LESSON 9: Spiritual Self  evidence of this is the Manunungul Jar where

theremains of the dead were kept.

Religion is a cultural system of commonly  The memories of the dead are remained
sharedbeliefs and rituals that provide a sense of through carving their imageusing gold and
ultimate meaning bycreating an idea of reality stone. This is called:
that is sacred, all encompassing
andsupernatural.  “larawan” or “likha” in Tagalog
 “diwata” in Bisaya
 religion is a form of culture-shares all  “bul-ol” in Ifugao
characteristics of culture such as shared beliefs,
values that create anidentity  Early Filipinos practiced polytheism, a belief in
 religion involves beliefs that take the form of many gods, which was brought by the early
ritualizedpractices - all members engage in Chinese and Indian merchants. Some of their
behaviors that identifythem as members of the gods are:
community; and
 religion provides a sense of purpose feeling that  Bathala, (the Almighty God)
life isultimately meaningful.  Agni (god of fire)
 Religion came from the Latin word religio  Mandarangan (god of war)
means torespect or care for.  Sidapa (god of death)
 According to Santrock (2014), religion is an  Lalahon (god of harvest)
organizedset of beliefs, practices, rituals and  Siginarugan (god of hell)
symbols thatincreases an individual’sconnection These beliefs are passed orally to the next
to a sacred ortranscendent other (God, higher generation.
power, ultimate truth).
 Monotheism was introduced by Spaniards, a
 Philippines is the only Christian country in belief in onlyGod, which has three personas,
theSouth East Asia. Filipinos show their God the Father, God the Son,and God the Holy
religiositythrough participating on different Spirit.
religious practices such as baptism, fiestas,
“sinakulo,”prayer, fellowship, communion, and  According to the Holy Bible, they already
other activitiesrelated to church. existed before thecreation of the world.

 Before the Spanish colonization,  According to Daskeo (2012), many Filipinos still
Filipinosbelieved in animism, a belief that all spice their life with superstitious beliefs that
objects havespirits. They also believed in they strongly believe could help them cope with
supernatural being. day to day activities especially most important
events in life such as marriage, finding a job,
 According to McClenon (1991), the concept of and moving to a new house.
supernatural has been shaped by the Western
notion of nature and causality and it is culturally  These superstition beliefs are passed by the
specific. early ancestors orally and still practiced by
some of the Filipinos in recent times.
 They also praised the spirit of their
ancestors,which is called “cult of the dead.”  With the influence of Americans and science,
the numbers of Filipinos following superstitious
 They believed on the immortality of the soul. An beliefs were diminished.
 One of the influences of American colonization
is the introduction of science in the day to day
lives of Filipinos especially on health and  Function of Rituals:
sanitation.
 to enhance and maintain the balance
 Their influence taught the Filipinos that between man and
believing in superstitious beliefs may be  nature;
detrimental to health.  have a good harvest;
 ask for the guidance and protection
 Kaluluwa, Ikararuwa or kararuwa (duwa) which from their
means two. The soul has two parts – one is the  ancestors and unseen forces;
physical part, where it is connected to the body  to heal the sick;
and its life, and other spiritual, where it exists  to bring good luck; and
on its own.  to conceive.

 For Ibanags, the soul is the principle of life in  Religiousness is the degree by which one is
man. Body is the matter; soul is the form. As affiliate with an organized religion in terms of
long as the body and soul are one unit, man is the person’s participation in the prescribed
alive. rituals and practices, connection with its beliefs
and involvement with its community of
 The Dungan may leave the body voluntarily believers.
while the person is asleep according to
BIsayans. Among the ancient Filipinos, when the  Spirituality, on the other hand, involves
person is asleep they should not be awakened experiencing something beyond oneself in a
quickly in order to give ample time for the transcendent manner and living in a way that
Dungan to return to the body. benefits others and society. It could be related
to a search for the sacred.
 While the Dungan is travelling outside of the
body it should be free from accidents because  Spiritual Identity is the persistent sense of
there is a possibility that it might be trapped in self that addresses ultimate questions
a jar or be poured out with liquid from a vessel. aboutnthe nature, purpose and meaning
oflife.
 When the soul has safety returned home to the  The definition of a sense of spiritual identity
body of its owner, they could then be focuses on the individual construction of
awakened. arelationship to the sacred and ultimate
meaning.
 Rituals is a sequence of activities involving  The term “sacred” may signify aperson, an
gestures, words, actions, or revered objects. object, a principle, or aconcept that
Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a transcends the self.The sacred can include a
community, including a religious community. divine being or a divine object that is “set
apart” and considered as holy or beyond
 Dance and chants are a very essential part of ordinary.
their ritual.
 It represents the distillation of collective
memory, affect,
religious piety, humility, and purity of intention.
 Magic is the power apparently influencing the LESSON 10: POLITICAL SELF
course of events by using mysterious or
supernatural forces.  POLITICAL SELF
 Politics refers to the actions or activities
 Balang is the Filipino term for a sorcerer. It is concerned with achieving and using power in a
used to describe malignant sorcery or familiar nation or society.
spirits (usually a swarm of destructive insects,
specially carnivorous beetles).  It is also defined as the ways that power is
shared in an organization and the ways it is
 Mambabarang is a person who practices this affected by personal relationships between
specific type of sorcery or witchcraft. Binarang people who work together.
is the target (usually a person) of sorcery
orwitchcraft.  According to Aristotle: “Man is, by
nature, a political animal.”
 Kulam is the Tagalog word for “voodoo” or
“witchcraft”.  This is because man is a social being and
A mangkukulam is a person who uses black that people naturally drawn to
magic or spells on a victim. After the spell is variouspolitical involvements in order to
cast, the victim will experience a form of illness satisfy their social needs.
which cannot be cured by modern medicine, Politics as imbibed by man implies several
misfortunes to himself and loved ones, inability things:
to concentrate, lack of sleep, loss of appetite,
freak accidents, and other unexplained events. 1. Politics is concerned with power. Power
inequalities can be observed within societies.
 Albulario/mananambal is a Filipino practitioner The one who holds power holds influence.
of traditional medicine (a Filipino doctor); they
also a medicine man who is also capable of 2. Politics functions based on a particular social
performing sorcery. economic and cultural context. The nature of
politics and political systems is dependent on
 According to Frankl, everybody can discover the the culture of the state. Political claims made by
meaning in their life in three different ways: advocates are influenced by their geographical
location and ideology.
 By creating a work or doing a deed.
3. The political is also personal. One’s personal
 By experiencing something orencountering choices reflect his/her personal politics; both
someone areindistinguishable.

 By the attitude we take towardunavoidable 4. Politics goes hand in hand with the society.
suffering and that everything can be taken from Politics pervades the structure of society, and
a man but one thing: the last of the human thus influences inhabitants in their beliefs,
freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any ethics, and behavior.
given set of circumstances
ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP
 Active citizenship refers to the structured forms
of engagement with political processes and
everyday forms of participation in society.
 It is also defined as the process of sharing CHAPTER 12 A: LEARNING TO BE A BETTER
decisions which affect one’s life and the life of a STUDENT
community in which one lives.
 Learning is simply what the brain does.
 Participation is the fundamental right of  Learning is a physical process in which new
citizenship. knowledge is represented by new brain cell
connections.
 Active citizenship is anchored on one’s  Neuroscience research (neuroimaging and
cognitive and behavioral engagement to neuro-electric) observes how the brain
participate in formal and informal political responds during learning. o
activities.  These technologies provide visible
representations of the brain's response to
 Active citizenship is a practice of instructional practices,
democracy.  Brain is an enormous network of neurons.
 It “listens” for electrical and chemical
signals from other neurons and fires its own
 Active citizenship is a social construct.
signal, an action potential, when it receives
enough input from the neurons that
 The most important goal of active connect to it.
citizenship is to instill change and influence  The action potential gets “heard” by other
society at large. neurons and influences their firing as well.
Put together billions and billions of these
 Active citizenship is also associated with the neurons into a network; wire up some of
“sense of community.” the inputs to senses like vision, touch, and
hearing; wire up some of the outputs to
 Active citizenship can contribute to their social muscles... and you get an amazingly
development. complex system capable of thought,
learning, memory, and emotion.
 Active citizenship will enhance the efficacy and So how does learning happen?
competence of the younger generation.
 Through a network of neurons, sensory
 The participation of the youth in nation-building information is transmitted by synapses along
activities enhances their value orientation and the neural pathway and stored temporarily in
fosters integrity, compassion, and the sense of short-term memory─a volatile region of the
justice, which are crucial to the holistic brain that acts like a receiving center for the
development of a citizen of a nation. flood of sensory information we encounter in
our daily lives.
 The political self is a result of various personal
and environmental factors that impact the  Once processed in short-term memory, our
individual. brain’s neural pathways carry these memories
to the structural core, where they are compared
 “The man who standsup is greater than the with existing memories and stored in our long-
one who hasn't fallen” - Concepción Arenal term memory, the vast repository of everything
we have ever experienced in our lives.

 This process occurs in an instant, but it is not

always perfect.
 2. Procedural knowledge (task knowledge) it is
 In fact, as information races across billions the person’s awareness of one’s knowledge and
of neurons’ axons, which transmit signals to assessment whether a task is easy or difficult.
the next neuron via synapse, some 3. Strategy knowledge (conditional knowledge)
degradation is common. That’s why many is the person’s ability to use strategies to
of our memories are incomplete or include acquire information, learn new skills or
false portions that we make up to fill holes understand concepts. It also refers to one’s
in the real memory. ability to cope or adapt other strategies to
different situations.
 Researchers found that when two neurons
frequently interact, they form a bond that Metacognitive Study Skills and Strategies
allows them to transmit more easily and 1. Listening to your own thoughts by speaking
accurately. clearly.
2. Self-monitoring. Observing and evaluating
 When learning new things, memory and one’s behavior or performance on specific task.
recall are strengthened by frequency and 3. Reflection. Think deeply about what is being
recency. The more we practice and learned.
rehearse something new and the more 4. Awareness of rubrics. Identify basis for
recently we have practiced, the easier it is evaluation which aids in planning and decision
for our brain to transmit these experiences making.
efficiently and store them for ready access 5. Self-tests.
later. This process is called fluency. 6. Observing overt teacher demonstration and
modeling.
7. Comprehension. Knowing the meaning of the
text being read or concept being learned.
8. Rehearsing. Repeatedly doing a skill or
METACOGNITION acquiring information and adapting strategies
John H. Flavell (1979) to ensure better performance or retention.
Metacognition as “thinking about your own 9. Knowing one’s limits. Awareness of one’s
thinking.” mental and physical capacities for specific task.

Cognition means thinking MANAGING YOUR OWN LEARNING:

Meta means beyond SELF-REGULATED LEARNING
(so the phrase means beyond thinking.)
Self-Regulated Learning Model
Metacognition is a higher order thinking which - pioneered by Barry Zimmerman, self-
control the cognitive process involved in regulation is composed of three phases:
thelearning process. 1. Forethought.
The self-regulated student expects and
Metacognitive Knowledge It is a learner’s prepares for the approaching learning task.
awareness of one’s ability to understand and 2. Performance control.
learn concepts, and knowledge about one’s • The student organizes and performs the
learning strategies. procedures while learning.
1. Declarative knowledge (person knowledge) • This consists of self-talk and self-monitoring to
is the understanding of ones capacities. It is make the most of the learning opportunity.
one’s subjective assessment. 3. Self-reflection.
• The self-regulated student reflects at the end
of the learning task.
• The student matches the result of their Goal-setting theory refers to the effects of
performance to their objectives. setting goals on subsequent performance.

Phase 1: Forethought Edwin Locke found that individuals who set

• When is the best time for me to get the task specific, difficult goals performed better
done? than those who set general, easy goals.
• Where is the best place to complete the task?
• How will I start?

Phase 2: Performance Control

• Am I following the plan correctly?
• Am I focused or not?
• What strategies can I use to help me keep
working?

Phase 3: Self-Reflection
• Did I meet the goal?
• Which condition distracted me or helped me
succeed?
• Which strategies are most effective?

CHAPTER 12 B: GOAL SETTING FOR SUCCESS

A GOAL is the desired outcome anticipated by a

person or organization.

It may be a long term vision or a short term

outcome which can be achieved through careful
planning, execution and evaluation.

Locke (1969) said that working toward a goal is

also a major source of motivation and improves
performance and that clear goals and
appropriate feedback motivates a person.
Locke (2002) claimed that a person’s uppermost
moral goal is the attainment of one's own
happiness and even coined the phrase 'pursuit
of happiness’.

Short term goals

 Take anywhere from a few days to a
year complete
 Are less ambitious
 More specific, less flexible
Long term goals
 Take several years to achieve
 Are more ambitious
 Are more flexible