A Visit to Nature's Gardens Series in Murals

A Visit to Nature's Gardens Series in Murals

Mural Paintings of Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature Center

Author's Residence, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Western Edge of the Cordillera, Santa Paradise, Ilocos Sur

The rocky shores of Santa are a favorite stopover of travelers for respite and relaxation. A popular lore tells us that when the scribe of the Spanish explorers was naming the places where they already established settlements, the scribe had a difficult time of thinking of a Catholic saint's name to name the place (Santa Catalina, Santa Lucia, and Santa Maria were already taken), so the town was simply named "Santa." (Some versions of the story say that the scribe fell asleep or was drunk when he was writing a name for the town and just wrote "Santa".)

Eroded Shoreline of Palauig, Zambales

Continuous battering of waves and tides where every day the sea and river meet, where runoff after rain flows down, rills to gullies grow, soil washed away and the bedrock exposed, seemingly beautiful, serene, strong.  But it is not, it is a landscape changing, now in the making, now in a state of ruin, typical in many parts of the world where man has laid his hands-on Nature's architecture in pursuit of agriculture and industry, and lately settlement and tourism.

Watershed Stream, Mt Makiling, Laguna

 A watershed is an area of land that feeds all the water running under it and draining off of it into a body of water. It combines with other watersheds to form a network of rivers and streams that progressively drain into larger water areas. Topography determines where and how water flows. Mount Makiling is an important catchment area for Laguna de Bay providing a water supply for industrial, agricultural and residential sectors of the CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) region.

Hornbill Sanctuary, Northern Tip of Luzon, between Ilocos Norte and Cagayan

The Luzon hornbill (Penelopides manillae), sometimes called Luzon tarictic hornbill, is a species of hornbill in the family Bucerotidae. It is endemic to forests on Luzon and nearby islands in the northern Philippines. As is the case with all Philippine tarictic hornbills, it has been considered a subspecies of P. panini.

Underground River, Puerto Princesa, Palawan

The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park is a protected area of the Philippines. The park is located in the Saint Paul Mountain Range on the western coast of the island of Palawan, about 80 kilometers north of the city center of Puerto Princesa, and contains the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River.

Pinsal Falls, Sta Maria, Ilocos Sur

In Ilocano mytology the giant Angalo passed by the mountains of Pinsal in search for Aran, leaving a large mark of his footprints that locals call as “Tugot ni Angalo”. The said footprint is now a naturally-made pool.

Tabon Cave, Rizal, Palawan

 The Tabon Caves, dubbed as the Philippines' Cradle of Civilization, are a group of caves located on Lipuun Point, north of Quezon municipality, in the south western part of the province of Palawan Island in the Philippines.

Halloween Moon: Anatomy of a Dream

  Halloween Moon:  Anatomy of a Dream 

Through dreams the loaded unconscious finds relief. Information flows out in the form of dreams. Nature has given us a safety valve to maintain our rationality and to release us from the prison walls of memory. 

Midnight Moon, Himlayang Filipino 2009

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog

In the dark I called Dad and Basang (Auntie) but I received no answer.

This is a true story.

I went to bed very tired. For the whole day before my birthday I put on extra effort to finalize the manuscript of my forthcoming book which I was going to submit the following Monday. The title is Light from the Old Arch, a compilation of essays I wrote through the years.

It was almost midnight when Cecille, my wife, stirred. “I’ll check what we will have for breakfast.” she said as I stretched my aching back and tired brain and apparently fell asleep.

Soon I found myself in complete darkness. I could not trace my way to switch on the lights and after several attempts, an inexplicable fear crept in, a fear I have never experienced. I was in a strange domain yet it had the features of my home. There was total darkness, total silence.

I called for help. I called Dad. I called Basang. 

My father died in 1981 of old age. He was buried at Himlayang Pilipino. Two years after, my oldest son, Pao who was then three died, and was buried beside dad's grave.

Dad was deeply affected by my Mama’s death during the Second World War. My sister Veny was four then, and my brother Eugene was three. Dad suffered much during the four years of Japanese occupation. We continued to live in San Vicente which is adjacent to Vigan, the capital of Ilocos Sur. The three of us children knew little of the joys of childhood. Our only uncle left to raise his own family in Pangasinan. He seldom came to our old house where he, my dad, and four siblings were born. Uncle Leo was the eldest and dad was the youngest. The rest of the siblings died at a very early age of smallpox which killed many people at that time.

Basang my auntie and nanny took care of me from the time my mother died. I was barely two. She never left our home even when I went to Manila for my studies. She died three years after dad. Manang Veny called me to come home when Basang died. We buried her in the town cemetery close to our departed relatives. Just before she died she gave me an antique narra aparador which I now use in keeping my personal things. In our dialect, she said, “This is the only thing I can give you.”

“You have given me everything,” I said.

Going back to the incident, I called dad three times, then called Basang once. It was a call apparently in fear. I felt helpless and lost. I froze. I could not move. I could not shout. And when I knew no help would come, I struggled. I succeeded in moving my fingers, my toes, until I was free.

Cecille had returned to our bedroom. “Why, you are pale and perspiring? What happened?" she asked, perplexed. She fetched me a glass of water.

“Was I shouting?” I asked automatically. “No,” she said calmly.

“I was dreaming,” I said and told her the whole story.

Dreams are visions of the unconscious part of our brain. That is why they occur in our sleep, when we are not aware of things the way we perceive them with our senses. Dreams are not fashioned by rational thoughts and actions, and therefore we have no power to decide and to act according to that decision. We are entirely under the control of our unconscious mind.

“Even when we are deeply asleep the psyche is still actively producing dreams,” says Carl Jung. “We may not always be aware of these activities, any more than we are aware of our physiological activities, but this does not mean they are not taking place.”

According to Jung we remember only a few of our dreams, yet recent evidences suggest that we dream continuously throughout the night. There in our unconscious mind our psyche is very much alive, performing psychological work such as perceiving, remembering, thinking, feeling, wishing, willing, attending and striving – just as breathing, digesting and perspiring are physiological activities.

But can we choose psychic values? According to Jung, when a high value is placed upon an idea or feeling it means that this idea or feeling exerts considerable force in influencing and directing one’s behavior. A person may place a high value on beauty. Another on power. Or knowledge. On the other hand, there are those who place a high value on wealth, even on sex and vices. These create the themes of our dreams.

This is the realm of our unconscious mind. This is where Carl Jung parted way from his friend Sigmund Freud as he blazed the trail of the psychology of the unconscious, which led to applied psychology - psychiatry. We are governed not only by our conscious mind. We are actually governed in a much deeper and wider sense than we ever think. As we feed the unconscious with conscious thoughts and experiences, so the unconscious feeds the conscious mind. And this cycle goes on throughout everyone’s life, starting in the womb.

Even when we were children, the mind did not lose the information it received. They were deposited. First in the conscious, then deposited in the unconscious part of our brain, which are saved like in the computer. Now, the information is ready at hand to be retrieved. Touch the key and the info comes out on the screen – the screen of our consciousness.

How will this affect our present mind now that we are older? Jung said that the previous information serves as archetype. To better understand how this archetype works in relation to what we think at present, here is an example.

Suppose here is a person who happened to be a witness of a murder with his own eyes when he was still a small child. When he sees a suspicious person, the image of the murderer he saw many years ago flashes. It is the archetype coming alive.

Or take another example. A kindly gentleman comes and asks for a favor. We size him up in relation to people who have the characteristics this man possesses. If our experiences are agreeable, it is likely that we are going to entertain this person.

The images of people, places and events are fashioned in many ways by archetypes. Unlike the computer, the mind spontaneously brings out the archetype that the brain appropriately needs at that moment. This is the basis of many of our decisions – and prejudices.

Through dreams the loaded unconscious finds relief. Information flows out in the form of dreams. Dreams may be happy or sad, fearful or pleasant. Or at intervals of moods and settings and characters, as if information keep on flowing out. Nature has given us a safety valve to maintain our rationality and to release us from the prison walls of memory. Thus the other safety valve is forgetfulness.

Psychiatry is based on this principle. Lying on a couch the patient unloads his burden, fears, and uncertainties. He releases the pressure. Through this process he reaches a state of catharsis. He is relieved. He can now sleep. He can now work again.

People who cannot attain catharsis may suffer of psychiatric problems and may resort to drugs. Do you often wonder why people resort to drugs? Why there are more and more people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol?

Why, many people try to “escape” reality?

By reading this story one is led to think that something supernatural controlled the event and situation. I told Cecille, “Dad and Basang came.”

“Let’s pray for them,” she answered and made the sign of the cross.

I know they did not come; I went to them. It was a special day, my special day.

I realized my fault which lies not so much in not remembering them often, but I have ceased to see them as the models that shaped my life. That was too long ago. I no longer see the lessons I learned from them that are still relevant to my present life. I do not call them anymore in the midst of my problems. I have grown up. I do not seek their intercession and guidance anymore.

It is remiss and folly of not showing true feelings to those we love, living or dead, all because “I am always busy”, and because there will be someday to make up for it. There are always reasons or alibis for failing to offer them prayers, to visit their graves, or just to make those who too, are close to them happy. Oh, there are many, many ways.

Time has changed, and change has polarized our worlds. So with values of old and of the present world. The generation gap syndrome is creeping fast, more so with my own children who too, will have a world of their own in the near future.

There in the dark I called Dad and Basang, their names clear and loud, but my voice just faded without answer, not even its own echo. It was eerie and mysterious. The unconscious was swelling and it found an exit in the dark, psychic energy released in dream. And there as I called them, I realized I was the one who is lost – and found myself again.

This is a true story. ~

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Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) 

with Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 Evening Class, Monday to Friday

The Tropical Rainforest could be the biblical Paradise immortalized by John Milton.

The Tropical Rainforest could be the biblical Paradise immortalized by John Milton.* (Original sub-title: A Glimpse of Brazil's Rainforest, Sidelight of the Olympic Games)

Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]

The 2019 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games hosted by Brazil left a vacuum, so to speak in the midst of excitements, political turmoil, and controversies - and fear of the Zika virus, Brazil being its birthplace. It was a lost opportunity to widen the call for worldwide attention and action to save the Amazon, the biggest rainforest reserve in the world.
The Amazon makes a difference in our present world, as it has been serving our living planet. It moderates global warming, gathers Carbon Dioxide and other gases that cause acid rain, induces cloud formation and attract more rainfall, helps steer global air current, and balances freshwater-saline water movement and distribution.

The Amazon harbors the highest biological diversity; it is the biggest sanctuary of wildlife, the world's center of rare and here-to-fore unknown and unidentified species of plants, animals and protists. It is home of indigenous peoples living outside our "civilized" world, yet there are more things to know about their culture.

Collectively the reserve spreads to almost half of the South American continent that divides the world's two biggest oceans - Pacific and Atlantic - it is believed to moderate the occurrence and intensity of the El Niño phenomenon. Today episodes are getting frequent and intense, from 7 or 10 years interval to 5 or even less years, as a result of the thinning of this great forest cover known as the "lungs of the world."

The rainforest is Nature's soil builder, layer after layer of organic matter accumulate on forest floor. Through years the soil flows dorn to fertilize fields and pasture, form deltas which in turn expand the forest area towards the estuaries and shores.
The rape of the Amazon appears unabated, in fact unstoppable. Monoculture plantations, ranches and various conversions to expand agricultural frontier and feed industries in the guise of "feeding" the world and attaining the "good life" mask the real truth in saving the Amazon at all cost. This is true with the other rainforest reserves in the world including ours in Philippines which is but a remnant now of the vast rainforest cover in the twentieth century.

Part 1: 10 Facts about the Amazon Rainforest
By Rhett Butler Last updated 2016-Jan-23
http://travel.mongabay.com/indonesia/indexes/borneo1.html

Most people understand that the Amazon is Earth's largest rainforest, but here are ten other facts you should know about the Amazon. Click on these links if you'd like to learn more about The Amazon or tropical rainforests generally (including 10 facts about rainforests).

1. The Amazon is the world's biggest rainforest, larger than the next two largest rainforests — in the Congo Basin and Indonesia — combined.

2. At 6.9 million square kilometers (2.72 million square miles), the Amazon Basin is roughly the size of the forty-eight contiguous United States and covers some 40 percent of the South American continent. The "Amazon rainforest" — which defined biogeographically includes the rainforest in the Guianas, which technically are outside the Amazon Basin — covers 7.8-8.2 million sq km (3-3.2 million sq mi), of which just over 80 percent is forested.

3. The Amazon River is by far the world's largest river by volume. It has over 1,100 tributaries, 17 of which are longer than 1000 miles.
4. The Amazon River once flowed west-ward instead of east-ward as it does today. The rise of the Andes caused it to flow into the Atlantic Ocean.

5. The Amazon is estimated to have 16,000 tree species and 390 billion individual trees

6. Nearly two-thirds of the Amazon rainforest is found in Brazil.
7. The Amazon is thought to have 2.5 million species of insects. More than half the species in the Amazon rainforest are thought to live in the canopy.
8. 70 percent of South America's GDP is produced in areas that receive rainfall or water from the Amazon. The Amazon influences rainfall patterns as far away as the United States.
9. Cattle ranching accounts for roughly 70 percent of deforestation in the Amazon.NOTE: A happy note. Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest has been declining since 2004, mostly due to the falling deforestation rate in Brazil. There are a variety of reasons for the decline, including macroeconomic trends, new protected areas and indigenous territories. 

                                                       
Part 2: Rainforest - The Ultimate Creation  
It was after dawn, and smoke from nearby homesteads rose with the mountain mist in Carmen, between Davao City and Tagum, Mindanao.  It was at this time and place where the author spotted a company of loggers carrying a wooden cage that looked like an oversized onion crate. Curiously, he looked into the cage and found a pair of flying lemurs (locally called kaguiang in Bisaya or ninmal in Samal Moro), clinging upside down and cringing from the first light of the morning. 

Impressionistic painting of a forest profile by AVRotor

     
Cynocephalus volans, as the animal is scientifically called, is one of the rare mammals that can fly, an adaptation they share with the versatile bats.  Unlike bats however, the flying lemur can only glide from tree to tree, a pair of thin expandable flap of skin and fur connecting the whole length of its front and hind legs serves as a combined parachute and glider.

    
   Forest Stream, mural painting by AVRotor

It was pathetic sight.  The pair of lemurs was apparently captured when their natural habitat, tall trees that made the original forest, were cut down for lumber, converting the area into farmland.

Loss of Natural Habitat Results in Loss of Species 

Scientists warn us that the loss of wildlife sanctuaries will cause the extinction of animal species. This is true of the flying lemurs and also of thousands of different inhabitants in the tropical rainforest, the richest biome on earth. 

It is estimated that more than half the species of plants, animals and protists live in the tropical rainforests.  According to a Time Magazine, there are as many as 425 kinds of living plants that are naturally occupying a hectare of tropical rainforest in the Amazon.  Similarly our own rainforest is as rich because the Philippine lies on the same tropical rainforest belt as Indonesia and Malaysia in Southeast Asia.  There are 3,500 species of indigenous trees in Philippine rainforests alone.

Imagine a single tree as natural abode of plants and animals, such as ferns, orchids, insects, fungi, lichens, birds, monkeys, frogs, and reptiles. The tropical rainforest must be God’s chosen natural bank of biodiversity. The “Lost Paradise” that the Genesis describes and which literary giant John Milton identified as Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, is undoubtedly a tropical rainforest.

 Tropical Rainforest Profile 

Let us look at the Tropical Rain Forest (TRF) profile by slicing it like a multi-layered cake.  It is made up of layers similar to storeys in high-rise building. The “roof” or canopy is what we see as forest cover.  This canopy is made up of tall trees called emergents, jotting through the roof like living towers. 

From the air, the view of a tropical forest is that of one huge green blanket catching the energy of the sun. Through photosynthesis, radiant energy converts chemical compounds into organic materials such as wood, rubber, resin, and drugs.  These products are needed to sustain the lives of countless organisms and the stability of the ecosystem itself.

Looking at it from the forest floor, one can hardly see the sky. Now and then, some of the trees shed their leaves. This can be compared to the molting of animals as they grow.  Entire crowns of leaves fall and litter the forest floor and are turned into humus through the help of insects, bacteria, fungi, and earthworms.  This is very important because humus fertilizes the soil and, acting as sponge and blanket, conserves water.

Through time, with the deciduous or shedding cycle repeated continuously, the forest floor (though the soil is thin, or made of rock) builds up, with layers of nutrient-rich organic matter, enabling many organisms to survive.

Deciduousness or the seasonal falling of leaves, allows the rays of the sun to penetrate the previously shaded plants below.  Occupying the lowest part of the forest is like staying on the ground floor of a building. Here live the ferns and bryophytes.  Above this level are the shrubs, followed by undergrowth trees which can reach a height equivalent to the third and fourth floors. Lianas and epiphytes are medium-sided and may reach as high as the eighth floor of a typical building. It is not unusual to find emergent trees reaching up to 200 feet.

How big can a tree grow and for how long?  Take the case of the Redwoods or Sequoia found in Southern California and China.  The author once saw a tree of this kind in Southern Taiwan which was recently killed by lightning.  The tallest Redwood, still growing today, is 267.4 feet tall with a trunk diameter of 40.3 feet.  It is estimated to be 3,500 years old.

      The analogy of the layers of a rainforest with a skyscraper helps us understand the orderliness of nature in maintaining the rich biodiversity of the ecosystem.

The true forest primeval – the rain forest – is found along the equator. It has been reduced into a sanctuary of “living fossils” of plants and animals that once constituted the eternal green cover of the earth.

  

The tropical rainforest is a natural menagerie where peace and tranquility, colors and patterns, art and skill can be found.  The high-perched artists like squirrels and monkeys are natural acrobats better than any known human circus performers. Many primates howl with electrifying and ear splitting sounds that covers the breadth of the land. Overhead soar the masters of the sky – the Philippine eagles and hawks, scanning for prey hundreds of meters below.

 Inside their tunnels, termite workers eat their way through fallen tree trunks.  

                                                                                                         

Mass Extinction Through Deforestation 

There is possibly no other term that can appropriately describe the magnitude of man’s destruction of the forest other than ecological genocide.  The cutting down of forest trees evidently eliminates all its inhabitants.  While a number of them could escape and find shelter elsewhere, most of the residents, being habitat-specific, cannot survive outside their original abode or beyond the boundaries of their niches. 

     

As an ecosystem, the forest is a product of evolution. Organisms evolve with their natural habitat, acquiring traits in the process. Nature is patient so to speak, to give a chance for organisms to acquire their Darwinian fitness, otherwise they will perish. Many have gained dominance in terms of number.  Others simply are persistent, like the dragonfly which is as old as the dinosaur, and has remained a popular forest resident. Acquisition of aggressive mimicry is a result of long years of evolution showing the way for effective adaptation.  A classical example is the relationship of fig trees and the wasps that pollinate the former’s flowers.  Not even water, wind or man can effectively do the pollination process.  Each kind of fig has a particular wasp pollinator that carries out the job. And each kind of fig tree has a specific fruiting season, providing a continuous supply of food to many animals, such as monkeys and ground fowls.

We now begin to realize that reforestation will never be able to replace the original forest.  Reforestation efforts merely provide a temporary vegetative cover that cannot be compared with the structure of the original forest. Here are other premises to support this contention.

Acacia tree skeleton QC, photo by AVRotor c. 1976

1.  Nature, not man, determines the composition and combination of species in a forest.  If man determines it, it is called a woodland, not a forest. This is where we see Gmelina, Ipil-ipil and Teak plantations.  These trees are planted for the expressed purpose of producing commercial lumber or pulpwood for paper.  

2.  The land and all that grow in the forest have developed simultaneously: geographically, geologically, and biologically.  Streams and springs are full because trees store rainwater in the ground. The roots and natural vegetative cover check erosion and siltation.  Therefore, the death of a forest also means the conversion of streams, rivers, lakes and ponds into swamps, muddy rivers, and eroded gullies.

3.   Abandoned and deforested areas continue to lose not only soil fertility but also the entire soil structure from the most fertile topsoil to the clay foundation next to bedrock.  In short, through erosion, the foothold built over millions of years could be lost permanently.

4.  The forest creates a mini-climate.  Tall forest trees attract clouds.  This transpiration enhances precipitation so that rain occurs anytime of the day, hence the name rainforest.  All this precipitation can be permanently lost with the destruction of the forest. This explains why desertification (formation of desert) usually starts at deforested areas.  Southern Cebu, in spite of its proximity to sea, is a typical example where one can observe the pathetic forest dying process.  This can be observed also on the Sierra Madre mountains starting in Bulacan, and on extensive areas along the narrow strip of the Ilocos region.

In 1960, Philippine Dipterocarp Forests occupied almost 14 million hectares.  What is left today is only three and one-half million hectares.  The average rate of decline is over 2 percent annually. What is more alarming is the annual decline in the volume of trees in the forest which is around six percent in the last 30 years.  All over the world, annual deforestation represents an area as large as Luxemburg. This means every tick of the clock is a hectare of rainforest permanently erased from the globe.

ANNEX: The Amazon is home to more species of plants and animals than any other terrestrial ecosystem on the planet -- perhaps 30 percent of the world's species are found there. Its biodiversity — the term used to describe biological richness — is astounding: a single bush in the Amazon may have more species of ants than the entire British Isles, while a lone hectare of forest (two-and-a-half acres) may have more than 500 species of trees and a single park can have more than 1,400 butterfly species.

Amazon biodiversity by the numbers:
· 40,000 plant species
· 16,000 tree species
· 5,600 fish species
· 1,300 birds
· 430+ mammals
· 1,000+ amphibians
· 400+ reptiles

A list of some of the most famous animals found in the Amazon rainforest:
Mammals
· Jaguar
· Puma
· Capybara
· Sloth (multiple species)
· Giant river otter
· Giant anteater
· Tamarins and marmosets (several species)
· Spider monkey (several species)
· Woolly monkey
· Capuchin monkey (several species)
· Squirrel monkey (several species)
· Uakari monkey (several species)
· Titi monkey (several species)
· Howler monkey (several species)
· Saki monkey (several species)
· Amazon pink river dolphin
· Giant river otter
· Tapir
· Coatimundi
· Kinkajou
· Agouti
· Paca

Birds
· Hoatzin
· Macaws and other parrots (many species)
· Harpy Eagle
· Toucans (several species)
· Antbirds (antpittas, antshrikes, antwren, etc)
· Kingfishers (many species)
· Parakeets (many species)
· Flycatchers (many species)
· Woodpeckers (many species)
· Tanagers (many species)
· Manakins (many species)
· Cock-of-the-rock
· Guans (many species)
· Storks and herons (many species)
· Hummingbirds (many species)
· Oropendola

Herps (reptiles and amphibians)
· Anacondas and boa constrictors
· Venomous snakes
· Caiman (several species)
· Poison dart frogs (many species)
· Tree frogs (many species)
· Iguanas and other lizards
· Freshwater turtles

Fish
· Arapaima or Pirarucu
· Piranha
· Arowana
· Electric Eel
· Giant Catfish
· Neon tetras and other aquarium fish
· Discus and angelfish

http://travel.mongabay.com/indonesia/indexes/borneo1.htm

* Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained by John Milton. These controversial epic poems demonstrate Milton's genius for fusing sense and sound, classicism and innovation, narrative and drama in profound explorations .

**Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL - but whose life?

                           LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL  - but whose life?

Dr Abe V Rotor

“Life is beautiful,” has become too common an expression, as if the easy access to material progress defines the meaning of this expression – affluent living with Money, Money, Money. 

Can money buy true happiness which is the foundation of a beautiful life?

Janus image the way we live our lives

This is the question.  If this were true, then the happiest people on earth are the millionaires, nay billionaires, because they can buy almost everything for themselves. Travel, high rise buildings, palatial homes,  flashy cars, state-of-the art fashion, pleasure beyond Epicurean limit, personalized services, name it and you too, can have it, if you belong to this singular world of the wealthy.

The fact is, they are perhaps among  the most unhappy people on earth based on the standard of real happiness – peace of mind. He who does not enjoy a continuing peace of mind is always fighting the biggest enemy of one’s life – himself.  His revolting conscience.  No one can truly claim happiness who is bothered by his own conscience.  Night and day, hour after hour, while trying to get sleep, struggling to relax frayed nerves, wrestling between good and evil thoughts, desiring in amassing more wealth, zealously guarding his wealth from other greedy people, keeping up with the Joneses, - and in his Narcissistic view ignores the marginalized, the less fortunate, whom ones wealth could help alleviate their plight with compassion, love and care - or just simply, concern that gives a sense of belonging and importance .

 If this is so, then “Life is beautiful” is an equation: excessive living of a few deprives others, the great majority, of decent living.

When a teacher was asked what she feels earning but a measly fraction of millionaire’s  daily income, she simply quipped with a radiant smile. “I have wealth enough. I am happy to think that the lessons I teach children will be their investment.”  This is the essence of vocation.  Living a beautiful life is selflessness, in contrast with “buying happiness with money.”
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LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL (La Vita et ella) - the Movie, shows life as a comedy alone has no true meaning, unless it finds meaning to the point of extreme sacrifice - death if necessary, but for a cause
A gentle Jewish-Italian waiter, Guido Orefice (Roberto Benigni), meets Dora (Nicoletta Braschi), a pretty schoolteacher, and wins her over with his charm and humor. Eventually they marry and have a son, Giosue (Giorgio Cantarini). Their happiness is abruptly halted, however, when Guido and Giosue are separated from Dora and taken to a concentration camp. Determined to shelter his son from the horrors of his surroundings, Guido convinces Giosue that their time in the camp is merely a game.

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 Simple folks on the other hand find happiness in one-thousand-and-one ways. A housewife dutifully attending  to her chores, fisher folks coming back at dawn with good or fair catch, farmers building haystacks from bountiful harvest, craftsmen displaying their art, the young promenading in moonlit, a whole community settling down for the night in peace and quiet, and rousing at daybreak in rustic rhythm of country life. Indeed, all these make a BEAUTIFUL LIFE shared collectively.

Wouldn’t living the beautiful life passive, devoid to challenge and adventure? If this were so, then the world would simply settle down, yawning, complacent, yet abiding.

Indigenous people have preserved much of their aboriginal heritage.  Market day in the Aztecs historical site in Texcoco, Mexico

Wonder if there weren’t the kind of Archimedes who discovered buoyancy in a bathtub and running down the street “:Eureka! Eureka!” Would there be anything else more exciting than putting a huge universe into an equation E=mc2.  Look at the electrified face of the genius Einstein. Darwin could have dropped his controversial theory on evolution in lieu insults that he was a descendant of a monkey. There is a movie, A BEAUTIFUL LIFE about the unsettling life of a “mad” scientist even by his colleagues in the academe. At the end he triumphed with his ideas that shook contemporary economics and for this he was award the Nobel Prize.

Family bonding is number one source of collective happiness

What kind of life do artists have? Imagine Abelardo putting down his pen after composing “Mutya ng Pasig,” and listening it from a diva for the first time.  Santiago writing  the finale of “Anak Dalita,”  Amorsolo resting under a mango tree after putting the final touches of his on-the-spot painting of Planting Rice. Life must be indeed beautiful to these pioneers, and what it makes it really so is because they changed the world. 

 LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL indeed in many ways. It’s all up for us to live that life. ~