The mess, mass media

Selections from my Franciscan essays (hover cursor over link for source or click for full article)
An Inconvenient Troth. The Mess Media In The Philippines

With the Manila Muddle created by themselves, Manila mass media are now trying to control, provide, sell information towards their kind of revolution, which is described by Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) (abs-cbnnews.com) as ‘a new brand of people power.’ I believe the Archbishop and the arch enemy of every Philippine President, the Manila mass media, are misreading the signs of the times. Or trying to change them.

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Placards, posters, masks, caricatures, telephone calls, T-shirts, text messages, banners, all manners told, all anti-GMA. ‘Gloria resign!’ ‘Down with GMA!’ Variations of a media theme that began immediately after Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo became President in 2001 when People Power 2 kicked the butt of Joseph ‘Erap’ Estrada, Clown President. They didn’t like her at all, the male chauvinist pigs, the ones who have been plotting one coup after another, with the media applauding each with one hand clapping – you wouldn’t know they’re applauding, would you?

***

Erap doesn’t like GMA either, even after she pardoned him for his Big Sin called Plunder. Well, some people are a little grateful, some people are big ingrates. Erap is now moralizing against GMA. With his clown English, I’m not sure Erap understands what the dictionary sense of plunder is – in fact, I doubt if he knows what a dictionary is, or how one looks like.

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Certainly much more literate than Erap, but look at what mess the mass media in Manila have wrought to our understanding of the requirements of countryside growth, countrywide progress. They have always gotten away with murder; I mean, what Manila wants, Manila gets. And that’s not what I want. All declaring that they are saviors of my country, now they are all anti-GMA forces, they of diverse species. Let me then be inventive and, using the American Heritage and Encarta Dictionaries, I shall define and describe to you those collections of species in the Manila Zoo using what I call Frank’s Anti-GMA GMA (Group Metaphors for Animals); it shouldn’t be too hard looking anywhere in Metro Manila for:

(1) An anti-GMA colony – a gathering of animals or people who live under similar circumstances, under the same control by someone or something. You can check the squatter areas along the railroad tracks both sides in the cities of Manila and Makati. Unwanted colonies. GMA is bent on driving the squatters away, which is only right. The squatters have been literally blocking the way to progress in those cities. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the members of such a colony were treated as canon fodder by politicians – vested interests paying peanuts for others to attend rallies and demonstrations for them so that they may not expose their own warm bodies. In business, I believe they call that minimizing risk.

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(2) An anti-GMA brood – a gathering of offspring under the care of a creative source, a nurturer. Didn’t John the Baptist warn, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?’ (Matthew 3: 7 New American Bible). That would be about minimizing sin.

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(3) An anti-GMA clutch – a gathering of birds hatching together. What are they hatching in those dark places? I hope it’s not about minimizing the population.

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(4) An anti-GMA covert – a gathering of coots, which are black & white species, really! That would be the Black & White Movement (BWM), a middle-class performance, not a high-class act like the BMW. They should learn to minimize their performance from hereon.

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(5) An anti-GMA covey – a gathering of grouses, complainers. The rallyists inevitably see only something to gripe about, to find fault with. It’s easy to be negative – Just say No! They should minimize their grievances.

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(6) An anti-GMA drift – a gathering of herd or flock being moved or driven, especially pigs. Pigs are those animal species who grow bigger and bigger on the fat of the land. They should minimize their greed.

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(7) An anti-GMA drove – a gathering of those driven from one place to another. The ones attending the demonstrations and rallies may have come driven all the way from Laguna and Cavite and Bulacan and Batangas, all expenses paid, with some extra cash thrown into human pockets for them to offer some pockets of resistance to the Government. Attending rallies as an income-generating activity should be minimized.

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(8) An anti-GMA flight – a gathering of those moving with great speed together, a gathering of eagers. I say that would be Senator Antonio Trillanes and his faction in one instant declaring a revolt at the Manila Peninsula Hotel and vowing to die for what they believed in, and then in the next instant surrendering meekly to the Philippine National Police. (See my ‘Manila Rain-Walk. The Day Senator Trillanes Called A 5-Star Revolt, Peter Parcel Drank Coffee & The Bride Danced,’ frankahilario.com). The brashness of the elite should be minimized.

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(9) An anti-GMA flock – a gathering of domesticated population. These would be the ones who belong to out-and-out anti-GMA groups, they know who they are, who have been tamed into submitting to the fire-and-brimstone preachings of blabbermouths. The flock have nothing more to say once the leader has spoken. The leader should minimize his speech and let the flock have their say.

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(10) An anti-GMA gang – a gathering of a pack engaged in unloverly pursuit. When GMA became President after Erap was ousted by People Power 2 in early 2001, the chauvinist males of the species were instantly in hot pursuit of their quarry, who had changed sex. Male chauvinism should be minimized.

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(11) An anti-GMA herd – a gathering of those herded by humans who would proclaim themselves as intelligent beings, and who would encourage everybody else not intelligent enough to join rallies. Turning into meek lambs, not a single protest can be heard from this group. Such spectacles should be minimized.

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(12) An anti-GMA litter – a gathering of beings just hanging around, not knowing anything better to do. That would include the taxi drivers who have the same opinions as TV hosts and newspaper editors, who themselves belong to an anti-GMA covey, which see. One-track minds should be minimized.

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(13) An anti-GMA pack – a gathering of wild dogs or wolves. The wild dogs you can’t teach new tricks, the wolves you can’t touch with a ten-foot pole: one mistake and you’re mincemeat. Power packs should be minimized.

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(14) An anti-GMA pride – a gathering of lions on the loose. They pounce on anyone or anything that moves, these kings of the asphalt jungle. Why not have those kings emasculated, their threats minimized?

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(15) An anti-GMA rout – a gathering of beings in a movement, either of knights or wolves. Since I don’t see knights in shining armor, they must be wolves. May their tribes decrease!

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(16) An anti-GMA school – a gathering of animals or humans who have learned or subscribe to only one thing. In this case, that one thing would be to hate GMA. Limited learning is a dangerous thing.

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(17) An anti-GMA shrewdness – a gathering of apes, or monkeys. Well, the great apes aren’t known for being smart, the monkeys aren’t known for being original, so what else is new? Shrewdness also means an aggregation of imitators – the ones who have no fresh, new or improved ideas, the ones who simply mouth the slogans of others without thinking, the opposite of shrewdness. Let’s minimize monkey business, especially in Congress.

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(18) An anti-GMA skulk – a gathering of vermin, which are foxes or thieves. Foxes are wily creatures, and I see many of them; thieves are thieves even if they happen to be in Malacañang, in the Senate or in the House of Representatives. Let’s have less of the wily and more of the willing.

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(19) An anti-GMA swarm – a gathering of 10,000 warm bodies migrating to one designated place in Makati for the day’s protest or rally. Another day, another swarm. Let’s have more of the cooler heads.

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(20) An anti-GMA troop – a gathering of people on the move. Mostly non-military, the anti-GMA troops are armed only with stick and stones with which they can hurt your bones. It hurts to see people like them being exploited by those who pretend to be advocates of the welfare of the poor. Let’s have truly more advocates and really less of the poor.

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(21) An anti-GMA shoal – a large gathering of fish, sea animals, or people. This I’ve yet to see! 10,000 rallyists is a fishpond at the back of the house; 1,000,000 warm bodies seen together at one time, that’s a sea of humanity. I was part of the sea of humanity in People Power 1. I watched on TV the sea of humanity that was People Power 2. Today in Manila they have the mass media, they have the mess, but not the mass, certainly not the critical mass. None of the CBCP has the charisma, the mass appeal of Jaime Cardinal Sin, the Godfather of People Power.

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Considering all that, why are all those anti-GMA people the wrong revolutionaries that Manila mass media should be advocates of? Because they are only advocating a change in leadership – they are only advocating a change in clothing, from that of wolves to sheep.

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Frank Hilario: I’m advocating a parliamentary form of Government (see my ‘The Stonecasters. ‘We Are Our Own Best Enemy’ – Tony Meer’).

Tony Meer: Won’t work. If you just change people, or system of Government, same story. The change must come from each one of us, from within.

That from a lawyer-soldier-hero (read his book, A Lawyer’s Fate & Faith, 2003, published in Mandaluyong City by Antonio Malvar Meer, 500 pages), who never forgets to pray before every meal. God answers prayers, if we do more than just mouth the words.

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The mass media of Manila say they are after the truth. If they insist, let them define first what they mean by truth. When Pontius Pilate asked, ‘What is truth?’ he did not stay for an answer. Are the Manila mass media perhaps Pontius Pilates, asking only a rhetorical question, knowing that there is only one truth – what they say is, is?

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The Manila media should know better! Learning from Tony Meer, I say the Manila mass media should forget their advocacy of another People Power Revolution, should forsake the pursuit of the truth. Media is a different species from what they know, or profess to know. Professor Deborah Spar of the Harvard Business School says clearly (July 2000, hbswk.hbs.edu), ‘Media is about information, the control of information, the provision of information, the sale of information.’ Not about the truth.

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So I say, Manila mass media, forget all those frantic attempts at People Power. Learn your lesson and know that you are going after the wrong revolutionaries. And Archbishop Lagdameo, I understand you were speaking for yourself, not the CBCP. You should advocate instead an old/new brand of people power and go after the troth. As you are about to learn, if you don’t already know, troth also happens to be good advice for those about to get married, and my son Jomar and his girl friend Clarisse are getting married tomorrow, March 1, at Camp Aguinaldo, a convenient place. Troth, according to American Heritage 1993, is betrothal; one’s pledged fidelity; good faith; fidelity. According to Encarta Dictionaries 2008, troth is a solemn vow, solemn pledge, especially the promise to remain faithful exchanged by a bride and groom or an engaged couple. If troth be told, let Filipinos be the bridegroom and let Filipinas be the bride. That would be The Wedding Of The Millennium.

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In fact, I advocate a higher troth: the revolution of the heart. An Inconvenient Troth, I know. But it would be the nicest and the truest revolution of all.

Jesters & jokers

Selections from my Franciscan essays (hover cursor over link for source or click for full article)
‘The Stonecasters. ‘We Are Our Own Best Enemy’ – Tony Meer, Filipino’

February 25 – 22 years after People Power 1 drove out of this country benevolent dictator President Ferdinand E Marcos, 7 years after benevolent clown President Joseph Estrada was deposed by People Power 2, many jokers and jesters are still trying to stage People Power 3 against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. They are the stonecasters at the adulterous woman of biblical times. They hate the sinner, not the sin; if they hated the sin, they would have to hate themselves.

You can hate at your convenience.

***

I recognize GMA’s Metro Manila Dilemma yesterday, today and tomorrow – damned if you do, damned if you don’t – because of all the clamor for good governance by those who don’t recognize it when they see it. They are the blind followers of the stonecasters.

***

Who are those who persecute, vilify, revile the woman? They are the many churched and unchurched, private and public, literate and illiterate, rich and poor, civilized and barbarians – they masquerade as saints. They can hide their faces, but they cannot hide the facts. They too are sinners. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of good.

***

I ain’t a saint myself. But as a writer I must proclaim my faith in the status quo, the establishment, even as lawyer Tony Meer must state his case of his state, the Philippines. The writer must profess even as the lawyer must confess love of country especially when everybody else seems to un-love her. Patriotism is the first refuge of soldiers, the last refuge of scoundrels.

***

No matter what the stonecasters say, it is not Adios, patria adorada! I believe it is not Adios, beloved country. I also believe that good men should do something, should dirty their hands. I believe with Abraham Lincoln that ‘He has a right to criticize who has a heart to help.’ So I want to enter politics without running for office. Politics is the first refuge of scholars, the last refuge of scoundrels.

***

Entering politics has now been embraced even by the Roman Catholic Church, with Fr Eddie Panlilio winning as Governor of Pampanga, the home province of GMA, and whom he has condemned as sinner in multimedia: TV, print, audio, video, Internet. Modern media have their uses.

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In contrast to the big mouths in the Big City of Metro Manila, the small people in the rest of the Philippines celebrate life such as by growing the biggest squash in town, the biggest eggplant, banana, guava. ‘This is the kind of People Power that we want,’ says La Union Governor Manuel Ortega, ‘People Power that will bring our nation forward and not People Power that will drag down our country from development’ (Jun Elias, Feb 26, abs-cbnnews.com). The people have spoken. Amen!

***

The pie of politics is there for all to snatch slices from, or contemplate the recipe. Today, I prefer to contemplate the recipe in relation to a bigger pie: society. Her critics focus their contemplation, nay condemnation, on GMA; but she is not big enough, she is not society. GMA’s condemners do not condemn themselves as they should; they are men (embracing women) wearing masks, not unlike the Makapilis of Tony Meer’s time. If this society is being misled by Makapilis, we’re back to World War 2.

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To put an out-of-the-box perspective to all the extravagant displays of statesmanship in Metro Manila, let me make a paradigm shift and refer to Nicanor ‘Nicky’ Perlas, my favorite student, who wrote an astounding book in 2000 titled Shaping Globalization: Civil Society, Cultural Power And Threefolding (274 pages, published in Pasig City, Philippines by CADI & GlobeNet3).

Nicky’s proposal he calls Threefolding, that is, the application of cultural power on the social forces for the good of society itself. ‘All activities in societies emanate from three separate but interacting realms,’ Nicky says. ‘These realms of society are its culture, its polity, and its economy’ (page xxi). The three forces are Civil Society, the State, and Business (180). He is like saying, if the State is in control, it’s a dictatorship; if Business is in control, it’s profiteering; if Civil Society is in control, it’s heaven. That’s the theory.

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Today, February 24, I find that I must add after the Third Force not a Fourth Force but a force that gives meaning to the Three Forces – and this is the Moral Force. This is not the Truth Force, and it is not meant to set anyone free – no one can ever be free in a society. Moral yes, that is, edifying, virtuous, reputable, ethical, principled, honest, decent, proper, honorable, just, right, good.

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Now, whether silent or noisy, do the Roman Catholic or Protestant clergy constitute the Moral Force? I a layman say, clergy or not clergy, you do not constitute the Moral Force if you do not preach and practice the two greatest commandments of God.

I will grant you the first commandment – you love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. Now, do you love your neighbor as yourself? If you condemn him (embracing her), the sinner, you are the opposite of the Christian, no matter what church or denomination or group you belong to.

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They are the stonecasters, the ones who dare proclaim by their acts that they are without sin. Many a columnist and journalist of a Metro Manila newspaper, many a TV broadcaster and host, many a Senator, many a blogger, many a priest, many a preacher, many a prominent citizen, even many a college student – each one of them, male or female, has been brazen enough to come out in public and throw not just one but many stones at the woman they have accused of being a big sinner. They want her to suffer the punishment for the sins of the nation. They want her as sacrifice.

***

I desire mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners (Matthew 9: 13, NAB).

But nobody is listening, Lord. Everyone is speaking all at the same time, and everybody is saying the same thing: ‘I accuse!’ They will say that to anyone, to a tape recorder, especially in front of a TV camera. But they cannot say for themselves, ‘Not guilty.’

***

I asked our common friend, another Tony (Oposa), a noted surgeon, to arrange for a dinner meeting for us so I could congratulate Tony Meer heartily and interview him. Why him specially? Because, as it happens, I know he loves his country, my country, the Philippines. Through Tony O, I had met him and I had read his book and had been sufficiently awed (see my ‘Remembrance, Remonstrance,’ frankahilario.wordpress.com).

FAH: When Christ associated with sinners, he did not condemn them, he did not vilify them, he did not persecute them. Someone I know is very negative about GMA. Half in jest, I emailed him that I wanted to strangulate the Filipinos who were very negative about their own country. I thought he would never talk to me again.

TM: We are our own best enemy.

FAH: Best, not worst. I like that! It’s so negative and yet it’s so positive.

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Worst, we go down the dustbin of history. Best, we go the way of the Promised Land. A promise is a promise – we have to make it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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Can we depend on the raucous mass media and the boisterous politicians to lead us to the Promised Land? Not if they continue to portray the Rebel as Hero and the Government as Villain. (Read Tony Meer’s indictment of the mass media for their glorification of the Oakwood Mutineers, when TV, radio and the press reversed the roles – August 13, 2003, a full-page ad in the Philippine Star; reprinted in full on pages 474-479 in A Lawyer’s Fate & Faith.)

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 ‘Power to the people!’ should not be ‘anarchy to the people!’ or ‘power to the media!’ Shame on you mass preachers, and shame on you mass media! You judge, you condemn, you do not pardon. You practice the exact opposite of Luke 6: 37. You do not lift up – instead, you pour into our lap a good measure, you press down, you shake all together so that everything runs all over us.

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FAH: Do you know a Mariano Angeles, a UP Vanguard? You’re not a Vanguard, are you?

TM: My brother was a Vanguard, not me.

FAH: In effect, the ROTC is dead, right? I read Angeles in the Internet (‘On A Citizen Armed Forces,’ geocities.com/artesguerra). In my time, I was against the idea of being forced to take up the ROTC. After reading Angeles, now I like the idea of a citizen army, reviving the ROTC.

TM: A citizen army makes sense.

***

Angeles’ Vanguard’s Faith is that the ROTC is a force against elitism in the military. Not apart from that, what is My Writer’s Faith?

Oinam Anand says, ‘The chief mission of the writer is to struggle for peace and upliftment of society in which he lives. This role is determined not only by his place in literature but also by the degree of his involvement in the society’s public life’ (e-pao.net). For me, a writer’s role is a citizen’s role, but more because of his power over words, which is power to reach out with ideas. And what is the role of a citizen in a society? To love and let love. To be moral, not amoral. Morality is above all, even above the moralists.

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My Writer’s Faith is to keep faith with the vision of my people, not with those pollsters, not with those politicians, not with those pundits of virtue, not with those prophets of doom.

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Meanwhile, the media are playing their roles with gusto, even with guts and gory: opinion polls, news & columns in newspapers & magazines, as on radio & TV & in websites, including Senate inquiries ‘in aid of legislation.’ They already have their reward. 10,000 protesters (possibly including Communists and certainly including Catholics) gathered in Makati City February 15 to demand the resignation of GMA, the media reported (manilastandardtoday.com).

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Now, what about the rest of us, what about the best of us – what about the intellectuals?

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Preachers and preached, priests and priested, rebels and rebelled, media and mediated: So far we have 10,000 stonecasters, the ones who have thrown stones at the woman brought out by the mob in public; we have 89 million Filipinos and not one Christian. Where are the Christians when you need them most!?

From chaos to creativity

Selections from my Franciscan essays (hover cursor over link for source or click for full article)
‘Serendipity X. The Rebel Writer Writes, ‘To X Or Not To X’’

Disorder out of disorder? Yes. That’s the way I know creative thinking begins, with something that is seemingly un-pregnant with the promise of a brainchild. Once you accept that, your days as an un-creative writer are over. Then you will be the father of a brainchild one after another. Prolific. Terrific!

Welcome Serendipity X, the Serendipity Muse on call. Let x equals the unknown equals chaos equals creativity. I write this time about creativity 24/7, x’ing unlimited. Unknown becoming quantity first, then quietly transforming into quality. Structure giving birth to substance. X’ing is creative thinking like you’ve never known before. Serendipity eXtreme. To x or not to x, that is the (creative) question!

***

We begin with chaos. I am the Author of Chaos. In creating the universe as we know it, didn’t God the Great Creative start with chaos?

And the waters of chaos were upon the face of the depth, and God hovered upon the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light, and the waters were illuminated. And God saw that it was good.

***

God didn’t like chaos, but to be creative He had to start with it. We mere creatures must go do likewise. So we have to create chaos. The thieves create chaos in order to steal, the politicians in order to divide and conquer, the mathematicians in order to be able to plot order, and our enemies in order to weaken our defenses. So why not writers and thinkers to create chaos and master it for their own purposes?

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According to Englishman Horace Walpole, who invented the word in 1754, Serendipity is ‘accidental sagacity’ (Richard Boyle, 2000, livingheritage.org), that is, making a discovery when you’re not out making any discovery. So I say Serendipity is unconscious creativity, accidental genius, finding something wonderful when you’re not out looking for something wonderful. Great! Serendipitously, I have come up with my own; I say Serendipity X is conscious creativity, deliberate genius, actively searching for bright ideas by way of controlled chaos. As I shall show you in this essay, chaos is the raw material for creativity. With Serendipity X, bits and pieces of the confusion become the sparks of genius.

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In fact, ‘Serendipity X’ is merely a new name for what I have been doing for the last 20 years or so, fooling around with ideas in what I happen to be writing, editing or reviewing (see my ‘PC Fools,’ frankahilario.com). So I know that Serendipity X is more creative than Edward De Bono’s Lateral Thinking, that which I have studied myself, and more promising than Tony Buzan’s Mind Mapping, that which I have seen at work. Indeed, it is more exciting than Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way and less exhausting, as there is no daily journaling required at the self-appointed time, and any time you’re at it, Serendipity X gives you creative, quality time.

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In Serendipity X, handled with an impossible mix of credulity and incredulity, chaos becomes creative chaos. You don’t have to be crazy, but it works!

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Yes, it just so happens that Serendipity X is born on the same day People Power was born, both events major and minor reflecting a coming to terms, liberation from the shackles of thinking like slaves, thinking inside the box. People Power liberated a country from a dictatorship of the elite with the formula of government; Serendipity X liberates the writer from a dictatorship of any formula of writing.

And yes, my coming up with its name shows that Serendipity X works like a charm. My previous drafts of this essay had the brief titles of first, ‘Creator Of Chaos,’ then ‘Author Of Chaos,’ and nothing mentioned about Serendipity.

***

Why do I use my own hands to type my own notes? They go to my head. And when they do, I can digest them. That’s using my head using my hands, two necessary steps toward creativity, using the memory of the eyes and the memory of the mind. If you want to be a good writer, you have to be a good typist; if you want to be a better writer, you have to learn word processing (worping). With worping, the software becomes your second mind, with which you can graduate to creative chaos.

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Since about 20 years ago, outlining using software has been the open secret to my productivity for other people and my creativity for myself. I have been using Word in all its incarnations – except Word 2007, by which Bill Gates’ Microsoft unfortunately has turned me into a total dummy, what with all its strangely new, Out-Of-This-Word command module. Well, nobody’s perfect, including Bill Gates. That’s why I’m not on speaking terms with this strange species (see my ‘Call Me User,’ frankahilario.com).

***

Notwithstanding, I have found that Word 2003 is the perfect word processor (worp) for the writer in me, so now I am more than willing to freely share with you a few little Word commands for outline-organizing your own way to a higher level of creativity.

***

Now, can you be creative without learning Word’s outline-organize feature? Of course. But with Word as your worp, you can be x times more creative. With Serendipity X, outline-organizing is actually fooling around with ideas, and I have already written that you have to become one of my ‘PC Fools’ to become really creative (frankahilario.com).

***

Now all you see is this:

(1) The Quick Brown Fox
(2) Five Puzzled Boys
(3) Donuts
(4) Mascot.

So, can you be a creative writer and combine all 4 topics and write 1 charming little essay? Probably not.

Now, for the magic of outline-organizing: Select the whole line (3) and drag it up so that it follows (1); so now it reads like this:

(1) The Quick Brown Fox
(3) Donuts
(2) Five Puzzled Boys
(4) Mascot.

Click View, Outline again. Just looking at those 4 lines should now give you ideas. My ideas are these: You can feed donuts to the quick brown fox and the lazy dog. And actually, the mascot (teddy bear) was called ‘Frank’ and that was the one the six quiet girls were kissing. Creativity, Sir, is the name of the game.

***

Be sure to include in your search indirectly related topics, as merely scanning them will surely increase your understanding of your topic at hand.

Tagging your little notes will give you more ideas. The title you assign Heading 1; the tags you assign Heading 2. And then to create a great deal more disorder: you gather some more notes, jot down some more thoughts. Try assigning Heading 3 to some tags. Click View, Outline, then hide the texts and see if you can move around some of the headings together with the texts underneath them. Surely ideas will come to you how to organize what you’re writing.

***

As my book The Rebel Writer’s Guide For Non-Dummies will show, if you can’t create great disorder, you can’t create great order. (In sequential order, you have been reading from Chapter 1 to Chapter 3. If you want to be a creative writer, I recommend that you start with Chapter 3, which is this one.)

***

Remember this: You are your own creative god. Creator of Chaos – that’s what you should first become, what each writer should first become if he wants to be creative, or to be more so.

***

You must cultivate that chaos habit. When being the author of chaos becomes second-nature, Creativity becomes second-nature to you. You’ve grown accustomed to her face, to her wiles, to her blessings.

***

To mix metaphors: When you’re creative, wherever you go, sometimes you bring a closed flash drive and always an open mind; you have perhaps 4 gigabytes in your hands but certainly infinite, enigmatic bytes in your head.

***

If you’re a writer and you don’t know outline-organize as according to the Word 2003 paradigm, you don’t know what you’re missing. Try it sometime! Drag your headings and subheadings every which way – along with the corresponding text of course – and see instantly if this sequence makes better sense or that sequence makes much better sense, or this tag & text will have to go, or this text will have to be the beginning or that text will have to be the ending, or this statement is the first thing to say to attract attention or that statement is the last thing to say that leaves a better aftertaste.

***

Now then, you might say Serendipity X is outline-organizing (OO) plus the unknown (X) equals OOX, license to thrill. With Serendipity X, outline-organizing becomes one of the most powerful tools for creativity that I have ever seen, and I thank Microsoft Word for that.

***

In Serendipity X, or creative chaos, the journey itself is many journeys; you are always making a new first step, never the last, until you’re happy with the end results. Going the way of Serendipity X is an adventure into the unknown, creating chaos in mind as a foundation for creating essay on paper. Sounds crazy it just might work!

***

To x is for me to take notes and add more and tag and retag them and create and recreate my outline using my favorite worp. With Serendipity X, Word’s outline-organize is the best thing that ever happened to my writing. With this feature not found in any other word processing software that I know of, it’s a Wonderful Word out there for creative writers who want to be the best they can be. I wish them only the best.

Fooling around, creative writing

Selections from my Franciscan essays (hover cursor over link for source or click for full article)
‘PC Fools. The Rebel Writer Writes Of Slaves & Masters‘

The great science fiction author Ray Bradbury says, ‘A computer is a typewriter. I have two typewriters, I don’t need another one’ (James Hibberd, 2001 August 29, archive.salon.com). So, one of my favorite writers is one of my PC Fools. Having written 107 essays in the last 105 weeks in the American Chronicle alone, edited and desktop-published my own book (read ‘My American Book,’ frankahilario.com), I know that in creative writing, if you don’t fool around with the PC, you’re a fool.

For the last 2 decades, I’ve been saying that the typewriter is for critical thinking, the personal computer is for creative thinking. If you got it right, you’re a creative journalist. Otherwise, you’re just one of many mechanical-thinking reporters.

And then I have just found another Luddite, another refuser of the computer. Even as he is ‘America’s leading political satirist’ (GA, groveatlantic.com), PJ O’Rourke is ‘the biggest Luddite in the western hemisphere’ (Christopher Koch, 2007 January 30, advice.cio.com). That makes two of the world’s biggest PC Fools. The personal computer is nowhere in Bradbury’s and O’Rourke’s past, present, future. If they can’t learn from the modern world, why should they teach the modern world anything? Well, we can learn from their mistakes.

You see, PC Fools, there are three of those kinds:

Fool #1, the one who rejects the PC and feels good about it; he is the master of his own inferiority. He is a fool; he discards what he has not even tried. Shun him.

Fool #2, the one who accepts the PC yet he treats it like a typewriter; he is the slave of his own mediocrity. He is a fool; he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Teach him.

Fool #3, the one who embraces the PC and treats it as a device for creativity; he is the master of his own superiority. He is a fool; he fools around with the PC because in that way, the machine becomes his slave; and he knows that fooling around is a most delightful way to be creative; in fact, it is the only way. Follow him.

I know which fool am I; do you know which fool are you?

Fool is the way to go. Foolishness is the secret of creativity. I just remembered a parallel line by Ralph Waldo Emerson: ‘A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.’ Logical and rules-bound is not the way for creative writers. Oh men of little faith!

That is to say: Creativity is fooling around; a lot of creativity is a lot of fooling around. That’s what I meant when I wrote earlier, ‘Genius is 10% perspiration and 90% inspiration’ (‘My Law Of Graffiti,’ January 22, frankahilario.com). As much as you can play the fool, as much as you can be creative.

Actually, many people decline to use the PC because they are awed by it, or think they are too old or too stupid to learn, or don’t realize how they can improve productivity tremendously. This is not to mention that quite a number don’t want to improve their productivity at all – they only work for the money. Certainly, I say to you, already they have their reward.

Here, I will assume that you are none of those rejecters of the PC, and that you know that you will write better if you knew more about your software. ‘I can’t be bothered’ and ‘That’s the work of my secretary’ and ‘I can afford to pay somebody’ are each a lazy man’s excuse, or that of a writer who doesn’t want to be good at what he’s doing. So, what do you want? Me, I want to be the best!

Recording – Typing and correcting. Making, reviewing and revising your drafts, from the first to the last, your worp is best suited for these tasks, what with the eminently practical flash drive for backup copies. The worp wasn’t much before the flash drive, when the eminently affordable storage material was the floppy 1.4MB disk that could easily catch a mold.

Yes, your best ally in writing is the word processor. And why not? The worp takes care of the routines of writing (like typing with tentative sentences, revising without retyping, doing the spelling check) while you take care of the creative (like tagging, moving pages about instantly using outline-organize and viewing the results). That is, if you want to be the best you can be as a writer.

In Chapter 2, which is this one, I want you to learn just 13 commands of Word 2003 with which to fool around with ideas out of the box in your creative moments.

Divorce is for people who want to fool around. I fool around too, but only with ideas. I mean creative writing is a lot of fooling around. You can’t fool around if you’re the slave, if you’re not the master of what you’re doing, of what you’re using.

I heard she has been writing essays. I wouldn’t be surprised if Maria Sharapova turns out to be a very creative writer one of these days. Already, she is master of her own game.

‘There are no tyrants where there are no slaves,’ wrote my hero, the Philippines’ National Hero Jose Rizal more than 100 years ago. No more slave. Master is better.

Because it’s impossible

Selections from my Franciscan essays (hover cursor over link for source or click for full article)
‘TLE‘

‘To love everyone.’ I imagine Jesus Christ answering my unasked question. ¶ ‘Sir, you’re telling me that that is the greatest commandment?’ ¶ ‘Yes, sweetheart.’ ¶ ‘But Sir, why is it the greatest commandment?’ ¶ ‘Simple. Because it’s impossible.’

One can be so sadistic, really. I understand. I have to. It doesn’t mean I can do it, but if I am to follow, I will will it, will all my heart, will all my soul, will all my mind. To love everyone. Know then that that’s my statement of pure purpose, that’s my commitment of pure living. Wish me will.

‘To love everything.’ That too.

Christian theory must translate into Christian practice. I know. So, today, let me look back at the past year and see instances where TLE is theory and where it is practice in my intellectual life. Here then are observations new and old and based on 600 email exchanges (I use Gmail) between a handful of us in the last year, not sequential, identifiers omitted to protect both the innocent/guilty, where NE is a composite of people and the email entries have been edited.

NE. If I were a US citizen, I will vote for Hillary as President and Barack Obama as VP. I have finished reading the book by BO, The Audacity Of Hope. He’s going to be a great man!
PO. In his own eyes.

NE. Despite the idiocy, only in the Philippines, I greet you Happy Valentine’s Day!
PO. I accept the Valentine’s greeting.

NE. But such is life, we have our share of happiness and handicaps, lucks and lapses. Acceptances, adjustments, adaptations – Hans Selye.
PO. Love and let love.

NE. David Brown’s book, yes, I have it. I think you should get a copy for yourself and read it too. As I said, it is a ‘guide to life without tears, fears and boredom.’
PO. That’s not life.

NE. Kung Hei Fat Choi!
PO. That’s Greek to me.

NE. The philosophy of sex by some famous people.
PO. That’s not philosophy – that’s physiology.

NE. Paradoxes of Our Time. I have read several versions of this, but this is The Best. Hope you like it, enjoy it.
PO. I viewed it again anyway. I could have written it myself. To love each other is the question of the time. And the answer is in the inside of each of us.

NE. The friars really screwed up the Filipino mind and made them believers in the religious or Catholicism, as part of their conquest and subjugation of the muchachos and muchachas to serve the señoras and señores.
PO. They didn’t know any better.

NE. God have mercy on our people and country. Indeed a very Catholic country and people, but and yet, graft and corruption is so rampant.
PO. Talking and thinking about corruption won’t make it go away. There are no corrupts if there are no corrupters. And the corrupters are the people. Blame the people!

NE. The Psychology of Real Happiness, by psychologist Martin Seligman.
PO. If you’re looking for real happiness, you’ll never find it.

NE. Well. Let’s face it, some of us know how to wear and carry our clothes. The others, no matter what they wear, they still look like a monk eh!
PO. Me, I don’t mind looking like a monkey. I don’t mind my looks anymore. Now I mind my manners.

PO. My latest American Chronicle article has humor + Charles Darwin + Shakespeare’s Hamlet + Edward De Bono + Al Gore + Robert Frost + Saint Paul + AIDA + Noah’s Ark + Saint Francis Of Assisi + A disguised ten commandments of writing. Enjoy!
NE. I’ve glanced at the article. Another masterpiece.
PO. (A glance and he can tell it’s a masterpiece. He must be a genius.)

NE. For those who are gone, we reflect, recall beautiful, happy memories of them, but our sights and sounds and actions should now be focused on the living and not on those who are not around anymore. Do not waste your time and effort and expense sending cards anymore.
PO. I’ll send you virtual places to visit and virtual flowers to smell.

PO. The pastoral text of James B Reuter is this: In spite of all your hardship, in spite of all your suffering, your life will be beautiful if you love everyone and everyone loves you. Yes and No, Father. Yes, because if everyone loves you, what a wonderful feeling! You are the center of the universe. But no, because I imagine not everyone loves me, or can love me, as I am not the center of the universe, and that’s good enough for me. ¶ What is important is that I love everyone, even if not everyone loves me. ¶ I cannot wait for everyone to love me before I can be happy; I can be happy right now, loving everyone, including the unlovable. Ah, that’s the challenge, isn’t it? If you want to test your love, try and love those whom you hate, and let’s see what happens to them, what happens to you. ¶ Another way of testing your love is to forgive someone whom you cannot forgive, not on your life, never! And, can you lend money without interest? Can you lend money at all? Can you give to the poor, to the beggar, without thinking about how lazy they are? And, can you love those who have been trying to overthrow the government? Love knows no rules, no borders, no limits.

NE. Maybe he will finally get himself a desktop or a laptop. Without my computers, I would not be a happy man at all!
PO. I would be happier.

NE. About ½ hour ago, I opened the TV as I was sending-receiving emails and what did I see? Benny Hinn and thousands of suckers.
PO. Not millions? I’m a sucker for miracles myself.

NE. Akiane – Genius – A must-watch. This is the most talented child artist you have ever seen. The daughter of an atheist paints pictures given to her by God and she gives him the credit. ¶ Her mother is no longer an atheist. ¶ How many more unbelievers will God touch through her?
PO. If you need Akiane to make you a believer, you don’t have much belief at all. Belief goes beyond wonder and into love.

NE. Anyway, it is really the companionship that is more important.
PO. Actually, it’s the love.

NE. There are really lots of us who can do good for our country. Unfortunately, we are not in the government hierarchy.
PO. Even if you were, you can only affect policy. It is easier said (policy) than done (process and product). Do something!

NE. I may be ashamed to tell you, but I am not about to be an idiot voter next month.
PO. Me, I have not been a voter for the last 28 years. And why is that? A silent protest. A silent statement that the hope of this country does not lie on leaders but on us.

NE. What tree did you fall from? Find your birthday and then find your tree.
PO. The tree of life.

NE. Really, we should have a Lee Kwan Yew or Mahathir as leader. Their countries are not perfect but among the greatest.
PO. If Malaysia is a great country and Singapore is greater, I don’t want the Philippines to be a great country.

NE. I am happy again that a Filipino will address the graduates in Harvard.
PO. I’m worried that everyone wants to address the problem of leadership and none the problem of followership.

NE. Glad to read what you wrote about fathers. My daughter came to see me and spend the night with me. We watched a movie and played some games and ate salad and soup and just hanged around with each other. It was a blessing. Miss you and him. Wish to see both of you healthy and enjoy life to the fullest. ¶ Pray for me as I recover from surgery of cancer of the lung. The name of the cancer is bronchoalveolar carcinoma of the right lower lobe.
PO. The surgeon removed the tissues with cancer, not the cause of the cancer.

NE. One Sunday morning a mother went to wake her son and tell him it was time to get ready for church, to which he replied, ‘I’m not going.’ ¶ ‘Why not?’ she asked. ‘I’ll give you two good reasons,’ he said. ‘One, they don’t like me, and two, I don’t like them.’ ¶ His mother replied, ‘I’ll give you two good reasons why you should go to church. One, you’re 54 years old, and two, you’re the pastor!’
PO. The two good reasons for not going are the two good reasons for going. Precisely because they don’t like you, you should go. Precisely because you don’t like them, you should go. That’s church.

NE. To tell you the truth, it is a lot of effort – thinking – preparing the presentation. Especially trying to create something new and innovative. ¶ But it is real fun. As the saying goes, when you love what you are doing, it is not work.
PO. By the way, I’m listening to Tony Bennett. My sound system is not half as good as yours, but it’s the best because it’s the one I’ve got!

NE. Tell me humans are sane.
PO. If we think the world is mad, we are.

NE. Filipinos denigrated on ABC’s Desperate Housewives. I wonder? Somehow, this episode does not seem to bother me. Am I less patriotic?
PO. It doesn’t bother me. We Filipinos denigrate ourselves, so what else is new?

NE. NUTS!
PO. You go nuts eating fresh fruits. You also go nuts eating your heart out.

NE. You won’t be able to write at all, anymore, when your hernia strangulates.
PO. I know all about hernia. I know all about strangulation. I’d like to strangulate people who are very negative about their own country! So help me God.