The Tale of Two Souls and Love's True Story

Long before human beings gained the ability to discern the truth about their existence, several theories, stories, or tales told how each person desired to be with another.

According to Plato, three genders sprouted from the workings of the gods: man, woman, and the Androgynous. Although stripped of complete understanding of their destinies, these conjoined humans had great strength to conquer the gods. Threatened, Zeus split the humans in half as punishment for their pride; but, as a result, humans eventually sunk in misery to a point where they would not eat and would perish.

Apollo saw what the split did to the humans; that, he had sewn them up and reconstituted their bodies. Each human would then only have one set of genitalia and would forever long for his or her other half of his or her soul. 

It is said, that when the two find each other, there is an unspoken understanding of one another, that they feel unified, would lie with each other in unity, and would know no greater joy than that.

Today, human beings have become engrossed on ideas on finding “The One”, that, searching for it never truly ends. 

Mary Margareth’s (Snow White) Dilemma

There was once a king and queen, who had three beautiful daughters. The youngest and most beautiful was Psyche, whose admirers neglected to worship of the love goddess Venus at that time. Venus is offended, and commissions Cupid to kill Psyche. Cupid, however, falls in love and loses his immortal heart to, Psyche that he desires to possess her for himself.

Hence, the tragic events that befell the lovely Psyche stemmed from her persistent curiosity and her desire to be reunited with her one true love, Cupid.

  

The Doubting Belle (Beauty) and The Alleged Beast

Psyche’s father arranges that her daughter be offered to the unveiled Cupid to avoid the wrath of Venus. Zephyr, the West Wind bears Psyche up to a marvelous house with golden columns, a carved ceiling of citrus wood and ivory, silver walls embossed with wild and domesticated animals, and jeweled mosaic floors. A disembodied voice tells her to make herself comfortable, and she is entertained at a feast that serves itself and by singing to an invisible lyre.

 

One night after Cupid falls asleep, Psyche brings out a dagger and a lamp she had hidden in the room, to kill Cupid. But when the light shone on the sleeping god, Psyche is startled, that she wounds herself with one of Cupid's cast-aside arrows. Struck with a feverish admiration over Cupid’s appearance, she spills hot oil from the lamp and wakes him. He flees, and though she tries to pursue, he flies away and leaves her on the bank of a river.

 

Danielle de Barbarac’s (Cinderella) Lament and the Miller’s Daughter

 

Venus turns Psyche over to her two handmaids, Worry and Sadness, to be whipped and tortured. The goddess then orders Psyche to sort a great mass of mixed wheat, barley, poppy seed, chickpeas, lentils, and beans. But when Venus withdraws to attend a wedding feast, a kind ant takes pity on Psyche, and assembles a fleet of insects to accomplish the task. Venus returns the next day only to find the task completed. At dawn, Venus orders Psyche to cross a river and fetch golden wool from violent sheep who graze on the other side. Psyche almost drowns, but instead a divinely inspired reed, which then gathers the wool caught on briers, saves her. For Psyche's third task, she is given a crystal vessel in which to collect the black water spewed by the source of the rivers Styx and Cocytus. Daunted by the foreboding air of the place and dragons slithering through the rocks, Psyche falls into despair. Jupiter himself takes pity on her, and sends his eagle to battle the dragons and retrieve the water for her. The last trial Venus imposes on Psyche is a quest to the underworld itself. She is to take a box (pyxis) and obtain in it a dose of the beauty of Proserpina, queen of the underworld.

Once again despairing of her task, Psyche climbs a tower, planning to throw herself off. The tower, however, suddenly speaks and advises her to go to Lacedaemon, Greece, and to seek out the place called Taenarus, where she will find the entrance to the underworld.

Aurora’s (Sleeping Beauty) and Pandora’s Curiosity

Everything goes according to plan and Proserpina grants Psyche's humble entreaty. As soon as she reenters the light of day, however, Psyche is overcome by a bold curiosity, and can't resist opening the box in the hope of enhancing her own beauty. She finds nothing inside but an infernal and Stygian sleep, which sends her into a deep and unmoving torpor.

Meanwhile, Cupid's wound has healed into a scar, and he escapes his mother's house by flying out a window. When he finds Psyche, he draws the sleep from her face and replaces it in the box, then pricks her with an arrow that does no harm. He lifts her into the air, and takes her to present the box to Venus.

A Princess Becomes a Queen

He then takes his case to Jupiter, who gives his consent in return for Cupid's future help whenever a choice maiden catches his eye. Jupiter has Mercury convene an assembly of the gods in the theater of heaven, where he makes a public statement of approval, warns Venus to back off, and gives Psyche ambrosia, the drink of immortality, so the couple could be united in marriage as equals.

What the story means

Feelings of love for another human being become the most important aspect of our lives. This has always been true as evidenced by the story of Cupid and Psyche.

So enduring is their story, that, several other fairy tales have been written to keep the feeling of love alive in most of us.

But, attractions occur without rhyme or reason; meetings are so often by the merest thread of chance; and our psychological state runs hot and cold when falling in love, and in maintaining intense interest.

Whenever those feelings become romantically centered on one other person, moreover, we experience the same primitive reactions we endure today: loss of appetite, sleeplessness, mood swings, tendency to daydream, obsessive thoughts dancing through the mind, and engaging in irrational actions that supersede much of our good sense.

This means, humans are social creatures who need one another to survive. Humans need and want love in many forms. We want connections, loyalty, companionship, friendship, romance, and to have someone else assure us of our attractiveness and worth. Bad or good, right or wrong, that’s the way we are. What we sometimes overlook to seek a mate is the more basic issue of companionship.

And love, like any other desired human emotion, is mysterious, much more internal than external. True Love could not be owned. Eternal and True Love could only be searched for and struggled for. TRUE Love will always escape us. True Love will always be out of reach because it belongs much more to the field of dreams than to reality.

DISCLAIMER:

This blog is a work in progress. Proper citation and re-phrasing have not been applied.

Primary Reference:

Wikipedia

The Beginning of the End

Gods influence humans daily. Much of what many humans believe, more often than not, are amalgamations of paganistic belief systems that were practical and contractual, based on the principle of do ut des, "I give that you might give." Religion depended on knowledge and the correct practice of prayer, ritual, and sacrifice, not on faith or dogma, although Latin literature preserves learned speculation on the nature of the divine and its relation to human affairs.

In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus (Latin: Ianus, pronounced [ˈiaː.nus]) is the god of beginnings and transitions, thence also of gates, doors, passages, endings and time. He is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past.

Janus presided over the beginning and ending of conflict, and hence war and peace. The doors of his temple were open in time of war, and closed to mark the peace. As a god of transitions, he had functions pertaining to birth and to journeys and exchange, and in his association with Portunus, a similar harbor and gateway god, he was concerned with travelling, trading and shipping.

DISCLAIMER:

This blog is a work in progress. Proper citation and re-phrasing have not been applied.

Primary Reference:

Wikipedia

Mga Ala-ala ng Pagmulat

Paunang Salita

Sa loob ng mahabang panahon, ninais kong isulat at ilathala ang mag salitang ito upang magbigay pugay sa aking ina. Ngunit sa kadahilanang hindi ko maiwasan, at sa mga pangitaing gumambala sa aking isipan, ngayon lang ako nagkaroon ng lakas ng loob upang maisakatuparan ang mithiing ito.

Lahat ng naisulat dito ay nagmula sa ala-ala; at lahat ng nabanggit ko tungkol sa aking ina ay dito lamang mababasa sa kanilang kabuuan na walang bahid na kasinungalingan at pagyayabang. Nais ko lamang ipaalam sa madla, na ang pakikipagtalastasan ko sa wikang Pilipino ay dulot ng aking hangaring mabasa ito ng sarili kong ina, bago man siya pumanaw mula sa mundong kanyang nakagisnan.

Kung mayroon mang nag-aakalang isinalin ko ito sa pamamagitan ng anumang pamamaraang electroniko, anumang aklat talatinginan, o mga sitio sa internet; ngayon pa lang, sinisiguro ko sa inyo na ito’y nagmula sa akin. Hinahamon ko ang aking mga tagapag-basa na tangkaing isalin ito sa pamamagitan ng nabanggit na mga pamamaraan. Kung mayroong mang pagkakamaling gramatikal ang aking isinulat, ako’y humihinghi paumanhin. Sadyang ngayon ko lang naisipang makipagsapalarang muli sa wikang Pilipino.

Isang buwan bago sumapit ang kaarawan ng aking ina, sumagi sa aking isipan ang isang ideya-- isang handog na maiibigan ng aking inang si Ligaya. Hindi dahil alam kong mahihirapan siya sa pag-intindi sa wikang Ingles; ngunit nais kong mabatid niya ang aking taos-pusong paghahandog ng mga salitang ito.

Kabanata Isa:

Mga Ala-ala ng Pagmulat

Mulá sa ala-ala ako’y magsisimula.

Tulad ng ibang musmos, lumaki akong nakikinig sa mga kwento ni Mamá. Bilang bunso, naging uhaw ang aking pag-iisip sa mga kwentong kakaiba. Mga kwentong sa pelikula lamang napapanood. Gayun pa man, kahit gaano pa ka matalinhaga ang mga tema ng kanyang mga kwento, natutunan kong bigyang halaga ang mga salitang binigkas sa wikang Pilipino na may bahid na punto at pamamaraan sa dialektong Tagalog.

Ako’y isinilang nuong dekada sitenta. Sa mga panahong ito, sa bayan ng Tangos, sa luoban ng isang palengke ako’y lumaki. Ngunit hindi sa lugar na iyon ako isinilang.

Sadyang ako’y isinilang na may kutsarang pilak sa aking bibig.

Dahil sa isang pamahiin, ninais ng aking ina na ako ay isilang sa isang magarang ospital sa Makati—hindi tulad ng aking mga kapatid na iniluwal sa pamamagitan ng isang kumadrona. 

Ayon sa pamahiin, ang isang sanggol na ipinaganak sa isang ospital ay lalaking may mataas na pangarap at ambisyon.

Sa panahong yaon, sa isang bayang tulad ng Navotas, na kung saan ang lahat ng mga pamamaraan ay maka-luma, bihira ang nakaka-alpas sa tradisyon—at hindi iba ang aking ina. Batid niya ang kahalagahan ng edukasyon at estado sa buhay. Kaya nga’t ninais niyang mabigyan ng katuturan ang pagluwal sa akin sa isang mamamahaling establisyamento tulad ng Makati Medical Center.

Masasabing lumaki ako sa layaw, hindi dahil natutunan kong maging isang laki sa layaw; ngunit dahil na rin marahil sa paraang pagpapalaki ng aking lolo na si Victor.

Susundan...

Kwento ni Mama, 

21 Days of Rain

I hesitated to write this. For a long time, I thought, if I wrote about someone, something painful would resurface.

But I had to do it. This is the only way to let everyone know how much Midori meant to me; and how much she really cared about everyone.

The first time I told the story of how I lost her was during my Critical Thinking class. I hoped by telling the story, my students would learn how to become involved and intent in speaking English—that by tuning in to each other’s idiosyncrasies, they would learn the magic of learning the language. They simply needed to understand, to listen, and to care about each other. It was an insensitive move, really because I wanted them to cry. I knew Midori’s story would pull hard at their heartstrings and would urge them to move beyond shyness. And they did-- they clung on to every word until the end of her story. This was, in my opinion, the true mark of a storyteller.

****

“I met Midori Abalos at a call center twelve years ago. Although I didn’t know what I got myself into, the position paid well. But like any other pencil pushing job, it too became tedious.

Midori provided relief when everything became monotonous and stressful because she kept everything relaxed, but she rebelled when she felt she needed to.

Sadly, I left the company before I really got to know her. She had her following back then; everyone loved her. She flourished when I left. She left her unassuming countryside attitude behind and lived among unique individuals with diverse personalities. She learned to assimilate and, people around her understood her quite well.

Midori exactly knew how to act in a certain way when she was with other people. She never hid anything from anyone because she was outspoken. She loved everyone. She cared. She listened.

She knew who and what I was. We both shared the same spirituality. We trod on the same spiritual plane. We knew things happened for a reason... like our friendship.

When I had already established myself as an educator, our paths crossed again. Midori sought my expertise in business planning.

During that time, Mids had become weary working full time for the company she worked at. She wanted to break free from contracts and agreements because she hated commitments.

So, we devised an ideal plan to work and enjoy it at the same time. Our endeavors would soon pay off. Midori secured funds to finance a business trip to Boracay Island. The trip allowed us to work on the island. Midori had a genuine fear of water, but she enjoyed being in Boracay. The first thing she did on the island was to conquer her fear by taking scuba diving classes. In other words, Midori took Carpe Diem to a whole new level!

She became obsessed with the sport. She perfected the skill. She aced the practical exam that came along with being certified as a scuba diver. She wanted the suit, the tan, and the redonkulously expensive dive watch. She also wanted me to come along and be her diving buddy.

I was apprehensive of course. I also had a genuine fear of water because I almost drowned when I was seven years old. Next, I was also reluctant to part with little money I had left in my savings during that time. But the thought of going into another world has always fascinated me, and adventure beckoned like a bell pealing in the belfry.

Midori knew I wanted to go scuba diving. So, she paid for my lessons.

Midori and I laid out the plans for our plan to rescue a dive shop from bankruptcy. That was the plan. We spent 3 days to prepare the business plan.

Coincidentally, I got certified as diver. I was happy and my fear of the deep blue dissipated. I could see Nemo and Dory.

On our first leisure dive, I ventured a few feet away from the boat. I was busy taking pictures. I had the time of my life—literally; and I found a deeper appreciation of a world, which I stayed away from for so many years.

As this happened, I had not realised I was breathing in so much air. But no sooner than I had realized this, I was running out of air.

I signaled to Midori I needed resurface; but, it was too late. By the time I reached the diving line, I was breathing in a lot of water—and fast!

On my way back to the line, I had lost control. I had no more air in my tank! Panic had set in before I could reach the surface. Behind me, the others rushed to see what was happening. Midori was a foot away. I grabbed her; but, she knew if she allowed me to pull on her, she herself would drown. She knew what to do; but, she herself became entangled in the diving line. Her primary tube had come loose. She stopped helping me. She had to get her line into her mouth. She had momentarily drifted away from me. She needed to calm down and not help me.

As I continued to feverishly grasp for air, Midori had started to float on her back. I did the same thing and told myself to stop panicking and to start floating on my back as well. That helped, but I was still taking in saltwater. I had to remove the gravity belt because I was being dragged down.

A few hours later, back in the hotel, Midori and I talked about what happened.No one is to blame, we agreed. We told ourselves it was a good thing it happened. Because if something like that would ever happen again, we would know what to exactly do.

We knew the incident brought us closer. We promised each other we would never go on other dives if we were not doing together. In other words, we became eternal dive buddies. Two people who originally feared water finally conquered the phobia with a promise to be together.

A day before we left the island, Midori and I concluded Boracay Island was saturated. The competition was tough. Many dive shops scramble to get one person to go on an expensive expedition underwater. Immense capital had to be raised to healthily compete with other dive shops. That was it, no more dive shop. Vacation was over.

The next day, we had to leave for Manila and looked for other islands, where putting up a resort would be more feasible.

Months passed before Mids told me she went to another island; but, this time, she'd have to go alone. It was a special mission the client asked Mids to go. Midori assured me, she'd send for me.

Many more months later, I had to get a job as a language specialist while I waited for her call. The school that hired me had just opened a branch in Baguio—the city where Mids was from. I thought I’d surprise her when I got there for the opening of the school.

I called her and told her I was going to see her. She hesitated to say yes because (according to) her grandmother didn’t like visitors so it would be a fool’s errand. I insisted but she said no, maybe next time.

I gave up after a few hours of convincing her. I gave up on the idea of being with my dive buddy in her hometown. I also almost gave up on our friendship. There was no point arguing because I had enough of her flakiness. This was not the first time. I was done. I will never talk to her again. Goodbye for good, Mids.

On May 22, 2011, I received a call from one of our friends, Jewel.

"Vic, we lost one of our own," Jewel said in a fearful tone.

Midori was never in Baguio when I called her. She was in Batangas diving with another. According to reports, a strong undercurrent swept Midori 30 meters away from the dive line. There was no experienced dive master who could have helped avert the accident when they set out to open waters on the afternoon of May 21st. Both she and her dive buddy drowned. Her body was found hours later. It took the search and rescue team to find the body of her dive buddy the next day.

I had forgotten how long I cussed and swore when the reality of her death finally hit me. Midori was dead. She was gone. She never truly conquered what she thought she had conquered. She lost.

Was it because she broke a promise to me? Were my words powerful enough to have sent Midori to a watery grave? If, indeed we both trodden on a similar spiritual plane, did my words bear an ethereal curse that finally ended our friendship?

I was numb for weeks. I cried every time I heard her laughter in my head. Her laughter bore a genuine passion for life because it was never fake. She laughed even if she was hurting inside.

She laughed even when her prospects for love became bleak. She was never rich, but she shared what less she had.

She relied on her friends' generosity, and she relied on my sensibility about relationships. I made sense to her and she made me not worry about what I don’t have.

I admired her unwavering faith in the Universe. She believed everything happened for a reason. Her last text message, which she sent a week before her last dive read:

"...everything will be fine, trust the universe is working in your favor."

I saw the message again a day after she died. But I purged all memories of her and I had to stop crying. Now, I have to be angry at her. It's easier that way."

Chapter Two: The Ethics of Bribery

"Legally, there should be a property right to pay a bribe, but not to take one." - Murray N. Rothbard

Bribery is considered immoral by many who believe it should be outlawed. Although, some may find this statement true, many still do the act and ignore naysayers.

From any person’s point of view, he or she would be almost content to pay the regular price of having services or products be served or delivered for convenience; and, we live in a society that puts a premium on time in order to earn profits and gain as soon as possible to at least recover the losses he or she might have incurred.

Still, the inner workings of other people and externalities, who support an ideal or a friend should be also considered here.

The obvious action here, in any form or manner—deductively, is the taker of the bribe. But, again, as any friend would support an ideal to make anything possible, to the best of his or her ability, should be the interest of providing ethical service from the ground up.

The consequence, as a result of bribery, constitutes the inability to perform a task prescribed by anybody’s predisposition in life.

But who is at fault?

Anyone caught bribing someone, ethically speaking, is not at fault. Instead, he or she commits a moral crime, ascribed by the world’s religions. A crime, which almost anyone is predisposed to perform—free from the guilt of having services done to accomplish a mundane task. Most important, what he or she does is merely exercising the privilege society accorded him or her in the first place.  

"If you suffer your people to be ill-educated and their manners corrupted from infancy, then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them what else is to be concluded, but that you first make thieves and then punish them?"

In any case, one only violates his or her moral compass and invades the property rights of others to be free from the decision to take the bribe or not. Therefore, the person who gave the bribe does not do anything illegal. Instead, it is the taker of the bribe who is at fault, because others, who could be involved, are made to suffer for it.

Legally, there should be a property right to pay a bribe, but not to take one.

This, according to Murray Rothbard, should be the sole responsibility of the bribe taker because he or she is denied the free will and the responsibility of each individual involved in the transaction for his or her own action.

In a moral sense, moreover, the public and government agencies involved in such acts, betray public trust and undermines the sincerity of any person or company to provide equitable service or goods without favours.

First, because of any existing inquiry that might result from an isolated case, the public may no longer have the trust to continue believing the government (or society). Second, government agencies involved in these dealings may find themselves under suspicion from government officials because of indiscretion.

Finally, it is the bribe taker, in particular, who deserves to be prosecuted, not the briber, because he or she is just doing his or her job without moral fault. What happens in this case is a temporary suspension of morals (and ethics), which, more often than not, happens because God could be absent in these dealings.*

Reference:

Reference withheld for Intellectual Property Rights purposes.

Chapter One: The Little Prince

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The Little Prince could be read on two levels. First, it teaches a philosophy on life by reminding us what humanity is all about in the forms of the Prince, the Narrator, the Fox, the Rose, and the Snake. Second, the story is about the “beautiful and sad passage of the world,” in that adults, although they themselves were once children, could appreciate things children do.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the author, through The Little Prince, started his search of wisdom and the meaning of life. He explains that, "as we grow older, we become enslaved by our egotistical and conceited worlds like that of the geographer, the king, the businessman, the drunk, the lamplighter, and the conceited man." From his perspective, moreover, the little prince was Saint-Exupery’s plea about a decaying humanity that values material things that mattered so little or what he coined as “matters of consequence.” Thus, he wrote,

 “For centuries, humanity has been descending an immense staircase whose top is hidden in the clouds and whose lowest steps are lost in a dark abyss. We could have ascended the staircase; instead, we choose to descend it. Spiritual decay is terrible… There is one problem and only one in the world: to revive in people some sense of spiritual meaning…”

Summary

The Little Prince is told in the first person’s point of view. The pilot speaks of his encounters with the little prince and tells of events that happened to him and to the prince separately.

On one of his many flights, the pilot crashed his plane into a desert. As he attempts to fix his airplane, he meets the little prince. Both the pilot and the little prince engage in dialogue and soon become friends. As he continues to be the confidant of the little prince, the pilot himself is transformed by the stories of the prince.

For instance, he learned from the little prince what the fox had shared to him. Learning about the fox, he began to search for a well symbolizing the need for exploration and to understand the truth about life.

In each of the planets he visited after leaving his own planet because of a disagreement with the rose, the little prince met people incapable of communicating with him because they did not look at him with their hearts, but only with their eyes. The inhabitants of each planet were only interested in how they could make use of him. 

On his visit to these planets, furthermore, the little prince learned quickly that with these people, communication is a one-way process. They never really listened to any question unless it has something to do with their concern.

Meanwhile, on his journey to the Earth, the Prince, in the last scene, which illustrates the statement, “What is essential is invisible to the eye.” is perhaps the most symbolic and moving scene. The scene very well captures the secret the fox wanted to reveal to the prince. The basic message is repeated throughout the book at different angles or situations.

“What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.” Page 73 “Yes. The house, the stars, the desert—what gives them their beauty is something that is invisible!” Page74.

In essence, then, most of the things that seem important in life could not be counted and measured.

How then could we measure life, beauty, love, faith, and intelligence?

These are mysterious things, much more internal than external. They also could not be owned. They could only be searched for and struggled for. They will always escape us. They will always be out of reach. They belong much more to the field of dreams than to reality.

The lesson of The Little Prince is very clear: 

Do not trust your eyes too quickly because there is more than the eyes could see. One has to use his or her imagination to discover possibilities or to know other people. This is true when the eyes belong to adults. Their eyes will automatically interpret anything or anybody in terms of their usefulness.

Do we actually know who we really are?

Before he came to Earth, he met different characters from each of the planets he visited. In each planet, he meets an adult who shows a certain weakness or flaw.

As he gets to Earth, moreover, the little prince starts his journey both as a student and a teacher. His encounter with the fox urged him to share with the narrator what he learned about love.

The Pilot
(The Pretentious Adult)

When he was a child, the pilot used to draw things that reflected his interpretation of the world around him; but this faded when adults criticized his imaginative ideals; thus, he decided to become a pilot.

As we convince ourselves to grow-up, because others tell us to, we lose our authentic selves. And although we attempt to experience life   through defined assumptions, we make up stories about the world and to a degree, live out their plots according to their expectations.

The Rose
(The Proud Enabler)

Consequently, we fall from innocence and we feverishly try to return to it at a more sophisticated and less childish level (Pearson, 1986).

The rose, although only appearing in a couple of chapters, is still an important character because she caused the little prince to set forth an exploration. In a sense, it was her pride that pushed the little prince to leave; and yet, it is her enduring memory, which prompted the prince to go back to his asteroid. Saint-Exupery, in other citations, explains.

“As a character that gains significance because of how much time and effort the prince has invested in caring for her, the rose embodies the fox’s statement that love comes from investing in other people.”

The Fox
(The Unlikely Teacher)

As the prince begins his journey on Earth, the fox came along establishing a friendship with the little prince. The fox asked the prince to tame him; and in doing so, he became the student as well as the former’s instructor. In his last meeting with the little prince, the fox explained to him why the rose was important.

 As we are focused on our careers and the material wealth we gain, we leave behind what is essential; thus, narrowing our world and blinding us from what is tangible and not what lies in our hearts.

At last, the fox said to the little prince, “Here is my secret, it is quite simple, one sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.”

The King
(The Delusional Controller)

The king claimed he could “control” the stars by ordering them to do what they would anyway. As a king of his planet, he extends this control to human subjects. According to the king, it is the citizen’s duty to only obey demands that are reasonable. 

So, at the end of their encounter, he orders the prince to leave as his ambassador.

The Conceited Man
(The Metrosexual)

In the next planet he visited, the prince met a man who wants to be admired by everyone; but he lives alone on his planet. Hence, he cannot hear anything that is not a compliment.

Thus, when the prince asked the conceited man what he should do for his hat to fall, the conceited man did not hear him because conceited men only hear praises.

The Drunk
(The Vicarious Charlatan)

On the third planet, the prince meets a man who drinks to forget that he is ashamed of drinking and this becomes entrapped in his own cyclical web of denial.

The Businessman
(The Selfish Possessor)

Next, the prince meets a businessman who is constantly busy counting the stars. In their brief discussion, the prince goes on to define the meaning of property. The prince proudly stated he owns the flower and the volcanoes on his planet because he cares for them and in they care for him.

And when he asked the businessman what he was counting, the businessman did not hear him because he only sees numbers and figures. The businessman, moreover, is the best representative of them all. He best exemplifies the total inability to see beyond one’s selfish interest, the incapability to listen to others’ interests, and the lack of openness to anything else than what can be measured. He is only interested in counting them and in owning them. They make him feel rich and important.

Therefore, as he explains to the businessman, because one cannot maintain the stars, the businessman cannot own them.

The Lamplighter
(The Enduring Soulmate)

The prince admires the lamplighter. According to the prince, he is the only adult he met who cares enough about something other than himself.

This character lives on an asteroid, which rotates every minute. Long ago, he was charged with the task of lighting the lamp at night and extinguishing it in the morning. At that point, the asteroid revolved at a reasonable rate; and he had time to rest.

As time went on, however, the rotation sped up. The lamplighter, refusing to turn his back on his work, now lights and extinguishes the lamp once a minute, getting no rest. When he lights his streetlamp, it is as if he brought one more start to life or one flower.

That is a beautiful occupation according to the prince. A statement like this shows that the little prince uses his heart not his eyes to see the beauty of what the lamplighter’s task means to him and maybe to the rest of the world.

The Geographer
(The Doubting Thomas)

Lastly, the geographer, who spends all of his time making maps, never left his desk to explore, going on the pretext that is the job of an explorer to do so.

When he talked to the geographer about his flower, which he thought was the most beautiful part of his planet, the geographer was interested only in things that last, non-ephemeral things, which quickly come and go.

Thus, even if an explorer were to visit the geographer, he is very doubtful of any explorer’s character and would most likely disregard the report. In a sense, he does not trust anything he has not seen with his own eyes, yet will not leave his desk.

Towards the end, although an individual of high caliber, the prince was still susceptible to pain as symbolized by the snakebite. His inquiries indicate that sometimes the search for answers is a more satisfying experience than knowing the answers.

Lessons

The Little Prince
(The Student of Life)

The stories of the little prince is the story of a journey—the journey away from his planet, through various planets, then through the Earth, and finally back to his own planet. It is a journey of searching and through searching of discovery; and, though discovery of meaning (de Gigord, 1999).

The story of the prince, moreover, reflects our own discovery of meaning. Our own journeys force us to realize there are many points of view other than our own. As adults, we (could) have different interpretations of the little prince’s story. 

We are blinded by the materialism and pretensions we see and hear throughout the years. 

Our knowledge about life and the world, furthermore, impedes our desire to capture the real meaning of life. Our personal encounters, meanwhile, are not meaningful enough to accord us the appropriate perspective(s) in life.

And as we declare war on our true selves, we could end up feeling as though we have lost our souls. In shying away from the quest, however, we experience nonlife and accordingly, we call forth less life in the culture.

Finally, as we attempt to comprehend the symbolism of Saint-Exupery’s character, we could be relieved of the arduous task of figuring things out on our own. The Little Prince could provide us impetus to view life (again) through the eyes of a child encased in bodies ripened by time.*

Background

It has been nearly eleven years since I read the book, “The Little Prince,” and at that time, reading the book was a requirement in niveau trois at the Alliance Francaise de Manille. During that time, moreover, Madame Janine Audrain begged for a literary reading of “Le Petit Prince” to supplement our vocabulary needs in French. We would have otherwise been ostracized from niveau trois if we did not do our part—after all, it was French conversation class.

Meanwhile, many of us who, by that time had only mustered a few hundred French words, resisted the idea of reading the original text because of its rich vocabulary and allusions.

So, to aid us in understanding the book, we each bought our own copy of Le Petit Prince in English. Still, the book, even in its English translation reflected a French mindset and has a profound influence on us who were learning the Francophone way of reading and interpreting texts or books.

As I read The Little Prince again this time, I see myself interpreting the book with a completely new perspective. A philosophical view, aided by a new set of morals, shaped by experience and by people whose personalities echo the idiosyncrasies of the characters in Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince.

Reference:

Reference withheld for Intellectual Property Rights purposes.

Disclaimer:

The following text is a work in progress.

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