The spirit of Rizal challenges Filipinos today

(Part 2 of a series on The Ladies and Knights of Rizal)

Mankind’s search for excellence is linked to his acquisition of independence and enlightenment. In Rizal we find these ideas embodied to a certain extent in his person and principles. This is why Rizal is a hero.

Aristotle’s virtuous man

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Order of the Knights of Rizal in Bonn, Germany, Dr. Oscar Bulaong, a graduate of the Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany analyzed the heroisms of Rizal as follows:

The definition of a virtuous person, according to the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, is identical to the mesotes (mean/medium). He explains that the “right thing” to do is always that which is neither too little nor too much. For example, the brave act is always different in different situations, for the brave person deliberates all the risks, aspects, and important considerations in each situation, and thus is able to act appropriately. Sometimes, the brave person might act aggressively, other times he might concede, depending on the situation. This is not easy and not everyone can achieve this, for to seek the mean requires the development of excellent practical judgment.

“Virtue comes about as a result of habit,” said Aristotle. “The virtuous person, in this case, is in a state of being excellent.” He identified this settled state of character with authentic happiness. Note that happiness for Aristotle is not a feeling; instead it is a state of well-being and flourishing of the virtuous man.

JR transcends problems in worst circumstances

How is this insight relevant to Rizal? Dr. Bulaong believes that Rizal exhibits certain characteristics of Aristotle’s virtuous man. For example, immediately after establishing La Liga Filipina in 1892, Rizal was arrested and charged. His punishment was exile in a remote military outpost in the south of the Philippines (Dapitan). There he built a school, a hospital, and a water supply system. As a zoologist, botanist and archeologist, Rizal collected what was then the largest collection of seashells. He sent to Europe various species of birds, insects, snakes, and plants (four of which were rare species that were later named after him).

Despite being in exile, Rizal’s accomplishment in those few years are certainly extraordinary. This is surely one characteristic of the virtuous person – external circumstances, such as exile, does not affect one’s excellence and flourishing because of one’s state of character.

Another example was before his execution in Manila on December 1896, Rizal’s pulse was taken, which revealed that it was normal. Rizal portrays an image of someone with resolve and firmness. “May gulugod” (with backbone), some Filipinos may say in Tagalog. Rizal was not about to die a natural death, he was to be executed for accusations that we now believe were unjust. Yet, he remained unfazed and dignified. Leon Ma. Guerrero’s biography narrates Rizal’s request that he be shot in the front, when the order was that he should turn around and be shot in the back.

Immanuel Kant’s moral philosophy and Rizal

Immanuel Kant’s moral philosophy is consistent with Rizal’s ideals, namely, autonomy (versus heteronomy) and enlightenment (versus paternalism).

“Acting morally,” Immanuel Kant claims, “consists in being autonomous and not heteronymous.” The distinction lies in the source of the law by which one acts, whether it is self-imposed or other-imposed. Heteronomy may be depicted as a kind of moral childhood, for children cannot regulate themselves yet and therefore require their parents or guardians to make them act rightly. In contrast, to act autonomously means to have the ability to determine one’s self, according to principles and perhaps even a vision or mission that one has chosen for oneself.

Paternalism (from the Latin pater, ‘father’) is a kind of policy or political system that is based on patriarchy, where there is a figurehead that decides and rules on behalf of the rest of the group (the children, the population or the inferior race). The attitude behind paternalism stems from a belief that the rest of the group is immature, thus they require a benevolent authority figure that knows and will do what is best for them.

Compare this attitude with Kant’s challenge, “Sapere aude” (Dare to be wise!). Kant believes that human beings are not intrinsically immature because immaturity lies “not in lack of understanding but in lack of resolution and courage to use it without direction from another.”

During Rizal’s time

The issue of racial equality is today hardly disputed in intellectual circles. During Rizal’s time, however, the claim that “all races are essentially equal” was a highly debated topic among anthropologists, biologists, and philosophers. The readers of his novels, essays, and letters are familiar with his portrayal and denunciation of Spanish colonial rule. His insistence on the education of the native Indios, the representation of the Philippines in the Cortes Generales, and more so the recognition of the civil rights of the Filipino are all based on the belief that there are neither “essentially” superior nor “essentially” inferior races. In this belief stems the conviction that his fellow Filipinos had the capacity for autonomy and enlightenment.

An historian confirms this: “The postulates of Western liberalism and the European Enlightenment were expressed for the first time by an Asian, as a creed for an Asian nation… most important in Rizal’s tenets of liberalism was racial equality – specifically the innate equality of all peoples.”

(This is encompassed in UNESCO’s “inclusive education”. No one regardless of faith, race, social classes, should be deprived of learning. Children caught in conflicts of war, and the handicapped have the right to education.)

Rizal confirms consciousness with his own words: “Genius has no country, genius bursts forth everywhere; genius is like light and air, the patrimony of all, cosmopolitan like space, like life, like God.”

Rizal’s qualities as seen today

Atty. Beatriz Agudo Breuer responded to Mr. Bulaong’s lecture on Rizal’s characteristics, “Aristotle and Kant’s definition of virtues have similarity to the modern concept of what an effective person is in the view of the modern humanistic psychology (Example Carl R. Rogers and Stephen R. Covey), Aristotle’s virtuous man of 2,500 years ago is the ‘effective person’ of today.”

Stephen R. Covey, author of several books and numerous articles on leadership, personal effectiveness, family and interpersonal relationship has in one of his first books entitled, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” a guideline how to become an effective person and how to become like Jose Rizal, our national hero. Here are some traits which should be practiced regularly in order that they develop into effective habits.

First of all, one has to be “PROACTIVE”. Rizal’s accomplishments in spite of his exile exhibited this habit of being proactive. Being “proactive” says that you are the creator, the person in charge. Then, the fulfillment is the execution of one’s mental creation. Jose Rizal was well focused to his mission or so-called “right end”. It seems that he had a timetable in his mind when to do the “right act”. He did not let himself become influenced by the urgings of the Katipuneros who wanted to launch a physical revolt against the Spaniards. He said the Filipinos were not yet ready.

Secondly, one has to “BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND.” This means to start with a clear understanding of one’s destination. Rizal was focused on his love for the Philippines – independent of the Spanish rule was his mission statement and his works were consistently towards this end. Jose Rizal defined the right end (as Aristotle would put it) for himself. He possessed this habit of beginning with the end in mind.

Doing the extraordinary in the ordinary life

Sir Peter Plueckebaum, Deputy Regional Commander for Europe of the Knights of Rizal, states: “A lot of what Rizal had dreamed of has now come true for many people in the state. He was already a modern democrat when he advocated participation in the state and society with education. Today, education is no longer a privilege among the small elite, for everybody’s participation in all public matters has become a right and duty.”

One’s right to express him / herself in all matters is founded on compulsory education with the required quality standards.

In his famous article, “A Letter to the Women of Malolos”, Jose Rizal called out to the young Bulaqueña ladies who were demanding the rights of gender equity for education. He challenged them to face the adverse circumstances and continued to fight for changes; not to limit their roles as housewives but to continue fighting for what is right.

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