About the BOOK, ZERO AND INFINITY: Right at the beginning of this book, Henares writes of his religion, the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and with amazing clarity and insight, posits why it endured for 2,000 years and is destined to endure till the end of time. First reason is that despite monumental boo-boos like Holy Wars, Inquisition, the fraud that was Constitutum Constantini, and the stand against Galileo -- the Church frequently stood its ground against fanaticism, and provided stability and permanence for civilized man. The Divine Right of Kings, advanced by the Anglicans - the Puritanism of the Calvinists - the Iconoclasts who wanted to smash the statues of Italy - the Jansenists who wanted to destroy the dramas of France - the pessimism and perversions of the Albigensians - "Dominion founded on Grace" of the Lollards, a devout ideal, but impractical when it takes away all political rights and privileges from everybody who was not in a state of grace, thus prevents a policeman from doing his duty unless he gets absolution from his parish priest. The exaggerated errors of a whole generations, like the excesses of Western Imperialism, Socialism, Nazism, Communism, Capitalism, Agnosticism and Scientific Humanism at times kept the Church out of balance - but when the spirit of the age tends to go out of whack, at least Catholic doctrines proved not only right, but almost always right when everything else is wrong. It is a mind surviving a hundred moods. Time has proven the validity of its questioned practices. The validity of the Confessional in the face of the psychiatrist's couch. The validity of sentimental Charity in the face of brutal utilitarianism that dictates true value in terms of usefulness. The validity of true Humility in the face of national and individual pride. The validity of dogmatic harshness in the face of changing values and mores. Devotion to Mary not only in the Church but also in the Moslem and Protestant world, is a throwback to the Mother Principle which brings back unconditional love, mercy, understanding and religious tolerance among all religions, and thousands of gods sharing the same pantheon. Second reason, according to Henares, is the requirement of Celibacy, which assures constant replenishment of new blood from all races and peoples, born of humility not pride, dedicated to serve and not to rule - so different from ruling classes and imperial dynasties, based on blood and heredity, which are weakened eventually by in-breeding among the royalty, and plagued with internecine warfare based on the acquisition of power that decimate the best and the brightest. No one organization with a central authority lasted as long as the Catholic Church did. Original insights such as these make Henares one of the most important writers of our time. In this book Henares gives space to other writers he admires - Conrado de Quiroz, Maria Angela C. Mina, Rina Jimenez David, Teodoro Locsin Jr., Alex Magno, and to an unnamed writer, Danny Mariano of Inquirer Editorials. He pays tribute to World Poetry Day and the Shakespeare of his life, to Women Leaders. specially Gloria Macapagal Arroyo whom he hopes to be the second woman president of the Philippines. And he writes of the Human Condition - Of Sex Orgasm, and the Woman's Dysfunction Traceable to Fear, Shame, Guilt; of Dance, Dance, Dance, "Long before man raised his voice in song, he danced. He danced not to music, but to the rhythm of tom-toms on hollowed logs, and to drums of stretched-out skins. And he danced to attract a mate, to summon his courage in war, to celebrate his victories and to pay homage to his god. In time, he added music to the rhythm of the tom-tom, and the modern dance came into being." Then there is an absolute gem: Why Edsa was called Highway 54, why there is no Highway 53 or 55, why it was also called C-4, Circumferential Road, and eventually EDSA, and why it should be a symbol how the God almighty Americans (MORE INSIDE)
