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[We welcome all magnitudes of light, from fireflies to starbursts in the form of reader-contributed harmony-oriented articles, clippings or even brief quotes like these. Please give the full name of the source, and background information on her/him and the quotation itself. Special gifts await contributors of quotes we use.]
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With the Spirit of Life
“Synergism is the interweaving of ourselves into the web of energies that are life-promoting of all life-forms. It is being with the spirit of life itself.
-- DR. MINA M. RAMIREZ, president of the Asian Social Institute (ASI), Manila, and member of the Lambat-Liwanag Network Council and of the SanibLakas Foundation.
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Intelligent Endurance
“Courage is intelligent endurance. xxx It is possible to stay firm in battle and yet not be courageous. It is possible to be courageous and retreat.”
...............-- SOCRATES, as interpreted by Alain De Botton, The Consolations of , ..............Philosophy, Vintage Books, 2000.
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Hey, those kids are wide awake!
(Originally titled Dandelions and Mud Puddles)
When I look at a patch of dandelions, I see a bunch of weeds that are going to take over my yard. My kids see flowers for Mom and blowing white fluff you can wish on.
When I look at an old drunk and he smiles at me, I see a smelly, dirty person who probably wants money and I look away. My kids see someone smiling at them and they smile back.
When I hear music I love, I know I can’t carry a tune and don’t have much rhythm so I sit self-consciously and listen. My kids feel the beat and move to it. They sing out the words. If they don’t know them, they make up their own.
When I feel wind on my face, I brace myself against it. I feel it messing up my hair and pulling me back when I walk. My kids close their eyes, spread their arms and fly with it, until they fall to the ground laughing.
When I pray, I say thee and thou and grant me this, give me that. My kids say, “Hi God! Thanks for my toys and my friends. Please keep the bad dreams away tonight. Sorry, I don’t want to go to Heaven yet. I would miss my Mommy and Daddy.”
When I see a mud puddle I step around it. I see muddy shoes and dirty carpets. My kids sit in it. They see dams to build, rivers to cross, and worms to play with.
I wonder if we are given kids to teach or to learn from? No wonder God loves the little children!
Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.
I wish you Big Mud Puddles and Sunny Yellow Dandelions!!!
(The LightShare e-group member who shared this with us failed to note its author.)
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Hugging
I have once described hugging as ‘maximum touch.’ Indeed, this goes
far into the realm of sensual, emotional and spiritual joint enjoyment…
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Pleasures from Nature
“We find that the requirements of our bodily nature are few indeed, no more than is necessary to banish pain, and also to spread out many pleasures for ourselves. Nature does not periodically seek anything more gratifying than this, not complaining if there are no golden images of youths around the house who are holding torches in their right hands to illuminate banquets that go on long into the night. …
“Nature doesn’t miss these luxuries when people can recline in company on the soft grass by a running stream under the branches of a tall tree and refresh their bodies pleasurably at small expense. Better still if the weather smiles on them, and the season of the year supplies the green grass with flowers.”
-- LUCRETIUS, a disciple of Epicurus, as translated from his forceful Latin poem by Alain de Botton, The Consolations of Philosophy, Vintage Books, 2000.
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A Kiss From the Creator
“Behold the plains and meadows, see the plants that grow and abound in these, ranging from the grass that you consider lowly to the unhuggable trees where nest the birds of the skies; behold them as they express that 
their short or long lifetimes did not emerge from chance; ponder this and you will experience the hand of God that brings … to these plants the showers that freshen them, the breezes and all else needed to keep them alive.
“Look at how their rows resemble that of a garden that rewards all who behold; feel the light breeze that breathes life, and the aroma of the flowers seems like a kiss that our Creator plants on your forehead…”
-- ANDRES BONIFACIO MAYPAG-ASA, from 1896, a folio of readings collected by Prof. Bernard Karganilla of the University of the Philippines Manila, Kamalaysayan, and SanibLakas Foundation, and published by UPM in August 1996. This was translated in 2004 from Tagalog.
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Majestic Mosaic is Alive!
“…three-dimensional mosaics of dark and mysterious jungles and forests where dancing shafts of sunlight filter through layers of foliage swaying in gentle breezes, of windswept prairies with their grassy blankets and pillows made of bushes, of majestic mountains reaching out to the clouds, of cradled valleys and wide open plains, of laughing brooks and rushing streams and rivers and bridal-veil waterfalls, of cool and crystalline ponds and lakes, of adventure-filled marshlands and mangroves. ”
-- ED AURELIO C. REYES, Biped on the Blue Ball, Educar Publishing, Manila, 1990 & 2000.
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View From Far, Far Out
"(The Earth is) a sparkling blue-and-white jewel … laced with slowly swirling veils of white, like a small pearl in a thick sea of black mystery."
-- EDGAR MITCHELL, astronaut who flew to the moon aboard Apollo 14 in 1971. From Time Magazine, Jan. 2, 1989.
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Aquarius
“Harmony and understanding,
............Sympathy and trust abounding.
............No more falsehoods or derisions—
............Golden living dreams of vision,
............Mystic crystal revelation,
............And the mind’s true liberation…
........................-- Age of Aquarius, popular song in 1966 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Respected Diversity
“Only when we can respect the differences of one another can we learn to synergize.”
--MARAYA CHEBAT, author, Core Energy.
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Impossible ?
“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world that they had been given than to explore their power to change it. Impossible is not a fact, it’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration, it is a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
-- ADIDAS AMERICA, “Forever Sports” advertisement .series, 2004
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Happiness & Unhappiness: Twins!
“If you refuse to let your own suffering lie upon you even for an hour and if you constantly try to prevent and forestall all possible distress way ahead of time; if you experience suffering and displeasure as evil, hateful, worthy of annihilation, and as a defect of existence, then it is clear that (you harbor in your heart)… the religion of comfortableness. How little you know of human happiness, you comfortable …people, for happiness and unhappiness are sisters, and even twins, that either grow up together or … remain small together.”
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-- FRIEDRICH NITZSCHE, a German philosopher, as cited by Alain de Botton, The Consolations of Philosophy, Vintage Books, 2000.
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Joy to Breathe Life
“It is a joy to breathe life. Every moment (can be) lived with a sense of purpose. Of being life- and love-givers and -receivers as well. Of inviting others to live and let live. And the next time we breathe, there will be countless sparks that can transform bitter hearts into loving hearts and poor spirits into rich ones. All together let’s breathe the breath of life.
-- JOYDEE C. ROBLEDO, member of SanibLakas Foundation and the LightShare email list group, 1998 jottings.
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Wrist Watch
“So, you can’t help but admire the ingenious gadget called the ‘wristwatch’? For, after all, whether one is a Swiss mechanical timepiece or a quartz crystal chronometer, a wristwatch is indeed a marvelous creation, with literally-clockwork precision, no less than a very useful jewel, whether or not it has any jewel crystals. But would you like to behold something thousands of times more awesome? Take off your wristwatch. Then take a long hard look at your wrist!”
..........-- DING REYES, “Insights to RE-MEMBER” seminars, 2004
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Beauty tip from Audrey Hepburn:
“For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.”
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Not at Expense of Environment!
.....“The Philippines needs to have industrialization but not at the expense of the environment. Economic development is needed but it has to come hand in hand with environmental conservation, to be really productive and sustainable. Otherwise, it’s all counterproductive.
.....“The Philippines does not need big industrial investments. We don't need any more loans and grants as there are strings attached and they are not to 
our favor. Foreign investors are allegedly not coming in due to the Clean Air and the environment? Is that their concern? What about us, we are dying each day, the poor and the elderly, from foreign second hand junk. Let’s face it, we have been a dumping ground for toxic, hazardous waste, as well as a dumping ground for surplus products, etc.”
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..-- ANTONIO M. CLAPAROLS, nationalist and environmentalist businessman; President, Ecological Society of the Philippines (ESP); and member, International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
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..... ........
Economy
of the Few
“Our situation in the Philippines may be described with accuracy as the 
economy of the few, for the few and by the few, instead of the Philippines for the Filipinos.”
-- ERNESTO R. GONZALES, Secretary-General,
Lambat-Liwanag Network for Empowering Paradigms; Director, Social Research Center, University of Sto. Tomas, Manila; member, SanibLakas Foundation.
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Synergism in the Divine Plan
“We were created with different personalities, gifts, talents, etc. The Creator apparently meant for us to complement and supplement one another, to work together harmoniously. Look around us, it’s happening everyday. In building a house, there is an architect, an engineer, the carpenters. Each one is an essential part of the whole. We should flow together, like little streams flowing into rivers, and rivers flowing into the sea, till there is just one huge wave of harmony. That, to me, is synergy.”
-- MILA R. GARCIA, poet; Board of Trustees member and Human Resources Dev’t Committee chair, SanibLakas Foundation. Message to “Sharings at the Park.”
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God Wants Me to be Happy!
“The message (I received) is clear: I should not deny myself the experience of joy and celebration of life. God who is just does not want me to go through an unending suffering, joylessness, and sacrifice, even in the name of love, that I should put myself first among my list of who to love, that I was confused because I misunderstood what is best for me, … and that, for me to be God-like, I should not be a martyr and should not choose to be a victim as God Himself does not want me to be. God wants me to be happy!”
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-- NOEMI ALINDOGAN-MEDINA, member, SanibLakas Foundation; founding chair, Lambat-Liwanag Network for Empowering Paradigms; former chair, Social Sciences Dept., Philippine Normal University.
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STOP BANKING-TYPE “EDUCATION” !
It’s not real education!
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Teach? No, Just Help!
“You can’t teach a person anything. You can only help him find it within himself.”
..........-- GALILEO GALILEI, an outstanding scientist and thinker.
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Old-School Teachers
“This is not about old schoolteachers, this is about old-school teachers. They are teachers trapped in the old schools of thought, in the antiquated paradigms of the past centuries especially the last one. The old-school teachers have replicated themselves, through the same Philippine educational system all these years, and there are now very young teachers who are now also old-school teachers. This can all make us laugh but it is actually a serious problem.
-- ESPER DOWLING, member of SanibLakas Foundation and Sanib-Sigla, former manager of Ginhawa Wellness Center at Earthlite, C.O.D., Cubao, circa 2000. Quoted in Earthlite Sparks & Reflections.
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Echoes
“Education is the state-controlled manufactory of echoes.” --NORMAN DOUGLAS
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New Options and New Paradigms Needed
“The need for new paradigms for thought and action is manifested in the problems facing the world at this time. New paradigms have to be encouraged and new approaches have to be adopted. These shifts have to be preceded by an intensive and systematic study of available options. The collaboration of several academic institutions will indeed facilitate the accomplishment of this task. The inputs from the various members of the Lambat-Liwanag Network could provide a wide spectrum of ideas that can be exploited for the evolution of empowering paradigms.”
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--FORTUNATO SEVILLA-III,.then Assistant to the Rector for Research and Development, University of Sto. Tomas, foreword to Lambat-Liwanag:.A.Gathering.of.Light,.SLF/UST-SRC,.Manila,.2002.
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“Music is the river that links our lives.”
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--CHIN-CHIN A. GUTIERREZ, actress, singer, environment-al activist; a member of SanibLakas Foundation, Sanib-lakas ng Inang Kalikasan (SALIKA), and Mother Earth Foundation
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Articles from LSD-2, July-September 2005
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R.e.i.n.v.e.n.t 
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