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| GEEJAY ARRIOLA artist, cultural worker |
| NESTOR HORFILLA artist, cultural worker |
| LYNDEE PRIETO artist, cultural worker |
| MACARIO TIU, PhD writer, academic |
| JOEY AYALA artist, cultural worker |
| RUDY B. RODIL historian, peace worker |
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| VIEWS Saving Grace The Toltecs, who were known to anthropologists either as ethnic groups in central Mexico or mythical Aztec ancestors, were actually scientists and artists who bore the ancient wisdom and esoteric knowledge of their society. This is according to Don Miguel Ruiz, a surgeon and a shaman born into a family of healers of the Eagle Knight lineage in rural Mexico , in his book, "The Four Agreements." Scientists and artists. There was a time when artists, writers, philosophers and inventors defined social eras. From Asia to Europe to Africa to the Americas , histories are introduced to us through the development of philosophical thought ( e.g. Descartes, Socrates, Plato, Taoism, Buddhism, the Indian Vedas), and the evolution of arts and literature (e.g. Shakespeare, Calligraphy, Kabuki, Chinese Opera, African masks, Ramayana, various indigenous and classical dances, the Iliad, Aesop's Fables). The Seven (or 100) Wonders of the World are architectures, gardens, and agricultural landscape—all works of art. Till today, ancient societies are discovered through wall paintings, architecture, pottery, jewelry, vases, sculptures and carvings---again, all works of art---driven by philosophical thought and made possible by science. Till today, there is rarely a difference between artists and thinkers among indigenous peoples. Their healers dance, their historians and storytellers chant, their tribal leaders (datu s and bae s) play music instruments. Without question, historical teachings reveal the significance of art, science and philosophical thought in defining and building societies. The magnificence of those vestiges of the past now locked behind museum glass cases are all the products of colorful interactions among visionaries, artists, and engineers. Today, art has been replaced by showbiz, philosophy by politics and financial greed, and science by wars of paranoia. When our current civilization dies, people of the future will unearth plain scrap metal, coke bottles, plastic bottles, styrofoams, plastic bags, rubber stuff, screws, nails, glass from light bulbs, wires, bombs and bullets. But wait, there will be tons of CDs, too. And with luck, the content of the CDs will still be recoverable, many of them containing our digital art works, photos of nature and human celebrations, and video documentation of our dances and plays. And if people in the future discovered how to access these contents, that will have been our civilizations' greatest saving grace. |
photos: gauss obenza, maan chua, IPAG, kumbingan ensemble, geejay arriola, sining kambayoka, bobby timonera
copyright 2006 pixies and pixels