on(e) (h)our faith

there was this exhibit in Thomas Aquinas Research Center (TARC) our professor in theology asked us to visit when we were in our second year. it was - if my memory serves me well - about Islamic soteriology and interreligious conferences, promoting unity among churches or religions.

i did not feel anything when i first set foot on the exhibit area, not until i saw pictures of children in different occasions professing faith. they stole my attention that i began studying their faces, expressions, poses, and details on how they appeared in the pictures. some were so attentive that one could really feel their devotion... and some were not. i started wondering if those little angels were completely aware of what they were doing or if they were just there for the sake of taking part in their rites.

religion is one issue i find complex and delicate when being discussed. much as it is perplexing, it is ultimately interesting and liberating at the same time.

but have we really asked ourselves if we fit right into that religion we belong to? in the first place, we did not choose it. rather, we wholeheartedly embraced what the grownups believed and followed what they did. they went to churches and we were with them, tugged tight, thinking we might get lost into what they introduced to us as our real home. they joined in prayer meetings and we were also there singing, waving our little hands in the air, clapping to death just like what everyone else did, regardless of whether or not we really knew what we were doing. we were taught how to pray and we took our daily dose of Biblical quotes and parables. we were dragged during sleepy saturday or sunday mornings or any day they deemed as worship day, then we slept and played inside the house of praise. punishments would follow right after we got back to our houses. those were the things we lived by; then we started calling ourselves religious.

but however we create the thought that religion is imposed, it is still dependent on one's orientation. freedom of religion was literally translated as that in which one has the right to practice one's religion within reasonable legal parameters. but if we look at it blunt and dry as a legal aspect, then we slowly move away from its sanctity. it is just as if we consider it as a plain constitutional right.

still, human knowledge knows no limit. the more we know, the more we ask, and the farther we get away from our faith. one word leads to another- off to a long and winding quest.

innocent as they were, those children in the pictures were a bold manifestation of authentic faith - that which did not ask but believed. there's no intention of saying that all we need to do is nod, accept and believe what we are being fed. i just had a different feeling when i saw those children whom i think had faith stronger than what we have, regardless of the what and the why... then i tried to remember if i did the same when i was a kid.

i also found it interesting when i saw a book about who Jesus and Mary were in the Koran, though i was not able to leaf through its pages. comments were suspended until i get the chance to read the book.

:::thanks to www.2muslims.com for the pic

el cielo

clouds are there to remind us that there are still things unreachable my human alone...

superstar

the last time i saw you shining
in the distance i know no more

your eyes, all the same
you still capture me with the slightest wink

that same smile you used to heed
stirs me up just like before... puzzled...

i admit nobody matches your shine
not even the moonlight is half as good...
you still have it with one glance,
and everything else shatters

just like the ocean as it tries to steal
the moon, a gap so impossible to bridge...
a silent prayer in the ear of a dying infant

you are an unreachable star
something not made for me... my limit... my own share of torment...

for months i tried to sing my last verses
tired. giving up. i almost lost my appetite for life

but time has brought me to my senses again
it mat be too late but i learned
nothing can be more impossible than make-believe

we all love music

poetry goes hand-in-hand with music. we don't just love music because of its sound, but of meaning, memories, life... how it knocks your soul, how it enters your body and soothes you... simply irresistable...

Moscas en la Casa Shakira mis dias sin ti son tan oscuros tan largos tan grises mis dias sin ti mis dias sin ti son tan absurdos tan agrios tan duros mis dias sin ti mis dias sin ti no tienen noches si alguna aparece es inutil dormir mis dias sin ti son un derroche las horas no tienen principio, ni fin Coro: tan faltos de aire tan llenos de nada chatarra inservible basura en el suelo moscas en la casa mis dias sin ti son como un cielo sin lunas plateadas ni rastros de sol mis dias sin ti son solo un eco que siempre repite la misma cancion Coro: tan faltos de aire tan llenos de nada chatarra inservible basura en el suelo moscas en la casa pateando las piedras aun sigo esperando que vuelvas conmigo aun sigo buscando en las caras de ancianos pedazos de niño cazando motivos que me hagan creer que aun me encuentro con vida mordiendo mis uñas ahogandome en llanto extrañandote tanto mis dias sin ti como duelen mis dias sin ti

Flies in the House my days without you are so dark, so long, so gray, my days without you my days without you are so absurd, so bitter, so tough, my days without you, my days without you don't have nights, if someone appears, it's useless to sleep, my days without you are an excess, the hours don't have a beginning, or end Chorus: so short of air, so filled with nothing, useless junk, trash on the floor, flies in the house my days without you are like a sky, without silvery moons, nor traces of the sun, my days without you are only an echo, that always repeats, the same song Chorus: so short of air, so filled with nothing, useless junk, trash on the floor, flies in the house stumble on the rocks, still i keep waiting that you'll return to me, still i keep looking in the faces of the old, bits of a child, hunting reasons that make me believe, that still i meet with life, biting my fingernails, drowing in my tears, missing you so much, my days without, oh how they hurt, my days without you

mock the stupid brit fan

"Chris Crocker PARODY.Look at Chris Crocker's LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE VIDEO first or THIS VIDEO wont make sense. LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!VIDEO