Solitary Soul

KEEPING ABREAST WITH THE TIMES Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB           It is quite common to see that when there is stagnant water, it begins to smell and mosquitoes lay their eggs in it. The water gets polluted. Likewise, if our education had to remain the same as it was during the Greek times, what would our world be like? But quite the contrary, things have changed drastically and so has the education system. Yet the point that I want to make is that in order to be an effective educator, it is important to keep abreast with the signs of the times.             One could raise the question as to why is it important to keep in sync with the times? We need to since unless we get into the “shoes” of a student, we will not be able to properly give the right dose of education that is apt for one’s intelligence. Surely, nobody would feed rice and curry to a small baby for the mere fact that such foo...

THINKING Vs DOING Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB           For all of us who have studied philosophy we surely would have at some point of time come across the statement made by Heraclitus, “No one can cross the same river twice” and perhaps   this is reflected in so many of life’s situations. In the field of education, we see that there has been a transition of ideas and consequently, we have different forms of education.             However, amidst the diversity that one finds in the different forms of education, the common element that one could pin-point is that no matter what the education system maybe, ultimately there has to be a teacher and a student. Without these two elements, education will not be possible. Ofcourse, there has been a vast shift from one idea of education to another. In the past, the education system would regard the student as a “tabula-rasa” and the teacher as ...

WORKING UNDER PRESSURE Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB             Today, we have many courses and therapies which deal with how to cope with the pressures and tensions of life. Yet though it may sound a bit ironic, history shows us that people who have lived under the pressures of life bloomed into wonderful personalities.             In this light, I was struck by an insight which was written by John Wijngaards in one of his books called, “How to make sense of God” , “Eight million years ago our ancestors, the apes lived in Africa. Geological upheavals caused the continent to split into two halves: the western half retained lush, tropical forests while the eastern half turned dry and semi-desert. What was the result? The apes in the western part continued in their fixed life style. Today’s chimpanzees in Rwanda and Zaire are their direct descendants. But the apes in the arid savannahs ...

Openness: An important prerequisite to good education Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB             The Roman education consisted of the liberal arts which were basically about rhetoric, literature, philosophy, logic, oratory and arithmetic. At that time, they were not so worried about its particulars as we see in the case of the present day sciences such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology and so on. They were concerned about bigger things like “What is life?” “What is the cause of the universe?” and so on. However, with the advent of Christianity, Roman education was slowly wiped away. Infact, Christianity regarded Roman education as pagan and evil. Nevertheless, they still made use of pagan philosophy and fitted it within Christian boundaries. For quite some time, this carried on until the dawn of the Renaissance. With the onslaught of the Renaissance, the particulars were given more importance and the universals were left out. ...

Education and life Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB                         A lot of our education has been based on Greek philosophy and a lot of our Christian teachings have also been taken from the Greek philosophers. We see this in the case of Augustine and Aquinas who have based their philosophies on Plato and Aristotle respectively, beside all other Christian thinkers. What strikes me from Greek education is the fact that whatever was connected to life was considered as education. Infact education was about learning how to cope with life. Sadly, today things are different. True, there is no doubt that education has taught us how to cope with life, but it is about how to make more money. The postmodern human being seeks in terms of results and perhaps that is the reason why today we fail to see the bigger picture. We are caught up with small things. This could also explain why in th...

Finding meaning in education  By Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB              History helps us understand the present. Yet the question that comes up is how does one judge whether which history is true or not? There is no clear-cut answer though we can make an attempt to come to an authentic understanding of whether history is true or not.             In the first place, we should keep in mind that no history is absolutely true. A historian is like a lawyer who uses facts to strengthen his or her standpoint. Hence, in this sense, we can say that a historical account is true when he or she is giving a perspective supported or substantiated by facts. Thus, the more facts, the better. By and large, historians do not wilfully distort historical facts though it could also happen. Nevertheless, the problem lies in the fact that in as much as a person is interpreting history, he or she is interpreting it...

JESUS, THE BREAD OF LIFE -          Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB             St. John, in his Gospel explains the incident of the multiplication of the 5 loaves and 2 fish in Chapter 6. Apparently, many people who came to hear Jesus thought he was crazy since they thought he was promoting cannibalism . But it was far from it. Unlike the time when the Israelites were fed up with manna in the desert, which was to satisfy their hunger, the Body and Blood of Christ had a deeper meaning. It meant listening and keeping His word. True, indeed, there is no doubt that we do receive the Holy Eucharist at Holy Communion. But this would be futile if we did not live our lives in accordance with what Jesus taught us, just as it is written in the first letter of St. John that whoever hears the Word of God and does not keep it in his or her heart, then, he or she is a liar. This is clear from what Jesus said to th...

HISTORY AND EDUCATION -          Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB           History, as we all know is a study of the events that happened in the past. It is an important aspect of reality since it helps us understand our past and it brings to mind the knowledge about where we came from and where we are going. In terms of development, it helps us to look at what were the “drawbacks” that were there in the past and it helps us to form a better future. Besides this, it also helps us to know the person in his or her historical context and we can cite many examples in this regard like medical history, psychological history and so on.           Today, we live in a fast-paced world and due to this phenomenon, a lot of the past has been forgotten, not due to the lack of information but due to the indifference shown towards history. It seems as though people don’t believe that...

FAITH AS SMALL AS A MUSTARD SEED -          Cl. Mario D’Couto sdb             I would like to share a short reflection on the lady suffering from bleeding who touched Jesus’ cloak as recorded in the Gospel of St. Luke (8:46). For me this is a short yet a very powerful incident. This lady in the Gospel symbolizes all of us. We must note that when she touched the cloak of Jesus, there was a huge crowd surrounding Jesus. Perhaps, there were other people who also wanted something from Jesus though they were not able to get close to Him due to he overwhelming crowd. Yet, in the midst of this, the lady grabbed the courage and thought to herself, “If only I touched His cloak, I will be alright” (Mtt 9:21; Mk 5:28). Hence, she made her way through the crowd and touched the cloak of Jesus. At that instant, she became alright. The Gospels make it clear that Jesus was aware that someone touched Him bec...

UNIVERSE VS PLURIVERSE? – The philosophy of Richard Rorty By Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB             The reality in which we live in is vast and hence instead of calling it a universe, it should be called a pluriverse. Rorty is an example of pluriverse. This is very much contrary to the medievalistic thought that truth is an adequation of reality. This was a very strong doctrine of that time. But with the advent of the Renaissance, people like Descartes and Kant took the medievalistic doctrine a step forward.  For instance, Descartes’ “Problem of the Bridge” was very much connected with this. Just to explain briefly, the basic point of Descartes’ “Problem of the Bridge” was about certainty. Like for example, how do I know or how can I be sure that what I am seeing or doing is real? This was what led Descartes to form his famous “Cartesian dualism” which is popularised in the phrase, “Cogito ergo sum” (I think therefore I am). He came...