Books and Writings (and Quotations) of the Late President Ferdinand E Marcos (Living with Nature Center Series)

 Books and Writings (and Quotations) of the Late President Ferdinand E Marcos* 

(Born September 11, 1917, died September 28, 1989)

Isang Bansa, Isang Diwa ("One Nation, One Spirit") 

National motto of the Philippines from 1978 to 1986, 

during the presidency of President Ferdinand Marcos. 

                                               Dr Abe V Rotor

"No matter how strong and dedicated a leader may be, he must find root and strength amongst the people. He alone cannot save a nation. He may guide, he may set the tone, he may dedicate himself and risk his life, but only the people may save themselves." - Ferdinand Edralin Marcos (1973)

"My life has been devoted to the upliftment of the Filipino by reestablishing his identity and dignity." - Ferdinand Marcos

 

"Of what good is democracy if it is not for the poor?" - Ferdinand Edralin Marcos (1982). “The New Philippine Republic: A Third World Approach to Democracy”

"Teach those who lead to act with firmness but with humility, with humility but with wisdom, with wisdom but with justice, and with justice but with compassion, and teach those who follow the true duties of being men and being members of a community of men." - Ferdinand Marcos

"The foundation upon which our nation stands is much richer and firmer than the sympathies that may occasionally divide us. And we never know this more truly than in Christmas time. In good times or in bad, under clear skies or under the shadow of uncertainty, the Christmas message is the imperishable one of joy, hope and brotherhood." - Ferdinand Marcos, Sky, Joy, Brotherhood

"History should not be left to the historians. Rather, be like Churchill. 

Make history, and then write it." - Ferdinand Marcos

"The permissiveness of society must be balanced with authoritativeness."

- Ferdinand Marcos

"We cannot and we will not negotiate with terrorists. We have nothing but contempt for them. To conciliate differences with these people without them changing their objectives is to condemn our Republic to ultimate strangulation and death." - Ferdinand Marcos (Extemporaneous remarks during the Meeting with the Leaders of Regions I and II, Mansion House, Baguio City, March 15, 1981.)

"My countrymen: we have reached a turning point in our history. The choice is yours. Shall we venture into this brave new world, bright with possibilities, or retreat to the safety of our familiar but sterile past? I am for crossing the frontier." - Ferdinand Marcos

"I was reminded as I was reviewing my life, that I have been in too many conflicts, too many wars, political battles, military battles, civil strifes in government. And always one lesson stands out and that is, those whom you fight most passionately often turn out to be your best friends." - Ferdinand Marcos (Extemporaneous speech at the Sixth Centennial Celebration of Islam in the Philippines, June 10, 1980.)

"I have Chinese blood in me... I am not ashamed to admit that perhaps the great leaders of our country all have Chinese blood." - Ferdinand Marcos

"There are many things we do not want in this world. Let us not just mourn them; let us change them." - Ferdinand Marcos

The First Family at Malacañang Palace; President FEM and son, 

Bongbong, present Philippine president, in a jubilant moment.

"I will fight to the last breath, even though my family cowers in terror in the palace."

- Ferdinand Marcos

 

President Ferdinand Marcos launches the historic Masagana-99 program that catapulted the Philippines as among the world's exporters of rice.  The event is  enshrined in a diorama at the NFA Grains Industry Museum at Cabanatuan 

City in Central Luzon, dubbed as the country's rice granary. (photo below).  

"I often wonder what I will be remembered in history for. Scholar? Military hero? Builder?" - Ferdinand Marcos 

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*These books and writings are on display at Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur, for researchers and visitors in general. - AVR

PRAYER FOR THE NATION

By Former President Ferdinand E. Marcos

(1965-1986)

Father of all mankind, we ask you to look down upon your people, and fill our hearts with your spirit, that we may have the grace and the wisdom to look into ourselves, and in so doing see our weaknesses and our strengths.

So many of us have lived in corruption, greed and violence, forgetting that this nation - or any other nation - cannot survive and grow and prosper unless we learn to live as brothers, striving not for our selfish ends, but for the common good.

Give us strength to rebuild our lives, leaving forever our selfish, corrupt and derelict ways.

Make us see what we are and what we could be, open our eyes, our minds and our hearts to do the things that need to be done, and the things that we can do to make this rich and beautiful land a joy and comfort to all our people.

We have set for ourselves great and never-ending tasks; stand by us in our labors and teach us not to weary nor to lose faith, neither to seek rewards beyond what is just but rather to see in our work the full measures of our own reward and to see in it the full expressions of ourselves.

When the day's toil is ended, teach us to look to the morrow's labor as a part of our continuing sacrifice; bring us not to the temptation of luxury, ease, nor privilege; nor to the blandishments of power or comfort that corrupt, but make of us a sturdy race, self-reliant, cheerful and upright.

Teach those who lead to act with firmness but with humility, with humility but with wisdom, with wisdom but with justice, and with justice but with compassion, and teach those who follow the true duties of being men and being members of a community of men.

Cleanse us of our anger, our bitterness, and our recriminations of the past, spare us the doubts and anxieties of the present, and purify us for our sacrifice so that we may raise a people who will be their own strength today, and their own warranty against the future. ~

The Power of MINDFULNESS: 20 Applications of the Art and Science of Mindfulness

 The Power of MINDFULNESS

The Art and Science of MINDFULNESS

Mindfulness is the intentional and objective focus of one's attention on the thoughts and feelings occurring in the present moment. Mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experience - instead of letting your life pass you by. 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Fishing in acrylic by the author, 2014.  Analyze the painting and list down your observations or awareness on the details of the scene.  Imagine yourself to be 

in the scene and reflect on the applications of mindfulness. 

Lesson: Go over these twenty applications of mindfulness and add your own thoughts and experiences in each item.  This is a very good material for workshops, for the school, or simply in ordinary conversation. 

The art and science of mindfulness and its applications:

1. Mindfulness leads to discovery 

    Alexander Fleming "accidentally" discovered Penicillin.  We call such 

    discovery as serendipity.  Had he thrown the "contaminated" culture, he
    could have missed the greenish mass of green molds consuming the

    colony of bacteria in a petri dish. 

 

2. Avoidance of embarrassment

    Watch your language, please. Don't enter through the exit door. Your t-shirt

    is reversed. Avoid sudden outburst - laughter or anger. Don't clap in the

    middle of a concert. 

3. Prevention of accidents.

    Stop, look and listen before you cross. Always be alert when driving. Be

    mindful in the use tools in the kitchen, workshop, and garden. 

4. Keeping with good health

    You forgot your medicine. You ate too much of the restricted food. Don't 

    overwork. Don't carry more than your body's weight - much less if you are a 

    senior citizen. It's flu month, stay home as much as possible.  

  

5. Enhancement of learning

    Be keen with the lecture. Read aloud, specially poetry, to have the real 

    experience of reciting. Give full attention to details, don't skip pages.  The

    more senses you use, the more you learn and the longer you keep them in 

    your memory.

   

6. Tool in critical thinking

    Acronym AJA - Analysis, Judgment, Action- in this order. Don't interchange

    the two A's.  Study your case well, or else you may lose your case in court.

    How did Hemingway end The Old Man and the Sea to drive his theme and  

    message in just a few pages? 

 

7. Tool in decision making  

Related to the above - tool in critical thinking - postpone making decision if you are not well prepared. Take a weekend break. Mindfulness is relaxation. Never make decisions when you are stressed. 

8. Keenness of events and happenings

The chandelier appears to be swaying.  Earthquake? Or you are not feeling well?

You freeze in the middle of an accident. Don't be a victim of budol-budol. Know the fire exit, stairway, elevator when checking in a hotel.

9. Deciphering reality from fantasy

Analyze make-believe stories. Telenovelas are usually embellished.  But fiction can be symbolic of reality.  Fictions may be advanced ideas. Or simply myths.

  

10. Enlightenment between truth and falsehood

You know if a person is lying. Too bad, the fellow is an actor. Mindfulness gives you time to analyze. He avoids eye-to-eye contact. He has the Pinocchio syndrome, rubbing his nose now and then. Or a tear jerker (crocodile's tears).  

11. Development of personality

How's your grooming?  You poise, stride, posture. Beard stubs don't fit your attire and occasion. Formal dress can't go with rubber shoes, even if the shoes cost more.  

12. Expression of values

Say: Excuse me.  Thank you. Beg your pardon? Say,  Best wishes to the bride, congratulations to the groom.  Read Julie Yap Daza's small book, Manners for Growing Up. Follow etiquettes in social media.

  

13. Enhancement of good relationship

You forgot the birthday of you loved ones. Worse you greet the wrong fellow. Recognize your audience, specially the VIPs. Don't flatter too far, it is embarrassing or courting trouble. Mindfulness preserves friendship. 

   

14. Reduction of anxiety, tension and stress

The term "mindfulness" is derived from the Pali-term sati, "mindfulness", which is an essential element of Buddhist practice. It has been popularized in the West by Jon Kabat-Zinn with his mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program. Mindfulness is also an attribute of consciousness long believed to promote well-being.

15. Preserving institutions and society

Mindfulness keeps you in touch with your community. Participate in the programs and projects of your barangay. The integrity of our institutions lies greatly in people's active participation.  You are mindful of electoral process, banking system, K-to12 program, justice system, etc. And if you must press for reform, you must.  Mindfulness leads to the expression rights and privileges.     

16. Closeness to nature (naturalism, green thumb)

Beethoven composed Pastoral on the meadow, Grieg's Morning at sunrise, Abelardo's Mutya ng Pasig by the beautiful Pasig River then. Darwin "followed" Nature in his four-year voyage on a research ship, Beagle, to formulate his theory of evolution which he later wrote into a book, Origin of the Species through Natural Selection. 

Light Through the Treetops in acrylic by the author 2024

17. Closeness to the Creator

Handel wrote Alleluia Chorus in seclusion and on emerging a week after, confessed he saw God in his music. Have you had your retreat lately? Do you compose your prayers personally? Do you believe in miracles? Mother Teresa claimed of the apparition of St. Gabriel. The miracle at Fatima was witnessed by young children.  Which means mindfulness may start early in life.  Are prodigies the products of early mindfulness?  

 

18. Interdisciplinary and holistic scholarship

Team work is key to winning. Mindfulness is both practiced invividually and as a team. Observe a team of surgery doctors and nurses work in the operating room. Mindfulness is cultivating the eight realms of intelligence and this is a lifetime experience.

    

19. Awareness of the wholeness of the human being

The human being is not a robot, it is whole. Holism as an important subject in mindfulness application in natural and social sciences. Models to this human attribute are Gandhi, Rizal and Mandela   

20. Road to peace of mind

Anent to the awareness of the wholeness of the human being, is the aim of every person to have peace of mind. POM has four attributes: mental or intellectual, emotional or psychological, physical, and spiritual. We may find it difficult to maintain a "perfect square" every day, but we must always aim at  it.  For there is no true happiness in this world without Peace of Mind. ~

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* Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Nicholas L. Rosal: "Beyond the Crossroad of Philosophy and Theology"* (San Vicente Ilocos Sur Philippines to the World Series)

 San Vicente Ilocos Sur Philippines to the World Series

Nicholas L. Rosal: "Beyond the Crossroad of Philosophy and Theology"*

Philosophy takes us to the highest plane of reason, whereas theology takes us to that of faith. Can a philosopher be a theologian, and vice versa? Can a learned person embrace both, their similarities and differences?

By Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

 

Two books written by Dr Nicholas L Rosal. "Understanding an Exotic Language: Ilokano" is the counterpart of "Balarila in Pilipino," a scholarly guide to technical Ilokano."Handbook of Miracles is a valuable guide on how to understand what true miracles are and how they relate to the ultimate purpose of our existence -- eternal life in heaven." (Msgr. Armando Perini, the author's former pastor, Edison, N.J.)

Two most important words in the house of learning are philosophy and theology, in either sequence. The science of man and the science of God.

Philosophy takes us to the highest plane of reason, whereas theology takes us to that of faith.

Can a philosopher be a theologian, and vice versa? Can a learned person embrace both, their similarities and differences?

When Albert Einstein, the greatest mind in modern times, was asked, “What more can you not understand, Mr. Einstein?”

The man behind the splitting of the atom, and adjudged Man of the Twentieth Century, answered in all humility, “I understand just a little about the atom; all things else, only God can understand.” It is manifestation of deep faith in Higher Principle, above that of science.

On the other side of the coin, so to speak, when Pope Francis was bombarded with questions on ethico-morals confronting our postmodern world, he answered calmly and hushed the audience, “Who am I to be your judge.” And he led the faithful to a prayerful meditation. It is deep philosophy, humbling everyone with the biblical lesson, “He who has no sin throws the first stone.”

And Mahatma Gandhi, Man of the Millennium brought not only man to his knees, but a whole proud nation that was once the biggest empire on earth – “The sun never sets on English soil,” through asceticism and non-violence – terms that cannot explain the force that liberated India from centuries of human bondage, undoubtedly the power of the of the Human Spirit.

To this day, no one can truly explain how one man – simple, frail, devoid of the tools of war – succeeded in leading India to independence, and preserving democracy in this subcontinent with more than a billion in population. Similarly, how Nelson Mandela liberated his country South Africa from British colonial rule. Lately too, the great achievement and sacrifice behind the canonization of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and John Paul II.

Milton's query: If Paradise was lost because of man's disobedience, was it regained in his absence?

Our subject, a philosopher and theologian, Dr Nicholas "Charito" Llanes Rosal, must have reflected on the lives of these great men, the epitome of human values, the models the world looked up to, that produced equally great men and women, including our own, Dr Jose Rizal, and Jose P Burgos. He certainly found inspiration from the life and works of one of the most learned Doctors of the Church – San Vicente de Ferrer, patron saint of his hometown.

Dr Rosal (Fr. Charito) was a St. Thomas Aquinas scholar, having finished a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, and a doctoral degree in Sacred Theology (STD, Magna cum Laude) from the University of Santo Tomas

If there is more to add to his rich educational background it is a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Merrill School of Journalism in the US, where at the same time became a university professor. Dr Rosal taught Christology at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, moral theology at St John’s University, and contemporary moral problems at Loyola University in Chicago. He is the only Filipino preacher for the National Propagation of Faith under Bishop Fulton Sheen, and on many occasions he conducted recollections for priests, which we call spiritual retreat.

As a child I looked up to Uncle Charito, as I called him then, I will always remember one summer vacation when his family played quartet classical music in violin and piano, and I was there imagining of Vienna in its glorious days.

How time flies…

Years passed. On knowing that he was residing in New Jersey, I dropped at his place on my way back from Canada to the Philippines via the US. That was in July 1976, exactly 33 years since I saw him last in our hometown.

A span of thirty-three years is significant in the Christian world – it was the age of Christ when he died. So with great men like Alexander the Great, Amadeus Mozart, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Schubert, while others found themselves at a crossroad of life. I belong to the latter category, lost and perplexed.

I have been a disciple of the Three Wise Men, Magi or sages in their time, powerful and wealthy as kings, for which they are often referred as The Three Kings, and to whose honor we celebrate their feast day on January 6, and until lately, every first Sunday of January.

In one of my readings I came across the life of the great explorer and missionary Dr Albert Schweitzer. When Albert was young he asked his parents and teachers whatever happened to the three kings, after seeing the Baby Jesus, and presenting Him precious gifts.

Where were they during the years of His mission, when He was persecuted and condemned to die. What did they contribute to Christianity? Well, to humanity? The young Schweitzer was greatly bothered that he took upon himself the challenge to become a missionary. First he studied medicine and became a doctor, and humanities specializing in organ music. Thereafter he set foot on the largely unexplored interior of the Black Continent which is Africa. Another great man who followed his footsteps was Dr David Livingstone. He too, became one of the world's greatest explorers and missionaries.
There is a story related to the Three Wise Men - The Fourth Wise Man. It is a story about a man who lost his way to join the caravan of the three wise men mentioned in the bible. He never found the infant Jesus, neither the child Jesus, nor Jesus in his mission.

He had been helping people all along the way, living in a colony of lepers, healing them, helping them rise over ignorance and poverty. For 33 long years.

He lost all hope of finding Jesus. He became a very sick man. There was no news from the three wise men, who were said to have seen and given gifts to the Holy Child. He learned that his father had died, so he released his servant to be a free man.

A more detailed story goes like this.

“Artaban is a young Magus (Wise Man) who desires to follow the star to the birthplace of the coming King, against the counsel of his friends and family. Carrying three precious jewels to give to the baby Messiah, Artaban and his reluctant servant Orontes set off to join the caravan of the three other wise men. They miss the caravan, but Artaban continues the search for his King, always one step behind. Artaban spends much of his remaining wealth and all of his energy helping the poor and unfortunate people he meets, until at the end of his life he finally finds Jesus--at His trial! Has Artaban wasted his life in a foolish quest? Will he ever get the chance to present his gifts to the King? “

- Written by Yortsnave The Other Wise Man

The path beaten by Artaban leads to a philosophy of life - love for the least of our fellowmen. It is a way least trodden, lighted by a spirit that glows in the heart. It is this human spirit that elevates man to the highest level of philosophy and theology, beyond the crossroad of uncertainty. It leads to man's fulfillment in his long search for meaning.

Mother Teresa, Maximillan Kolbe, Lincoln, Rizal, Gandhi, Mandela at al all took this road. So with many others around the world unknown, unsung, perhaps with only God the only witness to their deeds. ~
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Nicholas L Rosal – linguist, author of Understanding an Exotic Language: Ilokano, a dissertation that traces the roots and origin of an ethnic heritage distinctly Ilokano yet wholesomely Filipino, borrowing the words of Francisco Cruces, Archbishop of
Zamboanga.
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Dr. Nicholas L. Rosal taught Christology at St. Francis College in Brooklyn and moral theology at the former Brooklyn campus of St. John’s University. As an adjunct, he taught contemporary moral problems at Loyola University in Chicago while working toward his master’s degree at the Medill School of Journalism. A preacher for the National Propagation of Faith under Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, he gave retreats to nuns and recollection to priests.
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Dr Rosal earned (magna cum laude) his STD and PhL degrees at the Pontifical Seminary of the University of Santo Tomas. In addition to writing numerous articles about religious, educational, and government issues, he has published pamphlets on comparative religion and written books, including The Jerusalem Journal (2009), a continuous life story of Jesus (Claretian Publishing House, Manila), Learning an Exotic Language: Ilokano (1980), a linguistic analysis of one of the major Philippine native languages (Paragon Press, Manila) and The Unjust Position of the Church in the Philippine Constitution (1960), study of the state relations in the predominantly Catholic country in Asia (University of Santo Tomas Press, Manila).

He has translated from English into Ilokano the Catechism of the Catholic Church (822 pp), now being reviewed by the Archbishop of Nueva Segovia (Vigan).

Before going to the United States, he taught Religion, Latin, and music at the Archdiocesan Minor Seminary in Vigan, worked in parishes, and held briefly the position of chancellor of the Nueva Segovia Archdiocese. After receiving permission to leave the ministry, he went to work for Bell Labs in Murray Hill, N.J., and the Perth Amboy Board of Education, N.J., as education advocate and, later, as principal of the Adult High School.

Dr. Rosal was born in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur to devout parents (Alfonso, a lawyer, and Matilde, a school teacher). He has two brothers (Elias and Antonio), and a sister (Natividad). He has three sons (Anthony Nicholas, Patrick, and Mark) from his marriage to Mimi (deceased) and a step daughter (Christine) by his marriage to Thelma.

Nicholas Llanes Rosal Shares Biblical Miracles
in New Book (Excerpt)
by Christina Mancuso Dec. 12, 2013

Through author Nicholas Llanes Rosal's life's experiences, guided by his philosophical, theological, and spiritual studies comes "Handbook of Miracles", a book that showcases God's awesome power that makes extraordinary events possible and defines the happenings in the world that cannot be explained by mere principles of science or the potency of nature. Those events, explainable only by divine intervention, are considered as miracles. xxx "Handbook of Miracles" explores the nature of miracles, reason behind them, and cites numerous miracles from biblical beginnings, to Christ's days, the apostolic era, and the centuries of saints to the modern times. One way or another, miracles happen and will happen to everybody. Miracles strike instantaneous fear, awe, wonder, and admiration, which is all part of divine psychology. God attracts man's attention and then reveals His message. He uses miracles as a medium to gain man's attention before He delivers His message. ~

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NOTE: Antonio Vivaldi great composer and violinist known best for his "Four Seasons" was a former priest. A book by Richard Bennet, Far from Rome, Near to God: Testimonies of 50 Converted Roman Catholic Priests, 1997 cited the following ex-priests of outstanding accomplishments in their later careers: Henry Gregory Adams, Joseph Tremblay, Bartholomew F. Brewer, Hugh Farrell, Alexander Carson, Charles Berry and Bob Bush. And among them walks Charito trying in his own way to live up to his name.
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Never Forget September 11, 2001 (9/11) Birth of the NOOSPHERE Towards Global Collective Consciousness

         Never Forget September 11, 2001 (9/11)

                  Birth of the NOOSPHERE
Towards Global Collective Consciousness.

Part 1 - The Noosphere - Third Planetary Evolution
Part 2 - Topics to research on and keep abreast with our fast

              changing world

Part 3 - Global trends that have been changing the way we live

Part 1 -The Noosphere - Third Planetary Evolution

Towards Global Collective Consciousness

Aftermath of September 11, 2001 (9/11)

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.  

                                                           

                                                              Dr Abe V Rotor

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.  

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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 th 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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Two critical spots - Israel War in Gaza and Russian War in Ukraine - 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 

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Part 2 - Topics to research on and keep abreast with our fast changing world

Dr Abe V Rotor

We are in the age of knowledge explosion. Every time we wake up there's always something new that touches our lives more directly and profoundly than in any period of human history.

On the other hand we are also facing a dilemma I call infollution, a contracted term for information pollution. Knowledge used to be what we seek and acquire through necessity and obligation, much of it through choice which was limited then. And we knew the measure and pace of learning. We had a better situation in what we should know or choose to know with the guidance of the family, community and the institutions.

Well, that was when the world was divided by distance, walls of culture, politics, etc. When the writers of history were mainly from the West. In the 1000 years that plunged the world into the Dark Ages. When empires split into fiefs and kingdoms. When the West colonized the East. When capitalism and socialism clashed. So with religions. When the Berlin Wall stood for half a century.

Then boom! Science and technology made the world walk on two large feet, so to speak: communication and transportation. Everyone is now a neighbor in a small global village. And he wants to know what's happening at the other side of the fence.

Now that globalization has shrunk the world, wired it, crisscrossed it with routes - land, water and air, and above all, with information highway, how does one stand amidst an overflowing pool of knowledge?

Here we are with a sample list of topics to research on.

University of Santo Tomas, oldest university in Asia, older than Harvard

1. Are we prisoners of our Genes? (Sociobiology and Human Behavior)
2. Post-Modernism
3. Whose History?
4. Ecosabotage
5. Globalization and Sunset of Nationalism
6. Sex tourism and the Patriotism Prostitute
7. Depression and Suicide
8. The Rainforest: Best Tribes and Lost Knowledge
9. Urbanization and Industrialization
10. Changing Image of Women
11. “Rent-a-uterus” (Surrogate Mothers)
12. Cybercommunication (Wiring the Globe)
13. Opposition to Technology (e.g. Unabomber)
14. Human Genome Project (HGP)
15. Pornography
16. Misguiding the Future
17. Body Beautiful
18. Cultism
19. The Fine Art of Propaganda
20. Homogenization and Loss of Cultural Diversity
21. Social Change and the Natural Environment
22. Age of Robotics
23. Religion and the Spirit of Capitalism
24. Endangered Species and Ecosystems
25. Social and Pandemic Human Diseases
26. Terrorism

27. Neocolonialism
28. Three Worlds of Development
29. Why Social Stratification is Universal
30. Imperialism and Capitalism
31. Capitalism and Consumerism
32. The “McDonaldization” of Society
33. Is EU Applicable in Asia?

Symbol of our revolution whaich has started with the age of computers, the creation of a noosphere - which literally means one mind-one world, visualized as a mental sheath over the globe.  

34. Japanese vs American Corporate Culture
35. Origin and Migration of Man
36. Genetic Engineering and Human Cloning
37. Gene Therapy: Frontier of Today’s Medicine
38. Vatican and Conservatism
39. Born to Buy (Consumerism)
40. IMF-WB and Capitalism
41. China: Socialism to Capitalism
42. India and China Dominate World’s Population: Forecast Consequences
43. The Expanding Field of Bioethics
44. Whatever happened to Space Race?
45. Why is the Philippines dubbed Rip Van Winkle of Asia?
46. Why is the Philippines the second most corrupt country in Asia, and among the world’s top countries with highest crime rate.
47. We are in the Age of Design
48. Natural Farming: A Return to Tradition
49. From Global Warming to Ice Age
50. Mind Benders (Brain Drugs)
51. Was Darwin Wrong? (Evolution Today)
52. Aftermath of the Cold War
53. Unsolved Murders of Philippine Journalists
54. Parliamentary or Presidential Government for the Philippines?
55. Herbal medicine – a Thing of the Past
56. Longevity Trends - Effects on Society
57. The New China – from Socialism to Capitalism
58. Effects of TV and Computers on child development
59. The Sunset of Fine Arts
60. Sustainable Agriculture
61. Sunset of apartheid and racism
62. Will China overtake the US as the world's biggest economy?
63. Same sex marriage - winning or waning?
64. Don't forget your pill, darling
65. Human Genome Project II
66. Gene therapy, latest in medicine.
67. Global Warming - more consequences than we expected
68. Ecological Migration
69. Where have all the fish gone?
70. Vertical farming. Farming in multistory buildings in the city.

Guidelines to students who are going to submit their research as school requirement:

1. Research paper must be printed (12 pts New Times Roman), 10 to 12 pages, short bond, single space excluding illustrations and photos, in folder.
2. Final copy to be submitted before presentation of topic in class. No paper, no report.
3. References at least 5: journal, books, news magazine, popular publications, Internet, interviews, company papers and documents.
4. Parts of paper: Introduction and rationale, review of literature, research proper, case studies (including interviews), conclusion, media advocacy.
5. Presentation - 10 min, open forum –5; use audio-visual aids (conventional and electronic); other presentation methods.~

Part 3 - Global trends that have been changing the way we live 

The Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) stunned and shackled the world for four long years,  followed by the Russian war in Ukraine War, Israel War in Gaza, and now, we are confronted with worldwide recession, and impending economic depression - these, and many other reasons compel us to "change the way we live".

Dr Abe V Rotor

The adage, "History repeats itself," is real: The rise and fall of the Greco-Roman Empire; the Dark Age - aftermath of the Bubonic Plague pestilence; two world wars in succession; and the recent Spanish Influenza (1920-22) which killed 50 to 100 million people. Other lost cultures like the Mayans, American Indians that "history forgot," notwithstanding.

And whose making are these tragic episodes of history? Albert Einstein has this to say, “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” In this era of pandemic and post pandemic, we have yet to prove under the new normal humanity's resilience and resolve to cope up and prove that "history repeats itself for the better." Then, suddenly without apparent warning, the Russian-Ukraine conflict is escalating into war of global concern.  Pessimists both from the old and new schools say it is  the beginning of a third world war.

Global Warming, and Shrinking Nature, paintings by AVR 2015

1. Shrinking Nature - displacement of natural habitats with man-made settlements, wildlife is vanishing both in areas and biological diversity. Nature reserves cannot compensate for such loss, and will never be able to bring about ecological balance as a whole. "It is no longer us against Nature, instead it's we who decide what nature is and what it will be." says Paul Crutzen, Nobel Prize Awardee.

2. Stressful modern living - the higher the status the more stressful life is. The social ladder takes us to the syndrome posed by Paulas'Hope for the Flowers. There is really nothing up there, but a stressful life at the apex of society. The stressors affecting the poor are different from those in higher society. Those suffering of high-status stress find it more difficult to adjust than their counterpart in lower society.

3. Loss of privacy - Yet we always strive to retain our privacy even in public. No way: the computer has all the info about us - true or not; our relationships on various levels, more so with our public image. Hidden cameras are everywhere, on the other hand we too, intrude into the privacy of others. GPS gives us information about places, with minute details, often intruding to one's privacy similar to trespassing.

4. Aging gracefully and Niche Aging - Forget conventional wisdom; gray-haired societies aren't a problem. Longevity is increasing all over the world: the average age of a Japanese is 78 years with America following at its heels with 75 or 76 years. We are quite close to China with at least 70 years. Science and technology, socio-cultural and economic opportunities make ageing a privilege today.

In an article - Niche Aging, author Harriet Barovick said, "...the generic settlement model is starting to give way to what developers are calling affinity housing - niche communities where people as they advance in age opt to grow old alongside others who share a specific interest. Niche living is the latest step in the evolution of the planned retirement community.

5. "Immortal" Food - Food that virtually last forever (by increasing the shelf life), while there is a current trend which is the opposite. Go natural - food, clothing, energy, housing, and practically anything we eat and use everyday. (See article, Living Naturally, in this Blog)

6. Black Irony - Blackness has many connotations and implications - principally, historical and religious. Black means race, hell, disease, death, hopelessness, discrimination. But all these cannot  be grossly weighed as negative or destructive. Today when we talk of black we may be referring to the colored athletes who dominate many sports, great leaders of movements like Wangari who planted millions of trees in Kenya, and not to look far, former President Obama of the US, and the living hero of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. Racial discrimination - racism and apartheid - may soon be a thing of the past. It is because man is created equal beneath their skin, and in fact, by circumstance, the colored races have proved superiority over the non-colored: in schools, scientific discoveries, business, technology - name it and you have a colored standing out.

7. "Handprints, not Footprints" - a more encouraging way to conceptualize our impact in our handprints; the sum of all the reductions we make in our footprints." 

Eye of a dying coral as a result of global warming and pollution by AV Rotor 2005

Says the brainchild of this idea, a Harvard professor. We can reduce the impact of living against the environment - less CO2, less CFC, less non-biodegradables and other synthetics, less pesticides, etc. On the other side of the equation would be the number of trees we plant, our savings on electricity and water. Lesser pollutants, if not arresting pollution itself - and the like.

8. "Your head is in the cloud" - The best way to explain this is in the article written by Annie Murphy Paul. To quote: "Inundated by more information that we can possibly hold in our heads, we're increasingly handing off the job of remembering to search engines and smart phones." Never mind memorizing the multiplication table, or Mendeleev's Periodic Table of Elements. Spelling of a word, its homonym, antonym? Check it out on the computer. Presto! it will correct the word automatically. Search Love, and it comes in a thousand-and-one definitions. Assignment? Search, download, print, submit - just don't forget to place your name. Psychologists are back to the drawing board about learning. They have proposed a new term - transactive memory, a prelude to blending natural and artificial intelligence.

9. The rise of Nones - Nones are people who have no religious affiliation. More and more people are dissociating from organized religions, a kind of freedom to feel more devoted to God, of moving away from the scandals of the church, and money-making religions . For most, they are not rejecting God. They are rejecting organized religion as being rigid and dogmatic. However, a survey in the US showed that spiritual connection and community hasn't be severed by this new trend. Forty percent (40%) of the unaffiliated are fairly religious, and many of them are still hoping to eventually find the right religious home.

10. Living alone is the new norm - Solitary living is spreading all over the world. It is the biggest social change that has been long neglected. Living solo is highest in Sweden (47%), followed by Britain (37%). Following the list in decreasing order are Japan, Italy, US, Canada, Russia, South Africa, Kenya, and Brazil (10%). Living alone helps people pursue sacred modern values - individual freedom, personal control and self realization. In Lonely American, however, Harvard psychiatrists warn of increased aloneness and the movement toward greater social isolation, which are detrimental to health and happiness to the person, and in the long run, to the community and nation.

11. Common Wealth - National interests aren't what they used to be. Our survival requires global solutions. The defining challenge of the 21st century will be to face the reality that humanity shares a common fate on a crowded planet. Global warming, acid rain, El Niño, don't know political boundaries.

12. The End of Customer Service - With self-service technology, you'll never have to see a clerk again. It is an era of self-service - from filling up gas to banking to food service. Swipe your ID card to enter an office or a school campus. Credit cards abound, so with many kinds of coupons, all self service.

13. The Post-Movie-Star Era. Get ready for more films in which the leading man is not "he" but "Who?" Goodbye James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Fernando Poe Jr. Welcome Nemo in Finding Nemo, Xi in Gods Must be Crazy.

14. Reverse Radicalism . Want to stop terrorism? Start talking to terrorists who stop themselves. Conflicts arising from radicalism can be settled through peaceful rather than by bloody means.

15. Kitchen Chemistry . Why the squishy art of cooking is giving way to cold, hard science? There are specialized courses in culinary art, with the chef as central figure with a degree. Home economics has grown into Hotel and Restaurant Management.

16. Geoengineering . Messing with Nature caused global warming. Messing with it more might fix it. Can we ignite a volcano to cool the earth like the eruption of Mt Pinatubo did twenty five years ago? Scientists believe we can divert an approaching typhoon out of its path. Better still abort it at its early stage.

17.Curing the "Dutch Disease." How resource-rich nations can unravel the paradox of plenty. It's true, oil-rich nations in the Middle East - and Holland, and lately Nigeria, where the term was developed - are not growing fast in terms of Gross Domestic Products (GDP). Now compare this is non-oil rich nations like China and Vietnam, which are growing close to 10 percent annually in GDP.

18. Women's Work. Tapping the female entrepreneurial; spirit can pay big dividends. Women's Lib brought the female species at par - if not excel - with its counterpart. More and more women are occupying high positions in government and industries. Women may soon have higher literacy rates than men.

19. Beyond the Olympics. Coming: Constant TV coverage of global sporting events. Boxing grew into various titles, football games in various tournaments fill the TV screen. New sports and games are coming out.

20. Jobs Are the New Assets. A sampling of fast-growing occupations - Actuaries, financial analyst, computer programmer, fitness trainer, biophysicists, translators, manicurists, marriage counselors, radiologists. Need a design for your product? Give  it to an IT graduate with a background in design. Need a kind of product or service not found in the mall or supermarket, search the Internet. Entrepreneurs have taken over much of the functions of big business. Unemployment has given rise to this new breed - the entrepreneurs.

21. Recycling the Suburbs. Environmentalists will celebrate the demise of sprawling suburbs, which left national addicted to cars. Infrastructures will be converted in favor of "green", town centers, public libraries, museums, sports centers, parks. Notice the gas stations along NLEX and South Road, they have transformed into a complex where motorists can enjoy their brief stopover. More and more countries are imposing regulation to green the cities, from sidewalks to rooftops. Hanging Gardens of Babylon, anyone?  If this was one of the wonders of the ancient world, why certainly we can make a replicate - perhaps a bigger one - given all our modern technology and enormous available capital.

22. The New Calvinism. More moderate evangelicals are exploring cures for doctrinal drift, offering some assurance to "a lot of young people growing up in sub-cultures of brokenness, divorce, drugs, sexual temptations, etc."

23. Reinstating the Interstate, the Superhighways. These are becoming a new network of light rail and "smart power" electric grid. This is the alternative to car culture that thrives on fossil fuel and promotes suburban sprawl.

24. Amortality - "non-moral sensitive" or "neutral morality' - whatever you may call it, this thinking has revolutionized our attitudes toward age. There are people who "refuse to grow old," people who wish to be resurrected from his cryonized corpse.

Our Dying Earth becoming virtually a fossil planet, painting by the author

25. Africa , Business Destination. Next "economic miracle" is in the black continent. Actually it has began stirring the economic consciousness of investors and developers.

26. The Rent-a-Country. Corporate Farming, an approach pioneered by the Philippines in the 60's and 70s, is now adopted by giant companies to farm whole valleys, provinces, island, of countries other than their own. Call it neo-colonialism, - these are food contracts, the latest new green revolution, more reliable food security.

27. Biobanks. Safe deposits - freezers full of tissues for transplants, cryotude for blood samples, liquid nitrogen storage for sperms and eggs, test-tube baby laboratories and clinics. Welcome, surrogate motherhood, post-menopausal technology, in-situ cloning, multiple birth technology, and the like.

28. Survival Stores. Sensible shops selling solar panels, electric bicycles, power generators, energy food bars, portable windmill, etc. Attributes: living off the grid, smart recycling, sustainability, consume less, self-sufficiency, basic+ useful, durable lifetime guarantee, hip + cool community, independent, responsible, co-op, brand-free, out of the oven, goodness-driven, health fitness, meditation, bartering, sharing, socialistic capitalism.

29. Ecological Intelligence. There are guidelines now available to judge products on their social and environmental impact. This is new culture characterized by environment-consciousness, environment-friendliness. Here life-cycle assessment and clean-up corporate ecology become an obligation. We are going back - happily and beautifully to a simple and natural lifestyle.

30. Ecomigration - As global warming continues and the sea level rises more and more low lying areas will be swallowed up by the sea. Before this happens, people will have to move to safer grounds. This phenomenon is happening to many island in the Pacific, among them the Kiribati and Micronesia groups of islands. 

Distorted reality - a product of postmodernism, acrylic painting by AVRotor

Reference: Living with Nature Volumes 1 and 2 by A V Rotor; Time Magazine, March 24, 2008 and March 23, 2009; Time Magazine March 12, 2012; Internet