Poetry
The Embodiment and Disembodiment of the Soul in J. Neil Garcia’s Kaluluwa of Selected Poems
Kaluluwa stresses on the void between self and the Soul, the tangible and the intangible, and finally the reaffirmation of its fragile clinging to life as a form of renewal.
J. Neil Garcia’s Kaluluwa can be characterized with metaphysical, psychological, cultural and artistic elements throughout the collection.
Kaluluwa attempts to interweave metaphysical and animist accounts of spirituality, wagering everything on the necessary unity of all corporeal knowledge, all embodied imaginings of the soul. (Garcia)
The soul is either defined as (1) the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal. (2) a person’s moral or emotional nature or sense of identity (3) emotional or intellectual energy or intensity, especially as revealed in a work of art or an artistic performance (3) the essence or embodiment of a specified quality (4) an individual person (Oxford Dictionary)
All definitions can be attributed to the collection – as Garcia brings different analogies and facets of the soul throughout the selected poems.
Kaluluwa is the Tagalog word for soul. Its root is “d/luwa” or two, supposedly signifying the dual and finally cloven nature of the soul as embodied and disembodied.
Kaluluwa, ikararuwa or kararuwa and inikaduwa all come from the root word, duwa: two. That is because the soul has two existences—one physical, where it is connected to the human body and its life, and the other spiritual, where it exists on its own. The Ilokano kadkadduwa further derives from kadduwa meaning “companion.” The doubling of kad intensifies the nature of the companionship so that it means “a constant companion” or an “inseparable partner,” therefore an attached companion of the living person. (Fernando& Zialcita)
The soul, which is the center of the analysis—in many traditional spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions—is the incorporeal
Kaluluwa stresses on the void between self and the Soul, the tangible and the intangible, and finally the reaffirmation of its fragile clinging to life as a form of renewal.
J. Neil Garcia’s Kaluluwa can be characterized with metaphysical, psychological, cultural and artistic elements throughout the collection.
Kaluluwa attempts to interweave metaphysical and animist accounts of spirituality, wagering everything on the necessary unity of all corporeal knowledge, all embodied imaginings of the soul. (Garcia)
The soul is either defined as (1) the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal. (2) a person’s moral or emotional nature or sense of identity (3) emotional or intellectual energy or intensity, especially as revealed in a work of art or an artistic performance (3) the essence or embodiment of a specified quality (4) an individual person (Oxford Dictionary)
All definitions can be attributed to the collection – as Garcia brings different analogies and facets of the soul throughout the selected poems.
Kaluluwa is the Tagalog word for soul. Its root is “d/luwa” or two, supposedly signifying the dual and finally cloven nature of the soul as embodied and disembodied.
Kaluluwa, ikararuwa or kararuwa and inikaduwa all come from the root word, duwa: two. That is because the soul has two existences—one physical, where it is connected to the human body and its life, and the other spiritual, where it exists on its own. The Ilokano kadkadduwa further derives from kadduwa meaning “companion.” The doubling of kad intensifies the nature of the companionship so that it means “a constant companion” or an “inseparable partner,” therefore an attached companion of the living person. (Fernando& Zialcita)
The soul, which is the center of the analysis—in many traditional spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions—is the incorporeal
Bibliography: Benitez, Conrado. History of the Philippines. Boston. 1929. Brooks, Cleanth and Robert Penn Warren. Understanding Poetry. New York: Holt, Rinehard and Winston, 1996. Christopher, Milbourne. Search for the Soul, Thomas Y. Crowell Publishers, 1979 Fernando, Francisco Demetrio S.J., Gilda and Fernando Zialcita. The Soul Book. GCF Books. Panay Avenue, Quezon City, 1991. Garcia, J. Neil. Kaluluwa: New and Selected Poems. Philippines: The University of Santo Tomas Publishing House, 2001. Print. Jung, C. The Practice of Psychotherapy. London. p. 63. 1993 Kroeber, A. Philippine Religious Nomenclature. Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History Vol. XIX. 1918. Ryle, Gilbert. The Concept of Mind, London: Hutchinson. 1949 Swinburne. The Evolution of the Soul. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1997 Young-Eisendrath, P. and Dawson, T. The Cambridge Companion to Jung. Cambridge University Press, p. 319. 1997.