George Sison, spiritual guru par excellence
Credit to Author: RAMON T. TULFO| Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2019 16:41:03 +0000
GEORGE Sison, spiritual and wealth-consciousness guru par excellence, passed away quietly last week.
His family had his body cremated and buried immediately without fanfare, as was his wish.
He asked that his passing away not be announced publicly.
I am violating here George Sison’s wish because he personally didn’t tell me.
George once told me, “When I die, Mon, don’t pray for the eternal repose of my soul. I know where I’m going.”
George had no concept of hell, only heaven.
He preached to us, his small band of disciples, on reincarnation and the power of the mind.
Whatever you always think about you will experience, according to George.
If, for example, you always think that you are rich — even if, at the moment, you are penniless — eventually you will be flooded with money.
On the few occasions I attended the spiritual sessions that he presided over, George said every man is God incarnate on earth.
And since God created the universe with Its (the Deity is androgynous) thoughts and words, so can man create things by his thoughts and words.
So, whenever you say, “I am,” the words following that phrase will become your experience; e.g., I am wealthy, I am a sinner, I am a winner, I am a loser.
George, who until his death wrote a Sunday column in the Inquirer, was one of the sons of businessman and philanthropist Carlos Moran Sison and civic leader and musician Priscilla de la Fuente-Sison.
He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
George was not just a member of Manila’s elite, he was a man who became more than what people expected of him — a maverick.
By turns, he was a model, theater actor, writer, composer, TV celebrity, and, finally, a spiritual guru.
George defied any normal description, except perhaps, for being a peculiar — but popular — man about town.
He has carved his own niche in history, first gaining national fame through his pen name Conde de Makati (Count of Makati).
As “Conde,” he wrote about Manila’s upper-crust society in the pre-Martial Law days.
He was fearless in publishing then President Ferdinand Marcos’ affair with the American actress Dovie Beams. For that, he was jailed.
He was known, too, as a friend of socialite and TV celebrity Elvira Manahan.
He had an air of spirituality about him. George was almost otherworldly in the way he thought of things.
He believed in a personal philosophy, which he would later term as “IAMism.” It was, as he described, a course of happiness.
George believed that all things that happen to us have a reason, and that we should give thanks, regardless of whether it affected us in a positive or negative way.
For example, he believed that what happens to us is a result of what we think and feel.
George also believed that our family and friends are those whom we chose to be with us as we reincarnated in this life. They are our karma, both our rewards and our learning experiences.
George extended his belief by offering it to others, through the Temple of Prayer, Peace and Prosperity (TOPPP).
For him, religion separated people, or drove them apart.
Religion, he said, was the cause of major wars.
He was disturbed, too, by the concentration of organized religions on suffering.
He said being poor is not a virtue, that your high or low social standing is a result of your consciousness.
George suggested through his beliefs and writings that spirituality was more important. Indeed, he thought of spirituality as the opposite of religion in many ways.
Spirituality, in George’s eyes, preaches about a God of love, a God who is love Itself.
Spirituality does not need suffering or trials in order to be important.
George would come by my office from time to time, to see how I was doing.
I remember fondly how he always seemed to be in white and dressed to the nines when he visited.
His presence, while not a surprise, was always a pleasant event in the office.
I met George through a mutual friend, the late Amelyn Veloso, broadcaster at CNN Philippines.
It was Melyn who convinced me to attend George Sison’s spiritual service and gatherings.
The news of George’s demise still shocks me no end.
I know that George would probably have told me not to announce his passing, but I can’t help but write about a person who touched my life in a big way.
It’s my way of paying tribute to a great soul who trudged this earth.
I’ve heard from others how he did not wish for people to know that he was sick, and this extended to his idea that he did not want people to know about his death.
I understand his request because for someone like George, death is a journey to another realm.
And then, of course, we will come back for another round of life in this world. And another. And another.
I would not be surprised if in the next life, George will be visiting me again, every now and then.
Perhaps he won’t wear his dapper white clothes, but I am sure that he will always be a spiritual guide.
Here’s one for you, George!
I will be seeing you in our next lifetime.
* * *
To the upstart columnist of the moribund Philippine Daily Inquirer, Kay Rivera: I am not paid as a special envoy to China.
Rivera said: “Special envoy to China Ramon Tulfo, criticized for calling Filipino workers ‘lazy and slowpoke,’ has responded in The Manila Times, ‘I will not apologize, not in a million years’ — already a difficult stand as a public figure and columnist, but irresponsible as a paid government official.” (emphasis mine – RTT).
You and your ghostwriters are showing your ignorance: Special envoys do not receive salaries. Their position is honorific, meaning it only conveys honor, not monetary remuneration.
On the matter of me apologizing for calling Pinoy construction workers lazy and slowpoke, why are you and your paper — my former paper, for that matter — so het up about it?
Ask the owners of the Inquirer, the Prietos, whether they treat their workers and underlings well.
Ask the Prietos and your editors at the Inquirer how many times I apologized to people whom I mistakenly accused of wrongdoing when I was still its columnist.
I once blasted a Manila policeman many years ago who I thought was part of a gang that robbed a bank in the Ermita and was killed in a shootout with responding lawmen.
It turned out that I was gravely mistaken: the dead cop was among the officers who responded to an alarm call!
You know what I did, hija?
I not only apologized in my “On Target” column at the first opportunity, I also went to his wake and faced his irate relatives.
I told his relatives I wouldn’t mind if they beat me up for desecrating his memory.
The relatives were kind enough to forgive me.
And why should I apologize for something for which I have the right as a columnist and as a Filipino citizen to say?
Hasn’t your newspaper heard of freedom of expression?
“Balanced news, fearless views” my ass!
As a parting shot, hija, have you asked the Prietos whether they’ve returned the P1-billion earnest money to business tycoon Ramon Ang in negotiations for buying up your moribund newspaper?
The deal did not push through because the Prietos priced the newspaper way too high.
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