GLENDAZED

*written on July 18, 2014

In the study of Mythology and Folklore, there is such a motif called “birth-rebirth” which is usually presented in literature by sons killing their fathers (e.g. Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon killing their father Kronos in Greek Mythology, Odin killing his father Ymir in Norse Mythology, or Marduk killing the matriarch goddess Mummu-Tiamat in Babylonian Mythology). According to theories, these similarities in the motifs across world literatures embody the collective unconscious of people brought about by similar cosmic, natural, and metaphysical experiences.

One basic lesson that we ought to learn from the birth-rebirth motif is the perpetual changes in seasons. At one point in our lives, we experience devastating storms and other natural catastrophes. Months later, we lavish upon the positive energies (no matter how seemingly excruciating it is) released by the sun.

For many years of our stay here in Silang, Cavite, we have withstood a number of storms. Name all the ‘most powerful’ ones, and we have survived them all as if they’re just regular rains that passed by. For many years, we have enjoyed rainy seasons because it’s a time to sleep, watch rain water flow on the street, and play with paper boats. For many years, it’s a time to sip a cup of coffee, while playing scrabble with my family.

But in all those seasons of birth-rebirth, there isn’t much ‘deaths’ i.e. not much destruction, not much periods of reflection because everything seems ‘normal’.

Until Glenda came and wreaked havoc to the entire province of Cavite. In general, it may still be considered ‘normal’ here in Silang, although her wind power and speed is beyond normal. For three days now, most parts of Cavite are still groping in the dark. This is perhaps the longest brown out in Cavite. My last memory of long brown outs was during the Ramos regime.

Lack of electricity ‘killed’ a lot of things that seemingly bring ‘life’ to people. This made me pause for a while, something I haven’t been doing for a long time now due to my very busy schedule. I realized how Electricity has been fueling up my work and the lives of people around me: from my phones to my computers to our appliances. We have been caught up in the vicious technological web. We have been enslaved by our own quest to ‘making life simpler’—turning our lives more complicated. We have been trapped inside a maze we, humans, created ourselves.

I found myself getting irritable for not being able to connect to the internet and be updated with what’s happening to the world. My father and I, later on, resorted to digging up our antiquated transistor radio to listen to news. Fortunately, it’s still working.

Thus, a rebirth.

Amidst the death of the complicated and entangled technological advancements comes the rebirth of antiquated and seemingly forgotten essentials in life. We suddenly found ourselves eagerly and patiently waiting for updates in the radio.

Patience is reborn.

The internet brainwashed us into thinking that we have everything in control at our fingertips. Technology has turned us into parasites of electricity, something not essential during the ancient times. It has transformed us into ‘petty gods’.

A radio commentator’s repetitive use of the term ‘normalize our lives’ (in relation to her plea for electricity to return) caught my attention: isn’t it funny that we now consider lack of electricity as ‘abnormal’ when in fact our ancestors managed to survive without it? We now come to a point of reflection: which is not normal, the absence of electricity? Or our dependence to it?

Thus, a rebirth.

Why do we all have the desire to ‘control’ everything? Perhaps, it started with the invention of the remote control, and now with the emergence of ‘smartphones’ we seem to control information at our fingertips. Throughout the years, we have struggled our way out of ‘the way’ of nature; we have pretended to be gods despite our natural weakness and powerlessness against nature. (It’s funny how even the Chinese who have introduced the concept of Taoism to the world has forgotten about the Dao.) In reality, though, we are but a speck of dust in the vast environment created by a one true God.

Reality is reborn.

In the perpetual cycle of life, these ‘rebirths’ that we have come to realize today will again die as we find ourselves once again entangled in the worldwide web, when electricity and internet has ‘normalized’ our lives. And when we are once again on that process of ‘dying’, we will, at some point in our lives, once again be reborn…and the cycle continues.