
manila.
date. 2024
locations: manila

Me: I'm in the Philippines, and people here are very easy-going, very friendly, very cheerful. I've never been anywhere like it. It actually came at a very good time, because, over the last year and a half, I’ve been trying to focus more on my body, and part of that was focusing less on my mind, and part of that was trying to be more shallow.
I’ve been trying to experience life in a more shallow way, which I've completely failed at because I went to India for the year to study philosophy. So that was the exact wrong thing to do.
Anyways, I experience Filipino culture to be incredibly shallow. And I don't mean it in a bad way. It's actually wonderful, and I love it.
S: I feel like I understand what you’re saying in terms of maybe certain cultures having a very deep experience. Their processes feel ancient, as if they’ve been done like so, so, so, so, so many times. India is also a physically overwhelming place to be in. So, in that regard, very hard to just live a shallow surface life when that shallow surface is the most uncomfortable thing. But, which of those things are you pointing at with this distinction?
Me: Personally, I happen to be living a very shallow lifestyle while I'm here, because I'm kind of recuperating from India. So just like work, rest, working out, eating, swimming, you know, going on some dates, just very low friction. But that's not really what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is the culture. So, the conversations you have with people, the perspective that people have, the way that people interact, the way that the things that society revolves around, they’re very shallow.
They don't take things very deeply. They don't take things very seriously. They don't think too much into things. They don't think that much into things at all. Everything is kind of just like right here in front of you. I know I'm not really doing good job of actually explaining what that looks like, but imagine a society of small talk. It's almost like how my dad talks about growing up in the South, where everything is just like, friendly and shallow. Everything is just like, “Hey, good morning, how are you? Oh, yeah, beautiful day today.” It’s very surface level, but bright.
S: Sounds like there’s potential for a rich subculture.
Me: Yeah. Of course I don't really have any real insight into Filipino culture, and I know that underneath that facade, or, that exposed layer, obviously, we're all humans, and we all suffer, and we all have to manage that suffering in some way. You don't have to talk about suffering specifically. We all have depth, obviously, but I just find that the core of the culture just doesn't sit at a deep level. It sits at a shallow level in a way that maybe Europeans feel when they visit America, that Americans are so shallow. Because it's true, our culture, American culture, I do think, sits at a more shallow level than a 3000 year old Italian city that has just so much nuance and depth to it, compared to, I don't know, Wichita, Kansas.
Again, I don't mean it in a negative way. I actually mean it in a beautiful way. Imagine hanging out with your eight-year-old nephew, if you had one. Just imagine what that interaction would look like. It would be very shallow, but you would love it. You don't have to argue, you don't have to open up and get all vulnerable and shit, you don't have to really deeply interact. You just enjoy each other's company. And for me, it's relieving, because for me, it's very hard to stay at the surface. I tend to ruminate or plan or consider or, you know, these more internal states, and here I'm constantly encouraged to just stay in the moment and experience things as they are, and not push or pull.
S: You should be a travel salesman. Just for your ability to sell somebody on a place, I'm like, this, this place sounds wonderful.
Me: I'm doing more than selling it. I'm actually interpreting it. Because a lot of people come to the Philippines, myself included, and they come here to mine, they come here to dig, and there's not much to dig, and there's not much to mine. By that, I mean, when you show up in Rome or London, you come ready, you put your sneakers on, you take out the map, and you spend the day digging, you know, digging into the culture, digging into the city, digging into the people.
And that's a wonderful thing to do, but here there's nothing. There's nowhere to dig. Like, you're going to go to another mall, you’re going to go to another fast food place? There's nowhere to go, there's nothing to see, nothing to do. And the culture is not there, like you're not going to see the culture. You're just going to see buildings and cars. You're going to see typical urban landscapes or stunning nature. Either way, just surfaces.
So, I'm doing more than selling it. I'm actually re-experiencing it. What I took to be boredom is actually just shallowness, and shallowness is a precious thing to find in a world where everything is so intense, and everything is so exhausting.
S: Well, like I said, you're selling it. I would go.
Me: It's really relieving. It's like an anti-anxiety pill. It's just, there's no way to really get upset here. It's like a room with all the edges covered in cushions. There's nowhere to bump into. Everything is just cozy and friendly and easy. You can't, you can't break through anything. You just… yeah, it’s very friendly. Very friendly.
S: It sounds fantastic. I do wonder about the nightlife culture. I wonder what, what's beneath the surface?
Me: I don’t. I specifically don’t, because I'm enjoying the surface so much, like even if I wanted to talk about this with a Filipino, I couldn't, because they would just laugh. They're not even going to engage on that level. They're unwilling to go beneath the surface to talk about these abstract nuances that complicate everything. In my experience, of course.
It’s been especially nice because this has been the year for me to try to engage more on the surface, and I'll take any opportunity I can to do that.
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S: Well, today is Wednesday and you had your LASIK done one week ago. Do you see the world any differently?
Me: I don't like it, man. I like having a little bit of a barrier between me and the world, a little bit of protection. Maybe everything's a little bit too cozy after all.