Yes, you can paint. Make it a lifetime hobby.

Yes, you can paint. Make it a lifetime hobby.
Dr Abe V Rotor
A Naturalist World

Lesson: Art is for both young and old. Art is not a matter of "right or wrong." It is theory, and it is your own. This is what is known as expression. Art is expression. A holistic one because it takes many faculties to create one - from logic to imagination, from visual to touch, traditional to contemporary.

Group work takes away boredom, it is collectively inspiring and challenging.

But work with your own thoughts, imagination, pace.

But first, how do you begin?

1. You need only three primary colors - yellow, red and blue. Plus a lot of white and a little black. You can create all the colors of the rainbow. And you can do more in various hues and shades.

2. Red and yellow make orange; yellow and blue, green; blue and red, brown or purple. If you combine the three primary colors in equal proportion, you'll get black.

3. Secondary colors lead you to tertiary. If you get lost you can trace it back to secondary. And you will not deviate from your color scheme.

4. White makes any color lighter: red to pink, yellow to cream, navy blue to sky blue, black to gray, orange to tangerine.

5. Black darkens colors. It is used to make shades and shadows. Contrast. If too much, your painting become drab, even "muddy."

6. You need simple tools. Hardware paintbrushes 1/2" to 3" wide are relatively cheap. For artist brushes, buy from bookstores and art supplies. Get flat brushes - smallest 1/16", biggest 1"). Get one or two round brushes. Because latex is water based, you need only few brushes; you can wash them while painting.

Experiment, don't be afraid. Take advantage of the natural characteristics of paints and other mediums, like cohesiveness, immiscibility, blending, slow or uick drying, etc.

7. Use disposable palette board such as cardboard and plywood. You can make your own canvas. Canvas is sold by yard from upholstery stores. You can make several paint canvases from a yard of 60" wide canvas. You can use illustration board. For murals I use marine plywood 1/2" to 3/4" thick, 4 ft by 8 feet.

8. Do not be afraid to experiment. Try finger painting. Palette painting. Paint as you imagine and feel. Don't be exacting, unless your subject requires it.

9. Foundation or primer is the same white latex you will be using. I prefer gloss white latex. Get more white than any of the colors. Allow the primer to dry, sandpaper it before you start to paint. Latex dries fast, so you have to work fast, too - unlike oil, it takes hours or days.

10. As much as possible mix colors first on the palette board before you apply. Of course, you can experiment by mixing colors now and then on the canvas itself. You will discover new techniques and develop your style. Never use oil and latex at the same time, latex and lacquer. But you can use permanent ink markers for lines and margins, and to enhance details.

11. Work on the light areas first, like sky, then proceed to the dark areas, like group of trees, bottom of rocks, shades and shadows, last. Work spontaneously. You know when to stop, then prepare for a second or third - or nth sitting. One sitting normally lasts 30 to 60 minutes. Pause and study your work every after sitting.

Paint a harvest time scenery in your province or country.
Do it on-the-spot with your family or friends, picnic style.

12. Never abandon your work. Every painting is a masterpiece in your own right, as long as you did the best you could, honestly and lovingly. Treasure it.

Express your fear, anger, and other negative thoughts and feelings. Make the canvas a battle field, like this mural I saw in the Reunification Palace in HoChiMinh City, formerly Saigon. Painting is therapy.

And remember, painting is not just a hobby. It is therapy. It is prayer. It is universal language. It is timeless. Art is a bridge of the known and the unknown, the Creator and His creation. ~

Rebuild the Lost Paradise through painting - no matter how long it takes. Leonardo da Vinci took two years with countless hours perfecting Mona Lisa. (Mural 9 ft x 10 ft)

We are destroying the Earth - our only ship in space.

"In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed." - Charles Darwin

Dr Abe V Rotor

Deceiving view of wasteful and ostentatious living at the expense of the environment.

1. Changing Environment, influenced by man, breeds a variety of ailments and diseases. Nature-Man Balance, the key to good health is being threatened.

2. What and Where is the so-called Good Life? The Good Life is shifting with the transformation of agricultural to industrial economy.

3. The Good Life is synonymous to Affluence. People want goods and services beyond what they actually need. Want leads to luxury - to waste.

4. The world’s population is 7 billion. Another billion will be added in less than 10 years. Runaway population is the mother of human miseries

5. The proliferation of cities, growth of cities to metropolises and megapolises, each with 10 to 20 million people ensconced in cramped condition. Cities breed Marginal communities

“People, people everywhere, but not a kindred to keep," in condominiums, malls, schools, churches, parks, sharing common lifestyles and socio-economic conditions. They are predisposed to common health problems and vulnerabilities from brownouts to food and fuel shortage, force majeure notwithstanding.

6. Loss of Natural Environment – loss of productivity, loss of farmlands, and wildlife. Destruction of ecosystems - lakes, rivers, forests, coral reefs, grasslands, etc. Destruction of ecosystems is irreversible.

7. Species are threatened, many are now extinct, narrowing down the range of biodiversity. Human health depends largely on a complex interrelationship of the living world. No place on earth is safe from human abuse. Coral Reef – bastion of terrestrial and marine life, is now in distress.

8. Wildlife shares with our homes, backyards and farms, transmitting deadly diseases like SARS, HIV-AIDS, Mad-Cow, FMD, Ebola, and Bird Flu which can now infect humans, allergies notwithstanding.

9. “Good Life” cradles and nurses obesity and other overweight conditions. Millions of people around the world are obese, wih 34% of Americans in the US obese.

10. Global warming stirs climatic disturbance, changes the face of the earth.

11. Globalization packages the major aspects of human activity – trade, commerce, industry, agriculture, the arts, education, science and technology, politics, religion and the like.

12. . Mélange of races - pooling of genes through inter-racial and inter-cultural marriages produces various mixed lines or “mestizos” - Eurasian, Afro-Asian, Afro-American, Amerasian, and the like. Native genes provide resistance to diseases, adverse conditions of the environment. But will this advantage hold on even as the native gene pools are thinned out?

13. Modern medicine is responsible in reducing mortality and increasing longevity. It has also preserved genetically linked abnormalities; it cradles senility related ailments. It made possible the exchange of organs and tissues through transplantation, and soon tissue cloning. It has changed Evolution that is supposed to cull out the unfit and misfits. Man has Darwinism in his hands.

14. The first scientific breakthrough is the splitting of the atom that led to the development of the atomic bomb as the most potent tool of war as evidenced by its destruction at Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and the nuclear reactor which still holds the promise of providing incessant energy to mankind. The second scientific breakthrough – Microchip led to the development of the Internet which “shrunk the world into a village.”

16. The third breakthrough in science, Genetic Engineering, changed our concept of life - and life forms. It has enabled man to tinker with life itself. Revolutionary industries Examples: In vitro fertilization, surrogate motherhood, Human Genome Project (HGP or gene mapping), multiple childbirth, post-menopausal childbirth, DNA mapping, etc. Birth of the prototype human robot – pampered, he lives a very dependent life.

17. Genetic Engineering gave rise to Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) and Gene Therapy. It has also primed Biological Warfare into a more terrifying threat to mankind and the environment. On the other hand Gene Therapy aims at preventing gene-link diseases even before they are expressed; it has actuallty revolutionized medicine. More and more countries are banning GMO crops and animals through legislative measures and conservation programs, including protection against “biopiracy”

18. Today’s Green Revolution opened up non-conventional frontiers of production – mariculture, desalination, desert farming, swamp reclamation, aerophonics (rooftop farming), hydroponics, urban farming, organic farming, Green Revolution adapts genetic engineering to produce GMOs and Frankenfoods. We may not be aware, but many of us are eating
genetically modified food (GMF or Frankenfood) everyday – meat, milk, chicken, corn, potato and soya products, and the like mainly from the US. Many food additives and adjuncts are harmful, from salitre in longganiza to pesticide residue in fruits and vegetables, aspartame in fruit juice to MSG in noodles, formalin in fish to dioxin in plastics, bromate in bread to sulfite in sugar, antibiotic residue in meat to radiation in milk.

• Hydroponics or soiless culture makes farming feasible in cramped quarters, and it increases effective area of farming.

A return to marginal existence

after destroying the natural environment 

. Aeroponics or Multi-storey farming Vertical Farming Farming in the city on high rise buildings

• Post Harvest Technology. is critical to Food Production. PHT bridges production and consumption, farm and market, thus the proliferation of processed goods, supermarket, fast food chains, food irradiation, ready-to-eat packs, etc.

19. Exploration into the depth of the sea and expanse of the Solar System - and beyond. We probe the hadal depth of the ocean. We build cities in space - the Skylab. Soon we will live outside of the confines of our planet earth. Now we aim at conquering another planet, another Solar System to assure continuity of mankind after the demise of the earth.

20. Regional and International Cooperation is key to global cooperation: EU, ASEAN, APEC, CGIAR, ICRISAT, WTO, WHO, UNEP, WFO, FAO, like fighting pandemic diseases – HIV-AIDS, SARS, Dengue, Hepatitis, Bird Flu, etc. 

There appears to be no escape from our high tech world

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein

Dr Abe V Rotor

Virtually there is no escape from our high tech world. We are trapped.

Imagine life if there were no cell phones, cable TV, video games, malls, hospitals, e-mails, solar watches, MRT/LRT, ATM, and the like.  And if we think about today's processes in making the many products we use everyday - from ballpoint pens to cars - imagine computers and robots at work in place of man.

Scenario: a quart clock awakens you. You switch on the light, tune in the TV or radio, take a bath, pick up the phone, cook breakfast, read the morning paper, dress up, take the elevator, drive the car, etc., etc., etc.  All this is not surprising to those of us who live in urban centers.  

Death lurks in the byproducts of "The Good Life"

But hear this.  The milk you drink is genetically modified (human embryo hormone was injected into the cow to produce more milk),;  the corn flakes you eat comes from Bt corn (corn with a gene of a bacterium - Bacillus thuringiensis); your potato and onion are irradiated for longer shelf life; your lettuce carries a trace of dioxin (the deadliest toxin ever synthesized), your tuna carries a residue of mercury; the microwave emits rays that are not good to health; the paint in your condominium contains lead; plastic deteriorates and you may not know you are absorbing the byproducts; synthetic fabric is the cause of your allergy; there is nitrate (salitre) in corned beef and in tocino; MSG (Mono Sodium Glutamate) in noodles, aspartame in softdrinks, sulfite in sugar; Potassium Bromate in ead.  And the list goes on, ad infinitum. 

In the latest issue of Time magazine, March 3, 2014, a new research links common chemicals and brain disorders in kids. This is how everyday toxins may affect our kids.

1. Manganese - Found in drinking water, is linked with lower math scores, hyperactivity, impaired motor skills and some drops in intellectual function.

2. Carbonates - Found in pesticides used to kill cockroaches, flies and mosquitoes, and lawn bugs, are linked to defects in brain development.

3. Tetrachloro-ethylene - Found in dry cleaning solvents, is linked to problems in brain development and a higher rate of psychiatric diagnoses. 

4. Polybrominated biphenyl ethers - Found in furniture and toys as a flame retardant is linked with disorders in brain development among kids with higher in utero exposure. (In utero is a Latin term literally meaning "in the womb". In biology, the phrase describes the state of an embryo or fetus.)

The deleterious by-products of today's science and technology exacerbate the problems of mankind. Paradoxically, science and technology have not successfully eradicated the ancient scourge of mankind - disease, poverty, and ignorance.

While man may have a grasp of history and his society, he has apparently lost control of his destiny.
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Globalization also takes away our original identities as individual and as a people.  It homogenizes diversity into a common pool, including our independence in belief, thinking and conviction -  and the quaintness of alternative ways of living. 
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At this point we would like you to switch your thoughts and focus your attention on the following areas:

1. Environmental preservation/conservation
2. Saving the endangered species
3. Reducing wastage, recycling
4. Natural medicine, organically grown food
5. Pollution-free cars
6. Ecology tourism (eco-tourism)
7. Model cities like Curitiba, Brazil            Curitiba Botanic Garden
8. Ban nuclear weapons
9. Free Willy movie, Fly Away Home, etc
10. Clean Air Act, stop CFC emission
11. Zoning, proper land use
12. Ban cloning, genetically modified organisms (GMO) and their products.

This is an open-ended list, and we ask you to continue it and share this lesson with your family and community in a lively and positive discussion.~ 

Idiomatic Expressions - the Fashion of Language

Idioms impart grace and force, color and temper to any language.  They illumine or mask the meaning of what we wish to say or hear.    

Dr Abe V Rotor
You may not be aware but you are using now and then - consciously or not - idiomatic expressions. Idioms have become integrated in the language you are using.

In fact, there are thousands of idioms, and they occur frequently in all languages. The English language alone has at least twenty-five thousand idiomatic expressions.

Just be careful; Idioms usually do not translate well. In some cases, when an idiom is translated directly word-for-word into another language, either its meaning is changed or it becomes meaningless. And you may not get your message across. You end up with an empty bag. Worst, you get misunderstood and get into trouble. 

Love is Blind (and lovers can't see) as interpreted in a romantic piece of sculpture by Donato Barcaglia. (Wikipedia)

Watch out on the part of the other party. For example, when one says "The devil is in the details" he is referring to things that may look good on the surface, but upon scrutiny, undesirable aspects are revealed.

Many idioms however are not difficult to interpret. They are understood directly and not figuratively. such as these examples: 

Waste not, want not. To err is human (to forgive divine). In conversation the other party may exppress the second or consequential part. Which means you understand each other. You are in the same wavelength of discussion, so to speak.

--------------------------
An idiom (Latin: idioma, "special property", from Greek: idíōma, "special feature, special phrasing, a peculiarity, " is a phrase or affix that has a figurative, or sometimes literal, meaning. 
------------------------- 
These are common idioms and their meanings: 

1. During a downpour or heavy rain it's common to hear some one says, It's raining cats and dogs.. 

2. Letting out a secret.usually ends up in exclamation: Oh, you spilled the beans! 

3. You realize some one is pulling your leg. It's a trick, he is telling something untrue..

4. When will you drop her a line? It means to send a note to or call someone.

5. You should keep an eye out for that. - to keep an eye out for something means to maintain awareness of it so that you notice it as it occurs.

6. You can manage a given situation. Talk to yourself, "I can't keep my head above water." 

7. In a thesis defense, the candidate had butterflies in her stomach. (very nervous)

8. Feeling blue? (Are you sad?

9. It's a closed book. Our relationship has finally ended.

10. The early bird gets the worm.  It's a very popular proverb, he who arrives early gets credit.  There is an advantage of being an early comer.  .

11. That jacket costs an arm and a leg.. It means something is very expensive.

12. It is not rocket science, means something that is not difficult.

13. Cheerful and amusing is expressed a bundle of laughs.

14. Put a cork in it.is an impolite way to say, "shut up!" (another idiom), be quiet, and stop talking.

15. It's a dog's life is a wretched existence; cat and dog life is full of quarrels. 

16. A deep, sound sleep (deadsleep); a position of success, happiness and prosperity (place in the sun); a closely kept secret that is a source of shame and embarrassment (skeleton in the closet).

17. Have you been stabbed in the back?  Not literally. You were treacherously betrayed. .  

18. Shhh...just between you and me (confidentially)

19. You may be referring to someone who is reliable and supportive(tower of strength)  such as a basketball star (another idiom).

20. Bird's eyeview irefers to an overall view or survey; eagle eye means sharp vision./

21. What job would you prefer? White collar or blue-collar?.(Office or field work?)

22. Remember the boy in an Aesop fable who cried wolf? Repeated false alarm or cry for help ends up with no one coming to your rescue.when you really need it. Do crocodiles shed tears? Of course not. They do feel sorrow.

23. Give and take (fair exchange) is a proverb. 

24, To go places speaks of success, a compliment; mother country expresses nationalism. 

25, Warnings: Don't jump the gun, don't begin before the starting signal is given.  This is my last word (final warning or advice). Save face, else you lose your reputation.   

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Fred kicked the bucket.
Understood compositionally, Fred has literally kicked an actual, physical bucket. The much more likely idiomatic reading, however, is non-compositional: Fred is understood to have died. 
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Acknowledgement: Wikipedia, Internet, Book of Idioms prepared by Niña Enriquez; Living with Nature Series, AVR

Success comes with old age. Take it from these famous people

Old sages like Confucius and Socrates were amazing leaders whose advice is still applicable to today's innovators.
Researched and Organized by Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Quotes about old great men 1. Charles Darwin published his masterpiece in his old age, more than 20 years since he started his research. He was a late bloomer, did not pursue medicine but became a naturalist.

Charles Darwin 

2. Benjamin Franklin was past 80 when he helped draft the constitution.

3. Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes was in his 80's when he wrote some of his classic legal opinions and he served well into his 90's.

4. Artist Pablo Picasso as well as cellist Pablo Casals were active into their 90's.

5. Moses led his people from Egypt, and lived to a very ripe age. He became suddenly mature
and old when he brought the 10 commandments from Sinai. Grandma Moses began her art career in her late 70's.

6. Victor Fankl, after second world war, and released from the Nazi camp, founded logotherapy, and a book A Search for Meaning. in his old age.

Frankl 

7. Greek shipping magnate Onassis was already very old when he married the widowed Jacqueline Kennedy

8. Michelangelo designed St. Peter's Cupola when he was 83 and remained active until he was 89.

9. Tandang Sora is called with such respect because of her age coupled by high quality of leadership – trust and confidence.

10. Sister Mamerta Rocero SPC went back to school for her PhD in her sixties, because one of the few Filipino ethno botanist, died at the age 94.

11. Dr Fe del Mundo, past her 90s continued to inspire doctors and those in the health profession.

12. Dr. Dioscorro Umali until his death at the age of 73, was IRRI’s visiting scientist to China; he held the highest position as regional director of UN-FAO.

13. I am fortunate to have studied under these famous professors in their old age. It is indeed a rare honor and privilege.

• Dr. Deogracias Villadolid Stanford Fishery expert, introduced tilapia.
• Dr. Nemesio Mendiola, Luther Burbank of the Philippines
• Dr. Gerardo Ocfemia, formost plant pathologist
• Dr. Velasquez, formost Filipino phycologist
• Dr. Eduardo Quisumbing, author of the most popular on medicinal plants.
• Prof. Leopoldo Karganilla, entomologist
• Prof. Emiliano Roldan, plant pathologist
• Dr. Juan Aquino, soil scientist
• Dr. Eugenio Cruz, agricultural engineer, invented the evaporator air-con.
• Dr Rufino Gapuz, animal husbandry expert
• Dr. Francisco Fronda, father of the poultry industry of Thailand.
• Prof. Domingo Paguirigan, horticulturist
. Dr Salvador Araneta, President of Araneta University 
  Prof. Jose Lansang Journalist, Lyceum of the Philippines 
  Dean Juan Torres, agriculturist, Araneta University
. Dean Jose Adeva, Lyceum of the Philippines
  Dr. Ernesto Franco, Management, Lyceum of the Philippines 
  Prof Paulino M Capitulo, historian 
  Prof. Amando Doronilla, journalist, Lyceum 
  of the Philippines 
. Prof Francisco Claridad, plant geneticist

14. Marlon Brando came back to the screen when he was in his seventies appeared as The Godfather and won a second academy award.

15. Spencer Tracy was the old man of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea.

16. Anthony Quinn was Zorba the Greek and appeared as the old man in Harry Potter series.

17. Oliver Cromwell retired on the farm, then fought for the rights of England in his old age, deposed the kind – but restored the monarchy after.

18. Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, and looked at his characters as himself. – Fagin and Ebenezer Scrooge.

Longfellow

19. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow became the most respected professor in Cambridge in his old age – yet experimented on new style of poetry. Translated Dante’s Divine Comedy , Song of Hiawatha (Finnish meter), Evangeline (hexameter only for Latin and Greek Iliad) died at 75 very old in his day’s standard

20. Ludwig Beethoven experimented on the Sonata – Moonlight Sonata

21. Handel wrote Alleluia when he was already very old

22. Wise Kings – King Solomon, King David; the Three Kings, pictured as old men who promotion Christianity among old people, and the rich and powerful – but they were not made saints.

23. Confucius and other ancient Chinese philosophers are pictured as old men - dignified, wise and humble.

24. Ronald Reagan was the oldest US president when he was elected, and became one of the best contemporary presidents of America. 

15. Goethe, philosopher; Matisse, modern painter; Keats, poet; Mao Tse-tung, Chinese communist leader - these, and thousands of old people of their kind, make our world a wholesome and promising one. ~

16. Severino Reyes, aka Lola Basyang, wrote his first story for children - Plaiutin ni Periking - at age 75.  He lived long to be able to finish more than 400 stories for children, which were adopted in Komiks, movies, stage plays, books and magazines.

Severino Reyes aka Lola Basyang

Please add more to the list.  Include those who may not be as popular as those mentioned.  

Humanities holds the greatest treasure of mankind.

The 10 Aims of Humanities

Humanities makes a beautiful tapestry of humanity. It presents the wholeness of the human being worthy of "perfection" the Creator conceived of man.

Dr Abe V Rotor


Kids fishing in acrylic by the author

1. Humanities brings out the sense of awe and wonder. “Son, what do you remember as the happiest moment in your life?” asked a dying old man at his deathbed.
“When we went fishing, dad, and caught fireflies on our way back to camp.”
“Thank you.” And the old man smiled. It was a parting sealed by sweet memory of childhood.

Humanities brings out the sense of awe and wonder, specially to the young, of the things around , of life processes and cycles, the passing of seasons and ages. It makes one aware of even the minute existence of things, the transformation of the ordinary into something beautiful.

Wonder the summer night, camping by a lake, home outside of home,
no roof but the sky, no walls, no gate, stars and fireflies mingle as one;
Wonder the breeze blow and weave through the trees, comb the grass,
carry into the sky kites of many colors and make greeting the rainbow;

“The sense of wonder is indestructible, that it would last throughout life, an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantment of later years.” Says Rachel Carson, author of an all-time favorite novel, Silent Spring. It is true, the sense of wonder prepares the young to face and conquer the world.

2. Humanities builds on the framework of truth and values 

The Gleaners by Jean Francois Millet

Even with few words the mind is set to explore, giving way to imagination beyond mere reason. Brevity is the framework of the mind, the heart and spirit in the Lord’s Prayer and the Gettysburg Address of America’s most loved leader, Abraham Lincoln. It is also a path to humility in greatness, a union of the classical and the contemporary

If the story of the Creation can be told in 400 words, if the Ten Commandments contain 297 words, if Lincoln’s immortal Gettysburg Address was only 266 words, if an entire concept of freedom was set in the Declaration of Independence in about 1,300 words – it is up to some of us to use fewer words, and thus save the time energy, vitality, and nerves of those who must read or listen. (Jerome P Fleishman)

3. Humanities brings out the human spirit

Guernica, a plaza mural made by the greatest modern painter Pablo Picasso, ignited popular revolt against the Nazi regime. On the huge mural were embedded hidden images that conveyed principles of truth and freedom.

A representation of the hands by a UST Fine Arts student (A metaphor to the armless monument of French novelist Balzac by Auguste Rodin)

Similarly, in an earlier era, our own hero Juan Luna painted Spolarium, (centerpiece of the National Museum), a mural depicting the Filipinos under Spanish rule suffering like the gladiators during the Roman times, a visual message for the people to realize their plight. Later Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere, one of the greatest books ever written in the category of War and Peace by Tolstoy, and Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, extolled the coming of a new world order – post-colonialism and the birth of new nations.

4. Humanities brings tranquility in crisis

It may be strange to know that Winston Churchill, the great English hero of WWII, still found time to paint by the bank of the Thames. Arts bring tranquility in times of crisis, and elevate the senses on a higher vantage plane of vision. Putting down his brush and easel, he would then return to the battlefield with greater revolve to save Great Britain from the ravaging war. And to a greater surprise, what was it that Churchill painted? Peace.

Summer children's art workshop at author's residence It was the other way around five hundred years earlier when the great Michelangelo who single handedly painted the huge ceiling of the Sistine Chapel would descend from the scaffolding, exchanged his paint brush with sword and fought side-by-side his benefactor the Pope, and when victory was apparent would climb back to finish his masterpiece. The result: the biggest composite mural that brought God, the angels and saints, down to earth., making the Sistine a microcosm of the Kingdom of Heaven.

5. Humanities is guardian of movements and schools

Nationally renowned authors, poets and dramatists: Sedfrey Ordoñez, Ofelia Dimalanta, Hortencia Santos Sankore, Larry Francisco and Jose Villa

From the paintings of early man in the Lascaux caves in France, to the surrealism of Salvador Dali, humanities has kept faithful to the evolution of human creativity expressed in various aspects of human life, pouring out from palaces and cathedrals to the villages and streets. For arts no longer belong to selected societies and cultures. Impressionism took over Romanticism and translated Realism for the grassroots, subsequently bypassing standards of perception, and permeating into the unconscious seeking expression and catharsis. Expressionism founded by Vincent Van Gogh opened a wider door to abstractionism that subsequently spilled into post-modernism.

Forest and Creation, impressionistic and abstract paintings by the author

“What’s abstract? a young art enthusiast
once asked, dutifully I answered:
“When you look through the window of a car
running so fast that views are blurred.”

“What’s expressionism?” an elder one asked;
“When the car stops, or just about,
yet still running inside, seeking, searching
for the spring of life to pour out.”

“And what is impressionism?” a third asked,
and I said: It’s sitting on a fence -
On one side Amorsolo, the other Ocampo,
It’s the spirit of art past and hence. ~

6. Humanities aims at goodness and peace

Peace through dance and music, a stage presentation, SPU QC

Propagandism and license are perhaps the greatest enemy of Humanities. The world plunged into two global wars, followed by half a century of cold war - the polarization into opposite ideologies that froze mankind at the brink of Armageddon, awakening Humanities to a new dimension - the search for peace.


And as in the Renaissance, Humanities centered on rebirth and renewal of man’s faith in his destiny. Peace reigned the longest in contemporary times in spite of local conflicts. And for a century or so Humanities blossomed into wide popularity and acclaim, and rich diversity today, dominating media, commerce, industry and in practically all aspects of life, which often venture on the boundaries of humanities itself, among them pornography, religious extremism, acculturation, among others.

7. Humanities is keeper and pioneer of the arts

The Jeepney, people's art 

Humanities gave the world the finest of human achievements and continues to do so - timeless classics from novel to cinema, painting to photography, colonial design to high rise structures, stage play to TV and Internet show. Man’s glory is akin to humanities - Venus de Milo, Taj Mahal, Borobudur, Eiffel Tower, Hallelujah, Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, The Little Prince. to name a few.

Humanities discovered superstars like Elvis Priestley and Michael Jackson, and our own local sensation Leah Salonga.

8. Humanities faces challenge of the cyber age
But arts has also plunged into a deep and unknown global pool bringing across the world cultures heretofore unknown and appreciated, and riding on postmodernism into the chartless world of cyberspace. Which leads us to a puzzle, Quo vadis, Humanus?

9. Humanities elevates reverence for life and Nature

And yet humanities is anchored on a strong foundation, none other than the place of his birth and his ascension into Homo sapiens - Nature.

Reverence to Nature is reverence for life, the highest expression of man through humanities. From this relationship he finds inspiration in his arts and technology, in seeking knowledge and wisdom, and in enhancing the unity and harmony of creation, and among mankind into a living network.

Pinsal Waterfall by the author 

10. Humanities is the custodian of the network of humanity
We are the World – the song that united the world by the compassion it created for the dying is perhaps the greatest humanitarian movement in recent times, originally USA to Africa in the eighties, and was repeated during the Haiti disaster twenty years later. Translated by different races, beliefs, ideologies into a common call, it brought consciousness to the whole world, that humanity is a network, a closely knit fabric beautifully expressed in the lyrics of the song - Stone eagle, monument of the endangered Philippine eagle. 

There comes a time
When we heed a certain call,
When the world must come together as one.
There are people dying
And it’s time to lend a hand to life,
The greatest gift of all

[Chorus]

We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me.

It is a most fitting tribute to mankind through this song, that no man is an island, that when somebody dies, a part inside each of us also dies, and for every man’s victory, we too, feel triumphant. Humanity is a beautiful tapestry, and Humanities is Arachne on the loom.

Humanities makes a beautiful tapestry of humanity. It presents the wholeness of the human being worthy of "perfection" the Creator conceived of man.

In summary, Humanities

- is a beautiful tapestry of humanity
- brings out the sense of awe and wonder
- builds on the framework of truth and values
- brings out the human spirit
- brings tranquility in crisis
- is guardian of movements and schools
- aims at goodness and peace
- is keeper and pioneer of the arts
- faces challenge of the cyber age
- elevates reverence for life and Nature - is the custodian of the network of humanity.

And the greatest masterpiece is made by Nature such as the diatoms shown in this photomicrophotograph.