My Personal Philosophy

CABALLESISM: A Personal Philosophy

“There are no hopeless cases, only hopeless people.

There are no sins that are not forgiven, only sins we refuse to ask forgiveness.

There are no wrongs that can’t be made right, only wrongs we refuse to admit.

There are no sorrows on earth that heaven cannot heal.”

I. DEFINITION:

Caballesism is a Philosophical movement established in the 21^st century. This philosophy emphasizes on the importance of problems or obstacles to human existence. It asserts that life without problems is meaningless, and a person without problems is as good as dead. This is because Caballesism believes that problems should serve as an impetus or driving force for humans to act, to strive and to seek for refuge in the loving arms of the Almighty Father. According to this Philosophy, the main feature of non-being is not Death but rather “Insanity.” Once a person loses his sanity, he will also definitely lose the concept of problems, making him a person with no sense of passion, motivation and destination. Caballesism also points out that problems are essential since they serve as an effective antidote for boredom, making people preoccupied to find solutions instead of doing nothing at all. In some instances, other people might be very pessimists or negative thinkers to view problems as reasons for them to end their lives or to commit suicide. This case can also be considered as a form of non-being. Caballesism highlights that a person who commits suicide, because of a certain problem he is facing, is like having “Self-denial.” He denies himself of his potentials and skills given by God to know how to resolve his own problem and to know how to face the consequences. He also disregards his gift from God, which is the gift of life and love. Caballesism advocates that problems encountered by an individual should be taken positively to make him stronger, to keep him motivated for him to act for the resolution of the issue or conflict and to have him remember that he can always seek help and guidance from God, the father.

II. HISTORY:

           

The Philosophy of Caballesism was already hinted all throughout history. It was prominent in the Bible, especially with Jesus’ out cry for us to “Carry our cross and follow Him.” The act of carrying one’s cross is a very good symbolism presented by Christ to tell us to face our problems. He tells us that for us attain eternal salvation; we must be in His likeness, follow His path, and fulfill our duties as His disciples. Moreover, this philosophy was also prevalent in some Contemporary Literary works like of Carlos Bulosan’s “My Father’s Tragedy” and D. Paulo Dizon’s “The Beautiful Horse.” Both literary masterpieces greatly presented the role of problems to the main characters’ lives in the short story. The two stories also showed how the main characters work their way to find a resolution for the conflicts presented in the literary pieces. Both stories remind readers that man and problems are like inseparable brothers; one would be nothing without the other, in some ways.

Despite of the existence of the basic concepts of Caballesism in the past, it was only in the 21^st Century that these concepts were made into a Philosophy. The term “Caballesism” is derived from its founder’s name, Clint Caballes.

III. PROPONENT:

           

The main proponent of Caballesism is Clint Caballes. Born on April 8, 1986 in Cebu City, Philippines, Clint Caballes was raised by her aunt after being left by his biological mother to search for an overseas work. He grew up to be a fine and well-mannered boy, until he experienced life’s worst realities during his teenage years. It was during his high school years in the University of San Jose-Recoletos that Clint was bullied and emotionally abused by his well-off classmates, knowing that Clint had no immediate family to defend him and to depend on. Despite his bad experiences, he pursued a college degree at Cebu Normal University and finished the degree with flying colors. By then, he realized that he would not succeed if not of his bullies and of his difficult experiences. He then concluded that problems are essential to man to keep him moving, going, growing, and learning. In September 17, 2008, Clint Caballes put his Philosophy into writings in his work entitled, “CABALLESISM: A Personal Philosophy.” He wrote it during the early years of his Graduate School days also in Cebu Normal University, after being required by his Social Philosophy teacher, Dr. Alex Tiempo, to establish a unique and individualized philosophy. Clint Caballes took the opportunity of sharing to the world his personal philosophy through his writing and leave it as his legacy for the generations to come.

IV. ANALOGY OF THE SCULTOR’S MASTERPIECE:

            The main proposition of the Philosophy of Caballesism can be best presented through a brief story made by Clint Caballes, which is “The Analogy of the Sculptor’s Masterpiece.”

            We humans are like trees. We have the option to grow as strong or as weak as we can be. We have the full control of our lives. God has given us all the resources we need to survive like the air, the sun, and the water. But it is all up to us to spread our leaves up towards the sky to get as much sunlight and air as we can, to hold on to our roots to remain standing tall and erect, and to grow our roots deeper down into the soil to get the most nutrients we need to be productive and to bear fruit. All of these will either make or break us. Along the way, we may also encounter catastrophes wild storms, forest fires, or flash floods, and if worse comes, we might be uprooted and remain as a useless piece of log, a fragment of the old tree.

            But God sees value for this log. For some it might be all-useless, but for God it is everything, we are everything. God is an artist. He is our sculptor. He picks this log up and takes it home. He takes his mallet and chisel to make this log into something out of nothing. Every time He strikes His mallet and scrapes His chisel, it pains us, it hurts us, but it also molds and carves us. From this log, God creates a work of art, His Magnum Opus, His Masterpiece. We are these logs. We are His Masterpiece.

V. CONCLUSION:

            Problems are always part of man’s existence. They are not God’s way of making us realize that we are fallible, but they are God’s way of making us remember that He exists and we can always call on Him in our times of need and depression. Whether problems are there for our advantage or not, it is really on how we perceive them. Caballesism asserts that problems work for man’s growth, because if we look at them positively, they would make us stronger than ever. Problems add spice to one’s life and liberate us from the feeling of boredom. They keep us motivated to seek for solutions to them. Problems may leave us scarred and wounded, but they prepare us for more struggles and obstacles ahead. We need to always put in mind that God would never give us a cross that we won’t be able to carry.

We need to feel a bit deprived at times, a bit lonely, and in a way, incomplete, because if we got everything here on earth, would we still look up to heaven? Absolutely not! We will definitely forget about Him and savor life’s precision. God will surely never going to cross our mind once everything we ever need and ever wanted would be just laid in front of us. We may appear like we don’t appreciate Him and His works, but it would surely become our reality once life would be all-perfect. Reality is that problems are going to be always there. We can never evade or run away from them. The best way to remedy our problems is to face them not hide from them, because if we remain hiding, their existence will surely just keep on hunting us for eternity. Heavy rains may also remind us of the challenges we encounter in life, but never ask for a lighter rain just a better umbrella. In our case, our “best umbrella” is our Heavenly Father, God. He will never grow tried of helping, guiding, and loving us, as long as we call on Him and reciprocate His undying and unconditional love.

            Remember that Life is hard but God provides. Life is unpredictable but God guides. Life is unfair but God cares. Life is always a challenge but God watches us.

“For every bruise you had, for all the time you sat in tears, for the million ways you have been hurt, just tell yourself, “My world may be broken, but I am stronger.”