Pond - a place for meditation and to find inner peace

 Pond - a place for meditation

             and to find inner peace

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

“The quieter you become, the more you can hear.” -Anonymous

 Hut by a Pond, painting by the author

Part 1 - Anatomy of a Pond 

A pond is a transient environment. Unlike a stream, river, or lake, it has feeble currents or none at all. It is surrounded by thick vegetation which, advances towards the pond as it grows older. As the pond fills up with sediments and muck, and its bottom gradually drains, higher plants become progressively abundant.
        

At this stage, it is impractical to stratify the water into zones based on depth since the forces of wind and convection keep the whole volume of water in circulation so that at any depth the temperature is fairly uniform and the amount of gases, notably oxygen and carbon dioxide is equally distributed.

         

The relatively large ratio of surface to volume of ponds make them most susceptible to weather and climatic changes than large bodies of water. Because of their small size they are also susceptible to changes in physiographic conditions like erosion and deposition. Likewise they suffer much effect from pollution, changes in the chemical composition of the water, and the influence of the biota on their physical structure.

         

Like any community a pond grows, passes a relatively stable mature phase, and ultimately dies. This basic ecological cycle is a result of interplay between organisms and their environment. Organisms live in an environment where they are adapted, and remain in the most stable area or niche which best spells out their success as population and members of an interacting ecosystem.

         

      The physical nature of the environment consequently determines what types of organisms can settle successfully. Temperature, rainfall, altitude, soil conditions and other abiotic factors decisively influence the kinds of plants that survive in a given locale. Vegetation in turn, as well as the animals, have selected effects on the kind of biotic community in that region. The presence of a set of organisms gradually alters the local conditions. Raw materials are withdrawn from the environment in large quantities, and metabolic wastes are returned together with dead organisms, but of another form and in different place, thus resulting to redistributions and alterations of vast quantities of substances.

          

Native catfish stir in delight in the presence of guests at the garden 

pond of the Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

This means that later generations of the original organisms may find the altered local environment no longer suitable for themselves so that the members of the community must resettle elsewhere or die out. Later a new community of different plants and animals arrive and settle down. Again this new community will alter the area according to its own specialization. Hence, it is said that the living and non-living parts of the environment are vitally interlinked, that changed in one produces change to the other.

          As a typical ecosystem, a pond relates a classical story. Most ponds must have originated during the last ice age when the moving glaciers scraped out giant sinks. Others have been known to have originated from a portion of a bay or lake which was isolated by a sandbar by the action of waves and wind. Pirated rivers may also form into ponds. Most of the newly formed ponds may be wiped out days, months or years later, by storm or silt deposition. But a better-protected pond survives the drastic geologic fate. It must somehow face the slow process of ecological succession through which continuous dynamic processes take place that will ultimately lead to the accumulation of organic matter and silt.

         

On the functional aspect of ecological succession, like in any lentic communities, the progressive increase of organic matter which fills up the pond will lead into a heterotrophic conditions which means that the dependent organisms (heterotrophs) will increase in proportion to the increase of the producers (autotrophs). This results to an increased gross production of aquatic and semi-terrestrial organisms, and therefore, increased heterotrophy.

          The placenta of life in a lentic environment is the fertile bottom. The mudflat is actually a part of the bottom of the pond that intermittently comes out for a quick drying only to be submerged like in a cycle, incubating impregnation of eggs and dormant lives.   The mudflats are therefore exposed and submerged at intervals depending upon the amount of water that enters the pond from the headend and from the surrounding watershed. As the remaining aquatic zone further shrinks and the water flow meanders along the bottom, wider flats are formed.

        No zone in the pond is richer in variety and in number of living things, and no types of interrelationships could be more complex, if not deceiving or unknown, than the aquatic zone where life continues on n some amazing and mystic ways. 

Hillside Ponds, painted by the author

There are evidences that these dynamic changes shall go on until the pond has completely transformed into a terrestrial ecosystem, despite such threat of pollution which may had already marked the face of the pond, and had turned the tide of balance in nature.

      But nature proves flexible with change. Normal changes would simply be dismissed by Nature’s own way of adjusting the role of it’s own creatures. Changes shape the conditions of the environment; Nature shape its organisms to fit better into it.

          The bottom of the pond is directly affected by the amount of water and by water flow. It is the recipient of silt and other sediments from plant residues from the surrounding watersheds and from the immediate shoulders of the pond. The decreasing area occupied by water may indicate that age of the pond, and the changes which, undoubtedly lead towards an irreversible transition from aquatic to terrestrial state.

          Typical of old ponds and lakes, the aquatic zone considerably decreases with the lack of water supply and by the steady deposition of silt and decomposing plant remains- not to mention the garbage and other wastes thrown into the pond by unscrupulous residents in the area. The black, spongy and fertile are an envy of many plant species and consequently of the dependent animal organisms. From time to time pioneer plants venture for a try to settle every time terrestrial conditions begin to prevail. But in many parts of the old exposed bottom left by the receding water, terrestrial plants can not settle down because time and again the water immediately submerges the previously baked flats to become once more a slosh of mud that readily shallows a wader to his knees. And so the outcome of the battle turns to the advantage of the water plants- Eichhhornia, Alternanthera, Jussiaea, and Pistia, and of course to the ever-present thick scums of blue-greens and green algae with their co-dependents. Ipomea, the adventuresome Brachiaria and other grasses on the other hand are pushed back to safer limits where they wait again for conditions to favor another invasion, that is when the mudflats shall come out to the sun again.

Henry David Thoreau's quote in Walden Pond where he lived for a year detached from 'civilization.' See complete quotation below.   

          
The story of competition between the two groups continues indefinitely and all the while the sluggish water meanders against the shoulders of the pond and etches the old bottom. But all along, sediments are being arrested and piled upon the bottom until small isolated “islands” formed in the middle of the water zone. The isolation of these islands can not be for long, so their barrenness, for the dormant seeds under the warm rich soil suddenly come to life and together with air borne seeds and spores, and the stranded shoots and tillers, which altogether make these islands small lustful worlds in themselves.

          No place in the aquatic zone is absolutely for a particular species. However the dominance of a species can be noted from one place to another. For example, the pseudo-islands in the middle of the aquatic zone may be dominated by Brachiaria, while the lower part of the pond adjacent to rear gate where water is impounded to some six inches deep, harbors the remnants of the once dominant Eichhornia. At the headend, the old bottom may be covered up with grass, except in places that may be occupied by Jussiaea repens, a succulent broad-leaf and a water-loving species.

          Any decrease in area of the true aquatic zone a corresponding increase of the immediate zone. Terrestrial plant species continuously pursue the reclaimed flats. Ipomea and Alternanthera species appear at the front line of the invasion while the grasses stand by. The logic is that the former can better withstand the conditions of the waterline. Their roots bind the particles of silt and humus, which are suspended in the water, and when the plants die, organic matter is added, thus favoring the terrestrial species take over. It is as if these benefactors are robbed at the end by their own beneficiaries.

          The aquatic and shore zones are more or less homogenous as far as their principal plant species are concerned. This could be explained by the fact that the newly established zone (aquatic zone invaded by plants) is but an extension of the shore zone, and was it not that the shore zone a part of the aquatic zone?

          Hence, the close relationship of the two zones can be readily noted, although they can be divided by alterne, this demarcation is not steady as shore vegetation spreads out into the water zone.

          The phytoplankton composed of countless green algae, flagellates, diatoms, desmids and a multitude of bacteria are the precursors of the food pyramid. In an illustration, they form the broad base of the structure, which is the foundation of a pyramid. If simplified, the phytoplankton make up the larger link of a chain with which other links join---those of the zooplanktons to join first, then the insect larvae and nymphs, then the larger organism, and so on. The farthest link is made up of the decomposers that ultimately join with the link of organic matter and the humus upon which many phytoplankton and higher plants depend upon. Although the “food chain” is not really as clean-cut and orderly as this (there are short circuits and short-cuts of the chain), there is undoubtedly an existing order in the community, and that parasitism, predatism, saprophytism, commensalism, etc., are but “linking” relationship of a greater whole, the ecosystem.

          In the pond, the rooted as well as the floating plants and the phytoplankton are the “producers”. They support the herbivores (insects and fishes), and they add organic matter when parts or the whole of their bodies die. Zooplanktons generally feed upon the phytoplankton, although some are dependent upon organic matter and humus. Small fishes, crustaceans and insects eat the zooplanktons in turn,, and these will be eventually eaten by carnivores. If not eaten, every plant and animal eventually die and decompose, its protoplasm reduced to the basic materials that green plants needed for growth.

          The shores progressively widen following the drying of the mudflats. This area is usually dominated by Brachiaria mutica. Other plants belonging to Convulvolaceae, Amaranthaceae and Malvaceae may be next in number. During the rainy season the shores are waterlogged. The soil is black and it emits methane and ammonia gases, which show that anaerobic decomposition is taking, place. Muck is the product of this slow process. The soil is rather acidic but many plants tolerate it. High ferrous content can also be noted as rusty coloration, a characteristic of waterlogged soil.

          Towards the end the shore becomes dry. Vegetation changes follow a dynamic pattern, the grass producing numerous secondary stalks, which become thick and bushy. The broad-loaf species tend to grow in clumps or masses. Some plants in the slope zones descend to join some plants in the shore zone, some are forced a prostate growth. Along the water line the grass is tall and verdant green.

     Soon the pond will die.~

Part 2 - Silence of the Pond

Painting and Poem by Abe V Rotor

Silence of the Pond, AVR Circa 1989

Here true silence lies,

not eerie, not deafening,

for silence is communion

of self and surrounding.

Here true silence lies:

leaves quiver in the breeze,

ripples gently rise and fade,

buzz the honey bees.

Here true silence lies,

in the rhythm of the sky,

the rainbow a huge harp,

music all that sing or cry.

Here true silence lies:

the sound of the pond,

not in its depth or breadth;

the trees by their bond.

Here true silence lies,

beyond the audible,

in magic waves in the air,

and the perceptible.

Here true silence lies,

giving in is acceptance,

the root of humility,

courage in any instance.

Here true silence lies,

when the heart longs, yet sings;

thoughts not to reason but flies

from the confines of living.

Here true silence lies,

sweet memories an art

in the silence of a pond,

throbbing in the heart. ~

ANNEX - Walden Pond 

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion." - Henry David Thoreau, Walden, "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For" A contemporary review of Walden

"The economical details and calculations in this book are more curious than useful; for the author's life in the woods was on too narrow a scale to find imitators. But ... he says so many pithy and brilliant things, and offers so many piquant, and, we may add, so many just, comments on society as it is, that this book is well worth the reading, both for its actual contents and its suggestive capacity."                    - A.P. Peabody, North American Review, 1854

100 years later... 
"Thoreau, very likely without quite knowing what he was up to, took man's relation to nature and man's dilemma in society and man's capacity for elevating his spirit and he beat all these matters together, in a wild free interval of self-justification and delight, and produced an original omelette from which people can draw nourishment in a hungry day."

- E.B. White, The Yale Review, 1954 

 

25th Anniversary Commemoration - Attack on the World Trade Center, September 11, 2001 (9/11) Birth of the NOOSPHERE

                                                                  Usapang Bayan

25th Anniversary Commemoration of September 11, 2001 (9/11)

     Birth of the NOOSPHERE:

     Global Collective Consciousness

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

avrotor.blogspot.com

18th year 5232 posts/lessons

 

The attack on the World Trade Center on the morning on September 11, 2001 (9/11) caused intense, excruciating painful surge of grief and anger and sadness to millions and millions all over the world via media, albeit personal experience at the site in NY,  instantly forming a global collective consciousness, a sheathe of mental energy that actually altered the operation of computers, thus ushering the birth of a third evolution of our planet – The Noosphere.      

                                                                      

                           

                            Ms Melly C Tenorio, host, and Dr Abe V Rotor, Guest    

                      

Collective consciousness is not new. It is traced to the binding force of our basic unit of society, the family, expanding to that in a tribe, community, onto the national level. Thus we have the term nationalism to which the citizens, bound by commonalities in language, customs, beliefs, laws, ideology and other factors, unite and pledge their allegiance with pride and respect. 

Today with cyber communication, social media, modern transport, breakthroughs in science and technology and growth of megacities, collective consciousness is evolving and inevitably expanding into a global scale.  It is visualized as a planetary sphere of mind, a mental sheathe of the earth. It is the third evolutionary event that our planet earth is undergoing.  It is called noosphere – the unity of all minds and its thinking layer, in the words of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1926).

Prior to this, the first planetary evolution resulted in the stabilization of our fiery and tumultuous planet to form the geosphere which later began to support life becoming a global ecological system millions of years later - the biosphere, which is our living world today. This time we are entering into a new evolution – that of the human mind: noosphere.  

Collective consciousness (sometimes collective conscience) is a fundamental sociological concept that refers to the set of shared beliefs, ideas, attitudes, and knowledge that are common to a social group or society. (Concept developed by Emile Durheim,  1894)

Towards a Noosphere from the Big Bang  in acrylic by AV Rotor  2001

The Computer and Social Media

With scientific breakthrough in communication, we are virtually just a call away from one another wherever we are at any given time. Worldwide we watch the same programs on TV and the Internet, celebrate common festivities, adapt standard curricula in school, ride cars, and build houses of common make and design. 

We keep abreast with the stock market, the same way with follow sports, fashion, and tourism. We shop on e-commerce, enroll in e-learning, preside over meeting via teleconference. The whole world is wired, so to speak.  We live in a very modern world indeed.  The gap of consciousness separating individuals is fast dissolving, and that between kids and grownup is narrowing down. In fact, in the world of computers the millennials are far ahead. “Students teach teachers” maybe an exaggeration but this is true with electronic devices and use of social media. This is a scenario to illustrate our expanding and converging collective consciousness in our postmodern era, and now with magic of AI (Artificial Intelligence) complicating the milieu.  

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*Princeton University researchers have been trying to measure the hypothetical giant humanity-encompassing hive mind, by tracking the effect of events on a network of computers around the world. – Patrick J Kiger (9/11 and Global Consciousness)

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Collective Effervescence

But the earliest proof of collective consciousness is traced to aboriginal societies that practiced religion in its earliest and purest form by periodically gathering to eat, dance, cry, intoxicate, whip themselves to delirium, and the like.  Such state of collective consciousness and ecstasy brings material-spiritual and ideal-spiritual experiences to individual and social well-being. The effect is called  collective effervescence.

Ati-atihan festival in Aklan

Similarly we experience universal joy and merriment in Christmas, New Year, Valentine, and in lesser celebrations like Thanksgiving, Independence, and in local and family affairs. In fact collective consciousness strengthens our religious faith, sense of nationalism, stimulates our creativity, our compassion for one another, or simply takes us to fantasy as a coping mechanism from the harsh realities of life.   

However, what we wish from collective consciousness is the making of an ideal society - a society that is peaceful and harmonious, progressive and sustainable. It is a kind of collective consciousness we wish to create reminiscent of Plato’s Republic, though elusive, has been the dream of humankind.

Collective Consciousness and History

Theories have been put forward since the time of the Greeks and the Romans, whose adage “the glory that was Greece, the grandeur that was Rome” attests to that dream of an ideal society. Ironically, their civilizations declined and fell obscure in the Dark Ages. The term alone implies the dark period of human society which lasted for more than a millennium. Collective consciousness that bound the two civilizations, the Greco-Roman, was shattered and later its fragments were gathered and adapted by warring kingdoms or fiefs.

It was in the Renaissance Period starting in the 15th century that our world found a new beginning – the revival of collective consciousness, a prototype of the old Greco-Roman values, ranging from religion and the humanities to politics and socio-economics.   It flourished quickly in its place of origin, Florence, and swept across Europe onto the opposite side of the globe.  The age of colonization carried out this social reform to different parts of the world, including the Philippines.  The birth of new nations which joined other nations including former masters, ultimately after WWI, formed the United Nations which is the world’s umbrella of cooperation and peace.    

Again our collective consciousness was divided by the Cold War which separated the world into two ideologies – capitalism and socialism.  The world stood still in fear of a possible Armageddon.  Fortunately the Cold War ended in 1989 with the reunification of divided countries like Germany and Vietnam, and on the other hand, the dissolution of USSR. Collective consciousness began to take shape under a freer global system of politics and economics, and in fact, with the development of modern communication and transportation, the world shrunk into a “global village.” Globalization had begun.    

Jungian Collective Unconscious

As a background, collective consciousness has a counterpart - collective unconscious which has genetic roots the psychologist Carl Jung termed as archetypes.   It is some kind of “inherited psychic materials,” that link each and every one of us as a species on one hand, and we today with our ancestors in the past, on the other. According to Jung’s theory, though each of us appears to function independently, in actuality we are all trapped into the same global mind. 

These archetypes or instincts are hunger, sexuality, activity, reflection and creativity, in the order of increasing abstraction.  This laid down the three-tier ladder of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, from primordial to spiritual forms. These constitute the so-called Jungian concept of Collective Unconscious that governs our collective behavior that subordinates our own, guided and guarded by the norms of our society he termed as synchronicity.  Archetypes are therefore the genetic link of our species and the components of our rationality as Homo sapiens.

The importance and value of being aware of the collective unconscious is visualized this way: “Myriad invisible hands hold your hands and direct them.  When you rise in anger, a great grandfather froths at your mouth, when you make love, an ancestral caveman growls with lust; when you sleep, tombs open in your memory till your skull brims with ghosts.”  (Carl Jung: A Living Myth - Collective Intelligence yields Collective Action) 

The Jungian concept of collective unconscious places utmost importance in the preservation of our tradition, beliefs, myths and other ethnic values, though they may be lacking in scientific evidences.  For all we know, the awareness of our connection with our forebears that make us realize the vital role of such genetic inheritance. Which leads us to realize with awe and respect to our ancestors who lived happier and more fulfilled lives than we do in our postmodern era.

                                      Transcendental Meditation

This leads us to the spiritual side of collective consciousness - transcendental meditation and its correlation to world peace.

“Transcendental Meditation program, or the group practice of the TM-Sidhi program by a sufficient group raised the level of coherence in collective consciousness, thus providing a stable basis for a lasting world peace. Increases in societal coherence have been operationally defined as  decreases in armed conflicts, crimes, traffic fatalities, fires, suicides, hospital admissions, notifiable diseases, infant mortality, divorce, alcohol consumption, cigarette consumption, unemployment, and pollution; and increases in international cooperation, stock market indices, leading and coincident economic indicators, and GNP.” (Maharishi's Program to Create World Peace: Theory and Research David W. Orme-Johnson and Michael C. Dillbeck Maharishi International University, 2016 Fairfield, Iowa, U.S.A.)

The Noosphere

What are the challenges of the new evolution – The Noosphere?

First, collective consciousness through meditation can release us of fear, anxiety, anger and tension, and help bring peace of mind vital to the attainment of world peace and order.

Second, collective consciousness offers an avenue to resolve divided loyalties and faiths, incompatible ideologies, race discriminations, border conflicts, particularly our present growing problem of terrorism.

Dr Jose Rizal, Philippine National Hero

Third, collective consciousness, in order to attain global significance and integrity must exert cumulative power to unite, amalgamate existing and new consciousness, and revitalize waning unity and cooperation of social groups, cultures, and nations, through education, mass media and organizational strategies.

Fourth, collective consciousness must be strengthened and guided towards greater regional cooperation such as ASEAN, EU, APEC, and more assertive global summits and conferences, like Climate Change, the United Nations notwithstanding, all geared towards world peace and unity.

Fifth, collective consciousness, on the compassionate, benevolent and humanistic side, must be cognizant of the lessons set by history and great leaders in the past and present from Aristotle, Christ, Gandhi, Lincoln, Paul, Teresa, Mandela, to our own Jose Rizal, and other great men and women.

Outlook

Lofty indeed is the potential power of the envisioned noosphere in shaping humanity in the future with one-mind, one-heart, one-psyche at the expense of losing much of our rich diversity of intellect, behavior and emotions, and spirituality, physical attributes and health considerations notwithstanding.

Savants are divided. Rationality will make us seek and preserve freedom in many and unimaginable forms and means, retaining our connectivity with the past and the future, and our environment through collective DNA carried on through evolution, and from generation to generation. We belong to this genetic pool. We are natives of Planet Earth.

Personally as a biologist we are heading toward the sunset of our own species. By the way, all species without exemption follow a normal curve of emergence-plateau-decline and finally extinction, in favor of other species under the law of succession (seres) and pattern of the web of life. We may seem to have reached the plateau of our species. This is dangerous. A Damocles Sword hangs above us, forged by our superior intellect. What with the possibility of global nuclear war, unabated wastes generation resulting in progressive autotoxicity or genocide. By manipulating the plantilla (template) of life through genetic engineering, we destroy homeostasis or the balance of nature. We have altered the composition of the earth as modern alchemists. In short we are destroying paradise the second time around. The noosphere could be our saving grace, or at least it gives us respite to examine and amend our wasteful and evil ways in the guise of The Good Life.

To the futuristic minds, man shall be leaving the earth and live in another planet, perhaps a million years from now. By then I believe Homo sapiens that we are today shall be no longer us. ~

Guest Editorial

For the Greater Lagro Gazette 2017 by AVRotor

Acknowledgement with thanks: Internet

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The Noosphere is the sphere of thought enveloping the Earth. The word comes from the Greek noos (mind) and sphaira (sphere). The Noosphere is the third stage of Earth's development, after the geosphere (think rocks, water, and air) and the biosphere (all the living things).

 
The noosphere is a philosophical concept developed and popularized by the biogeochemist Vladimir Vernadsky, and philosopher and Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Vernadsky defined the noosphere as the new state of the biosphere and described as the planetary "sphere of reason". Wikipedia ~

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Three critical spots - Israel War in Gaza, Russian War in Ukraine, and recently on a more disturbing scale, US-Iran war, other trouble areas notwithstanding, continue building up worldwide anxiety and fear of potential global consequence reminiscent of the past two World Wars. Such consciousness is expanding across boundaries political, religious, ideological, cultural and the like, all ensconced in this new era called Noosphere. 

A Never Ending Story

  A Never Ending Story

Dr Abe V Rotor

"People who have no hope are easy to control. 

And whoever has the control has the power!’

Retirement is a stage in life when we withdraw from the battlefield, so to speak, and recount the good old days on a rocking chair. It is likely the last stage in life when we look back into the past rather than gaze  over the horizon. And for the present, we become mere spectators and no longer actors of the drama which Shakespeare beautifully expressed - The world's a stage, everyone has a role to play.

Boy hero Atreyu, and Artex, in the movie, The Never Ending Story, Warner Bros 1984 

But this is not true today, not after 1989 when the world reached a turning point and a sudden leap of mankind, borrowing the American astronauts' greeting to the earth people upon stepping on the surface of the moon. The first reference affirms there is meaning of man's life (we all have a role to play), while the second reference is a challenge to man's future (post-modernism and space age).

The Cold War ended after 45 years, liberating nations and people from the polarized clutches of the two superpowers, satellite and cyberspace communications have virtually wired the whole earth, and world travel became a 24-hour circumnavigation.  Ideologies found a common path of understanding, so with religious beliefs through ecumenism. Globalization became a universal aim and goal.

Retirement is indeed difficult to define where boundaries which used to divide the world politically, culturally, economically, and the like, are dissolving into a homogeneous global village, many believe to be the new world order. More so, when "matter does not age, and age does not matter," delightfully speaking. 
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“Welcome home! Chorused my three children the day I announced my decision to retire under the government’s early retirement plan.

I realized I have not been truly home with my family. A feeling of guilt crept in but I knew from the start how to amend for my deficiency.

While adjusting to a new life I was not accustomed to, I could not help but look back into the kind of world I left behind.

The price of rice continued to rise. As an anchor against inflation, any increase in the price of this staple signals the spiraling of prices of other commodities. Many food items in the last ten years have become luxury to the masses. Low productivity was blame to force majeure rather than the lack of clear cut and firm policies. Investment was not only unprecedentedly low, it favored industry, bypassing agriculture. Peace and order problems were spreading out fast with poverty in both urban and rural areas. We were falling to the bottom of the economic ladder in Asia and the Pacific region.

This is the drama that unfolded before me, now a spectator. I was once part of this drama. I played important roles in the field and on the desk, in the private sector and in the government for twenty long years. I was part of the economic miracle in the sixties and seventies. I was part of the modernization of the agriculture program. The last two decades the country has demonstrated leadership in agro-industrial development, and scientific and technological break-throughs. But we failed to keep up with the pace of development of neighboring countries and the free world.

On the vantage point of a private life I was soon to lead, I began to doubt if my work for many years had any significance at all. Did I make a difference?

It is now one month from the day I packed up for home. The sea in summer is ideal for fishing With my books that make a small library, reading and writing once again are occupying my time. Marlo and Carlo are asking me when the next camping on Mt. Makiling will be. Chris Ann begs to be part of an on-the-spot painting session for children. My family has never been so happy and secure.

One evening the whole family viewed The Never Ending Story, a fantasy for children. It is about a boy warrior destined to save the crumbling world of Fantasia, an imaginary world beyond. During his adventure, the hero encountered a fierce animal.

‘’If you come any closer, I will rip you into threads, “roared the animal.

‘’Who are you?’’ asked the startled boy.

‘’I am the wolf. And you, whoever you are, will have the honor to be my last victim.’’

‘’I will not die easily. I am a warrior.’’

‘’Brave warrior, then fight the nothing.’’

‘’But I can’t. I can’t. fight on the boundary of Fantasia.’’

The wolf laughed.

‘’What’s funny about that?’’

‘’Fantasia has no boundary.’’

‘’That’s not true. You are lying.’’

‘’Foolish boy’ don’t you know anything about Fantasia? It is a world of human fantasy. Every part, every creature of it is a piece of the dream and hope of mankind. Therefore, it has no boundary.’’

‘’Why is Fantasia dying then? ’The boy is perplexed.

‘’Because people have come to lose their hopes and forget their dreams. So nothing goes stronger.’’

‘’What is the Nothing?’’

‘’It is the emptiness that is left. It is despair that is destroying this world, and I have been trying to help it,’’ the wolf f hollered.

‘’But why?’ demanded the boy.

‘’Because people who have no hope are easy to control. And whoever has the control has the power!’’

An earthquake shook the cave and rocks began to fall. When the dust settled, the two were face to face in combat, the boy holding a dagger, and the wolf showing its fangs, snarling.

‘’Who are you really?’’ the boy intoned.

‘’I am the servant of the power behind Nothing . I was sent to kill the only one who can stop the Nothing. I lost him in the swamp of sadness. His name is Atreyu.

‘’If I were to die anyway, I would rather die fighting! Come on wolf, I am Atreyu.’’

The wolf lunged at the boy. Quickly the boy aimed his dagger at the beast’s heart and found its mark.

The death of the beast was the end of Atreyu’s travail. He saved Fantasia.

Today, in our real world, the wolf is no different enemy. It perpetuates on human weakness and preys upon the weak. It thrives on helplessness and despair, indifference and inaction, war and persecution. It looms around human miseries.

The confrontation of the warrior and the beast lives in fantasy, and many of us are relieved by that thought that it is not true - it is only a story. But now and then, the imagery is just too vivid to be just fantasy.

In the days that followed, I found myself once again engrossed with work, this time as professor in a university.

I believed I have not really retired. ~

Years after ...

 

Author as professor, UST Graduate School, with public school teachers taking refresher course; as organizer and instructor, Summer Art Workshop for Children

 

 

Author with a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) on environmental conservation; as author, with co-authors during a International Book Fair; as conference speaker; and as family man.