"Oh God, there's no mistake!" (Story of the Duhat and Pakwan)

The Java Plum and the Watermelon
"I dreamt I asked God something trivial -
Why so small are the duhat fruits;
And the watermelon, frail and crawling,
Bears the biggest fruit on earth."

Dr Abe V Rotor

                 

Duhat or Java Plum (Syzygium cumini), Family Myrtaceae; and

pakwan or watermelon (Citrulus vulgaris), Family Cruciferae

Wearily I walked one summer day,
The sky was as the sea is blue.
And thought, “Water must be nearby.”
And so I walked on to where it lay –

A hill rose, a tree stood untold,
Old were its branches but full;
By measure of my thirst and hunger,
Its fruits were the sweetest of all.

With bare hands I cupped the manna,
And feasted on it with no choice,
Then laid down under the tree’s shade
Yearning still for a greater fill.

Thus I searched beyond for more gifts;
And on a crawling vine did appear
Big, big fruits, but bigger was my lust,
And I had my fill at last.

“A full stomach makes the head light,”
My father used to tell me then,
“From thoughts to dreams they go wild,
Seeking for other dreams.”

I dreamt I asked God something trivial -
Why so small are the duhat fruits;
And the watermelon, frail and crawling,
Bears the biggest fruit on earth.

“There must be some mistake,” I said
And waited for any response.
“There must be reason in faith,” I implored.
But only silence that I heard.

All of a sudden I woke up in a jolt,
A berry had fallen on my head,
Whether by Sir Newton’s law that it fell,
Or a Darwin’s finch came to tell.

I raised my hands to the sky and cried
In atonement and in praise,
“Oh God, Oh God, there’s no mistake,
There’s no mistake.” ~

2 Paintings: Secret of the Heart and Innocence in Nature

2 Paintings: 

Secret of the Heart and Innocence in Nature 

Dr Abe V Rotor

SECRET OF THE HEART

Painting in Acrylic (13.5" x 13.5")

Hidden, the heart throbs

     in deep silence;

two nails embedded,

     unseen in pretence

of living, loving, caring,

     the highest art, 

filling the five chambers

     of the heart.  

INNOCENCE IN NATURE

Painting in acrylic (17.5" x 21.75") 

Abstract over realism can you paint innocence,

     move over classics, you are too pure

to be true, and impressionism too assuming,

     with apologies to Monet's azure sky.  

Oh! abstract indeed is a child's innocence,

     buds in early spring, grains ripening;

heart of a true friend, pledge of real love,

     growing in the passing of time. 

Colors are mere symbols, wanting to behold,

     the magnificence of mind and heart,

triumph of the human spirit over our frailty,

     the most challenging of all art.~      

   

Mysterious Faces and Figures in the Woods

Dr Abe V Rotor

Light in the Woods AVR, 1994
Acrylic Painting, 36" x 48” by AV Rotor, former St. Paul University Museum, QC

After the old St Paul museum (SPUQC) was phased out to give way to a "modern" one last year, some mysterious events - real or imaginary - have been observed on the murals, paintings and other artifacts that were the original centerpieces of the legendary museum established in 1994.

Among them is the appearance of mysterious faces and figures, such as this case: Mysterious Faces and Figures in the Woods.

The original story - The Face of Christ - Image or Illusion was written in 1995, the year when school guests discovered a figure on a painting appearing as the face of Christ. (Please see reprint below.)

This painting was the first item to grace the newly opened museum to mark the celebration of the tricentennial of St Paul of Chartres or SPC, the congregation of the Paulinian sisters who run the school. It inspired me to write a book, Light in the Woods, using the painting's photo for its cover. The book was dedicated to Pope John Paul II on his visit 1n 1995 on the occasion of World Youth Day. Cardinal Jaime Sin, Fr James B Reuter and Sister Teresita Bayona, then college president, endorsed the book, and presented it to the Holy Father.

Published by Megabooks, 1995, dedicated to Pope John Paul II,
on his visit to the Philippines, in celebration of World Youth Day.

For fifteen years the painting, popularly known to the Paulinian community as The Face of Christ, found a permanent place in the museum until 2011, when the museum was totally renovated. The painting lost its original home. So with seven murals, and other items, which were transferred to other places on the campus. I had just left SPUQ then, due to old age and poor health - after fifteen years as professor and caretaker of the museum.

I sat down and looked at the painting for the last time. It evoked a mysterious feeling, as I touched the trees, the running stream, the rocks, and finally, the image. His eyes were moist, so with mine. I said, "Goodbye." He just looked at me. For a long time. I took a photo of the icon, and whispered, "Thank you," and left, never to see the old museum again.

I compared the photo I took last with previous photos. Why, the painting has not changed at all! Until ... on closer examination I was surprised to see hidden images other than those I saw before. Perhaps, I have grown old to see images the young is not so keen to observe. Perhaps, my perception is more of parting than welcome, memories rather than action. Memories are best preserved with tranquility, humility and peace. It is easy to settle down by the fireplace.

But the painting, I realized, has a message to our troubled world as can be seen from these mysterious figures. It's more than a face, it is more than a piece of art, it is more than the museum and the school community. The depth of these message is a measure of man's awareness of his relationship with his Creator, of his obedience and devotion, his concern for his fellowmen and the deteriorating environment. It is a test of man, the human being.

Uppermost pair of eyes in the painting, biggest of the three pairs

Middle pair of eyes, most prominent and patheticLowermost. All three pairs of eyes have a common expression of sadness.There is something strange in them after a longer look - compassionate.

Cross lying on the ground, as if it is broken and abandoned
Man and a woman emerging from the thicket toward the source of light

Reclining lady (center) beside a tree on the rocks (facing right),
with other figures around.

Standing human figure with outstretched arms, facing right.
Note light flooding his face and body.

Profile of a well-dressed human figure, facing right

Human figure stripped and tied to a tree, facing left.
There is a similar figure on the other tree.

Original Story 1994:

The Face of Christ - Image or Illusion?

“It inspired a soul to write a book
That touches the eye and heart;
This little light in a hidden nook
Shines where good and evil part.”
- A.V. Rotor, Nymphaea: Beauty in the Morning, 1996

“Did you see the face of Christ?”

“Where?”

"On a painting.”

"What is this they are talking about, " I asked Sel.

We went to the Audio-Visual Room, spent a moment of silence as we searched for the Face on the 36" x 24" landscape painting. It was painted and a month ago, and presented it in a seminar-workshop at then St. Paul College QC. The theme signifies unity and cooperation among faculty and staff members.

"Can you see it?” I asked.

Sel traced the outline, his finger touching the rough canvas.

"Can you see it?” He threw back the question.

"I see a different one,” I countered and traced the figure differently.

Silence fell again. We exchanged notes and soon enough we were looking at the same face.

Were we seeing The Thing, or only imagining it?

I recalled a story, Images of Illusion. A man was viewing an antique painting and saw himself as one of the torturers of Christ.

“Impossible,” he raged. How could it be possible for the painter to have composed a scenery combining a biblical event and a future character? He demanded the art gallery an explanation.

What is illusion?

In metaphysics, the workings of the human mind have been the subject of research and discourse from the time of Plato who coined “psyche” or mind or soul, to Kant whose theory of Existentialism remains as the binding force of man and his Creator which is a fundamental doctrine of major religions. Lately, Jung's primary idea of a person as a whole, and not as assemblage of parts, gave rise to the modern concept of holistic personality. Jung’s work as a psychoanalyst was to recover the lost wholeness of personality, and to strengthen the psyche through the process of psycho-analysis and psycho-synthesis.

What Jung was saying is that the mind is made up of three levels: the consciousness, the only part of the mind that is known directly by the individual; the personal unconscious which is the level of the mind that adjoins the ego: and the collective unconscious which he inherited from his ancestral past. All three levels are always in a dynamic state. They are never static like a rock or a tree.

When one is afraid of the dark he is expressing the collective unconscious. If he is afraid of the dark because he may be kidnapped, he is expressing the personal unconscious level, an experience which may have been created by distraught thoughts or brought about by personal conflict or raised a moral issue before. In the dark he may be "seeing” a would-be kidnapper at the slightest suggestion.

Now where does the first level come in? His conscious awareness is put to test in such a situation. He then makes to fullest use his four mental functions, which Jung calledthinking, feeling, sensing and intuiting. Depending on the development of these faculties from the time of his birth to his present age, the individual tries to overcome - or enhance - the other two leve1s of the mind which at that moment has caused in him fear.

What I am saying is that a mental image may arise from the interplay of the three levels of the mind. First, there is the “model” or an archetype from which the consciousness makes something out of it. This, in turn, is pictured or deleted in the mind through consciousness.

When Sel and I stood before the painting searching we had different archetypes in our mind.  But people who have been raised in the same environment and had undergone similar training have many common archetypes from which images can be similarly patterned.

Suppose one does not readily take from the mind's bank a suitable archetype?

“I don't see anything.”

“Face of Christ, you said?”

"What are you talking about? I can only see trees and a stream flowing through them.”

"I still cannot figure it out.”

These observers, based on Jungian psychology, did not have the archetype at the moment to suite the picture they are looking for.

Quite often discussions may ensue while viewing the piece with someone taking the role of a teacher, or one insisting of seeing another thing.

Again, according to Jung, archetypes can be enlarged or reinforced so that they can surface with the help of the consciousness. However, this may not always work.

“I can see it now.”

“Yes, there it is. There is a bigger one beside it. No, actually there are three faces.”

“There is Blessed Virgin Mary at the center.”

“But it looks like a resurrected Christ.”

“See the trunk at the right? Scourging at the pillar.”

"My God! There's a devil clinging on Christ's nose.”

Now, now, the painting is getting overloaded,

As the painter I wanted to put it back to its real and down-to-earth perspective. It is a forest landscape, all right. The trees are the symbol of strength and unity; the flowing stream is life; the rocks are the obstacles we encounter in life; the light rays penetrating through the forest is hope and guidance; the forest itself characterizes the present world we live in; and the central perspective of the painting leads us to the attainment of a common vision and goal.

As I was about to leave, a very young boy came along with his mother. His eyes were bright and his face radiated the innocence of a child.

"Do you see the little cross, mama?” He was pointing at a orange figure, an empty cross laid upon a rock. Then he scanned the whole piece and quickly pointed at things none of us had earlier seen.

“Here is the Holy Family. Here is baby Jesus. There you see angels. You can count them, 1, 2 3, 4, 5, 6..."

“There are thirty-three trees, I was told," interrupted his mother.

"Those are children playing, mama - there under the trees and on the rocks."

I stood beside, speechless. I realized I only read Plato, Kant and Jung. l did not consult the Greatest of them all. ~

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE; Dr. Abercio Valdez Rotor and Dr. Anselmo S Cabigan were classmates and co-workers in the government, and academe. They have known each other for the last 50 years. The painting was made possible from a poem composed by Dr Cabigan, “Into Your Light” which Dr. Rotor interpreted using acrylic paint on canvas. The painting was presented to faculty members who attended a seminar workshop in 1995. The original painting has been transferred from the former St. Paul University Museum, QC for security reasons and better access to pilgrims.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
References: Light from the Old Arch, by AVR, UST Publishing House 2000; Nymphaea: Beauty in the Morning, AVR, Giraffe Books 1996;Light in the Woods, AVR, Megabooks, Megabooks 1995.

Eco-Plague

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Creeping Plague, painting in acrylic, AVR 2002

"There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings…Then a strange blight crept over the area and everything began to change …Mysterious maladies swept the flocks of chickens, the cattle and chicken sickened and died …There was a strange stillness… The Few birds seen anywhere were moribund, they trembled violently and could not fly. It is a spring without voices." - Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

Mourn not, every one is mourning, 
And no one comes to your care;
Creeps the devil wind screaming
And falls silent the day after. 

Lo! the land is blooming once again,
The sea calm, the birds singing;
Grows back the forest, the hills green,
Sans man, once all knowing. ~

Last Lily of Summer - Tambal Lily (Eurycles amboinensis)

Lyrics patterned after The Last Rose of Summer's versions. 

Dr Abe V Rotor

LIVING with NATURE CENTER 

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur 

                                                        Tambal lily (Eurycles amboinensis)

The Last Lily (Rose) of Summer

Celtic Woman (Original by Thomas Moore, as shown below)

'Tis the last lily (rose) of summer left blooming alone
All her lovely companions are faded and gone
No flower of her kindred, no lilybud (rosebud) is nigh
To reflect back her blushes and give sigh for sigh

I'll not leave thee, thou lone one, to pine on the stem
Since the lovely are sleeping, go sleep thou with them
Thus kindly I scatter thy leaves o'er the bed
Where thy mates of the garden lie scentless and dead

So soon…

Here is the lyrics of a musical composition of The Last Rose of Summer by Thomas Moore 

Sheet music of The Last Rose of Summer

'Tis the last (lily) rose of summer,
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone;
No flower of her kindred,
No rosebud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes,Or give sigh for sigh.

I'll not leave thee, thou lone one!
To pine on the stem;
Since the lovely are sleeping,
Go, sleep thou with them.
Thus kindly I scatter,
Thy leaves o'er the bed,
Where thy mates of the garden
Lie scentless and dead.

So soon may I follow,
When friendships decay,
And from Love's shining circle
The gems drop away.
When true hearts lie withered,
And fond ones are flown,
Oh! who would inhabit
This bleak world alone?

NOTE: I found this tambal lily growing solely on our backyard beside a mango tree in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur. I took these photos before the plant lost its flower to the first heavy rain of May 2018. There is another version of The Last Rose of Summer for the violin in three variations adapted from Friedrich von Flotow's by Henry Farmer. It is a favorite piece I play with the violin witth piano accompaniment by my Daughter Anna Christina, .

The Surreal Art of Make-Believe

The Surreal Art of Make-Believe

Dr Abe V Rotor

     A world of make-believe. Photo by Miss Iz Hilario

Oh, art, what is art, when deceived

     of reality in a living world,

when fantasy is reality conceived 

     of beauty in color and word? 

Where has the old familiar pond gone,

     willows hiding its island and shore, 

fish bubbling, splashing in the sun   

     to greet the day and sky azure?

Ask the doomed ducks and their offspring -

     of what use a pond dies for, 

the artist surreal in thoughts and being, 

     who claims to be the Creator. ~

Brood

Brood

Dr Abe V Rotor

Happy are they 
from day to day
ensconced under a roof,
the family's a proof.

Lest they forget, the seed
weaned for its need,
must draw out its best
through the Sower's test.  



Aling Sion and children, Tiaong, Quezon

Light in the Woods, Megabooks 

Photography: A Pair of White Doves - Symbol of Happy Mariage

Looking for a subject in photography? Discover the simple and meaningful.  It may just be around the corner. 

Dr Abe V Rotor 

I took this photo on the church yard of Padre Pio in Makati last year. I found these beautiful creatures picking grains most likely thrown by well wishers on the newlyweds as they emerge from the church, an old custom that survives to this day. Who owns these beautiful creatures must be living nearby. The birds look well-groomed and tame. They must have been trained for marriage occasions so that they are used to seeing and mingling with people as they perform their role as symbol of purity, bounty and peace that go with happy marriage. (Photo unedited, taken with a palm-size digital camera) ~

LEAF IMPRESSION PAINTING (Children's Painting Series 6)

There are leaves picked for the young artist’s art,

     like the shape of the heart, those of the lilies.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Art Instructor

 

Tambal lily (Eurycles amboinensis). Multiple impressions of the large

 rounded leaf by JP Reyes, 7

No two leaves are the same even in the same plant,

much more of different species and varieties;

There are leaves picked for the young artist’s art,

     like the shape of the heart, those of the lilies.

 

Lyn Reyes 9, fragmentary impression painting of the tambal lily leaf

Leaf in fragments put together on canvas is likened

to a rainbow which fell and broke apart;

                    Young artists do catch the pieces at rainbow’s end

  and make a jigsaw of a beautiful art.  

  

Compound leaf of Lanute tree (Wrightia pubescens). Impression

painting by Minhin Viernes 9,

  Why not sort out the leaves, group them as one,

         then dab with a variety of colors, of shade and hue?

     It takes patience even when everybody has gone;

       when done, look at the impression -  a lovely view. 

SUN IN THE WOODS (Children's Paintings Series 1)

SUN IN THE WOODS 

Painting by Lyn G Reyes 9, and P Reyes 7, with Art Instructor Dr Abe V Rotor 

How magnificent it is to capture the sun on canvas, or simply sketch it at sunrise and sunset, and you have captured its cycle for the day; yet you will never tire to paint or draw it again and again in your lifetime, its views never ending, never prosaic, never dull, never monotonous; whatever secret the sun has will remain a mystery - a mystery that gives life, a god to many cultures, a symbol of Omnipotence, and therefore, of reverence to a Great Almighty.  

How close can you get to the sun?  Ask the astronauts, the migratory birds, or simply its own shadow. Only artists can get the closest, feeling its warmth in colors, but  never its fire. They liken gold out of it, make it shimmer on the sea, peep between mountains, make halo for the innocents, shape it like a heart that professes the deepest expression of love. The sun never fails to rise, and when it does, its the lament of the artists. And only they can make it rise again and hang in the sky forever, affirming  it with their signatures.    
  

   

The sun is energy-to-matter converter; move over Newton and Einstein, come over Darwin and Wilson - but neither  can put together the fragments of knowledge into a solid  harmonious whole.  Come Higgs Boson, but your particle is none other than God's Particle, the prima causa of everything  in the universe. Here comes a child artist. The pen is mightier  than the sword indeed, but the paint brush is even mightier.  And how does he tell to the world of energy-to-matter?  He paints a leaf, then a tree, and finally a forest. Genius! ~      

Nature Mural with Emma

A revolutionary approach of bringing Nature into the living room sans the conventional amenities of indoor living.

Floor-to-wall murals painted by Dr Abe V Rotor

LIVING with NATURE CENTER 

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur 

 Floor-to wall mural painting, a revolutionary approach in painting, and in bringing nature into the living room in make-believe freshness and invigorating ambiance.  Imagery composite scenery inspired by the views of the  Ilocos coast in Santa (IS), and Burgos (IN)   

 

 Home gallery, a collection of personal paintings, conventional to modern, encompassing various movements or schools of art, and integrated with the art of creative writing.  Each painting is accompanied by the artist’s views and interpretation usually in the form of poetry or short essay.  

  

 Two views: natural and man-made scapes, old brick wall restored as it was in the late 18^th century. Both views are integrated into the living room complex. The fluid appearance of the floor gives a dainty soft barefoot feeling.  .

 Emma and her Auntie, Sister Veny Rotor, pose at the gallery where art workshops for children in the locality are held with Dr Abe Rotor as instructor.    

  

“Nature restores youthfulness with a background of luxuriant green with the radiance of the sun touching the subect, yet it makes no difference to stand behind an old wall with the same expression of joy.” avr