Author: Andy Uyboco

STORY #172 from Awakenings: Conversations with the Masters (by Anthony de Mello):

The preacher was determined to extract from the Master a clear declaration of belief in God.

“Do you believe there is a God?”

“Of course I do,” said the Master.

“And God made everything. Do you believe that?”

“Yes, yes,” said the Master. “I certainly do.”

“And who made God?”

“You,” said the Master.

The preacher was aghast. “Do you seriously mean to tell me that it is I who made God?”

“The one you are forever thinking about and talking about — yes,” said the Master placidly.

When people ask me if I believe in God, my usual answer would be, “Which one?” The word “God” means different things to different people, even among those who share the same basic belief — notice how Christianity or Islam is divided into different sects, each one convinced that it is they who hold the true interpretation and understanding of God. Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Who knows?

People create their own image of God, whether consciously or subconsciously. A simple survey of the Old Testament shows this God condemning tattoos (Leviticus 19:28) and banning shrimps from the dinner menu (Leviticus 11:9-12, also see godhatesshrimp.com).

This same God tells you that if you have an especially hard-headed child, you should bring him in front of the people to have him stoned to death (Deuteronomy 21:18-21). Look at the New Testament where it says that women should keep silent in church and not have authority over men (1 Corinthians 13:34-35, 1 Timothy 2:12) along with its subtle acceptance of human slavery (Ephesians 6:5, 1 Timothy 6:1-2). Do we still practice any of these today? No. What happened?

In a nutshell, we have reinterpreted God. But of course we do not like it when it is said in such a direct manner, so we have terms like theology and apologetics to make it sound more scholarly. In fact, you can do a quick search on any of the topics listed above and you will find countless online apologists explaining how we should understand the verses, and what is the correct interpretation, and so on.

What is funny is that these apologists also contradict one another at one point or another. But that only underscores my point. We create our own notions of God and we create our own meanings and interpretation of “divine revelation” and “holy scripture.”

While I do hold to the possibility that there is a divine creator being out there somewhere, I don’t believe one bit that the caricatures we have created do him/her/it any justice. And until it shows itself irrefutably to me, I will continue in my own merry, agnostic ways.

Originally published in Sunstar Davao

Andy Uyboco is a businessman by profession and an educator by obsession. You may email him atandy@freethinking.me. View previous articles at www.freethinking.me.

In our country, English is a borrowed language, and it is often evident in the signs we see around us. I have compiled a short list of funny signs that I have seen around the city and other parts of the country. Enjoy and have fun.

1. Outside a hotel: Wanted front desk (female). Apply Inside.
2. Store sign: Junmar’s Antiques – We make antiques while you wait.
3. On a kalesa: Horse Power – Four Feet Drive.
4. On a tow truck: Street Hooker.
5. At a restaurant: Wanted – Boy Waitress. Applied now at Aling Manang’s itiry.
6. In a menu: Hamen Egg, Hamen Chiz, Hamen Eggen Chiz.
7. At a furniture shop: Setting here is not allowed (Bawal umupo dito).
8. At a fruit stand: Saging P30 (Banana Flavor).
9. At a gate: Entrance Only. Do Not Enter.
10. On a highway: Don’t stick your elbow out too far. It might go home in another car.
11. Outside a store: Win a free ride in a police car just by shoplifting in this store.
12. At a construction site: Hard Hot Area.
13. Graffiti: Vandalism is an art but when you caught, it’s a crime.
14. At a sari-sari store: We load Smart, Glove, Sun.
15. Store Name: Holy House of Drugs.
16. Outside a bar: Notice – Our bar is presently not open because it is closed.
17. Store Name: Kosh Kosh Ayosh Laundry Shop.
18. Along EDSA: Bawal Tumawid – May Namatay Na Dito.
19. On a road: Road is temporarily closed for erection.
20. Store sign: Accept order – Retiner (Bres sa ngipon).
21. At a repair shop: We Repiar – Reprigeretor, Electrect Pan, Oben Tooster, Plat Iron
22. In Divisoria: Sale – Bed Cover and Bed Shit.
23. Store sign: Put A Henna Mo Tattoo.
24. At a resort: Our guest please do not inter if you wet body with dress and short to this way left side and right side go to bathroom.
25. At a resort: Only 3 piece swimsuits allowed – hat, sunglasses, sandals.
26. On a door: Caution Door Opens.
27. At a dormitory: Please try to do your laundry like a daytime, not a midnite because the laundry make too much noise at nite.
28. At a school: School Free Drug Zone Enforced.
29. Sign at PICC toilet: Report leaking faucets immediately (A faucet leak saves 15 gals. a day).
30. At an appliance store: Nova DVD component with sub-wooper.

Woop! Woop!

Originally published in Sunstar Davao.

Andy Uyboco is a businessman by profession and an educator by obsession. You may email him at andy@freethinking.me. View previous articles at www.freethinking.me.

A friend asked me, “Why are you so angry at God?”

I replied, “I am not angry at God.”

He said, “Then, why do you keep writing against God, against faith and so on? Why are you trying to destroy the church?”

I said, “I am not trying to destroy the church. I am not trying to convert anyone although I won’t be sad if someone begins to ask questions. But I write mainly to let those who think like me know that they are not alone, because I know how lonely the journey can be. I write to encourage them, to tell them it’s okay to keep thinking, asking and seeking. Even if we do not come to the same conclusions later on, it is enough for me that they have gone through the process, rather than blindly follow ideas from other people all their lives.”

I look at religion as a crutch that is sometimes necessary for people to cope with life. Some people will say at this point, “I don’t have a religion, I have a relationship” — whatever it is, as long as you believe in an invisible powerful being who’s interested in what you eat or who you take as a life partner, for the sake of brevity, my use of the word religion includes that too. A crutch is not necessarily a bad thing. Those who are lame and cannot walk properly need crutches, just as those who cannot comprehend a world without a god need their faith and belief. One of Time Magazine’s Top 10 Photos of the Year includes an entry by Philippe Lopez showing a group of women in procession in Tolosa, Leyte, clutching statuettes of Jesus and the Sto. Niño, against the backdrop of the destruction wrought by Typhoon Yolanda.

A relief worker who goes there and starts questioning these women’s beliefs would be just like a person who takes away a lame person’s crutches at the height of his agony. It would be cruel, heartless and unnecessary. If their faith in their religious icons brings them hope and encourages them to continue living and rebuilding their lives, then so be it.

Not too long ago, I had the opportunity to help a casual acquaintance who, along with his family, had escaped from a fire with nothing but the clothes on his back. Until today, I receive daily religious text messages from him. I’m not about to tell him that he is just wasting his messages on me. There is a time and place for reason, and there is also one for compassion and understanding.

There are also those who have recently lost loved ones, and the way they cope is to believe that that they will one day meet them again or see them again in some happy-ever-after place that no one has really yet seen or proven to exist. When I go to the funeral home and the bereaved says, “He’s in a better place now” or “At least, I’ll see her again in heaven,” I’m not about to go, “How do you know? Can you prove it?”

However, there are also people who (in my opinion) are of perfectly sound condition, and yet still prefer the comfort of a crutch. It is these people whom I like to engage and challenge. I respect their desire to have a crutch, yet I also want them to experience the joy and freedom of letting go.

Anthony de Mello wrote a short anecdote about a small village with an old, lame man who had learned to do amazing things with his crutches. He could dance and spin on those crutches and people were astonished. Then, some perfectly healthy kids bought crutches and began to imitate the old man. It became a very popular fad. People laughed and mocked those who still used their legs. Pretty soon, everyone owned a pair of crutches and they would use those everyday to get from one place to another. And one day, the people of that village realized that their leg muscles had atrophied from lack of use. They could no longer walk, even if they wanted to.

It is a sad thing, when people who have perfectly healthy minds, refuse to hone them and use them well.

Originally published in Sunstar Davao.

Andy Uyboco is a businessman by profession and an educator by obsession. You may email him at andy@freethinking.me. View previous articles at www.freethinking.me.

We used to have a Tamaraw — not the animal, but the car.

For those of you too young to remember, the Tamaraw was a boxy and rugged utility vehicle manufactured by Toyota in the late 1970’s. It was the predecessor of the popular “FX” (which is actually “Tamaraw FX”) model which still plies our busy streets, mostly as taxis and public utility vehicles.

I must have been around 7 years old at the time when my dad bought the Tamaraw for our business. I loved riding it because it was open and had no glass windows (like a jeepney) and I could feel the wind on my face as it cruised along. It was the next best thing to riding on the back of a pickup truck, which I jumped at every chance I could get, but since we did not own one, I had to settle for the Tamaraw most of the time.

One day, my dad was driving and I was sitting beside him, and then he told me that if we went fast enough, the Tamaraw could fly. I got so excited about that and I would badger him, urging him to go faster and faster, because I really wanted to fly, but when I wondered why we didn’t fly, he would say, “Oh, we didn’t go fast enough yet.”

At another time, I was seated at the back, at the outermost edge watching the street below zoom by. I yelled at my dad to go faster. I was so convinced that this time, we would really fly because we seemed to be going very fast. Of course, we didn’t fly and my dad gave me the same reason, “We didn’t go fast enough.”

I was disappointed and I began to wonder if my dad wasn’t just making things up. I grew older and wiser and I don’t know how long it took but one day I finally decided that the Tamaraw wasn’t ever going to fly. My dad was just playing games with me.

Despite that, I still loved that piece of machinery. It was where I first learned to work the stick shift. Manong Tony, the company driver, would let me work the gears while he stepped on the clutch. As a teenager, I would later on sneak some driving time going backward and forward on our driveway.

But eventually, we had to say goodbye to the old junk. It had outlived its usefulness and it was time to get a new delivery vehicle — with more power and reliability.

The flying Tamaraw is a fitting metaphor for my religious beliefs — instilled in me since I was very young, and which I believed with all my heart and mind. Yet, over the last few years, I found many little chinks in the story that would later on widen to show huge holes. There were just too many inconsistencies and flaws in reasoning. I don’t know when exactly it happened but one day, I couldn’t believe anymore. I could no more believe in the God of the Bible than I could in the Flying Tamaraw.

It wasn’t easy letting go, just as it wasn’t easy admitting to myself that my dad had been fooling me all along — not that I took it against him, but it was difficult nonetheless to have been believing in something so fervently and to have that belief shattered. It wasn’t easy coming out to family and friends knowing that they would most probably never understand, would probably look at me with either pity or derision, or fear that I would influence their friends, their churchmates or children.

I know those closest to me are fervently hoping and praying for me to go back. But I don’t think I can ever go back. One cannot un-see what one has already seen, nor un-hear what one has already heard. Besides, I cannot recall a time when I have been more at peace with myself — no more endless wondering about what God’s will is or why he doesn’t answer this or that prayer; no more second-guessing whether what I’m thinking of doing is from God or from the devil; no more guilt and no more fear.

I look at my religious upbringing in the same way that I remember that old Tamaraw, not with resentment but with nostalgic fondness. Both were filled with many happy memories and learning experiences. Yet there was a lesson from Jesus himself about new wine needing new wineskins, for new wine poured into old wineskins would cause them to burst.

And so I went and got a new wineskin, because the old one could no longer contain a flying Tamaraw or a talking snake.

Originally published in Sunstar Davao.

Andy Uyboco is a businessman by profession and an educator by obsession. You may email him at andy@freethinking.me. View previous articles at www.freethinking.me.

 

If I may venture why our country is in such a dire state, it is because we have a huge lack of leaders who are technologists. Just look at our current crop of leaders: we have mostly lawyers, actors, celebrities and even ex-convicts (as well as convicts-to-be). How our government is run reflects this quite accurately. Go to almost any government office and see.

You will see “lawyers” who make you go around in circles and who burden you with a lot of procedures and requirements to follow. You will see “actors” pretending to work but are actually playing Candy Crush or chatting with their officemates — and yes, this happens even in relief operations in Tacloban as related by a volunteer through her facebook account where she says, “It breaks my heart seeing bottled waters outside the warehouse spread like garbage, rice grains scattered like no one cares, relief boxes literally being dumped by trucks without thinking that whatever inside maybe damage, reliefs outside the warehouse soaked in the rains, and you DSWD staff at the warehouse spending your day talking/chatting/seating while there are a lot of things need to be done ASAP”).

You will see “celebrities” who want to take credit for work done by others, who want their faces and names stamped on projects funded by people’s money. And of course, there are always the ex-convicts and convicts-to-be who are very good at finding ways to line their own pockets.

For the past few years, and particularly in the last decade alone, technologists have been at the forefront of changing how people act, interact and live — and their impact is felt not just in their locality but all over the world. How many people are now dependent on Google, Facebook and Twitter? How many billions and trillions of transactions take place using the internet, cellphones and tablets?

It is clear that the leader of the future, who will have the most influence and impact, should be a technologist. The leader himself may not be a scientist or an engineer per se, but he must have the heart of one. He must be keenly interested in technology and what it can do. Because above all else, a technologist wants only one thing: to solve problems.

And boy, do we have a ton of problems in our country.

How can technology solve our problems? Let me give 3 examples.

1. Garbage. Do you know that there are some European countries who have solved their garbage problems to the point that they have to import garbage from other countries because they have none left to burn for their own use? On April 30, 2013, The New York Times reported that the City of Oslo in Norway has developed a way to convert “household trash, industrial waste, even toxic and dangerous waste from hospitals and drug arrests” to heat and electricity. Other cities in Sweden, Austria and Germany are also building such plants.

   Can you imagine what this one technology alone can do for our country? Where is the Philippine delegation to Oslo to study this? At the very least, even if we find the technology too expensive or impractical, we can work out some sort of deal to export our garbage to them. That would be a win-win situation.

2. Prosthetics. Traditional prosthetics are prohibitively expensive. People who lose a hand, foot, nose or any other body part may find it economically impossible to replace these. A prosthetic hand that can grab things, for example, would cost somewhere between US$20,000 to US$30,000 (around PHP1M or more).

   However, we have an already existing technology called a 3D Printer which is changing the game in prosthetics. The Huffington Post recently ran a story about a dad who used a 3D printer to print a prosthetic hand for his son who was born without a left hand. His estimated cost was around US$2,000 for the printer and around US$10 for the materials (total cost of around PHP100,000). The plans and schematics for the hand were downloaded free.

   The Guardian UK also published an article about affordable prosthetic facial parts that can be generated by 3D printing instead of the more traditional and expensive method of making a cast and mold. A traditional prosthetic nose, for example, might cost P200,000 but a 3D printed one would only cost P20,000. That costs even less than an iPhone.

   Now, what if we had 3D Printers in every public hospital? How many more of our poor, disabled countrymen would now be able to afford prosthetics? How many lives would benefit? They might even be fit for some jobs now instead of being reduced to begging in the streets. Hello, Mayors and Congressmen. Are you paying attention?

3. Water. The recent devastation brought about by Typhoon Yolanda showed how precious and important water is in the affected areas. However, water is also heavy, bulky and difficult to transport. Since around 2009, a British company call Lifesaver Systems (which is currently actively involved in disaster relief for the Philippines) has developed portable water containers with built-in filters that are so fine that you can literally fill the container with filthy, muddy water and it will produce clean, drinkable water.

   Those in calamity-stricken areas no longer need to wait for bottled water to arrive. They can simply use the container and get water from the nearest river (or any water source, no matter how dirty). A video demo shows the company’s CEO mixing a tank of river water with mud, sewage and garbage. He then takes a pitcher of the foul mixture and puts it in a Lifesaver Bottle. He pumps the bottle a few times, opens the top and pours clean water in a glass that he then drinks himself.

   Perhaps, instead of spending millions on election paraphernalia, our leaders could instead invest in these life-saving technologies. After all, nobody (except you and your relatives — and not all of them, mind you) really wants to see your smug faces splattered all over our walls, streets and lampposts, and the best preparation for disaster is innovative planning and willful action not some pretty speech on national television.

Originally published in Sunstar Davao. Also appears in Filipino Freethinkers.

Andy Uyboco is a businessman by profession and an educator by obsession. You may email him at andy@freethinking.me. View previous articles at www.freethinking.me.