module 4B exam reviewer

• Transcend self


  We all have limitations, but we can try to rise above and overcome them
• Effort to transcend self


  Process of growth, of maturing
• The human does not terminate in the self
• The human person is a self that is inherently open to someone who is not me
• This openness is received only by other persons, human and divine
• Potentiality of Self-Transcendence


  • Human nature gives us the potentiality to rise above and overcome our limitations
  • When we actualize potentiality through effort or struggle, we are acknowledging ourselves as beings worthy of unique respect
• Self-Respect


  Expresses my self-worth as a human person
• Self-transcendence


  Is the basis of self-respect
• Esteem

  Vis-à-vis Respect
• Some Basic Features of a Person

  • S/He owns a unique intimacy or inner world
  • S/He tends to reveal some aspects of this inner world
  • S/He is free to reveal this inner world
  • S/He has the capacity to gift this intimacy as well as to receive the gift of intimacy of another
  • S/He has the capacity to dialogue
  • S/He has the capacity to "have" or possess
  • S/He is someone existing in time and space
  • S/He is religious
• Inner World

  • Means s/he has subjectivity. S/He is a subject
  • This inner world is the "interiority" of his/her existence and acting
  • This inner world makes him/her a "someone," not some "thing"
  • The person is incommunicable
  • The person's human dignity is also incommunicable
  • To violate one's inner world is violence
• Bodiliness and sexuality


  Also form part of our intimacy
• Intimacy


  We disclose in the context of truth and trust
• Freedom to reveal intimacy

  I am free to disclose some aspects of my intimacy when, to whom, and whichever way I choose
• Capacity to gift intimacy and receive intimacy


  • The capacity to love (gift of self to another) and be loved (receiving the gift of love) is the most defining feature of the human person
  • Love is a fruit of inter-personal, inter-subjective relationships
  • Love is always free. We can choose to love
  • Some humans may fail to love in return. We cannot force specific persons to love us
  • There will always be someone who will love us
  • God never fails to love human person
• Capacity to dialogue


  • Dialogue implies there is "an other" who is not me. My "I" is affirmed because there is "you"
  • Dialogue (dia-logos) is not merely an intellectual exercise; the exchange of ideas, or opinions
  • Dialogue is the exchange of inner worlds
• Capacity to possess


  • We can possess material things
  • We can possess knowledge
  • We can possess habits
• Existing in time and space


  • We have a birthday
  • We will die one day – death day
  • We have a birthplace, a home address, a country, etc.
• Religious capacity


  • We have capacity to transcend time and space through knowledge and love
  • We can desire unlimited truth, goodness, beauty, and eternity