OF THE world’s resources and of all the treasures in the universe, the human beings loom as the number one capital who have been created by God in His image and likeness.
This truism was poetically underscored in the poem, “Elegy written in a Country Churchyard,” in 1750 by Thomas Gray, a British poet, in the poetic lines, “Perhaps in this neglected spot is lad, some heart once pregnant with celestial fire; Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway’d, Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre.”
In England, a churchyard is a cemetery where the dead are buried under the ground. Thomas Gray said it well that perhaps beneath the ground are some heart once beating with a celestial fire, meaning love, or a hand that could have held a scepter or could have been a king or having a poetic spirit that could have awakened people in ecstasy through poems but sayang, namatay na lang without that being fulfilled.
There could be no pitiful sight on earth than a man or woman who have lived but did not love or was not able to develop one’s potentials to serve the “least of his brethren.”
That’s the razon d’etre of one’s existence – to develop fully one’s potentials which is the number principle of sustainable development. In fact, this has been showcased by the time-honored and universally-accepted cooperative principles which recognize human capital as the number one resource, the second is ecological and last is the financial.
That’s the reason why the cooperatives are adhering to the principle of continuing education and are in fact allocating at least 10 percent of their surplus to what we term as CETF or cooperative education and training fund. This is based on our firm belief that when a person is capacitated, then the much needed spiritual values are developed such as intelligence, industry, service, dedication, commitment, love and one’s spiritually is enhanced, man being a spiritual person, in fact, more spirit than body.
Indeed, one of the DNA of cooperativism is that of being value-based which what really matters – going to the sublime and not immersed in the mundane. If indeed, the number law in the universe is that of “like attracts like,” then, when one’s spiritually is enhanced, only then can human beings are connected to the Supreme Force in the universe called Love, called God. Indeed, we are all rivers of consciousness connected to the sea of consciousness called the Being.
But in a materialistic and consumerist world, that is not the case as humanity is now so much enamored of self-promotion, superficial appearances, and religious trivialities. The egoic mind which has caused the Fall, prevails over spirituality. We have even sacrificed mother earth and humanity to the altar of greed and profit.
The message as frequently advertised by the mainstream media is always “buy this, buy that and you’ll be happy. You want to be happy, have more wealth, more power, more fame. That has always been the message which even major religions are not debunking as many of our so-called spiritual leaders are also so much immersed in the mundane, in seeking popularity, fame and power even pretending to be the appointed son of God.
The biblical lines that “what profiteth a man if he gains the whole world but suffereth the loss of his soul,” must be well understood by a world whose mindset is glaringly ruled by diabolical mindset called self-gratification.
Let us welcome the dawn of a new day, new spirituality that is giving high adherence to the sacredness of life, to oneness with nature and the universe and believe that we are all one and inter-connected. That is the essence of the power of NOW, live now, love now.
In so doing, we discover that deep within us is that Being for after-all, we are created in God’s image and likeness.