PEROCHO, Gladys Hazel L.

Pol Sci 4-B TTh 9:15-10:45

LONG JOURNEY HOME – READING RESPONSE PAPER

Chapter 1

Realizing that there has to be something more is the beginning of a quest – as

what the title of the very first chapter says, “Waking up to the Journey.” The book starts
by narrating a dinner gathering event by some of the most notable and successful men
are reflecting their chitchats about the great successes of today’s modern world.
However, the author opens this personal thought most often shown on his conversation
with different people: the mystery of life and how we as human beings want to unriddle
this as we continuously pursue truth and meaning. This trigger at the same time saddens
me knowing that several people drown in the irony of acquiring a full cup all the time but
still feels empty. Even the brightest stars or educated men such as Janis Joplin and
Bertrand Russel ended life because this certain longing was never fulfilled. The story of
Janis teaches me that not all houses have a home. Not all things we long for can be seen
through the physical realm or aspect. The story of Bertrand Russel as someone who’s
almost intellectually perfect teaches me that knowledge does not always equate to
wisdom. Our minds may be so full, but our soul slowly vanishes.

Life as a journey – dated back to some of the oldest books and the greatest ancient
minds, they tell us the same thing, and that’s life is a journey. If such, where are we
headed? People especially the youth have been so consumed to the point that we worship
technology and modernity so that we could stop time. But apart from this author’s note, I
also think that there is more to life than increasing its speed. However, Death and Time
will always be constant. Even I, take time for granted. From then on I learned that we
could never manage time. We can only manage ourselves.

Making sense of a short stay – nobody knows the certainty of this world. Albert
Einstein once said “Our situation on this earth seems strange. Every one of us appeared
here involuntarily and uninvited for short stay, without knowing the whys and the
wherefore (p.7).” This statement evokes some of my worldviews. For someone like me
who believes in the eternal and life after death, I realized that 60 earthly years is nothing
compared to eternity. How am I going to live my short stay here? This book serves as a
seeker’s road map which does not require religious faith, but this is for people who
acknowledge the humanness of life as a journey.

Chapter 2

Entitled as ‘An Examined Life in an Unexamined Age,’ the chapter begins as the
author notes an experience of E.F Schumacher, a notable economist and author of Small
is beautiful. When Schumacher visited St. Petersburg, he noticed that churches weren’t
shown in maps. With this, it occurred to him that this map guides are given to him as a
European intellectual neglected one essential part of him which is faith. Socrates’ well-
known line “the unexamined life is not worth living” has become the least followed as well.
The author shows us that today’s social and cultural reality challenges us even more to
live an examined life. Going back to Schumacher’s experience, what we see does not
always match what we are told. How many of us can still realize that churches weren’t
placed on the maps? How many of us can stop for a moment from our too busy lives and
examine it instead? I now ask myself “can I really stand firm on my principles and faith?”
I believe I am contested to not just go with life. Going through life is like a leaf waiting
where to be blown. Don’t just go through life, GROW through life.

The author cites instances wherein people think that ‘believing’ is for stupid people,
however, the truth is, many of the greatest and wisest thinkers were men of faith. Not only
that but some of the greatest reforms and developments in the course of history were
inspired by faith and were led by people of faith. On the other hand, some of the most
unbearable killing incidents in the history such as holocaust were held responsible by
secularist principles. This tells us that mapmakers or Western influencers insist on making
maps that exclude faith and spirituality. Taking this to an analogy, it personally tells me
that there will be these ‘forces,’ could it be people institutions or society, that will
brainwash us to the point that we become more distant from the vital intrinsic elements
we hold dear. I realized though that no matter what happens the courageous and faithful
shall never be shaken.
 The author also talks about colour blindness which is a metaphor to someone who
has been living but could never see the colorful spiritual vision of life which leads them to
a ‘black and white’ dull world. He cites Charles Darwin as someone who has become a
very robotic or static machine that does not recognize art anymore because of too much
empiricism and factual bases. Honestly, this triggered me because although the author
focuses on being unappreciative, and dull instead of appreciative, what if I was neither of
the two? That sounds apathetic and scarier. Sometimes, it’s better to feel bad things than
never feel at all. But such is a quest that I should personally take on. I don’t have the
answers yet because I don’t know the questions yet as well which I think is pretty normal.

Nevertheless, the author invites the readers to travel because the “sea of faith” or
“waters of religion” is back. The question now is how we should live life knowing that death
is unstoppable? One of the author’s clarifications struck me. That’s when he says that this
approach does not promise facts or proof for science has its limits. There are things that
can never be explained by science or even mathematics. This doesn’t make the approach
less rational just because it is personal. Facts and empiricism deal with the mind alone
and not on the whole person as a being. That is why I respond to this by saying that
rationality aids us in acquiring knowledge but the personal and emotional guide us on
how to make use of such knowledge we have acquired.

Chapter 3

This chapter’s title “A World of Difference” simply speaks for an event or a very
significant life-changing moment that could happen to anyone. The story of Muggeridge
shows that his suicide attempt was probably one of his life’s milestones. Living his life
before in a chaotic world, a time of warfare, as well as a spy, shattered his life as well as
his faith. He was ultimately alone in an eternal universe, and there was no God he could
turn to. He then decided to drown himself, and when he was about to vanish, he realized
he began to tremble and so he swam back, his eyes fixed on the glow from Peter’s Cafe
and the Costa de Sol. This overwhelming experience was compared to the biblical
account of Saul’s conversion in Damascus Road. Muggeridge saw then a glimmer, and
he felt that he was obliged to understand such and find its purpose. Everyone has
personal encounters, intimate even. I realized that life-changing events aren’t always the
beautiful ones. Suicide attempts can be more beautiful that leads one to something
greater after having survived that struggle. It is okay to be spiritually dry for a time. We
can never control people who feel that their lives have become meaningless. I’m not trying
to imply tolerance to the disturbed or confused. I am saying that it is okay to feel anger
and doubt. Because after all, what’s the point of believing if we don’t doubt?

There will come a time that we become SEEKERS – we start to ask questions and
with this, we ought to find meaning beyond our knowledge. Today, the term ‘seekers’ has
a negative association with people who are not affiliated with any religion or any spiritual
practices. These aren’t seekers but are drifters instead according to the author. True
seekers are those who are awakened to questions. Seekers start to doubt or disbelieve
because their previous beliefs could no longer answer and cater to new questions. Even
Zen Buddhism basically teaches us that one key to inner growth is to look for something
more and to ask for more – now, a seeker is born.

We are animals that ask and ask. Dallas Willard once said, “meaning is not a luxury
for us, but a kind of spiritual oxygen that enables our souls to live..” (p.28). We all have
different worldviews, but the fact that we have worldviews is a common ground to
everyone who’s in pursuit of meaning and belonging.

“Note what they do, not that what they say” – this line from the book is one of my
favorites as it serves personally as one of my living standards when it comes to courtships
or relationships. And it’s the same thing to seekers. It’s one thing actually to say things,
but it’s another thing actually to DO and ACT upon it.

Chapter 4

The 4th chapter speaks for its title itself which says “Trading Our Tomorrows” at the
expense of our present. Can we even handle the thought of bargaining our life with the
devil? The author narrates the life experience of a world-famous philosopher named
Michel Foucault. Focualt was the type of person who goes beyond the limit which is also
similar to what is called the Faustian drive. For him, experiencing the ultimate extremes
causes ultimate and intense joy as well. His experience in the Death Valley showed how
transgressing all boundaries leads to liberation. This life-changing event awakened his
understanding of sexuality which gradually led him to associate death with pleasure. My
response would partly agree with the story of Foucault. We are not only social animals
but sexual as well. Pleasures, in all forms, are part of life as well as needed in life. Thus,
people continue to desire such. However, pleasure has always been misunderstood and
misjudged. For me, regardless of one’s belief, we are all made to experience delight and
pleasure. But for a person of faith, pleasures should be in line with the ‘eternal pleasures.’
Man can never be fully satisfied with physical pleasures unless the spiritual being is
pleased. Joy, inner peace, genuineness, and love are all beyond the physical pleasures
we experience.

Truth Twisters – Indeed, we, as humans are unable to grasp or bear the reality, so
we twist the truth. The author tells that Bargaining has become our strategy to gain more.
Truth to be told, I think that life, apart from being a journey, is also a continuous process
of trade. Yes, we have time, energy, and skills in exchange for money, food, relationships,
and all other things that are also essential for survival. The scary part, though, is that we
also can throw our lives away anytime in exchange for things that do not matter at all.
This bad bargain is like a domino effect that touches and affects every aspect of one’s life
and has eternal consequences.

Despite all of these, the author also writes that no one can ever be immune to this
temptation of bargaining. It seems to be human that we set aside reality first and attend
to it sooner while we still enjoy pleasure at the present moment. One striking line that
Jesus also said says “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his
soul?”

Along with this denial through the use of bargaining is also a diversion. We distract
ourselves, and we never know how to become still sometimes. According to the author
as well, “the sole cause of man’s happiness is that he doesn’t know how to stay quietly in
his own room.” With all the entertainment, technology, and virtual reality, we miss to hold
inner peace. Seekers don’t travel or conform to the crowd, they wake and walk alone.
Seekers don’t trade their tomorrows and they don’t twist the truth.

Chapter 5
 This next chapter entitled as “Grateful – but who do we thank?” simply asks us to
whom do we say thank you in times of great gratitude. There was this novel authored by
GK Chesterton entitled Manalive that narrates the story of a very pessimist professor and
a bright student. Professor Eames was about to die when one of his students, Innocent
Smith, confronted him with a revolver. Knowing that the professor was highly pessimistic
and the student thought how life has become rotten, it was maybe the time to end pain
forever. Suddenly, Eames could not bear dying and said he’d give anything to get life
back. From a very dark world that only expects bad things to happen in the future, they
both realized the wonder and beauty of life. The author based this novel from his real-life
experience and what he calls “thin thread of thanks and a mystical minimum of gratitude.”
It was not a matter of division between believers or non-believers but between those who
care enough to think seriously about life and those who do not. Seekers have triggering
experiences or experiences that wired to something that is definitely higher. Giacometti
calls this ‘a hole torn in life,’ and Peter Berger calls this ‘signals of transcendence.’ I had
a hard time understanding this, but I, later on, realized that although not everybody has
experienced this yet, no matter how we deviate ourselves to something transcendent, we
are still wired to it.

The author also states the idea of life pressures between birth as our entrance to
the world and death as our exit from the world. Now, going back to the idea of ‘hole was
torn in life,’ it’s not only death that gives us such experience. We only think that way
because we don’t know much about death and we think that we go to something that’s
beyond we know after death. However, the author reminds us that even positive
experiences of gratitude are great sources of experiencing something transcendent. Yes,
we have science and all these theories but we all can’t deny this bizarre feeling that we
do really come from something or someone and that we owe our existence very much.

The very beautiful story about Dostoevsky’s experience taught me that anybody
could imprison your physical body but never your mind. Can you imagine someone who
is so joyful knowing his execution is already nearly scheduled? That is the power of
gratitude. I also realized that it’s not true that not everybody is given the gift of a grateful
and positive heart. We all have it, but not everybody makes use of it. We never see the
bright side of the darkest and gloomiest moments. And with this, gratitude creates not a
believer, but a searcher. No doubt, everybody can feel gratitude. However, what struck
me as well was the author’s statement about an atheist’s worst moment – that is to feel
genuinely grateful but has nobody to thank. This then leaves a question: “who do we
thank?”

Chapter 6

This chapter entitled “Cries to heaven, cries for hell” speaks about a very illuminating
incident that turned this one non-believer poet into a seeker. W. H. Auden, probably the
most influential English-speaking poet of his age never believed in God and thought that
people only love God when no one else will love them. Recalling the previous idea on
‘hole torn in life,’ Auden experienced this in his life. Once when he was in a cinema
watching Sieg in Poland, a film about Nazi conquest in Poland, he was confronted with
the extreme cruelty of humanity when the audience shouted and agreed in killing the
Poles. From then on, his tiny confidence and belief in humanity were completely
shattered. He thought that his mindset before about relativism was wrong. Not to judge
things absolutely or universally is evil itself. It was just so impossible for another person
or culture to think that what Auden encountered as an evil that one night is right based on
relativity. The evilness he encountered led him to have faith in something that is and must
be absolute.

Too much reliance on attitudes of relativism, tolerance, and non-judgmental

acceptance is just wrong. I have a personal take and response to this especially now that
we are living in a very inclusive society. The consequence of civilization, modernity, and
even technology is the compromise of morality. Church, faith, and morality sometimes
become a ta boo or sensitive topic as we give priority to too much liberalism and
democracy. But the truth is, we have to know limitations and boundaries. There are things
that regardless of cultural or religious practices should never be accepted. However,
condemnation is said to be not enough. That’s the time we hold the belief in damnation
which is far more great, painful, and eternal.
 On the bright side, the author shares the story of “joy.” Joy is one source of signals
of transcendence. “Joy wills eternitys”. Joy, according to C.S Lewis, one of the greatest
Christian philosophers/theologians of all time, was distinguished from happiness.
Happiness is dependent on circumstances. It does not have to be material or something
inner, but it is dependent. Joy on the other hand transcends circumstances. Lewis claimed
that joy is very evocative and it definitely brings things that give us so much to remember.
But we are also reminded that joy is not something that is given immediately in a silver
platter. Human soul is made to enjoy something that is never fully given. With this, the
fact that we our unsatisfied desire can never be satisfied makes it more desirable.

There are greater things that are far beyond our rational capacity. And this, I think, is
what makes the journey so beautiful and fulfilling. Personally, it can never be called ‘leap
of faith’ if we are already a hundred percent certain about everything.