SPECIFIC MODULES LTS/CWTS

MODULE 1

SELF AND FILIPINO SOCIETY

Lesson 1 Nature of Self

Lesson 2 Self-Awareness Filipino Values

Lesson 3 Personal Development Plan

Lesson 4 Roots of the Filipino Character

Lesson 5 Nationalism and Patriotism

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Module 1. Self and Filipino Values

The self is an individual person as the object of its own reflective

consciousness. Since the self is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this
reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or self-hood—should,
however, not be confused with subjectivity itself. In this module we will examine the
nature of the self, its relationship with the physical brain, and the issue of whether
the self, or some portion thereof, could survive the dissolution of the brain at death.
The philosophy of self is the study of the many conditions of identity that make one
subject of experience distinct from other experiences. The self is sometimes
understood as a unified being essentially connected to consciousness, awareness, and
agency.

Lesson 1. Nature of Self

The Persisting Self

Most of us (at least most of us who are not professional philosophers) believe
that we have some sort of continuing self, a field of consciousness that persists from
our birth to our death. While this self may be thought to lapse during deep sleep and
under conditions such as surgical anesthesia, most of us generally believe that the self
that wakes up after each lapse is the same as the self that preceded the
lapse. There is perhaps no rational basis for such belief. The self that wakes could
be an entirely different entity from the self that inhabited the body prior to the loss
of consciousness. After all, if a self can somehow become “stuck” in a human body
sometime after conception and released somehow at death, it stands to reason that
such a self could also become stuck in the body well after the body’s birth and to
depart long before its death.

The Denial of the Self

However, as noted in Chapter 0, there are those, such as Daniel Dennett

(1991), Susan Blackmore (1991a, 1993, 2002), Galen Strawson (1997), Patricia
Churchland (2002) and Thomas Metzinger (2003), among others, who deny the very
existence of any continuing self, or “Cartesian theater,” as Dennett calls it, even over
a limited time period. They assert that the self is merely a cognitive construct, a
convenient “story” we tell ourselves in an attempt to render our experiences
coherent and consistent. As such, the self enjoys only a fictional existence. Under
this view, “we” (our illusory selves) are nothing more than the scattered contents
(fleeting sensations, thoughts, and emotions) of “our” minds. As Metzinger (2003, p.
397) puts it, “no such things as selves exist in the world,” only mental models of the
self.

Stephen Priest (1991) has countered Descartes’ argument that “I think

therefore I am” by asserting that thoughts do not imply the existence of a
thinker. Even William James (1890/1992) argued that there may be no substantial

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soul, but only an ongoing stream of consciousness. James’ view has been echoed by
Thomas Clark (1995), who contends that a person is simply an assemblage of “qualia”
or experiences and denies the existence of a self separate from the experiences
themselves.

The basic problem with this denial of the existence of the self is that one
cannot have a stream of consciousness without a riverbed for it to flow through. One
of the foremost modern deniers of the self is the philosopher Derek Parfit. In Parfit’s
opinion, in each person there is only a continuing series of thoughts, sensations,
memories and feelings, with no continuing self to experience them. But in order to
explain the unity and continuity of experience, Parfit (1987) is forced to assert that
these thoughts, sensations and memories are experienced by the same “state of
awareness.” But this state of awareness is nothing more or less than the self or soul,
assuming one is willing to equate the self with a field of pure consciousness.

Most people, following Descartes, find the existence of a continuing self to be

immediately given and obviously true. It is an integral part of our essential existence
as commonly understood.

The Buddhist denial seems more directed at the concept of the self as one’s
personality, comprising one’s aspirations, motivations, cravings for material
possessions, lusts, pride, and so forth, rather than at the existence of a field of pure
consciousness. Buddhist meditative practices are designed to distance oneself from
these transitory elements and to attain an inner state of peace and tranquility. In
order to achieve such a state, the Buddhists teach that one must suppress and
eliminate one’s cravings and greed, as such unfulfilled desires lie at the root of all
human misery and suffering.

Most branches of Buddhism and Hinduism teach that the true self is pure
consciousness, not the contents or objects of consciousness, such as the swirl of
memories, emotions, gleeful pride in our achievements, and the fears and hopes for
the future that are continually swirling through the dark (perhaps Cartesian) theaters
of our minds. The Eastern philosophies teach that our personalities are transitory and
not our true selves. One’s true self in this view is the pure consciousness that in
Hindu philosophy is taken to be identical with all consciousness, including that of the
World Soul or Brahman. It is thus not clear that these Eastern philosophies deny the
reality of a persisting self in the sense of a field of consciousness, as opposed to the
contents of one’s consciousness or one’s personality or motives (which obviously do
not persist unchanged even from moment to moment).

“Downloaded” into Heaven

Some philosophical functionalists, such as Hans Moravec (1988), Grant

Fjermedal (1987), and Frank Tipler (1994) among others, have suggested that one’s
thoughts, memories and personality could be “downloaded“ into a computer or robot,
allowing one’s essential self to survive after death in a cybernetic world or as a

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cybernetic simulacrum operating in the physical world. Of course, it would be just as
easy to create multiple simulacra of oneself rather than just one. It is
counterintuitive to think that one’s “self” could really inhabit all the copies
simultaneously, providing another indication that one’s self cannot be identified with
one’s emotions, thoughts, memories and personality.

In fact, a persisting self not only cannot be identified with the fleeting and
ever-changing contents of consciousness, it also cannot be identified with the
particular configuration of material particles that constitute one’s physical body or
brain, as these too are continually undergoing change and replacement. Due to the
constant exchange of material substance with your environment, your present
physical body shares few if any molecules with your body of 20 years ago. You have
already survived the death and dissolution of that earlier body Thus, any self or field
of consciousness associated with the physical body that persists unchanged from birth
to death (or even from hour to hour) cannot be identified with any particular physical
body (configuration of material particles) or conglomeration of mental contents such
as thoughts, feelings and personality traits, as neither of these (the body or the
contents of consciousness) persists unchanged from moment to moment.

The fact that you have apparently survived the dissolution of your body of
several years ago suggests that you may likewise survive the ultimate death and
dissolution of your present body as well. It is, however, unlikely that you would
survive death with your personality traits and memories intact as suggested in the
Western religious traditions (and by much of the research on survival conducted by
psychical researchers), due to the dissolution of the brain activity and neural
structures underlying your current personality traits and memories. It is conceivable,
however, that a field of pure consciousness might survive the ultimate death of the
physical body much as it seems to have survived the “death” of the prior bodies that
have been “shed” through a process of molecular replacement and recycling.

Modern Dualists

The postulation of a continuing contentless field of consciousness brings us

perilously close to Cartesian dualism, a once dominant philosophical position that has
become increasingly out of favor in the current intellectual climate, which is
dominated by several remarkably successful scientific disciplines that largely adopt a
materialistic or reductionist stance toward the realm of mental events. The
postulation of a self or field of consciousness that is in some sense independent of, or
external to, the brain, immediately raises the question of how such a self and brain
could interact.

Modern science is generally at a loss to explain how a nonphysical mind could

interact with a physical brain, hence its general denial of the existence of the
former. Thus, the terms “internal psychokinesis” and “internal clairvoyance” may be
as good as any to describe such mind-brain interaction (assuming the existence of a
nonphysical mind). The use of the terms “internal psychokinesis” and “internal

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clairvoyance” in this context does not necessarily commit one to affirming the
existence of psi phenomena as usually defined, which involve anomalous
interconnections between internal and external events. The provisional use of the
terms “internal psychokinesis” and “internal clairvoyance” in the present context is
intended merely as a way of recognizing our current state of bafflement as to how a
nonphysical mind could interact with a physical brain.

The “Shin” Model

As noted, two writers to take Eccles’ suggestion that mind-brain interaction

may be mediated by “internal psychokinesis” literally (albeit nearly three decades
before Eccles got around to making the suggestion) were Thouless and Wiesner
(1948). They proposed that each brain has associated with it an entity they termed
the “Shin.” They proposed that the Shin becomes aware of brain states through a
type of “internal clairvoyance” and that this awareness manifests itself in
consciousness as various forms of “cognita,” to borrow a term from Carington (1949),
such as sensations, emotions, memories, and impulses. Conversely, the Shin controls
the physical body and brain activity through internal psychokinesis. Thouless and
Wiesner postulated that psi phenomena as traditionally defined correspond to an
“externalization” of the mind’s usual relation with the brain.

Clearly, under the view that physical bodies are associated with immaterial
minds that are conceived as fields of “contentless consciousness,” with virtually all of
the activity underlying cognition and motor activity being embodied by material brain
processes, some sort of theory analogous to that proposed by Thouless and Wiesner
commends itself, if one wishes to adhere to a dualistic model in which consciousness
is conceived as a component of the world that is in some sense “external to” (i.e.,
not identical with any part of) the physical brain.

Of course, such dualistic terminology may only be provisional. Should a “Shin-

o-scope” be invented that would allow the physical location and activity of Shins to
be measured, it is likely that Shins would come to be viewed as physical components
of brains. We are, however, a long way from a complete, partial, or even minimal
understanding of consciousness, and “Shin-o-scopes” do not appear to be in the
immediate offing. To the extent that such hypothetical Shins cannot at present be
identified with any particular component of the physical world, it may be appropriate
to continue to use the word “nonmaterial” to describe them, recognizing that such
attribution of nonphysicality is provisional and may need to be withdrawn in the light
of subsequent scientific discoveries. Indeed, the fact that Shins seem to get “stuck,”
however temporarily, in physical brains suggests that they exist in spacetime and
therefore correspond to some sort of quasimaterial objects. At the same time, if psi
phenomena exist, this is an indication that minds may have nonlocal aspects and
direct access to a “higher dimension” or at least a wider region of spacetime than is
encompassed by the brain. But the same could be said of all quantum objects and
hence all matter.

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Naive Dualism and Split Brains

The results of research on split-brain patients (which was largely conducted

after the publication of Thouless and Wiesner’s paper in which they developed the
concept of the Shin, but is now well emblazoned in the brains of all veterans of
introductory psychology courses) pose devastating problems for any naive version of
the Shin theory. As discussed in Chapter 5, a split-brain patient may be unable to
verbally describe an object held in his left hand, but will be able to point to a picture
of the object with his left hand when later requested to do so. This is a result of the
fact that the sensory input from the left hand is fed into the right hemisphere of the
brain. However, the right hemisphere has no means to transfer this information to the
language centers in the left hemisphere in the brain due to the fact that the corpus
callosum, the main neural fibers connecting the two hemispheres, has been
disconnected. Under the naïve version of Thouless and Wiesner’s theory, a single Shin
should be able, through “clairvoyant” perception of the right hemisphere, to gain
knowledge of the object held in the left hand and then be able to describe the object
through “psychokinetic” influence of the language centers in the left
hemisphere. Thus, the findings of split-brain research would seem to directly refute
the single Shin theory. In fact, these findings are precisely the evidence Patricia
Churchland uses to refute the existence of a nonphysical self or soul (Churchland,
2002, pp. 46-47).

Thalbourne (2004) has responded to this argument by Churchland by proposing

that “a callosectomy causes one portion of the self to become unconscious to the
main center” (p. 17, emphasis in original). He then goes on to propose that one
portion of the brain is controlled by the conscious aspect of the self and that the
other portion is controlled by the unconscious self. Thalbourne asserts that in such
cases, “the self would maintain an overall unity, but be divided with respect to
consciousness or unconsciousness of process” (p. 17). However, instances of conflict
between the hemispheres and the ability of the right, presumably unconscious,
hemisphere to respond to verbal commands and to communicate itself (sometimes
through such devices as a Scrabble set) makes it seem unreasonable to deny
consciousness to that hemisphere. Indeed, in the following sections it will be argued
that many spheres of consciousness may somehow reside within a single human
brain. Thalbourne further suggests that the single self or Shin might be able through
practice to reacquire the ability to “clairvoyantly” acquire information from one
hemisphere and “psychokinetically” influence the other. However, if such
reacquisition occurs, it is likely only partial, as a full functional recovery from a
severed corpus callosum would be nothing short of miraculous and would be widely
reported in the scientific literature. In view of the evidence for psi phenomena, a
partial reacquisition might be possible (indeed, a partial reacquisition might be
achieved in the absence of psi through the remaining subcortical neural channels
connecting the hemispheres). However, the existing neurological evidence suggests
that inter-hemispheric information transfer likely depends primarily on neural
pathways. Also the instances of motivational conflict between the hemispheres
alluded to above, as well the “minor” hemisphere’s ability to communicate messages

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sometimes at odds with its partner’s motivations, strongly suggest that there are
multiple selves or Shins in split-brain patients that are likely to be, to use Morton
Prince’s term, co-conscious. Indeed, as argued below, it may be that there are
multitudinous Shins lurking in a single brain, with many or most of them “buying into”
the delusion that they are the Person and the sole center of consciousness residing in
the body. If in fact they are transient residents in the brain, as suggested below, it
would not do from an evolutionary perspective for this fact to be widely recognized
among the Shins. The service of the genes may require that the Shins fall into the
delusion that they are the Person (i.e., the body, memories, personality, etc.).

In fact, the scientific and philosophical community has found it difficult agree
on a clear line of demarcation between conscious and nonconscious beings. Some
(e.g., Descartes) would draw the line at humans and deny consciousness to
animals. This seems to me to involve a retreat to the pre-Copernican view that
humankind stands at the center of the universe. Others (e.g., the panpsychists)
would extend consciousness all the way “down” the evolutionary chain to amobae or
even to plants and elementary particles, as discussed in more detail below.

We are complex organisms; each of our brains is composed of billions of

amoeba-like neurons, much like a “Woodstock” for single-celled creatures. Perhaps,
as argued below, our brains may harbor multiple, perhaps countless “selves” (i.e.,
fields of consciousness), with the majority of them identifying with the body as whole
and quickly falling under the pre-Copernican delusion that each of them is the sole
“self” or consciousness inhabiting the body. This identification of our “selves” with
the body or the personality (the “Person”) is natural but, as we have seen above, a
false identification. To identify our true “selves” with our bodies and personalities is
to fall into the same delusion that the Buddhists (and to some extent Blackmore and
Dennett) have warned us against. Our selves (conceived as centers of pure
consciousness) persist unchanged, while our bodies (and our personalities) grow,
blossom, metamorphose, wither and die.

Multiple Selves

As intimated above, one way around the difficulty posed by split-brain patients
would be to propose that the right and left hemispheres are associated with separate
Shins or selves. It could be postulated that the two Shins were present prior to the
callosectomy or that a second Shin was acquired during or shortly after the
callosectomy. Each Shin would be restricted to interaction with its own
hemisphere. As Eccles (1980) notes, many prominent split-brain researchers,
including Puccetti, Sperry, Bogen and Gazzaniga, have postulated the existence of
two spheres of consciousness in split-brain patients, although Gazzaniga has since
modified this view (Gazzaniga, 1992). Libet (1994) has postulated the existence of
“conscious mind fields” (CMFs), which he sees as being produced by brain
activity. CMFs are capable of causal action upon brain activity and provide the means
whereby diverse neural activity is synthesized into unified perceptions and
experiences. He notes that the existence of CMFs would be compatible with a variety

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of philosophical positions on the mind-body problem. Following the lead of the above
researchers, Libet speculates that there may be two CMFs in split-brain
patients. Libet asserts that CMFs are not describable in terms of any externally
observable physical events or of any the currently constructed theories of physics.

A Proliferation of Selves

Two conscious selves may, however, not be enough, as there are more ways to
divide up (or dissociate) a brain than are dreamt of in the classical split-brain
paradigm. Take for instance the phenomenon of blindsight. “Blindsight” is a term
coined by Lawrence Weiskrantz to describe a syndrome in which cortically blind
subjects respond appropriately to visually presented stimuli even though they report
no conscious awareness of such stimuli (Sanders et al., 1974; Weiskrantz, 1986;
Marcel, 1988; Rafal et al., 1990). Cortical blindness refers to blindness that is a
result of damage to the visual cortex in the occipital lobes of the brain. Even though
the eyes of such patients may be normal, they may be blind in part of their visual
field because of such damage to their visual cortex. If you present a small dot of
light to such patients in the blind areas of their visual fields, they will say that they
saw nothing. However, if you ask them to just take a guess by pointing to where the
dot of light might have been, they frequently point at the exact location that the dot
occupied. If you present erotic pictures to such a patient in the blind area of the
visual field, the patient may blush or giggle or say things such as “That’s quite a
machine you’ve got there, Doc!” They will still, however, deny having consciously
seen anything. Interpretations of words may be biased by information presented in
the blind area of the visual field, and eye movements may be altered by such stimuli
(Rafal et. al., 1990). Many researchers have speculated that blindsight is mediated by
a secondary visual center in a subcortical area of the brain known as the superior
colliculus, although some researchers have challenged this view. Francis Crick (1994)
has noted that other areas must be involved as well, in that blindsight sometimes
involves responsiveness to color differences, and there are no color-sensitive neurons
in the superior colliculus.

The phenomenon of blindsight might lead one to postulate the existence of a

secondary center of consciousness, perhaps located subcortically in the superior
colliculus. However, some writers, such as Flanagan (1992) and Marcel (1988), have
argued against any attribution of full consciousness to this secondary center, insofar
as information acquired through blindsight is not generally acted upon. For instance,
the patient may be thirsty, but will not respond to the sight of a water fountain
presented to the blind area of the visual field. It would be possible to argue that this
secondary center cannot move the patient’s body of its own accord as it is a
subordinate “module.” (Actually, most researchers feel that the primary function of
this secondary center is to guide eye movements, and perhaps this is not a role that
one would want to associate with consciousness.) Young (2006) suggests that
phenomenal consciousness is required for the initiation of action and that Marcel’s
thirsty subject failed to reach for the water because the information gained through
blindsight does not reach conscious awareness. In a commentary on Young’s article,

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Spence (2006) cites evidence that intentions are subject to electrical disruption for up
to 200 msec after the motor act has occurred. Thus, he argues, conscious intentions
are slow to cohere and are not responsible for the initiation of motor acts.

A Hierarchy of Selves

The notion that the human mind may be composed of an assembly of

interacting centers of consciousness is an old one. It may be traced as far back as
Aristotle, who postulated the existence of “vegetative soul,” a “sensitive soul” and a
“rational soul” in each person. F. W. H. Myers (1903) hypothesized the existence of
several independent selves within the unconscious or “subliminal” mind. William
McDougall (1926) proposed that the normal human mind is composed of a hierarchy of
“coconscious personalities,” each carrying out its own separate function. McDougall
used Morton Prince’s term “coconscious” rather than the usual terms “subconscious”
or “unconscious” to describe such secondary personalities in order to emphasize their
self-awareness. Ostensible cases of multiple personality (if genuine) may represent
instances in which one or more of these subordinate personalities has rebelled against
the primary, executive personality. In support of McDougall’s view, many lines of
psychological research, including studies of subliminal perception, posthypnotic
suggestion, preattentive filters, and automatic motor performance suggest that the
human mind is capable of conducting a great deal of sophisticated mental activity
outside of the field of awareness of the primary personality.

For instance, his investigations into hypnotic phenomena led Ernst Hilgard
(1977) to propose what he called the “neodissociation” theory of hypnosis. Hilgard
asserted that the hypnotized person was associated with a subconscious “hidden
observer” that was aware of events for which the primary, conscious personality had
no knowledge because of hypnotically induced amnesia, anesthesia, or negative
hallucinations (e.g., when a hypnotized subject is instructed not to see a particular
person or object). Hilgard was able to hold conversations with such “hidden
observers,” and the latter frequently reported awareness of events (posthypnotic
suggestions, pain, etc.) for which the primary personality claimed no
knowledge. However, many scientists have asserted that Hilgard’s “hidden
observers” were the result of suggestions; thus, they were created by Hilgard’s
hypnotic suggestions rather than being autonomous entities that were “discovered” by
Hilgard. Spanos and Hewitt (1980), for instance, were able to evoke a hidden
observer that felt less rather than more pain than the primary subject. They
hypothesize that this “hidden observer” was an artifact manufactured through their
own hypnotic suggestions.

Ramachandran and Blakeslee (1998) cite dreams in which another character

tells an unexpected joke to the dreaming self as further evidence of the existence of
multiple centers of consciousness within a single brain.

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 In the decades since the “cognitive revolution” in psychology, research into the
“cognitive unconscious” has led to the creation of many hierarchical models of the
mind, such as the “Massachusetts modularism” proposed by Jerry Fodor (1983), in
which the mind is seen as being split into modular “computational” components.

Michael Gazzaniga (1985, 1989) likewise rejects the notion of a unitary

consciousness in favor of the view that the mind is composed of a collection of
independently-functioning modules that he, following William McDougall, describes as
“coconscioius.” As evidence for this modular view of the mind, Gazzaniga cites post-
hypnotic suggestions, apparent unconscious (or coconscious) problem-solving activity
(in which the solution to a complex problem suddenly emerges full-blown into
consciousness), blindsight, the existence of separate procedural and episodic memory
systems, and split-brain research. Gazzaniga tends to identify the “conscious self”
with the module that is in control of the language centers of the brain, and he refers
to this module as the “executive module.” He cites many instances in which the
executive module uses confabulation to explain behavior that was in fact generated
by other modules. For instance, a person who acts under a posthypnotic suggestion to
close a window may claim that he was cold. Gazzaniga also cites several instances of
confabulation by the left hemisphere to explain actions performed in response to
directions given to the right hemisphere in split-brain patients. It might not be far-
fetched to suppose that all or most modules might likewise maintain the illusion that
they were the sole center of consciousness or in sole control of the body. For
instance, modules hearing the mouth issue verbal utterances may be under the
illusion that they were primarily responsible for producing those utterances. They
might naturally identify with the body as a whole rather than with the particular brain
region in which they are located.

In particular, Gazzaniga and Roser (2004) contend that the “left-hemisphere

interpreter” may be responsible for one’s feelings that one’s consciousness is
unified. Gazzaniga and Roser suggest that either consciousness may have a “graded
relationship” to brain activity or possibly that consciousness results whenever brain
activity exceeds a particular threshold. They note that brain activations correlated
with consciously perceived stimuli and those associated with unseen stimuli display
differences in intensity and spatial extent.

Daniel Wegner (2002), in his recent book The Illusion of Conscious Will, notes
that the well-known brain researcher Jose Delgado (1969) found that movements
produced by direct electrical stimulation of the motor areas of the were experienced
as voluntarily produced, thus supporting the hypothesis that “free will” may in many
cases be an illusion. Wegner does however affirm the existence of the self, which he
defines in terms of a continuous memory structure. He asserts that in cases of fugue,
multiple personality or apparent “possession,” a new self exists if the person has
amnesia for the prior self.

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The Perceived Unity of Consciousness

According to Francis Crick (1994) has ascribed the unity of consciousness to

global 40 Hz (cycles per second) waves of coordinated neural activity. Farber (2005)
has suggested that if consciousness corresponds to such 40 Hz synchronous
oscillations, the conscious experience should “quantize” into discrete moments of
awareness. Farber notes that such quantization of brain activity was originally
proposed by Rudolfo Llinas. He notes that Llanis and his coworkers found that people
were able to distinguish auditory clicks that are separated by at least 13
milliseconds. However, when the time interval separating the clicks was 12
milliseconds or less, then the clicks were perceived as one single click, in support of
Llinas’ quantization hypothesis (Joliot, Rubary, & Llinas, 1994).

Koch (1996) proposes that visual awareness arises from the firing of
coordinated sets of neurons for 100 to 200 milliseconds. He notes that stimuli
presented within shorter periods are not perceived as separate stimuli. For instance,
a red light presented for 20 milliseconds followed by a green light presented for 20
milliseconds is typically reported as a yellow light. This finding supports Llinas’
notion of a “quantization” of consciousness. Koch asserts that the vast majority of
neurons are not associated with awareness but rather with unconscious
processing. He conjectures that unless a group of neurons projects to prefrontal
“planning” areas of the cerebral cortex, their activity is probably not consciously
perceived.

Learning Activity

1. Study the above mentioned articles, examine yourself and come up with a
writing on describing yourself and relate it to any of those that were
presented. The article should have a n introductory statements, body and a
closing statements.
2. Aside from the what has been presented. Study other nature of self in this link
and come up with a short discussion for each.
http://www.newdualism.org/papers/D.Stokes/Nature_of_Self.html

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Lesson 2. Self-awareness and Filipino Values

With our busy schedules it might be difficult to find time to think about who we
are, our strengths and weaknesses, our drives and personalities, our habits and
values. Besides, many of us just aren't inclined to spend much time on self-
reflection. Even when personal feedback is presented to us, we're not always open to
it, because honest feedback isn't always flattering. Consequently, many of us have a
pretty low level of self-awareness. That's unfortunate, because self-awareness is an
essential first step toward maximizing management skills. Self-awareness can
improve our judgment and help us identify opportunities for professional development
and personal growth.

Key Areas for Self-Awareness

Human beings are complex and diverse. To become more self-aware, we

should develop an understanding of ourselves in many areas. Key areas for self-
awareness include our personality traits, personal values, habits, emotions, and the
psychological needs that drive our behaviors.

Personality. We don't normally change our personalities, values and needs based
on what we learn about ourselves. But, an understanding of our personalities can
help us find situations in which we will thrive, and help us avoid situations in which
we will experience too much stress. For instance, if you are a highly introverted
person, you are likely to experience more stress in a sales position than a highly
extroverted person would. So, if you are highly introverted, you should either learn
skills to cope with the demands of a sales position that requires extravert-type
behavior patterns, or you should find a position that is more compatible with your
personality. Awareness of your personality helps you analyze such a decision.

Values. It's important that we each know and focus on our personal values. For
instance, if your first priority is "being there for your children" or "your relationship
with God," it's very easy to lose sight of those priorities on a day-to-day, moment-by-
moment basis. During the workday, so many problems and opportunities arise that
our lists of "things to do" can easily exceed the time we have to do them. Since few
(if any) of those things pertain to what we value most, it's easy to spend too much
time on lower priority activities. When we focus on our values, we are more likely to
accomplish what we consider most important.

Habits. Our habits are the behaviors that we repeat routinely and often
automatically. Although we would like to possess the habits that help us interact
effectively with and manage others, we can probably all identify at least one of our

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habits that decreases our effectiveness. For example, if you are a manager who
never consults your staff before making decisions, that habit may interfere with your
ability to build your staff members' commitment to the decisions and their decision-
making skills as well.

Needs. Maslow and other scholars have identified a variety of psychological

needs that drive our behaviors such as needs for esteem, affection, belongingness,
achievement, self-actualization, power and control. One of the advantages of
knowing which needs exert the strongest influence on our own behaviors is the ability
to understand how they affect our interpersonal relationships. For instance, most of
us have probably known people who have a high need for status. They're attracted to
high status occupations, and they seek high status positions within their
organizations. Such people also want the things that symbolize their status. They
insist that they be shown respect, and they want privileges and perks that people of
lower status can't have. Sometimes these people fight for things that others see as
inconsequential--like a bigger office. (This month, a senior colleague is taking my
office and sending me to a lesser office!) Needs cause motivation; and when they
aren't satisfied, needs can cause frustration, conflict and stress.

Emotions. Emotional self-awareness has become a hot topic of discussion

recently because it's one of the five facets of emotional intelligence. Understanding
your own feelings, what causes them, and how they impact your thoughts and actions
is emotional self-awareness. If you were once excited about your job but not excited
now, can you get excited again? To answer that question, it helps to understand the
internal processes associated with getting excited. That sounds simpler than it
is. Here's an analogy: I think I know how my car starts--I put gas in the tank, put the
key in the ignition, and turn the key. But, my mechanic knows a lot more about
what's involved in getting my car started than I do--he knows what happens under the
hood. My mechanic is able to start my car on the occasions when I'm not because he
understands the internal processes. Similarly, a person with high emotional self-
awareness understands the internal process associated with emotional experiences
and, therefore, has greater control over them.

How Self-Awareness Makes You More Effective

Skill development. Improvement projects should normally begin with an

assessment of the gap between the current situation and the desired future
situation. Having an accurate sense of who you are helps you decide what you should
do to improve. Often, self-awareness will reveal a skills gap that you want to work
on.

Special Modules LTS/CWTS – Self and Filipino Society Module I

 Knowing your strengths and weaknesses. Self-awareness helps you exploit your
strengths and cope with your weaknesses. For instance, if you are someone who is
good at "seeing the big picture" that surrounds decisions, but not as good at focusing
on the details, you might want to consult colleagues and subordinates that are more
detail-oriented when making major decisions. Cooperation between big-picture-
oriented decision makers and detail-oriented decision makers can produce high
quality decisions.

Developing intuitive decision-making skills. Leaders with well-developed

emotional self-awareness are more effective intuitive decision makers. In complex
situations, intuitive decision makers process large amounts of sometimes unstructured
and ambiguous data, and they choose a course of action based on a "gut feeling" or a
"sense" of what's best. This type of decision making is becoming more important for
managers as the rate of change and the levels of uncertainty and complexity in their
competitive environments increase. Managers who are highly emotionally self-aware
are better able to read their "gut feelings" and use them to guide decisions.

Stress. Jobs that don't suit your personality tend to give you more stress than
jobs that are more compatible. This is not to say that you should never take a job
that conflicts with your personality. However, be aware that you will need to work
extra hard to develop the skills for that job, and there are jobs that would be less
stressful for you. Stress in your studies and the present times are also felt.

Motivation. It's very difficult to cope with poor results when you don't
understand what causes them. When you don't know what behaviors to change to
improve your performance, you just feel helpless. Self-awareness is empowering
because it can reveal where the performance problems are and indicate what can be
done to improve performance. In addition, awareness of your psychological needs can
increase your motivation by helping you understand and seek out the rewards that you
really desire such as a sense of accomplishment, additional responsibility, an
opportunity to help others, or a flexible work schedule.

Leadership. When we understand "what make us tick"--what gets us excited,

why we behave the way we do, etc.--we also have insight into what makes others
tick. To the extent that other people are like you (and, of course, there are limits to
the similarity), knowing how to motivate yourself is tantamount to knowing how to
motivate others.

Learning Activity:

1. Among the specified key areas, as a student, are those areas important to
you? Why?

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 2. In this present time, which among the discussed areas are most likely the
most relevant and important? Discuss.

References:
http://www.wright.edu/~scott.williams/skills/selfawareness.htm#:~:text=Self%2Daw
areness%20means%20knowing%20your,%2C%20strengths%2C%20weaknesses%2C%20etc.
&text=Moreover%2C%20self%2Dawareness%20allows%20you,and%20motivate%20others%
20more%20effectively.

Filipino Character and Personality:

Filipinos have been described as friendly, outgoing, sensitive, easily offended,

nosy, garrulous, direct, hospitable, feisty, irreverent, good natured, clever, witty,
gregarious, happy, generous, easy to laugh, gracious, easy to befriend, casual, fun
loving, sensitive and hospitable. Personal and family honor are stressed, as well as
dignity and pride. Education is highly valued and families make great sacrifices to
educate their children. Hiya (shame) is instilled in Filipinos at an early age. To be
shamed is the greatest form of disgrace. Filipino culture developed over centuries in
tandem with and in response to Western culture introduced by the Spanish and later
Americans.

Filipinos have a strong sense of family and community They are very gregarious
and like to talk and hang out with family and friends. They love to fool around,
gossip, make jokes and tease one another. Rumors spread quickly. Some say Filipinos
are happy-go-lucky people who are often pessimistic about today but always
optimistic that tomorrow will be better.

People living in urban areas are more exposed to cosmopolitan values. They
tend to be less traditional and more modern. Those living in rural areas, on the other
hand, still value tradition Even though life appears to be a struggle, many people are
happy with their lives.

Winston posted in his blog happierabroad.com: “1) Most people are nice and
good folks who are cheerful and open. It is easy to meet people and start
conversations. People are always willing to enjoy life and have a good time (especially
if it's on your tab of course). 2) It is the most nonjudgmental and least racist country
in Asia. Filipinos are a mix of many ethnic tribes, including Chinese, Spanish and
Malay. Thus it is truly multiculturally advanced and integrated. Everyone is accepted
here, including misfits from other countries, as long as they are nice, courteous and
law abiding. 3) People are not stuck up, but warm, open and like to enjoy life. They
are not too uptight or serious about relaxing and partying. There is a very relaxed laid
back attitude in the populace. They are fun and enjoy corny jokes even.

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Lesson 3: Personal Development Plans

Personal development planning is the process of creating an action plan based

on awareness, values, reflection, goal-setting and planning for personal
development within the context of a career, education, relationship or for self-
improvement.

Imagine if you asked a contractor to build your new house and they said “we
don’t need a plan, we’ll figure it out as we go.” You wouldn’t tolerate that for a
second. So why do so many of us go through life that way?

Most of the time we harbor aspirations and dream dreams, yet we rarely stop
and think about our future in detail. A personal development plan helps you know
where you’re headed and how to get there, with specifics. First, this will bring clarity
to your thinking and you’ll know exactly where you want to be. What’s more, it will
give you peace of mind that you’re going in the right direction on a daily basis. Efforts
will feel more deliberate and decisions will be easier, as you will have a clear
benchmark.

Personal development expert Jim Rohn said: “When you look at successful
people, you will almost always discover a plan behind their success. It is the
foundation for success.” I couldn’t agree more.

How to build your Personal Development Plan

The process of building your plan can take considerable time. This is
completely normal and you shouldn’t rush things. However, it’s a good idea to set a
deadline in your mind. After all, tasks are a kind of fluid – they take as much space as
you give them.

Step 1: Clear out your vision

You have to start with the end in mind. To build your personal development
plan, look at what’s on the other side. Think about your future life. Choose a
timeframe that makes sense for you – if you are still in your 20’s, a look at 3 or 5
years from now is enough. The older you get, the longer the planning period you can
have.

Now, imagine your life in, say, 3 years and go through your imaginary day:
 What’s the first thought that passes your mind in the morning?
 What’s the reason you get out of bed?
 How’s your day structured?
 What’s your workplace? What do you do there?
 How much time do you spend with friends and family?
 What makes you feel accomplished at the end of the day?
 What gives you energy moving forward and what drains your energy?

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Now take one step back and review. What are the areas that will make you feel
successful? This will help you determine your values. Map them out – you can use
anything, from a note-taking app to a blank sheet of paper, from a simple bullet list
to a fancy visual board. The best way this works for me is by using a mind map with
several main nodes for each of the areas in your life.
Some people prefer to keep that simple, with 2-3 nodes for professional, personal and
social fields. Michael Hyatt uses has 10 life domains:
1. Intellectual
2. Emotional
3. Physical
4. Spiritual
5. Marital
6. Parental
7. Social
8. Financial
9. Vocational (career-related and professional)
10. Avocational (hobbies and interests)
11.

Step 2: Outline your strengths and areas for improvement

You’ve put down a pin on where you want to go – now let’s see what are the
means of going forward.

First, think about what you already have going for you – what are the strengths
and the skills that are already relevant to your dream? Maybe you want to move into a
new work field – then your natural networking skills will help you get to know the
industry quicker.

Then, make a list of skills you need to develop and projects you can start
working on to move you closer to your goals. Think about the people you can contact
and who can help you along the way. At this point you don’t have to be too specific –
think of it as a kind of brainstorming.

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Image from: https://enhancv.com/blog/content/images/2017/03/Personal-development-table.jpg

Step 3: Build your personal development plan

After you have a clear direction, let’s go into detail. The key here is to get
down to specific actions for the future.

You start by setting up specific projects. What do you need to get them done?
 What resources will you need? Books to read, courses to take, tools to subscribe
to…
 What people will help you do it? Friends, mentors and so on.
 What will success look like? Set specific criteria for measuring that.
 What is the timeframe? Either put in a general deadline or milestones for
different parts of the project.
You’ll end up with a clear idea of what needs to get done and how to do it. Now
get doing! You can even tie your personal development plan to your annual goals.

Step 4: Review and adapt

President Eisenhower once said: “Plans are useless, but planning is

indispensable.” The importance of a personal development plan is in getting the
clarity that comes with answering questions about your future. But it is not set in
stone. After all, life changes fast and we need to change with it. That’s why it’s
important to review and adapt.

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 Reviews can go on a quarterly basis. Make sure you keep your eye on the prize
and remind yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing. Reread your vision, check
out your values mind map. But after that focus just on what needs to be done over
the next quarter – otherwise, you might feel overwhelmed by the full picture and
never get around to doing anything.

Learning Activity:
1. Create your personal development plans using the different steps
discussed. Conceptualize a creative way on how you present your
output.

Special Modules LTS/CWTS – Self and Filipino Society Module I

Lesson 4: Roots of Filipino Character

Religion and Filipino Character

Catholicism has a strong influence of the Filipino character. According to Thank

God I'm Filipino: “ The Philippines is one the most religious countries in world,
particularly in Catholicism and Islam. Families would encourage and strengthen the
values of their children and would at least have one day a week for worship and at
the same time strengthening family ties. Religion is the foundation of most of the
country’s morals and values and sometimes, the church greatly affects the minds and
opinions of the general populace, affecting its decisions. Sadly, this also applies to
the government as they are troubled by whatever the Church’s stand is in every
matter, as people see their opinion to be the “right” one. Thus, many of our
politicians go with whatever the Church says, fearing that they would lose vote if they
go against it.

The Philippines is the only Christian nation in Asia and Filipinos have high
spiritual fervor. They observe holy days (business establishments are normally closed
on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter, All Saints’-All Souls’ Days and Christmas).
Sunday is considered both a religious and a family day. As much as possible, avoid
working on that day because most Filipinos go to church and do things together as a
family

Most Filipinos are Roman Catholics, but there are other large Christian groups
throughout the country especially among the Indigenous ethnic groups in the
Autonomous Mountain Region of Northern Luzon. Most traditional elites are Catholic.
In southern and western Mindanao and the islands of Jolo and Sulu Sea that constitute
the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, there is a substantial Muslim community,
which has been aggressively pushing for independence through such organizations as
the Moro national Liberation Front and Moro Islamic Liberation

Religion is openly and overtly practiced throughout all aspects of life in the
Philippines, including the work place. Strong beliefs and religious practices and events
are not always matched by social norms and practices. While the Catholic Church
makes divorce very difficult, if not impossible, it is not uncommon for married
couples to either drift apart and enter into common law relationships with new
spouses. In business and when exploring informal personal relationships with
colleagues, it is prudent not to try to nail the formal relationships down if they do not
seem to.

There is widespread misunderstanding and uneasiness regarding the Muslim

religious minority and its demands for independence amongst the majority of
Filipinos, especially in Mindanao. It is therefore wise for expatriates to avoid debate
of the Muslim claims for independence and to check out the current safety of specific

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itineraries and proposed meetings when planning business trips and holidays to
predominantly Moslem areas of Mindanao.

Island Influence and the Philippines Multi-Cultural Stew

It is said that Filipino culture is derived from all the cultures that have resided
on the islands. The bayanihan or spirit of kinship and camaraderie is thought to have
taken from their Malay ancestors. Close family ties are said to have been inherited
from the Chinese.

The Tagalog word tsismis, wrote journalist Alan Berlow describes "stories,
intrigue, lies, gossip, speculation, gathered like rice in a basket and tossed up in the
air, sending husks to the wind, leaving behind kernels of truth. Truth and half truths,
anyway." It is a "missing link, a smoking gun, the connective tissue of random events,
the effort to explain things that resist explanation.

Philippine Pinoy culture has been described as "a buoyant chaos of Asian and
Spanish influence." The Philippines has been a crossroads between east and west and
meeting point for cultures from all over Asia and the Pacific, and the country's culture
and people reflect this merging of cultures.

Filipino's are racially similar to Malays but culturally they are more like the
Spanish. It could be argued they are the most hot bloodied and macho of the tropical
Asian cultures. Prostitution and murder rates are high. It has many of the same
problems as Latin American countries—and for that matter developing countries:
social inequality, large disparities of wealth and income between rich and poor and
small percentage of rich landowners and lots of poor.

Learning Activity:
Among the influences and the roots of Filipino character, identify common
traits in your own locality/community and try to make a research on how it was
learned. This activity will let you investigate the behavior of your community. You
may employ interview to verify the information.

Special Modules LTS/CWTS – Self and Filipino Society Module I

Lesson 5: Nationalism and Patriotism Program

Nationalism and patriotism both show the relationship of an individual towards

his or her nation. The two are often confused and frequently believed to mean the
same thing. However, there is a vast difference between nationalism and patriotism.

Nationalism means to give more importance to unity by way of a cultural

background, including language and heritage. Patriotism pertains to the love for a
nation, with more emphasis on values and beliefs.

When talking about nationalism and patriotism, one cannot avoid the famous
quotation by George Orwell, who said that nationalism is ‘the worst enemy of peace’.
According to him, nationalism is a feeling that one’s country is superior to another in
all respects, while patriotism is merely a feeling of admiration for a way of life. These
concepts show that patriotism is passive by nature and nationalism can be a little
aggressive.

Patriotism is based on affection and nationalism is rooted in rivalry and

resentment. One can say that nationalism is militant by nature and patriotism is based
on peace.

Most nationalists assume that their country is better than any other, whereas
patriots believe that their country is one of the best and can be improved in many
ways. Patriots tend to believe in friendly relations with other countries while some
nationalists don’t.

In patriotism, people all over the world are considered equal

but nationalism implies that only the people belonging to one’s own country should be
considered one’s equal.

A patriotic person tends to tolerate criticism and tries to learn something new
from it, but a nationalist cannot tolerate any criticism and considers it an insult.

Nationalism makes one to think only of one’s country’s virtues and not its
deficiencies. Nationalism can also make one contemptuous of the virtues of other
nations. Patriotism, on the other hand, pertains to value responsibilities rather than
just valuing loyalty towards one’s own country.

Nationalism makes one try to find justification for mistakes made in the past,
while patriotism enables people to understand both the shortcomings and
improvements made.

Nationalism and Patriotism Program

Filipino nationalism refers to the awakening and support towards a political

identity associated with modern Philippines leading to a wide-ranging campaign for

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political, social, and economic freedom in the Philippines. This gradually emerged out
of various political and armed movements throughout most of the Spanish East
Indies—albeit has long been fragmented and inconsistent with contemporary
definitions of such nationalism—as a consequence of more than three centuries of
Spanish rule. These movements are characterized by the upsurge of anti-
colonialist sentiments and ideals which peaked in the late 19th century led mostly by
the ilustrado or landed, educated elites, whether peninsulares, insulares, or native
(Indio). This served as the backbone of the first nationalist revolution in Asia,
the Philippine Revolution of 1896.

The words nationalism and patriotism are often used interchangeably, meaning
one for the other. There is, however, a wide distinction between nationalism and
patriotism as political concepts. Let us consider the following.

Nationalism, etymologically, means love, care for, preservation and patronage

of one’s native land and everything in it—the country of birth of a national, whether it
be Filipino or otherwise. To be a Filipino nationalist, therefore, the ethnological
ramifications of nationalism must all be present in one’s being. This implies a
heartfelt dedication for the love, care, and preservation of the Philippines and
everything that is identified with it: the Philippine territory, the inhabitants,
Philippine sovereignty, its government, all things that represent and symbolize the
country; the aspirations, hopes, dreams and needs of the Filipino people.

On the other hand, patriotism is taken from the Latin term pater, which
literally means “father”. Patriotism is the willingness and determination to lay down
one’s life for the fatherland—the constant resolve to sacrifice one’s life and limb for
the preservation of the State. It is the total realization of that love for the country,
which is nationalism. In other words, to be patriotic is to be nationalistic. Conversely,
one cannot be patriotic without being nationalistic.

In the Philippines, today, we are lacking in patriots largely due to the diffusion
of Filipino values, culture, influence of conquistadores, and the confluence of
historical bad governance. The Philippine State is in dire need of statesmen who truly
understand the basics of politics—politics being defined as the systematic study of the
state—the state being defined as having four basic elements: territory (the Philippine
archipelago, its waters, subterranean shelves, etc.), people (the Filipino people who
are nationalistic and patriotic), sovereignty (freedom from foreign dictates), and
government (a body politic composed of delegates who are considered to be
representatives of the people to stand and fight for Filipino interests, dreams,
aspirations, and hopes).

Learning Activity:

Search for a modern song that has a theme focusing on nationalism or

patriotism or both. What are the messages that this song is conveying to the listeners?

Special Modules LTS/CWTS – Self and Filipino Society Module I

Make a research why the singer or the band is advocating such?

Reference: Difference Between Nationalism and Patriotism | Difference

Between http://www.differencebetween.net/language/difference-between-
nationalism-and-patriotism/#ixzz6VXwbzkyg

Special Modules LTS/CWTS – Self and Filipino Society Module I