Parminedes a Greek philosopher once said in his philosophy that, “All things are seemingly changing.” He is trying to prove that all things are just seemingly changing because what is “is”. He believes that things remain as what they are and the only thing that is changing is no other than ourselves- we, human beings as subjects- in the way we perceive things not in the things as they are.
We, human beings are aware that our experiences serve as our gateways to the wider world that surrounds us. They enable us to link with others. They make also us conscious about the presence and the being of things around us so that we can have the true grasp of what we called world. The important thing about our experiences is that, they are lifting us up out from our narrow perspective by showing us new horizon of ideas which is wider. If we are going to put it in our human estate, our maturity can’t only be depicted on our age, but by the number of experiences we have gained and treasured within ourselves. Age increases every year but experience can increase every seconds. Generally, our experience gives us the knowledge of everything around us that somehow gives the view of what really life is and makes us understand who we really are and the world around us.
I would like to use my experience of the world (world outside the seminary) before I entered the seminary and my view of it after having 4 years of formation inside the seminary as my example regarding on what Parminedes’ philosophy. When I was still living my life outside the seminary, the picture of the world for me is: the government is full of corruption, there were an increasing number of abortions, and young people are getting married earlier. This was the picture of the world for me before I entered the seminary. But even until now that I’m already in my 4 years of my formation inside the seminary, the world outside it just the same, there is still corruption in the government, increasing cases of abortion, and many teenagers are getting married earlier. But why is it that there is an unusual feeling within me that triggers my person about the realities of the society right now? It is a feeling that I didn’t have or experience before. Eventhough I witnessed also the same happenings in the society. It is simply because of my experiences inside the seminary, which molded me and taught to become more understanding in every situation happening in the society. My seminary formation taught me about the facts of life and how to handle them so that it won’t be hard for me. My seminary formation helped me to understand that corruption is bad. For it promotes selfishness, greed, stealing and violence. My seminary formation taught me that abortion is a crime. For it kills the unborn in the womb of a mother. My seminary formation taught me that early marriage could only make teenagers to suffer because of the unpreparedness of the teenage couple. The world now outside the seminary is still the same. Having those issues I mentioned, it is still the world I left 4 years from now when I entered the seminary. It is still the same. The only thing that changed was my perspective of it, because of my experience in the way I perceive things now. It is because of our experiences why we see things in different views.
This is what Prminedes is trying to point out about his idea of “things are just seemingly changing”. That things as themselves don’t change. But it is we, who are subjects of these things are changing for them, not them for us. That’s why in aiming to change the world, we shouldn’t wait for the world to change for us, but we should start it within ourselves, because we are the change.
We, human beings are aware that our experiences serve as our gateways to the wider world that surrounds us. They enable us to link with others. They make also us conscious about the presence and the being of things around us so that we can have the true grasp of what we called world. The important thing about our experiences is that, they are lifting us up out from our narrow perspective by showing us new horizon of ideas which is wider. If we are going to put it in our human estate, our maturity can’t only be depicted on our age, but by the number of experiences we have gained and treasured within ourselves. Age increases every year but experience can increase every seconds. Generally, our experience gives us the knowledge of everything around us that somehow gives the view of what really life is and makes us understand who we really are and the world around us.
I would like to use my experience of the world (world outside the seminary) before I entered the seminary and my view of it after having 4 years of formation inside the seminary as my example regarding on what Parminedes’ philosophy. When I was still living my life outside the seminary, the picture of the world for me is: the government is full of corruption, there were an increasing number of abortions, and young people are getting married earlier. This was the picture of the world for me before I entered the seminary. But even until now that I’m already in my 4 years of my formation inside the seminary, the world outside it just the same, there is still corruption in the government, increasing cases of abortion, and many teenagers are getting married earlier. But why is it that there is an unusual feeling within me that triggers my person about the realities of the society right now? It is a feeling that I didn’t have or experience before. Eventhough I witnessed also the same happenings in the society. It is simply because of my experiences inside the seminary, which molded me and taught to become more understanding in every situation happening in the society. My seminary formation taught me about the facts of life and how to handle them so that it won’t be hard for me. My seminary formation helped me to understand that corruption is bad. For it promotes selfishness, greed, stealing and violence. My seminary formation taught me that abortion is a crime. For it kills the unborn in the womb of a mother. My seminary formation taught me that early marriage could only make teenagers to suffer because of the unpreparedness of the teenage couple. The world now outside the seminary is still the same. Having those issues I mentioned, it is still the world I left 4 years from now when I entered the seminary. It is still the same. The only thing that changed was my perspective of it, because of my experience in the way I perceive things now. It is because of our experiences why we see things in different views.
This is what Prminedes is trying to point out about his idea of “things are just seemingly changing”. That things as themselves don’t change. But it is we, who are subjects of these things are changing for them, not them for us. That’s why in aiming to change the world, we shouldn’t wait for the world to change for us, but we should start it within ourselves, because we are the change.
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