The Unity of Opposites

My eyes feasted on the explosion of colors and the sheer symmetry of human forms paying homage to the majesty of nature. Truly, the Beijing Olympics is the most beautiful of all the past Olympics games opening of all time.

What made it extremely beautiful and distinctly the most memorable, is its message–all of humanity are one. And China is the truest living testament of that unity.

For thousands of years, China was a fragmented country composed of differing tribes and kingdoms. It was only when the Chin dynasty in 221 BC subjugated its last adversarial state that China was formed. What we see as China today is the result of centuries of state evolution. That process involved civil wars, revolutions and subjugations in the name of Unity.

Now, China is one of the world’s emerging economic powerhouses. It is poised to assume its destiny–that of being the anti-thesis of America. China is on its way of realizing its dream of being the “center of the earth”.

And China knows that that dream is just an arm’s length away. Its foremost adversary, the United States, is facing economic stagnation. Its paradigm of subjugation is also wasting away. China also realized that it is not the use of "isms" that world dominion can be achieved. It is the spread of Chinese culture that enables them to conquer the world stage.

China is telling us that unity can be achieved without bloodshed. That tolerance of one’s culture is the way to go. And that unity can be achieved with harmony with nature, as what the Tai Chi symbolizes. The Unity of Opposites can be the harmony that we want to achieve.

And China is celebrating because it is leading a global cultural revolution. That opening salvo is their Baccalian way of celebrating their triumph in the world stage. They are in the midst of conquering the world with harmony, not of war.

Well, tell that to the Tibetans.

Vatican influence over CBCP and the China question

It was revealing to me what Jun Lozada told reporters about his conversation with a priest who's a member of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines. He said that the reason why the CBCP refuses to issue a firmer political condemnation of the Arroyo administration is the perception that this could be used by other countries in the region to "oppress" or "delimit" the works of evangelization by Catholic churches in those countries.

I immediately remembered the news which says that China is now locked into a veritable cold war with the Vatican. China has its own self-appointed Church head in their country, much like what they did in Tibet where they appointed their own Dalai Lama while allowing the real Dalai Lama to go on exile. Did the Vatican influenced the CBCP not to "rock the boat", so to speak, in deference to what's happening in China?

Some quarters are speculating that this could be the real reason why the CBCP refuses to condemn the Arroyo administration. Of course, we can't discount the possibility that some bishops were given some favours. However, I am sure that this is the real reason why our church leaders are not issuing a stronger statement.

There are indications, I believe, that the CBCP will issue such a statement. The Church has said that if Malacanang still refused to revoke EO 464, then, they will definitely call for a resignation.