EVERYTHING HOLDS SPIRIT. All we could ever encounter in life, from the moment the sun’s rays shine until their surrender to the abyss of the night’s darkness, is filled with spirit. Every aspect of our lives, even the littlest things, breathes through the spirit that birthed them—and embracing it is momentous, for it is where we truly see what life and living is. 

In the quietest corners of our lives, we exist as we are today for a multitude of reasons. Some are deeply personal, while others extend beyond individual regard. Yet, in all of them, we are propelled by what makes us feel most alive. 

“In all these, we can only yearn for the same: that everything is to be lived in the present for the past and the future, in and for the spirit of it all, in a stark truth that life breathes not through vagueness but through the meaning that moves them, to the spirit that endures.” 

Often, in the face of adversity life carries, we forget to embrace the essence behind everything we are and everything we do. 

With every passing day, we move and breathe in and for the spirit of it all.  

We may choose to continue, for love carries the weight of every step that we make in this unceasing path to actualization. We may also do so out of disdain for the bitter truths that envelop our reality, in hopes that we’ll play a part in ending them.  

Never in our lives do we live in vagueness, for nothing exists without depth.  

In an ironic paradox, we may sometimes feel meaningless, but the act of even feeling it lies in the essence of how we are hungry to put meaning in everything we do. 

We may rise each day and push through the daily hardships, for we are fighting for something far greater than ourselves—in recognition of the truth that we are microcosms, pieces within the vastness of the universe, bearing the power to spark change and create the hues that will light the darkest spectrum of the world. 

Everything we could ever think of has an essence behind it. Just as our lives exist in depth and meaning, so too do art, knowledge, history—and most particularly, the law. 

Beyond their form, laws are vessels of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, peace, reason, morality, and accountability. They are not mere lifeless words engraved within our society, as they hold within them a spirit—an essence to promote and protect the common good. 

There are codified laws that stand as pillars of the principles of all for the common good, just as there is a Constitution that not only serves as a pillar but the entire cornerstone of the existence of a democratic Philippines. 

The Constitution, being the highest law of the land, possesses the spirit of nationalism and the Filipino identity. It is the sword and the shield, emulating the will of the people, protecting their rights, and guaranteeing accountability, in a collective vision of who Filipinos are and who they want to be. 

The spirit of our Constitution is the interest of the Filipino people. Its purpose is to serve justice and to safeguard the virtue of governmental accountability. However, it is distressing how this very spirit is violated in ways that it is not upheld but is used merely as a spiritless law, not in the essence of justice and accountability—when the Constitution is used not to preserve the people’s rights and welfare but to justify power devoid of its true intent, leaning on procedural technicalities over championing accountability. 

Technicalities and the spirit do not have to oppose one another. Laws without spirit are empty. Procedure without justice is hollow. The true significance herein is the reminder that the Constitution is not mere text but a living covenant that demands to be summoned in our decisions and embodied in our lives, lived by in the realization of its ultimate essence—justice and accountability. 

In all these, we can only yearn for the same: that everything is to be lived in the present for the past and the future, in and for the spirit of it all, in a stark truth that life breathes not through vagueness but through the meaning that moves them, to the spirit that endures. 

Email me at thebedan_newseditor@sanbeda.edu.ph