Module 6:

Human Body Imposes Limits and Posibilities for Transcendence

Quarter : First Quarter

Content Standard : The learner understands the human person as an
embodied spirit
Performance Standard : The learner distinguishes his/her own limitations and
the possibilities for his/her transcendence
Learning Outcomes (Syllabus): Share experiences that discern one’s limitations and
possibilities in understanding the human person as an
embodied spirit
Competencies (MELC) : Evaluate own limitations and the possibilities for their
transcendence
Duration : 1 week
Topics : Lesson 1 - Recognize the Human Body Imposes
Limits and Possibilities for
Transcendence; and
Lesson 2 - Distinguish the Limitations and Possibilities
for Transcendence

What I Need to Know

This module will initially answer the question “What is to be human?” which
entails having two-dimensional character of being a body (an object) and a soul (a
subject). The body with all its passive desires is responsible for setting limitations
to our life-projects while the soul which is the seat of freedom is responsible for
transcending these limitations and help us pursue persistently our life possibilities.
As there is no unbroken harmony between these two dimensions, each of us has to
struggle between them and ultimately consent to our embodied life and the world
as something we do not fully create. The fragile resolution of this tension ultimately
makes human freedom genuinely our own. This, in the end, gives us our distinctive
identity as being “embodied, free, rational, creative, moral, and finite.”

What I Know

1. Brainstorming: Discuss your views about this excerpt:

Ako ay Ako

… Kaya kong itapon o wasakin ang hindi akma

at panatilihin ang mga naakma
at lumikha o kumatha ng mga bago, kapalit ng mga itinapon o winasak.
 Ako ay nakakita, nakaririnig, nakadarama, nakaiisip, nakapagsasalita
at nakagagawa

Ako ay may kakayahan upang mabuhay at maging malapit sa kapwa.

Maging kapaki-pakinabang at makaimpluwensiya sa mga tao at mgabagay.

Ako ang nagmamay-ari sa akin, samakatuwid kaya kong pamahalaan

ang aking sarili.

Ako ay ako, at ako ay okay.

__________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

2. Brainstorming: Share your greatest achievement/s. How did you handle

difficult situations?
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Lesson
The Human Person as an Embodied Spirit
1
What’s In

It should be taken as a humble acceptance of the fact that human

beings alone, without God, are bound to fail. As stated in John 15:5,1 am the
vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and in you, you will bear much fruit;
apart from me, you can do nothing. Further, to quote Psalms 4: The thoughts are
very deep! The dull man cannot know. The stupid cannot understand this.

In this section, you are expected to understand the human person

as an embodied spirit as well as distinguish his/her own limitations and
the possibilities of his/her transcendence.

What’s New

A. St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Thomas Aquinas

St. Augustine
 For Augustine (354-430 CE), philosophy is amor sapiential, the love of
wisdom; its aim is to produce happiness. However, for Augustine, wisdom is
not just an abstract logical construction; but it is substantially existent as the
Divine Logos. Hence, philosophy is the love of God: it is then, religious.
Teachings of Christianity are based on the love of God, which Augustine's,
Aquinas, and Anselm's arguments are basically rooted.

For Augustine, all knowledge leads to God, so that faith supplements

and enlightens reason that it may proceed to ever richer and fuller
understanding. Indeed, without this enlightenment of faith, reason
invariably sooner or later, goes astray.

As a French poetry laments:

Philosophie

J'ai tout lu. I have everything.

J'ai tout vu.
J'ai tout connu.
J'ai tout entendu.
J'ai tout eu.
Et je suis... un peu perdu.
I have seen all.
I knew all.
I have heard all.
I had it all.
I had lost... I am a bit lost.

What is It

We must first of all prove that truth is attainable by reason. Does not all
knowledge come from sensation, and does not the sense constantly deceive us?
For St. Augustine, even if we grant that the senses yield no certainty in
themselves so that we can always doubt their reports, one thing we cannot
doubt, and that is the fact that we doubt. Here, then, is absolute certainty.
Now, if we doubt, we are and as doubting we must be living and rational
beings. We have then established with certainty three grades or levels of
existence: mere being, living being, and rational being. This certainty h as
been established, not by turning outward through sensation to the external
world, but by turning inward to the soul itself.

The lowest form of knowledge is that of sensation yet as we ascend

higher to knowledge of rational principles, it is the will which directs the mind's
eye to truth, first invading to the mind itself, then upward to the eternal
Truth. In his earlier writings, Augustine speaks in Platonic phrase of
humanity as a rational soul using a mortal body. Later, he favors "man is a
rational substance constituted of soul and body." In both cases, the soul
retains its proper entity, and the soul apart from the body may be considered
as a substance.

Only the pure in heart shall see God; the progress in knowledge and
wisdom is not only speculative, it is more fundamentally practical and moral.
Augustine's theory of knowledge is at one with the procedures of speculative
mysticism. From this mystic love and intuition of God follow all the principles
to direct humanity in all their undertakings.
 St. Thomas Aquinas

For St. Thomas Aquinas, another medieval philosopher, of all

creatures, human beings have the unique power to change themselves
and things for the better. His philosophy is best grasped in his treatises
Summa Contra Gentiles and Summa Theologica. Aquinas considers the human
being as moral agent. We are both spiritual and body elements; the spiritual
and material. The unity between both elements indeed helps as to
understand our complexity as human beings. Our spirituality separates
us from animals; it differentiates moral dimension of our fulfillment in
action. Through our spirituality, we have a conscience. Thus, whether
we choose to be "good" or "evil" becomes our responsibility. The concept of
St. Thomas will be elucidated in the next lessons.

What’s More

Guided Learning: Homework: Independent Project, Learning Journal

1. Choose a time and place where you can spend a short time quietly alone
with God. Read the brief quotation from this Sunday's scripture readings.
Turn it over in your mind, picture a loving, caring God speaking these
words to you personally. When you are ready, write or share your reflection
and then pray.

2. How can faith be translated into action?

3. You can also watch a film that shows how one is able to go beyond one's
selfishness or limitations.

Lesson Evaluate Own Limitations and the Possibilities

2 for their Transcendence

What’s In

Based on the preceding section, let us evaluate our human

limitations and how we can also transcend them. Many of us would
experience any of the following; for emerging from deep within and felt a
sense of being in tune with the mystery of our own being, and with the
mystery of life that transcends us.

What’s New / What is it

Let us consider the following examples (Edwards 1983).

A. Forgiveness

When we forgive, we are freed from our anger and bitterness

because of the actions and/or words of another. On the other hand, the
hardness of our heart is reinforced by whole series of rational arguments.

B. The Beauty of Nature

There is perfection in every single flower; this is what the three

philosophies believed. For a hug, for every sunrise and sunset, to eat
together as a family, are our miracles. These kinds of experiences can be
truly moments of grace. They touch us deeply and the human heart is
spontaneously lifted. During this experience, we need to offer praise.

C. Vulnerability

To be invulnerable is somehow inhuman. To be vulnerable is to be

human. Supermen or superheroes are hiding from their true humanity. The
experience that we are contingent, that we are dependent for our existence
on another is frightening. To work in the office or study in school, wi thout
acknowledging the help of others, is to live without meaning and
direction. We need to acknowledge the help of other people in our
lives. Such moments of poverty and dependence on others are not a sign
of weakness but being true with ourselves.

D. Failure

Our failures force us to confront our weaknesses and limitations.

When a relationship fails, when a student fails a subject, when our
immediate desires are not met, we are confronted with the possibility of
our plans, and yet, we are forced to surrender to a mystery or look upon a
bigger world. Such acceptance of our failures makes us hope and trust
that all can be brought into good. Even if we have sinned, as Augustine
had, there is hope and forgiveness.

E. Loneliness

Our loneliness can be rooted from our sense of vulnerability and

fear of death. This experience is so common. However, it is our choice to
live in an impossible world where we are always "happy" or to accept a life
where solitude and companionship have a part. With our loneliness, we can
realize that our dependence on other people or gadgets is a
possessiveness that we can be free from.
F. Love

To love is to experience richness, positivity, and transcendence.

Whether in times of ecstatic moments or struggles, the love for a friend,
between family members or a significant person, can open in us
something in the other which takes us beyond ourselves. Life is full of risks,
fears and commitment, pain and sacrificing and giving up thing/s we
want for the sake of the one we love. In a Buddhist view, the more we love,
the more risks and fears there are in life (Aguilar 2010).

What I can do

Share with your classmate/friend the period that you faced failures.

Guide Questions:

a. How do you view suffering (as a blessing or a curse)?

b. H o w do yo u ackn owl edge the hel p o f o thers?
c. H o w can fo r gi ven ess fr ee u s fr o m anger ?

What I Have Learned

Spontaneous Collaboration

Thank-you Cards: Show gratitude to the people who helped you in

times when you needed it the most by creating thank-you cards. Bring your
own creative materials for this activity. The cards should be made by hand;
avoid printouts or ready-made. Give this card personally to the person you
are showing your gratitude to.

Assessment

Check Your Understanding

1. Are we pushing the responsibility for our existence on to society, instead of

facing the questions of who we are? Explain.
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2. Explain

"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without

faith, no explanation is possible.” - St. Thomas Aquinas
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 Additional Activities

1. Research on an individual who has overcome his/her limitations to great

success. Identify the factors that made that individual successful.

2. Make a personal commitment to overcome one of your personal limitations.

Track your progress in overcoming this limitation in your reflection journal.
Give an update on your progress after a month.

References
Aguilar, Pido. 2010. The Gift of Abundance. Manila. Claretian Publications.

Calano, Mark Joseph., et al. 2016. Philosophizing and Being Human: A

textbook for Senior High School. Quezon City. Sibs Publishing House,
Inc.

Edwards, Denis. 1983. Human Experience of God. New Jersey. Paulist Press.

Mandane, Orlando M. and Suazo, Ruby S. 2016. Thinking Human.

Talamban, Cebu City. University of San Carlos Press.

Merton, Thomas. 1948. The Seven Storey Mountain. New York: New
American Library.

Ramos, Christine Carmela R. 2016. Introduction to the Philosophy (2nd ed.)

Manila. Rex Bookstore, Inc.

For inquiries or feedback, please write or call:

Department of Education - Bureau of Learning Resources (DepEd-BLR)

Ground Floor, Bonifacio Bldg., DepEd Complex

Meralco Avenue, Pasig City, Philippines 1600

Telefax: (632) 8634-1072; 8634-1054; 8631-4985

Email Address: blr.lrqad@deped.gov.ph * blr.lrpd@deped.gov.ph