beauty
Danielle
Plato as quoted by Fr. Brendan Purcell

That which makes human beings human in terms of a love that deepens through the three stages of what is called the love of outer, inner and everlasting beauty.


a) love of outer beauty:
"First, he will fall in love with the beauty of the individual body, so that his passion may give rise to noble discourse. Next, he will see that if he is to devote himself to loveliness of form, it will be absurd to deny that the beauty of each and every body is the same... he must be the lover of every lovely body"

b) love of inner beauty
"Next, he must grasp that the beauties of the body are as nothing to the beauties of the soul, so that wherever he meets with spiritual loveliness, even in the husk of an unlovely body, he will find it beautiful enough to fall in love with, and to cherish -  and beautiful enough to quicken in his heart a longing for such discourse as tends towards the building of a noble nature. And from this he will be led to contemplate the beauty of laws and institutions"

c) love of everlasting beauty
"And now, Socrates, there bursts upon him that wondrous vision which is the very soul of the beauty he has toiled so long for. It is an everlasting loveliness which neither comes nor goes which neither flowers nor fades... Nor will his vision of the beautiful take the form of a face... or of anything of the flesh. It will neither be words, nor knowledge, nor a something which exists in something else... but subsisting of itself and by itself in an eternal oneness, while every lovely thing partakes of it... starting from individual beauties, the quest for the universal beauty must find him ever mounting the heavenly ladder... until at last he comes to know what beauty is."


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Turning 25 and womanhood
Danielle


Never in my entire life, did I imagine that I turning 25 would be monumental. I mean, in some ways unconsciously I think I dreaded turning 25. There is something about turning quarter a century old that sets the benchmark, a certain expectation of how one should be. I suppose, I felt that in the eye of the society, I am not very accomplished. At quarter a century old, neither am I working, nor I am I in a long-term romantic relationship or working towards marriage. I have accomplished none of these. At quarter a century old, I am still studying, away from home, I am not dating anyone, or on my way to dating or being in a relationship. In the eye of the society, and in my own eyes, turning 25 was absolutely meaningless. There isn’t really anything to celebrate, I thought. No accomplishments to reflect on, no milestones. Just me. Plain me, turning 25.

I hadn’t seen it coming, this huge life changing learning that was about to take place just a week before my turning 25, over a 40 minutes conversation.

As I was growing up, I understood what feminineness was about and it came to me quite naturally. When I was in my teens, in order to fit in, I avoided expressing my feminine side, because all my close girlfriends at that age were not as feminine. However, as I grew, I realised that being feminine was something that was already wired in my body and personality. It was something that came naturally, and I learned to be comfortable with my own femininity.

What seemed to have escaped my thought process was how feminineness was different from womanhood. I was comfortable expressing feminineness but not womanhood. Womanhood is the very design of a woman, her body complemented by her gentle spirit and caring mind. To a certain extent, I understood womanhood, but I didn’t realise how inhibited I was in expressing my own womanhood due to scepticisms and scars. Growing up in a male-dominated society, where woman are often treated as second class citizens, and objectified as one pleased with no sense of guilt, I was always extra cautious with the way I carried myself, cautious with my sense of dressing, cautious in my body language with my guy friends, cautious about the topic of conversation with my guy friends. In short, I had an obsessive compulsive disorder when it came to my relationship with men, because I didn’t want to give them any chance of objectifying or looking down on me. In short, my effort of avoiding being objectified led to the suppression of the innate expression of my very womanhood.



You see, for some odd reason (perhaps it wasn’t all that odd), I thought that women are objectified because of their womanhood. The more one expressed their womanhood, in their body, mind and spirit, the more prone they were to being objectified. I wish I understood earlier that women are objectified not because they express their womanhood, but simply because they are women.

If it wasn’t for that open, honest conversation that took place, I would have never come to realise that all these while, I have suppressed my womanhood, in my effort of preventing myself from being objectified. I was never comfortable with the idea of being a woman (expressing my womanhood), because I understood deep down, that being a woman, meant that I had the great risk of being objectified, just for being me.

Sorry boys, I don’t mean to be biased. I do agree there are men out there who have learned the art of continence and exercise respect for women by not objectifying them, but I grew watching many men who do not view objectification of women as something wrong.

So, I grew up being a woman who was comfortable in expressing her feminineness (which is not the trait that makes a woman objectifiable) but never her womanhood.

It was just a few days before turning 25, that it dawned upon me, that the Lord created and designed me to be a woman, in every sense of the word. It was His plan for me from the beginning. He put in deliberate care and detail in His formation of me, as a person, and especially a woman, so that I can learn to be a woman, the Lord designed me to be. All those years studying theology of the body, relationship between man and woman according to the Lord’s design, the gift of sexuality, sexual desires, marriage, all these things that have always fascinated me and inspired me, the Lord revealed them to prepare me for this moment, when He could teach me to simply be the woman He had designed me to be, and to be comfortable doing it.

At the brink of turning 25, He taught me the essence of womanhood, and called me to embrace it.  He taught me the art of being a woman, and now He calls me to live it out with courage in every sense of the word. He called me out of my fear of objectification, into a space of trust, faith and hope.

For the first time in 25 years, I understand my calling to be a woman, and I embrace it as the Lord designed it. For the first time in 25 years, I am comfortable being a woman, and expressing my womanhood. For the first time in 25 years, I feel more like myself than I have ever been. For the first time in 25 years, I am truly a woman, in every graspable form I can be, and for this moment, I can only respond with silent awe and adoration of the Creator, who created me, blessed me, designed me, inspired me, moulded me and brought me here in the first place.

A woman I am, a woman I shall be.

In my opinion, the very epitome of womanhood
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Miracle of the year for me
Danielle
A miracle indeed. An overwhelming miracle, that resulted from humanity praying in unison for something as simple as the return of an abducted child. 

Today, I tear for a good reason. Something I never thought would happen, even as I lifted it up in prayer. He has returned. Nayati has returned home, by divine intervention without a doubt.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you. For loving us, for listening to us, even as we doubt You and fail You.
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Hubert, Nayati, you and me
Danielle

I have forged a wonderful friendship with a French here in Sydney. He has become a very dear friend, with whom I can share my thoughts and opinions on diverse topics with blatant honesty, even if we may disagree on several of those issues. He recently had a knee surgery for a torn ligament, and I tried to visit him as much as I could as he laid immobilised at home, recuperating.

When I visited him last Friday, he asked how my week was and to be completely honest, I couldn’t quite answer him as honestly as I would have wanted to. My week wasn’t great, especially that Friday. I read the news about the kidnapping of a 12-year-old boy, Nayati on his way to school. It was spreading all over Facebook, that I initially dismissed it as SPAM. As more reliable sources started posting up the same news on their FB profile, I decided to read up more and see if there was any news in media on it. And shockingly and depressingly there was. A 12-year-old was indeed kidnapped on his way to school. He looked like a bright young child, with a wonderful future ahead of him, and he was snatched away from his life. To date, no news has been heard on his whereabouts although investigations are ongoing.


How does this concern me and why do I need to talk about it? How can I not? It appals me to even think of what the kidnappers intend to do to this young child? I can only imagine the horror of helplessness the parents are experiencing at the loss of their child. I am sure they would have deployed every means possible to attempt to find their son, but I do not know if any of these means will be of any use. Every year, hundreds of children are reported missing. Parents try to do all they can to find their child back but almost always with little result. Children are going missing! They are being kidnapped! These kidnappings may be related to some kind of children prostitution or slavery. I do not know. What is happening to these children? The rate of heinous rape and murder cases are increasing alarmingly. We are becoming more and more desensitised to these news. With time, they are evoking lesser anguish and grief in us. It is slowly becoming more of a sensational news, that we observe from outside, either judging the involved parties, or feeling a brief sense of ‘sorryness’.

What leads anyone to become so deprived of goodness, that kidnappings, rapes, murders and prostitutions has become a liable business and an acceptable act? Do you not wonder, what leads human beings to become so violent, and inhumane to a fellow human being?

I wondered. I really did.

Richard Dawkins, the popular author of ‘The God Delusion’ said in his debate with Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, Australia that the ‘why’ question is irrelevant and futile. He proposed that only the ‘what’ question is of use.

How more mislead can one be?

Some of the questions that probes the human heart as he reaches maturity and reason are “Why am I here?”, “Why do I exist?”. From these questions, then flowed some ‘what’ questions such as “What am I doing here?”, “What should I be doing?” “What can I do with my life?”. Aren’t these the questions that drive the human journey of seeking identity.

What happens when a human person finds no relevance to the ‘why’ questions? One fails to understand his origin, his humanity, and all the other values that come with it. One fails to understand his very being and thus is strongly predisposed to act in a manner contradictory to his humanity. Is that not what is happening to our human family today? We no longer know who we are. It is almost as if we have forgotten that we are human beings, belonging to a universal human family, under the guidance of the beautiful One God.

What happens when we want to define ourselves or in the concept of Dawkins, nothing, as the truth and origin of our very being? Finiteness. That’s what we become. An unsustainable system of human economics, that falls apart with time.

Humanity is falling apart right before our eyes and it seems almost as if, we’re watching it happen with a swell of ignorance and arrogance.

And some still wonder why I believe in God, and that humanity came from God, and not from nothing.


So, the answer to Hubert’s question is, I am not ok. Very not ok.


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with my head bowed down...
Danielle
The princess awaits the prince. In humility, hope, gentleness and obedience, her head is bowed down in reverence to the One who guards her. Before her, stands the One, the Mighty, One who holds authority, One of Truth, Way and Life, One who is Love himself. He stands before her, guarding her heart, her soul, her body, so that only one who is truly worthy may enter and claim her. Only one who is courageous, righteous and gracious to ask for her hand from her heavenly Father, may acquire the key to her heart and claim her love. Until then, the princess awaits with patience and hope, with her head bowed down.

Such is my story. I am no earthly princess, but I am my Father's daughter, and therefore I am a princess. And so are you.

If all men realised that women are God's most prized creation, perhaps they will be more conscious to treat her with respect and love according to her dignity. If all women realised that they are God's most prized creation, perhaps they will guard their gifts more resiliently against unworthy, insincere suitors.
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Danielle
"i am an independent girl. The only time i like being dependent is when I am with you."

super darn cute quote.
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The thing about Truth
Danielle

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend an “Animal Research Ethics” 2-day course. Basically, this course is aimed at educating students/researchers that will be working with animals, on the ethical manner of handling animals in research. It calls on researchers to reduce, replace, refine the use of animals in research wherever possible. During this course, we also had people from the animal rights’ group (animal rights’ advocates believe that animals deserve equal consideration of their interests as that of humans and hence, they object the use of animals ALTOGETHER for any purpose for which humans will not be considered. Basically, what they are saying is that, if you would not use humans for that purpose, then you shall not use animals either). The representative from an animal rights’ group called Animal Liberation, presented what seemed like a deep philosophical and anthropological view on the matter of animal rights’. It was during this presentation that I was introduced to the term ‘speciesism’.

Speciesism is the pillar that holds the argument of the animal rights’ groups. Speciesism is an act of discriminating a living form based on its species. The representative used racism and sexism as a parallel example to help the audience better grasp this concept of speciesism. From the perspective of the animal rights’ activist, just like racism and sexism, discrimination against an organism based on its species is wrong. They argued, who rendered humans the rights to view animals as inferior beings that can be USED for research in ways which humans wouldn’t be used? Apparently, this is speciesism, discriminating against animals as they are viewed as the inferior organism. At first glance, it seemed almost noble. I mean, wow, here is a group that has picked up the discriminatory act of humans against animals. They proposed that the act of speciesism has become so naturalised (ingrained in the society over centuries, that it has become a natural habit), as was racism and sexism at some point in time, that people have yet to see why it’s wrong.

When I first heard this, I thought to myself, “Oh my, could this be true? Have I been practising an unjust discrimination all these years but just never saw it?” But the more thought I gave it, the more I realised how intangible this concept was. If speciesism was a concept rooted in truth, it will first and foremost, be applicable (i.e you can actually practise not being a speciest) and secondly, you should be able to apply it without conditions. For example, you can’t stand against racism but say that it cannot be applied to all races, that to some races, racism would still have to apply. That would be absurd, wouldn’t it? It’s like saying, ‘Hey, racism is discriminatory! It is wrong! We should not do it….. Except if it is against (let’s just say for argument’s sake) Indians, then you can practise racism’. You see that is the problem with speciesism. To truly stand against speciesism, means to not discriminate any living thing based on its species. After all, the argument WAS who are we to determine humans are the superior being. But to truly practise non-speciesism, one would have to stop eating, because we wouldn’t eat human meat, now would we? So, what gave humans the rights to feed on animal and plants? Who decided that these organisms are the ‘inferior’ being that we can feed on? Isn’t it discriminatory to not eat human meat, and value human life and yet to not value animals’ and plants’ life with equal consideration?

I am sure, many are going, ‘But that’s a different thing!’. How so? For speciesism to be a truly tangible argument, one should be able to apply non-speciesism effectively but as you can see, practising non-speciesism DIRECTLY means non-survival. I guess one can, out of his ‘nobility’ of being ‘non-discriminatory’ choose to die than to feed on plants and animals. Hmm, yeah right?

You see the confusion we end up with. Our sense of justice and righteousness must lead humanity to its fullest potential and purpose. If our sense of justice and righteousness leads to death instead of elevating humanity, then there is something very distorted about that sense of justice and righteousness.

You see what happens when we take God out of the picture and choose ourselves as the absolute determinant of path of truth, justice and righteousness? It truly becomes a chaos, a confusion. Instead of Truth that clarifies, we end with truth that sends us on a spiral of confusion.

When you put God into the picture, it’s almost like how a person with short-sightedness found his/her pair of spectacles. Everything becomes clearer. With God in the picture, we know that humans were created in the likeness and image of God himself. We were given His nature. Our inquisitiveness, intelligence, desire for Love and Truth, our fulfilment as a community, our Reason, our able to execute Will, all these goods things point to the likeness of God, imparted to us by His grace. Humans were given dominion over the creatures of the earth. Do you realise how even this points our being created in the likeness of God? Humans were given dominion over the creatures of the earth as God has dominion over all things on heaven and earth. We were entrusted to lead and treat the creatures of earth with utmost care, compassion and justice while enabling them to achieve their fullest potential and use but these cannot mean that the creatures of the earth will attain equality with humanity which rules over them. The very same way, God is God, who leads and treats us humans with utmost care, compassion and justice while always guiding us to achieve our fullest potential as His ultimate creation but these cannot mean that we will attain equality with God, that we shall become God ourselves. This cannot mean, that now, we shall decide what the order of creatures shall be, we shall decide (devoid of God’s Truth) what wrong and right is, that we shall be the ‘Lords’ and no God shall govern us, that no God shall impose His Truth or Justice on us. That is what idolatry really is.

I see how messed up we become when we take God out of the equation. I see how human wisdom without divine guidance leads to a dead end, to death ultimately. But despite all this, I cannot make you believe in God. I cannot convince you how incomplete, misguided and lost we become when we kick God out of the picture. I can only pray that you will be open to see these things, and that when you do, I pray that you will find the courage and humility to admit that there is indeed a God. And not a God, who Lord it over us, taking us against our will, against our happiness but a Lord who fulfils us, a Lord who gives of Himself so completely, so that we may one day find ourselves. A Lord who lives, a Lord who is patient in waiting for His child to return to Him, a Lord who will never give up us, even when all around us do.

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