Chapter 4

Chap­ter 4

Hermeneu­tics of the Phe­nom­e­non of Nakakaluwag

This chap­ter con­sists of five sec­tions: The first sec­tion dis­cusses the sig­nif­i­cance of hori­zonal mean­ing, which pro­vides an overview of a care­ful interpretation-description process (analy­sis, reflec­tion and syn­the­sis) on the phe­nom­e­non of the lived-experience of nakakaluwag. The sec­ond sec­tion is about the The­matic Analy­sis, which is com­prised of the fol­low­ing sub-sections: first, on the four­teen (14) Co-Rs and the dates when RJE, NEA and FIE were made avail­able; sec­ond, on the appli­ca­tion of Aronson’s the­matic analy­sis and com­par­i­son made with Lind­seth & Norberg’s (2004); third, on the three (3) Interpretive-Descriptive Phases, namely the 1st IDP: Reflec­tive Jour­nal Entries (RJE), the 2nd IDP: Nar­ra­tive Expe­ri­ence Accounts (NEA) and 3rd IDP: Face-to-Face Inter­view Exchanges (FIE); fourth, on the Ini­tial and Recur­ring Nakakaluwag Sub-Themes based from the com­bined RJE, NEA and FIE;  and lastly, on the forty four (44) Nakakaluwag Inter­re­lated Sub-themes that arose from the the­matic analy­sis  The third sec­tion is on the The­matic Reflec­tion whereby the Seven (7) Prover­bial Themes answered the research ques­tions of this study. The fourth sec­tion is on the pro­posed Nakakaluwag Interpretive-Descriptive Frame­work that deter­mines the con­di­tions con­ducive to sus­tain­able liv­ing, a frame­work which is likened to a sphere which is based on Mechthild of Magdeburg’s interpretation-description of God. And finally, the fifth sec­tion is on the Hermeneu­ti­cal Insight as guided by Gadamer’s notion on rela­tion­al­ity char­ac­ter of the text. The dis­cus­sion includes appre­ci­a­tion of the Fil­ipino Proverbs (Mga Salawikain) as nat­ural key artic­u­la­tion or re-articulation of nakakaluwag lived expe­ri­ence, and thus giv­ing birth to another proverb: “Anu­mang nakapag-uugnay ay nakaka­pag­paluwag” (Rela­tion­ships make for a life of ease). The detailed out­line of all the sec­tions and sub-sections of this chap­ter is as follow:

Chap­ter 4: Hermeneu­tics of the Phe­nom­e­non of Nakakaluwag

A. Hori­zonal Meaning

B. The­matic Analysis

 

C. The­matic Reflec­tion as Responses to the Research Questions

     through the Seven (7) Prover­bial Themes

Theme 1 “Ang buhay ay parang gulong, min­sang nasa ibabaw,

                    min­sang nasa ilalim.”

Theme 2 “Nasa Diyos ang awa, nasa tao ang gawa.”

Theme 3 “Kung gusto may paraan, kung ayaw may dahilan.”

Theme 4 “Kung may isinuk­sok, may madudukot.”

Theme 5 “Ang hindi marunong lumin­gon sa pinanggalingan

                   ay di makakarat­ing sa paroroonan.”

Theme 6 “Kung walang tiyaga, walang nilaga.”

Theme 7 “Hang­gang maiksi ang kumot, matu­tong mamaluktot.”

D. An Overview on the Research Questions

E. Nakakaluwag Interpretation-Description comes full circle.

F. Nakakaluwag as Interpretive-Descriptive Framework

G. Hermeneu­ti­cal Insight:

       “Anu­mang nakapag-uugnay ay nakakapagpaluwag”

 Hori­zonal Meaning

By ana­lyz­ing on what it is that con­sti­tutes a shared-understanding of the nakakaluwag lived-experience and by reflect­ing on this phe­nom­e­non the writer arrived at the hori­zonal mean­ings of the TEXT, which is referred to all his Co-Rs’ writ­ten reflec­tions (jour­nal entries), tran­scribed nar­ra­tions (expe­ri­ence accounts) and tran­scribed con­ver­sa­tions (inter­view exchanges).

What is hori­zonal? Bartholomew (1996) defines con­tex­tual as hor­i­zon­tal or hori­zonal. The word hori­zonal means con­text as taken from Gadamer’s fusion of hori­zon. A text or a word means some­thing and its mean­ing is inter­preted in con­text. The mean­ing of ‘mean­ing’ is a mat­ter of con­text; and as con­text changes, the mean­ing of a text also changes. Thus, ‘mean­ing’ is con­tex­tual or hor­i­zon­tal or horizonal.

To arrive at an in-depth lin­guis­tic under­stand­ing, the writer used the hermeneu­tic cir­cle whereby the dia­logue with the 1st IDP: RJE in which the mean­ings of sep­a­rate parts were deter­mined by their hori­zonal mean­ings of the writ­ten data. The mean­ings of the writ­ten reflec­tions were exam­ined; the gen­er­ated inter­pre­ta­tion was derived from the same; and the inter­pre­ta­tion was double-checked against 2nd IDPNEA.

A move­ment between the whole and the parts on the 2nd IDP con­tin­ued on whereby the dia­logue with its NEA in which the mean­ings of sep­a­rate parts were like­wise deter­mined by their hori­zonal mean­ings of the spo­ken data. The mean­ings of the tran­scribed nar­ra­tions were exam­ined; the gen­er­ated inter­pre­ta­tion was derived from the same; and the inter­pre­ta­tion was double-checked against 3rd IDPFIE.

Then it pro­ceeded to the 3rd IDP whereby the dia­logue with its FIE in which the mean­ings of sep­a­rate parts were again deter­mined by their hori­zonal mean­ings of the inter­view data. The mean­ings of the tran­scribed con­ver­sa­tions were exam­ined; the gen­er­ated inter­pre­ta­tion was derived from the same; and the inter­pre­ta­tion was double-checked against 1st IDP: RJE to allow hermeneu­tic to come full circle.

The three phases were tied as one and com­pared with each other until a unity and coher­ence of mean­ings were attained. This hermeneu­ti­cal [phe­nom­e­no­log­i­cal] process can be likened to the coher­ent web where the indi­vid­ual propo­si­tions gain truth. Only when the whole web is max­i­mally coher­ent do the indi­vid­ual parts become ulti­mately true (Poggemiller, 1998). So when the three phases were tied as one, they all fit together in an essen­tial way. When they were syn­the­sized, they gen­er­ated deeper coher­ent mean­ing.  Ini­tially they seemed to be unre­lated with each other when viewed alone, but when each piece was already in place, every­thing made sense. Enclosed in view of holis­tic rela­tion­al­ity, look­ing at any of these three phases and look­ing at them all together they reflected on the emerg­ing big­ger pic­ture and paint a clearer image of the phe­nom­e­non of nakakaluwag.

The­matic Analysis

The writer has already iden­ti­fied him­self as belong­ing with and to the TEXT he read (or interpreted-described). By engag­ing in an interpretive-descriptive process, the writer focused on the var­i­ous con­tex­tu­al­ized mean­ings of the Fil­ipino value nakakaluwag that emerged from his Co-Rs’ TEXT in which all are embed­ded in their shared-beliefs and embod­ied in their shared-practices. It was already men­tioned in the pre­vi­ous chap­ter (the sec­tion on Read­ing and Writ­ing) that using reflec­tive jour­nal (as TEXT) is one way in which a hermeneu­tic cir­cle can be engaged.

The writer requested all of his Co-Rs to reflect on their nakakaluwag lived expe­ri­ences, to jour­nal and sub­mit them in a week’s time in either hard copy to be handed in to him per­son­ally, or soft copy to be emailed to him.[1] He also requested them to respond in writ­ing to the fol­low­ing five (5) guide ques­tions in a lan­guage they felt com­fort­able with, either in Eng­lish or in Fil­ipino (Taga­log) or a mixed: Tagalog-English (Taglish)[2]: 1. Kailan mo naram­damang nakakaluwag ka sa buhay? (1. When do you feel/know that you are nakakaluwag in life?); 2. Ano ang paki­ram­dam ng nakakaluwag sa buhay? (2. What is the feel­ing of nakakaluwag in life?); 3. Sa mga pagkakataong nakakaluwag ka sa buhay, saang bahagi ng buhay mo matatag­puan ang mga sumusunod?  3.1 ang Diyos, 3.2 ang iyong sar­ili, 3.3 ang iyong kapwa, at 3.4 ang kalikasan (3. In the many sit­u­a­tions that you are nakakaluwag in life, what part of your life do you find the fol­low­ing? 3.1 your God, 3.2 your­self, 3.3 your fel­low being 3.4 cre­ation); 4. Anong mga aral ang itin­u­turo sayo ng mga karanasang nakakaluwag sa buhay? (4. What lessons do the expe­ri­ences of nakakaluwag in life teach you?) 5. Anong mga aral sa iyong paki­ram­dam na itu­turo mo sa iyong kapwa? (5. What lessons do you feel/think you will teach others?)

Table 9. The Four­teen (14) Co-Rs and the Avail­abil­ity Dates of RJE, NEA and FIE

Four­teen (14) Co-Rs with their Nick­names

Avail­abil­ity Dates

of RJE

per Co-R

Avail­abil­ity Dates

of NEA

per Co-R

Avail­abil­ity Dates

of FIE

per Co-R

1. Rowel 28-Jul-10 17-Aug-10 13-Sep-10
2. Dino 28-Jul-10 5-Aug-10 26-Aug-10
3. Mari­cel 29-Jul-10 31-Jul-10 18-Aug-10
4. Jorelle 3-Aug-10 3-Aug-10 19-Aug-10
5. Joe 3-Aug-10 9-Aug-10 25-Aug-10
6. Me-Ann 3-Aug-10 10-Aug-10 19-Aug-10
7. Lorence 4-Aug-10 5-Aug-10 18-Aug-10
8. Pink 5-Aug-10 17-Aug-10 19-Aug-10
9. Elvie 7-Aug-10 7-Aug-10 14-Aug-10
10. Rom­mel 7-Aug-10 7-Aug-10 18-Aug-10
11. Ben­son 10-Aug-10 17-Aug-10 19-Aug-10
12. V-Mae 19-Aug-10 19-Aug-10 25-Aug-10
13. Nelca 3-Sep-10 7-Sep-10 8-Sep-10
14. Gary 28-Sep-10 29-Sep-10 4-Oct-10

Table 9 above shows the four­teen (14) Co-Rs and the dates when RJE, NEA and FIE were made avail­able. Because the dates vary due to the avail­abil­ity of the Co-Rs, the writer gave them some lee­way and with due con­sid­er­a­tion as to when they would make the RJE’s data, then NEA’s data and finally the FIE’s data avail­able. In order to main­tain the con­fi­den­tial­ity of the data and the iden­tity of the Co-Rs, through­out the study the nick­names were assigned to them instead of their real names. The first col­umn indi­cates the nick­names of the Co-Rs. The sec­ond col­umn gives the cor­re­spond­ing date for the Co-Rs’ sub­mis­sion of their RJE, which was entrusted to them at least a week before its due date. The RJE were col­lected for a two month period from July 28 to Sep­tem­ber 28, 2010. The third col­umn gives the cor­re­spond­ing dates for the Co-Rs’ shar­ing of their NEA. The NEA were con­ducted from the last week of July, 2010 until the last week of Sep­tem­ber, 2010. The last col­umn gives the cor­re­spond­ing date for the Co-Rs’ avail­abil­ity for FIE. The FIE were con­ducted between the 2nd week of August, 2010 until the 1st week of Octo­ber, 2010. Tran­scrib­ing and trans­lat­ing all the audio-recorded data from NEA and FIE for pur­poses of doing the­matic analy­sis were done for a two month period from August, 2010 until Octo­ber 2010.

Since the sec­ond week of July, 2010 the writer already com­menced the data gath­er­ing and he saw at its ini­tial stage how sig­nif­i­cant and inter­re­lated these items were, there­fore he made sure that the required RJE were all col­lected so that noth­ing would be missed or lost. He then ini­tially interpreted-described the entire RJE using the mod­i­fied ver­sion of Aronson’s (1994) five (5) steps of the­matic analy­sis: Step 1 Col­lect­ing all the data, Step 2 Iden­ti­fy­ing pat­terns of expe­ri­ences, Step 3 Cat­a­logu­ing related pat­terns into sub-themes and themes, Step 4 Obtain­ing feed­back from the infor­mants and Step 5 Telling the whole story.

Table 10 shows two sets of steps in car­ry­ing out the phe­nom­e­no­log­i­cal analy­sis of data. The first set refers to the Aronson’s (1994) five (5) steps of the­matic analy­sis which was com­pared side by side with the sec­ond set, which is the Lind­seth & Norberg’s (2004) three (3) steps of the cir­cu­lar inter­pre­ta­tion based on Ricoeur’s (1971) inter­pre­ta­tion the­ory[3] (as cited in Flood, 2010). Although Lind­seth & Norberg’s steps, namely Step 1 Naive read­ing, Step 2 Struc­tural analy­sis and Step 3 Com­pre­hen­sive, are more recent and also appro­pri­ate in this study. The writer pre­ferred the Aronson’s steps for pur­poses of in-depth analy­sis, reflec­tion and syn­the­sis. While these two sets of steps above are fol­low­ing the same log­i­cal sequence, Aronson’s steps are more detailed as com­pared to Lind­seth & Norberg’s steps.

The writer found Aronson’s steps more dynamic as an approach in this study which enabled him to expe­ri­ence this long and tedious process of the­matic analy­sis a more engag­ing one and with results that were clearer, eas­ier to read and more understandable.

Table 10. Aronson’s (1994) 5 Steps and Lind­seth & Norberg’s (2004) 3 Steps on Data Analysis

Interpreting-describing the TEXT based on the Mod­i­fied ver­sion of Aronson’s (1994) five (5) steps on the­matic analysis

Lind­seth & Norberg’s (2004) three (3) steps on the cir­cu­lar interpretation

Step 1 Col­lect­ing all the data:(a) The writer col­lected and secured the data from the Co-Rs’ RJE, which refer to their reflec­tions on the sig­nif­i­cant nakakaluwaglived-experiences. 

(b) Trans­lat­ing the entire RJE from Fil­ipino (Taga­log) and Taglish to English.

Step 1. Naive read­ing:The text is read sev­eral times to grasp its mean­ings. Here, researchers are ‘open’ so the text can talk to them (naive understanding).
Step 2 Iden­ti­fy­ing pat­terns of expe­ri­ences:(a) On the basis of RJE the writer ini­tially iden­ti­fied, listed the pat­terns of expe­ri­ences that relate to the already clas­si­fied patterns, 

(b) and then these iden­ti­fied pat­terns were expounded on.

Step 2. Struc­tural analy­sis:Themes which pen­e­trate texts con­vey­ing essen­tial mean­ing of the lived expe­ri­ence were iden­ti­fied and pre­sented in “mean­ing units’, which are then con­densed into sub themes and main themes. These were reflected on in rela­tion to the ini­tial naive understanding. 
Step 3 Cat­a­loging related pat­terns into sub-themes and themes:(a) The writer com­bined and cat­a­loged the related pat­terns into sub-themes which were “derived from pat­terns such as con­ver­sa­tion top­ics, vocab­u­lary, recur­ring activ­i­ties, mean­ings, feel­ings, or folk say­ings and proverbs” (Tay­lor & Bog­dan as cited in Aron­son, 1994).(b)Then the “themes were iden­ti­fied by bring­ing together com­po­nents or frag­ments of ideas or expe­ri­ences, which often are mean­ing­less when viewed alone” (Aron­son, 1994).

© Piec­ing them together to exam­ine and high­light the com­mon themes (sim­i­lar­i­ties and contrasts).

Step 4 Obtain­ing feed­back from the infor­mants:(a) To obtain com­pre­hen­sive view when gath­er­ing sub-themes, the writer obtained feed­back from the Co-Rs nar­ra­tion and inter­view (NEA and FIE). He even asked some of them out­side the nar­ra­tion and inter­view (Aron­son, 1994).(b) the Co-Rs’ feed­back con­sisted of clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and con­fir­ma­tion based from Co-Rs’ NEA and FIE
Step 5 Telling the whole story:(a) By read­ing and refer­ring back to the related lit­er­a­ture and stud­ies, the writer gained infor­ma­tion that allowed him to make infer­ences from the TEXT, and once the ini­tial themes were col­lected and the related lit­er­a­ture and stud­ies were looked into, the writer for­mu­lated theme-statements to develop a story line.(b) For­mu­lat­ing key the­matic state­ments by weav­ing the thread of meanings.

© Cap­tur­ing these the­matic state­ments by way of the­matic reflec­tion [of Van Manen (2002)] into a more phe­nom­e­no­log­i­cally sen­si­tive para­graphs to uncover and attain what con­sti­tutes the inte­grated shared-understanding of the phe­nom­e­non of nakakaluwag until it reached closure.

Step 3. Com­pre­hen­sive under­stand­ing or inter­preted whole:All themes were sum­ma­rized and reflected on in rela­tion to the research ques­tion and the con­text of the study. The whole text was re-read with the naive asso­ci­a­tions and rel­e­vant lit­er­a­ture and stud­ies to help revise, widen and deepen the under­stand­ing of the text (Lind­seth &Nor­berg 2004 as cited in Flood, 2010). Results were pre­sented in every­day lan­guage as close to the lived expe­ri­ence as possible.

The first col­umn above indi­cates Aronson’s step by step process to doing the­matic analy­sis. The sec­ond col­umn pro­vides the writer’s actual appli­ca­tion of Aronson’s steps. The last col­umn gives the cor­re­spond­ing Lind­seth & Norberg’s steps where the Aronson’s Step 1 matches Lind­seth & Norberg’s  Step 1; then the Aronson’s Steps 2, 3 and 4 coin­cide with Lind­seth & Norberg’s  Step 2, and  finally,  the Aronson’s Step 5 cor­re­sponds  with Lind­seth & Norberg’s  Step 6.

By bor­row­ing Conroy’s words, the writer con­curred that, “inter­pre­ta­tion [descrip­tion] focuses on under­stand­ing the mean­ing of what some­one says” (2003, p. 23). Interpretation-description is more than just “break­ing up a con­cept, propo­si­tion… or fact into its sim­ple or ulti­mate con­stituents” (Audi, 1999 as cited in Con­roy, 2003). Interpretation-description is “closer to a syn­the­sis or a pulling together of sep­a­rate ele­ments” (Con­roy, 2003, p. 23).

Thus, in this tedious phase of the interpretive-descriptive process, the writer care­fully did the fol­low­ing on the TEXT: (Step 1) trans­lated the entire  RJE form Fil­ipino (Taga­log) and Taglish entries to Eng­lish; (Step 2) ini­tially iden­ti­fied and listed the pat­terns of expe­ri­ences of his Co-Rs’ reflec­tions; (Step 3) com­bined and cat­a­logued these related pat­terns into sub-themes; (Step 3) ten­ta­tively pieced them together to exam­ine and high­light the com­mon themes (sim­i­lar­i­ties and con­trasts); (Step 4) gath­ered and obtained his Co-Rs’ feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and con­fir­ma­tion based from the Co-Rs’ NEA and FIE; and finally (Step 5) for­mu­lated key the­matic state­ments by weav­ing the thread of mean­ings; (Step 5) cap­tured from these the­matic state­ments by way of the­matic reflec­tion [of Van Manen (2002)] into a more phe­nom­e­no­log­i­cally sen­si­tive para­graphs to uncover and attain what (ini­tially) con­sti­tutes the inte­grated shared-understanding  of the phe­nom­e­non of nakakaluwag until it reached closure.

And then, in approach­ing all together the RJE, NEA and FIE Co-Rs’ jour­nal entries, expe­ri­ence accounts and inter­view exchanges), the writer found out that it was use­ful to re-reading them, putting them in per­spec­tive and writ­ing a brief interpretation-description on what each of the par­tic­i­pants said. This allowed the writer to immerse in their world and called to mind what was hap­pen­ing dur­ing the pre­lim­i­nary and even in the suc­ceed­ing meet­ings with them. It was observed that interpreting-describing these events, what­ever was dis­closed became more appar­ent. The writ­ten reflec­tions, tran­scribed nar­ra­tions and tran­scribed con­ver­sa­tions of their unre­flected expe­ri­ence enabled the hermeneutic-phenomenological process for their expe­ri­ence to sur­face. Out of the var­i­ous items from the Co-Rs’ RJE, NEA and FIE, the writer iden­ti­fied a num­ber of unique pat­terns of mean­ing that emerged and evolved. In this case, they referred to the mean­ing units, sub-themes and themes.

In view of the inte­gra­tive nature of hermeneu­tic under­stand­ing, Bon­tokoe (as cited in Kin­sella, 2006) points out that under­stand­ing occurs only when the inter­preter rec­og­nizes the sig­nif­i­cance of the var­i­ous items or ele­ments [in this case they refer to the mean­ing units, sub-themes and themes] that s/he notices, and rec­og­nizes the way in which those items relate to each other” (par. 13).

Dur­ing the the­matic analy­sis and reflec­tion process, the ‘Hermeneu­tic Devel­op­ment of Com­men­tary’[4] was also con­sulted from time to time or as he deems appro­pri­ate as a guide to interpretation-description (Con­roy, 2003, p. 24).

Table 11 shows the struc­ture of 1st IDP: RJE, 2nd IDP: NEA and 3rd IDP: FIE. The entire table con­sti­tutes the four­teen (14) Co-Rs’ writ­ten responses to the guide ques­tions assigned to them. The interpretation-description struc­ture of these three phases is bro­ken into three sep­a­rate columns and four­teen tables. Every col­umn and table rep­re­sents a Co-R and all the tables are sorted accord­ingly based from the RJE’s ear­li­est to the lat­est sub­mis­sion dates. Each table and in each col­umn indi­cates her/his nick­name with the date of sub­mis­sion and con­sists of row-responses that cor­re­spond to each of the ques­tions being asked. The first col­umn with the head­ing: ‘1st IDP: RJE Unique Mean­ing Units’ con­tains each of the Co-Rs’ state­ments on nakakaluwag based on the writ­ten data. Each Co-Rs’ state­ment is num­bered, then let­tered if applic­a­ble and labeled in fol­low­ing sequence:  1 (a) State­ment; 1 (b) State­ment, then 2 (a) State­ment; 2 (b) State­ment and so on. The writer pur­posely made these type of label­ing as ref­er­ence marker or guide for the next table (see table 11). The sec­ond col­umn with the head­ing: 2nd IDP: NEA Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and con­fir­ma­tion’ con­tains each of the Co-Rs’ state­ments on nakakaluwag based on the spo­ken data which ver­ify, clar­ify, val­i­date and con­firm what was said in the first col­umn . And lastly, the third col­umn with the head­ing: ‘3rd IDP: FIE Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and con­fir­ma­tion’ con­tains each of the Co-Rs’ state­ments on nakakaluwag based on the inter­view data which fur­ther ver­ify, clar­ify, val­i­date and con­firm what was either said or not said in either the first or the sec­ond col­umn. There are instances that either Co-Rs’ RJE or NEA or FIE can stand alone or is self-explanatory. And there are also case that one or two columns are empty because the Co-R is silent about it. The writer labeled these columns with blank entries with “[none]” to sim­ply indi­cate that noth­ing is said about the ques­tion being asked.  

Table 11. Three (3) Interpretive-Descriptive Phases: 1st IDP: RJE, 2nd IDP: NEA and 3rd IDPFIE

1. RJE of Rowel, Sub­mit­ted on July 28, 2010 

1st IDPRJE

Unique Mean­ing Units

(Co-Rs’ State­ments on Nakakaluwag)

1. NEA of Rowel, Con­ducted on August 17, 2010 

2nd IDPNEA

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

1. FIE of Rowel, Con­ducted on Sep­tem­ber 13, 2010 

3rd IDPFIE

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

1. (a) Rowel: “The term “luwag” (ease) is a con­di­tion or mind-set that paved the way to the reac­tion and action of an indi­vid­ual. It is a “SPACE” being pro­vided for by a per­son. So the kaluwa­gan(life of ease) or its oppo­site con­di­tion is depen­dent on the kind of space being allot­ted for.”1. (b) Rowel: “How much the mind and the heart pro­vide for such space becomes a liv­ing con­di­tion on how a per­son expe­ri­ence luwag (ease).” I expe­ri­enced life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) when there is an under­ly­ing con­cept that envelopes me. I called this SPACE, and can be referred to as either inner space or an outer space. The wider the space, the greater the expe­ri­ence of life with ease (mas nakakaluwag), the nar­rower the space, the lesser the expe­ri­ence of life with ease (mas sum­isikip). All the con­cept of liv­ing with ease (kaluwa­gan) comes from the indi­vid­ual, her/his per­cep­tion, out­look and mind-set.  It is pos­si­ble that a per­son in a crowded area hav­ing a mind­set that is spa­cious (maluwag) will not call it con­gested (masikip) because for her/him that sit­u­a­tion is with ease (kaluwa­gan). It is pos­si­ble too that a per­son in a huge man­sion will not con­sider it spa­cious (kaluwa­gan) but con­gested (kasikipan). It is also pos­si­ble s/he is impris­oned on that very house.  I think ease (luwag) is how an indi­vid­ual draw out the mean­ing of the con­cept of space, that space that pro­vides her/him with ease (kaluwa­gan).  I wrote and said that this [ease] comes from both the inner space and outer space. Her/his con­cept of both the inner and outer space are drawn from the expe­ri­ence of ease (kaluwa­gan). [Human being as] an indi­vid­ual has no bound­ary or bound­less. The very space that comes from her/him has no bound­ary or bound­less. The inner space absorbs all these con­cepts of outer space, and thus com­ple­men­tar­ity takes place between inner and outer space. It is not the outer space that absorbs the per­son, but rather her/his inner space is that which absorbs her/his outlook.
2. Rowel: “The feel­ing of nakakaluwag in life (liv­ing with ease) is based on the above acronym [LUWAG] I pro­vided for. Lig­aya at Laya, Ugnayan at Unawa, Wagas, Alwan at Gin­hawa. The peace of mind encom­passes all these conditions.” “[none]” I was think­ing on how am I going to give def­i­n­i­tion to an expe­ri­ence with ease (luwag). Then I real­ized that I can give mean­ing to it (luwag) by com­ing up with an acronym, LUWAG which I did.
3.1 Rowel: “God is present in either nakakaluwag (ease) or hindi nakakaluwag (with­out ease) sit­u­a­tions in life. It’s the qual­ity of close­ness that is being expe­ri­enced here. When sit­u­a­tions are tough, the rela­tion­ship with Him becomes more intense [but] in nakakaluwag (ease) sit­u­a­tions; His name is glo­ri­fied because of a lot of blessings.” There are sit­u­a­tions that you usu­ally for­get God because you expe­ri­enced life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) not so much of God’s own mak­ing but because of what you have done to your­self.  Maybe this is self-pride as what oth­ers would call it.  But there are sit­u­a­tions that you expe­ri­enced life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) and you won­dered how these things hap­pened in your life. Here, your life is cen­tered on God. You expe­ri­enced life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) not so much of your own mak­ing but because of God.’s own mak­ing.  Maybe I can call this expe­ri­ence a mar­vel or a mir­a­cle one [a blessing]. When sit­u­a­tions are tough, they mean chal­lenges.  Let’s say that con­cept refers to expe­ri­enc­ing of so much prob­lems which you can no longer bear until you have no other recourse but to return your focus back to God. Per­haps even an unbe­liever would do the same. I think your rela­tion­ship becomes more intense when an indi­vid­ual [with so many prob­lems] is ask­ing for help in an intense prayer. On the con­trary, when you are liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag) in terms of mate­ri­al­ity and you are won­der­ing where all of these bless­ings come from, this is to me my per­sonal con­cept of a mir­a­cle, for which I have to thank and glo­rify His name. While the first one refers to tough chal­leng­ing sit­u­a­tion, the sec­ond one would mean a lot of blessings.
3.2 Rowel: “I feel more con­fi­dent, able and energetic.” In a given sit­u­a­tion that I expe­ri­enced life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as my own mak­ing that would mean arro­gance.  In a sit­u­a­tion that I expe­ri­enced life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) not by my own but by God’s own doing that would mean humil­ity. Be hum­ble that inspite of you, you are still helped by God. And with­out arro­gance, you can be proud [con­fi­dent] of how you’ve done something. Being con­fi­dent here refers to hav­ing self esteem.  Being able [or hav­ing the abil­ity] empow­ers you to do some­thing by which you develop [enhance] your self esteem. Being ener­getic is the power to exer­cise your abil­ity to do some­thing and it is pos­si­ble that you may be able but when you have no energy you may [also] refuse to do something.
3.3 Rowel: “[I]t’s easy to share my bless­ings with others.” My fel­low beings (mga kapwa) serve as instru­ment on how to expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) sim­ply because I can not sep­a­rate myself from them for they can pro­vide me the oppor­tu­nity to expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay). How­ever, if they do not serve as instru­ment on how to expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay), still this is also an oppor­tu­nity, This is where under­stand­ing comes in. The wider my under­stand­ing the more I see the oppor­tu­nity for under­stand­ing the per­son instead of get­ting angry with him. This is what I’m say­ing ear­lier, that to expe­ri­ence life with ease inte­ri­orly (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is to offer [share] more that under­stand­ing to him. I have an expe­ri­ence before, dur­ing my col­lege days there was this per­son who helped me finan­cially and when I asked him how can I pay him back, he just gave a very stun­ning answer telling me that, “You do not nec­es­sar­ily pay me back, and you need not pay me your debt of grat­i­tude, but I have only one wish to make.” Then he con­tin­ued, “You help the very first per­son in need of your help, and if you are able to do it, then you already paid me back.”
3.4 Rowel: “The cre­ation becomes more col­or­ful and mean­ing­ful… The beauty and feel­ing of com­fort­able­ness from the heart exudes to become the basis on my out­look in life.” Cre­ations are the won­ders of God, the mir­a­cle of God, the very envi­ron­ment that you are inti­mately con­nected to. And the more you expe­ri­ence life with ease, the more you see cre­ations shin­ing col­or­fully with joy.  Often when the sit­u­a­tion is with ease, you under­stand why these cre­ations are such. On the con­trary, when the sit­u­a­tion is with­out ease, it is as if your world is muf­fled (ang mundo mo ay pinag­suk­luban) and the more you’re not able to see cre­ations col­or­fully shin­ing. But it still remains an oppor­tu­nity to open your eyes how to have an ease of mind (kaluwa­gan ng isip) and to breathe free­dom (paghinga ng kalayaan).  Since cre­ations have such beauty, and so when you expe­ri­enced depres­sion, approach­ing a sin­gle flower, look­ing at it, and let’s say I may not have color [joy or com­fort] inside me, but if I relate myself to that same flower, I will won­der why and ask how such real­ity came to be, and touch­ing its petals and I know I could not describe that very sit­u­a­tion on how to expe­ri­ence self-ease (mag­ing maluwag sa sar­ili) because there is a God who cares for that flower,  a God who pro­tects cre­ation. Since there is God who cares for us all, then I think this God will also take good care of me, suf­fi­cient enough to expe­ri­ence ease in a sit­u­a­tion where life is with­out ease (buhay na masikip at hindi nakakahinga).  I also know how to play the gui­tar. In music we see, espe­cially the musi­cians, the col­ors and the mean­ings in every­thing that we/they do. I think from the con­cept of liv­ing with ease (luwag) you will be able to see the col­or­ful world, the mean­ing of that world. And it is also pos­si­ble that from these songs the lyrics that are tak­ing shape regard­ing cre­ation is more colorful.
4. Rowel: “The lessons of humil­ity, gen­eros­ity, patience and being loved are the things I have learned…” I learned ease both as an under­stand­ing of how to have inter­nal and exter­nal expe­ri­ence of ease. To expe­ri­ence ease in life can­not be attrib­uted to sim­ply get­ting money nor get­ting some­thing out of what you can take. This is an inter­nal per­spec­tive on how you expe­ri­ence ease (pagig­ing maluwag). A given sit­u­a­tion may not be an expe­ri­ence with ease (hindi nakakaluwag); it makes life like being stran­gled (nakakasakal), no free­dom, and no space. But your per­spec­tive on how you expe­ri­ence ease (kaluwa­gan) in that given sit­u­a­tion is in itself a good life’s les­son to learn from on how to have free­dom (kalayaan). Free­dom (kalayaan) and expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (kaluwa­gan) are insep­a­ra­ble. The freer you are, the more you expe­ri­ence ease, the more you expe­ri­ence ease the more you can exer­cise your freedom. In a given sit­u­a­tion wherein God is the sole pos­si­ble cause of any­thing that may hap­pen, you have no right to be arro­gant. You have to wait for His grace, for His power that you were able to do these things but in the end only God can only accom­plish them. Or maybe you are the only per­son, who can accom­plish them, but still you can­not be arro­gant, that’s humility.
5. (a) Rowel: “The best les­son I think I would teach oth­ers is “nakakaluwagis a mind-set.” 

 

5. (b) Rowel:  “We can­not do any­thing on the things that come or hap­pen to us but we can do some­thing on how we are going to think or react on the things that hap­pened to us.

 

5. © Rowel:  “Either in nakakaluwag or not nakakaluwag sit­u­a­tions, I always think that I have to “give it back” to God.”

Given a chance to actu­ally teach this to stu­dents and to my fellow-being (kapwa), [I would teach oth­ers that the] expe­ri­ence of life with ease (nakakaluwag) is a mind-set, it is not a sit­u­a­tion. Any indi­vid­ual who thinks that what will give her/him a expe­ri­ence of life with ease is hav­ing more money, even if you dump that per­son with money (tam­bakan mo man yang taong yan ng pera) it is pos­si­ble that this may even cause her/him not to  expe­ri­ence life with ease (hindi pagig­ing maluwag). Life with ease (nakakaluwag) is a per­spec­tive no mat­ter what the sit­u­a­tion is, either you have money or not, you are expe­ri­enc­ing dif­fi­culty or not, you are expe­ri­enc­ing  life like being stran­gled (nasisikipan) or not. It is totally depen­dent on the degree of inner space that you are going to adopt. So if you hate your fellow-being (kapwa) this is not an expe­ri­ence with ease (kaluwa­gan) but  tight­ness in breath­ing (kasikipan ng paghinga) and tight­ness in feel­ing (kasikipan ng damdamin). In order to expe­ri­ence life with ease (kaluwa­gan), I need to free myself from that sit­u­a­tion of hate and nobody can do it except the free­dom that is within me.  If I am going to ask a ques­tion on how much can you for­give, it depends now on the space, on how much can you love. So the greater the space you love, the greater the space you for­give. So when you are ready and will­ing to learn to for­give it all depends now on a space, an inte­rior and exte­rior expe­ri­ence of ease (kaluwa­gan na pan­gloob at panglabas) and on how you will make these things hap­pen to yourself  If con­flict takes place between two indi­vid­u­als because their views are sub­jec­tive and rel­a­tive, and our pur­pose is rec­on­cile them, then there is a need to bring in rela­tion­al­ity (ugnayan) and under­stand­ing (unawa). In one of the lec­tures of Prof. Felipe De Leon, he pointed out that if this would be the point of view, and if you do not try to under­stand that point then you will miss that whole view, you will be in con­flict, then you will insist that what is spa­cious (maluwag) is con­gested (masikip).  There is a need that we should have rela­tion­al­ity (ugnayan) and under­stand­ing (unawa) on why to you it’s con­gested (masikip) while to me it’s spa­cious (maluwag).  In [my] inner space when I do not under­stand your con­cept which is spa­cious (maluwag) to me yet con­gested (masikip) to you, when I can­not under­stand you, then my very inner space has no rela­tion­al­ity and has no under­stand­ing, thus it has no ease (luwag). No peace that comes directly from an indi­vid­ual; s/he draws it from a God who gives her/him peace. That expe­ri­ence of ease (kaluwa­gan), that inner space s/he can­not do it by her/himself. So what­ever hap­pens in her/his envi­ron­ment, if s/he has peace in her/his rela­tion­ship with her/his fellow-being (kapwa), with nature, in all of these, it is in this peace where s/he draws her/his strength. I think an expe­ri­ence of ease (luwag) is an out­come of mind at peace.
2. RJE of  Dino, Sub­mit­ted on July 28, 2010 

1st IDPRJE

Unique Mean­ing Units

(Co-Rs’ State­ments on Nakakaluwag)

2. NEA of  Dino,Con­ducted on August 5, 2010 

2nd IDPNEA

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

2. FIE of  Dino,Con­ducted on August 26, 2010 

3rd IDPFIE

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

1. (a) Dino: “ I felt liv­ing with ease (nakalu­luwag) when I started work­ing and earn­ing my own money. I was so delighted every pay day, and I’m giv­ing money to my par­ents.”1. (b) Dino: “ I’m giv­ing them almost eighty per­cent (80%) of my earn­ings. I did not feel oblig­ated to pro­vide them, but I’m just happy when I‘m giv­ing them money.” Maybe I can say that I live with ease (nakakaluwag) when some­one approaches me and asks my help and then I’m able to help that per­son. I can say that I live with ease (nakakaluwag) because I was able to help. Maybe to my mind I would not appre­ci­ate the expe­ri­ence of ease (nakakaluwag) if I have so much money. I will only feel Iiv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag), if I’m able to get some­thing from pocket because some­one is ask­ing. How­ever, if I have money I just sim­ply con­sider it not an expe­ri­ence with ease (nakakaluwag). I may have money to buy, but if some­one ask or even not ask­ing who just sim­ply tells her/his story and I real­ize s/he is in need, if I’m able to get some­thing from pocket that’s me, maybe that is an an expe­ri­ence with ease (nakakaluwag) because I was able to give help. I started work­ing not for money but because it is part of our cul­ture that at my age that time I should be already work­ing, and so I started work­ing. And when I had my work, my per­sonal needs and even­tu­ally the needs of my fam­ily also increased. When my sis­ter knew that I have work, she started express­ing her inten­tion to ask help. From then on as the fam­ily needs increase, so I started shoul­der­ing some of the respon­si­bil­i­ties. How­ever I did not work pri­mar­ily to assume those respon­si­bil­i­ties. I just felt that I had to work pre­cisely just to have it, but even­tu­ally I started allo­cat­ing my earn­ings into spend­ing on house­hold needs. Since I have work, then it’s alright to share. When I have money and some­one asks, then I share it; if I have noth­ing on hand, I just let her/him real­ize the sit­u­a­tion with­out com­plaint. I can eas­ily let go of my money to help oth­ers as long I have some­thing just enough for my trans­porta­tion and food.
2. (a) Dino: “I’m happy and I feel light. When I have money it is just easy for me to share. Even though some­times I do not have money, but when I under­stand the sever­ity of the needs of oth­ers, I still give what­ever else is left of me.2. (b) Dino:  I just think that this is God’s bless­ings that I should be shar­ing with oth­ers. No mat­ter how small or big it is.”

 

2. © Dino: I’m just extremely grate­ful to the Lord that I have a decent job.”

“[none]” I have needs also, but when some­body comes who is in need, and I felt that her/his needs are greater than mine, if I have to make sac­ri­fices I’ll do it (kung mamaluk­tot kaya ko). I’ll give it up for her/him and I rather delay or post­pone some­thing for myself. Any­way there is still time for me to take it later, and I’ll give it to her/him first. But I will tell her/him that s/he has to pay me back on a spe­cific time, because by that time I already need it. But this time I’m will­ing to sac­ri­fice (magtiis) because I don’t need it as mush as s/he does.
3.1 (a) Dino: “I found the Lord in my relief (kaluwa­gan) because he is to whom I address my grate­ful thanks for all the bless­ings I received in my life.”3.1 (b) Dino: “It is clear in my con­scious­ness that every­thing that I gained from God is his bless­ings to me and to oth­ers who are in need.”

 

3.1 © Dino: “I also see God in my relief (kaluwa­gan) as a sav­ior in times of emer­gency (kagip­i­tan). It deep­ens more my grat­i­tude to the Lord when he let me expe­ri­ence severe cri­sis (mahig­pit na kagip­i­tan), then at the end he will give me wis­dom that will bring me relief (kaluwa­gan).”

 

3.1 (d) Dino: “Some­times it is not just money that pro­vides ease (naka­pag­pa­paluwag) to myself. At first, when I’m hard up for money, I thought that only money will give relief (kaluwa­gan). Even­tu­ally, it is not money that will pro­vide relief (kaluwa­gan) in a given sit­u­a­tion, but a mean­ing­ful com­mu­ni­ca­tion with someone.”

 

3.1 (e) Dino: “It was clear to me then that the answer to my finan­cial dif­fi­culty involved a large amount of funds as pay­ment to the owner. Money is in my opin­ion will give me great relief (malak­ing kaluwa­gan). But when I finally came into terms with the owner [of a house and lot I decided to pur­chase] regard­ing my dilemma, never did I imag­ine that the owner would sym­pa­thize with me and informed me that he would be will­ing to wait any­time for my payment.”

 

3.1 (f) Dino: “I just thought all along that only money would just be the solu­tion to my finan­cial dif­fi­culty. I was wrong. It was not money; rather all that was needed took only a mean­ing­ful relat­ing with (pakikipagkapwa) the owner.”

 

3.1 (g) Dino: “When I became hon­est to the owner of the house, and allowed him to under­stand my sit­u­a­tion that very day, I never failed. I real­ized that the Lord really knows. He has his ways that I will never ever surpass.”

Maybe in this sit­u­a­tion of expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag) I can see God who never leaves me alone even dur­ing the time that I was in the sem­i­nary.  I con­sid­ered that a dra­matic episode of my life where I was able to sur­vive even with only PHP 50 pesos in my wal­let. Actu­ally I didn’t have a wal­let. For three long years and yet I was happy and able to sur­vive. The money I had then was intended for buy­ing my tooth­paste, laun­dry soap, bath soap. I never used sham­poo; I just used the bath soap to sham­poo my hair. And it was alright. Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag) I can see God and I was never want­ing.  If there are peo­ple in need and they come to me, in my own lit­tle way I gave them some con­so­la­tions. I’m con­vinced that if I will be in need, I may also ask help from some­one who in turn may expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakalu­luwag) too by help­ing me. This is the kind of God who pro­vides my needs and I never felt totally deprived. I’m not rich but I know that there is a God who sup­ports me. I see God as the source of my expe­ri­ence of life with ease (kaluwa­gan) dur­ing the time that He saves me as a sav­ior in times of emer­gency or cri­sis. It is in this emer­gency or cri­sis sit­u­a­tion that my expe­ri­ence of God becomes con­crete and deep where He pro­vides me of my needs not only dur­ing the time that I’m not in need, but more dur­ing the time that I felt noth­ing and there is God who helps me.  What really brought me to that expe­ri­ence of life with ease (kaluwa­gan) is not in finan­cial terms but in a mean­ing­ful rela­tion­al­ity (makahu­lu­gang pakikipag ugnayan). Respond­ing to needs of oth­ers I could con­sider this as an expe­ri­ence of life with ease (kaluwa­gan), and this is not all about money. For exam­ple, in a sit­u­a­tion that peo­ple want­ing to have some­one to lis­ten to them. With the time I spent with them, I some­how felt it was also an expe­ri­ence of ease (kaluwa­gan) because I have some­thing to offer, my time to deepen our friend­ship, shar­ing of one­self to oth­ers, and I guess this is another expres­sion of an expe­ri­ence of ease (kaluwa­gan) from within me, that some­thing inside me is expand­ing (aking kalooban na lumu­luwag).
3.2(a) Dino: “I also see my abil­ity to put up with my prob­lems dur­ing dif­fi­cult times (kakaya­hang magtiis sa pana­hon ng kagip­i­tan) and the abil­ity to share in time of ease and plenty (pana­hon ng kaluwa­gan).3.2 (b) Dino: “I came to real­ize that when I was still in the con­vent, many months have passed that I have noth­ing, not even a peso in my pocket. But never that it became a hin­drance to the joy I have with me in the convent.

 

3.2 © Dino: “I dis­cov­ered myself as some­one who can eas­ily let go for oth­ers in time of ease and plenty (pana­hon ng kaluwa­gan). I also eas­ily let go for them when I real­ized that they have greater needs than me.”

Some­times I may say I’m eas­ily being fooled, and my rea­son is if that a per­son who is ask­ing for my help is cheat­ing on me, then it is really up to her/him. What mat­ters to me is that I under­stand and find her story as con­vinc­ing. On my part and in my own lit­tle way I will really shell out some amount of money, then after­wards it is really up to her/him if s/he would still cheat on me.  I find this sit­u­a­tion worth­while, but my other sib­lings are telling me that I’m eas­ily being fooled. They were very angry at me one time when I bought a prop­erty because I’m too kind and oth­ers might already take advan­tage of me. But with God’s mercy, I’m still alright. I can see that I may be eas­ily taken advan­tage of by oth­ers, but I real­ized too that I know how to empathize with what oth­ers are going through in life, that I can enter in their life’s story and because of that I under­stand them. When I under­stand the sit­u­a­tion, and the per­son let me under­stand the con­text from where s/he is com­ing from by let­ting even any ordi­nary per­son to real­ize it, then my heart, I guess, I think will eas­ily fol­low what it says even though I know I will be in an awk­ward sit­u­a­tion too if I give in help­ing her/him. But since I under­stand the per­son, then it would be easy for me to say, any­way I still have other means to look for help for myself. I sym­pa­thize with her/his by see­ing the other pos­si­ble con­se­quences to her/his and me if I will not help the person.
3.3(a) Dino: “In my relief (kaluwa­gan), I see my fel­low being (kapwa) as part of my expe­ri­ence. I have a feel­ing that when­ever I found relief (kaluwa­gan), oth­ers should also find relief (kaluwa­gan).3.3 (b) Dino: “It is joy­ful feel­ing that all the peo­ple around me are also expe­ri­enc­ing with me the same life of ease (kaluwa­gan sa buhay) I have. Many times I real­ized that wher­ever I encoun­tered a life of ease (kaluwa­gan sa buhay) that was also the moment where the unex­pected needs of oth­ers con­fronted me.”

 

3.3 © Dino: I could say that I am not self­ish in let­ting go for my fel­low being (kapwa). All I just wanted is to under­stand the real­ity of what they need.”

To my mind, the expe­ri­ence of life with ease (nakalu­luwag) is likened to a wheel. It is just like a wheel. I real­ize there are per­sons, who are in need, and I’m aware that dur­ing such sit­u­a­tion that I’m in need too, there are those who are expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakalu­luwag).  That expe­ri­ence is just part of the cycle of life, and it is not all the time that I’m not in need. What I learned from the sem­i­nary is that, it is never wrong to tell that you are in need of help because time will come that you will actu­ally need help. How­ever it is a big thing if you learn how to hon­estly express that you are in need of help, in that way I can also give oth­ers the oppor­tu­nity to be hon­est and express their needs so they may also expe­ri­ence life with ease (mag­ing maluwag) sim­i­lar to my own per­sonal expe­ri­ence and realization. I came to a point that I can no longer pay my debt on time based on what we have agreed upon (i.e., between me and the owner of the house and lot I bought). When I hon­estly said this to the owner and told him (naibu­lalas) straight from my heart my present con­di­tion, he just under­stands where I’m com­ing from, he just tells me that I just pay when I’m ready, as sim­ple as that. Sud­denly, I just expe­ri­ence life with great ease (biglang lumuwag yung hig­pit ng kalooban ko). And that is the only solu­tion that time, so I just real­ized what an expe­ri­ence of life with great ease (maluwag na karanasan) that very moment and it is not sim­ply about finan­cial terms. This is all about rela­tion­al­ity; fidelity and hon­esty in a rela­tion­ship (yung pakikipag ugnayan na dapat tapat ka).
3.4 (a) Dino: “The image of spa­cious (kaluwa­gan) based on my expe­ri­ence is always related with space (kalawakan).”3.4 (b) Dino: “The expanse of nat­ural cre­ation helps in shap­ing a sense of mean­ing for a life of ease (buhay na nakakaluwag). Here I real­ized how gen­er­ous God is in let­ting go all of his cre­ation in behalf of serv­ing human beings.” The way I see the expe­ri­ence of life with ease (nakakaluwag) in the con­text of nature is in rela­tion with the feel­ing of space (damdamin ng ispasyo), the feel­ing of vast­ness (damdamin ng lawak). Because when you expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag), the feel­ing within is light (mag­aan ang kalooban) and when you look around you, ever­ty­thing seems alright. I believe that the mean­ing of the envi­ron­ment does not come from itself, but from within you, that is why you see every­thing beau­ti­ful out­side you when you feel light inside (mag­aan yung damdamin sa kalooban) in the con­text of expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (pagig­ing maluwag). I think it is this way how I see the environment. The open­ness of God’s palm to let­ting go or let­ting be (pagk­abukas palad ng Diyos sa pag­pa­paubaya) is related to the extent or size of cre­ations, of nature. To me let­ting one­self to be in God’s open­ness of His palms would mean self-opening to the abun­dantly spa­cious and vast ter­ri­tory. There is free­dom and you are free to move because you are not hid­ing any­thing nor keep­ing any­thing to your self, every­thing is trans­par­ent, and my image for this is the uni­verse. I’m not hid­ing any­thing and with all hon­esty as being pre­sented to all. The expe­ri­ence of ease for myself (kaluwa­gan ko sa sar­ili) means free­dom to be trans­par­ent, and I can sense that I’m respon­si­bly in charge, that I must be hon­est, that I must not tell a lie to any­one nor to myself.
4. (a) Dino: “A life of ease (kaluwa­gan ng buhay) –is a power that enlight­ens life’s per­spec­tive;”4. (b) Dino: “– is a con­di­tion of being free. Free from the entice­ments of the world and greed; free from self­ish­ness towards becom­ing humane;”

 

4. © Dino: “– is not depen­dent on mate­r­ial things or money but on a mean­ing­ful relat­ing with oth­ers; Life is eas­ing (lumu­luwag ang buhay) not because you have money, but because you have oth­ers with whom you are mean­ing­fully relat­ing with.”

4. (d) Dino: “– There is no ease (walang kaluwa­gan) when oth­ers do not exist. A life of ease (nakakaluwag ng buhay), yet with self­ish­ness will not last. Even­tu­ally, it will enve­lope by itself while the ease of life squeezes into one­self (Sa di kalau­nan, kusa itong umi­impit habang ang kaluwa­gan ay isin­isik­sik sa sar­ili).”

I have already thought about this before, and the mean­ing seems so deep and mean­ing­ful not only in my life in par­tic­u­lar, but also in the lives of other peo­ple. I have seen the expe­ri­ence of life with ease (nakakaluwag) not only as a feel­ing of a per­son who is finan­cially able and capa­ble (damdamin ng isang taong maykaya), it is also a feel­ing or con­di­tion of a per­son who has the abil­ity and capa­bil­ity for oth­ers (damdamin ng isang taong may kakaya­han para sa iba). You will never expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) until you have the abil­ity and capa­bil­ity for oth­ers (maykakaya­han para sa iba). The expe­ri­ence of life with ease (nakakaluwag) is a power that gives you the capac­ity to view life as a whole. Not every­body has this abil­ity but the more you open your­self, you are also open­ing your con­scious­ness to see wholis­ti­cally a given sit­u­a­tion, and that is also a power. To my mind, free­dom is to act accord­ing to what nature designs it for. I know that I am des­tined to a life of both abun­dan­nce and mean­ing. And when I tried to reach out for oth­ers, to extend a help to them, I felt that I have greater free­dom to be myself for oth­ers. My life will be lonely if I only exist for myself. One thing that gives mean­ing to my exis­tence is the truth that there are oth­ers in my life, and when I am able to reach out to them, my life becomes mean­ing­ful that is why I’m free.
5. (a) Dino: “ Those who are liv­ing with ease (nakalu­luwag na buhay) should have a fair view of oth­ers;5. (b) Dino: “Noth­ing can be said about a life of ease (kaluwa­gan ng buhay) if there is no mean­ing­ful relat­ing with oth­ers (pakikipagkapwa). A life of ease (kaluwa­gan ng buhay) is never an issue of what you have. It is based on a desire to be true and faith­ful to your fel­low being (kapwa).”

 

 

5. © Dino: “There­fore, a life of ease (maluwag na buhay) is not only con­fined to those who have in life but also to those who have noth­ing. How­ever, for those peo­ple who are liv­ing with ease (maluwag na buhay), they have always space (puwang) for their fel­low being (kapwa).)”

I guess what I can share to my stu­dents about the expe­ri­ence of life with ease (nakakaluwag) is the abil­ity of the stu­dents to help one another in a class spe­cially when there are stu­dents who are not per­form­ing well. It is a help with­out try­ing to make the stu­dents feel that they are not meant to be in school in the first place because of their infe­rior intel­li­gence, but rather to make them real­ize that they have the poten­tial, that is why they are being helped. This is the rea­son why those with greater abil­ity should share to those who are in need. With what oth­ers may have and oth­ers don’t and vice versa, I tried to cre­ate an ath­mos­phere where there is no unnecce­sary ani­mos­ity in the class­room, no jeal­ousy and no unhealthy com­peti­ton among them­selves. Then I will intro­duce the whole idea of an expe­ri­ence of life with ease (nakakaluwag). And since they all dif­fer in intel­li­gences and tal­ents I will let them  real­ize that what­ever you have, you have to share with those who do not have and vice versa in a man­ner that respect the dig­nity of those who are in need of assis­tance. Some­times there is a kind of help that does not respect the dig­nity of those being helped.  The true mean­ing of help is to allow oth­ers to expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) and to help with­out strip­ping a per­son of her/his dig­nity.  On the pos­i­tive sense, you are giv­ing a deeper mean­ing to her/his sit­u­a­tion that s/he may be in need of help now, but another oppor­tu­nity comes when you are the one in need and s/he will inturn help you. This is what I think of expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag). The mean­ing­ful relat­ing with oth­ers (pakikipagkapwa) if not present, then no rela­tion­ship will ever be cre­ated and you will never expe­ri­ence a life of ease (kaluwa­gan ng buhay). This can only have a human face in the pres­ence of the other, your fel­low being (kapwa). This is not just an exis­tence of pres­ence with­out mean­ing­ful con­nec­tion with oth­ers. I must be con­nected to oth­ers, not detached but engaged, a kind of engage­ment with oth­ers that is flow­ing.  It is a kind mean­ing­ful relat­ing with oth­ers where I expreince a life of ease (kaluwa­gan ng buhay).
3. RJE of Mari­cel, Sub­mit­ted on July 29, 2010 

1st IDPRJE

Unique Mean­ing Units

(Co-Rs’ State­ments on Nakakaluwag)

3. NEA of Mari­cel,Con­ducted on  July 31, 2010 

2nd IDPNEA

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

3. FIE of Mari­cel,Con­ducted on August 18, 2010 

3rd IDPFIE

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

1. Mari­cel:  “I feel nakakaluwag in life (liv­ing with ease) when­ever I’m able to buy all the mate­r­ial things I needed, espe­cially [for] my kids, and of course we never go hun­gry. There is no prob­lem in life and the feel­ing is light while the time passes by.” By this time I can say that I expe­ri­enced life with ease (nakakaluwag) because I can afford to buy mate­r­ial things that I want for myself and for my chil­dren. We did not skip meals nor go hun­gry.  In other words, we are assured that our fam­ily meets our daily needs. I’m not say­ing that we are rich. I just con­sider our fam­ily in a bet­ter sit­u­a­tion com­pared to other fam­i­lies that are strug­gling to meet their basic needs, wor­ry­ing about where to get the next meal for their chil­dren. They are so pre­oc­cu­pied how to meet both ends and so anx­ious on how they will solve their prob­lems. Com­par­ing our sta­tus with them, I can sense that we are expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (maluwag ang aming pamu­muhay). My eldest daugh­ter is used to ask­ing me to buy her before the start of school­ing a pair of shoes, a new school bag. So every year or even twice a year I would buy her, includ­ing new clothes and toys. We would even dine in KFC, Jol­libee, and so my chil­dren can enjoy eat­ing food more than what we eat daily, which other fam­i­lies strug­gling to sur­vive can­not afford to have.
2. Mari­cel: “You feel that you’re like a millionaire.” “[none]” When I said that I feel like a mil­lion­aire it means that my fam­ily has never reached to the point where I worry about where to get the next meal for my chil­dren, unlike those other fam­i­lies that are strug­gling to meet their basic needs and so pre­oc­cu­pied how to meet both ends, that is why they end up bor­row­ing money from any­one else (kali­waan na kung umu­tang).
3.1 Mari­cel: “I always pray to God, [I always] remem­ber to thank Him in every­thing He had given me, sa madali, mahi­rap, mag­in­hawa, malaki or maliit na bagay na bless­ings (in easy, dif­fi­cult, con­ve­nient, big or small things.” In a sit­u­a­tion that I expe­ri­ence life with ease (pagkakataon na nakakaluwag) I can feel God every sec­ond of my life. I know God is always there for me and ready to help me in times of need, just knock and it shall be opened to you. I will never for­get Him every moment of my life and I thank Him for all the bless­ings he bestowed upon us. I may have prob­lems or none, I still con­tinue to thank Him all the time that I remem­ber Him. What He wants to hap­pen among all His chil­dren is that they should obey His ten com­mand­ments. And on my part I was able to fol­low them, which is why I will never for­get Him. I think God must be the num­ber one above all else. What­ever sta­tus or sit­u­a­tion of life we are in, either you expe­ri­ence life with ease (maluwag) or with­out ease (hindi maluwag) God must remain as the num­ber one. We should always think of it and be thank­ful to Him in either big or small bless­ings that we received.
3.2 Mari­cel:  “I feel I’m lucky and at the same time blessed because my life is run­ning smoothly.” I expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) because I feel that my life is run­ning smoothly (maayos yung takbo ng buhay), I do not worry so much on how I will solve my prob­lems, this means that if I encounter prob­lems in life, I know how I am going to find ways to han­dle them, in other words I have  peace of mind. In a way I’m lucky because I have sta­ble job, I’m blessed though my salary is not that really big. My hus­band and I, we put together our income. We have good rela­tion­ship, our earn­ings are good so I can say our life is run­ning smoothly (maayos yung takbo ng buhay). And once in while we also help finan­cially my fam­ily side and also his side.
3.3 Mari­cel: “When­ever I’m able to help my fel­low being (kapwa) and made the per­son happy with the help I offered.” I expe­ri­ence life with ease (nararam­daman kung nakalu­luwag) when I’m able to help some­one who approaches me, then s/he is grate­ful and expresses her/his thanks to me, after that I’m already happy. I know I’m able to her/him. In my expe­ri­ence almost always I can sense those peo­ple I helped were happy, although there were few of them that are not con­tented with the help I extended. But there are more of those I helped in my obser­va­tion were both con­tented and happy.
3.4 Mari­cel: “When­ever you have healthy sur­round­ings, there is no foul smell, and you have a clean environment.” When my sur­round­ings are peace­ful and calm, there is sense of joy and you never encounter nat­ural dis­as­ter like flood, I would sense that life is in order, sim­ply because there is no more flood­ing and the sur­round­ings are kept clean and in good order. Dur­ing our first three years of mar­riage the place where we live was an envi­ron­ment that I was not used to, it is a squat­ter area sur­round­ing. I felt mis­er­able and would even ques­tion myself why did I reach this kind of poor con­di­tion. But as time passed by, even­tu­ally I observed that the place where we are still liv­ing has improved a lot.
4. (a) Mari­cel: “You should be care­ful in spend­ing money espe­cially now a day because life is dif­fi­cult and basic goods is expen­sive.”4. (b) Mari­cel: “You should think ahead of the future because you are not cer­tain of the unex­pected things that may happen.

 

4. © Mari­cel: “And then, you should share your bless­ings to oth­ers, don’t be greedy.”

In life it is nec­es­sary that you know your pri­or­i­ties. You must always get focused on what­ever you would want to achieve. You have to include indus­tri­ous­ness, deter­mi­na­tion and greater under­stand­ing in all sit­u­a­tions at all times. Your mind and body should not eas­ily give in in many tri­als that you encounter in life,  When you have prob­lems in life and you felt so down, you should never give up and always think pos­i­tive, because God will not give us prob­lems in life that we will not able to bear nor solve them. When we are able to face these chal­lenges, then we end up vic­to­ri­ous. That is why you don’t have to miss you goal in life, indus­tri­ous­ness and deter­mi­na­tion are two impor­tant keys. God should always be the num­ber one, in our minds, hearts and actions. Peo­ple should be care­ful in han­dling their finances. If you have enough money for the fam­ily, just buy only what you actu­ally need on a daily basis. If there are things you want to buy but not that impor­tant, that would be the last pri­or­ity. In other words, be thrifty , pri­or­i­tize and buy only the things that you basi­cally need.
5.  Mari­cel: “You should be strong and brave (malakas ang loob) in deal­ing with your des­tiny in life. Do not be afraid, you should be pro God; trust in your own abil­ity that you can reach your dreams.” The life’s lessons which I could share with my fel­low being (kapwa) are the value of gen­eros­ity. Do not be self­ish, you must share your bless­ings and what­ever that you have which you know you can afford to give them, please do share, and I think you will also be blessed more in life. First and fore­most the Lord should always be the num­ber one because He is every­thing to us. In other words, He is the source of our strength  (lakas ang loob), who will teach us the right path and the way to good­ness. Once we for­get Him, the straight path that you are tak­ing may once in a while change in direc­tion and you may also lost your way, but you sim­ply approach Him when­ever you are con­fused and you do not know what to do. He is the first one whom you should approach for He knows very well how He will teach you the right direc­tion in your life. Mercy resides in God; deeds are in wo/men (nasa tao gawa, nasa Diyos ang awa). I was very young then when I got mar­ried, and I was not ready yet that time in an early mar­ried life. Dur­ing that moment I did not have any expe­ri­ence on how to live as a wife, as a fam­ily per­son and my num­ber one refuge (san­dalan) then is my faith in God, that come what may, and what­ever prob­lems and chal­lenges that I will be fac­ing I’m con­vinced that I do not have to be depen­dent (nakasan­dal na lang) on our par­ents. What I wanted that time, though we started our fam­ily with noth­ing, I bear in mind  (tinanim ko sa utak ko) that come what may, no mat­ter how dif­fi­cult the tri­als may come (kahit gaano kahi­rap ang pag­subok na dumat­ing) we will stand firm with our own two feet on the ground (tatayo kami sa sar­ili nam­ing mga paa ).  It also came to a point where I regret­ted why I got mar­ried at an early age, how­ever when­ever I thought of our chil­dren, I feel blessed because they are there for me. They are my bless­ings that give me the strength to carry on (lakas ng loob), and the source of my strength to go on (pinaghuhug­utan ko ng lakas ng loob).
4. RJE of  Jorelle,  Sub­mit­ted on  August 3, 2010 

1st IDPRJE

Unique Mean­ing Units

(Co-Rs’ State­ments on Nakakaluwag)

4. NEA of  Jorelle,  Con­ducted on  August 3, 2010 

2nd IDPNEA

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

4. FIE of  Jorelle,  Con­ducted on August 19, 2010 

3rd IDPFIE

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

1. Jorelle: “I felt ease (nakakaluwag) when I saw my father [for the first time] because I had longed to meet him.” “[none]” 

[none]”

It has been my dream for so many years and my strongest desire to have my father’s atten­tion and I waited for the right time to come in order to see him face to face. So when my grand­mother died in Min­doro, I went to her wake and funeral. And for the first time, for 18 long years, when I went inside my grandmother’s house and went near her cas­ket, my father was there stand­ing on the other side, then he saw me and he embraced me, then he started cry­ing. The expe­ri­ence of your chest feel­ing tight and con­gested (masikip na sa dib­dib) as you are long­ing to see your father, and that’s the only thing lack­ing in your life, and to see him face to face is already enough. After that I felt life with ease (nakakaluwag).
2. Jorelle: “I felt ease (nakakaluwag) when I was able to buy the very thing that I’ve been long­ing for. It feels that I’m in heaven.” I can say that I expe­ri­enced life with ease (nakalu­luwag ako sa buhay) dur­ing sit­u­a­tions that I have not encoun­tered any prob­lem. I can get what I want, I can have those things which I wish in my life, that is why  in a way I can feel that  I expe­ri­enced life with ease (nakalu­luwag). Since the time that a mobile phone came out, I would wish that I could acquire one. In some way I was frus­trated with my mother and step father because they never bought me one. But when I decided to stay and work in the field in Min­doro province, I really saved money out of my lit­tle salary, and I sent the money I saved to my par­ents here in Manila so they can buy me a new mobile phone. Although that was many years ago, and the phone was  also no longer work­ing by this time, but dur­ing that time that I was able to newly acquire it, the feel­ing was heaven, the feel­ing of expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (naram­daman mo yung kaluwa­gang ng buhay).
3.1 Jorelle: “I found God when I got what I wanted, and then I real­ized that there is a God who is always there for you and will never for­sake you.” When I expe­ri­enced life with ease (nakakaluwag), I can tell that God is there and I can have what I want. I always think of God who is ready to help.  I would hear Mass even once in a while on Sun­day to lessen the sins I have done. The mobile phone only costs Php 1,200 pesos, but I found God and He has given me that des­tiny (bini­gyan ka ng tad­hana) to have a cell­phone or a mobile phone.  I would hear Mass in Sto. Domingo Church together with my female cousins. I believe it is not so impor­tant to hear Mass on a daily basis. What mat­ters most is you believe in God.
3.2 Jorelle: “When you are able to relax and hang out with friends, and have a job, because it is only then that I expe­ri­enced how to stand on my own feet.” I expe­ri­enced life with ease (nakakaluwag) per­son­ally when­ever I’m not so anx­ious on how I will solve my prob­lems, and even­tu­ally in my own lit­tle way I can sup­port my parents. Once a month I would visit my friends in Marik­ina. You will feel happy because your friends are there to help you.
3.3 Jorelle: “When­ever I’m able to pay [enough] atten­tion to my fel­low being (kapwa) I felt ease (nakakaluwag) because I’m able to give her/him [my care].” I expe­ri­enced life with ease (nakakaluwag) when­ever I’m able to help my fellow-being (kapwa), when­ever I vis­ited my friends in their homes, show to them my con­cern and affec­tion, then we had fun. 

 

 

My friends in Marik­ina felt you have a big space, and you have that big space for them (damdamin nila maluwag ka, maluwag ka para sa kanila). That big space is spa­cious for those you have extended your help for oth­ers, includ­ing your friends. It’s a joy­ful feel­ing to have friends, who will stand by you through thick and thin, and so the expe­ri­ence of life with ease (nakakaluwag) is joy­ful and the feel­ing is light.
3.4 Jorelle: “When we planted trees.” I felt life with ease (nakakaluwag) with nature when I real­ized myself dur­ing that time when we had the tree plant­ing.  It came to my mind that these trees are there to pro­tect us from calami­ties. They are there for us so we can avoid tragedies, sim­ply because trees are the ones respon­si­ble in han­dling the move­ment of water to pre­vent land­slide from happening. “[none]”
4. Jorelle: “To be patient with your­self, help my fel­low being (kapwa) and all the things (mga bagay bagay) sur­round­ing us.” I real­ized when­ever I expe­ri­enced life with ease (nakakaluwag) that what is nec­es­sary is to have inner strength (tibay ng loob) in order to achieve suc­cess so that we can really feel life with ease (nakakaluwag), then at the same time we are enabled by this expe­ri­ence to help our fellow-being (kapwa), embrac­ing our respon­si­bil­ity towards plants, ani­mals, and all of our sur­round­ings. These are life’s lessons I learned when­ever I felt life with ease (nakakaluwag). “[none]”
5. Jorelle: “That of being helpful.” If you will not do any­thing, then it’s noth­ing. There is no way you would real­ize what you wish to achieve if you sim­ply sit down and relax (patam­bay tam­bay ka lang). You have to work hard (mag­sumikap) for your own good. “[none]”
5. RJE of  Joe,  Sub­mit­ted on  August 3, 2010 

1st IDPRJE

Unique Mean­ing Units

(Co-Rs’ State­ments on Nakakaluwag)

5. NEA of  Joe,  Con­ducted on  August 9, 2010 

2nd IDPNEA

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

5. FIE of  Joe,  Con­ducted on August 25, 2010 

3rd IDPFIE

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

1. (a) Joe: “My indi­rect answer: I believe, nakalu­luwagis a state. Thus, the above ques­tion is awk­ward for me to answer. It is like ask­ing when do you feel or know that you are rich. I’d rather ask, when do you con­sider a per­son to be rich? 

1. (b) Joe: “Con­sider those who are truly rich by NEDA’s [National Eco­nomic Devel­op­ment Author­ity] stan­dards but feel or think that they are not. Thus, it is not a mat­ter of feel­ing or know­ing that you are nakakaluwag, but, “Are you in that state of being nakakaluwag?”

 

1. © Joe: “Or, if I am “forced” to answer the ques­tion, I’d say I always feel and think to be nakakaluwag, because I feel and know that there are those who are in need more than I do.”

 

1. (d) Joe: Nakakaluwag is a state. The pre­vail­ing set of conditions–just like in the state of the nation address of a pres­i­dent of a coun­try. Kailan masasabing ang isang tao ay nakakaluwag? When is a per­son said to be in that state of nakakaluwag? We must first dis­tin­guish between a per­ceived state and the actual state.

 

1. (e) Joe: “A per­son may get fooled into think­ing of being in a state when actu­ally he is not in that state. And another per­son may think of being not in that state, when actu­ally he is in that state (as may be indi­cated by some mea­sure­ments of one or more instru­ments and empir­i­cal indicator.”

 

1. (f) Joe: “Based on my expe­ri­ence, obser­va­tion, and read­ings: ang isang tao ay nakakaluwag kung may kusang loob na pag­bi­gay at pag­tu­long (a per­son is nakakaluwag [to feel or know that oth­ers have needs more than herself/himself]) when­ever she/he vol­un­tar­ily give and help. Nakakaluwag implies will­ing­ness in giv­ing and help­ing.”

 

1. (g) Joe: “In some Fil­ipino art­works, those in need are pic­tured as tightly cling­ing to what they have, and come into grips. While those who are well-off are pic­tured as will­ing to let go of some of their pos­ses­sions for those in need.”

 

1. (h) Joe: “ ‘Maluwag’ or ‘maluwang’ lit­er­ally means lightly held, loose, or spa­cious. It may also imply suf­fi­cient free­dom to move around or hav­ing a com­fort­able space to work on.”

 

1. (i) Joe: “The term implies will­ing­ness in giv­ing and help­ing: “maluwag sa kalooban”.

 

1. (j) Joe: “[A]nd those famil­iar with account­ing con­cepts often sub­sti­tute the term “liq­uid” as in “Liq­uid ka ba ngayon? Pwede bang makahi­ram?” (“Are you liq­uid at this time? Can you lend me some amount?”). Even some Fil­ipino grade school chil­dren form small infor­mal coop­er­a­tives and do paluwa­gan which is essen­tially a group money lend­ing scheme.”

 

1. (k) Joe:  How­ever, the term mag­paluwal has become syn­ony­mous with money lend­ing, while the ethic nakalu­luwag involves giv­ing. Even then, “mag­paluwal ka na lang” may some­times mean, just give in.”

 

1. (l) Joe: “This Fil­ipino ethic includes sac­ri­fice on the part of the giver: the per­son giv­ing (nakalu­luwag) should at the very least, feel some dis­com­fort. One should “get hurt” by his or her act of giv­ing. Oth­er­wise the essence of sac­ri­fice will be absent. This is sim­i­lar but not iden­ti­cal to the Chris­t­ian les­son of the widow’s mite present in the Syn­op­tic Gospels (Mark 12:38–44, Luke 20:45–47, Luke 21:1–4).”

 

1. (m) Joe: “That is, the con­cept also includes rel­a­tivism: some may be poor but they can con­sider them­selves “nakalu­luwag” to those who are much poorer, as ren­dered in a Taga­log com­men­tary on Jere­miah 24:1.”

 

 

1. (n) Joe: “Those tak­ing the Con­flict the­ory approach to the study of soci­ety may sus­pect the true inten­tions of the “nakalu­luwag”. How­ever, con­sider it more than the finan­cial aspect of the con­cept. The ethic involves ful­fill­ment in doing a social oblig­a­tion. And this Fil­ipino con­cept appears to be present even for the Fil­ipinos over­seas who send what­ever amount to their rel­a­tives at home.”

“[none]” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[none]”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[none]”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[none]”

We can say that a per­son is rich (nakakaluwag), and this is a con­di­tion that s/he has or owns a prop­erty. More­over, it also indi­cates that if s/he is rich or s/he is expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag), there is free­dom to freely give which is a con­di­tion that con­firms that s/he is free to do it. Human beings are nat­u­rally self­ish, and there­fore when an indi­vid­ual gives some­thing, it hurts her/him in a way, because s/he gives some­thing of her/him. The rea­son why s/he feels the pain is because of human’s imper­fec­tion. Why is there a pain? This is not the prob­lem itself, but this indi­cates that there is a prob­lem some­where. How­ever after the pain, some­thing good may come out.
2. (a) Joe: “Again, an indi­rect answer: My feel­ing is not so impor­tant. I may feel gipit but in real­ity, I’m nakakaluwag. Or oth­er­wise fur­ther­more, I can, to some extent, mod­ify my feel­ings. This morn­ing I didn’t feel like get­ting up at 4:30 a.m., but I “forced” myself to get up and like get­ting up.”2.(b) Joe: “But if I have to answer the ques­tion with­out engag­ing in a debate, I’d say, nakakaluwag in life feels gen­er­ally pleasant–a bit happy, a bit of sat­is­fac­tion, a bit nos­tal­gic, and some other min­i­mal emo­tional bond­ing depend­ing on the spe­cific situation.” If let’s say com­par­ing with oth­ers and I have many mate­r­ial prop­er­ties (maram­ing tinatangk­i­lik), I think this is more objec­tive indi­ca­tor, than sim­ply telling that I can feel life with ease (nararam­daman ko na nakalu­luwag ako). It can con­cretely deter­mine and mea­sure what­ever mate­r­ial prop­er­ties I have in life (tinatangk­i­lik ko sa buhay), let’s say if you own a refrig­er­a­tor, is it big or small, if you own a car… There are many rich peo­ple, rich accord­ing to the norm in the soci­ety today. Though they have or they own super­flu­ous money; they would still say that money is hard to find these days and claim they are hav­ing dif­fi­culty to meet both ends due to high cost of liv­ing. A per­son myopic in her/his per­spec­tive and focused purely on what is here on earth is a typ­i­cal exam­ple of a greedy per­son (sakim). It’s a para­dox to know that despite the super­flu­ous wealth s/he has, s/he won’t feel ease in life (nakakaluwag). This is true as the Bible would say that love of money is the root of all evil, which enslaved her/him by this very desire and her/his move­ment is restricted thus, the absence of freedom.
3.1 (a) Joe: “Again, some com­plex­ity is intro­duced in the ques­tion itself. I “find” God whether I am in the state of nakakaluwag as well as in being gipit.3.1 (b) Joe: “Or per­haps, in my tithe and offer­ing. When I am nakakaluwag, I give more in my offer­ing. I find “God” in giv­ing my tithe and offer­ing because it is an act of wor­ship for me–and for all those who gives to Some­one they do not see.” I can prob­a­bly say that God has made the whole of cre­ation with­out blem­ish (sang-sinukuban ng walang pin­tas). In the begin­ning it was per­fect, and because of sin it was destroyed. No won­der that there is such a state of life with ease (nakakaluwag) and with­out ease (gipit), this would only show that the world is no longer a Gar­den of Eden for it was destroyed and because of this the more I look up to God that He will and who made a promise will bring all things, at the end. God cre­ated and kept the uni­verse in per­fect bal­ance. But because of the tragedy of the fall of woman/man into sin, imbal­ance came, that is why there are those who feel life with­out ease (gipit) and oth­ers feel life with ease (nakakaluwag). The time is com­ing (darat­ing ang araw) when God will restore back to the earth its beauty and bal­ance. God has given each one an oppor­tu­nity to become lit­tle gods (munt­ing diyos) and because He cre­ated woman/man in His image and like­ness, you are tasked to restore with God this imbalance.
3.2 Joe: “I don’t exactly know. I find myself amongst Chris­tians who believe in God and fear God who pun­ish those who are self­ish and greedy.” Just in case I expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) I con­sider this as bless­ings (biyaya) which I will never have by my own mak­ing. God has given me these oppor­tu­ni­ties to which I felt I do not deserve; in this way I can see that some­how I am expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag) by this time. A lit­tle taste (patikim) of har­mony and bal­ance to have an oppor­tu­nity to expe­ri­ence a glimpse of heaven is to desire for the true heaven, for it fore­shad­ows of the things to come.
3.3 Joe:  “…and may I add, even with ani­mals and plants that are hun­gry or thirsty, I feel like giv­ing food or watering.” I can tell between those who are expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag) and those who are not (gipit). It is pos­si­ble that we are of the same sta­tus, let’s say because of our sin­ful­ness and all of us deserve to suf­fer. That is why if I have the chance to expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag), I have to let go of a por­tion of my ease (luwag) in order to help those who are in need (gipit). If I will not use the Judaeo-Christian tra­di­tion, then I would use the con­cept of law of har­mony where Con­fu­cius would claim that if there is such a thing as an expe­ri­ence with ease (luwag)  on one side, then there is an expe­ri­ence with­out ease (gipit) on the other side. This means that some­thing has been taken from some­one, that is why you have to let go of an expe­ri­ence of life with ease (luwag) so that those who expe­ri­ence of life with­out ease (gipit), that tight­ness is released, to equal­ize, to har­mo­nize, for there is no such thing as tak­ing advan­tage of the other, no decep­tions, no cheat­ing, no dis­crim­i­na­tion. It is not fair  where you  enjoy life, while other are not, That is why the term kapwa is kapwa, kapuwang, mean­ing you are enjoy­ing the same space and source with oth­ers, includ­ing all of God’s creation “[none]” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[none]”

 

 

 

 

3.4 Joe: “…I find in myself giv­ing back a part of some­thing that I received from my labor, and from oth­ers (in the form of gifts, inher­i­tance, etc.) to those who are in need.” Our nature (kalikasan) is part per­haps of the effect of sin which destroyed its bal­ance and only God restores it. How­ever we need not wait for that time, if there are issues con­cern­ing our envi­ron­ment we can already assume our role as small god here on earth sim­ply because we are cre­ated in God’s image. That’s why being small gods we will fix this, we will restore its bal­ance. Our world now is never per­fect which explains why there are those who expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) and those who expe­ri­ence life with­out ease (gipit). God sim­ply allows it to hap­pen so that peo­ple will real­ize that the world is imper­fect thus they will look up to heaven and acknowl­edge that He is the source of every­thing. This allows me to rec­og­nize that I can­not live only for myself, and I should look into the lessons of pro­vid­ing har­mony or becom­ing whole, where there are no chaos, no jeal­ousy, no tak­ing advan­tage of oth­ers (laman­gan) or greed (kasaki­man) and all the oth­ers things related to these. “[none]” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Joe: “[T]he same lessons that the expe­ri­ences of being gipit teach me, that include har­mony, pru­dence, faith, etc.” By look­ing up to heaven they are not just phe­nom­ena, these life with ease (nakakaluwag)  and with­out ease (gipit) but lessons in order to keep look­ing at God. He cre­ated us for a pur­pose and not just mere acci­dents nor prod­ucts of evo­lu­tion. We are cre­ated by God for a sim­ple fact, and that is to give glory and praise to Him. That is why in a expe­ri­ence life with­out ease (kagip­i­tan) or we found out that oth­ers are cheat­ing and deceiv­ing, while oth­ers are taken advan­tage by them (nalala­man­gan), then oth­ers are  expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag) while oth­ers do not. So we see that it not good to live (mag­a­n­dang mabuhay) in the world because it does not sat­isfy our long­ing and desires, there­fore we have to look up in heaven (tumin­gin tayo sa lan­git), we have to read heaven (basahin natin ang lan­git) that there are bet­ter things (mga mas mag­a­n­dang bagay) than the things we own (tinatangk­i­lik). I have taught many things the­o­ret­i­cally, then after so many years I have real­ized that they were not that effec­tive. How­ever if what I have taught has been seen, wit­nessed and put into prac­tice, then they are all learned (tala­gang natu­tu­tu­nan).
5. (a) Joe: “It depends on the par­tic­u­lar sit­u­a­tion. Gen­er­ally, how­ever, oth­ers will be bet­ter taught by how I behaved in con­crete terms and not by what I sim­ply tell them. (“Val­ues are caught, not taught”) (“At my age, I no longer try to do what I teach, but I teach only what I do.”).”5. (b) Joe: “In our house, we have a jar near the door where I put some coins (loose change) from time to time–to keep it more or less full. I do not only tell my wife, daugh­ter, and the ser­vants about it, but they actu­ally see me (and oth­ers) get loose change from that jar for some beg­gars, indi­gents, tips for deliv­ery boys, etc.” It is also prac­ti­cal learn­ing expe­ri­ence for peo­ple expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag) to share a help to those who are expe­ri­enc­ing life with­out ease (nagigipit). How­ever if they start enjoy­ing how it feels to have ease and increase it more (lak­i­han ang pagkakaluwag) and start ignor­ing those who  have no ease (huwag ng pakiala­manan ang mga nagigipit), then this is a great imbal­ance. In a vio­lent rev­o­lu­tion for change we saw how inhu­man it was, where the dig­nity of the indi­vid­u­als had been tram­pled upon or threat­ened, human rights were vio­lated, then the Image of God was dis­torted.  One method to pre­vent this is to look up in heaven (basahin ang lan­git). Another method is to imi­tate heaven (gayahin ang lan­git) by those who love God who must to prac­tice not to be greedy, not to be self­ish, and not always hav­ing life with ease (hindi lag­ing nakakaluwag habang buhay) because in heaven all are equal and even the idea of ease and with­out ease (gipit at nakakaluwag) does not exist there. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Wes­ley said, “When I have money, I get rid of it quickly, lest it find a way into my heart.” You may enjoy at first how it feels to have ease in money (nakakaluwag sa pera), then you for­get its pur­pose. Isn’t it (hindi ba) that it’s pur­pose is to see heaven and you will reflect upon it to cre­ate lit­tle heaven (munt­ing lan­git). If you were given a taste of life with ease (kaluwa­gan) you should use it hav­ing in mind that this is not only meant to you because if you would claim that it is only for your­self, then it indi­cates that you are not look­ing up to heaven (hindi ka nakatingi sa lan­git), you are sim­ply look­ing down here on earth. Ordi­nar­ily, to feel life with ease (nakakaluwag) it per­tains to a life of ease in mate­r­ial things. How­ever, it is also pos­si­ble that you feel life with ease (nakakaluwag) in terms of knowl­edge when you are gifted with intel­li­gence. Now that you have ease in knowl­edge (nakakaluwag sa kaala­man), you should teach and share what you know.
6. RJE of Me-Ann,  Sub­mit­ted on  August 3, 2010 

1st IDPRJE

Unique Mean­ing Units

(Co-Rs’ State­ments on Nakakaluwag)

6. NEA of Me-Ann,  Con­ducted on  August 10, 2010 

2nd IDPNEA

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

6. FIE of Me-Ann,  Con­ducted on August 19, 2010 

3rd IDPFIE

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

1.(a) Me-Ann: “To my mind, the life of ease (ang nakakaluwag sa buhay) has so many mean­ings, and the one that comes into my mind is some­one (a rich per­son) that has never expe­ri­enced life with­out ease (hirap sa buhay).”1. (b) Me-Ann: “I asked myself over and over again on what moment in my life that I expe­ri­enced life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) and what came into my mind is when I over­came those prob­lems that my fam­ily  faced,  and at that time I have no idea how my fam­ily would be able to sur­vive. My only defense was to pray always and some­one else’s advice. And with the prayers and advice of other peo­ple, I was able to sur­vive them all.”

 

1. © Me-Ann: “When I think about it [now], some­times I look like an insane per­son laugh­ing by myself on how I [mirac­u­lously] survived.”

“[none]” To me when you say expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag), it refers to those peo­ple who never went through life with­out ease (gipit at nakaranas ng hirap). They can afford to buy what­ever they want and they are finan­cially okay.
2. (a) Me-Ann:“With all the prob­lems I have sur­passed in my life, I felt my tired mind and body found rest, because I always felt sick then.”2. (b) Me-Ann: “I’m happy because I sur­vived, but I’m more grate­ful for all the lessons learned and the ques­tions answered, and to never avoid the prob­lems [in life] but I should rather seek solu­tions [to respond to them].” I can say that I expe­ri­enced life with ease (nakakaluwag) when­ever I’m able to sur­vive all my prob­lems and tri­als that came into my life and to the life of my family. Per­son­ally as I think about the many prob­lems I encoun­tered in life, I can say that I expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) when­ever I sur­vived all of these prob­lems (nalalam­pasan). When I have series of and some­times over­lap­ping and simul­ta­ne­ous prob­lems, I sim­ply told God, will I be able to sur­vive all these? It feels good when you pass all these challenges.
3.1 Me-Ann: “He [God] is the cen­ter of all my life [and] I’m grate­ful even with the ugly, more so of the beau­ti­ful things that hap­pened in my life.” God is the cen­ter of my life, of my fam­ily. It is from whom I asked help and even­tu­ally in the process I’m becom­ing closer to Him. Based on my per­sonal expe­ri­ence, prayer really works, espe­cially dur­ing times that I have so much prob­lems, I’m really down how­ever if you keep on pray­ing as you go home com­ing from school or work, your prayer is answered. And when I pray to God I sim­ply tell Him my sto­ries, my experiences.
3.2 Me-Ann: “I real­ized my own weak­nesses dur­ing the time that [I was con­fused and] had no idea of what I was sup­posed to do, but at the end I real­ized my own strengths. It even came to a point that I just sim­ply kept quiet and all I wanted is [just] always enjoy­ing life.” In all that I went through in life, most espe­cially in all the tri­als I encoun­tered, they made a strong per­son, and I even rec­og­nized my very own weak­nesses from which I’m grad­u­ally improv­ing to become a bet­ter person. Not all the time, not all the days that we are on the same con­di­tion that what hap­pens today will sim­ply repeat tomor­row. At other time, other day give me fresh and new experience.
3.3 (a) Me-Ann:“I share to oth­ers, espe­cially to my close friends who are expe­ri­enc­ing [at the moment] all the things I went through and sur­vived them myself.”3.3 (b) Me-Ann: “Every­thing will just come to an end, just say a prayer and act on them, [because] at the end every­thing will just turn out well.” My fellow-beings (mga kapwa-tao ko) they are all there for me giv­ing me advice in all the things that I should be doing. They are also the ones help­ing me to sur­vive all the prob­lems I encoun­tered and will be encoun­ter­ing in life. I also give advice to other peo­ple although I know that oth­ers will not fol­low what­ever I advise them. It is up to them what is best deci­sion to make and what course of action to do. Like those friends I asked advice from, what­ever they told me that would serve a guide, at the end I will always take respon­si­bil­ity for myself for what­ever deci­sion I will make.
3.4 Me-Ann: “In nature I felt that [all] my sur­round­ings are beau­ti­ful. Even the weather con­di­tion is one with me, the sun shines so bright, and though the tem­per­a­ture is hot, it’s windy [it helps bring a cool breeze] and all that I see is beau­ti­ful to my sight, and I’m happy.” It would come to a point when you have so many prob­lems, where I could even feel how depress­ing the envi­ron­ment has become. I could sense that even the weather con­di­tion would join me in the per­sonal strug­gles I’m going through. And yet at the end after being able to sur­vive them all, I could really feel how happy I am. When­ever I have prob­lems, I feel really down and the atmos­phere at home is so gloomy and sad, then when you go out to be one with nature you will real­ize that the feel­ing and atmos­phere are just the same. How­ever if I’m happy and I go out­side, though out there is so hot sunny day, yet I feel so cool and fresh.
4.(a) Me-Ann:“The les­son I learned is that life goes on despite all the expe­ri­ences I went through, and not all the time is sadness.” 

4.(b) Me-Ann: “[T]hink of all the beau­ti­ful things [in life] so that you will always be happy [and] always think that every­thing that hap­pens in life has a pur­pose, beau­ti­ful or ugly [good or bad].”

Life is not all the time plea­sur­able (puro sarap). There is also as part of my life strug­gles and dif­fi­cul­ties that we have to go through. And if there are tri­als and chal­lenges that would come along the way, is very nec­es­sary that you do not have to ever give up. Never put these tri­als seri­ously into your heart (huwag masyadong didib­dibin). Just think about that all of these things are hap­pen­ing for a reason. I’m grate­ful to God, thank­ing Him for hav­ing sur­vived all these prob­lems I have. Before,  when­ever I had strug­gles and dif­fi­cul­ties that I had to go through, I eas­ily got irri­tated, upset, dis­heart­ened, I frowned and always looked for some­one to be blamed. Now it’s dif­fer­ent, I learned all these from my per­sonal expe­ri­ences that these are sim­ply life’s lessons.
5. (a) Me-Ann:“I had always told the peo­ple close to me and even those who were not, that they should always pray and give thanks and never let one­self be defeated by things that come up in life, espe­cially with prob­lems, which are really the twin-partners of us peo­ple.”5. (b) Me-Ann: “It is really unavoid­able not to think of pos­si­ble solu­tion, and never ever think that there will be no more tomor­row and never also think that there is no more rea­son to rejoice, and never for­get to be thankful.” Per­haps to my fellow-beings (mga kapwa-tao ko) who went through the same expe­ri­ences as mine, I could tell them that what­ever that would come into their lives either good or bad, they should always be thank­ful because all these things are tak­ing place for rea­son, they never even blame God that these things hap­pened. Only prayers are the answers. Life goes on. Not because you have many prob­lems in life you would sim­ply sit down in one cor­ner and do noth­ing (mag­mu­mukmok). Life con­tin­ues. Always think of all the pos­si­ble solu­tions avail­able to address your prob­lems. Always be pos­i­tive so that you are happy all the time. Life sim­ply goes on and on (tuloy tuloy lang ang buhay). Just keep on hold­ing on to God and do not ever give up.
7. RJE of  Lorence,  Sub­mit­ted on  August 4, 2010 

1st IDPRJE

Unique Mean­ing Units

(Co-Rs’ State­ments on Nakakaluwag)

7. NEA of  Lorence,  Con­ducted on  August 5, 2010 

2nd IDPNEA

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

7. FIE of  Lorence,  Con­ducted on August 18, 2010 

3rd IDPFIE

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

1.  Lorence: “I felt liv­ing with ease in my life (nakakaluwag ako sa aking buhay) at that time when I was shel­tered by my [car­ing] aunt [with whom I’m stay­ing until now] after my father’s death. I was only 7 years old then, and I stopped school­ing. Our [car­ing] aunt took us from our other [uncar­ing] aunt [with whom we stayed at first], after then I was able to con­tinue my school­ing, fin­ished high school and was able to land a job. Then I felt that I’m liv­ing with ease in my life (nakalu­luwag ako sa aking buhay) in my life.)” “[none]” Our [car­ing] aunt took us from our other [uncar­ing] aunt and now she is send­ing my younger brother to fin­ish college.
2. (a) Lorence: “It is a joy­ful feel­ing to live with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) because many of us now are liv­ing with­out ease in life (hirap sa buhay) on a daily basis.2. (b) Lorence: “But there are peo­ple still who are blessed with life of com­fort and it’s [I guess] a joy­ful feeling.” I expe­ri­enced life with ease (nakakaluwag) since the time my sib­lings and I were accepted and accom­mo­dated to stay for good (kin­up­kop) in the house with our sec­ond aunt. We were stay­ing with our first aunt then, but we were not treated well (bale wala lang kami). How­ever, things have changed after our sec­ond aunt took care of us, she sent the three of us to school and all of us were able to fin­ish high school. It is a joy­ful feel­ing to live with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) because it is really dif­fi­cult to live if you have mo money to sus­tain you every day, it is really hard if you have no source of income.
3.1 (a) Lorence: “Even if I don’t see God, I still feel his pres­ence, even dur­ing the time that we were liv­ing with­out ease in life (hirap sa buhay) until the time that we are liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay).” 

 

3.1 (b) Lorence:  “[A]nd I’m grate­ful for God each day for all the tri­als that we have over­come every day.”

I felt life with ease (nakakaluwag) because I always believe in God, I have faith in Him and I never lose hope that I will be able to over­come and sur­vive all our tri­als in life and improve our sit­u­a­tion better. I always pray to God because I always feel His pres­ence. And most of the time He lis­tens to my prayers and answers them.
3.2 Lorence: “In a sit­u­a­tion that I’m liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay), I real­ized that despite many hard­ships and tri­als that come into my life, the more I develop and dis­cover myself, I am stronger per­son for each day that comes.” As I com­pare my present sit­u­a­tion with oth­ers, I felt life with ease (nakakaluwag). I can iden­tify with them because we are on the same boat: we live with our rel­a­tives and we have no fam­ily of our own. One day I will be able live a bet­ter life (makakaa­hon din ako, nakaan­gat sa buhay). As long as I have enough for our daily needs, to me that is okay. What mat­ters is that my sib­lings are okay. I just observed that oth­ers may have a bet­ter life (nakaan­gat sa buhay) but the fam­ily is never sat­is­fied, and some­time the mem­bers of that fam­ily would opt to live sep­a­rate lives (watak-watak).  On my part, we are just con­tented with what is just enough for us, what mat­ters for me is we are all together and complete.
3.3 Lorence: “In a sit­u­a­tion that I’m liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay), some­times I real­ized I can iden­tify myself with oth­ers (mga kapwa) through what they went through in life, and often times I advice them to be stronger to face hard­ships and tri­als that come into their lives [and that they should] not for­get God.” My fel­low being and God’s cre­ation, they are all the sources of what to expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag). Firstly, they are all important. At present we are still stay­ing with our [car­ing] aunt who sup­ported me to con­tinue my school­ing until I fin­ished high school. With this present sit­u­a­tion, I real­ized I can iden­tify myself with oth­ers (mga kapwa). I felt and I could imag­ine how dif­fi­cult it is to live with no bed to sleep in at night, no place to stay all day.
3.4 Lorence: “I am expe­ri­enc­ing a life of ease (kaluwa­gan ng buhay) in nature (kalikasan) because it pro­vides us with every­thing, and we should love and take care of it.” Sec­ondly, being a part of human­ity and of our own nature (kalikasan), it is a must that we should have to take care of them and develop them for the better. If nobody would take the ini­tia­tive to clean our sur­round­ings, our envi­ron­ment, then it will become dirty and pol­luted. And who would then take the respon­si­bil­ity to take care of it. I just feel that the cleaner the envi­ron­ment, the more you expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag). Our nature (kalikasan) is the source of what will make us expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag). It is from where we get our source of living.
4. (a) Lorence: “The les­son I learned from expe­ri­enc­ing a life of ease (nakakaluwag ng buhay) is that despite that I’m com­plete with the basics that I need, I must not become com­pla­cent, rather I should make my resources grow in a way that they will be [more] ben­e­fi­cial to myself, and to my fam­ily in search­ing for a noble liveli­hood.”4. (b) Lorence: “And now I’m expe­ri­enc­ing more the life of ease (kaluwa­gan ng buhay) not only because I can buy what I want, but I can even con­tinue my school­ing though it’s just a voca­tional course.

 

4. © Lorence: “[A]nd I’m happy [now] because I’m also help­ing my family.”

To expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) we have to share to other peo­ple how it feels to have ease in life (nakakaluwag), and we can only do it by help­ing our fellow-beings (mga kapwa tao), help­ing them as long as we can. To expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) so that oth­ers may feel it the same way that you do, you have to share to them what­ever that will make them feel at ease with life (nakakaluwag). Like in my case, if my other nine (9) sib­lings, any of them would ask some­thing that I know I can afford to buy, I give it all (hang­gat may pera ibinibi­gay ko).
5. (a) Lorence: “I sup­pose that the les­son that I can teach my fel­low being (kapwa) is that though we are expe­ri­enc­ing a life of ease (nakakaluwag ng buhay), this does not mean that we will have no more qualms at all about spend­ing every cen­tavo like there’s no tomor­row.”5. (b) Lorence: “We must learn to be thrifty [and learn to save money] and we must also learn to help and share with other peo­ple who are in need [most].” Though we may be expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag) it is nec­es­sary that we don’t have to be com­pla­cent (kam­pante). It is impor­tant too that we have to think how to find ways to solve our present prob­lems so that we can carry on our life with ease (nakakaluwag) in order that we can con­tin­u­ously reach out to others. We should not be spend­ing every cen­tavo like there’s no tomor­row (huwag mag­pakasasa sa kung ano meron ka). We should spend, but not exces­sive spend­ing. We have to be thrifty, we have to save (kailan­gan magtabi).
8. RJE of   Pink,    Sub­mit­ted on  August 5, 2010 

1st IDPRJE

Unique Mean­ing Units

(Co-Rs’ State­ments on Nakakaluwag)

8. NEA of   Pink,    Con­ducted on  August 17, 2010 

2nd IDPNEA

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

8. FIE of   Pink,    Con­ducted on August 19, 2010 

3rd IDPFIE

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

1. (a) Pink: “It’s easy for me to learn or com­pare whether ako ay nakakaluwag sa buhay o hindi(I’m liv­ing with ease or not), [it’s all] because of the basic things that I have in life, nakakaluwag sa ibat ibang aspeto (with ease in dif­fer­ent aspects), it could be in terms of hav­ing money, or [being with the] fam­ily or [study­ing in a] school.”1. (b) Pink:Nararam­daman ko na ako ay nakakaluwag (I expe­ri­enced life with ease), first and fore­most when I feel happy and I have no prob­lem [and worries].

 

1. © Pink: “Sec­ondly, when it’s [so] easy to find answers to prob­lems, or in other words, there is no need to think so much on how to address all these prob­lems that come into my life.”

“[none]” What is the dif­fer­ence between the basic things that I have in life and beyond the basics. When you say basics or basic needs these are the things that every­body needs in order to live a decent life. Every­body here refers to either rich or poor who are all in need of these basics in order to live or sur­vive. If you com­pare these to the things that you want, let’s say beyond the basics, this would mean that even with­out them as long as the basics are met then you can live or sur­vive. Per­son­ally the joy I felt of hav­ing my basic needs met and the joy I felt when I am able to acquire beyond the basics are two dif­fer­ent expe­ri­ences. In a way I am happy with what my fam­ily has right now, and I con­sider it already a bless­ing if my fam­ily can have more than what it can afford to buy.
2. (a) Pink:Ang paki­ram­dam ng nakakaluwag sa buhay ay napaka saya(It’s a joy­ful feel­ing to live with ease in life) most espe­cially when you are free from wor­ries.”2. (b) Pink: “In terms of fam­ily mat­ters, you feel happy when there is no prob­lem inter­fer­ing among the mem­bers of the fam­ily, in other words, the mem­bers of the fam­ily under­stand each other well and they never hold grudges against anyone.”

 

2. © Pink: “In terms of money mat­ters, it is [also] a happy feel­ing when you can buy more than just the basic needs, like the mate­r­ial goods that you [really] want, which can pos­si­bly cause you con­tin­u­ous sat­is­fac­tion in life.”

I expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) with var­i­ous rea­sons. Firstly, you are happy. Sec­ondly, you have no prob­lems or if you have prob­lems you can eas­ily find solu­tions. Thirdly, in the finan­cial aspect, you do not only buy things that you need, you can also afford to buy things that you want. If you have prob­lems, you feel sad, and some­times when you think about them your neg­a­tive thoughts can influ­ence and affect your well­be­ing. How­ever when you are able to find solu­tions to your prob­lems you even­tu­ally turn your sad­ness into joy.
3.1 (a) Pink: “I am a reli­gious per­son that I should never for­get God bilang isang tao o bagay (as a per­son or thing [or entity]) that must never dis­ap­pear [in my life]. I always empha­size that in each day that God has made, I can­not afford to miss thank­ing him because he has given me the pagkakataon para makaram­dam ng luwag sa buhay(oppor­tu­nity to expe­ri­ence life with ease).”3.1 (b) Pink: “[A]nd it’s not just dahil sa nakakaluwag ako sa buhay (because I’m liv­ing with ease in life) that I’m grate­ful to him, but because I keep on ask­ing him and won­der­ing why he is not giv­ing me any prob­lem in life, even once, and yet I know [if] he [will] give it [it’s only] because God knows I can cope with my problem.)” I expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) when I let God guide me and help me. I will never for­get that God is always there for me help­ing me, all His teach­ings on how to be a good per­son is guid­ing me. But some­times you can’t help it that there are things that you want that He may not grant. I ques­tioned God why He only gives me this much, and if I keep think­ing about it and I real­ized maybe that this is only what is meant for me. So what­ever you have you must learn how to be con­tented because this is what only God has given. And some­times, if there is more than what you expect be grate­ful to God’s bless­ing and generosity.
3.2 (a) Pink:“I have finally come to real­ize how to accept myself. This has some­thing to do with [my] char­ac­ter in my life; I [also] come to real­ize that I could afford to be happy and [at the same time] sat­is­fied with what­ever is given me. Whether it’s pos­i­tive or neg­a­tive.”3.2 (b) Pink: “I want to pay atten­tion to the many lessons learned dahil sa mga sit­wasyon na alam kong nakakaluwag ako (because of the sit­u­a­tions that I know I felt liv­ing with ease).” I expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) when I found myself how I even­tu­ally have become a strong per­son, inde­pen­dent indi­vid­ual, and a per­son who can stand up with my own two feet. I’m a U.S. cit­i­zen, but being a Fil­ipino cit­i­zen too I find it hap­pier if you are sur­rounded by many rel­a­tives. And I must admit that there is some­thing in the way Fil­ipinos would wel­come, accept and relate with you.
3.3 Pink:Kung nakakaluwag ako (When I expe­ri­ence life with ease) I see peo­ple as my inspi­ra­tion. These peo­ple serve as guide, the way or it can also be mag­ing sanhi kung bakit ako nakakaluwag (the rea­son why I expe­ri­enced life with ease) and it is impor­tant to thank [and be grate­ful to] them because if not for them I will never come to real­ize ang halaga ng isang paki­ram­dam ng nakakaluwag (the value of an expe­ri­ence of a life with ease).)” I expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) when your fellow-being (kapwa) become your part­ner (katuwang) and all the things that you are doing. I must admit that I have so much that oth­ers don’t have. For exam­ple, edu­ca­tion. Help­ing those who have less in life can be through edu­ca­tion, through finan­cial assis­tance. But help­ing oth­ers is more than mate­r­ial help. You can help by estab­lish­ing a rela­tion­ship that assists oth­ers in doing what is right and avoid­ing what is wrong. A rela­tion­ship that guides oth­ers to the right direction.
3.4 Pink: “’Every CREATION has its VALUE.’ Kung nakakaluwag ako (When I expe­ri­ence life with ease) the “cre­ation” of God and all the other things are the ones help­ing me to lighten up the prob­lems and to find solu­tions to many things that I just don’t under­stand myself.” In all that God has cre­ated, I expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakauwag) as they facil­i­tate in mak­ing eas­ier what­ever you are doing and help­ing as in solv­ing our problems. All the peo­ple in the world should real­ize that every­thing that God has cre­ated has pur­pose and value. And because of these, God is ask­ing you to take care of them, and be thank­ful for them. And the more we enhance them, the more we can make this world a sta­ble one.
4. Pink: “I also learned many lessons kung ako ay nakakaranas ng pagkaluwag sa buhay (when I’m expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease), I’m sat­is­fied with many things that I have, and the more [I come to real­ize that] I have a pur­pose [in my life], that I should pay atten­tion and pri­or­i­tize the many things that I know could help me become a bet­ter per­son, for myself and para na rin sa akin kapwa (also for my fel­low being).” In order for me to say that I expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakauwag), I have to be at peace (panatag). I have to be thank­ful to God who despite the tri­als that He may give us, He knows that we can find ways to find the solu­tions to all of them. This con­ver­sa­tion has given me the oppor­tu­nity to know myself more and bet­ter, what I can offer and not. And it also made me grate­ful and real­ize that I’m expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag).
5. (a) Pink: “The lessons that I feel [or think] that I will teach my kapwa (fel­low being) is that [she/he] be con­tented in life and tang­gapin ng maluwag(accept with ease) the many hard­ships and tri­als that come, dahil sa totoo lang (because in real­ity) we are the ones who choose if we want to be happy or sad or to worry [and be anx­ious] of the many prob­lems.”5. (b) Pink: Kung nakakaluwag man tayo(If we are liv­ing with ease then) we have to be grate­ful to all the peo­ple who also have helped us and this should serve as an inspi­ra­tion for other peo­ple who are in need of [our] help.” 

5. © Pink: “Be calm and be happy for noth­ing good will come out if we [just] keep wor­ry­ing about the prob­lems that we should not worry at all.”

It is very impor­tant to bear in mind that what­ever you have in life we have to be con­tented, what­ever other peo­ple have, it is a life’s les­son that you do not need to have every­thing in life. What­ever you have right now, they came from God, and we have to be grate­ful and thank­ful to Him. If we are to do some­thing more, we should not limit our­selves that this is the only thing we should do. We have to give more effort to what we can give and do. We have to take an extra mile.
9. RJE of Elvie,  Sub­mit­ted on  August 7, 2010 

1st IDPRJE

Unique Mean­ing Units

(Co-Rs’ State­ments on Nakakaluwag)

9. NEA of  Elvie,  Con­ducted on  August 7, 2010 

2nd IDPNEA

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

9. FIE of  Elvie,  Con­ducted on August 14, 2010 

3rd IDPFIE

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

1. Elvie:Nararam­daman kong nakakaluwag sa buhay (I expe­ri­enced life with ease) if I have extra income, more than enough for my daily needs.” I expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) if my earn­ings are more than my daily wages; if there is still some excess and I will prob­a­bly save up money for my family. I will expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) if in terms of what I’m earn­ing, I can afford to buy the basics for my fam­ily, then I still have some­thing left. Just in case oth­ers may ask help from me, then I can still help them. As of now, there is only excess when Christ­mas time comes when I get the 13th month pay and bonuses.
2. Elvie: “It is a joy­ful feel­ing [free from wor­ries] and noth­ing both­ers your mind kung nakakaluwag sa buhay (when you are liv­ing with ease in life).” “[none]” You can only say that it’s a joy­ful feel­ing when you never worry about tomorrow’s con­cerns, let’s say where will I get the money to buy for food, then if you are sick, where will I get the money to buy med­i­cines and pay my hos­pi­tal bills. Because if I have no money, that would be a big problem.
3. Elvie: “At all times or in all parts of my life [and exis­tence] I find God, myself, my fel­low being, [and] nature, with no excep­tion because all [of them] are nec­es­sary everyday.” To expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) is to see all together in my life: God, myself, our fel­low beings (mga kapwa tao) and our nature (kalikasan). For with­out them, I will never be here and I will never enjoy the life I have. I don’t see them as sep­a­rate, because I know that God is always there help­ing me, myself as I am here (ako pa rin ang nan­did­ito), my fel­low being (kapwa ko na nakakasalu­muha ko), my co-workers that I inter­act with, then our nature as I acknowl­edge its pres­ence (paglabas ko nakikita ko na). So they are not sep­a­rate, they are all sim­ply there. I have strong faith in God, I believe prayer is my best way to hold on to Him, doing good to oth­ers is another.
4. Elvie: “You are able to help [and share with] peo­ple who are in need [most]. You have to save money [and learn to be thrifty] so that in the event of a finan­cial dif­fi­culty later, you will have avail­able money when you need it.” We have to be thrifty (masinop) and we have to save up money (magipon) for our future so that in times of needs we have avail­able resources to sus­tain us (may­roon kang madudukot). I have to be thrifty because I felt before that when I’m in need of finan­cial help, nobody would really help and lend me money. So I’m will­ing to help, but I will not give every­thing that I have because now you are not sure who would help you in return when you are the one in need. I will help but I will still keep some­thing for myself because there is no guar­an­tee that I will eas­ily receive help from others.
5. Elvie: “Don’t be greedy. And always have faith in God.” Do not be greedy to your fel­low beings (mga kapwa tao). Always pray to God for oth­ers that they will never for­get Him. Never ever for­get our God above (huwag makalimot sa itaas). This will assure you so that you will never lose hope and even­tu­ally you can help oth­ers more. I also real­ize that there is a dis­tinc­tion between expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag) in terms of one’s peace of mind and finan­ciall sta­bil­ity. Because I think that there are peo­ple who may have money, and other don’t have, how­ever it turns out that those with less or no money are expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease  more (mas nakakaluwag), rather than those who have so much finan­cially but have no peace of mind, there­fore they will expe­ri­ence life with­out ease (gipit o hindi nakakaluwag).
10. RJE of Rom­mel,  Sub­mit­ted on  August 7, 2010 

1st IDPRJE

Unique Mean­ing Units

(Co-Rs’ State­ments on Nakakaluwag)

10. NEA of Rom­mel,  Con­ducted on  August 7, 2010 

2nd IDPNEA

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

10. FIE of Rom­mel,  Con­ducted on August 18, 2010 

3rd IDPFIE

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

1.  Rom­mel: “1. When I’m nakakaluwag in life (liv­ing with ease), I learned to help, to share and be a man for oth­ers. It feels that I have a social respon­si­bil­ity. Saka ko masasabi or naram­damang nakakaluwag ako sa buhay. (Then I say or I expe­ri­enced life with ease).” I expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) when­ever I help peo­ple and share with them what­ever I have in what­ever way I can. I expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) when­ever I help peo­ple and share with them, with my fam­ily what­ever I have in what­ever way I can. Social respon­si­bil­ity is best exer­cised by help­ing your imme­di­ate family.
2.  Rom­mel: “Per­haps the feel­ing of nakakaluwag in life (life with ease) is being happy.” When I have assumed hav­ing a sense of social respon­si­bil­ity that is the time that I truly feel life with ease (nakakaluwag). It’s a joy­ful feel­ing to live with ease (nakakaluwag) because I’m able to help in what­ever way I can. I know I’m not greedy (hindi ako maramot).
3.  Rom­mel: “I found it within myself when I’m nakakaluwag (with ease), in life, then in God because I approach him when it comes to hav­ing a prob­lem to ask him for a sign on how and what should be done so to clear [my] mind. And in kapwa (my fel­low being), who will pro­vide me moral sup­port and at the same time from whom I can also ask for an advice.).” When­ever I felt life with ease (nakakaluwag) of course God is always the num­ber one, the very first one to whom I go and being thank­ful for giv­ing good health, for let­ting me have my fel­low beings (mga kapwa-tao) around and from whom I also ask advice and guid­ance. When your mind is focused on nature (kalikasan) you can also deter­mine in what area of your life you expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag). Never ever for­get God. He is num­ber one because every­thing comes from Him. He is the source of life and our rea­son for liv­ing. Now if you are greedy, what­ever things that you may have, you will never expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag). God is truly present, and I per­son­ally expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) with nature (kalikasan) when­ever I’m faced with prob­lems. Dur­ing this time I would pre­fer to be alone, I would go to a quiet place. In Bicol our house is along the high­way. On the other side of the high­way my fam­ily owns a land which is hilly (burol) then there is a nipa hut (kubo) where I will spend the whole after­noon reflect­ing about life. It feels good after­wards,  I can feel life with ease (nakakaluwag).
4.  Rom­mel: “Never for­get God, don’t be greedy, pakikipagkapwa (hav­ing a regard for the dig­nity of fel­low being).” I came to real­ize that the more I get closer to God. I always say be open, so that what­ever you have, you may be able to give in what­ever way you can.
5.  Rom­mel: “Always be open, kung ano may­ron (what­ever that you may have), always think positive!” It is nec­es­sary that my fel­low beings (mga kapwa tao) should be honest. Always think pos­i­tive. Never ever lose hope. Life never ends in prob­lems, in suf­fer­ings. There is always happy end­ing, there is always res­ur­rec­tion. In that res­ur­rec­tion we expe­ri­ence more life with ease (nakakaluwag) because the prob­lems already end, and this is what life with ease with­out prob­lems (nakakaluwag-luwag sa prob­lema).
11. RJE of  Ben­son,Sub­mit­ted on  August 10, 2010 

1st IDPRJE

Unique Mean­ing Units

(Co-Rs’ State­ments on Nakakaluwag)

11. NEA of  Ben­son,Con­ducted on  August 17, 2010 

2nd IDPNEA

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

11. FIE of  Ben­son,Con­ducted on August 19, 2010 

3rd IDPFIE

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

1. Ben­son: Nakakaram­dam ako ng pagkaluwag (I expe­ri­enced life with ease) in my life when­ever I’m unoc­cu­pied [free from work] or when I’m help­ing my kapwa-tao (fel­low being).” I expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) when­ever I pray to God, when­ever I extend help to those who are in need of help. This expe­ri­ence pro­vides me an inspi­ra­tion and you felt happy. To expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) is like tak­ing time to relax after a long and tir­ing day in school there are a lot of work to be done.
2.(a) Ben­son: Masaya sa aking paki­ram­dam kapag ako ay nakakaluwang sa aking buhay(It is a joy­ful feel­ing when I live with ease).”2.(b) Ben­son: “[Y]et even though it feels happy, you will not really enjoy it when you are all alone expe­ri­enc­ing it, while your other friends are suf­fer­ing with their problems.” When you never help oth­ers, it sim­ply means that you are so pre­oc­cu­pied with your­self. And I think it is bet­ter to help for it brings you an expe­ri­ence of ease (nakakaluwag). When­ever you know that some­one is in need, then you have to share to her/him what­ever you have in what­ever way you can, so that you will  help ease  her/his sad­ness and you turn it into joy. And I also joy­fully feel inside me when you make oth­ers happy.
3.1 Ben­son: “In this sit­u­a­tion, nakakaluwag ako sa aking buhay (I felt liv­ing with ease in my life) when­ever I encoun­tered God every time he helps me with my stud­ies or in what­ever I’m doing in my life.” When you pray to God, when you do good things to your fel­low beings (mga kapwa tao), to the orga­ni­za­tions that are also into help­ing peo­ple, Jesus will bless you; will give you a happy fam­ily, like mine which is a happy family. “[none]”
3.2 Ben­son: “I encoun­tered myself when­ever I’m doing good things with my mga kapwa (fel­low beings) because you [will] feel more the joy and kaluwa­gan (ease) in your life.” I feel life with ease (nakakaluwag) because I myself take good care of my own well being, I treat myself with impor­tance  and I never neglect my respon­si­bil­ity [at home], to myself, like in my studies. I help my par­ents, some­times I do the house­hold chores, wash­ing dishes, dust­ing, and sweep­ing the floor. Once in a while I do the laun­dry by mak­ing the efforts to wash my per­sonal clothes. My mother does not want us to grow up like boss (amo), so we learned how to do it ourselves.
3.3 Ben­son: “To your [mga] kapwa (fel­low beings) what­ever you are doing for them when­ever they need help will serve as a rea­son for you to be nat­u­rally helped [by them] in return when you also are in need of help.” Once in a while I joined my friends (barkada) and helped them in their stud­ies. I assist them so they can com­ply with their require­ments on time. How­ever, I never do give away the right answer, what I do is to help them by pro­vid­ing them the pro­ce­dures and tips to solve or address Math problems.  You should not always think about your­self. You should also think of oth­ers. So when you are happy your­self, when you expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) then you should also see how oth­ers would feel life either with ease (nakakaluwag) or with­out (gipit).
3.4 Ben­son: “In nature, it is more beau­ti­ful to see it if the sur­round­ings are clean and if every­body does not throw garbage anywhere.” I have been telling peo­ple not to throw their garbage any­where; most espe­cially this time because of envi­ron­men­tal pol­lu­tion con­cerns. Of course I have to start it with me first before I tell peo­ple to do the same. If I will not tell this to any­one, even though I start it myself, I will end up doing it alone. While I must admit that I have not con­tributed any­thing much to care and pro­tect our envi­ron­ment, but I remem­ber very clearly dur­ing my high school days, our teacher showed to us how beau­ti­ful Pasig River was. Then as we went on towards the end, Pasig River has become dump­site, where peo­ple throw their garbage. My real­iza­tion would tell me that, God has given this nature (kalikasan) as a gift, and there­fore, let us not exploit nor abuse it.
4. Ben­son: “ What karanasang na nakakaluwag sa buhay (expe­ri­enced of life with ease) is teach­ing you is that not all your expe­ri­ences are with ease, because some­times the help you made for other person[s] is either already beau­ti­ful [or good on your part] or nakakaluwag (with ease), but it may not [be good] on them.” You can expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) as long as you help or give impor­tance to peo­ple by help­ing them because by doing so it pro­vides color to your life. I heard from my teach­ers in high school this prover­bial say­ing: “Pag may tiyaga, may nilaga” (If you don’t per­se­vere, you can expect no reward).  Like in our stud­ies, you are per­se­ver­ing to pass or to get high grades.
5. Ben­son: “The only thing that I can teach is that every­body should accept the help that is given to them by their kapwa (fel­low being).  We have a say­ing [in the Philip­pines] “Pag may tyaga may nilaga” [which means if you have the deter­mi­na­tion, then you can ful­fill it].)” 

 

 

 

 

 

[Like what I pre­vi­ously said,] basi­cally to teach the things that really mat­ter to you and to your fel­low being (kapwa). I believe that when you pray and you do good works, some­thing good will be com­ing back to you and to your fam­ily.  Putting mod­esty aside, this is the rea­son why my fam­ily, I thinks is happy.
12. RJE of V-Mae,    Sub­mit­ted on  August 19, 2010 

1st IDPRJE

Unique Mean­ing Units

(Co-Rs’ State­ments on Nakakaluwag)

12. NEA of V-Mae,    Con­ducted on  August 19, 2010 

2nd IDPNEA

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

12. FIE of V-Mae,    Con­ducted on August 25, 2010 

3rd IDPFIE

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

1. V-Mae: Naram­daman ko na nakakaluwag ako sa buhay (I felt liv­ing with ease in my life) every time I solved my prob­lems, even though I addressed them one at a time.” I expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) when­ever all my prob­lems I encoun­tered in my life (prob­le­mang dumarar­ing) I’m able to find solutions. To expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) mat­ters a lot in terms of one’s finan­cial sta­tus. Another mean­ing would be an expe­ri­ence where you can take time to relax and rest, and you are not think­ing of any­thing that would worry you.
2. V-Mae: “It always feels very light and it’s a joy­ful feeling.” “[none]” I expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) as a joy­ful feel­ing when you are really with your family.
3.1 V-Mae: “When­ever I am alone and full of hope.” Some­times when I’m by myself, alone in my room, I always think and believe that there is hope. What I mean is, I never lost hope when­ever I have many prob­lems at hand and those that may come. Of course with the help of God, you really have to pray and He will really help you. It is totally dif­fer­ent that you have Him by your side, that what you hope for He is the only one you can rely on. Thus hold on to Him so tight (malakas na kapit).
3.2 V-Mae: “Every time I am alone.” [In a way] I expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) when I all alone in my room. My fel­low beings (mga kapwa tao) serve as my reflec­tion on what sta­tus of life I am now. And I believe all peo­ple have hope though each one only dif­fers in their given sit­u­a­tion and the way they are tak­ing. Some­how I can sense that I feel life with more ease (mas nakakaluwag) that some people. 

 

 

3.3. V-Mae: “Every time I see peo­ple with no hope.” [And think about] my life as some­what a lit­tle bet­ter than those of my other fel­low beings (mga kapwa tao) who are strug­gling to sur­vive in life. Every­one has pur­pose and mis­sion here on earth. God is giv­ing each one of us a unique role, task and free will in doing our mis­sion in life. Our basic mis­sion is to be a role model to our own fam­ily and to the fam­i­lies of our friends, most espe­cially to those who are los­ing hope in life.
3.4 V-Mae: “When­ever it is quiet.” When nature (kalikasan) is quiet, peace­ful and calm, there are no trou­bles tak­ing place (walang gulo na nangya­yari), then this is it. This is how expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag). Our nature (kalikasan) is a way for us to quiet our­selves, you go with your fam­ily and be one with nature, and sim­ply enjoy what it offers for it gives you a sense of feel­ing light, fresh and relaxed.
4. V-Mae: “It is nec­es­sary that in each trial that comes in a person’s life, we must not lose hope.” Every day that passes by is a day of real­iza­tion and learn­ing, which our minds and hearts should also be pre­pared to face the many tri­als in our lives. Just think of them that they are just sim­ply tri­als in our lives. Our rela­tion­ship with God, with peo­ple that sur­round you, your friends, your work which you well per­formed, all of these as many would say are ways of serv­ing God in all that you are doing.
5. V-Mae: “Life is very fast [today] and too short. [We have to] cher­ish each moment of it.  And remem­ber that all these [dif­fi­cult] expe­ri­ences are merely test­ing us.” What­ever I went through in life and all that I’m about to go through, I just sim­ply want to share these to them because at the end of the day, we have one and the same des­tiny. We only dif­fered in our choices and our deci­sions on what road to take, the right or the wrong direc­tion. But to have to real­ize that this is a once chance of a life time 

 

 

 

 

God’s will many times [if not all the time] pre­vails. It is now up to you to rec­og­nize the mes­sage that God wants to con­vey to you (pansinin yung dumaan).
13. RJE of Nelca,    Sub­mit­ted on  Sep­tem­ber 3, 2010 

1st IDPRJE

Unique Mean­ing Units

(Co-Rs’ State­ments on Nakakaluwag)

13. NEA of Nelca,    Con­ducted on   Sep­tem­ber 7, 2010 

2nd IDPNEA

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

13. FIE of Nelca,    Con­ducted on   Sep­tem­ber 8, 2010 

3rd IDPFIE

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

1. (a) Nelca: “I would con­sider myself nakakaluwag(liv­ing with ease) in life when I can actu­ally buy things that I want – those that may not be con­sid­ered neces­si­ties but makes life more com­fort­able and enjoy­able.”1. (b) Nelca: “I would also say that I feel that I am nakakaluwag (liv­ing with ease) when I can do things that are plea­sur­able (e.g. vaca­tion, fine din­ing) with­out com­pro­mis­ing [the] basic needs.”

 

1. © Nelca: “I also believe that those times that I get to enjoy my time with my fam­ily and friends with­out the wor­ries of money or time or work, are also times when you actu­ally feel nakakaluwag (liv­ing with ease).”

I expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) when­ever I can do the things that I really want. I can buy more than just the basics, I can afford to watch movies, go out to the malls [and spend time] with my fam­ily. So my con­cept of expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag) is not just lim­ited to mate­r­ial things. I think it’s how you live the qual­ity of your life. You start first with the mate­r­ial needs with the quan­tity and qual­ity of food served on the table, liv­ing in com­fort at a house, you never felt life with­out ease (hindi ka nagigipit) nor anx­ious on how to meet both ends on a daily basis, you can buy branded clothes, you can go out and travel, uou have no debts, you don’t owe money to any­one that is why you can afford to plan for your fam­ily, for your­self. Then n terms of time, you can afford to sit for hours and just watch TV, you can afford to inter­act with other peo­ple with­out wor­ry­ing about work. It means that I’m will­ing to give up a day work to just spend that pre­cious moment with my fam­ily. And with all these I can say I expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag). To expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) I ini­tially think of the basic needs, how­ever to my mind it is more than this, this is not sim­ply an issue of mate­r­ial things but an issue of liv­ing a total qual­ity of life. It is true that to expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) is to meet the very basics. In here you appre­ci­ate life when you are exempted from worries
2. (a) Nelca: Masaya, I feel happy that I need not worry about the needs of my fam­ily. It is a state that one gets to enjoy life at its full.”2. (b) Nelca: “ I feel a sense of free­dom as well.”

 

2. © Nelca: “ I also feel secured – mate­ri­ally, emo­tion­ally and spiritually.”

“[none]” When you expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) you have free­dom of choice, you have free­dom to choose doing the things you want to do. Unlike when you are expe­ri­enc­ing life with­out ease (gipit), you options are very lim­ited. The more resources avail­able to you the more free you are. To feel life with ease (nakakaluwag) would mean God’s bless­ings and I per­son­ally never claim that this is sim­ply a prod­uct of my own work.
3.1(a) Nelca: Napaka­ha­laga sa akin ang spir­i­tual aspect ng aking buhay(The spir­i­tual aspect of my life is very impor­tant to me).  This defines in a way, how I view things in life.”3.1(b) Nelca: Sa akin kasi, pag ram­dam ko na ako ay nakakaluwag sa buhay (To me, when I felt liv­ing with ease in my life), malak­ing bahagi noon ay dahil sa malakas na pananam­palataya sa Diyos (a big part of is due to [my] strong faith in God).”

 

3.1© Nelca: “I know that it is God’s work and bless­ings. In a sense, God remains to be the cen­ter of my being and my life.”

I think God is at the cen­ter of my life, and I’m the kind of per­son so con­vinced I have strong faith in Him, that is why every time I received bless­ings from Him, I really feel life with ease (nakakaluwag), I feel I have greater sense of free­dom, sense of ful­fill­ment, and I’m con­nected with the peo­ple I  love, with the envi­ron­ment which I find it as a bless­ing. I think at the cen­ter of all these expe­ri­ences I can say I feel life with ease (nakakaluwag) because God is at the very cen­ter of it. Every­thing is God’s work. And when­ever He would test you and give you prob­lems, but at the end of all of this, it will be all for good, all for the better.
3.2 Nelca: “[none]”  I con­sid­ered myself sim­ply as an instru­ment to bet­ter the lives of my fel­low being (kapwa), although I do not give so much pri­or­ity to myself, but in a sit­u­a­tion that I feel life with ease (nakakaluwag), as a wife and as a mother I see myself as an instru­ment to bet­ter our rela­tion­ship and our fam­ily (maisaayos ang buhay). Yes I would pre­fer to be an instru­ment for oth­ers, for mak­ing their lives bet­ter (nakaka­pag­paluwag sa buhay ng ibang tao).
3.3 (a) Nelca:Kapag nakakaluwag ka sa buhay, isa sa mga una mong mai­isip ay ang iba­hagi ito lalong lalo na sa iyong pam­ilya  (When you are liv­ing with ease in life,  one of the first thing that you can think of is to share this, most espe­cially with your fam­ily). For me, my fam­ily comes first, whether dur­ing times of dif­fi­cul­ties or not.”3.3 (b) Nelca: “And when you see other peo­ple who do not have, you feel the need to share [with] them what­ever bless­ings you have – marami man o hindi (whether they are big or small).”

 

3.3 © Nelca: “I think for Fil­ipinos, kahit konti, ang maha­laga ang pag-alaala sa kapakanan ng iba (no mat­ter how small it maybe, what mat­ters most is the con­cern [and care] for the well-being of others).”

I have a strong desire to always share my bless­ings no mat­ter how small they be. Whether spend­ing time with a friend or shar­ing even a piece of bread I bought from a bak­ery because I find it deli­cious. Of course I pri­or­i­tize my chil­dren, my hus­band, and my sib­ling, but when I feel life with ease (nakakaluwag) and your life is run­ning smoothly (mag­a­nda ang takbo ng buhay) and there is still some excess, then I will prob­a­bly save up money for my family.. My other mean­ing for  an expe­ri­ence of life with ease (nakakaluwag) is to spend qual­ity time with the mem­bers of your fam­ily. I lost my father when I was in grade 5 and I lost my mother when I was 18. I was blessed to have my hus­band now because it was him who actu­ally taught me to go back to God, he is a very God fear­ing and a faith­ful person.
3.4 Nelca: “[none]” It’s true that our nat­ural envi­ron­ment (kalikasan) in which we live is impor­tant and you have the respon­si­bil­ity to take care of it. You feel blessed with it, you have the abil­ity and free­dom to assume your respon­si­bil­ity to it.  How­ever this is my obser­va­tion, when you expe­ri­ence life with­out ease (gipit na gipit) you become too pre­oc­cu­pied with your per­sonal con­cerns that you neglect the envi­ron­ment that the com­mu­nity and you live with. So some­times when you are expe­ri­enc­ing life with­out ease (gipit na gipit) you become self-centered. On the con­trary, to expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) is to have a bet­ter posi­tion, that you have more oppor­tu­ni­ties to exer­cise your other respon­si­bil­i­ties includ­ing your com­mit­ment to take care of our envi­ron­ment.  The basic ten­dency of us humans is to be self-preoccupied, and I feel that to expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) is to make a con­scious effort to take care and pro­tect our nat­ural environment. When you expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) you will rec­og­nize that you have an impor­tant role to play for the envi­ron­ment. How­ever, if you would go to the urban poor, even the small­est act of throw­ing garbage waste in its proper places, you would be irri­tated, upset and frus­trated because the very com­mu­nity in which they live they don’t bother nor lift a fin­ger to clean it. The truth of the mat­ter is, they should see them­selves as part of the envi­ron­ment, but the prob­lem is if they expe­ri­ence life with­out ease (nagigipit) they have lesser con­cern about their own sur­round­ings, their envi­ron­ment. And because of their present con­di­tion they see the envi­ron­ment as a source of livelihood.
4. (a) Nelca: “When you receive bless­ings, be thank­ful.  No mat­ter how sim­ple or small such gift may be, be grateful.” 

4. (b) Nelca: “Share with fam­i­lies and friends.”

 

4. © Nelca: “Save enough – avoid the bahala na (leaves every­thing to chance) men­tal­ity. Enjoy life.”

No mat­ter how big or small the bless­ings that you received, you have to value such gifts. These gifts may be in the form of money or mate­r­ial things, maybe it is the time you spend or oppor­tu­ni­ties have because now a day only few peo­ple are expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag). The dengue out­break, for exam­ple, you worry about your fam­ily because any­one can con­tract the dis­ease, but since we tend to become self-preoccupied the rise of dengue due to poor san­i­ta­tion and the dirty envi­ron­ment is caused due to neglect and refusal on our part to take care of our envi­ron­ment. I think all [our nat­ural envi­ron­ment, our­selves, our fel­low beings (mga kapwa tao), our soci­ety and our God] are just part and par­cel of being blessed and of expe­ri­enc­ing life’s con­di­tion with ease (nakakaluwag). I have been with social devel­op­ment work  I started as coor­di­na­tor of the com­mu­nity ser­vice here at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) from 2001–2002 and form 2002–2008, I became head of the Social Action Office ng DLS-CSB and at the same time the con­cur­rent direc­tor of Lasal­lian Jus­tice and Peace Com­mis­sion (LJPC) from 2005-present (2010). LJPC is the National Office for Advo­cacy and Social Devel­op­ment Arm of the De La Salle Broth­ers and De La Salle Provin­cialate. I must admit that I really find it dif­fi­cult to estab­lish a good rela­tion­ship with the peo­ple in the com­mu­ni­ties. Work­ing full­time with the com­mu­ni­ties, while I can say that their basic needs and con­cerns for sur­vival are very much valid how­ever, there is really a need to edu­cate, sus­tain and inten­sify envi­ron­men­tal edu­ca­tion along side with poverty alle­vi­a­tion. Peo­ple must real­ize that they are very much part of the envi­ron­ment. I just observed that peo­ple who expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) are more empow­ered and able to respond to the needs of the envi­ron­ment. They are more in the posi­tion to help pro­tect the envi­ron­ment because they are more prop­erly moti­vated to doing it, to keep­ing it, to sus­tain­ing it to a con­di­tion that is ben­e­fi­cial to all (mag­a­nda at maayos) and there is this sense of qual­ity of life. When you ini­ti­ate a pro­gram, you have to address the very root not just for a short-term but for a long-term solu­tion. Sav­ing and plan­ning are two insep­a­ra­ble ways to sus­tain this kind of liv­ing ini­tia­tive so that you have some­thing to look for­ward in the future.
5. (a) Nelca: “Maybe if there is one thing that I would want other peo­ple to learn from my expe­ri­ence of nakakaluwag, it is the les­son of saving.” 

5. (b) Nelca: “For many Fil­ipinos, the bahala na (leaves every­thing to chance) men­tal­ity is pre­dom­i­nant.  We tend to be very spon­ta­neous that even when we do things, when we make deci­sions, we for­get to con­sider the future.”

 

5. © Nelca: So gagas­tos ka kasi may pera ka ngayon (you squan­der your money away because you have them now) with­out con­sid­er­ing that you are actu­ally spend­ing the money that is sup­posed to be for tomorrow’s needs.”

First and fore­most, we have to make sure that we live our life accord­ing to God’s teach­ing because most of the time this is being over­looked. The com­mon issue with us Fil­ipinos is our cul­tural belief and prac­tice of being happy-go-lucky and one-day mil­lion­aire atti­tude. We have the ten­dency to for­get that we have to save, be thrifty, that we have to think ahead of our future. We have this ten­dency to enjoy every­thing at the moment since we feel life with ease (nakakaluwag ka), we spend all that we have with­out plan­ning ahead for our future and with­out con­sid­er­ing what will be left for us tomorrow.. We have to save enough. Before I was liv­ing on my own, I have no par­ents that I need to sup­port, I have no fam­ily. My earn­ings are all mine, and  I’m spend­ing my money to buy clothes, etc. and it never occurred to me about what will I be spend­ing for the future or in cases I would be need­ing some­thing urgent in the future thus I have no more money to sup­port myself.  Today my son is remind­ing me the les­son I thought him early on that he should only con­sume based on what you only need for the day. My son had already a con­cept of that he will only need this so he will not buy more because tomor­row is another day. I think so far I’m pretty suc­cess­ful in impart­ing to him the val­ues of sus­tain­abil­ity, and at the same time he also serves as a reminder that once in a while I also forget.

 

 

 

14. RJE of  Gary,    Sub­mit­ted on  Sep­tem­ber 28, 2010 

1st IDPRJE

Unique Mean­ing Units

(Co-Rs’ State­ments on Nakakaluwag)

14. NEA of  Gary,    Con­ducted on Sep­tem­ber 29, 2010 

2nd IDPNEA

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

14. FIE of  Gary,    Con­ducted on Octo­ber 4, 2010 

3rd IDPFIE

Feed­back for clar­i­fi­ca­tion, val­i­da­tion and confirmation

 

1.(a) Gary: “The moment I feel that I’m nakakaluwag(liv­ing with ease) in life is the time that I have more than enough of my bless­ings which I shared with my fam­ily and loved ones.”1.(b) Gary: “The bless­ings and resources that I’m talk­ing here are not only mate­r­ial that was obvi­ously God given, but also psy­cho– social and even political.”

 

 

1.© Gary: “To be spe­cific, I’m nakakaluwag (liv­ing with ease), if I have an enough food to eat, a mod­est place to stay, a good time for self while read­ing books and sip­ping cof­fee or beer and lis­ten­ing to music, and quar­terly out of town and a (bonus travel abroad).”

 

1.(d) Gary: “But also, it includes polit­i­cal par­tic­i­pa­tion and dis­courses with friends in the acad­eme and some peo­ple in the gov­ern­ment. If I made all of this, I’m in the state of nakakaluwag (life of ease).”

My expe­ri­ence of life with ease (nakakaluwag) I con­sider it as a bless­ing. I believe that to have bless­ings I feel life with ease (nakakaluwag); I have enough food, enough money, able to spend more for expen­sive food, go to dif­fer­ent places here and abroad, I have leisure time. At the same time, I feel life with ease (nakakaluwag) when I can do what I want to do, like par­tic­i­pat­ing in polit­i­cal activ­i­ties. As a polit­i­cal observer, I do some analy­sis and I earn from this, so I feel life with ease (lumu­luwag ang buhay ko). The mate­r­ial things are there for us to use them; and they are not the ulti­mate rea­son that will define our per­son­hood. And in my case what I have I should share to sup­port a higher value and purpose.
2. (a) Gary: “For me, I have so much joy in my heart because every time that I feel nakakaluwag(life with ease) in my life because I have the oppor­tu­ni­ties to pro­vide a help­ing hand to my fam­ily and loved ones.”2. (b) Gary: “ I feel that God is really tak­ing care of me despite all the hard­ships and set­backs that I encoun­tered in the years of my jour­ney in life.” Expe­ri­ence of life with ease (nakakaluwag) like what I pre­vi­ously enu­mer­ated, they are all bless­ings in life. It is funny though (nakatu­tuwa) that the more I give, the more I receive. I’m help­ing my mother for her med­ica­tion, my sib­lings, my friends. And I never felt lack­ing (kinaka­pos) that is why I’m more con­vinced that a life with ease (ang kaluwa­gan na ito sa buhay) is really God’s bless­ing. I do not believe that this is just a sim­ple cre­ation and a prod­uct of my mere knowl­edge and skills. What I have now is not just by pure luck. This is sim­ply a bless­ing, which is why it is a must that I also pay it for­ward. Last Sep­tem­ber 25, 2010, I was talk­ing to Mr. Jun Lozada and he said to me that, “How can we call for social change, if we our­selves will not indi­vid­u­ally change.” (“Paano tayo man­anawa­gan na baguhin ang lipunan kung tayo mismo sa sar­ili hindi mag­babago”). In a way, he is right because if you your­self is indi­vid­u­ally improv­ing and you are expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (pagluwag sa sar­ili) at the same time, then you are now in a bet­ter posi­tion to share to and help your fel­low beings (mga kapwa tao) so that they may also improve. And this is the issue we have today, that is why there is a grain of truth in Lozada’s words. To me this is what expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag), which allows me to acknowl­edge that I have a sense of pur­pose. I may con­sider this as either social or spir­i­tual, for it brings joy in my heart every time that I share my bless­ings to oth­ers. This is just a state of my pur­pose for being, that even if I do not have money to help, as long as I can help in what­ever I have and in what­ever way I can then I’m happy and I never expect any­thing or  some­thing in return.
3.1 (a) Gary: “With all hon­esty, I believe that what I have right now that make me nakakaluwag sa buhay(live life with ease) are not because of my sheer luck or even my knowl­edge and infor­ma­tion but rather these are gifts of God to me.”3.1(b) Gary: “I believe that God show­ered me with all these things to share and take care of my fam­ily and loved ones which I think one of my mis­sions in life.” We have no clue as to how long our life will be here on earth. But we have to make sure that at least we know the rea­son why we are here, our rea­son for being. I think expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag) is part and par­cel of our rea­son for being and this is also the rea­son why I feel life with ease now (mag­ing maluwag sa buhay ko ngayon). Even though and despite the many great and more bril­liant peo­ple in this world, I would ask why me of all the peo­ple out there, why am I in this con­di­tion and oppor­tu­nity, I believe this is God’s ways.
3.2 Gary: “Sec­ond, because of this belief God also allows me to enjoy the best in life but with a strong com­mit­ment to be active in expos­ing and oppos­ing the ills of ours soci­ety and help­ing to pro­pose pos­si­ble solu­tions on these prob­lems and concerns.” I have life’s lessons learned dur­ing my col­lege days regard­ing authen­tic human­ism, that being humane (tunay na pag­pa­pakatao) has some­thing to do with hav­ing con­nec­tion with, that all enti­ties are all inter­con­nected with each other, and each has a par­tic­u­lar role to play in the net­work of inter­con­nec­tions, i.e., the role played by God, the role played by your fel­low beings (mga kapwa tao), your own role to play includ­ing the role played by nature (kalikasan). I believe that I am part of the soci­ety from which I get my needs to sus­tain me, but I do not only ben­e­fit from it alone, that is why I would pur­sue for col­lec­tive devel­op­ment rather than indi­vid­ual betterment.
3.3 Gary: “Third, I have a strong sol­i­dar­ity with my fel­low being espe­cially the poor and oppressed I believe those who have more in life should always help the oppressed.”  My con­cept of life with ease (kaluwa­gan) I draw it from the basic prin­ci­ples of authen­tic human­ism, that we are all related and inter­re­lated to all [of cre­ation], to our­selves, to our fel­low beings (mga kapwa tao), to our soci­ety, to our God. Becom­ing human and humane (pag­pa­pakatao) is never based on the idea that one is supe­rior or infe­rior. We are all part of a soci­ety, big or small, and we have social and col­lec­tive respon­si­bil­i­ties so that at the end of the day the good of what you are doing with all these enti­ties is for the greater glory of God. This is how I see what life with ease (nakakaluwag) to be about. I wit­nessed myself the level of poverty we have in our soci­ety. I can say how great sin and evil are those who oppressed and caused great pain to our peo­ple. They com­mit­ted evil that destroyed our society’s moral fiber due to graft and cor­rup­tion and leg­is­lat­ing unjust laws that are tak­ing advan­tage of the weak. Just try to imag­ine how much of these have been taken from our ordi­nary peo­ple, they are denied of what is right­fully theirs. They were not given just wage; they were not offered oppor­tu­nity to get good edu­ca­tion and to have a decent life.
3.4 Gary: “[none]”  “[none]” We are not only cre­ated in God’s image, we are also co-created by Him, and we share in His cre­ativ­ity and good­ness. So while I’m in this jour­ney of life, there are peo­ple I may bring along with in my cho­sen advo­cacy. And per­haps what I’m doing even­tu­ally in the long run there are already efforts and ini­tia­tives big­ger than mine, and there­fore a big­ger con­tri­bu­tion to the soci­ety. So they are also happy with what they are doing, that’s why the more we expand the cir­cle of life with ease (kaluwa­gan mas dumadami) and those peo­ple being helped they now expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa mga natu­tu­lun­gan).
4. (a) Gary: “Life is too short, it is impor­tant that we should have a clear sense of pur­pose in life or rea­son for being.”4. (b) Gary: Nakakaluwag (life of ease) is only a state in life and this is not per­ma­nent, there are times that we are no longer nakakaluwag (liv­ing with ease) or too much nakakaluwag (ease of liv­ing) but at the end of the day you have the oppor­tu­nity to share your blessings.”

 

4. © Gary: “[Y]ou have the chance to make a dif­fer­ence, you have the sit­u­a­tion to change our soci­ety for the better.”

Life with ease (kaluwa­gan sa buhay) is only a state, a con­di­tion that may come and go any­time. But the point is, what­ever that makes you expe­ri­ence life with ease (kaluwa­gan sa buhay) you must learn to share what you have for the com­mon good. This is what I call con­flu­ence of inter­est, that your hav­ing the very expe­ri­ence of life with ease (kaluwa­gan mo) and those of peo­ple around should be hav­ing the same expe­ri­ence of ease (kaluwa­gan ng iba). Partly we can say that the whole soci­ety has a big con­tri­bu­tion to the great sin and evil that oppressed our peo­ple, not only the gov­ern­ment, but the kind of rela­tion­ships it has among the peo­ple, includ­ing those who belong to the higher ech­e­lon of the soci­ety. That’s why until now, I per­son­ally com­mit­ted to sol­i­dar­ity and com­pas­sion for those who have noth­ing in life and those whose oppor­tu­ni­ties they have been deprived of.
5. (a) Gary: “ As I men­tioned ear­lier, there no such thing as per­ma­nent in this world, but if you have a clear sense of pur­pose in life, nakakaluwag(life of ease) is only a sit­u­a­tion or con­di­tion to fur­ther imple­ment your pur­pose in life.”5.(b) Gary: [N]akakaluwag (liv­ing with ease) will make your life eas­ier and also will make your life more fulfilling.” Life is a jour­ney, and we have to be part of everybody’s jour­ney. Though we may have dif­fer­ent des­ti­na­tion along the way we have com­pan­ions we bumped in unex­pect­edly, but then we have to estab­lish a good rela­tion­ship with them, though that rela­tion­ship may not last. That is why we may leave them behind, at least we have left them some­thing good of our­selves or what­ever aspect that maybe. I think this is also what expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease here on earth (kaluwa­gan sa mundong ito). I myself have wit­nessed in the gov­ern­ment the level of money talks, the level of graft and cor­rup­tion. How can we, our peo­ple expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag) if this kind of sys­tem will go on.

Table 12 below con­sists of the ini­tial and recur­ring Nakakaluwag sub-themes that arose from the the­matic analy­sis of the Co-Rs’ TEXT or the com­bined RJE, NEA and FIE of a par­tic­u­lar Co-R. The entire table is bro­ken into sep­a­rate tables rep­re­sent­ing each of the Co-Rs where each table is labeled with her/his nickname.

The first col­umn with the head­ing: ‘RJE, NEA and FIE of a par­tic­u­lar Co-R con­tains the the­matic title for each: (1) Rowel: “Lig­aya at laya, ugnayan at unawa, wagas, alwan at gin­hawa” (Joy and free­dom, rela­tion and under­stand­ing, pure, ease and com­fort); (2) Dino: “May kakaya­han para sa iba” (Abil­ity for oth­ers); (3) Mari­cel: “Maluwag ang aming pamu­muhay” (We are  liv­ing with ease); (4) Jorelle: “Maluwag ka para sa kanila” (You are gen­er­ous to oth­ers); (5) Joe: “Tumin­gin tayo sa lan­git” (Look up to heaven); (6) Me-An: “Tuloy tuloy lang ang buhay” (Life just goes on); (7) Lorence: “Makakaa­hon din ako” (I can get out of this sit­u­a­tion); (8) Pink: “Tang­gapin ng maluwag” (Accept the sit­u­a­tion the way it is); (9) Elvie: “May­roon kang madudukot” (You have resource to rely on); (10) Rom­mel: “Nakakaluwag-luwag sa prob­lema” (To reduce ones prob­lems); (11) Ben­son: “Nakakaram­dam ako ng pagkaluwag” (I feel with ease); (12) V-Mae: “Malakas na kapit” (To keep hold­ing on); (13) Nelca: “Nakaka­pag­paluwag sa buhay ng ibang tao” (To bring ease to other’s life) and (14) Gary: “Kaluwa­gan sa mundong ito” (To have ease in this world).

 

The same columns has the ref­er­ence mark­ers or guide (num­bers and let­ters) that cor­re­spond to the Co-Rs’ TEXT. The sec­ond col­umn with the head­ing: ‘Ini­tial Nakakaluwag Sub-Themes,’ con­sists of the pre­lim­i­nary interpretation-description of the writer on each of Co-R’s TEXT. And lastly, the third col­umn with the head­ing: ‘Recur­ring (Rcnrg[5]) Nakakaluwag Sub-Themes’ pro­vides the spe­cific inter­re­lated sub-themes across the entire Co-Rs’ TEXT and the fre­quency of their occurrences.

Table 12. The Ini­tial and Recur­ring Nakakaluwag Sub-themes

1.  RJE, NEA and FIE  

of Rowel:

“Lig­aya at laya, ugnayan at unawa, wagas, alwan at gin­hawa” (Joy and free­dom, rela­tion and under­stand­ing, pure, ease and comfort)

Ini­tial

Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

Recur­ring (Rcrng)   Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

1. (a) Rowel:1. (b) Rowel:

 

-        Luwag(ease) as con­di­tion or mind-set paving the way for action,-        mind and heart pro­vid­ing the space,-        space as a liv­ing con­di­tion to expe­ri­ence luwag (ease),

-        nakakaluwag in life (liv­ing with ease) as expe­ri­ence of peace (both in an orderly or dis­or­derly situations)

-        con­di­tion (Rcrng. 12x)-        mind-set (Rcrng. 3x)-        heart / mind (Rcrng. 2x)

-        con­di­tion (Rcrng. 12x) / living

-        peace of mind (Rcrng. 14x)

 

 

2. Rowel: -        Peace of mind encom­passes: Lig­aya at Laya, Ugnayan at Unawa, Wagas, Alwan at Ginhawa. -        peace of mind (Rcrng. 14x)-        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        hap­pi­ness (Rcrng.10x)

-        free­dom (Rcrng. 15x)

-        rela­tion (Rcrng. 12x)

-        under­stand­ing (Rcrng. 9x)

-        well-being (Rcrng.7x)

3.1 Rowel: -        God is closely present in both con­di­tions: nakakaluwag (ease)/positive feel­ing  or hindi nakakaluwag (with­out ease)/painful feeling -        God source of life (Rcrng. 13x) / present  in pos­i­tive & neg­a­tive con­di­tion–        prov­i­dence (Rcrng. 10x) 
3.2 Rowel: -        Empow­ered living -        empower (Rcrng. 6x)
3.3 Rowel: -        Com­pas­sion­ate living -        com­pas­sion (Rcrng. 6x)
3.4 Rowel: -        Col­or­ful and mean­ing­ful living -        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)-        beauty (Rcrng. 6x)
4. Rowel: -        Liv­ing the val­ues of humil­ity, gen­eros­ity, patience and being loved (cared for) -        gen­eros­ity (Rcrng. 14x)-        love / care (Rcrng. 4x) / patience & humility
5. (a) Rowel: 5. (b) Rowel:

 

5. © Rowel:

 

-        Nakakaluwag(life of ease) is a con­di­tion or mind-set,-        Either in nakakaluwag or not nakakaluwag sit­u­a­tions one can do on the things that hap­pened to us -        con­di­tion (Rcrng. 12x)-        mind-set (Rcrng. 3x)-        empower (Rcrng. 6x)

-        free­dom (Rcrng. 15x)

-        respon­si­bil­ity (Rcrng. 9x)

 

 

2.   RJE, NEA and FIE

of Dino:

“May kakaya­han para sa iba”(Abil­ity for others)

Ini­tial

Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

Recur­ring (Rcrng)  Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

1. (a) Dino:  1. (b) Dino: -        Work­ing, Earn­ing, Shar­ing the earnings -        work (Rcrng. 5x)-        earn­ing / sav­ing (Rcrng. 7x) / money–        share (Rcrng. 11x) / help

-        money to buy (Rcrng. 13x)

 

2. (a) Dino: 2. (b) Dino:

 

2. © Dino:

 

-        Hap­pi­ness, Light feel­ing, Grate­ful to God for hav­ing work, Sim­ply give, with or even with­out money, Shar­ing the blessings, -        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        hap­pi­ness (Rcrng.10x)-        grate­ful (Rcrng. 13x)

-        give (Rcrng. 11x) / help pos­i­tive & neg­a­tive situation

-        share (Rcrng. 11x)

-        bless­ings (Rcrng. 5x)

3.1(a) Dino: 3.1(b) Dino:

 

-        Grate­ful thanks to God as a source of bless­ings, All bless­ings received by all come from God -        grate­ful (Rcrng. 13x)-        God source of life (Rcrng. 13x)-        bless­ings (Rcrng. 5x)

-        prov­i­dence (Rcrng. 10x)

3.1© Dino: 3.1(d) Dino:

 

-        God as sav­ior in times of cri­sis, Sense of gratitude/ grate­ful to God for wis­dom, Source of life of ease (kaluwa­gan ng buhay) is not only money but also mean­ing­ful relation -        God source of life (Rcrng. 13x)-        grat­i­tude (Rcrng. 6x)-        grate­ful (Rcrng. 13x)

-        wis­dom (Rcrng. 6x)

-        rela­tion (Rcrng. 12x)

-        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)

-        money to buy (Rcrng. 13x)

3.1 (e) Dino: 3.1(f) Dino:

 

3.1(g) Dino:

 

-        Money is not the only solu­tion to finan­cial prob­lems; Solu­tions include val­ues: hon­esty, under­stand­ing, and faith in God’s providence -        money to buy (Rcrng. 13x)-        solu­tions to prob­lems (Rcrng. 14x)-        rela­tion (Rcrng. 12x) / honesty

-        under­stand­ing (Rcrng. 9x)

-        faith (Rcrng. 15x)

-        prov­i­dence (Rcrng. 10x)

3.2 (a) Dino: 3.2 (b) Dino:

 

3.2 © Dino:

 

-        Both dif­fi­cult times and time of ease (pana­hon ng kaluwa­gan) are oppor­tu­ni­ties to find joy and joy­fully share to those who are in need most -        give (Rcrng. 11x)-        oppor­tu­nity (Rcrng. 4x)-        joy (Rcrng. 35x)

-        share (Rcrng. 11x)

-        peace of mind (Rcrng. 14x)

3.3 (a) Dino: 3.3 (b) Dino:

 

3.3 © Dino:

 

 

-        It is a joy­ful expe­ri­ence that every­body would all together find relief (kaluwa­gan), A life of ease (kaluwa­gan sa buhay) is always oppor­tu­nity to share, sim­ply give -        oppor­tu­nity (Rcrng. 4x)-        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        share (Rcrng. 11x)

-        give (Rcrng. 11x)

-        respon­si­bil­ity (Rcrng. 9x)

3.4 (a) Dino: 3.4 (b) Dino:

 

-        An image of spa­cious (kaluwa­gan) is related with space (kalawakan). Nature’s expanse makes sense with the mean­ing of a life of ease (buhay na nakakaluwag). -        expanse (Rcrng. 2x) / space–        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)
4. (a) Dino: 4. (b) Dino:

 

4. © Dino:

 

4. (d) Dino:

 

-        A life of ease (kaluwa­gan ng buhay):  power that enlight­ens life’s per­spec­tive, a con­di­tion of being free, not depen­dent on mate­r­ial things or money but on a mean­ing­ful relat­ing with oth­ers, self­ish­ness has no place in it for it will not last. -        empower (Rcrng. 6x)-        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)-        free­dom (Rcrng. 15x)

-        money to buy (Rcrng. 13x) / not the only solution

-        rela­tion (Rcrng. 12x)

-        gen­eros­ity (Rcrng. 14x) / not self­ish & not greedy

5.(a) Dino: 5. (b) Dino:

 

5. © Dino:

-        A life of ease (kaluwa­gan ng buhay):  a fair view of oth­ers, not only con­fined to those who have in life but also to those who have noth­ing, have space (com­pas­sion) for others -        fair (Rcrng. 4x)-        equal­ity (Rcrng. 2x) / jus­tice–        com­pas­sion (Rcrng. 6x)

-        peace of mind (Rcrng. 14x)

 

 

 

3.   RJE, NEA and FIE

of Mari­cel:

“Maluwag ang aming pamu­muhay”(We are  liv­ing with ease)

Ini­tial

Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

Recur­ring (Rcrng)  Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

1. Mari­cel: -        Nakakaluwag in life (liv­ing with ease) as enabling con­di­tion to buy both basic and even more, to feel light and to be free from the wor­ries of life. -        con­di­tion (Rcrng. 12x)-        empower (Rcrng. 6x)-        money to buy (Rcrng. 13x)

-        free from wor­ries (Rcrng. 9x) / feel light

-        free­dom (Rcrng. 15x)

2. Mari­cel: -        Abun­dant living -        bless­ings (Rcrng. 5x)
3.1 Mari­cel: -        Prayer­ful and grate­ful living -        faith (Rcrng. 15x) / prayer–        grat­i­tude (Rcrng. 6x)-        grate­ful (Rcrng. 13x)
3.2 Mari­cel -        Blessed living -        bless­ings (Rcrng. 5x)-        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x) 

 

3.3 Mari­cel: -        Liv­ing the val­ues of gen­eros­ity, joy­ful helping -        gen­eros­ity (Rcrng. 14x)-        joy (Rcrng. 35x) 
3.4 Mari­cel: -        Clean living -        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)-        clean (Rcrng. 2x)
4. (a) Mari­cel: 4. (b) Maricel:

 

4. © Maricel:

 

-        Liv­ing the val­ues of thrift and sav­ing for the future, gen­eros­ity, joy­ful helping. -        thrift (Rcrng. 6x)-        sav­ing for the future (Rcrng. 6x)-        sus­tain (Rcrng. 6x)

-        gen­eros­ity (Rcrng. 14x)

-        joy (Rcrng. 35x)

5.  Mari­cel: -        Hope­ful liv­ing with a grate­ful heart -        hope (Rcrng. 6x)-        grate­ful (Rcrng. 13x) 

 

4.   RJE, NEA and FIE

of Jorelle:

“Maluwag ka para sa kanila”(You are gen­er­ous to others)

Ini­tial

Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

Recur­ring (Rcrng)  Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

1. Jorelle: -        Ful­fill­ment of one’s long­ing, meet­ing a per­son you value -        rela­tion (Rcrng. 12x)-        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)
2. Jorelle: -        Ful­fill­ment of one’s long­ing, acquir­ing some­thing you value -        money to buy (Rcrng. 13x)
3.1 Jorelle: -        Ful­fill­ment of one’s long­ing, acquir­ing some­thing you value, attribut­ing it to God -        bless­ings (Rcrng. 5x)-        God source of life (Rcrng. 13x)
3.2 Jorelle: -        Ful­fill­ment of one’s long­ing, through relax­ation, going around with, being employed and hav­ing a job -        peace of mind (Rcrng. 14x)-        free­dom (Rcrng. 15x) 

 

3.3 Jorelle: -        Ful­fill the long­ing of others -        rela­tion (Rcrng. 12x)
3.4 Jorelle: -        Ful­fill the long­ing of nature -        clean (Rcrng. 2x)
4. Jorelle: -        Liv­ing the val­ues of patience and hard work, gen­eros­ity, joy­ful helping -        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)-        gen­eros­ity (Rcrng. 14x)

-        work (Rcrng. 5x)

-        earn­ing / sav­ing (Rcrng. 7x)

-        respon­si­bil­ity (Rcrng. 9x)

5. Jorelle: -        Liv­ing the val­ues of [joy­ful] helping 

 

-        joy (Rcrng. 35x)

5.   RJE, NEA and FIE

of Joe:

“Tumin­gin tayo sa lan­git”(Look up to heaven)

Ini­tial

Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

Recur­ring (Rcrng)  Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

1. (a) Joe:  1. (b) Joe:

1. © Joe:

-        Feel­ing, think­ing or know­ing to be nakakaluwag (life of ease) is to feel and think or know that oth­ers are in need more than I do: -        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)-        heart / mind (Rcrng. 2x)-        com­pas­sion (Rcrng. 6x)
1. (d) Joe:  1.(e) Joe: -        is a state, a pre­vail­ing set of conditions. -        con­di­tion (Rcrng. 12x)-        mind-set (Rcrng. 3x) / state
1. (f) Joe: -        is giv­ing and help­ing oth­ers vol­un­tar­ily and willingly. -        give (Rcrng. 11x)-        joy (Rcrng. 35x) / giv­ing & help­ing–        free­dom (Rcrng. 15x)

-        respon­si­bil­ity (Rcrng. 9x)

1. (g) Joe:  1. (h) Joe:

 

1. (i) Joe:

-        implies suf­fi­cient free­dom to move, com­fort­able space to work on. -        free­dom (Rcrng. 15x)-        expanse (Rcrng. 2x) / space
1. (j) Joe: 1. (k) Joe: -        is eth­i­cal, which involves lend­ing or giving. -        fair (Rcrng. 4x) / val­ues–        give (Rcrng. 11x)-        share (Rcrng. 11x)
1. (l) Joe:  1. (m) Joe: -        is eth­i­cal, which involves sacrifice. -        love / care (Rcrng. 4x) / sac­ri­fice–        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)
1. (n) Joe: -        is eth­i­cal, which involves ful­fill­ment in doing a social obligation. -        respon­si­bil­ity (Rcrng. 9x) / oblig­a­tion–        com­mit­ment (Rcrng. 2x)
2. (a) Joe: 2. (b) Joe: -        Nakakaluwag (life of ease) is to feel a bit happy. -        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        hap­pi­ness (Rcrng.10x)
3.1 (a) Joe: 3.1 (b) Joe:   -        God is present in either nakakaluwag (ease) or hindi nakakaluwag or gipit (with­out ease) sit­u­a­tions in life; God is present in either dif­fi­cult times (pana­hon ng kagip­tan) and time of ease (pana­hon ng kaluwa­gan). -        God source of life (Rcrng. 13x) / present  in pos­i­tive & neg­a­tive con­di­tion–        con­di­tion (Rcrng. 12x)
3.2 Joe: -        Believ­ing in God, Fear­ing God for He pun­ishes the self­ish and greedy. -        faith (Rcrng. 15x)-        God source of life (Rcrng. 13x)-        fair (Rcrng. 4x)

-        fair (Rcrng. 4x) / justice

-        equal­ity (Rcrng. 2x)

-        com­pas­sion (Rcrng. 6x)

3.3 Joe: -        Nakakaluwag (life of ease) is giv­ing and help­ing oth­ers vol­un­tar­ily and willingly. -        give (Rcrng. 11x)-        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        free­dom (Rcrng. 15x)
3.4 Joe: -        Nakakaluwag (life of ease) is giv­ing back a part of what is received to oth­ers who are in need. -        give (Rcrng. 11x)-        share (Rcrng. 11x)
4. Joe: -        Nakakaluwag (life of ease) is a les­son learned from the expe­ri­ences of being gipit(with­out ease), liv­ing the val­ues of har­mony, pru­dence and faith. 

 

 

-        under­stand­ing (Rcrng. 9x)-        wis­dom (Rcrng. 6x)-        les­son (Rcrng. 5x)

-        faith (Rcrng. 15x)

5. (a) Joe:  5. (b) Joe:

 

-        Liv­ing by wit­ness­ing the val­ues of help­ing oth­ers vol­un­tar­ily and willingly. -        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)-        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        free­dom (Rcrng. 15x)

6.   RJE, NEA and FIE

of Me-Ann:

“Tuloy tuloy lang ang buhay” (Life just goes on)

Ini­tial

Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

Recur­ring (Rcrng)  Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

1. (a) Me-Ann:1. (b) Me-Ann:

 

1. © Me-Ann:

-        Life of ease (ang nakakaluwag sa buhay) has so many mean­ings: one mean­ing refers to a rich per­son who never expe­ri­enced life with­out ease (hirap sa buhay); to be able to [mirac­u­lously] sur­vive a problem. -        money to buy (Rcrng. 13x)-        solu­tions to prob­lems (Rcrng. 14x)-        rela­tion (Rcrng. 12x)

 

 

2. (a) Me-Ann:2.(b) Me-Ann:

 

-        Life of ease (ang nakakaluwag sa buhay) means find­ing rest for the tired mind and body, hav­ing learned from life lessons after sur­viv­ing a life with­out ease (hirap sa buhay). -        peace of mind (Rcrng. 14x)-        under­stand­ing (Rcrng. 9x)-        wis­dom (Rcrng. 6x)

-        les­son (Rcrng. 5x)

-        faith (Rcrng. 15x)

3.1 Me-Ann: -        Being grate­ful to God in either nakakaluwag (ease) [beau­ti­ful] or hindi nakakaluwag or gipit (with­out ease) [ugly] sit­u­a­tions in life; either dif­fi­cult times (pana­hon ng kagip­tan) and time of ease (pana­hon ng kaluwa­gan). -        grate­ful (Rcrng. 13x)-        God source of life (Rcrng. 13x)-        con­di­tion (Rcrng. 12x)

-        faith (Rcrng. 15x)

3.2 Me-Ann: -        Learn­ing from life lessons by see­ing your strength and find­ing your joy. -        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        under­stand­ing (Rcrng. 9x)-        wis­dom (Rcrng. 6x)

-        les­son (Rcrng. 5x)

-        oppor­tu­nity (Rcrng. 4x)

-        free­dom (Rcrng. 15x)

3.3 (a) Me-Ann:3.3 (b) Me-Ann:

 

-        Gen­eros­ity even more to those who are expe­ri­enc­ing prob­lems in life; opti­mism, prayers as well as actions are nec­es­sary so that all prob­lems will end well. -        gen­eros­ity (Rcrng. 14x)-        faith (Rcrng. 15x) / prayer–        solu­tions to prob­lems (Rcrng. 14x)

-        prov­i­dence (Rcrng. 10x)

3.4 Me-Ann: -        Even the nat­ural envi­ron­ment either reflects or affects our men­tal and phys­i­cal con­di­tion and mood, rain rep­re­sents sad­ness and sun­shine sig­ni­fies happiness. -        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)-        peace of mind (Rcrng. 14x)-        beauty (Rcrng. 6x)
4. (a) Me-Ann:4. (b) Me-Ann:

 

-        Life has a pur­pose, in either nakakaluwag (ease) [beau­ti­ful] or hindi nakakaluwag or gipit (with­out ease) [ugly] sit­u­a­tions in life -        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)-        God source of life (Rcrng. 13x)-        con­di­tion (Rcrng. 12x)

 

5. (a) Me-Ann:5. (b) Me-Ann:

 

-        Hope­ful liv­ing with a grate­ful heart; prayers as well as actions are nec­es­sary so that all prob­lems will end well. -        grate­ful (Rcrng. 13x)-        grat­i­tude (Rcrng. 6x)-        faith (Rcrng. 15x) / prayer

-        solu­tions to prob­lems (Rcrng. 14x)

-        prov­i­dence (Rcrng. 10x)

 

 

 

 

 

7.   RJE, NEA and FIE

of Lorence:

“Makakaa­hon din ako”(I can get out of this situation)

Ini­tial

Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

Recur­ring (Rcrng)  Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

1.  Lorence: -        Liv­ing with ease in life (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is to expe­ri­ence being cared for, pro­vided with basic needs, able to con­tinue school­ing, and land­ing a job. -        love / care (Rcrng. 4x)-        work (Rcrng. 5x)-        earn­ing / sav­ing (Rcrng. 7x)

-        money to buy (Rcrng. 13x)

 

2. (a) Lorence:2. (b) Lorence:

 

-        Liv­ing with ease in life (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is a joy­ful feel­ing, get­ting out from liv­ing with­out ease in life (hirap sa buhay), a con­di­tion where many peo­ple are expe­ri­enc­ing on a daily basis. -        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        hap­pi­ness (Rcrng.10x)-        con­di­tion (Rcrng. 12x)

-        solu­tions to prob­lems (Rcrng. 14x)

-        peace of mind (Rcrng. 14x)

3.1 (a) Lorence:3.1 (b) Lorence

 

-        Being grate­ful to God in either nakakaluwag (ease) or hindi nakakaluwag or gipit or hirap sa buhay (with­out ease), either in time of ease (pana­hon ng kaluwa­gan) or dif­fi­cult times (pana­hon ng kagip­tan). -        grate­ful (Rcrng. 13x)-        God source of life (Rcrng. 13x)-        con­di­tion (Rcrng. 12x)

-        faith (Rcrng. 15x)

 

3.2 Lorence: -        Learn­ing from life lessons by see­ing your strength. -        under­stand­ing (Rcrng. 9x)-        wis­dom (Rcrng. 6x)-        les­son (Rcrng. 5x)

-        empower (Rcrng. 6x)

 

 

3.3 Lorence: -        Hope­ful liv­ing to face life’s tri­als; never for­get God, sense of iden­ti­fy­ing one­self with the suf­fer­ings of others -        hope (Rcrng. 6x)-        love / care (Rcrng. 4x) / sac­ri­fice–        com­pas­sion (Rcrng. 6x)

-        faith (Rcrng. 15x)

-        solu­tions to prob­lems (Rcrng. 14x)

3.4 Lorence: -        Ful­fill the long­ing of nature by heal­ing and nur­tur­ing it and in turn allow­ing nature to ful­fill its pur­pose of heal­ing and nurturing -        well-being (Rcrng.7) /healing–        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)-        beauty (Rcrng. 6x)

 

4. (a) Lorence:4. (b) Lorence:

 

4. © Lorence

 

 

-        Liv­ing the val­ues of thrift and sav­ing for the future, patience and hard work, gen­eros­ity, joy­ful help­ing, and hav­ing as sense of hap­pi­ness, well-being and contentment -        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)-        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        gen­eros­ity (Rcrng. 14x)

-        work (Rcrng. 5x)

-        earn­ing / sav­ing (Rcrng. 7x)

-        thrift (Rcrng. 6x)

-        sav­ing for the future (Rcrng. 6x)

-        sus­tain (Rcrng. 6x)

5. (a) Lorence:5. (b) Lorence:

 

-        Liv­ing the val­ues of gen­eros­ity, joy­ful help­ing, of thrift and sav­ing for the future -        gen­eros­ity (Rcrng. 14x)-        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        earn­ing / sav­ing (Rcrng. 7x)

-        thrift (Rcrng. 6x)

-        sav­ing for the future (Rcrng. 6x)

-        sus­tain (Rcrng. 6x)

8.   RJE, NEA and FIE  of Pink:

“Tang­gapin ng maluwag”(Accept the sit­u­a­tion the way it is)

Ini­tial

Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

Recur­ring (Rcrng)  Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

1. (a) Pink:1. (b) Pink:

1. © Pink:

 

-        Liv­ing with ease in life (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is hav­ing money, being with the fam­ily, going to school, being happy, hav­ing no prob­lem, eas­ily find­ing answers to prob­lems, not to worry about the prob­lem that we should not worry at all. -        work (Rcrng. 5x)-        earn­ing / sav­ing (Rcrng. 7x)-        money to buy (Rcrng. 13x)

-        solu­tions to prob­lems (Rcrng. 14x)

-        free from wor­ries (Rcrng. 9x)

2. (a) Pink:2. (b) Pink:

 

2. © Pink:

 

-        Liv­ing with ease in life (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is a joy­ful feel­ing, free from wor­ries, fam­ily mem­bers under­stand each other well, being able to buy more than just the basic needs. -        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        free from wor­ries (Rcrng. 9x)-        rela­tion (Rcrng. 12x)

-        under­stand­ing (Rcrng. 9x)

-        money to buy (Rcrng. 13x)

3.1 (a) Pink:3.1 (b) Pink:

 

-        Liv­ing with ease in life (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is being grate­ful to God, being able cope with prob­lem, God is present, with or with­out problem. -        grate­ful (Rcrng. 13x)-        solu­tions to prob­lems (Rcrng. 14x)-        God source of life (Rcrng. 13x)

-        con­di­tion (Rcrng. 12x)

-        peace of mind (Rcrng. 14x)

-        prov­i­dence (Rcrng. 10x)

 

3.2 (a) Pink: 

3.2 (b) Pink:

 

-        Liv­ing with ease in life (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is self-acceptance, a deci­sion to be happy, both pos­i­tive or neg­a­tive sit­u­a­tion is a source of lessons to learn. -        accep­tance  (Rcrng. 3x)-        free­dom (Rcrng. 15x) / deci­sion–        empower (Rcrng. 6x)

-        under­stand­ing (Rcrng. 9x)

-        wis­dom (Rcrng. 6x)

-        les­son (Rcrng. 5x)

3.3 Pink: -        Liv­ing with ease in life (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is to see oth­ers as inspi­ra­tion, as guide, as source life with ease, being grate­ful to them. -        grate­ful (Rcrng. 13x)-        rela­tion (Rcrng. 12x)-        under­stand­ing (Rcrng. 9x)

-        well-being (Rcrng.7x)

3.4 Pink: -        Liv­ing with ease in life (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is to see cre­ation as a value, as cause to oth­ers to lighten up the heavy prob­lems, find­ing solu­tions beyond human under­stand­ing [life is a mystery]. -        beauty (Rcrng. 6x)-        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)-        solu­tions to prob­lems (Rcrng. 14x)

 

 

 

 

 

4. Pink: -        Liv­ing the val­ues of hav­ing as sense of hap­pi­ness, well-being and contentment -        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)-        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        hap­pi­ness (Rcrng.10x)

-        con­tent­ment  (Rcrng. 3x)

5. (a) Pink:5. (b) Pink:

 

5. © Pink:

-        Liv­ing the val­ues of hav­ing as sense of hap­pi­ness, accep­tance, well-being and con­tent­ment, sense of free­dom to decide for a happy life, grat­i­tude to all those who cause our joy, not to worry about the prob­lem that we should not worry at all. -        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)-        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        hap­pi­ness (Rcrng.10x)

-        free­dom (Rcrng. 15x)

-        free from wor­ries (Rcrng. 9x)

9.   RJE, NEA and FIE

of Elvie:

“May­roon kang madudukot”(You have resource to rely on)

Ini­tial

Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

Recur­ring (Rcrng)  Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

1. Elvie: -        Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay)is to have extra money to buy more than just the basic needs. -        money to buy (Rcrng. 13x)
2. Elvie: -        Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is a joy­ful feel­ing, free from worries. -        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        free from wor­ries (Rcrng. 9x)
3. Elvie: -        Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is to find God, myself, my fel­low being, nature in all parts of life. -        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)
4. Elvie: -        Liv­ing the val­ues of gen­eros­ity, joy­ful help­ing, of thrift and sav­ing for the future. -        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        gen­eros­ity (Rcrng. 14x)-        earn­ing / sav­ing (Rcrng. 7x)

-        thrift (Rcrng. 6x)

-        sav­ing for the future (Rcrng. 6x)

-        sus­tain (Rcrng. 6x)

5. Elvie: -        Liv­ing the val­ues of gen­eros­ity, shar­ing the bless­ings, faith in God’s providence. -        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)-        gen­eros­ity (Rcrng. 14x)-        share (Rcrng.11x)

-        faith (Rcrng. 15x)

-        God source of life (Rcrng. 13x)

-        prov­i­dence (Rcrng. 10x)

10.  RJE, NEA and FIE

of Rom­mel:

“Nakakaluwag-luwag sa prob­lema”(To reduce ones problems)

Ini­tial

Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

Recur­ring (Rcrng)  Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

1.  Rom­mel: -        Liv­ing with ease in life (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is to live the val­ues of gen­eros­ity, joy­ful help­ing, of hav­ing sense of responsibility -        gen­eros­ity (Rcrng. 14x)-        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        respon­si­bil­ity (Rcrng. 9x)
2.  Rom­mel: -        Liv­ing with ease in life (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is a joy­ful feel­ing; being happy, -        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        hap­pi­ness (Rcrng.10x) 

 

3.  Rom­mel: -        Liv­ing with ease in life (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is to find God, myself, my fel­low being, nature in all parts of life. -        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)
4.  Rom­mel: -        Liv­ing with ease in life (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is to live the val­ues of gen­eros­ity, faith in God’s prov­i­dence, respect for fel­low being. -        gen­eros­ity (Rcrng. 14x)-        faith (Rcrng. 15x)-        prov­i­dence (Rcrng. 10x)
5.  Rom­mel: -        Liv­ing with ease in life (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is to live the val­ues of sense of con­tent­ment; pos­i­tive out­look in life. -        con­tent­ment  (Rcrng. 3x)-        beauty (Rcrng. 6x)-        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)

11.   RJE, NEA and FIE  of Benson:

“Nakakaram­dam ako ng pagkaluwag” (I feel with ease)

Ini­tial

Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

Recur­ring (Rcrng)  Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

1. Ben­son: -        Liv­ing with ease in life (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is to live the val­ues of sense of free­dom, gen­eros­ity, joy­ful helping -        free­dom (Rcrng. 15x)-        gen­eros­ity (Rcrng. 14x)-        joy (Rcrng. 35x)
2. (a) Ben­son: 2. (b) Benson:

 

-        Liv­ing with ease in life (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is a joy­ful feel­ing: shar­ing this joy with your fel­low being (with fam­ily mem­ber, friends) -        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        share (Rcrng. 11x)-        rela­tion (Rcrng. 12x)

 

 

 

 

3.1 Ben­son: -        is to be grate­ful to God, being able cope with prob­lems and con­cerns (studies) -        grate­ful (Rcrng. 13x)-        solu­tions to prob­lems (Rcrng. 14x)
3.2 Ben­son: -        is to live the val­ues of joy­ful help­ing, of sense of grat­i­tude to all those who cause our joy -        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        grat­i­tude (Rcrng. 6x)
3.3 Ben­son: -        is to live the val­ues of gen­eros­ity, of joy­ful help­ing, of sense of gratitude -        gen­eros­ity (Rcrng. 14x)-        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        grat­i­tude (Rcrng. 6x)
3.4 Ben­son: -        is to see cre­ation as a value, of sense of responsibility -        respon­si­bil­ity (Rcrng. 9x)-        beauty (Rcrng. 6x)
4. Ben­son: -        Liv­ing with ease in life (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is to live the val­ues of hav­ing as sense of mean­ing, well-being and con­tent­ment, with or with­out ease in life; with or with­out problem -        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)-        well-being (Rcrng.7x)-        con­di­tion (Rcrng. 12x) / pos­i­tive & neg­a­tive situation
5. Ben­son: -        Liv­ing with ease in life (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is to live the val­ues of hav­ing as sense of accep­tance, sense of free­dom and respon­si­bil­ity, sense of mean­ing and purpose -        accep­tance  (Rcrng. 3x)-        free­dom (Rcrng. 15x)-        respon­si­bil­ity (Rcrng. 9x)

-        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)

 

 

12.   RJE, NEA and FIE of V-Mae:

“Malakas na kapit”(To keep hold­ing on)

Ini­tial

Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

Recur­ring (Rcrng)  Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

1. V-Mae: -        Liv­ing with ease in life (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is being able to cope with or eas­ily find answers to problems -        solu­tions to prob­lems (Rcrng. 14x)-        free from wor­ries (Rcrng. 9x)
2. V-Mae: -        Liv­ing with ease in life (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is to feel light, to feel  joyful -        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        hap­pi­ness (Rcrng.10x)
3.1 V-Mae: -        Hope­ful liv­ing to face life’s tri­als alone -        hope (Rcrng. 6x)-        solu­tions to prob­lems (Rcrng. 14x)
3.2 V-Mae: -        Hope­ful liv­ing being alone -        hope (Rcrng. 6x)-        peace of mind (Rcrng. 14x)
3.3. V-Mae: -        Hope­ful liv­ing to face life’s tri­als in the midst of despair or des­per­ate people -        hope (Rcrng. 6x)-        peace of mind (Rcrng. 14x)
3.4 V-Mae: -        Hope­ful liv­ing to just sim­ply keep quiet -        peace of mind (Rcrng. 14x)
4. V-Mae: -        Hope­ful liv­ing to face life’s trials -        free from wor­ries (Rcrng. 9x)
5. V-Mae: -        Liv­ing with ease in life (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is to face life’s tri­als, to live the val­ues of acceptance. -        accep­tance  (Rcrng. 3x) 

 

 

13.  RJE, NEA and FIE of Nelca:

“Nakaka­pag­paluwag sa buhay ng iba” (To bring ease to other’s life)

Ini­tial

Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

Recur­ring (Rcrng)  Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

1. (a) Nelca: 1. (b) Nelca:

 

1. © Nelca:

-        Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is to have extra money to buy more than just the basic needs, to buy things that make life more com­fort­able and enjoy­able, to share qual­ity time with your fel­low beings (with fam­ily mem­bers, friends), to be free from the wor­ries of life -        money to buy (Rcrng. 13x)-        peace of mind (Rcrng. 14x)-        joy (Rcrng. 35x)

-        hap­pi­ness (Rcrng.10x)

-        rela­tion (Rcrng. 12x)

-        well-being (Rcrng.7x)

2. (a) Nelca: 2. (b) Nelca:

 

2. © Nelca:

 

-        Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is a joy­ful feel­ing, free from wor­ries, hav­ing a sense of free­dom, well-being and contentment -        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        free from wor­ries (Rcrng. 9x)-        free­dom (Rcrng. 15x)

-        well-being (Rcrng.7x)

-        con­tent­ment  (Rcrng. 3x)

3.1 (a) Nelca: 3.1 (b) Nelca:

 

3.1 © Nelca:

 

-        Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is liv­ing the val­ues of faith, faith in God’s providence -        faith (Rcrng. 15x)-        prov­i­dence (Rcrng. 10x)
3.2 Nelca: 3.3 (a) Nelca:

 

3.3 (b) Nelca

 

3.3 © Nelca:

 

3.4 Nelca:

 

-        Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is an oppor­tu­nity to find joy and joy­fully share and help those who are in need most, to sim­ply give, to have space (com­pas­sion) for others -        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        share (Rcrng. 11x)-        give (Rcrng. 11x) with joy

-        oppor­tu­nity (Rcrng. 4x)

-        give (Rcrng. 11x) / to those in need

-        com­pas­sion (Rcrng. 6x)

4. (a) Nelca: 4. (b) Nelca:

 

4. © Nelca

 

-        Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is to be grate­ful and thank­ful to God as a source of bless­ings, to joy­fully share to those who are in need most, to live the val­ues of thrift and sav­ing for the future -        grate­ful (Rcrng. 13x)-        God source of life (Rcrng. 13x)-        thrift (Rcrng. 6x)

-        sav­ing for the future (Rcrng. 6x)

-        sus­tain (Rcrng. 6x)

5. (a) Nelca: 5. (b) Nelca:

 

5. © Nelca:

-        Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is to live the val­ues of thrift and sav­ing for the future -        thrift (Rcrng. 6x)-        sav­ing for the future (Rcrng. 6x)-        sus­tain (Rcrng. 6x)

14.  RJE, NEA and FIE of Gary:

“Kaluwa­gan sa mundong ito” (To have ease in this world)

Ini­tial

Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

Recur­ring (Rcrng)  Nakakaluwag

Sub-Themes

1. (a) Gary: 1. (b) Gary:

 

1. © Gary:

 

1. (d) Gary:

-        Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is to have extra money to buy more than just the basic needs, to buy things that make life more com­fort­able and enjoy­able, to share qual­ity time with your fel­low beings (with fam­ily mem­bers, friends) -        money to buy (Rcrng. 13x)-        peace of mind (Rcrng. 14x)-        joy (Rcrng. 35x)

-        hap­pi­ness (Rcrng.10x)

-        rela­tion (Rcrng. 12x)

-        well-being (Rcrng.7x)

2. (a) Gary: 2. (b) Gary: -        Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is a joy­ful feel­ing, liv­ing the val­ues of joy­ful help­ing, to be grate­ful to God in dif­fi­cult times (pana­hon ng kagip­tan), a hope­ful liv­ing to face life’s tri­als, being able to cope with prob­lems and con­cerns, free from worries -        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        grate­ful (Rcrng. 13x)-        hope (Rcrng. 6x)

-        solu­tions to prob­lems (Rcrng. 14x)

-        free from wor­ries (Rcrng. 9x)

 

 

 

 

 

3.1 (a) Gary: 3.1 (b) Gary: -        Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is liv­ing the val­ues of faith, faith in God’s providence -        faith (Rcrng. 15x)-        God source of life (Rcrng. 13x)-        prov­i­dence (Rcrng. 10x)
3.2 Gary: -        Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is to live the val­ues of faith, of joy­ful help­ing, of hav­ing sense of respon­si­bil­ity, of ful­fill­ment in doing a social obligation. -        faith (Rcrng. 15x)-        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        respon­si­bil­ity (Rcrng. 9x) /obligation

-        com­mit­ment (Rcrng. 2x)

3.3 Gary: 3.4 Gary:

 

-        Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is an oppor­tu­nity to joy­fully share and help those who are in need most, to sim­ply give, to have space (com­pas­sion) for others -        share (Rcrng. 11x)-        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        give (Rcrng. 11x)
4. (a) Gary: 4. (b) Gary:

 

4. © Gary:

 

-        Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is an oppor­tu­nity to joy­fully share to those who are in need most in what­ever sit­u­a­tions in life you are in, either nakakaluwag (ease) or hindi nakakaluwag or gipit (with­out ease) -        share (Rcrng. 11x)-        give (Rcrng. 11x)-        solu­tions to prob­lems (Rcrng. 14x)

 

5. (a) Gary: 5. (b) Gary:

 

-        Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is to live the val­ues of hav­ing as sense of mean­ing and pur­pose, of sense of gratitude -        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)-        grat­i­tude (Rcrng. 6x)

 

Table 13 shows these forty four (44) nakakaluwag inter­re­lated sub-themes that arose from the the­matic analy­sis. The first col­umn with the head­ing: ‘44 Sub-Themes’ con­tains the forty four (44) sub-themes arranged alpha­bet­i­cally and their fre­quency of occur­rences is indi­cated. The sec­ond col­umn with the head­ing: ‘Related Sub-Themes’ con­tains the forty four (44) sets or clus­ters of sub-themes whose shared-meanings are enclosed for each of the cor­re­spond­ing sub-theme found in the first column.

Table 13. The Forty four (44) Nakakaluwag Sub-themes and their Related Sub-themes

No.

44 Sub-Themes

Related Sub-Themes

1

accep­tance  (Rcrng. 3x) -        solu­tions to prob­lems (Rcrng. 14x)-        peace of mind (Rcrng. 14x)-        free from wor­ries (Rcrng. 9x)

-        con­tent­ment  (Rcrng. 3x)

2

beauty (Rcrng. 6x) -        clean (Rcrng. 2x)-        respon­si­bil­ity (Rcrng. 9x)-        com­mit­ment (Rcrng. 2x)

-        oppor­tu­nity (Rcrng. 4x)

-        expanse (Rcrng. 2x)

3

bless­ings (Rcrng. 5x) -        faith (Rcrng. 15x)-        God source of life (Rcrng. 13x)-        prov­i­dence (Rcrng. 10x)

4

clean (Rcrng. 2x) -        beauty (Rcrng. 6x)-        respon­si­bil­ity (Rcrng. 9x)-        com­mit­ment (Rcrng. 2x)

-        oppor­tu­nity (Rcrng. 4x)

-        expanse (Rcrng. 2x)

5

com­mit­ment (Rcrng. 2x) -        empower (Rcrng. 6x)-        respon­si­bil­ity (Rcrng. 9x)-        free­dom (Rcrng. 15x)

-        oppor­tu­nity (Rcrng. 4x)

6

com­pas­sion (Rcrng. 6x) -        grat­i­tude (Rcrng. 6x)-        love (Rcrng. 4x)-        give (Rcrng. 11x)

-        fair (Rcrng. 4x)

-        equal­ity (Rcrng. 2x)

7

con­di­tion (Rcrng. 12x) -        mind-set (Rcrng. 3x)-        hope (Rcrng. 6x)

8

con­tent­ment  (Rcrng. 3x) -        peace of mind (Rcrng. 14x)-        free from wor­ries (Rcrng. 9x)-        solu­tions to prob­lems (Rcrng. 14x)

-        accep­tance  (Rcrng. 3x)

9

earn­ing and sav­ing (Rcrng. 7x) -        money to buy (Rcrng. 13x)-        work (Rcrng. 5x)-        sav­ing for the future (Rcrng. 6x)

10

empower (Rcrng. 6x) -        free­dom (Rcrng. 15x)-        respon­si­bil­ity (Rcrng. 9x)-        com­mit­ment (Rcrng. 2x)

-        oppor­tu­nity (Rcrng. 4x)

-        expanse (Rcrng. 2x)

11

equal­ity (Rcrng. 2x) -        fair  (Rcrng. 4x)-        love (Rcrng. 4x)-        com­pas­sion (Rcrng. 6x)

-        hope (Rcrng. 6x)

-        give (Rcrng. 11x)

12

expanse (Rcrng. 2x) -        free­dom (Rcrng. 15x)-        empower (Rcrng. 6x)-        respon­si­bil­ity (Rcrng. 9x)

-        com­mit­ment (Rcrng. 2x)

-        oppor­tu­nity (Rcrng. 4x)

13

fair (Rcrng. 4x) -        equal­ity (Rcrng. 2x)-        love (Rcrng. 4x)-        com­pas­sion (Rcrng. 6x)

-        hope (Rcrng. 6x)

-        give (Rcrng. 11x)

14

faith (Rcrng. 15x) -        God source of life (Rcrng. 13x)-        prov­i­dence (Rcrng. 10x)-        bless­ings (Rcrng. 5x)

-        rela­tion (Rcrng. 12x)

15

free from wor­ries (Rcrng. 9x) -        peace of mind (Rcrng. 14x)-        solu­tions to prob­lems (Rcrng. 14x)-        con­tent­ment  (Rcrng. 3x)

-        accep­tance  (Rcrng. 3x)

16

free­dom (Rcrng. 15x) -        empower (Rcrng. 6x)-        respon­si­bil­ity (Rcrng. 9x)-        com­mit­ment (Rcrng. 2x)

-        oppor­tu­nity (Rcrng. 4x)

-        expanse (Rcrng. 2x)

-        beauty (Rcrng. 6x)

-        clean (Rcrng. 2x)

 

 

 

17

gen­eros­ity (Rcrng. 14x) -        give (Rcrng. 11x)-        share (Rcrng. 11x)-        grate­ful (Rcrng. 13x)

-        com­pas­sion (Rcrng. 6x)

-        grat­i­tude (Rcrng. 6x)

-        love (Rcrng. 4x)

-        fair (Rcrng. 4x)

-        equal­ity (Rcrng. 2x)

18

give (Rcrng. 11x) -        gen­eros­ity (Rcrng. 14x)-        share (Rcrng. 11x)-        grate­ful (Rcrng. 13x)

-        grat­i­tude (Rcrng. 6x)

19

God source of life (Rcrng. 13x) -        faith (Rcrng. 15x)-        prov­i­dence (Rcrng. 10x)-        bless­ings (Rcrng. 5x)

-        rela­tion (Rcrng. 12x)

20

grate­ful (Rcrng. 13x) -        grat­i­tude (Rcrng. 6x)-        give (Rcrng. 11x)-        gen­eros­ity (Rcrng. 14x)

-        share (Rcrng. 11x)

21

grat­i­tude (Rcrng. 6x) -        grate­ful (Rcrng. 13x)-        give (Rcrng. 11x)-        gen­eros­ity (Rcrng. 14x)

-        share (Rcrng. 11x)

22

hap­pi­ness (Rcrng.10x) -        joy (Rcrng. 35x)-        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)-        heart / mind (Rcrng.2x)

-        well-being (Rcrng.7x)

23

heart / mind (Rcrng.2x) -        well-being (Rcrng.7x)-        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)-        joy (Rcrng. 35x)

-        hap­pi­ness (Rcrng.10x)

24

hope (Rcrng. 6x) -        con­di­tion (Rcrng. 12x)-        mind-set (Rcrng. 3x)

25

joy (Rcrng. 35x) -        hap­pi­ness (Rcrng.10x)-        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)-        heart / mind (Rcrng.2x)

-        well-being (Rcrng.7x)

26

les­son (Rcrng. 5x) -        wis­dom (Rcrng. 6x)-        under­stand­ing (Rcrng. 9x)

27

love (Rcrng. 4x) -        com­pas­sion (Rcrng. 6x)-        hope (Rcrng. 6x)-        give (Rcrng. 11x)

-        equal­ity (Rcrng. 2x)

-        fair (Rcrng. 4x)

28

mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x) -        heart / mind (Rcrng.2x)-        well-being (Rcrng.7x)-        joy (Rcrng. 35x)

-        hap­pi­ness (Rcrng.10x)

29

mind-set (Rcrng. 3x) -        con­di­tion (Rcrng. 12x)-        hope (Rcrng. 6x)

30

money to buy (Rcrng. 13x) -        earn­ing / sav­ing (Rcrng. 7x)-        work (Rcrng. 5x)-        sav­ing for the future (Rcrng. 6x)

-        con­di­tion (Rcrng. 12x)

-        hope (Rcrng. 6x)

-        sus­tain (Rcrng. 6x

-        thrift (Rcrng. 6x)

-        mind-set (Rcrng. 3x)

31

oppor­tu­nity (Rcrng. 4x) -        respon­si­bil­ity (Rcrng. 9x)-        free­dom (Rcrng. 15x)-        empower (Rcrng. 6x)

-        com­mit­ment (Rcrng. 2x)

32

peace of mind (Rcrng. 14x) -        free from wor­ries (Rcrng. 9x)-        solu­tions to prob­lems (Rcrng. 14x)-        con­tent­ment  (Rcrng. 3x)

-        accep­tance  (Rcrng. 3x)

33

prov­i­dence (Rcrng. 10x) -        God source of life (Rcrng. 13x)-        Faith (Rcrng. 15x)-        bless­ings (Rcrng. 5x)

34

rela­tion (Rcrng. 12x) -        faith (Rcrng. 15x)-        God source of life (Rcrng. 13x)-        prov­i­dence (Rcrng. 10x)

-        bless­ings (Rcrng. 5x)

35

respon­si­bil­ity (Rcrng. 9x) -        free­dom (Rcrng. 15x)-        empower (Rcrng. 6x)-        com­mit­ment (Rcrng. 2x)

-        oppor­tu­nity (Rcrng. 4x)

-        expanse (Rcrng. 2x)

36

sav­ing for the future (Rcrng. 6x) -        sus­tain (Rcrng. 6x)-        thrift (Rcrng. 6x)-        earn­ing / sav­ing (Rcrng. 7x)

37

share (Rcrng. 11x) -        give (Rcrng. 11x)-        gen­eros­ity (Rcrng. 14x)

38

solu­tions to prob­lems (Rcrng. 14x) -        peace of mind (Rcrng. 14x)-        free from wor­ries (Rcrng. 9x)-        con­tent­ment  (Rcrng. 3x)

-        accep­tance  (Rcrng. 3x)

39

sus­tain (Rcrng. 6x) -        sav­ing for the future (Rcrng. 6x)-        thrift (Rcrng. 6x)-        earn­ing / sav­ing (Rcrng. 7x)

40

thrift (Rcrng. 6x) -        sav­ing for the future (Rcrng. 6x)-        sus­tain (Rcrng. 6x)-        earn­ing / sav­ing (Rcrng. 7x)

41

under­stand­ing (Rcrng. 9x) -        wis­dom (Rcrng. 6x)-        les­son (Rcrng. 5x)

42

well-being (Rcrng.7x) -        heart / mind (Rcrng.2x)-        mean­ing / pur­pose (Rcrng. 25x)

43

wis­dom (Rcrng. 6x) -        under­stand­ing (Rcrng. 9x)-        les­son (Rcrng. 5x)

44

work (Rcrng. 5x) -        earn­ing / sav­ing (Rcrng. 7x)-        money to buy (Rcrng. 13x)-        sav­ing for the future (Rcrng. 6x)

 

The­matic Reflec­tion: Answers to the Research Ques­tions through the Prover­bial Themes

The writer rec­og­nized the sig­nif­i­cance and the inter­re­la­tion­ships of the var­i­ous mean­ing units, sub-themes and themes on the phe­nom­e­non of the lived-experience of nakakaluwag. And by employ­ing the mod­i­fied ver­sion of Aronson’s (1994) five (5) steps of the­matic analy­sis, the interpretation-description of the Co-Rs’ TEXT on the lived-experience of nakakaluwag grad­u­ally gen­er­ated seven (7) prover­bial themes. Nev­er­the­less, Van Manen (2002) main­tains that as we gain themes and the­matic state­ments, we may wish to cap­ture these the­matic state­ments in more phe­nom­e­no­log­i­cally sen­si­tive para­graphs (par. 5).

But why has it gen­er­ated the Fil­ipino Proverbs or Salawikain? It is because they con­spic­u­ously sur­faced as nat­ural key the­matic state­ments that are grad­u­ally unfold­ing from within the Co-Rs’ inte­grated shared-understanding of the phe­nom­e­non of nakakaluwag and at the same time enclos­ing the scat­tered com­po­nents or frag­ments of their shared-meanings to con­sti­tute the lived-experience of nakakaluwag.

Table 14 shows these seven (7) prover­bial themes and forty four (44) sub-themes that sur­faced from the the­matic analy­sis of Co-Rs’ TEXT. The first col­umn with the head­ing: ‘7 Prover­bial Themes’ con­tains the (7) prover­bial themes, indi­cat­ing the total num­ber of clus­tered sub-themes that are enclosed within, while the sec­ond col­umn with the head­ing: ‘44 Sub-Themes’ con­tains the forty four (44) sub-themes, clus­tered by the cor­re­spond­ing prover­bial theme and were sorted from high­est to the low­est num­ber of occurrence.

The third col­umn with the head­ing: ‘Fre­quency & Per­cent­age of Sub-Themes Recur­rences’ shows the rate of occur­rence out of forty four (44) sub-themes and their per­cent­age equiv­a­lent. To cal­cu­late the per­cent­age of a sub-theme occur­rence, the writer sim­ply divided the total num­ber of occur­rences of a given sub-theme by the total num­ber of all sub-themes iden­ti­fied, mul­ti­plied the answer (quo­tient) by 100. In this case (as it was applied to all the suc­ceed­ing cases), the sub-theme ‘joy’ emerged 35 times out of all the 44 sub-themes. Thus, the per­cent­age of occur­rences of a sub-theme ‘joy’ is 35 ÷ 44 = 0.79545 x 100 = 79.55%.

The fourth col­umn with the head­ing ‘14 Co-Rs that artic­u­lated the Sub-Themes’ indi­cates who among them who had in fact artic­u­lated the said sub-themes. And lastly, the fifth col­umn with the head­ing: ‘Num­ber & Per­cent­age of Co-Rs who artic­u­lated the Sub-Themes’ indi­cates the total num­ber out of 14 Co-Rs who actu­ally artic­u­lated the sub-themes and their per­cent­age equiv­a­lent. To cal­cu­late the per­cent­age of a Co-R’s occur­rence who artic­u­lated a sub-theme, the writer sim­ply divided the total num­ber of a Co-R’s occur­rence by the total num­ber of all Co-Rs, and mul­ti­plied the answer (quo­tient) by 100. In this case (as it was also applied to all the pre­ced­ing and suc­ceed­ing cases), the sub-theme ‘joy’ was artic­u­lated by 14 Co-Rs out of all the 14 Co-Rs. Thus, the per­cent­age of Co-Rs who artic­u­lated the sub-theme ‘joy’ is 14 ÷ 14 = 1.0 x 100 = 100%.

The writer is aware that a theme, as Van Manen puts it, is not about a fre­quency count of selected terms, rather it is the expe­ri­ence of mean­ing [or the mean­ing of expe­ri­ence] (as cited in Belle­feuille, 2005, p. 114). The writer’s pur­pose of cal­cu­lat­ing the per­cent­ages of both the occur­rences of a sub-theme and the Co-Rs who artic­u­lated the said sub-theme above is to sim­ply pro­vide him impor­tant insights and per­spec­tives into the pos­si­bil­ity of a more cre­ative, intu­itive and mean­ing­ful the­matic analy­sis and, sub­se­quently, the­matic reflec­tion. All the interpreted-described themes, whose per­cent­ages of occur­rences were cal­cu­lated, do not reflect a hier­ar­chy of sig­nif­i­cance. They truly and sim­ply rep­re­sent the lived-experience of nakakaluwag.

Table 14. 7 Prover­bial Themes and 44 Sub-themes aris­ing from the Co-Rs’ TEXT

7 Prover­bial Themes

44 Sub-Themes

Fre­quency & Per­cent­age of Sub-Themes Recurrences

14 Co-Rs that artic­u­lated the Sub-Themes

Num­ber & Per­cent­age of Co-Rs who artic­u­lated the Sub-Themes

Theme 1“Ang buhay ay parang gulong, min­sang nasa ibabaw, min­sang nasa ilalim.” (5 Sub-Themes) 1. joy 35 of 4479.55 % 1. Rowel, 2. Dino, 3. Mari­cel, 4. Jorelle, 5. Joe, 6. Me-Ann, 7. Lorence, 8. Pink, 9. Elvie, 10. Rom­mel, 11. Ben­son, 12. V-Mae, 13. Nelca, 14. Gary 14 of 14100 %
2. mean­ing / purpose 25 of 4456.82 % 1. Rowel, 2. Dino, 3. Mari­cel, 4. Jorelle, 5. Joe, 6. Me-Ann, 7. Lorence, 8. Pink, 9. Elvie, 10. Rom­mel, 11. Ben­son, 14. Gary 12 of 1485.71 %
3. hap­pi­ness 10 of 4422.73 % 1. Rowel, 2. Dino, 5. Joe, 7. Lorence, 8. Pink, 10. Rom­mel, 12. V-Mae, 13. Nelca,14. Gary 9 of 1464.29 %
4. well-being 7 of 4415..91 % 1. Rowel, 7. Lorence, 8. Pink, 11. Ben­son, 13. Nelca, 14. Gary 6 of 1442.86 %
5. heart / mind 2 of 444.55 % 1. Rowel, 5. Joe 2 of 1414.29 %
Theme 2 “Nasa Diyos ang awa, nasa tao ang gawa.” (5 Sub-Themes) 1. faith 15 x34.09 % 2. Dino, 3. Mari­cel, 5. Joe, 6. Me-Ann, 7. Lorence, 9. Elvie, 10. Rom­mel, 13. Nelca, 14. Gary 9 of 1464.29 %
2. God source of life 13 of 4429.55 % 1. Rowel, 2. Dino, 4. Jorelle, 5. Joe, 6. Me-Ann, 7. Lorence, 8. Pink, 9. Elvie, 13. Nelca, 14. Gary 10 of 1471.43 %
3. rela­tion 12 of 4427.27 % 1. Rowel, 2. Dino, 4. Jorelle, 6. Me-Ann, 8. Pink, 11. Ben­son, 13. Nelca, 14. Gary 8 of 1457.14 %
4. prov­i­dence 10 of 4422.73 % 1. Rowel, 2. Dino, 6. Me-Ann, 8. Pink, 9. Elvie, 10. Rom­mel, 13. Nelca, 14. Gary 8 of 1457.14 %
5. bless­ings 5 of 4411.36 % 2. Dino, 3. Mari­cel, 4. Jorelle 3 of 1421.43 % 

 

Theme 3 “Kung gusto may paraan, kung ayaw may dahi­lan.” (5 Sub-Themes) 1. solu­tions to problems 14 of 4431.82 % 2. Dino, 6. Me-Ann, 7. Lorence, 8. Pink, 11. Ben­son, 12. V-Mae, 14. Gary 7 of 1450 % 

 

2. peace of mind 14 of 4431.82 % 1. Rowel, 2. Dino, 4. Jorelle, 6. Me-Ann, 7. Lorence, 8. Pink, 12. V-Mae, 13. Nelca, 14. Gary 9 of 1464.29 %
3. free from worries 9 of 4420.45% 3. Mari­cel, 8. Pink, 9. Elvie, 12. V-Mae, 13. Nelca, 14. Gary, 6 of 1442.86 %
4. accep­tance 3 of 446.82 % 8. Pink, 11. Ben­son, 12. V-Mae 3 of 1421.43 %
5. con­tent­ment 3 of 446.82 % 8. Pink, 10. Rom­mel, 13. Nelca 3 of 1421.43 %
Theme 4 “Kung may isinuk­sok, may madudukot.” (3 Sub-Themes) 1. under­stand­ing 9 of 4420.45 % 1. Rowel, 2. Dino, 5. Joel, 6. Me-Anne, 7. Lorence, 8. Pink 6 of 1442.86 %
2. wis­dom 6 of 4413.63 % 2. Dino, 5. Joe, 6. Me-Ann, 7. Lorence, 8. Pink 5 of 1435.71 %
3. les­son 5 of 4411.36 % 5. Joe, 6. Me-Ann, 7. Lorence, 8. Pink 4 of 1428.57 % 
Theme 5 “Ang hindi marunong lumin­gon sa pinang­galin­gan ay di makakarat­ing sa paro­roo­nan.” (9 Sub-Themes) 1. gen­eros­ity 14 of 4431.82 % 1. Rowel, 2. Dino, 3. Mari­cel, 4. Jorelle, 6. Me-Ann, 7. Lorence, 9. Elvie, 10. Rom­mel, 11. Benson 9 of 1464.29 %
2. grate­ful 13 of 4429.55 % 2. Dino, 3. Mari­cel, 6. Me-Ann, 7. Lorence, 8. Pink, 9. Elvie, 11. Ben­son, 13. Nelca, 14. Gary 9 of 1464.29 %
3. give 11 of 4425 % 2. Dino, 5. Joe, 13. Nelca, 14. Gary 4 of 1428.57 %
4. share 11 of 4425 % 2. Dino, 5. Joe, 9. Elvie, 11. Ben­son, 13. Nelca, 14. Gary 6 of 1442.86 %
5. com­pas­sion 6 of 4413.64 % 1. Rowel, 2. Dino, 5. Joe, 7. Lorence, 13. Nelca 5 of 1435.71 % 
6. grat­i­tude 6 of 4413.64 % 2. Dino, 3. Mari­cel, 6. Me-Ann, 11. Ben­son, 14. Gary 5 of 1435.71 %
7. fair 4 of 449.09 % 2. Dino, 5. Joe 2 of 1414.29 %
8. love 4 of 449.09 % 1. Rowel, 5. Joe, 7. Lorence 3 of 1421.43 %
9. equal­ity 2 of 444.55 % 2. Dino, 5. Joe 2 of 1414.29 %
Theme 6 “Kung walang tiyaga, walang nilaga.” (8 Sub-Themes) 1. free­dom 15 of 4434.09 %  1. Rowel, 2. Dino, 3. Mari­cel, 4. Jorelle, 5. Joe, 6. Me-Ann, 8. Pink, 11. Ben­son, 13. Nelca 9 of 1464.29 %
2. respon­si­bil­ity 9 of 4420.45 % 1. Rowel, 2. Dino, 4. Jorelle, 5. Joe, 10. Rom­mel, 11. Ben­son, 14. Gary 7 of 1450 %
3. empower 6 of 4413.63 % 1. Rowel, 2. Dino, 3. Mari­cel, 7. Lorence, 8. Pink 5 of 1435.71 %
4. beauty 6 of 4413.63 % 1. Rowel, 6. Me-Ann, 7. Lorence, 8. Pink, 10. Rom­mel, 11. Benson 6 of 1442.86 %
5. oppor­tu­nity 4 of 449.09 % 2. Dino, 6. Me-Ann, 13. Nelca 3 of 1421.43 %
6.expanse 2 of 444.55 % 2. Dino, 5. Joe 2 of 1414.29 %
7. clean 2 of 444.55 % 3. Mari­cel, 4. Jorelle 2 of 1414.29 %
8. com­mit­ment 2 of 444.55 % 5. Joe, 14. Gary 2 of 1414.29 %
Theme 7 “Hang­gang maiksi ang kumot, matu­tong mamaluk­tot.”(9 Sub-Themes) 1. money to buy 13 of 4429.55 % 2. Dino, 3. Mari­cel, 4. Jorelle, 6. Me-Ann, 7. Lorence, 8. Pink, 9. Elvie, 13. Nelca, 14. Gary 9 of 1464.29 %
2. con­di­tion 12 of 4427.27 % 1. Rowel, 3. Mari­cel, 5. Joe, 6. Me-Ann, 7. Lorence, 8. Pink, 11. Benson 7 of 1450 %
3. earn­ing / saving 7 of 4415.91 % 2. Dino, 4. Jorelle, 7. Lorence, 8. Pink, 9. Elvie 5 of 1435.71 %
4. hope 6 of 4413.63 % 3. Mari­cel, 7. Lorence, 12. V-Mae, 14. Gary 4 of 1428.57 %
5. sav­ing for the future 6 of 4413.63 % 3. Mari­cel, 7. Lorence, 9. Elvie, 13. Nelca 4 of 1428.57 %
6. sus­tain 6 of 4413.63 % 3. Mari­cel, 7. Lorence, 9. Elvie, 13. Nelca 4 of 1428.57 %
7. thrift 6 of 4413.63 % 3. Mari­cel, 7. Lorence, 9. Elvie, 13. Nelca 4 of 1428.57 %
8. work 5 of 4411.36 % 2. Dino, 4. Jorelle, 7. Lorence, 8. Pink 4 of 1428.57 %
9. mind-set 3 of 446.82 % 1. Rowel, 5. Joe 2 of 1414.29 %

 Hermeneutic-phenomenology, as explained ear­lier, inves­ti­gates [inter­prets] and describes a phe­nom­e­non as expe­ri­enced in life through phe­nom­e­no­log­i­cal reflec­tion and writ­ing by devel­op­ing a descrip­tion [and inter­pre­ta­tion] of the phe­nom­e­non (Osborne, 1994 as cited in Flood, 2010). Inde­pen­dently, hermeneu­tics is inter­pre­tive and phe­nom­e­nol­ogy is descrip­tive. But as com­bined dis­ci­pline, it is both inter­pre­tive seek­ing mean­ing and descrip­tive focus­ing on how things appear (Dou­glas & Wykowski, 2001, p. 90–91). Like­wise, Van Manen (2002) claims that a “the­matic reflec­tion has hermeneu­tic or inter­pre­tive power when it allows us to pro­ceed with phe­nom­e­no­log­i­cal descrip­tions” (par. 4).

Through the the­matic analy­sis, the writer saw the inter­re­lat­ed­ness of all the mean­ing units, sub-themes and themes, and drew his atten­tion in their dif­fer­ences in depth of mean­ing. In his attempt to interpret-describe the phe­nom­e­non of the lived-experience of nakakaluwag, seven (7) prover­bial themes grad­u­ally emerged that were fur­ther elu­ci­dated by the forty four (44) inter­re­lated and recur­ring (rcrng) sub-themes. These themes were referred to as the story line of the phe­nom­e­non of nakakaluwag.

Through the the­matic reflec­tion, it pro­vides a mea­sure of con­trol and a sense of order in our research and writ­ing (Van Manen, 2002). Thus, for the pur­pose of doing the­matic reflec­tion, the writer care­fully selected the rep­re­sen­ta­tive quo­ta­tions that sur­faced from the TEXT in which the Co-Rs shared-beliefs are all embed­ded and their shared-practices are all embod­ied, which even­tu­ally emerged into the fol­low­ing seven (7) prover­bial themes (and Sub-themes) which addressed and answered the three (3) research ques­tions of this study. The writer care­fully deter­mined the appro­pri­ate prover­bial themes that answered the research ques­tions asked, thus they are not arranged in sequen­tial order.

Research Ques­tion 1.1 What are the sig­nif­i­cant nakakaluwag lived-experiences of the four­teen (14) co-researchers (Co-Rs) in terms of the four­fold rela­tion­al­ity, with God?

Theme 2 “Nasa Diyos ang awa, nasa tao ang gawa.” [6]

Tuwina’y pina­p­at­nubayan tayo ng Pangi­noong Diyos. Alam nat­ing dini­dinig Niya ang ating mga dalan­gin. Ang Pangi­noon ay nakikinig at nak­agabay sa atin ngu­nit kailan­gan nat­ing magsikap upang makam­tam ang tagumpay.

 [We have always been guided by God. We know that He hears our prayers. The Lord lis­tens and guides us, but we must strive to achieve success.]

Liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is: (2.1) liv­ing the val­ues of faith, (2.2) expe­ri­enc­ing God as the source of life, (2.3) a mean­ing­ful relat­ing with oth­ers (pakikipagkapwa), (2.4) God’s prov­i­dence and (2.5) a blessing.

2.1 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as liv­ing the val­ues of faith.

Faith means being grate­ful for the life’s lessons learned, thank­ing God for all that He has given as pre­cious gifts and find­ing His sacred pres­ence always alive in either with or with­out ease in life (nakakaluwag o hirap man sa buhay); either amidst good times or bad times. As God lis­tens and guides us, we must never for­get to strive to reach and achieve suc­cess. The real mea­sure of suc­cess is where faith seeks solu­tions and actions by fac­ing life’s prob­lems and not avoid­ing them, because at the end of the day we will all find rest both for our tired mind and body.

Co-R Lorence said, “Even if I don’t see God, I still feel his pres­ence, even dur­ing the time that we were liv­ing with­out ease in life (hirap sa buhay) until the time that we are liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay).”

Co-R Mari­cel said, “I always pray to God, [I always] remem­ber to thank Him in every­thing He had given me, sa madali, mahi­rap, mag­in­hawa, malaki or maliit na bagay na bless­ings (in an easy, dif­fi­cult, con­ve­nient, big or small things that are con­sid­ered blessings.”

Co-R Nelca said, “Napaka­ha­laga sa akin ang spir­i­tual aspect ng aking buhay (The spir­i­tual aspect of my life is very impor­tant to me).  This defines in a way, how I view things in life.  –Sa akin kasi, pag ram­dam ko na ako ay nakakaluwag sa buhay (To me, when I felt liv­ing with ease in my life), malak­ing bahagi noon ay dahil sa malakas na pananam­palataya sa Diyos (a big part of is due to [my] strong faith in God).”

Co-R Pink said, “[A]nd it’s not just dahil sa nakakaluwag ako sa buhay (because I’m liv­ing with ease in life) that I’m grate­ful to Him, but because I keep on ask­ing Him and won­der­ing why He is not giv­ing me any prob­lem in life, even once, and yet I know [if] he [will] give it [it’s only] because God knows I can cope with my problem.)”

Co-R Gary said, “With all hon­esty, I believe that what I have right now that make me nakakaluwag sa buhay (live life with ease) are not because of my sheer luck or even my knowl­edge and infor­ma­tion but rather these are gifts of God to me.”

 

2.2 Expe­ri­enc­ing God as the source of life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay).

God is present both in time with ease (pana­hon ng kaluwa­gan) and in time with­out ease (pana­hon ng kagip­tan). We have to be grate­ful to God for being the source of life of ease (kaluwa­gan ng buhay), more so for remain­ing as our redeemer in time with­out ease.

Co-R Jorelle said, “–I real­ized that there is a God who is always there for you and will never for­sake you.”

Co-R Me-Ann said, “He [God] is the cen­ter of all my life [and] I’m grate­ful even with the ugly, more so of the beau­ti­ful things that hap­pened in my life.”

Co-R Dino said, “I found the Lord in my relief (kaluwa­gan) because he is to whom I address my grate­ful thanks for all the bless­ings I received in my life. –It is clear in my con­scious­ness that every­thing that I gained from God is his bless­ings to me and to oth­ers who are in need.”

Co-R Lorence said, “Even if I don’t see God, I still feel his pres­ence, even dur­ing the time that we were liv­ing with­out ease in life (hirap sa buhay) until the time that we are liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay).”

Co-R Pink said, “I am a reli­gious per­son that I should never for­get God…that must never dis­ap­pear [in my life]. I always empha­size that in each day that God has made, I can­not afford to miss thank­ing him because he has given me the pagkakataon para makaram­dam ng luwag sa buhay (oppor­tu­nity to expe­ri­ence life with ease).”

Co-R Dino said, “– At first, when I’m hard up for money, I thought that only money will give relief (kaluwa­gan). Even­tu­ally, it is not money that will pro­vide relief (kaluwa­gan) in a given sit­u­a­tion, but a mean­ing­ful com­mu­ni­ca­tion with some­one. –[L]ife goes on despite all the expe­ri­ences I went through, and not all the time is sadness.”

2.3 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as a mean­ing­ful relat­ing with oth­ers (pakikipagkapwa).

What really mat­ters most is a mean­ing­ful relat­ing with oth­ers (pakikipagkapwa) more than any­thing else, more than what money can buy. With our per­sonal resolve not to give up we are able to sur­vive all life’s tri­als, more so by draw­ing our strength from our com­mu­nal rela­tion­ships, from our fam­ily and friends support.

Co-R Jorelle even admit­ted the impact on his life his expe­ri­enced upon meet­ing his father after more than eigh­teen years (18) of sep­a­ra­tion since birth. He said, “I felt ease (nakakaluwag) when I saw my father [for the first time] because I long to meet him.”

Co-R Pink said, “Kung nakakaluwag ako (When I expe­ri­ence life with ease) I see peo­ple as my inspi­ra­tion. These peo­ple serve as guide, the way or it can also be mag­ing sanhi kung bakit ako nakakaluwag (the rea­son why I expe­ri­enced life with ease) and it is impor­tant to thank [and be grate­ful to] them because if not for them I will never come to real­ize ang halaga ng isang paki­ram­dam ng nakakaluwag (the value of an expe­ri­ence of a life with ease).”

Co-R Dino said, “[A life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay)] is not depen­dent on mate­r­ial things or money but on a mean­ing­ful relat­ing with oth­ers; Life is eas­ing (lumu­luwag ang buhay) not because you have money, but because you have oth­ers with whom you are mean­ing­fully relat­ing with. — There is no ease (walang kaluwa­gan) when oth­ers do not exist… — I thought that only money will give relief (kaluwa­gan). Even­tu­ally, it is not money that will pro­vide relief (kaluwa­gan) in a given sit­u­a­tion, but a mean­ing­ful com­mu­ni­ca­tion with someone.”

Co-R Ben­son said, “[Y]et even though it feels happy, you will not really enjoy it when you are all alone expe­ri­enc­ing it, while your other friends are suf­fer­ing with their problems.”

Co-R Gary said, “The moment I feel that I’m nakakaluwag (liv­ing with ease) in life is the time that I have more than enough of my bless­ings which I shared with my fam­ily and loved ones.”

Co-R Me-Ann said, “I asked myself over and over again on what moment in my life that I expe­ri­enced life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) and what came into my mind is when I over­came those prob­lems that my fam­ily faced, and at that time I have no idea how my fam­ily would be able to sur­vive. …I was able to sur­vive them all”

Co-R Nelca said, “I also believe that those times that I get to enjoy my time with my fam­ily and friends with­out the wor­ries of money or time or work, are also times when you actu­ally feel nakakaluwag (liv­ing with ease).”

2.4 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as God’s providence.

While faith means believ­ing in God’s prov­i­dence, God’s prov­i­dence means every­thing that is, that comes from Him, moves through Him, and returns to Him. He, as the cen­ter of our life, should be feared [revered] and obeyed because He [may or seem to] ‘pun­ish’ the self­ish and the greedy, but blesses the self­less and the gen­er­ous. God’s prov­i­dence makes us as well acknowl­edge our mis­sion in life, which is insep­a­ra­bly linked with what our faith demands: first, to mean­ing­fully relate with oth­ers (pakikipagkapwa). Sec­ond, iden­tify our­selves with them through what they have been going through in this life. Third, and to share with them our blessings.

Co-R Nelca said, “I know that [life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay)] is God’s work and bless­ings. In a sense, God remains to be the cen­ter of my being and my life.”

Co-R Joe said, “I find myself amongst Chris­tians who believe in God and fear God who pun­ish those who are self­ish and greedy.”

Co-R Gary said, “I believe that God show­ered me with all these things to share and take care of my fam­ily and loved ones which I think one of my mis­sions in life.”

Co-R Dino said, “It was clear to me then that the answer to my finan­cial dif­fi­culty involved a large amount of funds as pay­ment to the owner [of a house and lot I decided to pur­chase]. Money is in my opin­ion will give me great relief (malak­ing kaluwa­gan). But when I finally came into terms with the owner regard­ing my dilemma, never did I imag­ine that the owner would sym­pa­thize with me and informed me that he would be will­ing to wait any­time for my pay­ment. –I just thought all along that only money would just be the solu­tion to my finan­cial dif­fi­culty. I was wrong. It was not money; rather all that was needed took only a mean­ing­ful relat­ing with (pakikipagkapwa) the owner.”

Co-R Elvie said, “Don’t be greedy. …have faith in God always.”

Co-R Lorence said, “In a sit­u­a­tion that I’m liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay), some­times I real­ized I can iden­tify myself with oth­ers (mga kapwa) through what they went through in life, and often times I advice them to be stronger to face hard­ships and tri­als that come into their lives [and that they should] not for­get God.”

Co-R Me-Ann said, “I share to oth­ers, espe­cially to my closed friends who are expe­ri­enc­ing [at the moment] all the things I went through and sur­vived them myself.–Everything will just come to an end, just say a prayer and act on them, [because] at the end every­thing will just turn out well. –I had always told the peo­ple close to me and even those who were not, that they should always pray and give thanks and never let one­self be defeated by things that come up in life, espe­cially with prob­lems, which are really the twin-partners of us people.”

2.5 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as a blessing.

What a bless­ing life has truly been for it over­flows with more bless­ings com­ing from God. He remains the cen­ter of our lives who is always at work in, through and among us by bring­ing to our care those to whom He wants us to share our bless­ings with, that we may be able to com­fort them so that they may expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) not only in time with ease (pana­hon ng kaluwa­gan), but more so in time with­out ease (pana­hon ng kagip­tan).

Co-R Mari­cel said, “You feel that you’re like a mil­lion­aire. –I feel I’m lucky and at the same time blessed because my life is run­ning smoothly.”

Co-R Rowel said, “God is present in either nakakaluwag (ease) or hindi nakakaluwag (with­out ease) sit­u­a­tions in life. It’s the qual­ity of close­ness that is being expe­ri­enced here. When sit­u­a­tions are tough, the rela­tion­ship with Him becomes more intense [but] in nakakaluwag (ease) sit­u­a­tions; His name is glo­ri­fied because of a lot of blessings.”

Co-R Nelca said, “Sa akin kasi, pag ram­dam ko na ako ay nakakaluwag sa buhay (To me, when I felt liv­ing with ease in my life), malak­ing bahagi noon ay dahil sa malakas na pananam­palataya sa Diyos (a big part of is due to [my] strong faith in God).”

Research Ques­tion 1.2 What are the sig­nif­i­cant nakakaluwag lived-experiences of the four­teen (14) co-researchers (Co-Rs) in terms of the four­fold rela­tion­al­ity, with the self?

Theme 1 “Ang buhay ay parang gulong, min­sang nasa ibabaw, min­sang nasa ilalim.”

Ang buhay ay puno ng pag­subok. Kailan­gan nat­ing pat­u­loy na mak­ibaka sa buhay. Sa ating pakikipagsapalaran ay maari tay­ong mag­ing matagum­pay o mabigo. Ang maha­laga ay pat­u­loy tay­ong magka­roon ng pag-asa.

 [Life is full of tri­als. We must con­tinue to strug­gle in life. In fac­ing life chal­lenges we can be suc­cess­ful or not. The impor­tant thing is we con­tinue to hope.]

Liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is: (1.1) a joy­ful feel­ing, (1.2) hav­ing a sense of mean­ing and pur­pose, (1.3) expe­ri­enc­ing hap­pi­ness, (1.4) hav­ing a sense of well-being and (1.5) engag­ing the hearts and minds.

1.1 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as a joy­ful feeling.

We expe­ri­ence a feel­ing of joy and secu­rity when­ever our basic needs are met, that we have a home to stay and food on our table, real­iz­ing that we are all safe and God takes care of us. It also con­sists of being grate­ful to Him because we can remain happy amidst lot of prob­lems, and still be happy even in these dif­fi­cult times (pana­hon ng kagip­tan) where life is full of trials.

As we con­tinue to strug­gle in life, Co-R Rowel cre­atively con­fronts this and came up with an orig­i­nal acronym for luwag:  as lig­aya at laya; ugnayan at unawa; wagas; alwan at gin­hawa. He said that, “The feel­ing of nakakaluwag in life (liv­ing with ease) is based on the above acronym pro­vided for… the peace of mind encom­passes all these con­di­tions.”  This pro­vides us with a hope­ful way of think­ing in fac­ing life challenges.

Co-R Nelca said, “I would con­sider myself nakakaluwag (liv­ing with ease) in life when I can actu­ally buy things that I want – those that may not be con­sid­ered neces­si­ties but makes life more com­fort­able and enjoy­able. I would also say that I feel that I am nakakaluwag (liv­ing with ease) when I can do things that are plea­sur­able (e.g. vaca­tion, fine din­ing) with­out com­pro­mis­ing [the] basic needs.”

Co-R Gary said, “To be spe­cific, I’m nakakaluwag (liv­ing with ease), if I have an enough food to eat, a mod­est place to stay, a good time for self while read­ing books and sip­ping cof­fee or beer and lis­ten­ing to music, and quar­terly out of town and a (bonus travel abroad).” But also, it includes polit­i­cal par­tic­i­pa­tion and dis­courses with friends in the acad­eme and some peo­ple in the gov­ern­ment. If I made all of this, I’m in the state of nakakaluwag (life of ease).”

Co-R Pink, said “Ang paki­ram­dam ng nakakaluwag sa buhay ay napaka saya (It’s a joy­ful feel­ing to live with ease in life) most espe­cially when you are free from worries.”

Co-R Ben­son said, “Masaya sa aking paki­ram­dam kapag ako ay nakakaluwang sa aking buhay (It is a joy­ful feel­ing when I live with ease).”

Co-R V-Mae said, “It always feels very light and it’s a joy­ful feeling.”

Co-R Lorence said, “…there are peo­ple still who are blessed with life of com­fort and it’s [I guess] a joy­ful feel­ing. …to live with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) because many of us now are liv­ing with­out ease in life (hirap sa buhay) on a daily basis.

1.2 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as hav­ing mean­ing and pur­pose in life.

Life has a mean­ing and a pur­pose, be it nakakaluwag (with ease) or hindi nakakaluwag (with­out ease).  The pur­pose of life is to seek and find mean­ing in our God, our­selves, our fel­low beings and our (nat­ural) world in which we live. It is also wit­ness­ing the life’s val­ues by hav­ing a clean, col­or­ful and mean­ing­ful life. It is a kind of life free from wor­ries, of not wor­ry­ing about any prob­lems that we should not worry at all.

Co-R Dino said, “I also eas­ily let go for them when I real­ized that they have greater needs than me. In my relief (kaluwa­gan), I see my fel­low being (kapwa) as part of my expe­ri­ence. I have a feel­ing that when­ever I found relief (kaluwa­gan), oth­ers should also find relief (kaluwa­gan).”

Co-R Elvie said, “It is a joy­ful feel­ing [free from wor­ries] and noth­ing both­ers your mind kung nakakaluwag sa buhay (when you are liv­ing with ease in life).”

Co-R Pink said, “I also learned many lessons kung ako ay nakakaranas ng pagkaluwag sa buhay (when I’m expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease), I’m sat­is­fied with many things that I have, and the more [I come to real­ize that] I have a pur­pose [in my life], that I should pay atten­tion and pri­or­i­tize the many things that I know could help me become a bet­ter per­son, for myself and para na rin sa akin kapwa (also for my fel­low being). [We have to] be calm and be happy for noth­ing good will come out if we [just] keep wor­ry­ing about the prob­lems that we should not worry at all.”

Co-R Nelca said, “I also believe that those times that I get to enjoy my time with my fam­ily and friends with­out the wor­ries of money or time or work, are also times when you actu­ally feel nakakaluwag (liv­ing with ease).”

Co-R Gary said, “I feel that God is really tak­ing care of me despite all the hard­ships and set­backs that I encoun­tered in the years of my jour­ney in life. I believe that God show­ered me with all these things to share and take care of my fam­ily and loved ones which I think one of my mis­sions in life.”

1.3 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as expe­ri­enc­ing happiness. 

Life is the way it is and never the way we sup­posed and wanted it to be. But with what life offers, it is from which we are learn­ing valu­able life’s lessons by liv­ing the life’s val­ues of gen­eros­ity, of joy­fully help­ing oth­ers, help­ing oth­ers freely, vol­un­tar­ily and will­ingly, of being thrifty and sav­ing for the future, and sense of grat­i­tude to all those who cause our joy, of hav­ing patience and being hard work­ing, and of being happy.

Co-R Dino said, “I could say that I am not self­ish in let­ting go for my fel­low being (kapwa). All I just wanted is to under­stand the real­ity of what they need.”

Co-R Joe said, “… I’d say, nakakaluwag in life feels gen­er­ally pleasant–a bit happy, a of sat­is­fac­tion, a bit nos­tal­gic, and some other min­i­mal emo­tional blend­ing depend­ing on the spe­cific situation.”

Co-R Lorence said, “[A]nd I’m happy [now] because I’m also help­ing my fam­ily. [But I] must learn to be thrifty [and learn to save money] and [I] must also learn to help and share with other peo­ple who are in need [most].”

Co-R Elvie said, “You are able to help [and share with] peo­ple who are in need [most]. You have to save money [and learn to be thrifty] so that in the event of a finan­cial dif­fi­culty later, you will have avail­able money when you need it.”

1.4 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as hav­ing sense of well-being.

How­ever, it is very unlikely that we can afford to be cal­lous, insen­si­tive and lack­ing in com­pas­sion for peo­ple. Even our nat­ural envi­ron­ment sym­pa­thizes with our own suf­fer­ings which reflect or affect our phys­i­cal con­di­tion, men­tal state and emo­tional mood; storm is imply­ing con­flict, rain is rep­re­sent­ing sad­ness and sun­shine is sig­ni­fy­ing hap­pi­ness. This is why feel­ing, think­ing or know­ing that we are nakakaluwag (life of ease) is to feel, think or know that there are peo­ple out there who need us, and that they have needs more than we do. And the more we care for the well-being of oth­ers, the greater is our own heal­ing and sense of well-being.

Co-R Joe said, “Based on my expe­ri­ence, obser­va­tion, and read­ings: ang isang tao ay nakakaluwag kung may kusang loob na pag­bi­gay at pag­tu­long (a per­son is nakakaluwag [to feel or know that oth­ers have needs more than herself/himself]) when­ever she/he vol­un­tar­ily give and help. Nakakaluwag implies will­ing­ness in giv­ing and helping.”

Co-R Pink said, “Kung nakakaluwag man tayo (If we are liv­ing with ease then) we have to be grate­ful to all the peo­ple who also have helped us and this should serve as an inspi­ra­tion for other peo­ple who are in need of [our] help.”

Co-R Rom­mel said, “When I’m nakakaluwag in life (liv­ing with ease), I learned to help, to share and be a man for oth­ers. It feels that I have a social respon­si­bil­ity. Saka ko masasabi or naram­damang nakakaluwag ako sa buhay. (Then I say or I expe­ri­enced life with ease).”

Co-R Nelca said, “I think for Fil­ipinos, kahit konti, ang maha­laga ang pag-alaala sa kapakanan ng iba (no mat­ter how small it maybe, what mat­ters most is the con­cern [and care ] for the well-being of others).”

Co-R Gary said, “The moment I feel that I’m nakakaluwag (liv­ing with ease) in life is the time that I have more than enough of my bless­ings which I shared with my fam­ily and loved ones. The bless­ings and resources that I’m talk­ing here are not only mate­r­ial that was obvi­ously God given, but also psy­cho– social and even political.”

1.5 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as engag­ing the hearts and minds.

Liv­ing with ease is a strug­gle to get out from life with­out ease (hirap sa buhay), which is a con­di­tion where many of us are expe­ri­enc­ing on a daily basis. This also means that fac­ing life’s chal­lenges is to expe­ri­ence life as a hope­ful liv­ing by engag­ing our hearts and minds to learn new ways to cope with prob­lems and con­cerns. It gives us an oppor­tu­nity to con­tin­u­ously find joy and at the same time able to joy­fully share by help­ing those who are in need most.

Co-R Dino said, “I just think that this is God’s bless­ings that I should be shar­ing with oth­ers. No mat­ter how small or big it is. I’m just extremely grate­ful to the Lord that I have a decent job. I dis­cov­ered myself as some­one who can eas­ily let go for oth­ers in time of ease and plenty (pana­hon ng kaluwa­gan).”

Co-R Joe said, “…oth­ers will be bet­ter taught by how I behaved in con­crete terms and not by what I sim­ply tell them.  Val­ues are caught, not taught.  At my age, I no longer try to do what I teach, but I teach only what I do. In our house, we have a jar near the door where I put some coins (loose change) from time to time–to keep it more or less full. I do not only tell my wife, daugh­ter, and the ser­vants about it, but they actu­ally see me (and oth­ers) get loose change from that jar for some beg­gars, indi­gents, tips for deliv­ery boys, etc.”

Co-R Nelca said, “Kapag nakakaluwag ka sa buhay, isa sa mga una mong mai­isip ay ang iba­hagi ito lalong lalo na sa iyong pam­ilya  (When you are liv­ing with ease in life,  one of the first thing that you can think of is to share this, most espe­cially with your fam­ily). For me, my fam­ily comes first, whether dur­ing times of dif­fi­cul­ties or not.”

Research Ques­tion 1.3 What are the sig­nif­i­cant nakakaluwag lived-experiences of the four­teen (14) co-researchers (Co-Rs) in terms of the four­fold rela­tion­al­ity, with fellow-human being?

Theme 5 “Ang hindi marunong lumin­gon sa pinang­galin­gan ay di makakarat­ing sa paro­roo­nan.”

Ang pag­tanaw ng utang na loob ay kau­galian ng mga Pilipino. Tumatanaw tayo ng pasasala­mat sa mga taong tumu­tu­long at tumatangk­i­lik sa atin. Nanini­wala tayo sa pag­tanaw ng utang na loob ay higit nat­ing makakam­tan ang tagum­pay na ating hinahangad.

[The Fil­ipinos’ deep sense of grat­i­tude is uniquely a Fil­ipino prac­tice. We acknowl­edge with the deep­est sense our debt of grat­i­tude to all the per­sons who have been assist­ing and sup­port­ing us. We believe that by express­ing our grat­i­tude the more we will be able to achieve the suc­cess that we are aim­ing for.]

Liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is: (5.1) gen­eros­ity, (5.2) grate­ful­ness, (5.3) giv­ing, (5.4) shar­ing, (5.5) com­pas­sion, (5.6) grat­i­tude, (5.7) fair, (5.8) love and (5.9) equality.

5.1 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as generosity. 

The fol­low­ing five (5) sub-themes, namely 5.1 gen­eros­ity (14 of 44 or 31.82 %), 5.3 giv­ing (11 of 44 or 25 %), 5.4 shar­ing (11 of 44 or 25 %), 5.5 com­pas­sion (6 of 44 or 13.64 %) and 5.8 love (4 of 44 or 9.09 %) are all unique and dis­tinct from each other. Although they vary in terms of the num­bers of fre­quency and the per­cent­ages of recur­rences, these five (5) are all inter­re­lated val­ues out of the forty four (44) sub-themes already inden­ti­fied. The writer pre­ferred to dis­cuss them all together here in this sub-theme section.

In sub-theme 4.3 (on life’s les­son), Co-R Rowel admits that gen­eros­ity is one among the val­ues namely, humil­ity, patience and love that he has learned in life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay). As God blesses us as we intended to be self­less and gen­er­ous, we too are taught and even­tu­ally learned the valu­able life’s lessons of unselfish love (sub-theme 5.8 on love) by liv­ing the life’s val­ues of gen­eros­ity (sub-theme 5.1 on gen­eros­ity). Life has truly been over­flow­ing with abun­dant bless­ings com­ing from God, which are meant to be shared (sub-theme 5.4 on shar­ing) to com­fort those who through no fault of their own have no access to life, have less or noth­ing in life at all. Like­wise, liv­ing with ease urges us to share with oth­ers and to sim­ply give (sub-theme 5.3 on giv­ing) what­ever bless­ings we have received and at the same time to enable our­selves to have space [empa­thy] for them.

At the end of the day, this is what liv­ing with ease is all about: there is a sense of com­pas­sion (sub-theme 5.5 on com­pas­sion); the feel­ing is light and we are gen­er­ously shar­ing this sense of joy with oth­ers; with a fam­ily mem­ber, a friend or even a total stranger.

Co-R Rowel said, “[I]t’s easy to share my bless­ings with others.”

Co-R Dino said, “I’m happy and I feel light. When I have money it is just easy for me to share. Even though some­times I do not have money, but when I under­stand the sever­ity of the needs of oth­ers, I still give what­ever else is left of me. –There is no ease (walang kaluwa­gan) when oth­ers do not exist. A life of ease (nakakaluwag ng buhay), yet with self­ish­ness will not last. Even­tu­ally, it will enve­lope by itself while the ease of life squeezes into one­self (Sa di kalau­nan, kusa itong umi­impit habang ang kaluwa­gan ay isin­isik­sik sa sar­ili).”

Co-R Gary said, “For me, I have so much joy in my heart because every time that I feel nakakaluwag (life with ease) in my life because I have the oppor­tu­ni­ties to pro­vide a help­ing hand to my fam­ily and loved ones.”

Co-R Nelca said, “And when you see other peo­ple who do not have, you feel the need to share [to] them what­ever bless­ings you have – marami man o hindi (whether they are big or small).”

Co-R Mari­cel said, “[N]ow a day …life is dif­fi­cult and basic goods are expen­sive. –You should think ahead of the future because you are not cer­tain of the unex­pected things that may hap­pen. And then, you should share your bless­ings to oth­ers, don’t be greedy. –[Because my life is run­ning smoothly, so I’m happy] when­ever I’m able to help my fel­low being (kapwa) and made the per­son happy with the help I offered.”

Co-R Joe said, “Or per­haps, in my tithe and offer­ing. When I am nakakaluwag, I give more in my offer­ing. I find “God” in giv­ing my tithe and offer­ing because it is an act of wor­ship for me–and for all those who gives to Some­one they do not see. … I find in myself giv­ing back a part of some­thing that I received from my labor, and from oth­ers (in the form of gifts, inher­i­tance, etc.) to those who are in need.”

5.2 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as gratefulness. 

The fol­low­ing two (2) sub-themes, namely 5.2 grate­ful­ness and 5.6 grat­i­tude though unique and dis­tinct from each other, are both inter­re­lated val­ues. The writer pre­ferred to dis­cuss them here in this sub-theme section.

There is no doubt that a deep sense of grat­i­tude is uniquely a Fil­ipino prac­tice and the mea­sure of our suc­cess is deter­mined by the mea­sure we express it. In what­ever form that we have been assisted and sup­ported, we acknowl­edge with the deep­est sense our debt of grat­i­tude to them by which we have reached our present status.

Sub-theme 2.1 (on liv­ing the val­ues of faith) defines faith as being grate­ful for the life’s lessons learned, express­ing our grat­i­tude to God for all that He has given. Co-R Mari­cel gave her own tes­ti­mony on the neces­sity to pray and to thank God for all that things that she received, big or small. She said, “I always pray to God, [I always] remem­ber to thank Him in every­thing He had given me, sa madali, mahi­rap, mag­in­hawa, malaki or maliit na bagay na bless­ings (in easy, dif­fi­cult, con­ve­nient, big or small things” A thank­ful heart means liv­ing a life with grat­i­tude and unselfish love. It is both a mind-set and an atti­tude that requires con­stant prac­tice daily by which shar­ing with oth­ers sus­tains it.

Co-R Nelca said, “When you receive bless­ings, be thank­ful.  No mat­ter how sim­ple or small such gift may be, be grateful.”

Co-R Lorence said, “[A]nd I’m grate­ful for God each day for all the tri­als that we have over­come every day.”

Co-R Dino said, “I’m just extremely grate­ful to the Lord that I have a decent job.”

Co-R Ben­son said, “In this sit­u­a­tion, nakakaluwag ako sa aking buhay (I felt liv­ing with ease in my life) when­ever I encoun­tered God every time he helps me with my stud­ies or in what­ever I’m doing in my life.”

Co-R Me-Ann said, “It is really unavoid­able not to think of pos­si­ble solu­tion, and never ever think that there will be no more tomor­row and never also think that there is no more rea­son to rejoice, …never for­get to be thankful.”

5.3 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as giving. 

For this sub-theme 5.3 giv­ing and the fol­low­ing sub-themes 5.4 shar­ing, 5.5 com­pas­sion and 5.8 love, please refer to the dis­cus­sion above in sub-theme sec­tion 5.1.

5.4 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as sharing. 

For this sub-theme 5.4, please refer to the dis­cus­sion above in sub-theme sec­tion 5.1.

5.5 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as compassion. 

For this sub-theme 5.5, please refer to the dis­cus­sion above in sub-theme sec­tion 5.1.

5.6 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as gratitude. 

For this sub-theme 5.6, please refer to the dis­cus­sion above in sub-theme sec­tion 5.2.

5.7 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as fair. 

The fol­low­ing two (2) sub-themes, namely 5.7 fair and 5.9 equal­ity though unique and dis­tinct from each other, are both inter­re­lated val­ues. The writer pre­ferred to dis­cuss them here in this sub-theme section.

As cited in sub-theme 2.4 (on God’s prov­i­dence), Co-R Dino said that, “It was not money; rather all that was needed took only a mean­ing­ful relat­ing with (pakikipagkapwa) the owner.”  He con­tin­ued say­ing that, “Those who are liv­ing with ease (nakalu­luwag na buhay) should have a fair view of others.”

Co-R Rom­mel said, “Never for­get God, don’t be greedy, [dapat may] pakikipagkapwa (hav­ing a regard for the dig­nity of fel­low being).”

Co-R Gary said, “I have a strong sol­i­dar­ity with my fel­low being espe­cially the poor and oppressed I believe those who have more in life should always help those who are oppressed [the poor and the vic­tims of injustices].”

5.8 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as love. 

            For this sub-theme 5.8, please refer to the dis­cus­sion above in sub-theme sec­tion 5.1.

5.9 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as equality. 

For this sub-theme 5.9, please refer to the dis­cus­sion above in sub-theme sec­tion 5.7.

Research Ques­tion 1.4 What are the sig­nif­i­cant nakakaluwag lived-experiences of the four­teen (14) co-researchers (Co-Rs) in terms of the four­fold rela­tion­al­ity, with creation?

Theme 6 “Kung walang tiyaga, walang nilaga.”

Ang kasi­pa­gan ay puhu­nan sa tagum­pay. Higit nat­ing makakamit ang anu­mang hina­hangad natin kung mamu­muhu­nan tayo ng sipag at pagpupunyagi.

[Dili­gence is an invest­ment to suc­cess. We will achieve more what we desire if we will invest in dili­gence and with great effort.]

Liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is: (6.1) free­dom, (6.2) respon­si­bil­ity, (6.3) empower, (6.4) beauty, (6.5) oppor­tu­nity, (6.6) expanse, (6.7) clean, (6.8) commitment.

6.1 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as freedom. 

Like in sub-theme sec­tion 5.1, the writer pre­ferred to dis­cuss in this sub-theme sec­tion the fol­low­ing iden­ti­fied five (5) sub-themes, namely 6.1 free­dom (15 of 44 or 34.09 %), 6.2 respon­si­bil­ity (9 of 44 or 20.45 %), 6.3 empower (6 of 44 or 13.63 %), 6.5 oppor­tu­nity (4 of 44 or 9.09 %) and 6.8 com­mit­ment (2 of 44 or 4.55 %). They are all con­sid­ered unique and also dis­tinct from each other. Although they vary in terms of the num­bers of fre­quency and the per­cent­ages of recur­rences; these five (5) are all inter­re­lated val­ues (sub-themes).

Being dili­gent and being indus­tri­ous are essen­tial ingre­di­ents of suc­cess. If we intend to invest in dili­gence and indus­try, it would mean achiev­ing more what we desire, notwith­stand­ing the fact that great effort is nec­es­sary. Co-R Ben­son explic­itly artic­u­lated his will­ing­ness to accom­plish some­thing out of his sheer deter­mi­na­tion in two ways: (1) those who are being helped should be will­ing to be helped, and (2) those that are help­ing should be deter­mined to do it. He said, “[E]verybody should accept the help that is given to them by their kapwa (fel­low being).” Then he encour­aged all those who ren­dered the help by declar­ing, “We have a say­ing [in the Philip­pines] “Pag may tiyaga may nilaga” (if you have the deter­mi­na­tion, then you can ful­fill it).” Then he con­tin­ued, “Nakakaram­dam ako ng pagkaluwag (I expe­ri­enced life with ease) in my life when­ever I’m unoc­cu­pied [free from work] or when I’m help­ing my kapwa-tao (fel­low being).”

This is what liv­ing with ease is all about: free­dom (sub-theme 6.1) in today’s fast-paced soci­ety is to free our­selves from all these busy tasks that make us so pre­oc­cu­pied that we fail to notice that we have the respon­si­bil­ity (sub-theme 6.2) and com­mit­ment (sub-theme 6.8) to be free for oth­ers, for a fam­ily mem­ber, for a friend or even for a total stranger. Free­dom empow­ers (sub-theme 6.3) us to give back to God, to oth­ers and to give oth­ers the oppor­tu­nity (sub-theme 6.5) to give back too. It is the same oppor­tu­nity reit­er­ated by Co-R Ben­son, to help and be helped. Co-R Dino would even define life of ease (kaluwa­gan ng buhay) as an oppor­tu­nity that has “power that enlight­ens life’s per­spec­tive, as a con­di­tion of being free, free from the entice­ments of the world and greed, free from self­ish­ness towards becom­ing humane.”

Co-R Rowel said, “Either in nakakaluwag or not nakakaluwag sit­u­a­tions, I always think that I have to “give it back” to God. –I feel more con­fi­dent, able and energetic.”

Co-R Nelca said, “I feel a sense of free­dom as well. –I also feel secured – mate­ri­ally, emo­tion­ally and spiritually.”

Co-R Joe said, “ ‘Maluwag’ or ‘maluwang’ lit­er­ally means lightly held, loose, or spa­cious. It may also imply suf­fi­cient free­dom to move around or hav­ing a com­fort­able space to work on.” –The term implies will­ing­ness in [freely] giv­ing and help­ing: maluwag sa kalooban. …con­sider it more than the finan­cial aspect of the con­cept. The ethic involves ful­fill­ment in doing a social oblig­a­tion [respon­si­bil­ity]. And this Fil­ipino con­cept appears to be present even for the Fil­ipinos over­seas who send what­ever amount to their rel­a­tives at home. … and may I add, even with ani­mals and plants that are hun­gry or thirsty, I feel like giv­ing food or water.”

Co-R Mari­cel said, “I feel nakakaluwag in life (liv­ing with ease) when­ever I’m able to buy…the mate­r­ial things I needed, espe­cially [for] my kids, and of course we never go hun­gry. There is no prob­lem [free from any con­cerns] in life and the feel­ing is light while the time passes by.”

Co-R Dino said, “It is joy­ful feel­ing that all the peo­ple around me are also expe­ri­enc­ing with me the same life of ease (kaluwa­gan sa buhay) I have. Many times I real­ized that wher­ever I encoun­tered a life of ease (kaluwa­gan sa buhay) that was also the moment [an oppor­tu­nity to help] where the unex­pected needs of oth­ers con­fronted me.”

Co-R Gary said, [B]ecause of this belief in God [it] also allows me to enjoy the best in life but with a strong com­mit­ment to be active in expos­ing and oppos­ing the ills of ours soci­ety and help­ing to pro­pose pos­si­ble solu­tions on these prob­lems and concerns.”

6.2 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as responsibility. 

            For this sub-theme 6.2, please refer to the dis­cus­sion above in sub-theme sec­tion 6.1.

6.3 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as empower. 

            For this sub-theme 6.3, please refer to the dis­cus­sion above in sub-theme sec­tion 6.1.

6.4 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as beauty. 

The fol­low­ing three (3) sub-themes, namely 6.4 beauty, 6.6 expanse and 6.7 clean though unique and dis­tinct from each other, are all inter­re­lated val­ues. The writer pre­ferred to dis­cuss them here in this sub-theme sec­tion.

Both Co-Rs Mari­cel and Ben­son attribute mean­ing of life of ease (buhay na nakakaluwag) with nat­ural cre­ation in terms of clean and healthy sur­round­ings (sub-theme 6.7). On the one hand, Co-R Mari­cel said, “When­ever you have healthy sur­round­ings, there is no foul smell, and you have a clean envi­ron­ment.” On the other hand, Co-R Ben­son said, “In nature, it is more beau­ti­ful to see it if the sur­round­ings are clean and if every­body does not throw garbage any­where.”

Fur­ther­more, Co-R Dino envi­sions the mean­ing of life of ease (buhay na nakakaluwag) in terms of the expanse of nat­ural cre­ation (sub-theme 6.6).  His notion of expanse goes beyond the beau­ti­ful vast phys­i­cal uni­verse (sub-theme 6.4).  He extends its mean­ing to a God as a divine being and as an infi­nite expanse who out of His end­less gen­eros­ity, mercy and love seeks human­ity even when we humans refuse to seek and even reject Him. Co-R Dino said, “The expanse of nat­ural cre­ation helps in shap­ing a sense of mean­ing for a life of ease (buhay na nakakaluwag). Here I real­ized how gen­er­ous God is in let­ting go all of his cre­ation in behalf of serv­ing human beings. –There­fore, a life of ease (maluwag na buhay) is not only con­fined to those who have in life but also to those who have noth­ing. How­ever, for those peo­ple who are liv­ing with ease (maluwag na buhay), they [should] always have space (puwang) for their fel­low being (kapwa).”

Co-R Lorence said, “I expe­ri­ence a life of ease (kaluwa­gan ng buhay) in nature (kalikasan) because it pro­vides us with every­thing, and we should love and take care of it.”

Co-R Jorelle said, “[I have to] help my fel­low being (kapwa) and all the things (mga bagay bagay) sur­round­ing us.”

Co-R Me-Ann said, “In nature I felt that [all] my sur­round­ings are beau­ti­ful. Even the weather con­di­tion is one with me, the sun shines so bright, and though the tem­per­a­ture is hot, it’s windy [it helps bring a cool breeze] and all that I see is beau­ti­ful to my sight, and I’m happy.”

Co-R Pink said, “[T]he cre­ation of God and all the other things are the ones help­ing me to lighten up the prob­lems and to find solu­tions to many things that I just don’t under­stand myself.”

Co-R Rowel said, “The cre­ation becomes more col­or­ful and mean­ing­ful… The beauty and feel­ing of com­fort­able­ness from the heart exudes to become the basis on my out­look in life.”

6.5 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as opportunity. 

            For this sub-theme 6.5, please refer to the dis­cus­sion above in sub-theme sec­tion 6.1.

6.6 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as expanse. 

            For this sub-theme 6.6, please refer to the dis­cus­sion above in sub-theme sec­tion 6.4.

6.7 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as clean. 

            For this sub-theme 6.7, please refer to the dis­cus­sion above in sub-theme sec­tion 6.4.

6.8 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as commitment. 

            For this sub-theme 6.8, please refer to the dis­cus­sion above in sub-theme sec­tion 6.1.

Research Ques­tion 2. What ped­a­gog­i­cal impli­ca­tions for sus­tain­able liv­ing can be drawn from the nakakaluwag lived-experience nar­ra­tives in view of the four­fold relationality?

Theme 7 “Hang­gang maiksi ang kumot, matu­tong mamaluk­tot.”

Dapat nat­ing matu­tu­nan ang pagti­tiis. Narara­pat din na mag­ing masinop at pagtiya­gaan natin ang anu­mang bagay na may­roon tayo. Pagkasyahin ang biyayang nasa ating mga kamay.

[We must learn how to sac­ri­fice. We should be pru­dent and we make the most of what­ever things we have. Prac­tice aus­ter­ity for the bless­ings we have in our hands.]

Liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is: (7.1) hav­ing money to buy, (7.2) con­di­tion, (7.3) earn­ing and sav­ing, (7.4) hope, (7.5) sav­ing for the future, (7.6) sus­tain­ing, (7.7) thrifty, (7.8) hav­ing work and (7.9) mind-set.

 

7.1 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as hav­ing money to buy. 

The prac­tice of aus­ter­ity for the bless­ings we have within us and within our reach implies two things: the how’s and the why’s towards a more sus­tain­able way of liv­ing. While we must learn how to sac­ri­fice for oth­ers for their own good, we also must real­ize that it would require giv­ing up of any­thing that makes us com­fort­able and secure. This is best expressed by bor­row­ing the words of philoso­pher Niet­zsche who said that, “He who has a why to live can bear with almost any­how.”[7]

The four (4) sub-themes, namely 7.2 con­di­tion, 7.4 hope, 7.6 sus­tain­ing and 7.9 mind-set are clus­tered as the why’s, while the other five (5) sub-themes, namely 7.1 hav­ing money to buy, 7.3 earn­ing and sav­ing, 7.5 sav­ing for the future, 7.7 thrifty and 7.8 hav­ing work are clus­tered as the how’s. These two clus­ters are all con­sid­ered unique, dis­tinct from each other and at the same time inter­re­lated val­ues (sub-themes).

As cited in sub-theme sec­tion 6.1, liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) allows Co-R Mari­cel to see it as con­di­tion to afford the basic needs in life (sub-theme 7.1) and as free­dom from any con­cerns and wor­ries. She said, “I feel nakakaluwag in life (liv­ing with ease) when­ever I’m able to buy… the mate­r­ial things I needed, espe­cially [for] my kids, and of course we never go hungry.”

Co-R Lorence said, “And now I’m expe­ri­enc­ing more the life of ease (kaluwa­gan ng buhay) not only because I can buy what I want, but I can even con­tinue my school­ing though it’s just a voca­tional course…”

Co-R Lorence said, “I sup­pose that the les­son that I can teach my fel­low being (kapwa) is that though we are expe­ri­enc­ing a life of ease (nakakaluwag ng buhay), this does not mean that we will have no more qualms at all about spend­ing every cen­tavo like there’s no tomorrow.”

7.2 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as condition. 

In these two cases (below) the words of philoso­pher Niet­zsche are applied: the ‘why’ refers to liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as nec­es­sary liv­ing con­di­tion and the ‘how’ refers to the abil­ity to afford the basic needs and to be freed from any con­cerns. On the one hand, in sub-theme sec­tion 3.3, Co-R Rowel argues that liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as a liv­ing con­di­tion is both a state of mind and heart. He points out that, “How much the mind and the heart pro­vide for such space becomes a liv­ing con­di­tion (sub-theme 7.2) on how a per­son expe­ri­ence luwag (ease).” On the other hand, liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay), as cited in sub-theme sec­tion 6.1 and already men­tioned sub-theme sec­tion 7.1 empow­ers Co-R Mari­cel to see it as free­dom from any con­cern and being able to buy the basic needs in life (sub-theme 7.1).

For Co-R Joe this liv­ing con­di­tion is not just a state of mind and heart. He pro­poses to dis­tin­guish first between a per­ceived state and the actual state. He said, “Nakakaluwag is a state. The pre­vail­ing set of con­di­tions –just like in the state of the nation address of a pres­i­dent of a coun­try. Kailan masasabing ang isang tao ay nakakaluwag? When is a per­son said to be in that state of nakakaluwag?  He answered this ques­tion by explain­ing that, “A per­son may get fooled into think­ing of being in a state when actu­ally he is not in that state. And another per­son may think of being not in that state, when actu­ally he is in that state (as may be indi­cated by some mea­sure­ments of one or more instru­ments and empir­i­cal indi­ca­tors.” Co-R Rowel insists that liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as a liv­ing con­di­tion is a state of mind and heart, while Co-R Joe asserts that it must be deter­mined by empir­i­cal indi­ca­tors. These two ideas are not opposed to each other. They are not mutu­ally exclu­sive, but com­ple­men­tary to one another.

7.3 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as earn­ing and saving. 

The fol­low­ing four (4) sub-themes, namely 7.3 earn­ing and sav­ing, 7.5 sav­ing for the future, 7.7 thrifty, and 7.8 hav­ing work though unique and dis­tinct from each other, are all inter­re­lated val­ues. They belong to the ‘how’ clus­ter and the writer pre­ferred to dis­cuss them here in this sub-theme sec­tion.

First of all, Co-R Nelca specif­i­cally expresses the impor­tance of sav­ing (sub-theme 7.3) by say­ing, “Maybe if there is one thing that I would want other peo­ple to learn from my expe­ri­ence of nakakaluwag, it is the les­son of sav­ing.”  She also sees that the impli­ca­tions of sav­ing for today will always have future con­se­quence (sub-theme 7.5). She claims that, “For many Fil­ipinos, the bahala na (leaves every­thing to chance) men­tal­ity is pre­dom­i­nant.  We tend to be very spon­ta­neous that even when we do things, when we make deci­sions, we for­get to con­sider the future.”  She fur­ther rec­om­mends by declar­ing, “Save enough – avoid the bahala na (leaves every­thing to chance) men­tal­ity.” Sec­ondly, Co-R Mari­cel advised us to be thrifty (sub-theme 7.7) by say­ing, “You should be care­ful in spend­ing money espe­cially these days because life is dif­fi­cult and basic goods is expen­sive.” Both Co-Rs Lorence and Elvie agreed that sav­ing and being thrifty are essen­tial req­ui­sites to help:

Co-R Lorence said, “[A]nd I’m happy [now] because I’m also help­ing my fam­ily. [But I] must learn to be thrifty [and learn to save money] and [I] must also learn to help and share with other peo­ple who are in need [most].”

Co-R Elvie said, “You are able to help [and share with] peo­ple who are in need [most]. You have to save money [and learn to be thrifty] so that in the event of a finan­cial dif­fi­culty later, you will have avail­able money when you need it.”

Finally, as part of the ‘how’ clus­ter, Co-R Dino explains that work and money are corol­lary to each other (sub-theme 7.8). He said “I felt liv­ing with ease (nakalu­luwag) when I started work­ing and earn­ing my own money. I was so delighted every pay day, and I’m giv­ing money to my par­ents.”  He is also con­vinced that work is not only a req­ui­site to help but an oppor­tu­nity by say­ing, “I just think that this is God’s bless­ings that I should be shar­ing with oth­ers. No mat­ter how small or big it is. I’m just extremely grate­ful to the Lord that I have a decent job.”

By expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay), Co-R Jorelle sees work as a tool that enables him­self to stand on his own, while Nelca sees God as the foun­da­tion of all the works that she does:

Co-R Jorelle said, “When you are able to relax and hang out with friends, and have a job, because it is only then that I expe­ri­enced how to stand on my own feet.”

Co-R Nelca said, “I know that it is God’s work and bless­ings. In a sense, God remains to be the cen­ter of my being and my life.”

7.4 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as hope. 

The two (2) sub-themes, namely 7.4 hope and 7.6 sus­tain­ing though unique and dis­tinct from each other, are both inter­re­lated val­ues. Like sub-themes 7.2 con­di­tion and 7.9 mind-set, they belong to the ‘why’ clus­ter and the writer pre­ferred to dis­cuss them here.

In the above sub-theme sec­tions, hope is dis­cussed in (3) three dif­fer­ent con­texts. In sub-theme sec­tion 1.1, it talks about a hope­ful way of think­ing in fac­ing life chal­lenges. In sub-theme sec­tion 3.1, it deals with a hope­ful sense of find­ing solu­tions to prob­lems. Lastly, in sub-theme sec­tion 3.4, it dis­cusses about a hope­ful liv­ing amidst good times and bad.

Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) for Co-R V-Mae means hope (sub-theme 7.4). She explic­itly said, “[I felt liv­ing with ease in my life] when­ever I am …full of hope.” The fol­low­ing two Co-Rs implic­itly dis­cussed hope, for Mari­cel it is as an inner strength (lakas ng loob) to reach ones’ dream and for Me-Ann it is as hav­ing an opti­mistic out­look on life that there will always be a time to be happy:

Co-R Mari­cel said, “You should be strong and brave (malakas ang loob) in deal­ing with your des­tiny in life. Do not be afraid, you should be pro-God, trust in your own abil­ity that you can reach your dreams.”

Co-R Me-Ann said, “The les­son I learned is that life goes on despite all the expe­ri­ences I went through, and not all the time is sadness.

7.5 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as sav­ing for the future. 

            For this sub-theme 7.5, please refer to the dis­cus­sion above in sub-theme sec­tion 7.3.

7.6 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as sustaining. 

In sub-theme sec­tion 7.1, the how’s and the why’s towards a more sus­tain­able way of liv­ing would imply hav­ing a sense of the future because by not doing any­thing today we may regret later. For instance, Co-R Nelca’s real­iza­tion on the proper use of money cre­ates among us a sense of well-being and emo­tional secu­rity. She said, “So gagas­tos ka kasi may pera ka ngayon (you squan­der your money away because you have them now) with­out con­sid­er­ing that you are actu­ally spend­ing the money that is sup­posed to be for tomorrow’s needs.”  In sub-theme sec­tion 1.3, another impor­tant prac­tice of sus­tain­able liv­ing is to start sav­ing for the future and to save it right away even by start­ing small. An exam­ple of this is Co-R Elvie’s self-discipline to save money, who advised us say­ing , “You have to save money [and learn to be thrifty] so that in the event of a finan­cial dif­fi­culty later, you will have avail­able money when you need it.”

7.7 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as thrifty. 

            For this sub-theme 7.7, please refer to the dis­cus­sion above in sub-theme sec­tion 7.3.

7.8 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as hav­ing work. 

            For this sub-theme 7.8, please refer to the dis­cus­sion above in sub-theme sec­tion 7.3.

7.9 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as mind-set. 

Once we are deter­mined to be happy in what­ever sit­u­a­tion we are in, our hap­pi­ness then becomes depen­dent upon our state of mind, heart and our dis­po­si­tions, and never on our cir­cum­stances. As cited in sub-theme sec­tion 4.3, Co-R Rowel con­sid­ers life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as a mind-set. Like­wise as he explained in sub-theme sec­tion 7.2, liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as a liv­ing con­di­tion is both a state of mind and heart. He said, “We can­not do any­thing on the things that come or hap­pen to us but we can do some­thing on how we are going to think or react on the things that hap­pened to us.”

Research Ques­tion 3. How can these ped­a­gog­i­cal impli­ca­tions fur­nish a com­mon ground for inte­grat­ing the top-down and bottom-up approaches to sus­tain­able living?

Theme 3 “Kung gusto may paraan, kung ayaw may dahilan.”

Lahat ng tao ay may kapasya­han sa buhay. Nakak­a­gawa tayo ng mga bagay-bagay kung nanaisin at nakakai­was din kung di natin gusto. Ang mga hak­bang o bagay na nais nat­ing mang­yari ay mag­a­ganap kung gugus­tuhin natin at di rin mag­a­ganap kung tatang­gi­han natin.

[Every­body has a deci­sion in life. We can do many things if we want, and avoid them if we do not want. The steps or things that we want to hap­pen will hap­pen if we want it, and it will not hap­pen if we turn it down.] 

Liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is: (3.1) seek­ing and find­ing solu­tions to life’s prob­lems, (3.2) hav­ing peace of mind, (3.3) free from wor­ries, (3.4) accep­tance and (3.5) contentment.

3.1 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as seek­ing and find­ing solu­tions to life’s problems. 

As men­tioned in Theme 1, our life is full of tri­als and thus we must con­tinue to strug­gle in life, fac­ing the chal­lenges that this life offers. We may be suc­cess­ful or not, but we must be resolved to remain hope­ful of find­ing the solu­tions; if not to all, at least to most of the prob­lems we encoun­tered; if not all at the same time, at least one at a time; if oth­ers can­not find the solu­tions by them­selves, we will join them in seek­ing the answers, because we really do not have to seek too far as we will find them just right here.

In other words, while we may do many things if we want or avoid them, this is all about deci­sion mak­ing, a mat­ter of choice. And there is no best choice than to choose life to live. Hav­ing made that choice, then all other deci­sions should be con­sis­tent with a desire to enhance life.

Co-R Pink said, “It’s easy for me to learn or com­pare whether ako ay nakakaluwag sa buhay o hindi (I’m liv­ing with ease or not), [it’s all] because of the basic things that I have in life, nakakaluwag sa ibat ibang aspeto (with ease in dif­fer­ent aspects), it could be in terms of hav­ing money, or [being with the] fam­ily or [study­ing in a] school. … life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is when it’s [so] easy to find answers to prob­lems, or in other words, there is no need think so much on how to address all these prob­lems that come into my life. — God ‘s cre­ation and all the other things [He cre­ated] are the ones help­ing me to lighten up the prob­lems and to find solu­tions in many things that I just don’t under­stand myself.”

Co-R V-Mae said, “Naram­daman ko na nakakaluwag ako sa buhay (I felt liv­ing with ease in my life) every time I solved my prob­lems, even though I addressed them one at a time.”

Co-R Me-Ann said, “When I think about it [now], some­times I look like an insane per­son laugh­ing by myself on how I [mirac­u­lously] survived.”

Co-R Gary said, “Nakakaluwag (life of ease) is only a state in life and this is not per­ma­nent, there are times that we are no longer nakakaluwag (liv­ing with ease) or too much nakakaluwag (ease of liv­ing) but at the end of the day you have the oppor­tu­nity to share your bless­ings. –[Y]ou have the chance to make a dif­fer­ence, you have the sit­u­a­tion to change our soci­ety for the better.”

3.2 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as hav­ing peace of mind.

When we all find rested, relaxed, reju­ve­nated and re-energized both for our tired mind and body and have not to worry of time and of money, then we expe­ri­ence life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) because they bring a sense of peace of mind. When we feel free to enjoy life either by being alone or with fam­ily or friends, or at work, in the church, dur­ing travel, hav­ing vaca­tion, doing hob­bies, engag­ing in an enter­tain­ment, etc., and not be bur­dened down with fears and con­cerns, instead we are hav­ing fun, able to smile or laugh a lot, then we find peace of mind. On the one hand, Co-R V-Mae claims that she finds peace of mind when she is all alone, say­ing, “[I felt liv­ing with ease in my life] in every time I am alone. –[And] when­ever it is quiet.” On the other hand, Co-R Nelca felt nakakaluwag (liv­ing with ease) when she does things that are plea­sur­able [enjoy­able] (e.g. vaca­tion, fine din­ing) with­out com­pro­mis­ing [the] basic needs. She also claims: “I also believe that those times that I get to enjoy my time with my fam­ily and friends with­out the wor­ries of money or time or work, are also times when you actu­ally feel nakakaluwag (liv­ing with ease).”

Co-R Gary said, “To be spe­cific, I’m nakakaluwag (liv­ing with ease), if I have enough food to eat, a mod­est place to stay, a good time for self while read­ing books and sip­ping cof­fee or beer and lis­ten­ing to music, and quar­terly out of town and a (bonus travel abroad).”

Co-R Jorelle said, “When you are able to relax and hang out with friends, and have a job, because it is only then that I expe­ri­enced how to stand on my own feet.”

3.3 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as free from worries.

Sub-theme 1.2 (on hav­ing mean­ing and pur­pose in life) stated that liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) refers to a kind of life free from wor­ries, of not wor­ry­ing about any prob­lems that we should not worry at all. Co-R Pink claims that joy is insep­a­ra­ble from hav­ing free­dom from wor­ries. She said “Ang paki­ram­dam ng nakakaluwag sa buhay ay napaka saya (It’s a joy­ful feel­ing to live with ease in life) most espe­cially when you are free from wor­ries. More­over, Co-R Rowel asserts that liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is also mat­ter of right atti­tude. It is not just a state of mind, but also a state of heart direct­ing these two towards being freed from all spaces [forms] of wor­ries. He said, “How much the mind and the heart pro­vide for such space becomes a liv­ing con­di­tion on how a per­son expe­ri­ence luwag (ease).” Despite hav­ing no mon­e­tary secu­rity, free­dom from wor­ries is not about mon­e­tary afflu­ence nor finan­cial free­dom but a mat­ter of right atti­tude, which is fur­ther con­firmed by Co-R Dino’s expe­ri­ence when he said:

I also see my abil­ity to put up with my prob­lems dur­ing dif­fi­cult times (kakaya­hang magtiis sa pana­hon ng kagip­i­tan) and the abil­ity to share in time of ease and plenty (pana­hon ng kaluwa­gan). –I came to real­ize that when I was still in the con­vent, many months have passed that I have noth­ing, not even a peso in my pocket. But never that it became [a rea­son to worry nor] a hin­drance to the joy I have with me in the convent.”

Co-R Pink said, “The lessons that I feel [or think] that I will teach my kapwa (fel­low being) is that [she/he] be con­tented in life and tang­gapin ng maluwag (accept with ease) the many hard­ships and tri­als that come, dahil sa totoo lang (because in real­ity) we are the ones who choose if we want to be happy or sad or to worry [and be anx­ious] of the many problems.”

3.4 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as acceptance.

Sub-theme 1.1 (on a joy­ful feel­ing) declared that we can still be grate­ful to God and at the same time remain happy in these dif­fi­cult times (pana­hon ng kagip­tan). On the other hand, sub-theme 1.5 (on engag­ing the hearts and minds) asserted that fac­ing life’s chal­lenges is to expe­ri­ence life as a hope­ful liv­ing amidst good times and bad. In these two state­ments, while both would mean self-acceptance and accep­tance of our lot, they too do not mean we let our fears; nor let sad­ness and anx­i­eties nei­ther over­come nor worsen our pains and suf­fer­ings. Although we often con­fused the two, accep­tance is not res­ig­na­tion, but rather a dynamic process to live and move for­ward with ease (makaluwag sa buhay) by mak­ing sense of a given sit­u­a­tion where we are at right now and to act upon it. Although we do not sure yet nor know exactly what to do, many times in our lives we do not really need to know what to do at first, it is a mat­ter of plac­ing first and fore­most all that has been upon our res­ig­na­tion into God’s hands.

Co-R Pink said, “I have finally come to real­ize how to accept myself. This has some­thing to do with [my] char­ac­ter in my life; I [also] come to real­ize that I could afford to be happy and [at the same time] sat­is­fied with what­ever is given me [by God]. Whether it’s pos­i­tive or negative.”

Co-R V-Mae said, “Life is very fast [today] and too short. [We have to] cher­ish each moment of it.  And remem­ber that all these [dif­fi­cult] expe­ri­ences are merely test­ing us.”

Co-R Gary said, “Life is too short, it is impor­tant that we should have a clear sense of pur­pose in life or rea­son for being.”

3.5 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as contentment.

Sub-theme 3.2 (on hav­ing peace of mind) stated that when we are hav­ing fun, able to smile or laugh a lot, some­how we are able to find our peace of mind. Once we become aware that oth­ers are not hav­ing fun, nei­ther smile nor laugh, we can never be con­tented our­selves. As cited in Sub-theme 2.3 (on a mean­ing­ful relat­ing with oth­ers (pakikipagkapwa)), Co-R Ben­son claims that our own joy can­not be sep­a­rated from oth­ers. He said, “[Y]et even though it feels happy [hav­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay)], you will not really enjoy it when you are all alone expe­ri­enc­ing it while your other friends are suf­fer­ing with their prob­lems.” We nat­u­rally wish to end their suf­fer­ings by doing acts of kind­ness and offer­ing encour­age­ment. And by doing these we are not only help­ing them, but even­tu­ally help­ing our­selves find our own con­tent­ment. We can never be con­tented with­out over­com­ing our own greed, self­ish­ness and discontentment.

Co-R Rom­mel said, “Always be open, kung ano ang meron ka (what­ever that you may have), [and] always think positive!”

Co-R Pink said, “I also learned many lessons kung ako ay nakakaranas ng pagkaluwag sa buhay (when I’m expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease), I’m sat­is­fied with many things that I have, and the more [I come to real­ize that] I have a pur­pose [in my life], that I should pay atten­tion and pri­or­i­tize the many things that I know could help me become a bet­ter per­son, for myself and para na rin sa akin [mga]kapwa (also for my fel­low beings).”

Co-R Nelca said, “Masaya, I feel happy that I need not worry about the needs of my fam­ily. It is a state that one gets to enjoy life at its full.”

Theme 4 “Kung may isinuk­sok, may madudukot.”

Hindi lahat ng pagkakataon ay nakakari­wasa o mag­in­hawa ang buhay. Sa pana­hon na maluwag at mag­in­hawa ang buhay ay narara­pat tay­ong mag-ipon o magsinop upang sa pag­dat­ing ng kagip­i­tan ay may­roon tay­ong mag­a­gamit o aasahan.

[Not all sit­u­a­tions in life are well pro­vided or con­ve­nient. Dur­ing the time of ease or hav­ing con­ve­nient life, we must save and live within our means, so that in times of cri­sis we have avail­able resources to rely on.]

Liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) is: (4.1) selfless-understanding, (4.2) wis­dom and (4.3) life’s lesson.

4.1 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as self­less–under­stand­ing. 

Sub-theme 1.1 (on joy­ful feel­ing) describes what hap­pi­ness is all about: a sense of com­pas­sion; a light feel­ing; a sense of joy of shar­ing with oth­ers. The same descrip­tion applies to what a selfless-understanding and under­stand­ing the other fel­low (kapwa) would really mean. This is true sen­si­tiv­ity, ten­der, warm and gen­tle. In times of cri­sis, more than sav­ing and liv­ing within our means, the avail­able resource to rely on is a kind of under­stand­ing that does not merely reside inside one’s head, but involves kind­ness, empa­thy, com­mit­ment and actions that take care and sus­tain the needs and the expec­ta­tions of the com­mu­nity in which we live because life in all sit­u­a­tions are not always well pro­vided nor convenient.

Co-R Lorence said, “In a sit­u­a­tion that I’m liv­ing with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay), I real­ized that despite many hard­ships and tri­als that come into my life, the more I develop and dis­cover [under­stand] myself, I am stronger per­son for each day that comes.”

Co-R Me-Ann said, “I real­ized my own weak­nesses dur­ing the time that [I was con­fused and] had no idea of what I was sup­posed to do, but at the end I real­ized my own strengths.”

Co-R Dino said, “When I became hon­est…, and allowed [that per­son] to under­stand my sit­u­a­tion that very day, I never failed. I real­ized that the Lord really knows. He has his ways that I will never ever surpass.”

4.2 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as wis­dom. 

Proverbs 3:13 says, “Happy the man who finds wis­dom, the man who gains under­stand­ing!” (New Amer­i­can Bible), When we acquired knowl­edge, skills and val­ues from per­sonal expe­ri­ences as we have grown since birth together with our fam­i­lies and the com­mu­ni­ties in which we live, we gained insight or wis­dom and learned to believe in cer­tain things or behave in cer­tain ways. Our beliefs and prac­tices become wis­dom only through appli­ca­tion of wise judg­ment, and wis­dom becomes belief (or knowl­edge) based on our expe­ri­ences. And as both wis­dom and expe­ri­ences accu­mu­lated through the ages and were passed from gen­er­a­tion to gen­er­a­tion com­mon forms of expres­sions devel­oped into say­ing or proverbs. As Reyes (2002) claims that these say­ings or proverbs [ang mga] salawikain are steeped in tra­di­tional Fil­ipino cul­ture and wis­dom, so too our expe­ri­ence of life, either with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) or with­out ease (hirap sa buhay).

Co-R Dino said, “I also see God in my relief (kaluwa­gan) as a sav­ior in times of emer­gency (kagip­i­tan). It deep­ens more my grat­i­tude to the Lord when he lets me expe­ri­ence severe cri­sis (mahig­pit na kagip­i­tan), then at the end he will give me wis­dom that will bring me relief (kaluwa­gan).

Co-R Joe said, “[T]he same lessons that the expe­ri­ences of being gipit (with­out ease) teach me, that include har­mony, pru­dence, faith, etc.”

Co-R Me-Ann said, “Think of all the beau­ti­ful things [in life] so that you will always be happy [and] always think that every­thing that hap­pens in life has a pur­pose, beau­ti­ful or ugly [good or bad].”

4.3 Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as life’s les­son. 

As cited ear­lier, del Rosario (2007) claims that most proverbs around the world impart a life’s les­son on gen­eral atti­tude, truths and obser­va­tions about life. This is also true to our expe­ri­ence of life with or with­out ease. We can­not escape these lessons of life and we have to bear the con­se­quences of the choices we have made. Since life is filled with many oppor­tu­ni­ties, we should never give up and never become com­pla­cent. In sub-theme 1.3 (on expe­ri­enc­ing hap­pi­ness and free­dom), it is said that we are learn­ing valu­able life’s lessons by liv­ing and sav­ing the life’s values.

Co-R Me-Ann said, “I’m happy because I sur­vived, but I’m more grate­ful for all the lessons learned and the ques­tions answered, and to never avoid the prob­lems [in life] but I should rather seek solu­tions [to respond to them]. –The les­son I learned is that life goes on despite all the expe­ri­ences I went through, and not all the time is sadness.”

Co-R Rowel said, “The lessons of humil­ity, gen­eros­ity, patience and being loved are the things I have learned… –[N]akakaluwag is a mind-set. We can­not do any­thing on the things that come or hap­pen to us but we can do some­thing on how we are going to think or react on the things that hap­pened to us.

Co-R Lorence said, “The les­son I learned from expe­ri­enc­ing a life of ease (nakakaluwag ng buhay) is that despite that I’m com­plete with the basics that I need, I must not become com­pla­cent, rather I should make my resources grow in a way that they will be [more] ben­e­fi­cial to myself, and to my fam­ily in search­ing for a noble livelihood.”

Sum­mary: Answered Research Questions

Table 15 above shows an overview and serves as a guide on how these Three (3) Research Ques­tions were addressed and answered through the Seven (7) Prover­bial Themes while the writer was simul­ta­ne­ously doing the The­matic Reflec­tion of the Co-Rs’ TEXT. The first col­umn with the head­ing: ‘3 Research Ques­tions’ con­tains the 3 ques­tions being asked in this study, while the sec­ond col­umn with the head­ing: ‘7 Prover­bial Themes’ con­sists of the 7 prover­bial themes which the writer care­fully deter­mined the appro­pri­ate prover­bial themes that answered the research ques­tions asked, thus they are not arranged in sequen­tial order.

Table 15. Three (3) Research Ques­tions as Answered through the Seven (7) Prover­bial Themes

3 Research Questions

 

7 Prover­bial Themes

Research Ques­tion 1.What are the sig­nif­i­cant nakakaluwag lived-experiences of the four­teen (14) co-researchers (Co-Rs) in terms of the four­fold rela­tion­al­ity, withResearch Ques­tion 1.1 God, Theme 2 “Nasa Diyos ang awa, nasa tao ang gawa.“Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as

2.1 liv­ing the val­ues of faith.

2.2 God as the source of life with ease

2.3 a mean­ing­ful relat­ing with oth­ers (pakikipagkapwa).

2.4 God’s providence.

2.5 a blessing.

 

Research Ques­tion 1.2self, Theme 1 “Ang buhay ay parang gulong, min­sang nasa ibabaw, min­sang nasa ilalim.“Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as

-        1.1 a joy­ful feeling.

-        1.2 hav­ing mean­ing and pur­pose in life.

-        1.3 as expe­ri­enc­ing happiness.

-        1.4 hav­ing sense of well-being.

-        1.5 engag­ing the hearts and minds.

Research Ques­tion 1.3fellow-human being,and Theme 5 “Ang hindi marunong lumin­gon sa pinang­galin­gan ay di makakarat­ing sa paro­roo­nan.“Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as

5.1 gen­eros­ity.

5.2 grate­ful­ness.

5.3 giv­ing.

5.4 shar­ing.

5.5 com­pas­sion.

5.6 grat­i­tude.

5.7 fair.

5.8 love.

5.9 equal­ity.

 

 

 

Research Ques­tion 1.4cre­ation? Theme 6 “Kung walang tiyaga, walang nilaga.“Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as

6.1 free­dom.

6.2 respon­si­bil­ity.

6.3 empower[ment].

6.4 beauty.

6.5 oppor­tu­nity.

6.6 expanse.

6.7 clean.

6.8 com­mit­ment.

Research Ques­tion 2. What ped­a­gog­i­cal impli­ca­tions for sus­tain­able liv­ing can be drawn from the nakakaluwag lived-experience nar­ra­tives in view of the four­fold relationality? Theme 7 “Hang­gang maiksi ang kumot, matu­tong mamaluk­tot.” Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as

7.1 hav­ing money to buy.

7.2 con­di­tion.

7.3 earn­ing and saving.

7.4 hope.

7.5 sav­ing for the future.

7.6 sus­tain­ing.

7.7 thrifty.

7.8 hav­ing work.

7.9 mind-set.

Research Ques­tion 3. How can these ped­a­gog­i­cal impli­ca­tions fur­nish a com­mon ground for inte­grat­ing the top-down and bottom-up approaches to sus­tain­able living? Theme 3 “Kung gusto may paraan, kung ayaw may dahi­lan.” Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as

3.1 solu­tions to life’s problems.

3.2 hav­ing peace of mind.

3.3 free from worries.

3.4 accep­tance.

3.5 con­tent­ment.

 

Theme 4 “Kung may isinuk­sok, may madudukot.”

 

Expe­ri­enc­ing life with ease (nakakaluwag sa buhay) as

4.1 selfless-understanding.

4.2 wis­dom.

4.3 life’s lesson.

Nakakaluwag Interpretation-Description comes full circle.

In the sense of reach­ing clo­sure after explor­ing and engag­ing in an interpretive-descriptive process, two issues were con­sid­ered in this study: (1) the amount of the research mate­r­ial is suf­fi­cient enough, there­fore all the nec­es­sary data has been received or no more data is nec­es­sary, and (2) the incre­men­tal improve­ment between the­o­riz­ing and engag­ing in interpretive-descriptive process is min­i­mal or insignif­i­cant. Glaser & Strauss (1967 as cited in Eisen­hardt, 1995) assert that “the­o­ret­i­cal sat­u­ra­tion is sim­ply the point at which incre­men­tal learn­ing is min­i­mal because the researchers are observ­ing phe­nom­ena seen before.” (p. 83). There­fore, in both issues above, sat­u­ra­tion was already reached.

Con­versely, with ref­er­ence to hermeneu­tic imper­a­tive, Green (2000) dif­fer­en­ti­ates good phi­los­o­phy from good theology:

Good phi­los­o­phy allows us to know when we can stop doing phi­los­o­phy. Good the­ol­ogy, on the con­trary, shows us why it is never pos­si­ble to stop inter­pret­ing. This neces­sity is called hermeneu­tic imper­a­tive. [Thus] from the stand­point of scrip­ture… the hermeneu­tic imper­a­tive is not sim­ply a mat­ter of exeget­i­cal method but a fun­da­men­tal insight into the nature of the world and our rela­tion to it (p. 174–175).

Crit­i­cal The­ory stud­ies its objects not in terms of reveal­ing the mean­ings that are already there inde­pen­dent of the inter­pre­tive process but in terms of the objects of [its] inter­pre­ta­tion, as well as any par­tic­u­lar inter­pre­ta­tion of them, which are always sub­ject to fur­ther inter­pre­ta­tion. To stop inter­pre­ta­tion would then indi­cate set­tling on a mean­ing with mak­ing life mean­ing­ful (Rush, 2004, p. 34).  Nev­er­the­less, while both Crit­i­cal Theory’s inter­pre­ta­tion and Bib­li­cal hermeneu­tics above claim that they together offer great insights into what would make life mean­ing­ful, the writer still argued that after engag­ing in an interpretive-descriptive process it must reached clo­sure as expected. He then addressed this clo­sure issue based on two grounds:  (1) first, his sat­is­fac­tion of under­stand­ing has reached a fairly rea­son­able level; and (2) sec­ond, out of this under­stand­ing he did make sense of it as a coher­ent dynamic whole. These two were fur­ther explained by apply­ing the line of rea­son­ing of Prof. Ted Hopf[8] and the logic of Gadamer’s notion of deep inner coherence.

With ref­er­ence to the lim­its or bound­aries of inter­tex­tual mean­ing that must be accounted for in any account of the sub­ject, Hopf (2000) argues that when one is sat­is­fied with the under­stand­ing s/he has reached, s/he should stop inter­pret­ing. Kin­sella (2006) con­curs with Hopf and main­tains that “once the inter­preter is sat­is­fied with her or his under­stand­ing, or has lost inter­est in pur­su­ing the issue any fur­ther, s/he relies upon the level of under­stand­ing already achieved—s/he becomes, at least tem­porar­ily, entrenched” (par. 20). Osborne (1994 as cited in Anton­sen, 2003) like­wise claims that “the ulti­mate deci­sion to stop col­lect­ing data was made once it was per­ceived that all aspects of the phe­nom­e­non had been brought forth and that fur­ther data would merely be redun­dant” (p.38).

By bor­row­ing Linda Alcoff’s[9] argu­ment, Hopf (2006) fur­ther asserts that sat­is­fac­tion [with one’s under­stand­ing] could also be gained by account­ing for alter­na­tive explanations:

Fou­cault[10] has a “coher­en­tist” epis­te­mol­ogy that the bound­ary of a domain is estab­lished by exhaust­ing the mean­ing­ful rela­tion­ships among the pieces of evi­dence. As she puts it, if there “is no dis­cernible con­nec­tion or rela­tion” to any other ele­ment, the ele­ment being observed “is with­out mean­ing,” at least to the sub­ject being ana­lyzed, and hence, to the observer (p. 28).

Schoch (2007) describes “Alcoff’s undis­cernible con­nec­tion or rela­tion” in view of coher­en­tism par­a­digm as that which “takes all for­merly beliefs and new incom­ing infor­ma­tion, [then] selects some propo­si­tions to form the most plau­si­ble belief sys­tem” (slide # 6). Sub­se­quently, he pro­vides these two propo­si­tions: (1) “John is in Rome on Nov. 4th 2007, 14:30.” and (2) “John is in Bangkok on Nov. 4th 2007, 14:31,” and after­ward explains them:

The two propo­si­tions do not log­i­cally con­tra­dict, but together they are implau­si­ble [because nobody can travel that fast], they are inco­her­ent. Even if both infor­ma­tion came from reli­able sources, we could not believe them simul­ta­ne­ously (slide # 7).

Gadamer (1989) also high­lights his view of coher­ence of his­tory as a pri­mary given and as an unfin­ished con­ti­nu­ity that “noth­ing exists entirely for the sake of some­thing else, [that] noth­ing is entirely iden­ti­cal with the real­ity of some­thing else, but still a deep inner coher­ence pen­e­trates every­where, and no one is entirely inde­pen­dent” (p. 202). With ref­er­ence to his treat­ment of coher­ence the­ory of truth, John­son (1992) con­curs with Gadamer’s notion that, “coher­ence, which is not to be con­fused with mere con­sis­tency, is a rela­tion­ship of mutual depen­dence and entail­ment over the whole body of real­ity” (p.19).  The logic of Gadamer’s deep inner coher­ence that holds together the rela­tion­ship of mutual depen­dence of two or more inde­pen­dent enti­ties, which is not entirely inde­pen­dent at all, is the same logic that can be applied to any propo­si­tion within the coher­ent whole which can­not be false while all the rest are true, nor can any be quite true, with­out the truth of all the rest (John­son, 1992).  Should we read the text again and again? Yes, we should, so that our under­stand­ing will be enriched by pre­vi­ous read­ings, and we will see new aspects of the text that we never saw nor thought of before. How­ever, since there is nei­ther inter­nal con­tra­dic­tion nor con­fu­sion of thought, then the mean­ing of a text or a propo­si­tion is (cau­tiously) estab­lished and a unity of mean­ing is expressed in all its parts (Gadamer, 1989, p. 219). This means that the inter­pre­ta­tion stops (for the time being) because sat­u­ra­tion is already reached and the text or the propo­si­tion is clear (inter­pre­ta­tio ces­sat in claris). There­fore, it is sen­si­ble, plau­si­ble, coher­ent and cohesive.

Nakakaluwag as Interpretive-Descriptive Frame­work: Sphere/Circle

From The­o­ret­i­cal Ori­en­ta­tion to Interpretive-Descriptive Frame­work. Holis­tic Rela­tion­al­ity is the broad frame­work that had taken a sec­ond look at the Fil­ipino value nakakaluwag at its locus and con­text (hori­zonal). This is a frame­work which com­prised the con­cep­tual ratio­nale and basis of this study to inte­grate the var­ied and related per­spec­tives into a cohe­sive approach. The Holis­tic Relationality’s per­spec­tive or the prin­ci­ples of the four­fold essen­tial rela­tions: God, one­self, fellow-human beings and cre­ation had evolved and fused into a frame­work that interpreted-described the phe­nom­e­non of the lived-experience of nakakaluwag by com­bin­ing and apply­ing the mod­i­fied ver­sion of Aronson’s (1994) five (5) steps of the­matic analysis:

Step 1 Col­lect­ing all the data, Step 2 Iden­ti­fy­ing pat­terns of expe­ri­ences, Step 3 Cat­a­logu­ing related pat­terns into sub-themes and themes, Step 4 Obtain­ing feed­back from the infor­mants and Step 5 Telling the whole story. These five (5) steps were applied into the phe­nom­e­non of the lived-experience of nakakaluwag through the writ­ten reflec­tions (RJE), tran­scribed nar­ra­tions (NEA) and tran­scribed con­ver­sa­tions (FIE) of the four­teen (14) Co-Rs.

By the­mat­i­cally reflect­ing upon these Co-Rs’ TEXT, seven (7) prover­bial themes arose that even­tu­ally addressed and answered the research ques­tions of this study on the (1) sig­nif­i­cance of nakakaluwag lived-experiences with (1.1) God, (1.2) self, (1.3) fellow-human being, and (1.4) cre­ation; (2) the ped­a­gog­i­cal impli­ca­tions for sus­tain­able liv­ing and (3) the ethical-pedagogical com­mon ground or middle-in approach. Theme 1 “Ang buhay ay parang gulong, min­sang nasa ibabaw, min­sang nasa ilalim addressed the (1.2) self;“Theme 2 “Nasa Diyos ang awa, nasa tao ang gawa addressed (1.1) God;” Theme 3 “Kung gusto may paraan, kung ayaw may dahlia” and Theme 4 “Kung may isinuk­sok, may madudukot” addressed the (3) the middle-in approach; Theme 5 “Ang hindi marunong lumin­gon sa pinang­galin­gan ay di makakarat­ing sa paro­roo­nan” addressed the (1.3) fellow-human being; Theme 6 “Kung walang tiyaga, walang nilaga” addressed the  (1.4) cre­ation; and lastly, Theme 7 “Hang­gang maiksi ang kumot, matu­tong mamaluk­tot” addressed the (2) the ped­a­gogy for sus­tain­able living.

In view of all these and by bor­row­ing Mechthild of Magdeburg’s interpretation-description of God, the writer claims that this frame­work is likened to this sphere (see below fig­ure 1), a widen­ing cir­cle that encloses all things and where all things are encir­cled by God’s com­pas­sion­ate arms, embrac­ing and pro­vid­ing the con­di­tions con­ducive to sus­tain life. The writer then named these whole processes and pro­ce­dures as Nakakaluwag as Interpretive-Descriptive Framework.

Fig. 1.

God is exactly like that of a sphere by Mechthild of Magdeburg

Photo Image Cour­tesy of Lau­rence D. Fin­ston www.gnu.org

Before God cre­ated every­thing, Mechthild of Magde­burg (1998) asked the ques­tion, “What form did our Lord God have then?”  Then she answered that God is:

Exactly like that of a sphere, and all things were enclosed within God with no lock and no door. The low­est part of the sphere is a bot­tom­less foun­da­tion beneath all abysses. The high­est part of the sphere is a top above which there is noth­ing. The cir­cum­fer­ence of the sphere is an immea­sur­able cir­cle (p. 257).

 

Tana (2009) defines that the tri­an­gle inside a cir­cle means tri­une, the world of forms, enclosed in eter­nity cir­cle (see fig­ure 2). She also enu­mer­ates some of the sym­bolic mean­ings of tri­an­gle in Sacred Geom­e­try as:  (1) tri­une, (2) birth — life — death, (3) body — mind — soul, (4) father — mother – child and (5) sky — earth — lower world (Tana, 2009).

Fig. 2.

The Nakakaluwag Interpretive-Descriptive Framework

In view of Mechthild of Magdeburg’s interpretation-description of God, Tana’s cir­cle and all these sym­bolic mean­ings com­bined is also likened to that sphere “with no lock and no door.”

More­over, the writer observed that Tana’s interpretation-description of a tri­an­gle inside the cir­cle is tri­une that has fourfold-triangles, which the writer iden­ti­fied as Sier­pin­ski tri­an­gle in an equi­lat­eral tri­an­gle (“The Sier­pin­ski tri­an­gle,” 2009). The writer re-named this tri­une inside the cir­cle as Holis­tic Rela­tion­al­ity, within which are the four-fold tri­an­gles where each tri­an­gle rep­re­sents God, one­self, fellow-human beings and cre­ation. That same tri­une is the source of the ped­a­gogy for sus­tain­able liv­ing and the cir­cle “with no lock and no door” is the ethical-pedagogical com­mon ground for sus­tain­able liv­ing. This sphere is unfold­ing and enclosing.

Fig. 3. and Fig. 2.

The sphere “with no lock and no door,” which unfolds and encloses the

phe­nom­e­non of the lived-experience of nakakaluwag

By care­ful interpretation-description on this phe­nom­e­non of the nakakaluwag lived-experience, the writer arrived at the hori­zonal mean­ings of the Co-Rs’ TEXT, which is referred to as the 1) reflec­tive jour­nal entries (RJE), (2) nar­ra­tive expe­ri­ence accounts (NEA), and (3) face-to-face inter­view exchanges (FIE). The writer used the hermeneu­tic cir­cle which is likened to the sphere “with no lock and no door” (see fig­ure 3) whereby a dia­logue unfolds and encloses the mean­ings of 1st IDP: RJE as deter­mined by the hori­zonal mean­ings of the writ­ten data. The interpreted-described mean­ings were double-checked against the mean­ings 2nd IDP: NEA. The dia­logue con­tin­ued on as it unfolds and encloses the mean­ings of NEA as deter­mined by the hori­zonal mean­ings of the spo­ken data. The interpreted-described mean­ings were double-checked against the mean­ings of 3rd IDP: FIE. The dia­logue con­tin­ued on as it unfolds and encloses the mean­ings of FIE as deter­mined by the hori­zonal mean­ings of the inter­view data. The interpreted-described mean­ings were double-checked against the mean­ings of 1st IDP: RJE to allow hermeneu­tic to come full cir­cle. They appeared dis­tinct yet some­how unre­lated to each other when viewed sep­a­rately or when you look at each hori­zon­ally. How­ever the interpreted-described mean­ings about the writ­ten data, the tran­scribed spo­ken data and the tran­scribed inter­view data can for­ever be revised or renewed the more the writer dis­cover and re-discover about the nakakaluwag lived expe­ri­ences of the Co-Rs’ TEXT. This is because they are in a cir­cle “with no lock and no door”. But when they have come full cir­cle in their own and among them, then we are back at the dawn of renewal and we will see them in many ways as a child sees it. Every­thing makes sense, but the inter­pre­ta­tion must stop from what we have seen so far, because these three phases, enclosed by the four-fold tri­an­gles, had already painted a clearer image and big­ger pic­ture of the phe­nom­e­non of nakakaluwag.

Hermeneu­ti­cal Insight: “Anu­mang nakapag-uugnay ay nakakapagpaluwag”

In this sec­tion, the writer’s hermeneu­ti­cal insight is guided by Gadamer’s notion on the rela­tion­al­ity char­ac­ter of the text as (1) belong­ing to a tra­di­tion, (2) hav­ing mean­ing in itself, (3) hav­ing an author, (4) hav­ing an orig­i­nal audi­ence, (5) hav­ing an inter­preter, (6) its inter­preter hav­ing a his­tor­i­cal sit­u­a­tion, (7) and hav­ing the total his­tor­i­cal sit­u­a­tion that encloses all. To fur­ther expound upon the mean­ing and impli­ca­tions of the writer’s posi­tion, Gadamer contends:

Every age has to under­stand a trans­mit­ted text in its own way, for the text belongs to the whole tra­di­tion whose con­tent inter­ests the age and in which it seeks to under­stand itself. The real mean­ing of a text, as it speaks to the inter­preter, does not depend on the con­tin­gen­cies of the author and his orig­i­nal audi­ence. It cer­tainly is not iden­ti­cal with them, for it is always co-determined also by the his­tor­i­cal sit­u­a­tion of the inter­preter and hence by the total­ity of the objec­tive course of his­tory” (p. 296).

As men­tioned in the pre­vi­ous chap­ter, Leininger (as cited in Aron­son, 1994) claims that the coher­ence of ideas rests with the writer’s cre­ativ­ity who care­fully ana­lyzed how these frag­ments of ideas “fit together in a mean­ing­ful way when linked together’ (par. 7). In the long run, a com­pre­hen­sive pic­ture of the Co-Rs’ col­lec­tive expe­ri­ence is formed, by bring­ing together these themes that emerge from their responses. Tay­lor & Bog­dan (as cited in Aron­son, 1994) clearly defined these themes as units derived from pat­terns such as con­ver­sa­tion top­ics, vocab­u­lary, recur­ring activ­i­ties, mean­ings, feel­ings, or folk say­ings and proverbs (par. 7).

Notwith­stand­ing the fact that, on the one hand, Reyes (2002) says that Fil­ipino Proverbs or [Ang mga]Salawikain are say­ings that are steeped in tra­di­tional Fil­ipino cul­ture and wis­dom, [and] are force­ful expres­sions cloaked in poetry which can be used to empha­size a point.  On the other hand, del Rosario (2007) claims that like most proverbs around the world, [Ang mga]“Salawikain” impart a les­son which express a gen­eral atti­tude towards life and the laws that gov­ern life and also express gen­eral truths and obser­va­tions about life and human nature” (par. 1). He even enu­mer­ated what [Ang mga]“Salawikain are, namely: (1) part of one’s cul­tural her­itage which should not be for­got­ten; (2) they are good sources of infor­ma­tion about tra­di­tions, beliefs, and cus­toms; (3) they serve as guide to liv­ing, advice on social rela­tions and encour­age­ment in fac­ing life’s tri­als and real­i­ties; and finally (4) the main pur­pose of proverbs is to teach a les­son in life (del Rosario, 2007, par. 2). Both Reyes (2002) and del Rosario (2007) agreed that [Ang mga] Salawikain [are] our Fil­ipino cul­tural her­itage giv­ing us a glimpse of Fil­ipino tra­di­tions, beliefs, and cus­toms, which until today pro­vide us guides in liv­ing and in fac­ing life’s chal­lenges (de Leon, 2007). Likened to Fil­ipino Proverbs or [Ang mga]Salawikain, the the­matic titles for each of the com­bined RJE, NEA and FIE of each Co-R are the fol­low­ing: (1) Rowel: “Lig­aya at laya, ugnayan at unawa, wagas, alwan at gin­hawa” (Joy and free­dom, rela­tion and under­stand­ing, pure, ease and com­fort); (2) Dino: “May kakaya­han para sa iba” (Abil­ity for oth­ers); (3) Mari­cel: “Maluwag ang aming pamu­muhay” (We are  liv­ing with ease); (4) Jorelle: “Maluwag ka para sa kanila” (You are gen­er­ous to oth­ers); (5) Joe: “Tumin­gin tayo sa lan­git” (Look up to heaven); (6) Me-An: “Tuloy tuloy lang ang buhay” (Life just goes on); (7) Lorence: “Makakaa­hon din ako” (I can get out of this sit­u­a­tion); (8) Pink: “Tang­gapin ng maluwag” (Accept the sit­u­a­tion the way it is); (9) Elvie: “May­roon kang madudukot” (You have resource to rely on); (10) Rom­mel: “Nakakaluwag-luwag sa prob­lema” (To reduce ones prob­lems); (11) Ben­son: “Nakakaram­dam ako ng pagkaluwag” (I feel with ease); (12) V-Mae: “Malakas na kapit” (To keep hold­ing on); (13) Nelca: “Nakaka­pag­paluwag sa buhay ng ibang tao” (To bring ease to other’s life) and (14) Gary: “Kaluwa­gan sa mundong ito” (To have ease in this world).  

And among these pat­terns that con­spic­u­ously emerge from the Co-Rs’ TEXT, the writer has unin­ten­tion­ally iden­ti­fied Salawikain as the appro­pri­ate mean­ing­ful pat­tern that pieced together the forty four (44) sub-themes that arose among four­teen (14) Co-Rs, which are then enclosed by the seven (7) prover­bial themes. These seven (7) prover­bial themes con­veyed life’s lessons that even when life is full of tri­als, hurts and pains, our unwa­ver­ing trust in God, our faith in our­selves, our reliance on oth­ers and our con­fi­dence in cre­ation will sus­tain of all of us. More­over, Keenan (2000) claims that we are con­sti­tu­tively rela­tional and that that [sic] rela­tion­al­ity is with nature, God and human­ity (p. 76). He con­tends in the fol­low­ing words these ways of being in relation:

Our inter­ac­tion with nature reflects both our respon­si­bil­ity for nature…. [which] reflects our com­mit­ment to respect and enhance the con­di­tions for future human action in the world…. Our relat­ed­ness to God begins with the recog­ni­tion that we are cre­ated in God’s image. In par­tic­u­lar, being in the image of a tri­une God means that our nature is, like God’s, con­sti­tu­tively rela­tional…. Edward Vacek has argued that rela­tion­ship with God is not pri­mar­ily elec­tive, but orig­i­nally nat­ural: each per­son as crea­ture must redis­cover her con­nect­ed­ness to God. This is not sim­ply a reli­gious call, but an eth­i­cal chal­lenge…. [O]ur rela­tion­al­ity gen­er­ally is always directed by an ordered appre­ci­a­tion for the com­mon good in which we treat all peo­ple as equal. We belong to human­ity and are expected to respond to all its mem­bers in gen­eral equally and impar­tially (p. 76–78).

With these big eth­i­cal chal­lenges in our lives, we must not get over­whelmed. Even if we fail, what mat­ters most is we try again and we never give up. We hope because it makes the present moment lesser dif­fi­cult to bear, and we look for­ward that tomor­row will be a bet­ter and brighter one. It is truly amaz­ing how God guided us always to greater whole­ness and holi­ness. And as God’s chil­dren and stew­ards, we know that He lis­tens to our prayers. And since we are heard by Him, we know that He will answer us. Thus, we should always strive to achieve and get the most out of what life can fully offer. We must be dili­gent in our pur­suit to attain sus­tain­able liv­ing. All of us have deci­sions to make in our lives and with this gift of free­dom, we can do many things towards learn­ing, teach­ing, cre­at­ing and sus­tain­ing a cul­ture of com­pas­sion, of val­ues, of gen­eros­ity and of life. To be a per­son of God, for oth­ers and for cre­ation, we must learn how to sac­ri­fice on their behalf, to put aside self­ish­ness and be com­mit­ted for the cause of what will truly bring more ease in our lives (nakakaluwag) because in the final analy­sis and reflec­tion: anu­mang nakapag-uugnay sa Diyos, sa kapwa, sa sar­ili at sa kalikasan ay nakaka­pag­paluwag (rela­tion­ships with God, oth­ers, one­self and nature make for a life of ease.) In other words, “anu­mang nakapag-uugnay ay nakaka­pag­paluwag” (rela­tion­ships make for a life of ease).


[1] The writer instructed and requested his co-researchers to hand in the hard copy of their RJE to the writer at Room D301, Duerr Hall, 3rd Floor, School of Mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies (SMS), De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) or emailed him at ingles.antonio@gmail.com.

[2] Taglish is a port­man­teau of the words “Taga­log” and “Eng­lish” which refers to the Philip­pine lan­guage Taga­log (or its lib­er­al­ized offi­cial form, Fil­ipino) infused with Amer­i­can Eng­lish terms. It is an exam­ple of code-switching. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taglish.

[3] Ricoeur’s (1971) inter­pre­ta­tion the­ory allowed entry into the hermeneu­tic cir­cle through the fol­low­ing three (3) steps: (1) Naive read­ing, (2) Struc­tural analy­sis and (3) Com­pre­hen­sive under­stand­ing or inter­preted whole (Lind­seth & Nor­berg, 2004, as cited in Flood, 2010).

[4] Accord­ing to Con­roy (2003) ‘Hermeneu­tic Devel­op­ment of Com­men­tary’ refers to the fol­low­ing four­teen (14) ques­tions which serve as guide when engag­ing in an inter­pre­ta­tion: (1) What is being said ‘on the face’ of their words — par­tic­i­pants and researcher? (Pré­cis form– Putting their and my words into my words); (2) What is the line of thought — within a seg­ment and across seg­ments of par­tic­i­pants’ words within one ses­sion?; (3) What is lying beneath the ‘face value’? What is the text show­ing? (Heidegger’s Modes of Engage­ment and Modes of Exis­tence); (4) What am I miss­ing (explic­itly or implic­itly said)? What is so ‘nor­mal’ to me that I can’t see it?; (5) Why is this topic being pre­sented — to me? — at all?; (6) What is caus­ing anx­i­ety to the par­tic­i­pant? What is the sig­nif­i­cance to the par­tic­i­pant of this artic­u­lated event?; (7) Why am I ask­ing the ques­tions I am ask­ing? What types of ques­tions am I using accord­ing to communication/interviewing the­ory? Am I help­ing or hin­der­ing the flow of the sto­ry­telling?; (8) Am I listening/responding within the participant’s world or from a world out­side her own, i.e., from mine? How syn­chro­nized am I with what the par­tic­i­pant is say­ing?; (9) What learn­ing is hap­pen­ing here? — implic­itly, explic­itly? How does it hap­pen? (MacLeod, 1990); (10) What learn­ing is not hap­pen­ing here?; (11) What is the nature of the sit­u­a­tion?; (12) What is the his­tor­i­cal nature of the expe­ri­ence to the par­tic­i­pant? (Hei­deg­ger — tem­po­ral­ity); (13) Is there an appar­ent mood to the inter­view exhib­ited by the par­tic­i­pant? What are his emo­tions?; (14) What is val­ued by the par­tic­i­pant?; (15) What are her concerns/issues? What is her body lan­guage telling me? (Reflections/notes made imme­di­ately after the ses­sion); (16) What themes are run­ning through the con­ver­sa­tion?; and (17) Are there sim­i­lar events talked about within the con­ver­sa­tion or within other con­ver­sa­tions with the same participant?

[5] For the sake of brevity, the term Recur­ring is herein after abbre­vi­ated to Rcrng, which is based from the eXten­si­ble Markup Lan­guage (XML) Tag — Abbre­vi­a­tion List of almost 3,350 names/terms in the Uni­fied Mod­el­ing Lan­guage (UML) as pro­vided by the Inter­na­tional Orga­ni­za­tion for Stan­dard­iza­tion (ISO 20022). Source: http://www.iso20022.org/documents/general/XML_Tags.pdf

[6] Ang mga kahu­lu­gan ng pitong (7) mga salawikain tinalakay at itin­u­turo sa paar­alan ay ipinali­wanag mula sa kagandahang-loob ni Bb. Evan­ge­line C. Siat, isang Prope­sor sa Fil­ipino ng De La Salle-Kolehiyo ng San Benildo (The mean­ings of the seven (7) Fil­ipino Proverbs or Salawikain dis­cussed (above) and taught in school were defined cour­tesy of Miss Evan­ge­line Siat, a Fil­ipino Pro­fes­sor in De La Salle – Col­lege of Saint Benilde) (E. Siat, per­sonal com­mu­ni­ca­tion, Octo­ber 19, 2010).

[7] In an arti­cle enti­tled, ‘Redeem­ing the Unre­deemable: Auschwitz and Man’s Search for Mean­ing,’ Pytell (2003) explains that Vik­tor Frankl on a more prac­ti­cal level would claim that sur­vival requires reten­tion of a sense of the future, thus he would repeat­edly take and advice Nietzsche’s pre­scrip­tion: “He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how.”  Pytell cited this in page 97 of Frankl’s book enti­tled, ‘From Death-Camp to Exis­ten­tial­ism’ (1959), which was the ear­lier title of his book, ‘Man’s Search for Mean­ing:  An Intro­duc­tion to Logother­apy.’ ( New York:  Wash­ing­ton Square Press) pub­lished in 1963.

[8]  Ted Hopf is an Asso­ciate Pro­fes­sor of Polit­i­cal Sci­ence of the Depart­ment of Polit­i­cal Sci­ence, The Ohio State Uni­ver­sity. He wrote an arti­cle on the ‘The Lim­its of Inter­pret­ing Evi­dence,’ which is rel­e­vant to the present study­ing view of reach­ing clo­sure. Source: http://polisci.osu.edu/faculty/thopf.

[9] Linda Martín Alcoff is Pro­fes­sor of Phi­los­o­phy at Hunter Col­lege and the CUNY Grad­u­ate Cen­ter (New York, NY). Her writ­ings have focused on social iden­tity and race, epis­te­mol­ogy and pol­i­tics, sex­ual vio­lence, Fou­cault, and Latino issues in phi­los­o­phy. Source: http://www.alcoff.com/ Meink­ing (1995) claims that (in ‘The Philo­soph­i­cal Forum, Vol­ume XXV, No. 2, Win­ter 1993′) [Linda] Alcoff argued based from ana­lytic cat­e­gories that Foucault’s work is epis­te­mo­log­i­cal and highly rel­e­vant to epis­te­mol­ogy. [And] …that Fou­cault is a “coher­en­tist” and “exter­nal­ist.” Ref­er­ence: Meink­ing, S. (1995, May 19). Epis­te­mol­ogy [Online forum com­ment] Retrieved Novem­ber 20, 2010 from Foucault.info: http://foucault.info/Foucault-L/archive/msg00487.shtml

[10] Michel Fou­cault (1926–1984) is a French philoso­pher, social critic, and his­to­rian whose vast influ­ence extends across a broad array of dis­ci­plines, espe­cially in the human­i­ties and social sci­ences. He is per­haps best known for his rumi­na­tions on power, self iden­tity, epis­te­mol­ogy, and the evo­lu­tion of sys­tems of thought and mean­ing. Source: Retrieved Novem­ber 20, 2010 from Notable Names Data­base (NNDB), Soy­lent Com­mu­ni­ca­tions: http://www.nndb.com/people/323/000095038/

 

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