There are no pieces of sensitive information contained in it, so I figured it'd do no harm to post it here.
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Namaste!
I'm Ludwig Bon Mirgiño Quirog, a 22-year-old Boholano. I've been an official member of the T.S. since 2008, but I've been attending meetings since as early as 7-years-old. My parents, Boni and Liza, are both Theosophists themselves so I was introduced to Theosophical ideas and literature early.
As a child, I grew up picking up all sorts of information from my environment and learning from them instead of following a funnel with a single view. I was taught that everything, including chairs and pillows, had life. I was also trained never to hate anything or anyone for any reason.
I had a fascination for comparative religion when I was little. I studied Eastern spiritualities with my parents and I even went through a phase where I declared myself a Buddhist with a dream of becoming a monk one day—which caused me to be ridiculed by everyone who didn’t understand.
In 2007, with the inspiration of my father and the world’s need for peace, I started to get involved with the interfaith dialog efforts of the United Religions Initiative. I fell in love with the organization because its cause is centered on ending religiously-motivated violence and promoting peace among the world’s different religions and spiritual traditions through dialog in grassroots communities—similar to the Theosophical principle of Universal Brotherhood. For the U.R.I., I co-founded a Cooperation Circle called Trust, Understanding, and Learning Among Youth—T.U.L.A.Y. C.C., for short. Its aim is to build trust and understanding by learning from each other. Moreover, it is primarily a circle that promotes environmental awareness, so its activities mostly have to do with Earth care endeavors such as coastal clean-ups, tree planting, awareness seminars, and nature appreciation trips.
In 2010, I turned my post as coordinator of T.U.L.A.Y. C.C. over to a co-founder of mine and I became the primary coordinator of Bohol Goodwill Volunteers Inc., the organization that my father had founded in 1996, which is also a cooperation circle of the U.R.I. Its advocacy is mainly social issue awareness and personal outlook transformation. We promote peace through spreading information on acceptance of human differences in race and gender orientation, and proliferation of a positive attitude towards gender equality among many things.
Last November, I was elected president of the Bohol Theosophical Lodge. I accepted it as a big challenge and with great honor. Yes, it entails a lot of responsibilities, but it is absolutely not a burden. As much as I will be able to help lots of people, I will also be helping myself in the process. And joining the B.S.G. is an awesome way to kick start things.
