14. Adventure with Nature
"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Adventure with Nature in acrylic (20"x28") by AV Rotor 2025
Adventure with Nature, in search for meaning, joy-innocence-courage rolled in one, experience treasured in a lifetime, imprimatur of youth in old age, wisdom distilled from knowledge in the field;
Adventure with Nature, in search of man's ancestral past, virtues-values-reverence ensconced as one in the person, his family and community, primordial to unity and harmony of society and humanity;
Adventure with Nature, in search of what lies up high, atop a mountain, beyond the boundaries of horizon, as imagined views and images on the throne of the great Creator as He would watch over His creation;
Adventure with Nature, in search of a home in the four corners of the Earth and beyond, yearning to conquer time and space, suffering and death, ironically man has yet to conquer his own passion and weakness;
Adventure with Nature, in search of the lost biblical Eden, with deep faith of regaining its beauty and glory, through man's role as guardian and sentinel in keeping Nature's beauty and bounty;
Adventure with Nature, in search of freedom from the tender trap of technology, capitalism, sectarianism, fast lane and affluent living, depriving man the true meaning of the Good Life;
Adventure with Nature, in search of genuine World Peace sans fear of Armageddon, genuine happiness shared in Matthew 25, Psalm of Life, Rizal's vision, Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained.
Nature shares her bounty in many ways:
He who works or he who prays,
Who patiently waits or gleefully plays;
He's worthy of the same grace
- AV Rotor, Living with Nature in Our Times UST 2007 ~
15. Logotherapy* with Nature
“Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.” ― Victor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning
Artwork and wall mural by Dr Abe V Rotor
Tower of Doom Trophy against a wall mural Waterfalls Forever
by AV Rotor 2025. Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur
When you feel imprisoned aiming at affluence; your neighbors, friends, and people you may not even know, having set a standard of the Joneses, you too, wish to attain, yet know you cannot;
When you fall short of your expectation in life, your dreams are but effervescences, overtaken by shortcomings and circumstances beyond your control, age and poor health notwithstanding;
When you believe in the Good Life measured by wealth and power, popularity and social standing, yet feel empty inside, seeking for more, for something akin to that of Caesar's dream;
When you triumph over others, friends or enemies, masters or subordinates, in war and peace, and you call this victory, awarding yourself a trophy - and a crown of fig leaf;
When you have stayed too long, you can't remember, in a concentration camp far, far away from Flanders' Field, Shangri-la, or any place of freedom, peace and joy - much less of compassion;
When you have forsaken those you love and care, your family and community, in lieu of the promises of a bigger world of adventure, at the end finding yourself abandoned, and too, forsaken;
When you have fallen into the tender traps of capitalism, modernism, sectarianism and the like, and finding yourself at the receiving end an outcast, feeling alone in this wide, wide world;
* Logotherapy is an existential therapy developed by Viktor Frankl that focuses on finding meaning in life as the primary human motivation.
Tower of Doom Trophy against a wall mural A Li'l Corner of Eden
by AV Rotor 2025. Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur
Go out and find Nature, in her simple yet beautiful ways, expressed at sunrise, sunset, in the many faces of clouds, rainbow's arch like cathedral, the countless scenes of awe and wonder;
Go out and follow Nature from the mountains and hills, the watershed feeding the streams, rivers and lakes, making the fields and pastures, green, the grains golden at harvest time, kites flying in the blue sky;
Go and follow Nature down the vast ocean, visit the home of your ancestors in caves, forests, valleys, site of Genesis - the origin of all things, with Homo sapiens as God's masterpiece. Rejoice in thanksgiving! ~
16. Ecology: Reflection of the Good Life
There are people who live happy and full lives while others do not. This leads us to look into the role of human faculties. When we talk of human faculties we refer to holistic intelligence. It is beyond IQ. It dwarfs the common concept of rationality. In fact, it defies definitions that scientists thought of plotting into various fields.
All of us are endowed with a wide range of intelligence which is divided into eight realms, namely:
- Interpersonal (social intelligence)
- Intrapersonal (meditational, spirituality)
- Kinesthetic (athletics, dance, body language)
- Languages or linguistic
- Logic (dialectics, mathematics)
- Music (Auditory art)
- Spatial intelligence (drawing and painting, sculpture, architecture, photography)
- Naturalism (green thumb, relationship with the Natural World)
These realms reside in both left and right hemispheres of our brain, with the left doing more of the reasoning and the right of creativity. How we live a happy and fulfilled life largely rests on how balance we use our brain, making use of these eight God-given faculties. It is also with this premise that we find peace with ourselves and with our environment and ultimately with God. Thus it is not only how much we are endowed with this gift, but more importantly, it is how we make use of it fully and in the right way.
Why don’t you make your own assessment? Rate yourself in each realm. Analyze your top three. Are you not proud of them? Look at the other realms. You may not have tapped them well. Do you realize that there is a big room of improvement, and that there are latecomers in this world?
Lastly, let me emphasize another component of peace, that of sharing. I can not find a shorter way to explain it more clearly than to present this excerpt from “How to Live With Life,” published by Reader’s Digest. To wit:
“Every human being on this earth faces a constant problem: how to make the most of life. There is no simple solution; the art of living is the most difficult of all the arts. But fortunately for all of us, experience can be shared. Insights can be learned. Wisdom can be taught. Experiences, insights and wisdom of men and women – from teachers to clergymen, housewives to scientists, ordinary citizens to statesmen - who have lived deeply, thought profoundly and cared enormously about sharing with others what they learned have found some fragment of truth that cushions the harsh impact of reality or brightens the marvelous tapestry of living. From them we find some answers to the most fundamental of all questions: how to live with life.”
Final Reflections
Let us
- Reflect on re-creating Nature with the image of the lost Eden
- Reflect on bringing the dead tree back to life.
- Reflect that everything in this world is interconnected. Reflect on the lost lamb, the prodigal son.
- Reflect on the new concept of heroes, hope of a tired Planet Earth
- Reflect that our lives can not be ruled by the faceless side of
- science and technology
- Reflect on long life but one lived with noble cause
- Reflect on that sailboat riding on the wave and wind towards a destination.
- Reflect on the multiple intelligence which God endowed singularly to man and how we make use of it in gratitude to the Giver.
- And if we think we are too little in this wide, wide world to make any difference, let this verse permeate in our thoughts and heart.
Cumulus
Rise up from the sea and come as rain,
wake the ponds, make the rivers flow,
fill the lakes, make the fields green;
the trees a curtain to hide the sun
a moment of your ephemeral beauty
of changing faces and a myriad figures;
delight many a child to draw,
to dream and grow;
and if one day the water of the sea is not enough,
drink, drink deep
from my little cup.
Rocky cliff against cumulus cloud, in acrylic by the author 2020
17. Four-Seasons-in-One
"... the seasons come and go, never growing old;
each with rhyme, rhythm, and the meter of living,
renewing hope, keeping faith, humbling the bold."
Four-Seasons-in-One, acrylic, AVR 2012
I love the seasons, I want them all at the same time:
spring, summer, autumn, winter - rolled into one;
for I can't wait each coming, or the trouble to find;
one sitting before the canvas and everything's done.
So in my life, seasons crowd in, knowing not which one
comes in the morning or evening, at work or play;
I lost track of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and the bond
of creation that brings all together to pray.
The artist in me called, there's order in every thing -
the seasons come and go, never growing old;
each with rhyme, rhythm, and the meter of living,
renewing hope, keeping faith, humbling the bold.~
18. Twenty Art Scenes of Our Changing Environment
“If the environment is happy, people will laugh and your grief will go away.”― Srinivas Mishra
Our changing environment refers to the ongoing changes happening to the planet, primarily due to human activities like burning fossil fuels and deforestation. These changes include global warming, rising sea levels, and altered ecosystems. Climate change is a significant aspect of these changes, with impacts including more extreme weather, melting ice, and rising sea levels. AI Overview Internet
Flow Gently Sweet Afton, local counterpart
“An understanding of the natural world and what’s in it is a source of not only a great curiosity but great fulfillment.” —David Attenborough
Ecosystems endangered - coral reef and forest
“The earth is always changing...readjusting to our existence. Each era is full of unique challenges”― Val Uchendu
Two colonies - marine and terrestrial
“The Earth is what we all have in common.”—Wendell Berry
Birds in the trees; fish in the deep
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” —Albert Einstein
Boys in the woods adventure; family of fish
“To leave the world better than you found it, sometimes you have to pick up other people’s trash.” —Bill Nye
Oil spill in two stages
“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of each.” — Henry David Thoreau
Aftermath of oil spill on marine ecosystem.
“Together we can preserve the forest, securing this immense treasure for the future of all these children.”— Chico Mendes
Evolution of life in two stages
And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and my soul.” —John Muir
“The ultimate test of a man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.” — Gaylord Nelson
The Day After dreadful scenarios
“Look after the land and the land will look after you, destroy the land and it will destroy you.” —Aboriginal Proverb
“We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it.”— Barack Obama
New species emerging from genetic engineering
“Earth rejoices our words, breathing and peaceful steps. Let every breath, every word and every step make the mother earth proud of us.”― Amit Ray
Where have all the fire trees - and the children - gone?
"There can be no purpose more enspiriting than to begin the age of restoration, reweaving the wondrous diversity of life that still surrounds us." — E.O. Wilson ~
19. Cryptobiology: The Study of Nature Spirits
Annex - A Collection of Images of Cryptid Trees
Dr Abe V Rotor
Deep inside, we still have a longing to be reconnected with the nature that shaped our imagination, our language, our song and dance, our sense of the divine. And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. And taste the beauty of the wild. still! Internet
Coed, Angie Tobias 18, displays cryptid driftwoods from a collection of Nature Spirit remains at the Living with Nature Center in San Vicente Ilocos Sur. These items resemble unique features of creatures and objects, a subject of pseudoscience called cryptobiology.
Cryptobiology is a field of study at the border of science and superstition., thus scientists call it pseudoscience. It is however, older than science itself owing to its indigenous and popular nature. With today's growing awareness in protecting nature from rampant destructive practices, this new field is gaining support from scholars and people in general.
There are two fields of cryptobiology, one concerning animals (cyptozoology) and the other, plants (cryptobotany). The former took off with the discovery of strange creatures like the Coelacanth fish thought to have become extinct millions of years ago. On the other hand, the search of legendary and fiction characters like Loch Ness, Bigfoot, and the Abominable Snowman, continues to draw attention.
Philippine Eagle Driftwood in two views, personal collection of the author
on display at the Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur
Search for the Incredible
Media with the advancement of science and technology have embellished findings and reports about a "third world of creatures". The platypus is among nature's most unlikely animals. In fact, the first scientists to examine a specimen believed they were the victims of a hoax. If the Red Wood (Sequoia) was not discovered, no one would believe in its enormous size compared with high rise buildings. How many creatures completely unfamiliar to most of us live in a drop of pond water? In terms of biological diversity, 90 percent of living things remain unknown and unidentified, more so if we include the prototype and extinct organisms since life appeared three billion years ago.
Driftwood representing a Philippine eagle, hawk (lawin), and a dragon in biblical times and in fairy books. Displayed as a table top figurines, subject of curiosity and subsequent exchange of stories among young and old alike.
This figure of an aquatic creature apparently swimming, was discovered in an estuary. Old folks claim the creature once lived where sea and river meet, a unique habitat of many strange creatures, animals and plants as well. Mural background adds to the queer ambiance of the figure.
Horned duck with wings half-spread ready for takeoff, gives a fantasy image of a strange creature, which kids relate with cartoon characters and unique specimens like the Pterodactyl, an extinct genus of pterosaurs.
Top photos: Half-serpent, half-avian with distinct eyes, beak and crown (palong Tag); yelping puppy in a greeting pose. Lower photos: Long legged reptile emerging from a broken jar seems to be telling story fit for a horror movie.
Augury is the practice from ancient Roman religion of interpreting omens from the observed behavior of birds. A white dove means “peace”. A black dove means “war”. It could also pertain to matters of the heart, relationships, luck, misfortune, death, Remember the emissary bird in the biblical Noah's Ark? Have you seen a black dove in our real world?
Out of this world creatures haunt the forest, playing the role of guardian against poachers and loggers. Nature spirits are friendly to environmentalists and are believed to be protecting Nature's resources against abuse.
Cryptobiology is traced to our ancestors, and carried on through history, treasured in primitive societies, religious organizations, and time honored beliefs and tradition conveyed in documents and folktales.
Cryptobiology, Keeper of Values and Tradition
One time I asked a man of his true name. He said when he was a boy he was sickly. To overcome his condition, his nickname was changed with one stroke of a bolo (Taga' sa punong kahoy.) To this day Mang Kapok (kapok is cotton tree, Ceiba pentandra), now a senior, is heathy and strong, thanks to the spirit of the place and the village herbolario.
Beginning of Crypto communication
With the breakthrough in cybercommunication, it is evident that soon we will be communicating with Nature more directly than before, more than mere fantasy and imagination, over and above, inferential and psychological.
Cryptobiology and Conscientization
Conscientizatrion conveys the idea of developing, strengthening, and changing consciousness. Consciousness leads us to think further than knowledge in the pursuit of values, truth and the ideal. Here is a piece I wrote for a university lecture on Nature and Literature. ~
Annex - A Collection of Images of Cryptid Trees
Researched by Dr Abe V Rotor
"Cryptids are earthly symbols of communication between
and among creatures - including humans." - avr
"Cryptids are Nature spirits appealing for understanding
and love from humans." - avr
Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us,
and sometimes, they win. - Stephen King
These and many cryptid figures are encountered on the Internet - blogs, facebook, e-mails, apps - indicating growing awareness of the dilemma of Nature's destruction, cum curiosity and fancy that accompany such experience. Acknowledgement with gratitude to all sources of these photos. -avr
"All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.
- Edgar Allan Poe
“Maybe all the people who say ghosts don’t exist are just afraid to admit that they do.” - Michael Ende, The Never Ending Story
"We seem to take for granted unseen spirits, but we cannot escape
them as a result of our folly, indifference and greed." - avrotor
20. Love the Children through Art
“They always say time changes things, but you actually
have to change them yourself.” Andy Warhol
Author demonstrates basic art under the trees.
Away from the cellphone and mall,
for a time precious however small.
“If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.”
- Edward Hopper
Wall mural brings nature to children in imagery.
Reach out for something a dream,
a pot of gold, morning sun beam.
“To create one’s own world takes courage.” Georgia O’Keeffe
A work of art is beautiful and never wrong.
Proudly they stand with their art,
a treasure their lives now a part.
“The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live.”
- Auguste Rodin
Outdoor art workshop under the trees. Living with Nature arboretum.
A school: its roof,
the sky and treetops,
its walls the horizon,
its floor bare earth;
it is Nature's zone.
Shh... these children feel free,
freedom in creativity
“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” Pablo Picasso
Art guides children to a healthy socio-cultural life.
Time out, art is not in a hurry,
pause with nature and company.
“The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.” Francis Bacon
Author as guardian and tutor
Art has many expressions,
in different sessions;
shy and cautious at first,
'til released like a burst.
“I am seeking. I am striving. I am in it with all my heart.” Vincent van Gogh ~
How would you express love to your spouse or child diagnosed of cancer and has but a short time to live? All of us in one way or the other has experienced fear of losing a loved one because of a disease or extreme risk in profession.
Here is a story of The Christmas Tree, one of the most moving movies I ever watched. It is as fresh in my memory as it was 46 years ago.
Pascal loves his surroundings, and his father buys him a blue tractor and trailer to drive around the chateau grounds. Because the boy shows an interest in wolves, Laurent and Verdun break into a Paris zoo and steal two of the animals so that Pascal may train them as pets. After one of the wolves is rescued from a fall into a well, the boy nurses the animal. Later, a wild stallion colt attacks Pascal while he plays, and the wolves come to his rescue.
