World Meditation Day December 21, 2024: Meditation and Reflection - Inseparable Duo (Article in Progress)

World Meditation Day December 21, 2024

Meditation and Reflection - Inseparable Duo  

Part 1 - Meditation and Reflection - A Travelogue-on-Wheels

Part 2 - Personal Meditation-Reflection on Great Men and Women

Part 3 - Meditation-Reflection on the Three Great Doctors: Nature, Peace, Faith

Part 4- The Power of Stillness (Other title: Stillness and Angelus)

Part 5 - Triumph Over the Ebb of Life

Part 6 - Search for Meaning in Life with Nature

Part 1 - Meditation and Reflection - 

A Travelogue-on-Wheels

Painting by Dr Abe V Rotor

Reflection and Meditation - A travelogue-on-wheels, painted by the author, 2016. Courtesy of St Paul College Ilocos Sur (SPCIS)

Take me into the scenery, though by imagination, make it virtually true; for I have missed life on the road, life in sports, life in adventure;

Take me to where the sun seeps through the leaves and cast a thousand art of figures and views, in kaleidoscope colors and designs;

Take me to where the leaves fall and make a litter on the forest floor, where new life arises, where the cycle of seasons goes on and on; 

Take me to where the birds sing in the trees, where the fowls roam, the crawlers play hide and seek, where crickets fiddle, cicadas sing;

Take me to where the night breaks into dawn, the sun rises in glorious rays and beams, where dewdrops reflect into a myriad of pearls;

Take me where twilight  heralds the coming of night in silence and peace, the world in deserved rest amidst stars and fireflies; 

Take me to the edge of the land by the sea and lake, to where the river flows in tranquility, the streams and rivulets sing sweetly;    

Take me to where the pond reflects the blue sky, clouds building into rain, and birds flying on their route at the urging of nature; 

Take me into the horizon, beyond the measure of this view, that I may discover more to add into the richness of this masterpiece;

Take me to where my prayers of thanksgiving, my reverence for life are offered in humility, respect and adoration to the Great Maker. ~

 Ilocos Upland  in acrylic on canvas (5ft x 12ft) by A V Rotor, 2017 

Part 2  

Personal Meditation-Reflection on Great Men and Women

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog

Assignment in Communication Arts, Faculty of Arts and Letters, University of Santo Tomas.  Make your own personal reflection on a regular bond, in any style, 500 words more or less. Reflection brings out the inner person in you, like the inner eye of Heller Keller, the Little Prince of Antoine de Saint-Exupery', idealism of Longfellow and Alexander Pope, meditation in Michalangelo's Pieta, the mysticism of Venus de Milo, enigma of wildlife in Rosseau's painting, inner ear of Beethoven, waning light in Claude Monet's Waterlily Pond.                                                                    Jose Rizal

I invite our viewers to this exercise. You may find this useful in retreats and seminars, specially in leadership, and in the fields of theology,  philosophy, and humanities.

One man fought a nation, and save a nation, abhorring violence.
His greatest weapon: peaceful protest and civil disobedience
in asceticism that swept the land;
people revering him as father and almost god.
His name is Gandhi. (photo, left)

His likes are the greatest specimens of mankind; they too, changed
the world forever, making it a better place to live in.
His name is Mao Tse Tung.
His name is Ho Chi Minh.
His name is Jose Rizal.
His name is Ramon Magsaysay
Her name is Princess Diana.
His name is Jose Burgos.
He is Maximilian Kolby

He is Nelson Mandela (upper photo)
She is Mother Teresa. right photo
He is Pope John Paul II, et al
They are people for all seasons, for all ages, for all waves of change.

But little do we know of the unknown great man,
The Unknown Soldier -
unknown doctor, unknown teacher
farmer, worker, entrepreneur,
old man, father, housewife, child;
The Unknowns in other fields of life, regardless.

They are whose deeds are also those of great men and women we revere today.
They are us – each one of us
in our own little way to make the world go round and around –
or make it slower, that we may taste better the true Good Life,
the sweet waters of the Pierian Spring, the cool breeze on the hill.

All of us - we have the capacity to be great.
Bringing up our children to become good citizens,
being Samaritan on a lonely road,
embracing a returning Prodigal Son, 
plugging a hole in the dike like the boy who saved Holland from the sea,
or living life the best way we can that makes other lives better.

These and countless deeds make us great,
and if in this or that little way we may fall short of it,
then each and everyone of us putting each small deed together,
makes the greatest deed ever,
for the greatest thing humans can do is collective goodness –
the key to true unity and harmony,
and peace on earth. ~

Part 3 - Meditation-Reflection on the Three Great Doctors:

Nature, Peace, Faith

Nature-doctor, guardian of the environment’s pristine beauty 

and bounty; Peace-doctor, emissary of unity and harmony; 

Faith-doctor, keeper of body-mind-spirit integrity.

 Dr Abe V Rotor

Nature, Peace, Faith - Three Great Doctors in acrylic by AVRotor, 2024

Nature, Peace, Faith

Three Great Doctors

Health of people, the greatest wealth of society, hangs on nature’s beauty and bounty, of man living in peace and harmony, with deep faith in the Almighty and humanity;   

Nature, Peace, Faith – they build a formidable triad, staked to the ground, firm and proud, for eons of time through ease and odd, in the benevolent hands of God; 

This is the world once called Paradise in bible story, where Nature, Peace, Faith, long reigned in glory, and man anointed in his own rationality, serving as steward as a sacred duty;   

A gift divine and singular over all creation, taking over creation itself with his own notion, in search of the Good Life through exploitation, pitting man against man, nation against nation. 

And now man is asking God for more, as condition to obedience, defying the dictates of his conscience, at a crossroad in our Postmodern times.   Whom can we depend on, where is man in his finest hour?          

                                     I asked God for more

                                          

 I asked God for food, clothing and shelter

     and He showered me

these necessities I cannot live without -

     they are the Earth's bounty;

I settled down on fertile hills and valleys

     and multiplied freely.

 

I asked God for power to boost my strength,

     and He gave me energy;

I leveled the mountains, dammed the rivers

     and conquered the sea;

raped the forests, prairies, lakes and estuaries,

     a world I wanted to be.

 

I asked God if I can be God, too, all knowing

     with my technology;

broke the sacred code of life and of matter,

     changed the Great Story;

annihilated life unfit in my own design,

     and set my own destiny.

 

I asked God if He is but a creation of the mind,

     and rose from my knee;

probed space, rounding up the universe,

     aiming at immortality,

bolder than ever, searching for another home,

     and wanting to be free. 

      

Many a self-proclaimed soul rose to the throne, fame they sought in the “grandeur that was Rome,” and the “glory that was Greece” syndrome, In unending quest but found    at the end emptiness like foam.

Breakthroughs in science and technology the genius of man on the untrodden road to be happy and free; beauty he builds, and himself destroys beauty at rainbow’s end on a bended knee.   

Nature-doctor, guardian of the environment’s pristine beauty and bounty; Peace-doctor,  emissary of unity and harmony; Faith-doctor, sans fantasy, keeper of body-mind-spirit integrity; 

And man the disciple of Hippocrates, takes the helm of a great journey, with Matthew’s 25 compassion, carries on a sacred duty, with the dictum, “health of one is health of the world" in joy and piety;  

 

In Frankl's search for meaning, Schweitzer's mission, the "Lady with a Lamp" passion;

dedication of our own hero even in exile - these and other models, elevate the medical profession to a vocation. 

                    Four Attributes of Man

                   Meditation and Reflection  

 

It is I, Homo sapiens, the thinking man 

who changed the concept of creation,

Nature to serve man, 

master and guardian. 

 

It is I, Homo faber, the maker,

wilderness to tame, resources to harness,

untouched these are,

they go to waste.  

 

It is I, Homo ludens, the playing man,

forest to hunt, mountain to climb,

work and leisure to me

keep my sanity.

It is I, Homo spiritus, the praying man,

mysteries I submit, mistakes I atone,

I, too, have a heart that bleeds,

the essence of being human. ~

      

                Detail of painting, Nature, Peace, Faith

Painting & poem by the author dedicated to the Dr Arturo B Rotor 

Memorial Awards for Literature Foundation, and the Philippine 

College of Physicians, during the 3rd awarding ceremonies,

October 17, 2024 at UNILAB Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila.   

In honor of the participants to the Dr Arturo B Rotor Memorial 

Awards for Literature  

 

Part 4- The Power of Stillness

Other title: Stillness and Angelus

“Be still. Stillness reveals the secrets of eternity” ― Lao Tzu

Dr Abe V Rotor

                    Angelus by Jean Francois Millet

1. Stillness and Meditation

Silence, oh elusive silence,.

take me to your realm divine

where good and evil part,

that I may find a new start,

that begins in the heart.

2. Stillness and the Loving Heart

Throb oh heart, throb the magic of love,

lest desire may turn into lust,

blinding the senses in Freudian ido;

Browning, Ben Jonson, come

with your art of love on hand.

3. Stillness and the Arts

Soar into the heavens for peace and quiet,

let imagination rule over reason,

creativity reigns supreme in stillness,

spawning the great masterpieces.

4. Stillness and Scholarship

Fishing not for fish but ideas,

the rod bends, the line quivers -

a big fish bites, pulls, rages,

oh stillness, tool of the sages.

5. Stillness and the Longing Heart

When the heart throbs for someone far away,

of a place you can't go for the moment or nevermore,

of things lost and can no longer be found,

or wishing the good old days were here,

stillness, stillness must reign,

in fullness and profound.

6. Stillness and the Weary Heart

When doubt clouds the mind and shrouds the view,

which road to take of the two,

take the less trodden, more so the fresh path;

stillness – but never the heart to a halt.

7. Stillness and the Grieving Heart

In the dark hours of life the night is long,

the dawn comes late or seems it never comes,

grief and pain they are inseparable:

the mind, body and spirit;

stillness brings back the joy and wit.

8. Stillness and the Raging Heart

When rages the heart cascading wild,

chartless in a sea of tempest,

seeing the shore no more,

stillness shall give you rest.

9. Stillness and Nature

Calm is the sea but a sleeping volcano,

the sky is blue, the river meandering to the sea,

a child of creation I'm from the stillness of the womb,

to the stillness of hereafter.

10. Stillness and Angelus

The sun sets with the Angelus,

as creatures go to their lair,

stillness reigns in the night

until the return of light.

"Outward Peace is useless without inner Peace."

  - Mahatma Gandhi. ~

Part 5 -  Triumph Over the Ebb of Life

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” - Victor E Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

Dr Abe V Rotor

Ebb of Life wall mural in acrylic by the author at his residence, 

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur. 

Feature a person you personally know who triumphed in the midst of crisis. Cite his achievement and the lesson which we derive from him and his experience.

When suddenly we see a shooting star we grasp something to wish for. But before our thoughts are organized our lucky charm is gone.

 

There are times we search the sky for a speck of moving light, a wish ready at hand.  But the stars, thousands of them simply hang on flickering, and none of them falling out. When we are in this situation we must be in the Ebb of Life.  What is this strange land?

Soon enough we realize we are orphans of the universe.  An orphan often talks to himself, for there is no one else around.  He thinks and feels that the world has shrunk.  It is indeed a lonely place.

But this is the place where Michelangelo single handedly made his masterpiece, the huge paintings of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.  In solitude and meditation he saw God, His angels and saints, and he made them models of his art.

It is here where Dr Jose P Rizal wrote the famous Noli Me Tangere which ignited the Philippine Revolution.  He saw meaning in the death of a moth that singed into his lamp -  to become the symbol of martyrdom.     

Helen Keller, in her solace of total blindness wrote, If I were given three days to see, a moving essay which made people see the world better.  Frederick Handel composed The Messiah, the greatest religious composition ever made, without food and sleep for days.

Robert the Bruce, the great Scottish hero hid in a cave and learned his lessons on persistence and strategy from a spider while waiting for a chance to escape his pursuers.  Later he formed a huge army which defeated the English army, the latter to grant Scotland full independence.

What could have happened to Dantes, the count of Monte Cristo, in the novel of the same title by Alexander Dumas if he simply gave in to despair in the dungeon? From an old fellow prisoner he found wisdom in facing the harsh realities of life – and a secret of a hidden treasure. He escaped from prison, and with tremendous wealth, succeeded in avenging his plotters.  At the end of the story, he realized that revenge does not bring true peace.

Helen Keller

Here are other men and women who capitalized on the ebb of their lives to emerge with great achievements:

·         Victor E Frankl – Europe’s leading psychiatrist, founded a new theory, logotherapy, while detained in a Nazi concentration camp during WW II. He became the most significant modern thinker in the field of psychotherapy. His book Man’s Search for Meaning sold more than two millions copies.

Victor E Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

John Milton wrote Paradise Lost when he had normal eyesight and Paradise Regained after losing it. His works comprise the greatest epic poem in English literature, a profound exploration of the moral problems of God’s justice, through the poet’s genius in fusing classicism and innovation, narrative and drama.         

Captain Scott, the great English explorer, had already reached the South Pole, and was on the way back to camp when he and his team were caught in a blizzard. In freezing cold, He managed to write, “Had we lived, I would have had a tale of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman.  These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale.”

·         Albert Schweitzer – philosopher, medical doctor, writer, teacher, philanthropist, musician, rolled into one, stands tall among the world’s greatest humanitarians. Instead of enjoying fame and the comfort of high society, he chose to spend most of his life in a remote village in the Dark Continent – Africa - healing the sick, spreading the gospel, fighting ignorance through education, and bridging the civilized and primitive world.

·      Florence Nightingale renounced “good life” in her native country, England, to join volunteers to serve in an army hospital during the Crimean War. It was extremely dangerous for women to be at the battlefront, but she persisted and brought to the eyes of the world the importance and dignity of the nursing profession. The Lady with a Lamp making her rounds among the wounded and sick to the wee hours became the symbol of nursing. 

                                                                                   Florence Nightingale

    Mahatma Gandhi, one-man against the British empire, underwent extreme personal sacrifice - from humiliation to self-impose fasting – until India was granted independence.    

There are many men and women who labored under great pains and odds, who rose to significance and fame.  And there are even more who lived and died like the Unknown Soldier.

Mahatma Gandhi, Man of the last Millenium

Young Darwin was a disgrace to his prominent family. He chose to be a naturalist defying his father wish to become a doctor. He suffered much at sea for nearly five years as a naturalist, lived in complete isolation because of his radical view of evolution which is contrary to the Doctrine of Creation. He was ridiculed as a monkey for this Ascent of Man, other publications of the same concept of evolution, notwithstanding.

Great works, great deeds, are distilled from hardship and misfortune.  They bring out the best in a person.  Often the battle is but our own, and the enemy is us, yet the victor is us, too.

It is no wonder that if we look up long enough, and think of the enormous reserve in us waiting to be tapped, while keeping faith in the Almighty to whom we owe it, all the stars will hang on shining and twinkling as if to tell us we are not orphans of the universe. ~

“Life is a dance between heaven and earth, the ebb and flow of life.” - Maurice Spees

Acknowledgement: Photos from Internet., Wikipedia, Google

Part 6 - Search for Meaning in Life with Nature

Dr Abe V Rotor

"Human nature is motivated by the search for a life purpose; logotherapy is the pursuit of that meaning for one's life. "

 - Victor Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning)

 

Teaching kids paint the natural world.

 

Discovering plants for natural healing and good health.

 

Devising effective teaching tools; conducting classes on mass media 

 

Restoring icons; painting murals on empty walls

 

Conducting field study as career and pastime.

 

Putting up a community museum; conducting field research.

 

 

Receiving awards and citations on behalf of the community.  

 

 

Expressing love and gratitude, and to the greatest gift of all - LIFE. 

The most difficult challenge in life is asked differently with a common theme, "What is the meaning of my life?  What am I living for?  Am I truly practicing Reverence for Life? What legacy will I leave when I die?

I found a very good reference on this subject, a recent field of psychology - LOGOTHERAPHY.  

Developed by Viktor Frankl, the theory is founded on the belief that human nature is motivated by the search for a life purpose; logotherapy is the pursuit of that meaning for one's life. Frankl's theories were heavily influenced by his personal experiences of suffering and loss in Nazi concentration camps.

Man's Search for Meaning is a 1946 book by Viktor Frankl chronicling his experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, and describing his psychotherapeutic method, which involved identifying a purpose in life to feel positive about, and then immersively imagining that outcome. (Internet)