time, talents, and treasures

these are the resources i have been given to live a meaningful life and to conceptualize and realize the purpose of my existence.


time.

i must differentiate what is real time, and what is virtual time.

real time is “the now.” now—this moment, this second—is the time to cherish life. i live in “the now.” living in the past could paralyze me. living in the future is a dream. “the now” is like absolute reality. “the now” is the real time. real time is qualitative time.

virtual time refers to the clock—seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries… it is the time that is a product of human conceptualization to measure the passage of “the now”—so we may not waste the precious now. the virtual time is useful for measuring what has been done in the past and what must be done in the future. but the most important use of virtual time is to appreciate or enhance who i am in “the now,” in the context of my relationships. virtual time is quantitative time.


talents.

the sum total of all the natural gifts and all the acquired knowledge and skills are the ones i refer to as talents. one may have been given the gift to sing; but such gift must be harnessed and sharpened either in a karaoke bar or in a conservatory. my talents are like perfume—i have to let it go from the inside to the outside of my self for everyone to enjoy its fragrance. and just like perfume, talents are to be smelled; i must be careful not to drink it.

talents are vehicles of blessings. a talented singer can be a good entertainer; but beyond entertainment, a talented singer can be the creator’s instrument to encourage a discouraged heart, to bring clarity to a confused mind, to energize a weakened will.

do i sing? no. i’m just using it as an illustration here. my talent is communications. i articulate my own perception and my humble experience of life and reality in a way that others might gain something from it. i seek to excel in public speaking to help groups of people who are working together to become motivated and effective teams. as my friends always tell me during our karaoke happenings, “dante, when you sing, our patience are enhanced; but when you give a seminar, our hearts are motivated and our minds are filled… get it?”


treasures.

treasures are not all about money. they’re more than that. treasures are about wealth and power. wealth brings power. power brings wealth. more power brings more wealth. more wealth brings more power. ad infinitum… this can be good. this can be evil. treasures are like a sharp scalpel—it can be used to heal when it’s in a surgeon’s hand, or it can be used to kill when it’s in a murderer’s hand.

treasures can be possessed by humans to do good and to enjoy what can be consumed through it. however, the tendency of most humans is to be possessed by treasures until they—along with the ones they love, and along with their enemies— are consumed by it.

to maximize the enjoyment of wealth and power, i must first go through a purification of heart. it can be done through a process of submission to a moral-ethical teaching and exercise. i must search my heart whether i can be entrusted with 10 pesos to benefit my life and other people’s lives, before i can be entrusted with 10,000,000 pesos to affect my life and other people’s lives. is my heart focused on using people to gain wealth and power, or is my heart focused on using wealth and power to help people?

the use of my monetary currency depends on my heart’s tendency. as jesus of nazareth have taught his followers: “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

time. talents. treasures. no, i’m not entitled to own them. yes, i’m entrusted to manage them.

the purpose of my existence is to make my creator happy—by doing what i perceive to be pleasing to the eyes of the one who gave me life. i believe the creator is happy when i use my time, talents, and treasures to love the creator with all my being, and to love my neighbors as i love myself.