Imagination in History: A Discourse

Imagination is important to history indeed. As much as interpretation gives life to history, imagination also gives color to it. Otherwise, history could have been the most favorite among all other subjects since children love stories, even adults do. Variety of entertainment is in history; the story of the world is in it. They say there are only three interesting subjects to be talked about: my story, yours, and of the other people. And that is history. Hence, if art is applied to it, no wonder, people would love it at best.
   Imagination is an art. It is actually being used in literature. Mostly, it is used in descriptive writing whether it is objective or subjective, or spatial in its flow. It allows the reader to paint a picture of people, place, organization or an event. Well, history too needs imagination since it is not only a science, but also an art.
   History and Literature, even though these fields of study are different in nature; they’re closely related in structure. In history, a historian uses facts of evidences and that is objectivity. Further, he uses his mind to interpret and imagine the past as lively and as beautiful as he could by the use of the gathered evidences, and that is subjectivity.
   In literature, the writer, or, let us be more particular, a poet or a fictionist writes more subjectively and even usually embellished. That is simply because literature is dramatic. Besides, it aims more to entertain than to contribute factual knowledge about the humanity. It may be used as a call for nationalism by the use of, of course, representations of the characters to the real people in the society (like the novels of Rizal) but still, it is indirect and may confuse the speculators of history if literary records will be used as basis in history.
   Therefore, Teodoro Agoncillo was right in his point that the historian’s task is to narrate events without any exaggerations, or even, we must also consider this, omission. Like in our first understandings in the Philosophy of History, history must be seen in its wholeness and not on one side only. How else do historians expect their readers to do such standard in the Philosophy of History if they omit important things in their writings for some irrational reasons such as impression, satisfaction, and desire to avoid exile, or the least, prejudices?
   On the other hand, it is not only omission that a historian must be watchful of (watchful because, of course, a historian must be selective), but also exaggerations. One cannot and must not embellish a bad to worst or a good to best. Otherwise, his writings will be highly questionable.
   As much as it is true that a writer of history must not distort any factual event, date or place, it is also true that he must not be a good one if he writes things which are not acceptable in terms of using his imaginations. Like in the example in the Mass at Limasawa, saying that there was a total silence while the Mass was being conducted would be an obvious exaggeration. How could that be? Where in fact, Leyte faces the Pacific Ocean and that time of the year, summer was approaching... well, winds might have probably been blowing toward their direction (given that it was at daytime and it winds indeed; the sea breeze-blows toward the land). If the wind was blowing toward them, the trees must have made some rustling noise. Now, that is exaggeration through imagination.
   Unlike interpretation that cannot be wrong or right but only be valid or invalid, sensible or nonsense, etc., I say that imagination in here can be wrong if not given much thought at all. Thus, a historian, or an aspiring one must be careful with his imaginations. Let the evidences be the guide and we provide the picture of it in our minds as it was before. Besides, we have the grounds to just limit ourselves in imagining because there is no such thing as a “complete history”.
   Another thing, as Professor E.H. Carr said, “History cannot be written unless the historian can achieve some kind of contact with the mind of those about whom he is writing.”

Professor Edward Hallet Carr

I concede because imagination is re-living the past and one cannot possibly think the way his subject did or at least understand his subject.

   See through the past according to what you know is right and true. Be rational in giving reasons to why you write certain descriptions of the people, place and events you are writing. Lastly, don’t fabricate the facts if you want to honor yourself with a name of a true historian. Be subjective, interpret and imagine as much as you want, just make sure you don’t go beyond the borders of history.

Published last February 17, 2015

Miss Universe 2015: A Filipino Mask

The most enticing thing that the world could offer to us is beauty itself. Beauty is something that all of us long for; it is in each of us, the urge to do something beautiful or, simply said, be beautiful. Every culture, race, and basically every person has their own different tastes and views about beauty. Embedded in our inner personalities, beauty could often resort to an insatiable thirst that we are tempted to acquire. Even I, honestly, am tempted to do beauty in writing this piece. I have this itch that I feel inside me that if I couldn’t write it in a manner worthy of beauty, then what good will it be? This is what I can describe of that enticement to be beautiful. But it is not my intention to talk about myself or to prove that this piece is worthy of reading. This is about the reality and the auspicious offers of beauty in our society. And one of those offers are being accepted in a caste where people are being looked upon; in this case, the recent and controversial Miss Universe 2015 pageant.

Crowned Miss Universe 2015 Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach

         For those of us who have always been so dreamy about acquiring a title that, for us, would be the most lasting beauty that we can have, a crown is a symbol that we can often relate to. It doesn’t always mean a literal crown, but a title that ranks us more significant than others. Recently, everybody was talking about the crowning of Ms. Pia Wurtzbach as the Miss Universe 2015, I mean, who wouldn’t? Everyone was crazy about it. It was, or at least seemed to be, the most controversial Miss Universe Pageant ever. I am sure that every one of us, I guess, saw the pageant or, at least, have heard of it. But there we go; it seems that, for us, those things just happen. We can’t take that fact away; it is in our heads, every time we mention the name of our new Miss Universe, we can picture out the controversy. But for some, the Miss Universe pageant is just a façade that hides the real appearance of our system.

The Philippines is a country where people desire prominence and acceptance to a higher class. It is in the history of Filipinos, that we crave and desire for that elegance. And we, as Filipinos, have adopted it up until today. We can’t take that away, it is the pride of our people to be viewed in a higher level; to be respected and adored. But as we look closer to the Filipino, there is that darkness that lurks and could almost consume him/her. We cannot deny the present situation of our motherland, every time we face the occurrences in our country, we can see that darkness that overshadows us. And there is nothing worth of beauty to be embraced in it. We always say that we cannot appreciate beauty if there is no ugliness that is present. True, but I am not convinced that appreciating one thing is the same as appreciating the whole of it. We have that tendency that if we are appreciated, we have that moral responsibility that we should uplift every one of us. If I haven’t made my point clear enough, let’s look at the Miss Universe Pageant winner. She’s a Filipina, and by saying the term Filipina we, as a people would have that pride that she’s one of us, therefore, we are a better people. Sure, we can think of that, but we should note that not every Filipina could be Miss Universe!

Now, you might be wondering why I said that the Miss Universe is just a “façade.” Let’s go back to the Philippine society. The present darkness or ugliness that persists in our system is difficult to be recouped, and in an attempt to make things look better, we put on a mask. But then, it’s just a mask, isn’t it? Here comes the Miss Universe Pageant, the winner was a Filipina, and we still can’t get over that it was a controversial annunciation. But still, we have that pride inside us (which we should really have), that it was our kind who won the Miss Universe Crown. However, it isn’t just the whole of it. There is much more to be seen in the Philippine side, and we cannot neglect the bitter side of it. My point is not recounting the negative aspects of Philippine circumstance. What I am trying to point out is that we should make ourselves worthy to be accounted beautiful, and not just sending an emissary announcing and advertising that we are entirely good, which is not. We must be vigilant about this kind of doing since it is for our own benefit.

It is really hard to resolve something really, really, wrong; but it doesn’t mean it’s impossible. I still believe that the Philippines and the Filipino is, by nature, beautiful. But being called beautiful is not just focusing on climbing in a comfortable situation; it is by being resilient when an ugly condition is at hand. We should remember that beauty is not just limited to having a crown or winning a contest, rather it is a matter we should always achieve every day, and every moment of our lives.

Kudos to Ms. Pia Wurtzbach! Kudos to the Filipino!