Kaleidoscope

As a young kid, I was always fascinated with science projects that involve many kinds of experiments. So when our school declared a competition on best scientific inventions (which of course are simple but useful devices), I decided to join and try my luck. As I remember it, there were perhaps five students who joined and submitted their projects for the exhibit. Most of their designs were made of battery-powered trinkets and scraps with dynamos and gears. Mine was a little weird; it didn't conform to any expected robotics and mechanization. I chose optics instead. Although there was no direct use for my "invention," I still took the risk, still expected that I would win. Unfortunately I didn't. Yet, fortunately, that project has brought me to a larger appreciation of this ever-moving, ever-colorful life. My invention then is called the Kaleidoscope.

I first encountered this word on my encyclopedia, and found there instructions on how to make one. Excited, I went to the nearest glass store in town and bought some little scraps of mirror and asked the glass workers to cut it in a foot's length. I used three mirror sheets, electric taped them together to form a triangular scope. Since my kaleidoscope was crude, I was not able to create a knob at the end of it where colorful patterns can revolve. Instead, I created patterns from art papers, cut them and paste in small cardboard. The kaleidoscope was then displayed, I just needed to put the pattern at the other open end of the scope and revolve it myself. This way, I could now see how patterns move differently. My classmates were amazed on what I did, for it was their first time to see a kaleidoscope. Though I did not bag the prize, recalling this experience reminds me of many interesting facts I learned from this simple project. From the Greek words which mean "to view beautiful forms", the experience of viewing through a kaleidoscope is exactly true to its word origins. Beautiful patterns emerge, reflecting to all sides of mirrors. And what it makes more interesting is that, if patterns are made of small colorful beads or paper bits, one pattern will be formed only once. I read it from the encyclopedia that scientists tried to calculate if how long a specific single pattern will reappear, it would take more than 400 billion years! It was awesome and eerie at the same time, for the pattern I once saw won't anymore reappear in my lifetime.

This kaleidoscope thing has reminded me throughout the years. Whenever I meet new people or go to different places or learn a new knowledge, I always come to my senses that this very moment, no matter how seemingly normal, cannot anymore happen at exactly the same way. At times when I ride a jeepney, I reflect on how these patterns of life emerge, when I look around, each passenger I am riding with will never more sit on the same seat, dress the same clothes, or behave eccentrically the way they did right at that moment. Whenever I recall my experiences in the past, may it be academic life or adventure of sorts, I had always the reflection that the presence, the smiles, the laughters, the thoughts will never be exactly the same again. As I realize this in those moments, I have felt mixed emotions. I sometimes attach myself to these experiences that left good memories, and long for the friends I have made. In the long run, I end up grateful and frustrated at the same time. A friend once said "people come and people go" which is a very certain possibility. This taught me to wholeheartedly value people more, to pay attention to them and the situations where we meet and the moments that I cannot possibly freeze in time.

I once again saw a giant kaleidoscope at the Museong Pambata in Manila. It relived my childhood fantasy, of creating again of what I claim as my brainchild. It has a big revolving drum and large mirrors inside, and the patterns can be seen and revolved using a crank on one side. As I played around, I found myself in this very kaleidoscopic moment. I have made some wonderful friends at the poetry workshop I attended that time, and some delightful chances to explore my world, like the ones touring in a museum for kids. The experience of the moment became more palpable as the wisdom of kaleidoscope reminded me to savor this instant, which sooner would be part of ephemeral memories.


This past few weeks I had a series of meeting with my new friends, and we had conversations cum Communes. I have savored my simple walking meditations along the IRRI road in Los Baños seeing the majestic Makiling. I have watched fireflies again hovering over a small tree, a sight which I haven't seen for years. I have met people on the road as we greet each other, which I rarely experience. And I have never ever seen beauty this way before. It is very true that through this inner kaleidoscope, I can see beautiful patterns rearranging in this poignant movement of life. They may not appear again, but they will be forever part of what makes new colorful patterns come into sight. What makes life exciting is that every pattern is different; people, places and circumstances might be the same, but the shuffling of their presence and interconnections are totally different, and changing constantly every second, every minute. This uncertainty of patterns is what I always anticipate, as each small detail reflects the infinite beauty, where Love never fails to unfold.

Of all the songs I 've heard from the late master rapper Francis Magalona, only Kaleidoscope World resonates my spiritual insights. Differences and diversities, changes and vicissitudes, are all but part of this wonderful life. His song does not question why things appear differently; rather he used the kaleidoscope as a metaphor of acceptance, where each of us can view our lives and its myriad of possibilities without judgment. Because, as the song goes, every color and hue are us. Each being and becoming is my own being and becoming. And the moment I see the world as beautiful patterns, through my inner kaleidoscope called Love, beauty seems incalculably endless.