The Life and Works of Jose Rizal

Metacognitive Reading Report # 4

Name: James Brian R. Ventura Date: July 15, 2019

1. Three (3) Things that I significantly learned from the readings

 After reading the assigned material, I was able to learn that Rizal’s legacy to
Philippine society is multi-pronged and left a very complex system of implications.
Rizal has always been known as a patriotic hero who fought for the emancipation
of our country from Spanish tyranny, but Lahiri’s paper also revealed to me that
Rizal’s multi-faceted history gave way to the mitosis of his identity in the Philippine
culture and its subsets of cultures. Consequently, he’s now also known to others as
an accomplished writer, a mystical being, as well as a religious idol. There is an
apparent measure of how great of an impact Rizal had made into the deep recesses
of our country’s growing societal consciousness.

 I also discovered that Rizal’s life and works paved the way to the establishment of
a religious group dedicated to him, who identifies themselves as Rizalistas. Given
that Rizal had challenged the Catholic faith in his works, it is quite ironic that
several groups of people have taken his works into spiritual accounts, let alone that
of his own established religion. The mystifying essence that Rizal had allegedly
harbored, overrides the norms of other religions, such as those of Catholicism. Their
belief that Rizal would emerge from Mt. Banahaw in an indefinite time fram
parallels that of Christ’s second coming for the salvation of humanity. Although
several scholars and religious authorities would argue that Rizal is a moral example
for people, to me, it’s quite absurd that this certain group would liken Rizal in the
echelon of God himself, which is in fact a sign of over glorification.

 Lahiri’s paper was able to point out to me that there is an existing sense of urgency
that we Filipinos have failed to acknowledge over the years, his ultimate will of
preserving our national identity and prioritizing the sake of our homeland over
foreigners. Issues of that nature are very much rampant until now. The
romanticization of Rizal’s life in different contexts has made us lose sight of the
true reason why he had sacrificed his life for the country. It is very unfortunate that
even a foreigner such as Lahiri was able to identify the root cause, while we his
compatriots basked his legacy in a different light and continue to live in a society
wherein almost everything that we know, from language to religion, are purely
foreign in origin. There is clearly a paradox between the topic of Rizal and our
nationalistic consciousness.

2. Three (3) Things that are still unclear to me

 I was left asking for additional context on how Anderson’s discussions led Lahiri
to her dissertation on Rizal’s impact to Philippine society. I could’ve gotten more
specific information on Anderson’s discussions so that it could be referenced for
more readings in understanding the significance of Rizal’s works in Anderson’s
point of view.

 I am very much skeptic about the whole framework of the Rizalistas. Though their
ideologies point out to Rizal’s

 Like Lahiri, I am currently bombarded with so many questions on what it really

means to read someone’s life and how its significance affects the whole community.

3. I used to think that….

 Rizal was singularly known for being a patriotic hero. But more than that, he
transmogrified into many things. He’s also considered as a totem of nationalism, a
mystical force that was tasked to safeguard the country, and as a prolific writer who
had so many thoughts and expressions of love for his homeland. As different as
these may all be, it can never be denied that Rizal was and will always be an icon
in our history. He is the precursor of many generations, including ours, in
manifesting the sense of nationalism and protecting the pearl of the orient seas,
which is the Philippines.

4. Three (3) questions that I want to ask about the readings

 The formation of the Rizalist faith was established on the grounds of Rizal’s life,
but how is the stability of their faith going to withstand further interjections of doubt
over the credibility of Rizal’s mystical affinities?

 As also stated by Lahiri, did Rizal really consider discussing the concept of
xenophobia in some of his polemic works? Was it a fundamental aspect in his
Reformist views?

 In this post-modernist age, how could we properly adapt the ideologies that Rizal
has bequeathed to us?