experience of being Filipino or even human

A long time ago, I shared online The Bahala Meditations. For some this was helpful. For others, this was new age nonsense.

Last year, I started a blog called Baybayin Alive. Recently, a person who wished to not be identified wrote:

Anonymous said...
Have you ever considered that the people you say have "westernised" "linear" thinking may in fact really reflect the way the people of the islands barely 500 years ago thought about these letters when they had just learned them from traders from Sulawesi and began to use them to write? Ways to write speech, a wonderful new technology; no reason to see any other meanings in them.
On the other hand, your mystical speculations probably owe everything to European mystical speculations about the supposed "deeper meanings" of letters, a pretty long tradition in Europe. There is no evidence of this kind of thing elsewhere in the archipelago, in Indonesia for example, where closely related scripts also derived from 15th century handwritten Nagari were used. Only in the Philippines and especially among modern Filipinos deeply imbued with Euro-American culture, including its useless "mystical" incrustations, do you find this kind of unfounded speculation about "deeper meanings" in what were and still are nothing more than letters for writing sounds.
Why not speculate about the "deeper meanings" of your household furniture, the particular pattern in which the hair grows out of your scalp, or the shapes of clouds and the direction the wind happens to be blowing from at a particular moment? The more this kind of foolishness gets spread around, the more it makes your mga kabaybayan look foolish as a group. You do no favour to the true culture and history of the Philippines with this silliness.
October 17, 2010 5:15 PM

And then a little while later another Anonymous comment was posted at another page:

Not a single person in all the over one hundred examples of different people's handwriting from the 1600s ever wrote "ba" by starting with the bump at the bottom. It started at top left, moved to the bottom and made the bump, then curled back up to the left to join the beginning of the letter. This is because this is where it started in the early Nagari letter brought by Gujarati traders to Sumatra, from where it spread to Sulawesi and then the Philippines.
Higher consciousness comes from understanding that things are not just what we "think" they "look like", but that we have to *prove* our ideas with *facts*. If people had never adopted scientific ways of thought and had remained in the speculative mode of semi-thought that you use, there would be no Internet for you to spread you silly speculations and blatherings, among other things. Why do you waste your time on this outright foolishness?
October 17, 2010 6:35 PM

Well, upon finding this, at first I thought I should answer Anonymous point by point. But I decided to step outside of the whole opposition aspect and think about the bigger picture. Shown in no particular order, these are things that I have to say in response to Anonymous and any critics of this blog and the concepts it presents:

Hello Anonymous, this blog is the first of its kind about baybayin's meaning to Filipinos. It is only the first and does not mean that I am the only one with these ideas. There are many Filipinos who believe in the deeper meanings. These ideas were first shared in intimate circles of Filipino baybayin enthusiasts in the Philippines. Later, these ideas trickled to others they trusted who were abroad from the motherland. The baybayin enthusiasts who believe these ideas later decided to come out and share them in public and at schools. I don't know why they have not published their work online before me but it could be because they did not have the resources. I am merely one voice among many voices. And because I have experience publishing websites for Filipinas and Filipino causes and for esoteric expressions, and because I believe in the deeper meanings of baybayin and how they affect Filipino identity, i published this blog.
My intention is to connect people with ideas that are outside-of-the-box. What is yours?
Yes, humans can be logical and scientific, but we are also intuitive and emotional. Yes, we have left-brains, but we also have right brains. Yes there is the historical and proven aspects of baybayin, but there is also the unwritten, oral and the yet-to-be-discovered about it too. Yes there is the empirical and material in our lives, but there is also the mystical and the unexplainable. And these are all beautiful and part of us.

Anonymous (why be so?), previous postings in this blog have answers to your questions and oppositions.

...As to your scathing "You do no favour to the true culture and history of the Philippines with this silliness..." Well, my answer is that this blog is just one small aspect of my online work. I am certainly giving voice to a minority opinion, but this minority, foolish or not, needs a voice online. and I will risk this little blog in order to give them that voice. I feel i do my kapwa fellow filipino a service with this and my other online works that have nothing to do with baybayin---with pinay.com, pakikipagkapwa.net, babaylan.com and other sites.

...all voices deserve a chance to be let out and heard, and you would be doing humanity a service if you would practice non-violence (ahimsa*) to those who ventured forth and dared to be different.
Anonymous, human existence is multi-dimensional. From my point of view, obviously, to share esoteric aspects of our beliefs or findings about anything is not to any degree a foolishness. Rather to ignore, block off, deny different aspects of my human experience would be to me, cowardice, and to me would be the "outright foolishness."

*Ahimsa, means non-violence in words and action.

“The most beautiful and most profound experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead.
To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms - this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.”
Albert Einstein - The Merging of Spirit and Science

Paul Morrow had some blistery things to say in difference of opinion at Baybayin Alive at Baybayin.com (click here to read it) and we commented back and forth a few times for which my most recent today was the above response to anonymous and also this:

Paul, didn't you take note that I am holding out my hand to you with the intention to create connections and cultivate pakikipagkapwa? When you continue to express your difference of opinion with the intention of battle and annihilating your opposition, then you create separation and walls. This is an old paradigm that does not serve either of us, Baybayin enthusiasts or our humanity. I invite you to discourse in the spirit of friendship---let's be agreeable even if we disagree?

Mabuhay---LifeLightLove
Perla

I am not asking anyone to defend me or take sides, I am perfectly willing to stand alone in what I know and who I am. I am just asking you to witness and to practice being amicable even when you disagree with another...

Sark and the Succulent Wild Women

2010-10-27T23:39:00.000-07:00

This book helped me open up my heart and mind to my womanhood. I wrote the following review in 2003 at amazon.com:

I remember speakiing to a group of women in 2002 in the Philippines at a workshop on women’s wisdom. When I told them that there is room in this world for everyone to shine because inside all women are fabulous—- I got a lot of unbelieving looks. A lot of women around the world, even in the United States, don’t believe that they’ve got it in them. And that is one of the reasons why I highly recommend this book. Sark’s book is about learning to be a wonder-full woman who is not afraid of life. Here “succulent” is defined with these words: ripe, juicy, whole, round, exuberant, wild, rich, wide, deep, firm, rare, female.

Most women, have been raised up to be quiet and demure—-keep your legs closed and your thoughts to yourself….etc, etc. Little do we realize that some of these tenets of femininity have suppressed our full expression of who we are and have prevented us from pursuing our dreams. We need to discover for ourselves how we can live life to the fullest.

This book is fun, wild, inspirational, definitely different and it CAN give you ideas on how you, too, can start to find out more about your fullest self. The concepts that Sark gives in her books, starting with “Succulent Wild Woman” are that women need to live life to the utmost and that they need to love themselves so that they can love others, too.

Here are some more of Sark’s ideas that can lead you, too, to be your fabulous self: ...Marry yourself first…promise to never leave you… ...discover your own goodness …dress to please yourself …you are enough, you have enough, you do enough …make more mistakes! And more thoughts on healing, fat, money and power, community, love and romance…

What’s more, there’s little whining in this book—-one of her best ideas is: end blaming… She’s got honest, good stuff about facing our insecurities, faults and fears.

I urge all of you timid and insecure women(and don’t most of us start out this way?) to find your fabulous, succulent, bodacious selves…. to express yourselves….to find as much support you can get from friends, loved-ones and books like Sark’s (and all other great books).... and to get out there and live a life full of love—-the romantic kind is only part of this… the Universal kind is what you learn to be embraced by when you are your fullest, most succulent self!

Check out the book at:
http://www.amazon.com/Succulent-Wild-Woman-Sark/dp/068483376X/ref=cm_cr-mr-title

And Sark’s website at: http://www.planetsark.com/

http://beta.pinay.com/blog/u/perla/p/sark-and-the-succulent-wild-women/

Created: Wed, Oct 27, 2010 11:39 PM CDT
Last updated: Wed, Oct 27, 2010 11:39 PM CDT

Maganda ka! Ikaw ay indio...

2010-08-28T08:57:00.000-07:00

Maganda ka! Ikaw ay indio. Ikaw ay pilipino.

Charmain Clamor sings to you, Brown Pinays… “Girl, I think you’re outta sight. You ARE beautiful. Maganda ka! Ikaw ay indio. Ikaw ay pilipino. You’re my funny brown pinay. Sweet, funny brown pinay.”

Her YouTube Video, My Funny Brown Pinay, is Fabulous Filipina link of the week, August 28, 2010. In this music video, she sings in her husky, seductive purr and shows many faces and is most fabulous as the brown chick with the exploding afro hair. Click on this link to see her Pinay-fabulicious music video:

http://beta.pinay.com/blog/u/perla/p/maganda-ka-ikaw-ay-indio-ikaw-ay-pilipino/.

Created: Sat, Aug 28, 2010 8:57 AM CDT
Last updated: Sat, Aug 28, 2010 9:00 AM CDT

the real Pinay.com

2010-07-04T11:14:00.000-07:00

Some other sites, like dating sites, try to increase their hits by cheating or falsely giving their html page a title value with text of “pinay.com” in it. These dating sites have the one purpose of connecting men around the world with Filipinas who would like to get married and leave the Philippines. There is nothing wrong with this objective. I just don’t want Pinay.com to be associated with them because those sites are representative of only a small percentage of Filipinas and paints a one-dimensional portrait of who Filipinas are.

You will know you are at the real pinay.com, a site for and by Filipinas, because when you look at the location of your browser, you are seeing http://beta.pinay.com or http://www.pinay.com.

And again, “oops! if you were lookin’ for romance, then find out why Pinay.com is the wrong place for that…”
click on to this page at: http://beta.pinay.com/notanmobsite.html

We wish the dating-marriage seekers well, but please, if you run a dating site and are falsely using “pinay.com” in promoting your site in SERPs(search engine result pages), then please cease and desist this fraudulent tactic.

The real Pinay.com is found at www.pinay.com or beta.pinay.com and no other place. We are a site that aims to represent the multi-dimensional aspects of who Filipinas are, surviving, living, loving, growing, flowing and uplifting themselves in this world.

Blessings to all.

Perla

http://beta.pinay.com/blog/u/perla/p/the-real-pinaycom/

Created: Sun, Jul 4, 2010 11:14 AM CDT
Last updated: Sun, Jul 4, 2010 11:15 AM CDT

I don't go around saying "I'm Filipina"

2010-07-04T08:40:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am the publisher of several sites for Filipinas that other Filipinas help build content for, like this site at pinay.com. I also created and publish sites that are a part of my own search for Filipino identity.

This is what I call my “secret” life. Only because as I go about my daily life of going to work, being with family or visiting with friends, I just don’t go around saying “Hi, I am Filipina,” or “btw, did you know, I am a Filipina,” or “i’m a pinay and i’m fierce and feisty”. There is no need of course. It’s out of context. And it’s because I just AM. There is no need to speak it. It is easier to just be.

And I know that for many Filipinas out there in the world, whether in the homeland or abroad, it is the same for them, too. They just are. As we live and breathe, we just exist as we are as Filipinas. We are women, born of Philippine people, living in the Philippine Islands or abroad. And there it is in our existence—a love of our family, our heritage, as we struggle to flow from day to day, to survive, to uplift ourselves.

Is it nationalistic to be proud to be a Filipina? Is it a silly thing to be nationalistic? Is it “baduy” or “bakya”? I don’t feel that way. Do you? If you do, do you ever gently probe as to why there is no connection between you and your country… your people… your loved ones?

You don’t have to agree with me on this, but I think that nationalism is only part of identifying oneself as a Filipina. Because nationalism is identifying one’s self with the country of the Philippines. Well I am. I am nationalistic because I am glad to be a child of the Philippines, Motherland/Inang Bayan. But this is not just about pride. This is also about Love. I love my family. I love my mother and father’s families of cousins, Titas and Titos, Lolas and Lolos. I love the young women and men I went to school with. I love the country side. I love the fields and mountains, the waterfalls and rivers. I love being a Filipina.

I grew up in the Philippines up to age 23 because I was born in the States. So I am also a Fil-AM. When I was 11 my mom became a balikbayan in the 70s. It was a joy to grow up in the Philippines, be with my family, breath the air, learn and speak the dialects, imbibe the water and food of the Philippines. Does this mess my head up? Nope. I am also proud to be who I am here back in the U.S. A Filipino-American— a human being with a story that interweaves many stories, cultures, languages, people and loves.

Whether I am in the P.I. or the U.S., I don’t always think about BEING a Filipina, as I mostly think of myself as a woman, regardless of language and culture and geography. I bet it is the same for you too.

I also think of myself as a human being… being on the face of Mother Earth, nestled in her arms as I lay in the grass and feel the breeze over my skin while I stare at the sky filled with glistening stars, streaking meteorites, glowing planets and the smiling moon. I bet you have sometimes, too.

My husband and family are not Filipino. My children are mixed. I speak mostly English, now that I live in a foreign land, but when someone is curious and asks me, where are you from? With warmth and Love, I can say “I am Filipina.”

And when I say this, I feel a little glow from inside, knowing that, as I strive to be a good mother or daughter, a patient and supportive wife, a well-performing employee within a corporation, or an organizer among communities seeking their humanity as women, meaning as Pinoys abroad or wherever they are, or wisdom as seekers…a friend to a Filipino or non-Filipino… or whatever… When I do, I feel a warmth and a light emanating from within and spreading outwards, that I am a Filipina… maybe it is because I am borne of Filipino families who love each other deeply, and who have made sacrifices, and have had suffering, loss and tears, and who yet celebrate life with each other whenever they can.

Be Proud. Love being Filipina… Love being who you are in all your diversity and many levels of being… in your simplicity and deepest innermost Self(Loob). May it come easy to you to say—- I am a Filipina. And I Love.

http://beta.pinay.com/blog/u/perla/p/i-dont-go-around-saying-im-filipina/

Created: Sun, Jul 4, 2010 8:40 AM CDT
Last updated: Wed, Jul 7, 2010 9:04 AM CDT

Fabulous Filipina cyberspace presence campaign

2010-06-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

What are all these fabulous filipina banners floating around the pinay.com pages?

The following was first posted at www.fabulousfilipinas.net in 2004:

When i was growing up and as a young adult, i had the closed-hearted, small notion that the world was only big enough for a few, special people, fabulous people. It took growing up, really growing up and opening up my heart and mind, to realize that God made the Earth and the Universe so expansive that it could hold many, many fabulous people. People who may at first seem ordinary… but aren’t. OR people who may have even taken different paths and lived their lives in a unconventional ways… and are brave enough to be fabulous in their own ways. They all have something in common——they are those who are trying to shine their light or ARE bright stars shining in this world and Creation.

I created the Fabulous Filipina cyber campaign in 2004 at www.fabulousfilipinas.net.

What is the purpose of this web site?
The Fabulous Filipina site will strive to showcase the best of who filipinas are on the Internet. This web site has been created in order to bring about a bigger picture of who Filipinas are by bringing together a webring of quality web sites and web pages that Filipinas have created on the Internet. Whether you are a Filipina web publisher who has made sites for companies or organizations or whether you have created web pages for personal expression or social interaction we want you to be part of this webring. There is a need to interlink with as many other Filipina sites and also to use the devices of the Internet such as search engines to achieve online a higher quality and more complete picture of who Filipinas are.

*Why is there even a need to do such a thing?
Since 1995 to today there is a narrow representation of Filipinas on the Internet. When doing a search on “Filipina” at search engines, mostly mail-order-bride sites and porn sites come up. So-called mail-order-brides and other women looking for matches via correspondence compose only a small percentage of what Filipinas really do with their lives. Most Filipinas who get online are not content with this kind of representation of their country and their selves. This web site would like to provide some tools to help widen and do justice to Filipinas’ online identity and to bust a cyberspace myth or profitable stereotyping coming from numerous commericial online services about Filipina mail-order-brides, sex-tour-bar-girls, and as porn models.

We need your help and if you would like to help us in achieving a fabulous filipina presence in cyberspace click here >>> http://www.fabulousfilipinas.net/banr-fabfilipinas.html

http://beta.pinay.com/blog/u/perla/p/fabulous-filipina-cyberspace-presence-campaig/

Created: Mon, Jun 21, 2010 7:55 AM CDT
Last updated: Mon, Jun 21, 2010 8:01 AM CDT

optimism...

2010-06-20T07:40:00.000-07:00

Is optimism the secret to youth?

I conquered my fear of heights when i learned how to ski at the edge of mountains.

from my ancestors and having lived a bit, i get fire in my blood, wind in my spirit, earthiness in my attitude, and love flowing from my heart.

In a room full of new people, I can start conversations easily. I smile a lot when things are well… and even when things aren’t so well. It takes deep tragedy to stop the smiles.

i think its really cool when I smile at someone and they smile back, and if a person can look you in the eye and hold your gaze. at times i wonder why others can’t do that. is it a factor of strength of character coming into play? is the ability to cope just barely enough?

http://beta.pinay.com/blog/u/perla/p/optimism/

Created: Sun, Jun 20, 2010 7:40 AM CDT
Last updated: Sun, Jun 20, 2010 7:40 AM CDT

kabuhayan na dalisay

2010-06-15T08:17:00.000-07:00

(pure life)

i love—-to watch meteor showers while laying down in grass in sleeping bags. slowing down to just breathe, feel the air on my skin, and the air flowing in and out of me. sleeping in and cozying up on rainy days listening to the water against the windows and the roof. Someday, I wanna try jumping off a high cliff with parachutes. It must be amazing.

purity. reality. do you know them?

http://beta.pinay.com/blog/u/perla/p/kabuhayan-na-dalisay/

Created: Tue, Jun 15, 2010 8:17 AM CDT
Last updated: Tue, Jun 15, 2010 8:17 AM CDT

Life Motivates

2010-06-14T10:18:00.000-07:00

I love to make people feel good about themselves, at work, in class, conversation or chance encounters. I really do love people—-we all have this beauty and light within, waiting to be uncovered, layers peeling away to make a little opening, a door sometimes flung wide open for blissful ecstatic moments—long or short.

“Be impeccable with your word.”
“Don’t make assumptions.”
“Don’t take anything personally.”
“Always do your best.”
—The Four Agreements

Most of the time I forget the above things… but im trying, im trying!!

http://beta.pinay.com/blog/u/perla/p/life-motivates/

Created: Mon, Jun 14, 2010 8:41 AM CDT
Last updated: Mon, Jun 14, 2010 8:44 AM CDT

Gather with us at the Babaylan Conference This April. Plan Now!

2009-09-15T05:54:00.000-07:00

I helped start the Center for Babaylan Studies with Leny Strobel, Letecia Layson and Baylan Megino. We're planning a conference:

1st International Babaylan Conference, 2010

April 17 – 18, 2010 at the

Sonoma State University, CA

We would like you to join us in bringing about this very unique and special gathering through your efforts and presence. Info on getting to conference and on lodging here now!

BABAYLAN MANDALA I.I

2009-09-12T07:46:00.000-07:00

inspired by the babaylan and her service to community, healing, celebration of life, pakikipagkapwa…

i created the babaylan mandala, one of which will be featured on the book cover of leny strobel’s next book, a babaylan anthology with narratives from the homeland and the diaspora.

babaylan mandala i.i

click on the link to read more about this babaylan mandala and the symbolism at the center of babaylan studies.

fine Art prints can be ordered. profits for which will go to the center for babaylan studies.

Filipina Images of the Past

2009-09-06T07:45:00.000-07:00

i found this photo of a stunning native filipina morena beauty in the page of old philippines on facebook and became a fan immediately. the caption there is:

“from john silva:
“people have been commenting on the profile photo of the woman with a fan. i first found this photo at the musee de l’homme in paris in 1985. the picture is only identified as sangley filipina meaning chinese filipina. as a photo historian and… collector i have dated this photograph around 1870’s and the photographer is francisco van kamp. he was a european that had a photo studio in manila.

the photograph is unusual because the woman exhibits a subtle and alluring look in start contrast to photos of women, mostly modest looking of that period. her hair glistens with coconut oil and her fan, half open means she is single.

i have shared that photograph since to others and there have been findings of the same photo in other repositories. but i am pleased to have found it myself since the photo was actually misplaced in the french museum. they had put this picture under tahiti! i made sure it was back in the philippine folder!”

please visit this page at facebook for more images of filipinas in “the olden days.” old philippines on facebook.

Filipina Revolutionaries

2009-09-04T07:42:00.000-07:00

manytimes, our historical ideals of the filipina are limited to maria clara. but we can find many others to consider as ideals.

it’s been about 110 years ago since the philippine revolution and dr. robert l. yoder, fapc wrote 10 years ago during the centennial honoring: “philippine heroines of the revolution: maria clara they were not.”

he tells us of the bravery of the revolutionary heroines gabriela silang, ancient filipina priestesses(babaylan), gregoria bonifacio, melchora aquino aka tandang sora, patrocinia gamboa, hilaria aguinaldo, trinidad tecson, valeriana elises y palma, agueda kahabagan, teresa magbanua and a few others.

don’t miss this hidden away online writeup about filipinas we can look up to.

pinay.com is going beta

2009-09-01T18:15:00.000-07:00

Please join me in testing the pinay.com beta site. Visit the PinayDotCom Beta page on FB to get more details and become a member of the beta testing team.

Baybayin and Decolonization

2009-08-22T16:48:00.000-07:00

In my blog Baybayin Alive, I encourage people to explore an indigenous way of thinking in order to understand the deeper meanings of the Baybayin Symbols. You can read that post at Holistic Approach: Returning to Ancestral Thinking.

Here is my latest post:
Fertility Symbols, Feminine Principle and BA

In summary it talks about the BA baybayin symbols…

both of which are yonni symbols or fertility symbols.

(Source: Kipas Gallery - http://www.kipas.nl/Beads/BontFertSym.htm)

I also talk about the fertility symbols of the lingling-o and the dinumug… lingling-o on left and dinumug on right

The lingling-o is a common ancient artifact symbolizing fertility found around Southeast Asia and the Philippines(ca. 500 B.C.–100 A.D.); dinumug is a fertility symbol and symbol of prosperity and love found in the Ifugao, Bontoc and other Cordillera regions of the northern Philippines.

This particular post at Baybayin Alive goes on to talk about how the fertility symbol shape could very well be the imagery from which the BA baybayin symbol (clefted version) evolved from.

Bahay Nakpil, Home of Filipinos

2009-02-19T23:48:00.000-08:00

This was a something I posted at my personal site after I visited Manila in 2005.

Bahay Nakpil, Home of Filipinos by Perla Paredes Daly

Bahay Nakpil flyer forBaybayin.

It was baybayin that led me to visit Bahay Nakpil on a trip to Manila. In the summer of 2002, Ann Ubaldo, artisan of Urduja jewelry, introduced me to the meanings and shapes of baybayin, and at the same time, the writings of the Filipino Spirituality Movement. She also tried to connect me with her mentor, Tess Obusan, author of "Roots of Filipino Spirituality", via email and phone. But we weren't meant to meet yet. And so for some time, I was so much looking forward to meeting this interesting, pioneering woman.

Third floor of Bahay Nakpil is where the Nakpil family resided.

While I was staying with my friend Val Tapalla in Manila, I decided to make a point of looking up Tess. Actually, Ann, or Urduja as I call her, urged me to call Tess Obusan and make sure I visited with her. And so, because Tess is the curator of the museum of Bahay Nakpil, I found my way to Bautista Street and facing the heavy carved doors of an old beautiful home. Coming through the doors, I encountered craftsmen working on a religous processional float. I could not spend more time admiring the details of the large santo images and the silver work of the carito because I was being lead up 3 flights of carved dark wood hagdanan (staircases).


Teresita "Tessie" Obusan, museum curator and author of "Roots of Filipino Spirituality"	Tessie with Raymund Cosare, Professor and Baybayin Calligraphy Artist . They are flanked by baybayin calligraphy scrolls done by Raymund.	Dining Room/Conference area. At back corner is table with the baybayin display of books and pendants.

At the top of the stairs on the third floor, I was met by Tessie. She has a gentle face and lovely demeanor. I liked her immediately! She showed me around the library and pulled out a few books for me to read and showed me the new sound system whose music soothed the young people visiting, when a group of students came up the stairs. So she left me at the conference table while she showed the young people around.
I eagerly began to look over the books before me (such as Shaman Woman's Dream by Agnes Micla-Cacayan and "From the Womb of Mebuyan" by Miclat-Cacayan and Geejay Arriola). and then Raymund Cosare arrived and Tessie introduced us. Together all three of us looked over the baybayin books and pendants on the far table in the conference room and talked about how the Doctrina Christiana contained transcriptions and translations of christian prayers in spanish into tagalog and baybayin! What a find! (See pictures of book below).

We talked about Raymund's working with students and his baybayin teachings and calligraphy. And then all three of us went over Tess' anthology "Roots of Filipino Spirituality" and talked about her work and the various authors'. Later we looked at charts and Filipino modalities of studying Philppine history and writing about it for ourselves. Tess is a brilliant woman in a petite little package. It was such a stimulating and happy time to talk with her and Raymund together.

Gregoria de Jesus Room. Not only do her pictures and letters reside here, but also her spirit AND her love of the country of the Philippines.

Then we walked around the museum. First we went to the Gregoria de Jesus room. There they shared me stories of the opening exhibit and how some people, including Ann Ubaldo, are drawn to visit this room again and again and even bring items such as betel nut, a favorite of Gregoria's, the muse of the Katipunan! On the left wall are framed letters written by Gregoria. One must take their time to absorb all the exhibit has to offer. It is more than paintings and letters. It is a legacy of love, pride and of being Filipino.
As we walked around I was shown more national treasures that reside here such as the framed reproduction of Juan Luna's Buhay Paris. I recognized influences of Renoir in that painting, but more than that, this painting was a reminder to me that Filipinos, even at the turn of the 20th century, were in fact educated, talented and achieved in the arts and literature, contrary to the colonizers' stereotypes that I had of Filipinos as uncivilized (see political cartoon). Most of my school life in the Philippines, I could only picture our historical Filipinos in one way, subjugated to the colonizer and inferior to the Europeans. That finally changed when going to University of Diliman, I and my fellow Fine Arts students took many trips to the finest museums of Manila. That is when I had my first glimpse of Juan Luna's masterpiece Spolarium. And through that one painting, I discovered that Filipinos, even years ago, in their stirrings of nationalism were already out to prove that they were the equals of their colonizers. And that they most certainly did through painters such as Juan Luna and his friend Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo.
And now here in front of me at Bahay Nakpil was another artistic sample of educated, cultured and talented Filipinos. Within the painting itself too was a story... that of Filipinos (like Jose Rizal, Juan Luna and Ariston Bautista) who were in Europe... speaking European languages, visiting restaurants, going to schools... I remembered how my colonized, amnesiatic mind wondered how could that be... The watercolor image was a reminder that our rising painters of the time rivalled even the best of Italy at the time and that Filipinos were already reaching full potential, standing as equals with Westerners. We should all remember those Filipinos and those too who gave birth to La Solidaridad... Read more on Juan Luna .

Buhay Paris (Parisian Life)
Framed Reproduction

Buhay Paris (Parisian Life)
caption text of artwork

At left: framed reproduction and caption:
Handog ni Juan Luna kay Dr. Ariston Bautista ang "Buhay Paris". Ditor ito nakasabit noon. Ngayo'y pag-aari na ng GSIS ang orihinal.
1892: Nakaupo ang tatlong magkaibigan na sina A. Bautista, J. Luna at J. Rizal. Hinahangaan nila ang isang magandang taga-paris. Noong taong ding iyon, bumalik si Rizal sa Pilipinas, kasuno si Bautista. Samantal si Luna na ng dahil sa selos, ay binaril ang kanyang asawa sa Paris.
(click on picture of caption text on left to view translation into English)

I got to learn more about the history of the house such as the 1st floor of Bahay Nakpil-Bautista was the stables for the horses. That is where they craftsmen are now working on the Santas for the religious processions. The cobble stone flooring is still down there.

The 2nd floor. was the residence of the Petrona Nakpil and A. Bautista. And above on the 3rd floor the Nakpils lived. And that many Katipunero and nationalism gatherings took place here.

Other side of dining room. Windows face a balcony, a lower patio with garden, and the Pasay River.

The Museum of Bahay NakpilBahay Nakpil is now a museum open to the public. Bahay Nakpil is a former plateria and the ancestral house of Gregoria de Jesus Nakpil, the widow of Katipunan founder Andres Bonifacio.
Bahay Nakpil was also once the home of historical figure Dr. Ariston Bautista who married Petrona Nakpil. Bautista was a philanthropist and a man prominent in the Philippine Revolution. Because of his interests he was a colleague and friend of José Rizal and Juan Luna.

In the house also lived musical composer and Katipunero Julio Nakpil, who married the widow of his friend and national hero Andres Bonifacio, Gregoria de Jesus.

Bahay Nakpil is an outstanding example of Philippine architecture and was designed by Juan Arellano in the classic "bahay na bato" style. The detailing within the house is turn-of-the-century Viennese Secession style and renders Bahay Nakpil unique in the Philippines and maybe even in the world. Carvings, woodwork and grillwork are executed in abstracts and geometric lines of floral patterns.

The Nakpil house was located in Quiapo on Calle Barbosa but this street is now Bautista Street or more completely, Dr. Ariston Bautista Street. For information, call +63 2 7349341.

Below are more pictures of my visit to Bahay Nakpil. You can click on all pictures for larger versions and details. Please let these photos tell you more of Bahay Nakpil without words...

Maria Rhodora "Bing-Bing" Veloso, artist, author and publisher of " Saysayin ng Babayin".An economy grad of U.P. Diliman, she is also a singer and has sung epic songs and oral history with the tribes of the Cordilleras. She is also the Tagalog translator atwww.babaylan.com.	Grace Nono, singer. Click here for more info.	Tessie and Raymund standing next to display of artists and academe who have shared ideas and works contributing to a rising interest in the Filipino indigenous spirituality movement.(wish i took more detailed pictures of this...)
Raymund, myself and Tessie standing on balcony facing Pasig River.	Room on opposite side through doors is the museum library. Visiting students walk the halls.
	Above: Sala hosts visiting students for the day. It faces Bautista Street. On the back walls: theParisian Life painting by Juan Luna, and photos of the Nakpil daughters and another Juan Luna watercolor...	Above: Windows facing Bautista Street in Quiapo. Architectural window and wall detailings included capiz shell window detailings and art noveau geometrical grill work.
At right: Vista de la Calzada de San Sebastian V.H. Locano circa 1867 and 1858	circa 1867	circa 1858
At right: Framed photo of daughters of the Nakpil family.	Photo of Nakpil daughters shows them seated below a framed watercolor by Juan Luna.	Here is a shot of corner table with the photo of the Nakpil women with another colored photo of the art of Juan Luna.
Stairs leading to 3rd Floor of Nakpil Home.	Photo of Gregoria de Jesus. This photo used to reproduce more likenessnesses of her including those in the GDJ gallery red room.	Once the dining area of Nakpil family, now a conference style room. Tessie Obusan, curator and Raymund Cosare answer questions of a visiting student.

I wish I took more pictures!

Beloved Ghosts and Love of Country

Like all other old homes you might wonder about the ghosts that might be there atBahay Nakpil. Well I did! And so I asked. Tessie tells of stories of a woman in traditional dress who walks around wondering who are all the strangers visiting... and who wants the house to be well taken care of and always tidy and clean. There are also stories of people who are inexplicable drawn to come day after day to the Gregoria de Jesus room, even bringing tokens to Gregoria's memory. These people become inspired and come up with new works of nationalism.
This was a home where the remainder of Katipuneros and other nationalists did gather and meet regularly.... Today, some special people are still drawn to this place to visit and gather still. Several artists and talents have come to Bahay Nakpil to be a place to sing, share ideas, work on progressive concepts, launch their works... be creative in intellect, art and expressing their love of the Philippines and being Filipino yet.
A Gift from Bahay Nakpil
During my visit, I must have shown Tess and Raymund so much enthusiasm for the baybayin that I was generously bestowed a complimentary copy of the Doctrina Christiana as a gift. As I turned the pages, they were so crisp and fresh that they still stuck together. I feel that I must share this gift from Bahay Nakpil by showing you the cover and some spreads of this special book here below...

Doctrina ChristianaImages

Doctrina Christiana was the first book to be published in Manila in 1593. This is a cover of the reprint of 1991 published by The National Historical Institute of the Philippines in Manila. This was done to commemorate the Decade of the Centennials of Filipino Nationalism, Nationhood and the Philippine Revolutionary Movement and the Philippine Decade of Cutlure.	On this inside spread of the Doctrina Christiana we have the translation of La Salve Regina. On the left page is the tagalog version written in baybayin. On the right side is the Spanish version in the European alphabet.	First page of theForeword of the Doctrina Christiana

A Homecoming
Because of Tess Obusan's studies, her publications and her many efforts I have been deeply affected by the Filipino Spirituality movement. Her works and many others who she worked with or mentored have inspired my own delvings into my roots and connections with my ancestors. So much so that was inspired to create the prose poetry and artworks at Babaylan.com and make a collection of images and words and resource for others. I also wrote the Bahala Meditations in 2003 because of Tess and other women such as Grace Odal, Mary Ann Ubaldo and Bing-bing Veloso.
Tess and Ramund were so enjoyable to be with and talk with. We touched topics such as nationalism, Katipuneros, art, books, baybayin, ghosts, angels, calligraphy, historical Quiapo, architecture and more! I came to feel a great affection for these two.
And so, although the Nakpils are not my direct family, but because of who IS there, WAS there, and because of all who have put love and effort into this home and what still goes into this museum, this place means to me a continuing love of country and of being Filipino. Coming to Bahay Nakpil was like coming home to an ancestral home that is my own.

For more information:
Bio of Gregoria de Jesus at Ayala Foundations's online Filipiniana Archives of Heroes.
Bio of Andres Bonifacio at Bakbakan.comBio of Juan Nakpil at NCCA
Perla Paredes Daly © All rights reserved.

Do Stereotypes Have Power Over You?

2008-08-13T18:18:00.000-07:00

Are you Ashamed to be a Filipina? You’ve been disempowered then. So take back your power, already!

I am glad to know that there are many, many Filipinos who are proud of being who they are. There is a little thrill within me when I see this in the Mother Land (Inang Bayan) and abroad. Filipino newspapers abroad, Filipino cultural celebrations abroad… The rise of the Filipino Indigenous Spirituality Movement, the “search for the filipino identity”, the pride in reclaiming indigenous culture… The decolonization discussions and awareness… After more than 10 years of using the Internet I see that there are more and more Filipino discussion groups and web sites. These cyber efforts show Filipino pride and effort that bring Filipino-dom to new heights. But there are pockets of shame in being Filipino…

A young woman from University of Santo Thomas, Manila emailed me to talk about pride in being a Filipino as opposed to shame and hate in being Filipino. She had encountered another Filipina on the Internet, in a message board. Sadly, this other Filipina was stating her shame of stereotypes of Filipinos abroad and how she now hated being a Filipina because of them. This Filipina needs some new insight on being Filipino and the power of stereotypes!

This obviously intelligent and articulate young Filipina is not the only one I have heard of who feels like this. I have encountered other Filipinos who bewail and complain about the so-called problems of the Philippines and the reputations Filipino women and men have abroad. And who thus are ashamed of being Filipino. When they are abroad they even go so far as to deny being a Filipino and attempt to claim a new nationality. I have heard Filipinos shun the identity of Filipino or Filipino-Canadian or Filipino-American—they now prefer to be Canadian or American. This is self-hate due to others’ perceptions of Philippine problems.

Stereotypes of who-others-are and who-you-are-not are illusions of the material world that cause a loss of personal power. If you are one of those people who have succumbed to self-hate and self-doubt because of stereotypes then you now need to understand what acting out like this means. It means that you have given power to something that has only touched your life via words and thoughts… you have surrendered a sense of your self, you have given a piece of your soul away— to a lie, a STEREOTYPE!

There are so many stereotypes— they apply to gender, age, nationalities, religions, ethnicity, body size and more. Stereotypes can influence people. Stereotypes divide people, they foster fear and suspicion. They create resentment, hate and anger. Stereotypes can be pretty powerful. But don’t succumb to their power! Don’t give your dignity and your self-respect over to stereotypes, to people who stereotype you and your fellows, to people you don’t even know and to people who don’t even know you.

Have you ever considered that stereotypes are like generalized theories and are not physical or spiritual laws? They are concepts that need to be proven. If they turned out to be true for everyone of a certain group then they would be like laws of physics— but they never will be true for all, and only applicable to limited numbers within a group of people. So don’t let something that is pretty much just a theory (come about by those with limited minds and limited experience) have power and control over you. And don’t fail to realize that when you meet people with stereotypes/theories that might be about you, then you yourself have the power to debunk their narrow beliefs by showing them the best part of yourself, the best part of who Filipinas and Filipinos are!

Take your power back from outside forces and call upon your inner strength, your inner warrior to fight off these “forces.”

I say to those who have disempowered themselves this way, “Snap out of it! Get over it! Take back your power and shout out to the phantoms “I don’t believe you! You have no control over me.”

There is a warrior self in every one of us that you too can call upon to help you challenge the stereotypes that have control over you. This warrior spirit is a universal symbol found in every ancient culture of every nation of the world. The ancient archetype of the warrior has been preserved within medieval Christian allegory in the characters of Pilgrim, Knight and Soldier. The spirit of the warrior has been preserved in our own myths of the Philippines and has risen many times in our history.

The warrior spirit within you is there not to make you fight just for the sake of fighting or for venting anger without cause, but rather to be called upon for the strength and courage it takes for you to stand centered in who you are. This warrior spirit enables you to be strong enough to hold yourself against forces working against who you are, it helps you find the pride, the boldness to challenge such forces. It helps you triumph against such forces and leads you to revel in who you are.

Self-hate and self-doubt that stem from allowing so-called bad reputations and inaccurate stereotypes are like shadows that you have allowed to scare you and become very real phantoms in your life. You have allowed a false collective myth to have control over you. You have made an unconscious choice to let something that is not true about you to become significant and true for you.

Let your warrior spirit step forward and make a conscious choice to take the pieces of your soul back and allow yourself a wholeness of self again.

If you have a practice of prayer and meditation then seek guidance and help in finding the warrior’s courage and strength within yourself. If you are Catholic or Christian, then sing the song “Onward Christian Soldier. If you practice yoga asanas, try standing in Virabhadrasana 1, 2 or 3 and work at breathing through ridding yourself of your fears that are stuck in your mind and body.

If you want to call upon your Filipino ancestors then ask them for courage so that your warrior archetype within yourself can battle your inner demons— those demons that whisper words that fill with you with doubt and insecurities, that make you weak and lead you away from your potential.

Don’t let stereotypes have power over you. Don’t let them make you small by believing them and making them apply to you. Don’t let them control you into thinking the wrong things about other people either. Conquer them with the energy of your own life.

Updated article written in April 2003 for newfilipina.com.

The Accidental Feminist

2008-08-13T16:26:00.000-07:00

(originally published in 2002 at newfilipina.com and newsletter, Tinig ng Pilipina)

At times “feminist” is manipulated to be a pejorative word. Don’t you believe it!

A few years ago, a major U.S. magazine had an issue with the arguable frontpage headline that read “Is Feminism Dead?”. I have discovered for myself that it is alive. And growing. And years later, I need to just get it out that I felt something was wrong if a major publication equated feminism with the one TV persona of Ally McBeal and not with benefits and advances of egalitarianism within humanity.

In March 2000, NewFilipina.com volunteers attended the FAWN2000 Conference in San Francisco. The Filipino American Women’s Network conference was sponsored by Mona Lisa Yuchengco, Filipinas Magazine, and Virna Tintiangco along with the Filipino Women’s Network based in San Francisco. (Later on, we sponsored the 2005 FAWN conference).

Along with hundreds of other Filipinas in the U.S. we participated in a progressive forum event. Being part of this conference has made me reflect on the exciting fact that more and more Filipinas today are becoming part of a pro-women movement.

Filipinas are coming face to face with that F-word, that is, “feminism.” Feminism is many things to many people. And to a number of people who don’t understand what it means for humanity to advance, who therefore resist change and are against equality, thus use the word “feminist” as derogatory word or an F-word—so much so that there are people who support women’s causes but would rather describe themselves as “pro-woman” or “womanist” and shun the word feminist.

Is feminism really dead or are the growing ranks of “pro-woman” groups using a soft term for feminism? I believe that the women of today are defining feminism in their own ways and calling it what they feel comfortable with.

Filipina women are seeking to define their own kind of feminism. At the conference was Allyson Tintiangco of UC Berkeley who was the proponent of the term “pinayism”.

With the formal incorporation of the NewFilipina organization in 1999, one year after the community web site of newfilipina.com (aka bagongpinay) was launched, I came face to face with the fact that although I had never identified myself personally as a feminist, I was, in fact, a feminist. I had founded a web site and an organization that seeked to promote the positive identity of Filipina women as individuals and as a group entity. I was seeking the upliftment for Filipinas. I went into this whole thing starting a little web site with a pro-Filipina, pro-woman stance. And although I was not a political or even vocal activist I discovered that because of how I felt and what I wanted to do, I WAS a feminist. It almost felt like an accident. But it wasn’t. It is what has become a part of me.

Pinay power, Filipina empowerment, FWN, FAWN2000, Isis International, Gabriela, Kilawin Kolektibo, Ugnayan ng Kababaihan so Pulitika and many other Filipina women’s networks around the world… even when we just have coffee with our girlfriends and talk about our problems and cheer each other on to overcome them… here are proponents of a Filipina feminism! The most exciting realization for us all is that it has only been our ignorance and society’s collective forgetfulness that have ever chained a Filipina down. We don’t need to take back our power as women because we Filipinas have always had the power, in other words, the strength and the courage to do what it takes. We only have to look back on our ancient babaylan (priestess) and our history’s heroines such as Gabriela and the women of Malolos. Although we might still have a macho, double standard society, we still have a matri-focal society whereby matriarchs of family’s are beloved and their opinion respected and adhered to.

Filipina feminists today are merely reminding themselves and each other of their inner power. We are helping each other use that power in our lives.

From my personal efforts to push NewFilipina forward, I have come to define feminism for myself. It is a belief or philosophy that women have power over themselves. It is a movement where organized action seeks to help women realize and use their power in their lives.

And I don’t mean to totally leave out the guys in our lives. Most of us feminists do love our men, our brothers, fathers, uncles, sons, friends, lovers… we still love them and give them the love and honor they deserve. It’s just that feminism is a bit about giving woman just a little extra oomph just so things are more balanced and healthy within our human existence.

Feminism, for me, is the hope that someday there will be gender equality and balance all throughout humanity’s consciousness and world. That both men and women, at the same time, are given more choices and options to not only feed, cloth and shelter themselves but also find happiness in being alive.

If you have always preferred to think of yourself as “pro-woman” or “pro-filipina,” and/or find yourself agreeing with these definitions, you just might be coming to terms with the realization that you are, in fact, a feminist, too.

Updated article published originally in April 2000.

venturing against my fears

2008-07-29T18:20:00.000-07:00

I was reading and found these words by Maya Angelou on what it took to being a writer: “Something to say, the ability to express it, and finally, the courage to express it all.” And by Sue Monk Kidd on becoming an empowered woman: “A soul of one’s own, the ability or means to voice it, and finally, the courage to voice it all.”

I began to tingle and tear up. I realized that newfilipina.com has become for me an experience whereby I must be able to voice what I am exploring, what I have discovered, and most especially, find the courage to voice it all.

i know that 10 years ago, i was afraid of going out on a limb with publishing a site for filipinas and by filipinas because there were too many sites about filipinas for men. i was afraid of being criticized and attacked. and it happened. I was criticized and attacked. but only by a handful of people. some people did not like me mentioning the mail-order-bride industry and became defensive and mean. one filipino did not like that we linked our site to a wedding site that had a link to a mail-order bride site. I said i kept it there to raise awareness. He said he was boycotting the site and asking all his female relatives to boycott us too. one filipino did not like women talking about equality, so he insulted other women in the discussion board with sexual innuendo and come-on lines. another man, quoted phrases from the bible saying inequality was the woman’s heritage, as per God. I couldn’t help but feel that it wasn’t God talking but rather men who edited the Bible that were talking.

a lot of people don’t like it that you question. they become aggressive or defensive if you venture to speak out. has anyone ever heard of “let’s agree to be disagreeable”. Does anyone know how? i think one needs to deprogram a few misconceptions in order to do that.

i know that there will be people who will become angry when you express your opinion, who will attack you, however they can, because your beliefs, culture, geographical location, accent, grammar, dress and/or lifestyle is different from theirs. i have come to realize that “difference,” to many people, means outright competition, the invisible award of which is unexpressed and inexplicable.

i have come to realize that in this unspoken competition there is the necessity to attack, put down, gossip, slander, tear apart… that for some reason, “being different” is a justifiable cause to be violent against another. i have learned that violence can be in the form of not just physical action, but also thoughts and words.

i have learned that hatred and violence are very much related. that hatred comes from fear and ignorance… that fear is the true opposite of love. that fear in people makes them believe they are separated from others. i have learned that separation is the “Illusion” that ancient philosphers spoke of.

i have learned that i used to believe the same things as these people. i have struggled to unsubscribe from my limiting beliefs. i have learned that when we are asleep, unconscious and ignorant, we believe in hierarchy, privilege, superiority/inferiority(based on color, education, race, religion, gender, money) and the justification for attacking, conquering, exploiting, controlling others beneath us in this invisible, unspoken hierarchy… we believe that God is outside of us, separated, and that His love is unlimited and portioned out in degrees proportional to one’s standing in this elaborate, invisible hierarchy. we believe that God’s other children, other than “us” are our potential competition, our possible enemies.

i have learned something outside of this belief system. most simply put, i believe in Sacred Interconnection.

i no longer believe in hierarchies. i no longer believe in only masculine principles of power “control, domination, conquering, reasoning”, but now I also believe in feminine principles of power “compassion, wisdom, cooperation, intuition.”

i could be labeled dissident and “dangerous”. but dangerous to who? dangerous to what? I only seek the truth beyond the lies of those who want to stay in control.

in the first few weeks of newfilipina.com, in 1999, newfilipina was “attacked” by a filipina and her foreign spouse in the discussion boards. during that same week, newfilipina.com was spam bombed. it took me weeks to clean out the spam and do the deep soul searching to be able to defend my belief (to them but most especially to myself) that newfilipina.com was trying to do justice to filipina identity online. the ensuing support, compassion, cooperation and love that went into the site from hundreds of other visitors, members and contributors helped me realize that yes, I was doing something right. i want to thank all of you who were part of newfilipina.com in the past. you helped make it what it was to me and others.

i have learned that I must speak up. i must voice all that i have learned. but, oh, it is so hard.

do you ask the hard questions? do you travel the hard road to seek the answers? do you face those hard answers when you find them? if you are like me, please let me know.

“Cautious, careful people, always casting about
to preserve their reputation and social standing,
never can bring about a reform. Those who are really
in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in
the world’s estimation, and publicly and privately, in
season and out, avow their sympathy with despised and
persecuted ideas and their advocates, and bear
the consequences.”

—- Susan B. Anthony

Unchained

2008-07-28T20:08:00.000-07:00

the chains have fallen.
she is transformed.
a new person. a new filipina.

created in 1998 for the launch of
the original newfilipina.com community site.
evokes for me the fallen chains
of biased concepts that limited the filipina.

Filipina Cybertyping

2008-07-22T04:37:00.000-07:00

i was delighted to find Filipina images blog online around last year. today, i checked and Filipina images is ranking 2nd in search results for “filipina” at google! congratulations ladies! and just now, i was delighted that i could join this blog and contribute. wow! what a great idea you have here, Lorna and all.

i’ve been creating filipina sites and linking to other filipina sites for many years now. i’ve even linked my sites to “yan ang pinay” which now has donated its great logo to this blog. you see, i’ve been watching these searches for “filipina” since around 1995-96.

many of us watching the filipina image online for all these years know what’s going on. i’ve come to call the problem we are trying to solve “cybertyping” because of something similar to cyber stereotyping.

cybertyping. a process by which the internet creates a stereotype, false image or cybermyth through search engine results or web advertising.

filipina cybertyping is articulated when one does a search on “filipina” through search engines such as a google and yahoo and those results show mostly sites that slant the image of the filipina to a narrow representation. go ahead and try it. what are your findings?

cybertyping also takes place through ads that come up with the keyword of “filipina”, for example, “filipinas for great prices at ebay” or through google ads. these results combined create a cyberstereotype or a cybermyth of filipinas. cybertyping.

cybertyping is impersonal on the internet’s behalf. it’s painful on a personal level. it’s degrading on a nationalistic sense. it’s a blow to the whole filipina/o identity experience as you become more and more aware of it. of course we can go on with everyday life despite it all. but there is something wrong with it.

stereotyping is a common thing. it creates control factors in the mind’s little games of perceiving and processing the world. maybe people like stereotyping because it limits and belittles in order to quell insecurities and fears.

the experience of newfilipina.com starting in 1998 was about a concerted effort, for and by filipinas, to create an online community where the sharing and discussions helped create a more complete filipina image online as opposed to the one-sided cybermyth created by the deluge of websites about brides, pen pals, dating and visual sex. Nothing wrong with the sites about companionship, but certainly something wrong with the skewed filipina cyber-representation peppered with porn and sex tours targeted to male markets globally. (and certainly something wrong with the impoverishment of the filipino people that might cause them to want to leave their country in order to survive. and that’s another topic to explore)

this skewed representation is not necessary caused by stereotyping necessarily. it’s more because of narrow representation online for filipinas that has been present since the beginnings of the internet. this narrow representation of filipinas is articulated when one does a search on “filipina” through search engines such as a google and yahoo. it also takes place through ads that come up with the keyword of “filipina”, for example, “filipinas for great prices at ebay” or through google ads. these results combined create a cyberstereotype or a cybermyth of filipinas. this is what i will call cybertyping. it’s impersonal on the internet’s behalf. it’s extremely painful on a personal level. it’s insulting on a nationalistic sense.

we can’t rant and rave anymore can we. (i did when i first discovered what was going on). we must work against cybertyping.

10 years after we started, filipina cybertyping is still ongoing and the cybermyth of filipinas as sex/domestic subservient goddesses still exists through the types of sites out there about filipinas.

thus, newfilipina.com cannot retire, but will rather, evolve. newfilipina.com, as a blog now, will concentrate on the examination of how this has come about. it will also make an effort, with your help hopefully, on deconstructing the mind-set and illusions that have helped create this phenomena. spin-off sites are being designed and constructed to take on the many features newfilipina.com once had, such as featured filipina lives, art, poetry, books, opinion and discussions. we invite you to join us through those spin-off sites.

and we invite you to apply techniques of using keywords and links to help counter cybertyping. a few years ago, i sent out an email to a few hundred cyber pinoys and pinays on how to do this. but i’ll give you the quick tips right here:

Technique 1.
Place the word “filipina” in the meta keywords and, if relevant, meta title within the html coding of your index page and as many other pages of your site.

Technique 2.
Place the word “filipina” in the text content of your web page/s, and as many webpages that you manage.

Technique 3.
Create a web page list of your favorite quality Filipina/o sites at your web page/site.

Also visit www.newfilipina.com and its sister sites in beta stage at www.pinay.com,www.phenomenalfilipinas.com/pfilipinas, and www.fabulousfilipinas.net

filipina cyberpresence 1995-2003

2008-07-15T07:40:00.000-07:00

imagine this. it’s 1996 and the web is a new experience to explore. it’s exciting and fun… you’ve been using the web to shop for cars and find good prices… you’ve been chatting with friends from around the world… you’ve been reading, writing and posting stuff online about things that interest you… you’ve discovered yahoo.com, one of the first web directories online and can find sites under every topic… you find out that if you click on the location field of your mozilla browser and type in a word, any word, the browser will automatically add “www” in the beginning of the word and “.com” at the end of the word and take you to the website of that domain “www.word.com”. imagine you are a filipina and you type in “filipina” and you get the site of www.filipina.com. then imagine that you are so upset and disbelieving of what you find there that you go to yahoo.com to find better sites about filipinas, but find worse things… like porn and sex tours.

well that is what happened to me.

here is an image gallery that represents filipina cyber presence between 1995-2003. they are screen captures and images from filipina.com and various search engine results for filipina.

you will note that the sites represented by these images, are published by men for men. take note of the words chosen to describe, the slant for selling and marketing of, and the overall, sexualized, biased representation of filipinas online.

www.filipina.com (archives)

above: filipina.com screen capture circa 2003. click on the image for larger view.

the “free wives” in hot pink towards the bottom of this screen image bothered me. it exhibits how men can create an illusion for themselves and others that women are objects, to be bought and sold, or given away for free.

www.filipina.com existed as a “mail-order-bride” service site at least starting around 1996 when i found them. overall, my feeling for this site was disgust and disappointment because i wanted to find a site for and by filipinas. www.filipina.com publishers had pages announcing that the philippine government could not do anything legally to take down their site.

if you search the wayback machine archives you should be able to research how this and other aspects of how the site worked.

the following pictures were also posted at filipina.com circa 1995 to 1998. it was one of their marketing tools for selling filipinas as mail-order-brides.

click on the images for larger view.

read those last two lines? now that’s great marketing for the “discerning man” in the market for a mail order bride. are you wondering why a man would not want any other kind of woman?

the above article was published in the 40s or 50s. probably in good housekeeping or in another similar publication. the publishers of www.filipina.com proudly displayed the images of the good wife guide article in their site, implying that the filipina mail-order-brides that they had in their catalogs were going to be delivered and were to perform up to this industry standard of this type of “good wife.”

search engines:

to the right: search results for “filipina” on altavista.com, circa 2003.
click on the image for larger view.

porn sites for “filipina” representation
(warning! these results have offensive content):

above 2 images are the porn search results for “filipina” on google.com, circa 2003.
click on the images for larger view. warning: these results have offensive content.

these 2003 google search results are similar to the results i got in 1996 when i used searched “filipina” at yahoo.com. i was very very upset when i found out about these types of sites, and how there were so many that used the word “filipina” in their domain name, i.e., www.______filipina.com, or www.filipina_____.net. alot of these smutty sites still exist.

this image gallery, showing what filipina cyberpresence was like around 1995, represents why newfilipina.com was born. the community site of newfilipina.com was created in 1998 to be a site for and by filipinas. it is why more filipinas and filipinos need to step forward too and have their webpage or website also help heal and balance filipina identity online.

the cybertyping of filipinas in the above ways is still going on. what can you do with this knowledge?

if you are filipina or filipino and have an online presence you can help change how “filipina” appears in search engine results by seo & google bombing techniques. join the campaigns below.

The Forbidden Book: The Philippine-American War in Political Cartoons

2008-07-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

Book Review of The Forbidden Book: The Philippine-American War in Political Cartoons by Abe Ignacio, Enrique de la Cruz, Jorge Emmanuel, Helen Toribio. T’Boli Publishing and Distribution.

An astounding collection of political cartoons at the turn of the 20th century that will open one’s eyes to U.S. imperialist ambition as told through the colonization of the Philippines.

Interesting and revolting at the same time. Benevolent Assimilation? Little Brown Brother? Images of Filipinos as savages… or of the Philippines as a woman hoisted and carried away like a sack… or of rotund Uncle Sam standing tall and cocky alongside the older imperialists of Europe? You won’t believe your eyes. Or you will.

This book might incite you. It might alert you to those skeletons in the historical closet (if you’re american or filipino).

Important documentation of U.S.’ first forays into imperialism and another piece of the puzzle as to why U.S. would wage war abroad.

(my book review at amazon.com)

the journey

2008-07-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

from its conceptualization, changes in my personal life took place because of newfilipina.com aka bagongpinay. one cannot run such a site without digging down deep what it means to be Filipina in this world, what it means to be born to the culture, the big extended families, the colonized history. i met many people on similar journeys. my life opened up.

and life changes take place, big ones and small ones—geography, mid-life, transitions, growing children, awakenings, discoveries…

and then in 2006 the site disappeared due to technical issues…

but things happen for a reason…

during the almost two years that i stepped away from doing newfilipina.com, i went through a series of family crises, personal rediscovery, creative outlfow and then experienced bringing together, at homes and coffee shops, women’s circles, regardless of race, nationality, religion. from my most recent paths, i realize now that newfilipina.com has been an intrinsic part of a larger dismantling of civilization’s imperialist beliefs of heirarchy and privilege that bring about injustice in society and crippling expectations in our personal lives—regardless of categories—-nation, religion, culture, education, class and gender.

in this journey, too, woven into an experience of dis-believing, was the rediscovery of that which excites , enlivens , inspires and replenishes one’s love for Life, everything in it, and all it has to offer.

who is the newfilipina…

2008-07-04T18:42:00.000-07:00

after 10 years of exploring this question, here are some of my answers:

…She loves being born a Filipina and honors where she comes from.

…She is a Giver, not a Taker.

…She is the one who does not let others’ ignorance become her own.

…She is the one inside of you who has Courage to do the thing that your Ego is afraid to do.

…She is the one who knows Universal Love.

…She is the Truth you have discovered about your Self

please share with the whole wide world, who the “new filipina” is for you…

Lighten Up Your Heart

2008-06-05T16:37:00.000-07:00

You can lighten up your heart by the love you give and receive during Christmas. Another really, really good way to lighten up is to let go of emotional baggage. And to let go of the obsessions that pretend to be more important than who and what you really love.

Christmas decorating used to be an obsession of mine. And after watching holiday season commercialism reach a new frenzied high with hundreds of Holiday season spam email in addition to the TV and radio ads, I want to again renew the meaning of Christmas for myself yet again. The word Christmas comes from the words “Christ” and “mass.” Christian mass is an old ritual celebration of Christ’s teachings and his Life and Death. Christmas day is the special holiday or holy day celebrating the birth of Christ, designated by long-ago heads of Church to be close to the solar calendar winter solstice(this day was one that ancient northern people noted was the shortest day of the year. Winter Solstice is a pagan holiday celebrated as the end of the seasonal year and as the start of the days growing longer again, the Sun coming closer to the Earth again.)

Now a question we might ask of ourselves and try to answer is How could a holy day, a day designated for celebrating Christ’s Spirit, become the 8-ball-in-the-corner-pocket for U.S. commercialism today? A few years ago I began to dread Christmas. It was the furious rush of the shopping and the decorating exactness that threw me off my center. The irony of my dread is that the commercialism of Christmas had turned me off years ago. Who invented the phenomenon of the Christmas rush anyway? I did, in my case! Somehow, I got seduced into believing that I too must march to the agitated beat of commercial media portraying Christmas!

Well this year, I plan to again be an “anti-media-Christmas” person. I will continue to simplify how I get ready for Christmas. I started a few years ago, when I stopped being the perfectionist when it comes to holiday decorations, holiday dinner and gifts.

I will share with you that old dirty secret of mine — Christmas decor obsession. One of my petty but hard fixations was creating a dreamy confection of a decorated tree with symmetrically placed, coordinating taffeta ribbons and frosty glass balls. After a couple of years of these “perfect trees” that moi, moi, moi made, I realized I had moments of being uptight and unhappy when a child rearranged or added a handmade decor of theirs. How did I break out of this awful spell? I witnessed Scrouge (or his twin brother) at the grocery store on Christmas Eve. The line was so long and slow that he exclaimed very nastily and huffed out of the store. I wondered what his problem was. Could he be obsessing over his perfectly planned, perfectly-timed Christmas dinner, like me? I realized then that I had to relax and let go of my martha-stewart-christmas-perfectionism. Or I would morph into another clone of Scrouge-a-sneering-and-a-grumbling during Christmas.

Now, the perfect Christmas tree for me is the one my children have fun decorating with me, with my husband and their Lola. Sometimes even one of their friends might be over for decorating. The more the merrier. Handmade, lop-sided cut-out paper trees, snowmen and gingerbread men are included on our “perfect tree”. It is the glow of happiness and pride in my kids’ eyes while we decorate that warm me up for Christmas. Days after we are done, we all love gazing at the twinkle of lights. I know that the delight in our hearts doesn’t just come from the sparkle and dazzle of the decor, but mostly comes from having done the tree up together, together, together.

And so this I know for sure, when I am relaxed, Christmas good will and cheer comes much easier when obsessions are out ofthe way.
So, let us each foster a relaxed attitude while preparing for Christmas Day. Let us rediscover again the celebration of Christ-mas in our hearts. Let’s all take time for slowing down, for quiet and for nurturing our inner spirits, alone or together with loved ones or with those we should love. For Spirit is where Christmas really comes from.

More Links for this Christmas Holiday

Advent of Christmas
A link to an article by Ronald Klug at www.Belief.net. A short read on contemplating the Christ spirit as Christmas day approaches Click here to article at Belief.net.

Pondo ng Pinoy
Please consider being a partner of Archbishop Rosales and his project called “Pondo ng Pinoy” to help the poorest of the poor in Metro Manila under the aegis of the Archdiocese of Manila..For the twenty-eight days before Christmas why not contribute $1.00 a day or a total of $28.00 to the Pondo ng Pinoy You can of course give more if you wish. In the Philippines, he is only asking for P0.25 centavos a day. Yes, twenty-five centavos so that even the poor themselves can participate. In the US, this is a simple way of teaching our children and grandchildren to remember the poor in the Philippines.
The funds can be sent directly to Ayala Foundation USA in San Francisco to help them with the logistics of collecting and remitting the funds for Pondo ng Pinoy.

Giving IS Receiving

In the Philippine Islands, work with your church, school or organization to organize gift-giving, parties and food for your local children and their families who aren’t as fortunate.
In the U.S., find your local community United Way, YMCA, or town organization and ask about their Santa Fund or gift giving program to brighten the Christmas spirit to the homes of less fortunate children.

Let there be peace on Earth and let it begin with me.

Church Song, by Sy Miller and Jill Jackson(1955)

(originally published at newfilipina.com)

Hey, cyber filipinas! we're back!

2007-12-03T10:14:00.000-08:00

Hey, cyber filipinas! we're back!

Hello Filipinas! I'm Perla, your sister filipina netizen. I've been using the internet since 1991, and using, designing and publishing on the web since 1996. Along with some other friends and pioneering Filipinas online in 1998, we started the first online community for Filipinas on the Web. It was called Bagong Pinay and was found at newfilipina.com. Most of you might already know that newfilipina.com began as the anti- filipina.com in 1998. And many of you visitors used to be members of the community site of www.newfilipina.com, aka "bagongpinay", that was a site for and by filipinas. You contributed articles, shared your experiences and opinions in our discussion boards and left feedback about how the site affected you. It was going strong between 1998 and 2004. I have to thank you all for sharing of yourselves and supporting newfilipina.com back then. The work at newfilipina.com evolved into many other things including babaylanism, pakikipagkapwa, the Filipino American Women's Network Conference of 2005 (FAWN2005), and now pinay.com.

But I feel I owe newfilipina.com's dedicated visitors of the past an apology because in 2006, the BP/NF site had technical problems, the home page disappeared, our family moved half way across the country, and other major life changes got in the way. So, thanks for waiting and checking back after that year of absence.

May 2008 will mark the 10th anniversary of newfilipina.com. From hereon, newfilipina.com will be a blog with links to take you to archives of the old community site pre-2006. Use the links to the left column to view the old community site.

The community site of newfilipina.com used to have many features, but, don't be disappointed, because new Filipina sites are being developed to take over the myriad of features that this once-upon-a-community site, for fiipinas and by filipinas, once had to offer.

Also visit the coming new beta site at www.pinay.com! It is another site for and by Filipinas!

a new way of perceiving... a new way of being...

Proceed to blog>>

It all began in 1995 when I found that search engine result pages yielded mail order bride sites and sex tourism bar girl sites and many pornographic sites. To help continue with shaping the Filipina image online please copy and paste the following links in your blog or webpages:

newfilipina.com, pinay.com, FabulousFilipinas.net, phenomenalfilipinas.com, babaylan.net, babaylan.com, pakikipagkapwa.net, fawn2005.com, baybayinalive,

pinay scandal, pinoyambisyoso-pinoyscandal, yan ang pinay, filipinaimages.com