Other Experiences of an English Language Teacher

  What is a man, a woman? You are, I am what we do, what we think of, what we read, what we love. I am free so ultimately I am what I do.  And what I do in a repeated way constitutes a habit. And I can do good things, or otherwise evil things. I can build up virtues or otherwise vices. I can be an honest, hard-working, loving, attentive, generous, committed, friendly man, or otherwise all the contrary. Well, also I do good and bad things, as any person does.  You can find about this in old Aristotle, or in more modern Jutta Burggraf. A happy man or a happy woman are the ones that have virtues, that act in accordance with human dignity, and we are (let’s not forget it) sons and daughters of God.  And we can let God lead our boat, the one each person is. I can let God direct my life: I can count on him. Once someone told Saint John Paul II he was an atheist, and the Pope responded, You feel so bad when you don’t have God!  We can feel and be happy, that’s today’s ...

  Everybody knows that in modern urban life in our Western countries a lot of people go along life in a hectic and stressed out way – it seems we don’t have time for anything.  Where are we going to?  It also seems we don’t have time to muse, meditate, reflect, consider, contemplate life and beauty. To enroll in a spiritual retreat for a long weekend? No way, man, impossible. But, Are you sure you can’t attend one?  It seems we don’t have time to cultivate our interior, and how are we going along life? What are our life goals? We must break this up. No way, we can’t keep going like that.  Besides many people kind of they don’t like to face themselves. It’s like they don’t like their lives, the way they are living. Do you have a chance to stop to face yourself? Where are you going?  Also it looks like quite many people can’t stand silence. Music and music, and a crazy chattering. But let’s listen to silence. Let’s listen to ourselves. Let’s take off the head...

  So we have the premise that God exists. And that’s something rational, I mean, God is something you can reach through reason. At the same time it is not something evident – otherwise there would be no atheists nor agnostics. Thus God is not something evident, but nearly so for people who try to live with him by talking to and with him. God is not something, but someone.  Have you ever thought about what is there after this (short) life? I know you have, because everyone wonders about that.  Have you noticed human thirst for plenitude? For love? For unconditional love? Mountains of movies and novels tell about that love – who has not promised eternal love to the loved person? The world has plenty of Romeos and Juliets.  There must be something else after this life.  Man is free, we’ve stated. And responsible, at the same time and inseparably. And now think of all good that a person does in his or her lifetime. Or evil they may do. And when you are called to die...

  We may be living and dealing with our work and family and other stuff, okay. But man is the only animal that knows that he’s going to die. And he’s going to die indeed.  However, I don’t want to write about black omens. What I want to set clear is that when man dies, that is not the end of all. There must be a life after this one.  A few years ago some friends of mine died of Covid-19. And I believe they did not just end and that’s all. There must be something else. Moreover I couldn’t say good-bye to them. They must be somewhere else.  We Christians – and many other people – believe there are heaven and hell, well and purgatory. Even more, any man can believe that there’s a life after this one.  We have immense dreams, and desires that cannot be filled just with earthly stuff. We are, we live, we exist for much more. Injustice and justice have to be punished and awarded after this life. We cannot just perish and that’s the end. We are not just matter – we hav...

https://www.delibris.org/es/news/la-lectura-como-conquista-de-la-libertad  

  So we have agreed that on any person you can trace God, or you can find a trace of God on any person. We treat people, on a daily basis, we are not Robinson Crusoe lost in a desert island in the middle of the ocean, are we?  And those people are a mystery. I mean, man and woman are unreachable, not limited and confined to what we apprehend with our senses – each person is a treasure, even the disabled. And we teachers can confirm that statement on any regular day of classes.  You cannot reach all they mean. Their span in just immense. With no measure. And I believe that that is due to the spiritual part we humans have, and which we call soul. Well, also due to the body united with a soul.  A person may have thoughts which cannot be explained only if we are just bodies. There must be a spiritual part.  And that by considering that a person is unity – you can’t comprehend the body and the soul are separate: you know such and such persons, not their souls and the...

  Do you ever think of life sense or meaning? I mean, what are we here in this world for? I presume you do, you ask about that, for everyone does.  If you have a transcendent view of life, much better, and you’ll easily find that meaning, that Why are we here?  And we must consider God as our creator, and our father. And we have to behave well, for him and his glory, to please our father.  On every person you can think of finding a trace of God. Man and woman are a mystery ultimately. You cannot reach all they mean. Man and woman are unreachable ultimately. And furthermore if you consider their biographies. Man and woman are not just evolved animals. Something else. Much else.  To consider things that way may be helped by thinking. And reading good literature. Most classics are good literature. It’s what best writers have thought of. An example? The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni. Also reading good essays. If you’re a teacher I recommend Carlos Cardona’s Ética...