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Katrina Eunice G. Pajaro2 AB COM - 123026

Theology 121- EEssay Compilation

Still from the music video of These Four Words.

Album art of The Maine’s latest album, Forever Halloween that includes These Four Words.

Music is If I said that the line above is a sentence, then I would be fooling myself. Presented above is an example of a phrase. A phrase is a group of words with an incomplete thought. It may have the sufficient number of words to be a sentence but it still isn’t. There is no point. There is no thought. This set of words formulates the question “mu-sic is what?” It makes you question; it makes you wonder. A phrase could explain what a mystery is but the question that is bothering you is “music is what?” and the answer to that question is will be discussed. Music, in a technical sense, is a combina-tion of notes that produce a certain melody. But it isn’t only limited to that. Words are added with the notes to create the illusion of emotions. You may bear those emotions when listening to a certain song and it’ll make you wonder. Why can a bunch of notes and words make me feel sad? How did this song come to be? What happened to the artist that made him write this song? Why did I listen to it in the first place? John S. Dunne gives a reason unto why we have this affinity to music “… there is a mu-sic in us, an inner music, not just emotion, not just

cognition, but the ebb and flow of our inner life of knowing and loving, an inner tide, an inner time that resonates with music.”1 Music is filled with imprints of human experiences, the events in lives of individuals and society that shape their faith.2 The more events someone will encounter, the more likely music could affect them either in a positive manner and negative. The chorus of The Maine’s These Four Words contains words that may have a positive but most likely negative effect on the listener account-ing to the painful honesty that is depicted in the song’s lyrics: As if a plane crash were timely There’s no good time for bad news These four words, they don’t come easy “I don’t love you”3 Listening to these lyrics may affect you emotionally and it will make you question. Why can a bunch of notes and words make me feel sad? How did this song come to be? What happened to the artist that made him write this song? Why couldn’t he love the girl? So many whats and so many whys but the an-swers to these questions are unknown. It’s a mys-tery that the artists hide from the listeners. That

Crescendo and Diminuendo of Knowledge:The Concept of Mystery in Music

1John S. Dunne, “The Music of Time,” in The Music of Time: Words and Music and Spiritual Friendship (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1996), 2.2Justin Joseph Badion, “Handout 1: Theology,” 4.

3http://youtu.be/QUvVJeC0FZU

their music could be related to our encounters with God. The Bible could be a whole book of lyrics the prophets wrote. On those words are imprints of their experiences while looking for answers to the mystery of God’s identity. Most of these expe-riences have changed them. Terry Veling discusses further how these experiences affect, “to under-go an experience with –be it a thing, a person, or [the divine] –means that this something befalls us, strikes us, comes over us, overwhelms and trans-forms us.”5 And to them these experiences were ef-fective because it served its purpose—it changed them. Despite all the stories about God in the Bi-ble, we still have so many questions. It may feel like we hold the answers in our hands but then they slip away and we have to go look for them again. When we feel like we’re getting closer to the His whole identity, we get pushed back to the start be-cause more questions present themselves. Though we get pushed back to the start, “the withdrawing evokes our longing and causes the flowing to begin all over again.”Going back to music we have the crescendo and di-minuendo, crescendo is when everything gets loud and you get all the information and diminuendo is when everything is soft and you have to make extra effort to get what it says. This is mystery; it has its own crescendos and diminuendos. It is an ebb and flow6 of so many things, of so many questions. And this essay wouldn’t even suffice to explain the tug of war of the knowledge life has to show us. How could we figure out what mystery really is when even after this 3-page essay, we didn’t fully answer the question “music is what?” We can’t.

mystery may be the only strip of privacy they may have—the story behind every song. They present a glimpse of what is happening in their lives, but they never truly reveal the full grasp of it, despite the fact that a part of them will always be public property because of the industry they are in. There are things that bring us closer to the artists. It could be concerts, meet & greets, music videos, interviews and even documentaries. The band mentioned above has their own, “Anthem For A Dying Breed”. The film shows events from the band’s life that has made them the image they are today. It shows how they write their songs and how they record it. They also show the struggles they had in their career. And of course, they include the obligatory live concert scene. Basically, it is who the band is when they aren’t performing. Finally, getting an idea of who they are behind the scenes is quite fulfilling but later on you realize that you didn’t get everything and there is still mystery present. There is no assurance to who the band may really be. What if the things that were shown were the likings of the director? Or what if they only showed us the good parts? We’ll never know. As fans we don’t like that mystery. We have this prophetic imagination4 towards it. We want to transform the idea of us not knowing. We look at this withdrawal of information negatively. To fans, it somehow is a sin for the artist to be secretive. We go on crazy adventures just to figure out this mys-tery. As we go on we figure out that we would not find any more answers but we’ll find more ques-tions—just because of the fact that they want to keep it a mystery. This minimal relationship we have with artist and

4Justin Joseph Badion, “Handout 1: Theology,” 8. 5Terry Veling, “To Dwell Poetically in the World,” in Practical Theology: On Earth as It Is in Heaven (Markynoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2005), 198. 6Dunne, “The Music of Time,” 2-7.

The Maine

Varys: ““A thousand blades taken from the hands of Aegon’s fallen enemies, forged in the fiery breathe of Balerion the Dread.” Lord Petyr Baelish: “There aren’t a thousand blades, there aren’t even two hundred. I’ve counted.””1

Seen above is a conversation of HBO’s Game of Thrones char-acters, Varys and Lord Petyr Baelish, better known as Littlefinger. They are referring to the story of the Iron Throne2 , in which is also per-tained to be the story of the realm of Westeros. Varys who speaks first, shares the myth that the Seven Kingdoms has lived with for over 300 years and Littlefinger, who was caught daydreaming while staring at the throne, speaks with his own ambitions that he hides behind his words. The story of the Iron Throne has been keeping the nation of the Seven Kingdoms intact inside a cage. It is the story that until now they keep on repeating over and over to keep its validity and truth. The mere mention of the term “Iron Throne” connotes power and fear. This shows how powerful a myth can be, as they can be “a force to hold a people together.”3 This myth has given structure to the political enti-ty of the Seven Kingdoms that even though the Targaryans, creators of the said hierarchy, has been long eliminated (only one from their bloodline is still alive and she is attempting to take the kingdom back) they still keep it and fight over its power. This is a public dream that everyone shares--the dream of the power of the Iron Throne and the dream to honor it or to have it. In lieu of being the glue that bonds the people, the myth is also their guide in life. This is the kind of bedtime story they tell their chil-dren, exposing them to the idea of power in such early age. The parents make sure that this story “is more than fantasy, but rather speaks a particular kind of truth.”4 And as they grow up to be knights or fair maidens, this myth that they have come to know will “offer wisdom or consolation or any other virtue that life may require.”5 This myth is the seed from where the culture grows. The nurturing that is given to the children come from this myth that has been passed on from generation to generation as a reminder and a lesson. But sometimes, when faced with these public dreams, the hu-man imagination6 starts to wonder and strays itself and “looks for meaning, and those who employ it give free rein to the good and the evil that is within them.”7 Littlefinger who was caught staring at the Iron Throne had his imagination roaming around the whole Throne room. He dreamed of having the power of sitting on that throne, the throne that has killed many with just one word or a laugh by the one seated on it. The thing that triggered this yearning was his desire for

Pits and Ladders

1“Game of Thrones (S03E06) - Littlefinger finds out about Varys spy (Death of Ros)”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAqvyCYr1Cc 2A Wiki of Fire and Ice, “The Iron Throne.” https://app.box.com/s/g6pse675hq28sfq5x 3qi/1/1055407303/9561396615/1 3Peter Fink, “Human Imagination and the God It Reveals,” The Way Supplement 94 (1999): 35. 4Ibid, 37. 5Ibid, 35. 6Ibid, 35-46. 7Ibid, 35.

Pits and Ladders

freedom, freedom from the wrath of the reigning House. He wanted that power. But he wasn’t the only one who wanted that power. Many houses desire the throne’s power, the Lannisters, the Tyrells, the Bara-theons and the only living Targaryen. Some might not directly want the power of the throne but they form alliances with the house they seem most fitting. They only seek for the affirmation of the house that will hold the power. They all dream of the same thing but in different contexts. They have different ways on how they will achieve their dream, thus, differ-ent plot lines to their private myths. Each house sees the world through different “lens of human feelings” and that is “essential to how… myths tell their tale.”8 And with this, they have different ways of conquering the throne. The Lannisters (currently holding the throne) go with their gold, the Tyrells fight with their cleverness, the Baratheons charge with their religiousness and Daenerys Targaryen drives with her com-passion. Their imagination “usually presents several different images for different realities, each with their own set of feelings and behav-ior.”9 This being said proves that their own battle plans are reflections of the symbols and realities that are projected towards them. Clash of realities is also present in the continuing conversation of Varys and Lord Baelish. After Lord Petyr Baelish throws allegations at Varys and after he says a hint to whom he eliminated next, they in-voke into a heated conversation about their views of the story of the Iron Throne: “Varys: “I did what I did for the good of the realm.” Lord Baelish: “The realm… Do you know what the realm is? It’s the thousand blades of Aegon’s enemies, a story that we agreed to tell each other over and over until we forget it is a lie.” Varys: “But what do we have left if we abandon that lie? Cha os! A gaping pit waiting to swallow us all.” Lord Baelish: “Chaos isn’t a pit. Chaos is a ladder.”10

Varys’s starting defense shows that he is “interpreting life”11 on his own and he did whatever he did as a “response to it in the best way” that he can. Baelish then questions the realm, which is the myth that the Westeros lives by and claiming that it is a lie. Varys saying that if the Seven Kingdoms will leave this myth, the whole kingdom will fall apart. As discussed a while ago, a myth is that can hold people together. For this story behind the power of the Iron Throne has been the cage that kept them intact despite being trapped. Inside a pit is Varys carrying the realms myth and there is Bael-ish climbing out on his ladder with his dreams.

8Peter Fink, “Human Imagination and the God It Reveals,” 38. 9Ibid, 40. 10“Game of Thrones (S03E06) - Littlefinger finds out about Varys spy (Death of Ros)”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAqvyCYr1Cc 11Justin Joseph Badion, “Handout 3: Mystic Imagination – Creation and Our Mythic Horizons,” 18.

neo. But eventually, I convinced myself that La Salle was for me and I learned to love it. I started calling it my dream school and I even had a number of their merchandise. I was fully prepared emotionally and mentally until the ACET results came out. On that day, I got numerous calls saying that I passed and I thought people were playing a prank on me. I only believed it when I saw it in black and white (in this case blue and white). It was one of those moments where-in you would just stop whatever you were doing, sit down and cry. This is exactly what I did. Up until now, I cannot distinguish what emotions have run through me during those moments. It was one of the most confusing mo-ments of my life. You would think that I would have decid-ed to go to Ateneo on the spot but no, my decision-making does not end here. I have been convincing myself to go to La Salle for the past year that I eventually learned to love it. It turned out to be a secure place for me, mainly because my cous-in was there so I knew I would never be lost and I could always ask for help. Ateneo, on the other hand, was new

The recent ablaze of the Ateneo – La Salle rivalry trig-gered memories of my tug-of-war with these two schools during my pre-college decision-making. Coming from the province, I lived with the words “Big four or you stay here.” I, being the ambitious per-son that I am, was completely against this. The ways of the province were limiting and very suffocating. It was not a place to grow into the person who you really are. So, I strived to get out of there but I didn’t believe in my-self completely, as did my parents and my teachers. They didn’t believe in my abilities and this didn’t make me any-more confident. My initial dream was to go to Ateneo, but with me questioning my own abilities, I started accepting the fact that it was quite impossible for me to get accept-ed. So, I settled for less; I settled for La Salle (not that I’m demeaning them or anything but like what Sir Badion said with connotations, “We’re Ateneo, and they’re La Salle” )1 and I heard that it was easier to get accepted there com-pared to Ateneo. I used my entire senior year convincing myself that I wanted to go to La Salle. I used this as a de-fense mechanism to avoid the pain of not getting into Ate-

AnimoThe Choice Between Blue Over Green

1Justin Joseph Badion (2013)2Justin Joseph Badion, “Handout 4:Prophetic Imagination –Liberation and Kenosis,” 6.

to me. It was somehow my kind of wilderness2; it was a risk for me and it was full of uncertainty. I didn’t believe in my own capabilities and I feared that I would fail in Ateneo. I didn’t know anyone there and coming from the province, the city life itself was new. I was scared and I wasn’t sure if I could survive living alone. In the time of confirmation, I went to both schools. I had to experience a little bit of both before I decided. We went to Ateneo first and the size was liber-ating, it was so big that it made me feel so small. We saw students who were studying in Gonzaga and it was all so intimidating. After that we traveled to Taft and the mere sight of the buildings screamed “opulent”. There was a different kind of prestige in their facilities. It was a flashy kind of beauty that was all up in your face. And because of that momentary admiration for the aesthet-ic presentation of La Salle I went to confirm (Yes, I’m that shallow) but there was a “maneuver of the cloud”3 incident that stopped me from going there. I found out that I had incomplete requirements—I only had a pho-tocopy of my High School report card when they want-ed the original one. I felt like there was this force stop-ping me from going there and somehow I knew that it

was God who did this separation.4 When I received my report card, I was to choose in whether to go to La Salle or to Ateneo and the deci-sion is quite obvious. I’m in Ateneo now, I’m still wan-dering in this wilderness and I’m looking for meaning. Despite choosing to go to Ateneo, I still longed for La Salle. Maybe I could say that we were both long-ing for each other like the way Egypt longed for the Is-raelites and how the Israelites longed for them as well.5 La Salle was longing for me like any other university would yearn for students but in another level. When I went to confirm in La Salle, I left my contacts because I said I would come back when my requirements were complete but I didn’t. Still, they continued to contact me. They were constantly sending me e-mails (until now). They send announcements and invitations to talks. In some ways, the longing was mutual especially during my freshman year. During the UAAP basketball games, I would watch more of their games live and sup-port them. I used to know every single player of their team and I had pictures with some of them—AVO, Jeron Teng and Thomas Torres to name a few. I also went to some of their events—I went to their centennial ending

4Ibid., 7. 5Ibid., 6. 6Justin Joseph Badion, “Handout 1: Theology – Vision, Philisophy and Imagination,” 1.

With Thomas Torres. With Jeron Teng.

With Arnold Van Opstal.

and I was able to convince my whole block to go to their school fair. This fling eventually died down and I started living my college life completely as an Atenean. The decision regarding choosing a school for college is such a turning point for the youth. For it is a “time of great self-discovery and self-concern”6 and what better way can you evaluate things other than looking up courses and schools that interest you. We are exposed to a variety of options that it becomes dif-ficult to filter what really is important and what is not. All these options are voices that tug us “in all sorts of directions. Some of them are voices from inside and some of them are voices from outside.”7 In my case, the voices mainly were coming from the inside. I doubted my capabilities, I wasn’t confident and I was scared—scared of failing, scared of being an outcast, and scared of disappointing people. These voices made me want to settle for something less. But it was a matter of listening to the right voice and when we are young “our hearing is in some ways better…” it is in our youth wherein we are “freer than most people to choose among all the voices and to answer the one that speaks most powerfully” to who we are and what we really want to do with our life.8 The advantage of not thinking about practicability and money make people see what they really want to do in life. Some of these voices direct us towards our vocation9. This vocation is a dream that God has planned for us. This vocation is the stars when our goal is the clouds. It’s something greater than you and me. It is a fusion of our “hopes, dreams, everything you desire to be, to become.”10 This is what will set us apart from anyone else. Our vocation is our own special place. People may be in the same place as you but our different mixtures of our hopes, dreams, intentions and so many more factors are what make us unique. This is our journey in this world, to “seek to find our vocation.”11 It is passion-driven and the very foundation of it is emotion because “authentic callings always begin with a stirring of the heart.”12 This passion is something we should not allow to die out because once this foundation collapses, everything built on top of it will fall as well. We have to know where came from to know where we are going. We need this certain initial emotion that pushes us or is the basis of what voices we will listen to and which to tone down. We might choose to follow the random voices that do not really trigger any emotion in us if we do not know what we want. And we might not reach the full extent of what is meant for us. “The world is full of people who seem to have listened to the wrong voice and are now engaged in life-work in which they find no pleasure or purpose … something which could not matter less to themselves or to anyone else.”13 No one deserves that; no one deserves to be less than whom he or she really is and what he or she is supposed to do. In this case, Ateneo was the dream. It was something more than my capabilities and myself. When I wanted to settle for less (La Salle), there were voices directing me otherwise. The voices didn’t want me to be on the ground shooting things that were above me with a bows and arrow. The voices wanted me to be an eagle soaring high.

7Frederick Buechner, “The Calling of Voices,” The Search, 27.8Ibid., 28-29.9Justin Joseph Badion, “Handout 4:Prophetic Imagination –Liberation and Kenosis,” 9.10Ibid., 9.11Ibid., 13.12 Ibid., 13.13Frederick Buechner, “The Calling of Voices,” The Search, 29.

La Salle will always have a special place in my heart.

only transform into weapon upon request or upon battle. They are taking the place of their parents, the Courageous Battlers, who are trapped in the See Through Zone and ha-ven’t been seen ever since. In this way the Bravest Warriors are like the salt of the earth3, as they are there to help the other creatures or aliens, they purify them of whatever problems they have as well. As salt of the earth, it is a task to purify and “the application of salt consecrates and makes holy (sets apart) whichever it is applied to.”4 But before truly becoming the salt of the earth as God intended us to be, like the in-cense, we must crushed before being applied to strength-en the smell.5 For the Bravest Warriors this suffering was to lose their parents. This is something that surely no one will want to experience but this suffering that they went through brought them to what they are doing now—help-ing people. Through this they are fully salt because “to be salt of the earth requires we be ‘crushed’ for the Lord, that whatever suffering we will incur because of our fidelity to

“Bravest Warriors”1 is an animated web series created in America by Pendleton Ward (also the creator of Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time) and is directed by Breehn Burns. The series is produced by Frederator Stu-dios and is only shown in their Youtube channel, Cartoon Hangover. The show is known for it’s cute graphics, pro-found punch lines and funny characters.2 “Bravest Warriors” revolves mainly around a group of four teenage heroes-for-hire in the year 3085. They help weird and cute creatures stuck in different sit-uations all around the universe through their “moop” and other emotions. Their main weapons come from the patch on the middle of their chest that when scratched, an an-imal appears—Chris (the leader of the team) has a little bee that turns into a sword, Beth (the female member) has a cat that turns to a cat’o’nine tails with cat heads, Wal-low (said to be the smartest) has a falcon that turns into an axe and a bazooka and Danny (the inventor) has a dog that turns into a sword or a battling gun. These animals

BRAVEST WARRIORS

FROM LOSS TO VOCATION

1Bravest Warriors. Directed by Pendleton Ward. New York: Frederator Studios, 2012.2Wikipedia, “Bravest Warriors.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bravest_Warriors3Justin Joseph Badion, “Handout 5: The Kingdom of God,” 3.4Ibid., 3.5Ibid., 3.

God, that suffering is made holy for the Lord.”6

Despite going through this major suffering and through all the obstacles they encounter as the face foes, they do not lose hope. They continue on their parents’ legacy to help others. This is what it means to be the light of the world7—to never lose hope and to never give up. The light inside of us must never burn out like the bush that was presented to Moses did not.8 With all the failures and pains we go through everyday, it is really hard to still be hopeful and positive in the end but Jesus himself reminds us, “that like the light in the Temple, we must never let the darkness overcome us.”9 As we continue to do these in our life, we are fulfilling what God meant us to be, “the salt of the earth and light of the world.”10 We are being lead and guided towards where we truly belong. And we are being lead to our vocation, to our rightful dwelling in this world. A vocation “is the work that he is called to in this, the thing that he is summoned to spend his life doing.”11

The Bravest Warriors chose this vocation12 because they know the universe need their help, as their par-ents were gone. It is through these choices wherein we are given freedom and true freedom lies in the choos-ing.13 Another calling we have in this world is to be altus Christi (another Christ) that is a call to be a fra-grant presence of God in the world.14 In Genesis, it is said that we are made in the image and likeness of God but not only through appearance but it is something in the futuristic that we have to attain. We are called to follow the footsteps of Christ through our rightful dwellings in this world. The Bravest Warriors chose a vocation wherein they know they are needed and a vo-cation that makes them happy. And in what better way can you be like Christ than to help those in need of it? Not only does the Bravest Warriors capture the essence of being the salt of the earth and light of the world but in the last episode of the first season, “Catbug”, Chris and Beth has a conversation that some-

how offers a definition of faith and revelation:15

Beth: But science tells us the universe goes forever. The space-time calliope contains in finite worlds and alien species. We all know it’s been proven but we still can’t comprehend it. Chris: I haven’t given up yet. Beth: Our brain just weren’t designed to un derstand the concept of forever. 16

In class, the given metaphor that was used to explain was a cake and the said foundation of it was revela-tion17 but we do not everything about it and we know that we don’t. But that is only the upper portion of the cake. There is still more layers that we have yet to find out. And we should be like Chris, willing to find out more and willing to understand. In this nature we re-spond to our relationship with God through revelation wherein he keeps the mystery of his identity and re-veals to portions of it time to time. Giving up is a rare term in the Bravest War-riors’ dictionary and that is a sign that the light inside of them is not burning out. They continue to strive though the situation is difficult. For example, Chris is Beth’s best friend. Everyone knows that he likes her but Beth somewhat fails to see that or denies to. But that doesn’t stop Chris in pursuing her in the way that he can and there he is patiently waiting. Another in-stance is in the last episode again wherein they receive gifts from their parents. To them it was a sign of hope that their parents are okay and everything will be all right. Though Beth didn’t receive any confirmation of her dad being alive whatsoever, she isn’t losing hope. She may not be happy about it but she still hopes and believes. In the case of the Bravest Warriors, they are heroes that live out the meaning of being salt of the earth and the light of the world and as heroes it is a staple attribute to not lose hope and this is what they are doing—spreading their fragrance to the world and

6Ibid., 3.7Ibid., 4.8Exodus 3: 1 - 15 9Justin Joseph Badion, “Handout 5: The Kingdom of God,” 4.10Ibid., 4.11Frederick Buechner, “The Calling of Voices,” The Search, 17. 12Ibid., 17.13Justin Joseph Badion, “Handout 6: Faith,” 3.14Justin Joseph Badion, “Handout 5: The Kingdom of God,” 4.15Ibid.16Bravest Warriors. Directed by Pendleton Ward. New York: Frederator Studios, 2012.17Justin Joseph Badion, “Handout 2: The Sources of Theology.”

PHOTO SOURCES

Forever Halloween Album Arthttp://www.altpress.com/news/entry/the_maine_announce_new_album_forever_hallow-een_out_june_4

Still from the Music Videohttp://youtu.be/QUvVJeC0FZU

Photo of The MaineDirk Mai

Game of Thrones photohttp://winteriscoming.net/2013/05/episode-26-the-climb-analysis/

Bravest Warriors photo http://mrkiwi101.deviantart.com/art/Bravest-Warriors-357398725

not letting the light die out.

just because