Mural Paintings of the Grand Palace of Thailand

Mural Paintings of the Grand Palace of Thailand

Real gold decorates the many buildings that include the temple

of the Emerald Buddha.

Photos and Verse by Dr Abe V Rotor

Mural, mural on the wall:

tell me who's the fairest of them all,

the grandest, the most powerful -

The wall is mute, its message full

of wealth, power before the Fall,

and the secrets of its soul.~

 

 Author (right) and host from Vinafoods, Bangkok, Thailand

The Grand Palace complex was established in 1782 and it consists of not only royal and throne halls, but also a number of government offices as well as the renowned Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It covers an area of 218,000 square meters and is surrounded by four walls, 1900 meters in length.

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The King and I movie 

The story of an English school teacher (Deborah Kerr) and her unconventional relationship with the King of Siam (Yul Brynner) takes you on a charming journey back in time to Thailand in the early 1860's. As one of the best loved musicals of the 20th century, The King and I is a breathtaking production rich with history. But why did Thailand ban The King and I? That film is banned in Thailand because its depiction of King Mongkut - the current king's great-great grandfather - is deemed disrespectful and false. However, the memoirs of the English schoolteacher, Anna Harriette Leonowens, was not banned in Thailand.  (Internet)

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The Grand Palace is a complex of buildings at the heart of Bangkok, Thailand. The palace has been the official residence of the Kings of Siam since 1782. The king, his court, and his royal government were based on the grounds of the palace until 1925. ~

Beautiful Nature in Verses 2 : "The best and most beautiful things in the world ... must be felt with the heart." - Helen Keller

 Beautiful Nature in Verses 2

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart." 

- Helen Keller

Dr Abe V Rotor

Photo by the author, Bamban, Tarlac 

After the Rain

Raindrops roll like a tear,

Sinking deep to cause a stir,

The fishes rise from their lair

To greet the freshened air.

"It is during our darkest moments that we must focus 

to see the light." - Aristotle

A Pond of Flowers, in acrylic by AVRotor

By the Pond

Tell me your throes, 

Worries and woes,

And to the fishes

Your wistful wishes.

                                                                                      Wikipedia 

Bougainvillea

Pure and dainty you seem to be, 

Your petals I see are for the bee;

In pure mimicry you send a spray,

Of short-lived fragrantless bouquet.

  

Nymphaea

White lilies all in a row,

Bathed in mist to the brow,

And kissed by the jolly bee,

The morning sun and Thee.

Lady Gardener

 You harvest what you now sow,

Blest by the sun, friend of the bee

To kiss the sweat on your brow,

And bring fruit to your hobby.

"Whoever is happy will make others happy too." - Anne Frank

Acknowledgement: Internet photos (as indicated); verses from Nymphaea: 

Beauty in the Morning by A.V. Rotor, A Giraffe Book 1996

Beautiful Nature in Verses 1: "Leave the road, take the trails." —Pythagoras

Beautiful Nature in Verses 1

"Leave the road, take the trails." —Pythagoras

Dr Abe V Rotor

A Snail on a Flower

Obscure in the deep you've been,

Now perched on a petal to be seen,

To share the beauty of your host,

And beauty itself the cost.

Bird's Nest Fern

Clothe your host with gown,

Huddle her in comfort and love

With a rosette of frond her crown

To catch the cloud above.

Lotus  

I greeted you one morning, 

As I saw your face smiling,

Let me kiss your fragrance, 

That I can go into a trance

Of contented forgetfulness 

From ephemeral greatness.

Under the Shade

Too little a shade for too many

A fine lass hugging the mast, 

So little care, or rain if any,

Before the storm's final blast.

Silhouette

 Now you have nothing to boast about,

Rise from your burden and cry out,

Open your arms and bare your heart,

Grow the buds for new life to start.

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where 

there is no path and leave a trail." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Acknowledgement: Internet photos; verses from Nymphaea: 

Beauty in the Morning by A.V. Rotor, A Giraffe Book 1996

Light Up Your Life with Nature!

 Light Up Your Life with Nature!

 Lighten your load. Put down your cross and take a rest. You have been living a marathon life, and holding up the sky. "Life is real, life is earnest," says Longfellow. And above all, Life is Beautiful.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Light up your life. Why don't you find yourself in these events - past and present.

Revere life. "All creatures big and small - God made them all ."
(Calatagan, Batangas)

Value tradition. (Playing sungka, Calatagan, Batangas)

Enjoy Nature's Bounty (Manaoag, Pangasinan)

Recreate the Garden of Eden. (Manaoag, Pangasinan)

Build sandcastle. While away time with your family.
(Calatagan, Batangas)

Join curious kids, be their teacher.
(St Paul University QC Eco Sanctuary)

Pitch a tent and spend a night with your kids under a
roof of trees or a myriad of stars . (Mt. Makiling, Laguna)

Be a clown or Santa Claus, once in a while. (Sargassum seaweed
at Sunken Pier at Puerto, Santo Domingo, Ilocos Sur.)

"A boy is a joy forever." Have fun, join the frolic.

(Calatagan, Batangas)

Enjoy wildlife, even if you are far from the forest,
(Avilon Zoo, Rizal).

Get out of your air conditioned room.
Go for the wind. (Bangui, Ilocos Norte).

Paint a Wall. Beautify your surroundings.

(Mural painting, Novaliches QC.)

Cicero, the great Roman philosopher said, "To live long, it is necessary to live slowly."

Take time to live. ~

"Make these dogs happy." A drawing exercise for children

A drawing exercise for children

"Make these dogs happy."

 

"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole." 

- Rodger A. Caras

Dr Abe V Rotor

                             Pastel drawing by Anna Christina R Rotor, circa 2000

Make these dogs happy, I once asked a child,

     with pencil drew a pair of bone,

which made a change in the dogs' expression,

     their tails and eyes had shown.

Another child drew a house in gaily colors;

     with arch door and window;

and he wrote the name of the new owner,

     but King slept on its shadow.

Another child drew a tree with a bird's nest'

     which is happier, dog or bird?

He is referee, matchmaker, guardian,

     he plays the role of the third.

Up front a child made familiar drawings:

     playthings for dog and child.

happiness is in playing the same game

     with the master though how wild.

At the back, a little girl kept drawing;

     shy, she hid her work but I saw.

Why she had unchained the dogs! Freedom!

     she wrote with knitted brow.

Here I saw two views, domestic and wild -

     which is sad, which is happy?

How little I know of the lesson I ought to know,

     of dogs in the wild and free. ~

Children's Drawing: The World Inside Us

           Children's Drawing:  The World Inside Us

Dr Abe V Rotor

"When we die, hopefully we will be remembered for the joy,

truth and love we have given to those we have left behind..."

The World Inside Us - Unknown

Tower of Babel by Leo Carlo R Rotor, 8

"I end my term (as chair of CSC). I know what else I want to do;

I know where else I want to go... for I continue to have

the will to win." - Corazon Alma G de Leon 

A lovely pair - unknown

"A caring couple for and with each other..."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: These are selected drawings of children who participated in a Summer Art Workshop conducted by the author, c. 1998, published in Heart and Soul: Reflections in Geneva by Corazon Alma G de Leon by Megabooks 1999. Quotations are excerpts of poems accompanying the drawings by then Chair of the Civil Service Commission, CA de Leon. 

Reflections on the Ebb of Life

                               Reflections on the Ebb of Life

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Ruins of Lighthouse and Sailing Ship, oil painting (28" x 36") by AVRotor 

You are alone at your lowest ebb.

At low tide the sea reveals her shore

That bathes under the sun to its edge.

Go to the sea and learn its chore.”

- AV Rotor, Nymphaea: Beauty in the Morning, 1996

A man can accomplish anything he sets out to do, but he needs the strength of character propped up by personal values, the seasoning of time, the drive to reach a goal - and the willingness to pay the price of achievement which is not synonymous with happiness, not even with success.

I was then a young teacher when the student demonstrations reached mob level in practically all the big universities and colleges in Metro Manila. That was in the early seventies prior to Martial Law. I decided to quit teaching and return to the farm where I grew up. Materially it was a poor choice, but it was one of the best moments of respite in my life to gather strength and courage. With spontaneous self-evaluation I saw what I wanted in life. It was also a time for self-education, a kind of self-fulfilling acquisition of new knowledge, “a discipline that keeps a man driving toward hard and distant goals,” in the words of James Michener, a great novelist.

Earlier, just after graduation from college, I employed the same strategy. Strategy, you call it, but I would say recourse. For when a man has his back on the wall, either he puts up a bravado stance, or simply gives up. I had taken the latter.

Here, liberated from the heavy demands of city life, I remembered a Chinese philosophy, “When there is no time for quiet, there is no time for the soul to grow. The man who walks through the countryside sees much more than the man who runs.”

Here, I developed many things, which could have been impossible to do in the city, not for lack of space, but for lack of time. I had all the time.

Creativity
The capacity to be creative is inherent in human beings, and the utilization of that capacity is hard work. Michael Drury, a psychologist defines creativity as not only hobbies or taking courses or keeping busy. It is work that goes everywhere. It is a sustained effort toward an ideal.

I tried my hands on oil painting and began developing keener awareness of details of my subjects – the farm and the landscape. Above this, I began to see the meaning of their existence, and the subjective interpretation of form, shape, color, perspective and the like - the very components that the scenery is made of and how in the eyes of the artist relates it to life. Two years later the famous Philippine journalist, Teodoro Valencia, was asking me if I could paint sceneries of his childhood in Batangas. It was a big break for me as a budding painter.

Creativity is not so much as aptitude as an attitude. The exact process is not known, although admittedly it is an immanent beginning in response to things greater than ourselves. Beyond many things, simple as they are, come reflection, an awareness of awareness, taking notice of our thought. Helen Keller wrote, “When we let a resolution or a fine emotion dissipate without results, it means more that lost opportunity; it actually retards the fulfillment of future purposes.”

Self-Education
“Never stop learning,” says James Michener. Just as he learned that the war
(Second World War) had been won by the Allies, he and some officers immersed themselves into fruitful occupation, rather than loafed and let the days pass by. It was when he began writing his famous book, “Tales of the South Pacific.”

It was in isolation that Michener realized the value of self-education. It is also when you are detached that you find a better vantage point.

“I know now that the good work of the world is accomplished principally by people who dedicate themselves unstintingly to the big, distant goal.” He said. Weeks, months, years may pass but the good workman knows that he is gambling on an ultimate achievement which cannot be measured in time spent. Responsible men and women leap to the challenge of jobs that require enormous dedication and years to fulfill, and are happiest when they are involved.

Why is it that some people go back to school many years after receiving their diploma? I appreciate the attitude of these people. To them it is more than just the accumulation of new knowledge. It is the piecing up together of known things into something bigger and whole, the deepening of perception of things around and the awareness of what is ahead. All these are unconscious products of self-education. I would tend to believe that people enroll in the graduate school to formalize acquired knowledge with experience, amalgamate them structurally, and record them in a book.

As one indulges in self-education, he becomes a “generalist”, moving away from the narrow path of specialization. It appears today that what the world needs more are well-rounded human beings, although specialization is important in developing objective thinking. Self-education puts subjectivity into decisions we make, and into our very actions. It adds the humanity ingredient, the spice of culture, and the magic of aesthetics to the otherwise prosaic and mechanical.

Self-Honesty
Failure in self-honesty is often the root of emotional and mental disturbance. This I learned in psychology. It is no wonder why promising men ruin their careers because they are poor judges of their own abilities and aptitudes.

When I sought contemplation on the farm it was time I felt I no longer liked my career as a teacher. Was I deceived to serve a meaningless cause or was I a victim of self-deception. I wondered if I was “other directed” - looking toward the goals, ideals and ideas of other people for guidance, rather than searching these from within myself. Or, was I looking into the misdoings and misgivings and not on my very own? Have I placed myself on a pedestal of ideals and refuse to confront the real issues down below?

Perhaps I had overdone a work not the calling of the times, or heeded merely the call for work rather than that for service.

Only when one is detached from the maze of human relationships that he knows how to define his role. It is very difficult and it demands a lot of courage to do so. It is like drawing out a single strand from a knotted ball, then sewing this thread into the fabric, now with a definite purpose.

Going back to your feet with determination, strength and precision of what you intend to do is the consequence of self-honesty evaluation. “The person who achieves mature self- knowledge is no longer afraid of life,” says Dr. Carl Rogers. “He recognizes that it rests within himself to choose his way of living.”

It sounds truly Augustinian and Thomasian. Man has the power to choose the way either to the city of man or the city of God.

Ten Ways Our World Ends

 Ten Ways Our  World Ends 

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought,

 but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones" 

- Albert Einstein 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Based on the lecture of Stephen Petranek

TED Talks 

School Research assignment: Discuss each item as presented here in reversed order.   

 

Big Bang in acrylic by the author

10. We lose the will to survive
Remember Never Ending Story? Duel between the boy hero and the devil wolf.  

9. Aliens invade the Earth 
Fiction yesterday, fact today. Do you believe in other beings outside our own planet?

8. The collapse of the ecosystems
So with the biomes (grouping of similar or related ecosystems, e.g. Rainforest) as a result of shrinking wildlife.

7. Particle Accelerator mishap
Similar, if not worse, than nuclear reactor meltdown. Unleashing sub-atomic particles capable of igniting chain reaction. 

6. Biocide disaster 
Biological agents in warfare causing pandemic to humans, animals and crops. 

5. Reversal of the Earth's magnetic field.
Earth's magnetic field acts like a shield to protect Earth from damaging solar particles. The Sun releases a flow of charged particles into space that can affect life on Earth. Reversal has global impact to our communication systems network.  

4. Giant solar flares
Tongues of fire arising from the sun's surface exacerbates global warming and El Nino phenomenon.   

3. New Global Epidemic
H1N1, Ebola, HIV-AIDS, virulent flu virus top the pathogenic epidemic diseases, obesity, cell radiation, fatal stress are the recent global causes of death. 
  
2. We meet a rogue Black Hole
Theoretical physicists reveals the presence of blackholes in our galaxy, giant whirlpools that swallow up stars within its radius - including our sun and its solar system. 

1. Collision with an Asteroid
Scientists coined impact technology as a new science in dealing with meteors and asteroids that fall to earth.  One impact caused the extinction of dinosaurs some 25 million years ago. 

Other Ways the Author Believes are:

• Global System Collapse 
• Global Governance Failure
• Runaway Technology
• Suicidal Human Trait

Weimar Germany amidst hyperinflation, in 1923. We'd need something even worse if humanity as a whole's going to destroy itself. (Albert Harlingue/Roger Viollet/Getty Images)

This is a vague one, but it basically means the world's economic and political systems collapse, by way of something like "a severe, prolonged depression with high bankruptcy rates and high unemployment, a breakdown in normal commerce caused by hyperinflation, or even an economically-caused sharp increase in the death rate and perhaps even a decline in population." (Internet)

Art Workshop for Children: An Integrated and Experiential Approach. Theme - Take a Break with Arts.

Art Workshop for Children:

An Integrated and Experiential Approach

Dr Abe V Rotor  

Theme: Take a Break with Arts.
Are you bored? Are you too busy with the computer, TV, Mall and books?
Let’s draw and paint, write and read stories and verses, and have music, too.(violin)

Kite flying Season, mural detail, by AVR

A. Rationale

 The Humanities or applied art is a wholesome experience, especially to children. It develops skills and stirs consciousness in appreciating the beauty and bounty life. It is a special way of self-expression. With a conducive environment and proper training, talents in the art blossom as the child grow.  Here the right brain, the seat of creativity is developed  while the left brain, the seat of reason grows. It is reason that gives the subject of art; but it is creativity that expresses it in the fullness of colors, words, music and other elements that constitute the vehicle of aesthetic communication, touching the mind, heart and soul.

B. Admission

•  Open to boys and girls who have the inclination to the arts
•  Age Range: 7 to 14
•  Number of participants: 40 to 50 (2 sub-groups – younger and older)

C. Duration

• Three (3) consecutive Saturdays workshop, one day outdoor painting, and 5th day, Exhibits, Graduation and Recognition = 5 Saturdays  
• Tentative Schedule: July 20 to August 17, 2013 
• 8 to 11 am; 1 to 4 pm 
• Venue: SPU Makati

D. Materials and Tools:

•  One set Acrylic Paint (Hansa yellow, toluidine red, burnt sienna, thalo blue, lamp black, gloss white)
• One set of artist brushes (4), 1” and 1 ½ ordinary brush, 1@
• Palette Board  (1) or improvised board
•  Canvas mounted on board (or frame bastidor)– 11” x 14” 1 pc
• Illustration board ¼  (2 pcs)
• Oslo drawing paper (12)
• Workshop Guide: Open Internet avrotor.blogspot.com  Download (SPU Makati) workshop lessons, print.
• Multimedia equipment and workshop room.

E. Aims and Expected Result:

• Breaks boredom
• Gives breathing spell from school
•  Develops basic drawing painting skill
•  Introduces art criticism
•  Increases sensitivity to environment and other subjects of art
• Develops personal style
•  Integrates forms of art – music, literary, spatial
• Increases awareness of Multiple Intelligence

F. The Workshop

•  Lecture-demonstration
•  Hands-on exercises and on-the-spot painting, digital photography and composition (narrative and poetry)
• Art Exhibition of selected works
• Recognition (certificates and medals)

Children Fishing, in acrylic by the author

G. Art Instructor 

Dr. Abercio V. Rotor is professor at UST, former professor DLSU Dasmariñas, SPUQC, and UPH-Rizal.

University of Santo Tomas (1611-2011) Lights the World

400 Years

University of Santo Tomas (1611-2011)

Lights the World

Manila, Philippines

Dr. Abe V Rotor

4ooth anniversary celebration of the University of Santo Tomas, the eldest university in Asia, and older than Harvard University in the US. In terms of student population, it is the largest Catholic university in the world in a single campus. The institution was established in 1611 through the initiative of Bishop Miguel de Benavides, O.P., third Archbishop of Manila.

After 400 years, celebration ends, begins a new mark;
UST - pride of the nation and region, of the world;
where great men and women passed under the Arch
of the Centuries, armed with truth and the Word.

Born in the Renaissance, the age of Enlightenment,
bridged Europe across the seas and the Orient;
where cultures clashed, earthly life and the firmament,
humbling them into consequential agreement.

Emerging from the Dark Ages after a thousand years,
you carried on the Greco-Roman influence,
through sword and cross, emblem of your forebears
who forged an East-West confluence.

You lived through trials and triumphed with the nation,

a Lazarus after colonization, two world wars,

of ideologies and faiths, of world order in revolution,

taking neither side but followed the stars.

The world in your campus, long before globalization;

knowledge encompassing in tune with the times,

searching, beyond Galileo, answer to the question,

"Quo vadis humanus?" through inevitable signs.

What bigger challenge UST - idealist, classical, dreamer -

as the world has gone a thousand-fold increase:

with man as sapiens, faber, ludens, spiritus in this order!

Old but firm stands the Arch of the Centuries. ~

   

The UST Hymn

Chorus

God of all nations

Merciful Lord of our restless being

Sweep with your golden lilies

This fountain of purest light

Trace with the sails of the galleons

The dream beyond our seeing

Touch with the flame of your kindness

The gloom of our darkest night

Keep us in beauty and truth and virtues

Impassioned embrace

Ever your valiant legions

Imbued with unending grace.

The official hymn of the University was the winning entry in a national contest held in 1961, the 350th anniversary of the University. Its lyrics were penned by José Maria Hernandez, while the music was by the first Director of the Conservatory of Music, Dean Julio Esteban Anguita, and orchestrated by Fr. Manuel P. Maramba, OSB. As the embodiment of the University spirit, it is played with the intention to bolster morale and present the pride and unity of all Thomasians. Adapted from the UST Protocol Manual (2019)

Dr Abe V Rotor graduated with a Doctorate in Philosophy (Ph.D.) major  in Biology at UST in 1984 with highest honor - Meritissimus.  He served as professorial lecturer at the Graduate School, and Faculty of Arts and Letters until his retirement in 2015.  He has written five books published by UST:  Light from the Old Arch (2000), Living with Nature Handbook (2003) winner of Gintong Aklat Award; Living with Nature in Our Times (2007) winner of National Book Award; Living with Folk Wisdom (2010), Don't Cut the Trees, Don,t (2012), and co-author and editor of other UST publications.~