By Joel B. Belinan
Am already in my middle age but recent incidents brought back memories of the times when I considered the wilderness as my playground. Back maybe 30 years ago, a chance of spending some time outdoors even for just a couple of days and nights always gave me much-needed energy to face life’s day-to-day challenges.
Just two days before the election, I chanced upon a friend 30 years ago at the parking area of one hotel in town, Guy Hilbero or Indra, as we in the Ananda Marga Yoga call him. It was destined as we never met since January of 1994 after our very first successful climb of the Mt. Pinatubo Crater. It was me with Indra and another Ananda Marga yoga brother, Dyanesh, who led that very first successful trek to that volcano’s summit and to descend to its crater lake. Well, that was after our two failed attempts though. A couple of weeks ago, I suddenly got a friend request in my favorite social media account from Indra which of course I immediately confirmed.
That was our first conversation on social media and he was requesting if he can re-publish with complete documentary images that he was able to keep on my article about the three expeditions we had in 1993 and 1994 at Pinatubo. Apparently, he happened to see my Outdoor Bound piece on this paper while browsing the net. His problem was that he only saw the first part and wanted the other two parts. I did not give much thought to it. However, our chance meeting at the hotel immediately brought back memories of those adventures. So when I arrived home, I send Indra the other parts of that piece which I made two years ago. True to his word, he republished it with all our photos taken during those adventures. That triggered an adrenaline rush in me that seldom came the past few years due lack of opportunities to be with nature. (for interested ones on this; go to fb acct. Guy Indra Hilbero).
After having been engrossed in a grueling political campaign for a couple of months, last week I had a few days of escape from the urban life. I attended a small gathering of leaders from our Ang Katipunan ng mga Samahang Maharlika in Maharlika Paradise located in Paminitan Protected Landscape in Rodriguez (formerly called Montalban), Rizal which is under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources- Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB). The AKSM in 2005 had a stewardship agreement with the DENR. To give you an idea of the place, one has to walk 25 minutes to 30 minutes or ride a motorized banca to reach the Maharlika Paradise, our AKSM national main office. The place is out of the grid (we use solar panels to power the few cottages we have) and the internet signal. With such conditions, one can easily imagine that indeed once in the area, one would be completely isolated from the outside world and instead would be engrossed with nature, the sounds of the cicadas, crickets, frogs, birds, and of the giant bamboos, and forest trees caused by the wind. And yes that subtle music rendered by our artists who never missed to come during our leaders’ assemblies and meetings in the little sanctuary.
We had a side event in commemoration of the 117th death anniversary of Gat Andres Bonifacio, the Katipunan founding chairman. Bonifacio during those revolutionary times used the area as their stronghold. It is with towering mountains, deep gullies, and rivers, not to mention its thickly forested surroundings. The Andres Bonifacio Concert Choir under the baton of famous music composer and director Jerry Dadap gave a concert at the parking area (30 minutes walk from the Maharlika Paradise) of the protected area and in the Paminitan Cave. The cave was the headquarter of the Katipunan then. The place again figured as one of the last bastions of the Japanese forces during the liberation of greater Manila and surrounding regions.
For me, spending some time in this kind of environment and having deep yoga meditations in the company of fellow Progressive Utilization Theory and Neo-humanism believers not only rekindled memories of our youthful adventures but also restored that inner vitality. A vitality we need in our never-ending adventure and struggles called Life. **
