In this short interview, the author takes us up close with the Philippines’ beloved poet, fictionist, and literary critic
With a smile, Abad greeted me and asked me to sit very close to him and his newly-found circle of friends at the Cultural Centre of the Philippines. At the age of 83, the literary master admitted he could barely hear, yet he seemed so eager to start the interview.
Earlier, my mentor and editor carefully curated a set of questions so our dialogues with the newly-conferred artists may go smoothly. But just as we suspected, none of our script would make it out of our mouths, especially with someone like Abad, whose eccentric personality had taken me off guard.
Immediately the poet showed me a small piece of paper where he had penned his speech for the conferment ceremony. "I am supposed to deliver a message later, and this is what I am going to say, 'language is the supreme invention of the human consciousness,'" he mumbled.
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Abad, who is known for his works Fugitive Emphasis (1973), In Another Light (1976), The Space Between (1985), A Makeshift Sun (2001), and more, stressed that language is not just limited to words.
“Every language is sacred. All the arts have their own language. What do you suppose is the language of music? Most certainly, not just the words. What is the language of sculpture? Of architecture? All the arts, they have their respective language to communicate, to express,” he said.
He further explained that to be able to grasp the true power of language, one must first understand the difference between communication and expression. “When you communicate with language, you say your words. But when you sing or paint, for example, you express, and expression means you have to focus and really know yourself – from where are you drawing from? What are you trying to communicate?”
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According to Abad, a man must look into the deepest layers of his skin to know what it is that he truly wants to communicate.
“The psyche is the human consciousness; that is your inner self, that is your spirit, and that is your soul. [When you express], you are drawing from yourself and therefore you should also know the difference between ‘meaning’ and ‘meaningfulness,’”
“To have meaning is to make sense of something, while to be meaningful is to achieve a certain depth in your consciousness. To get a grasp of what is real, what is true and what is right,” he explained.
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