An Example of a Searching Soul

Raimundo Panikkar fascinates me in delving deep into the mystery of life. His mother (Carme) was a Spanish (Barcelona) catholic; his father was a Hindu from Kerala (Raimuni Panikkar). He was born on 3rd November 1918. He died on 26^th August 2010(just one day before my birthday). He was 91. He showed the importance of searching for truth and at the same time experiencing the interconnectedness of being human. He says that we are knots in an interconnected network of relationship. He became a catholic priest; later his convictions changed and could not remain a priest in the structural sense of the word. He says, “I started as a Christian, I discovered that I was a Hindu and returned as a Buddhist without ever having ceased to be a Christian.”

His search testifies the fact – “ekam sat viprah bahudah Vadanti” (Reality is One, but sages call it differently). He also bears witness to the fact that searching for meaning is a personal venture but never apart from the community and the tradition that you are rooted in.


He was a real 'Panikkar' ("Captain of warriors"), championing, not war but the cause of pluralism and dialogue. He was a child of diverse cultures and the academic product of several disciplines. He is a fine fruit of the East-West fecundation process, a man whose life and work virtually embodied the cross-cultural and interreligious dialogue of our day.


He was not a spiritualist, nor a political activist, but an intellectual. He clearly states in his introduction in Vedic Experience: 

How can you just be an "intellectual," concerned with truth, or just a "spiritual," busy with goodness, when Men desperately cry for food and justice? How can you follow a contemplative, philosophical, or even religious path when the world shouts for action, engagement and politics? And, conversely, how can you agitate for a better world or for the necessary revolution when what is most needed is serene insight and right evaluation. (Taken from The Vedic Experience: Mantramanjari, P. xxxv)

In his books, he says of his inspiration behind all his writings:

If one writes a book with one's life and pays for it with one' blood, if intellectual activity consists of life lived and experiences suffered, rather than being a mere secretion of the brain, then what I have written is part of what I was; and what I was cannot be blotted out (The Unknown Christ of Hinduism, x).

I am using in my writing only words whose meaning i myself have grasped... I remember an ideal I used to have; each paragraph I wrote, possible each sentence, was to reflect my whole life and be an expression of my character... writing to me, is meditation - that is medicine - and also moderation, order for this world. Writing, to me, is intellectual life, and that in turn is spiritual existence... Writing allows and almost forces me to ponder deeply the mystery of reality. It certainly involves thinking, contemplation. But at the same time, writing means that I have to add form, shape, beauty, expression, revelation to this mystery of reality. Writing is nama-rupa and equally atman; it is morphe in both essence and form. Writing presupposes thinking but also shaping and carving out thoughts; cleaning them, clothing them with colours, smells and forms, even strengthening and putting them to action. It is an incarnation process where the "word becomes flesh." (Taken from A Dwelling Place for Wisdom, 77-79)

Christmas: A situational encounter with Christ.

We are situated human beings, encountering the realities around. Some situations come to us unasked for (take for example our own birth – we did not choose to be born), some we create and yet some situations come to us as a bolt from the blue!!! Yet these are our existential experiences. In this connection, a sight of an infant laying at the roadside, right in front of the shrine of Infant Jesus captured my attention. We normally don’t care to know who these people are except saying that they are gypsies without a permanent housing. But my encounter with the situation of the child stirred some questions - what would be the nationality of the child, who are its parents, what would be the child’s perception of the world when it is surrounded by the loud noises and the constant honking of the vehicles that speed past the little innocent? Why was landlessness and homelessness thrust upon this little child? Etc. On the other hand, I also tried to think the other side of the situation of the child- this child would be gifted with special ability to distinguish different sounds of the vehicles and would eventually identify faulty engines of the vehicles and that would make him or her a good mechanic. Or it would show distaste for sounds or totally loose the capacity for hearing. There is definitely a vast difference between the situation of the child and the situation that we find ourselves in (with a secure place to live, books to read, people to relate, etc.)

Being situated is a fact of being human. Having given a fact of being situated as our human condition, I would like to take you to another fact of being human – a situation intra-human, the fact that we do not understand the meaning of the whole. Now as believers, we come to know that what we know is only a little spark of the whole fire. The spark does not know the fire as a whole, but the full flame would definitely know the spark. Similarly, we do not know God, but God certainly knows us completely. Humanly speaking, in our approach to understand the real we are stranded by our limited intelligence. Incarnation, the event of God becoming man cannot be fully understood in intellectual terms, but make sense to us only in faith. Why is this so?  Our Late Pope John Paul II says that human beings by nature cannot withstand an excess of mystery and incarnation is too much a mystery. But Through the Christ-event, we are sure that what is impossible for man is possible for God. Through incarnation, God made himself tangible, that we may experience, see, hear and touch him.

Christ came into this world to share in our human condition and situatedness: God did not choose to remain absolutely transcendent and govern the whole universe; He chose to be situated like any one of us. He took the human form exactly to tell us that God knows our struggles and pain. His assuming the human form meant sharing in our situatedness – birth in a stable, living as a son of a carpenter, experiencing the human experience of shame, humiliation, false accusation, excruciating physical and emotional pain, and the rest. He came to share and care with the assurance that he is with us on our journey. 

In our moments of doubts and uncertainties, we still do not know what we cry for and most often our cries remain unheard. This is again another fact of our situatedness. Not only we cry for redemption but the whole world cries together with us. St. Paul writes in his letter to the Romans 8: 22 – “We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.” But what is really consoling is that God hears our Existential cry.

St. Paul again assuredly says “when we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God,” (Rom, 8:15, 16)  

In sharing our human condition he came with a body that he be incorporated into the history of humanity showing us that we are never disconnected with eternity and the time we are in.

In the letter to the Hebrews 10:5, it is written, ‘When Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me.” This “body you have prepared for me” implies incarnation. He incarnated in human flesh and blood to show us the way to the Father. That is why he said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” This is the same body that he glorified at resurrection and ascension. He became the offerer and the offered at the same time. He offered his life and his own life is offered for the good of each of us, calling us to represent him in all that we do and believe. Having a body is an essential element of our situatedness. What do we mean having a body with its senses, especially with the senses of hearing and sight? – With our ears, we try to discerningly hear the good news of the ‘birth of Christ”. Ofcourse, what we hear is in proportion to our disposition. The shepherds heard the good tidings in their own situation and predisposition – the shepherds had to keep awake at night that they may protect the sheep from the wild beasts, and losing the sheep would mean that they might either receive beatings from their master or their monthly pay would be cut in compensation for the sheep that is lost. It is in this situation that they hear the good news that a savior has been born for them in Bethlehem. The three wise men from the east in like manner received and fulfilled their quest for knowledge. After having heard and seen the Messiah, they had their turns and never betrayed what they heard and seen. It is exactly here that I want to stress that our faith comes from hearing and seeing is believing. We long to see him with our eyes of faith while strongly believing that He-is-with-us (Emmanuel!!)

Finally, let me conclude with a quote from Fulton J. Sheen who says:

“Our Lord came to die and the rest of us come to live.”

Fulton Sheen's Insight on Vocation

Sheen has some interesting insights into the dearth of vocations even in his time, which i think is even relevant today:

He says that we advertise ourselves with the thrill and feel of life in the congregation.What he says is that Many young people feel called to religious vocation but they do not find challenge in it because it does not present the element of sacrifice in it. Young people love sacrifice and feel challenged by it. According to the statistics that he mentions - he says that many of them are drawn by the sacrificing and mortified priests.

Christmas tells us that God became man. This states the fact that He became one like us with flesh and blood. We are embodied beings, tangible and endowed with sensory knowledge. Why there is a dearth in vocations? This answer can be partly found in our own body itself. In the Bible we read, "You are not your own body, you are bought for a price." That price was paid by Christ on the Cross. He was a sacrifice and the sacrificed at the same time. There was no separation. Today we have not properly understood our own body. We remain an enigma to ourselves - "a mysterium tremendum". Many young men and women are led astray in the aspect of chastity. Viktor Frankl would say that when there is meaninglessness, an inner void is being created and to fill this inner void - depression, addiction and aggression take their place.

Few questions that props up in my mind are - how are we presenting ourselves as persons? Are we thoroughly convinced of our role as a priest-victim? We are not social workers but called apart to partake in the saving mission of Christ. 

It is St. John Bosco who said, "A Priest is a blessing to the family". Yes indeed, A priest is a blessing not only to the immediate family but to the family of whole humanity. Just think of the Eastern wisdom, "while you act, it has its resonance and impact on all".

Mary’s Fiat: A Moment of Insight

                            “And Mary said yes when she knew that it was the will of God.”

The ‘yes’ of Mary stands as the greatest act of obedience to the will of God next only to the self-offering of Jesus on the cross. Her ‘yes’ was total, free and was imbued with complete awareness. Emphasizing that, Mary had reached the maturity of her ‘yes’ at the annunciation, I would like to title my talk as “Mary’s Fiat: A Moment of Insight.” Now, that is an insight happened to me two months ago, when suddenly the huge picture that is placed on the left side wall in our parish, gripped my attention and led me to certain reflections, which I thought would be nice to share with you during this novena to the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

            I recognize the three different levels of the salvific plan of God in that picture. The bottom level depicts the disobedience and the neglect of God by the chosen people by running behind false gods. The central level narrates the significant events in the life of Jesus and Mary from annunciation to passion and death; in other words, the redemption. The top most level of the painting depicts the glorious life after completing the earthly sojourn.

  

            Moving on, in each of these levels, I would like to present to you the specific role of Mary in the plan of salvation, and how our call can and should correspond with Mary.

1. Our Call is Specific

            Hear O heavens, and listen O earth, for the Lord has spoken”

            I reared children and brought them up,

            But they have rebelled against me.

            The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib;

            But Israel does no know,

            My people do not understand. (Is 1:2-30)

            God was grieved by the disobedience of Israel, yet out of His predilected love desired that His people should be redeemed of their fallenness, and hence he decided to be born of a woman, so that the people of Israel might understand His everlasting love.

            Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel (Is 7:14).

            When the appointed time came God sent his son born of a woman (Gal 4:4).

            Mary’s call was to be Theotokos – God-bearer. Therefore, it was fittig that the Mother of God be Immculately conceived. Her specific vocation was to be the first tabernacle, so that she might bring the God-man for the salvation of the humankind. This insight is gained by Our Lady at the annunciation.

            Each of us here has a specific vocation. Therefore, it is our bounden duty to seek for an insight into the specificity of our call and discover what God wants from each one of us.

2. Our call demands Fidelity

            No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God (Luke 9:62).

            If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily to follow me (Luke 9:23).

            Meanwhile standing near the cross of Jesus was his mother… (John 19:25).

            Right from her yes up to the end of her life, Mary remained faithful to her call. This is beautifully explicated in the central part of the picture. The demand of her call was to give Christ away to die on the cross for our redemption. Mary gained an insight into this demand of her call at the annunciation, and unhesitatingly submitted to the will of God: “Let it be done to me according to your word.”

            We as persons called and consecrated by God, need to understand the demands of our vocation. Are we ready to give away the things that hinder us from following Christ radically.

3. Our call is Rewarding

            “It was fitting that the most holy body of Mary, the God-bearing body, the receptacle of God, which was divinized, incorruptible, illumined by divine grace and full of Glory should be entrusted to the earth for a short while and be raised up in glory to heaven, with her soul pleading to God.” (Munificentissimus Deus).

                        Mary’s self offering and unquestioned obedience was richly rewarded by God. God did not allow her incorrupt body to decay in the abyss of the earth. The top most level of the picture depicts her glory and reaffirms Mary’s insight into that glorious life.

            And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my name’s sake will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.” (Mathew 19:29).

            We need to remember that God who calls us will never abandon us. Moreover, He promises eternal reward for all those who do His will and follow Christ whole-heartedly.

            The three moments in Mary’s call and her yes to that call brings home the point that, they were privileges bestowed on her. At the same time these privileges were tied up with great responsibility.

            First, Mary was preserved form original sin; she was conceived immaculate. This privilege endowed on her the responsibility of remaining sinless till the end and be model of purity.

            Second, she was the only woman on earth, who was called Blessed. Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you (Luke 11-27). Her blessedness also consisted in being a responsible and faithful disciple of Jesus.

            Third, she was given the privilege of entering the glorious life, body and soul. From this privilege she assumed the responsibility of interceding for us, her children, and she continues to remain in that office.

            This great example of Mary turning her privileges into responsibilities reminds us that our call and consecration is a privilege – a gratuitous gift. Now, what is required of us is to convert this privilege into responsibility.

  

            Before I conclude, I would like to bring your attention to the centre of the picture, where Mary is found with Jesus and the angels, and she seems to be busy writing something. Mary’s action seems as if she is signing a contract. I would say yes. After gaining the insight into the whole of the salvific plan of God, Mary signs the covenant with her fiat: Let it be… It is interesting to reflect on how she does it: Mary holds Jesus in her hands and contemplates the entire story. It is as if she is sitting with Jesus in a time machine and travelling through time and space.

            It is apt for us to take her example as a model to gain insight into our own vocation, so that, like her, we may sign the covenant, and enter into a covenantal relationship with God with an undivided heart. We can make such an insight probable by praying for the same, so that we may like the ox, know its owner; and like the donkey, know its master’s crib. May Mary, the tota pulchra, the all-beautiful, help us in this task.

A Reflection By

Br William D’Souza SDB

Mummy And Me - A lovely Malayalam Film

Mummy and Me is a Malayalam talkie written and directed by Jeethu Joseph. It is based on a story of a young girl, the situations that confront her and the condition in which she finds herself in. I really loved it. Now let me go into some touching aspects of the film:

Home: home is not same as house (a structure) but a real home is where people interact with each other, influence and affect each other. Here in this film though Juel (the heroine of the movie) feels homeless. She is a typical youngster representing her age group. She has problems.

Few observations within the scenes of the film:

She cannot stomach the taunting behaviour of her mummy; she does not want to be controlled. In fact, when she comes late from dance class, she states the reason for being late. After all she is not a child but a grown up girl.

Her tendency of breaking away from the immediate control of parents and trying to be independent is the typical behaviour of her age group.

Her mummy perhaps is over protective. She overhears the phone calls that come to her and want to know every detail of whatever happens to her.

The question that often comes in the minds of the young could be – is it possible to enter into genuine relationship? What are the dangers lurking behind individual actions. These questions come alive in the presentation of Juel’s online relationship with Amir. Virtual relationship is very common these days. A good analysis of what happens in virtual friendship is clearly brought out in the film. In a virtual relationship, there is a problem of revelation between the two parties, uncertainties are inevitable. Is virtual relationship truly genuine? Could be, depending on the sincerity and genuineness of the person encountered virtually. Amir represents the few honest persons who are really concerned with the good of the other person. There are possibilities of betrayal. Responsibility and respect is the key in entering into a true virtual friendship. It can also happen that in such friendships the young people may feel the ties of emotional dependency without they being aware of this fact. Particularly in this aspect of vulnerability, that most young people are betrayed and manipulated. You can even expect the unexpected from such kind of relationship. In the film, She is just in her blooming existence and on the other side her virtual friend is a muslim aged 54. He is a person living at the mercy of medicines for survival.

What is important in the stormy age of teenage is that youngsters should know and feel that someone is with them to make informed choices to travel the roads of safety and happiness. The role of parents here comes to the fore. Usually what parents intend is for the good of their children. But for the rebelling youngster, it is hard to listen to parents. Though the parents were themselves experiences the storm and rage being a teen, they cannot just exactly find similarity in the experience of their children and equate and compare with their own times. The intensity of the problems that today’s young face is vastly incommensurate with the then situations of the parents. It is a good movie to watch especially for those in educating the young, those who are constantly with the young people and their world – these include youth workers, teachers, parents, Salesians, counselors, young and old. A very good film and a must watch.

A Good Movie to Watch

Paathshala

Directed by Milind. K.

Shoira khan: Producer

The captions of the movie: “Every generation needs a hero… to answer all the questions.”

“Education begins with life” – Franklin (written on the walls of the great school named Saraswati Vidya Mandir)

The interesting and principal characters of the movie I liked were the principal (Aditya Sahay) and the English Teacher (Rahul Prakash Udyaavar.). However, I liked the situations of all the teachers, students and the non-teaching staff. The importance of each one is stunningly and clearly brought out.

When the news flashed that the principal resigned and when it came the time for Aditya to go away, the meeting between Rahul and Aditya is very captivating. The role of a principal of the school is rediscovered. Being a principal is not like being a business manager, the role is not like a hobby but it is a passion. The person of the principal brought me the memories of My principal in Don Bosco Technical Institute, Okhla, New Delhi. I was a close collaborator then.

The person of the principal consists in being a passionate believer in the fact that education begins with life and it is a noble profession; he is firm and convinced of change (not a short term change but a change not immediately seen rather it is a long term or a life long change.)

This movie somewhat answers the question: Do you really need to go with the space and speed of the world? Yes, ofcourse, education must enable us to adjust to the situations that confront us. But holding on to the values commitment, sincerity, justice and fighting for the truth is better than being drown in the waters of commercialization and modernization. It is the past that makes the present. The present cannot make itself in the absence of what went before.

If you want to understand the Principal-Staff relationship dynamics, please watch it. It is worth (Observe the teacher Boss: she gets nervous before the shadow of the principal, it is because the principal appears as very strict and punctual)

The last seen, where the students and the Principal meet is a very fascinating in the sense that the students come to know that the principal is also able to laugh and share the world of the students.

Think Now!!

Who and what influenced me in my own way of thinking?

A sense of wonder inherent in everyone which makes one curious to explore is what makes me still wonder. Take the example of peeling an onion. Each time you take off the layer at each peel there still remains another layer to be peeled off. This goes on till you come to the end of finding finite nothingness of the already peeled onion. The finite reality is limited. Then how much more is the infinite vastness of the infinitely real? I can name my thinking as “Through the eyes to memory.”

One of my strong influences on my thinking was my own experience of curiosity and that of exploring. I was a small little fellow who asked my mother whether I can go on top of the mountain and touch the sun. For me sun was a distant reality as I was being aware of where I was. I wondered, hoping that I would touch the sun one day. This remained till one day that profoundly changed my outlook. It was in Sandakpu (one of the highest peak in the Everest mountain ranges), I got a chance to deepen the awareness, the nearer you go, and the farther is the reality. There is a wide gap between where you stand and where the sun stands. Bible says, “You shall worship the lord of creation in spirit and truth.” what is worship? What is truth?

My curiosity was also lit by my brother, when in travelling in the bus, I used to look out and see the trees running (this makes me conclude that all ephemeral realities are slippery by nature and susceptible to change). When I sit in a train that is still and when I see the other train moving, I often felt as if the train in which I am sitting is really moving. Hence I need to distinguish between the seemingly real and the real.

A clash of questioning between my real self and the ideal self creates an existential tension. And a healthy tension is always necessary.

My memory picks up an image of a murdered man on the roadside, in a gutter, with five rupees note stuck on his butt. I was just like a passive onlooker passing by hurriedly to get to school. There are many things involved in this murder.

Drunkenness and loss of sense: the murdered man seems to have drunk heavily and got off the bus in the next stop other than the actual stop. Fate had arranged the meeting with his enemies. His limbs could hardly move, because of the anesthetic effect of the drinks on him. He was witness to another murder in front of his privately owned restaurant (as rumors spread those days – a reason for his non-existence.) Perhaps, this led to his own extinction in the similar fashion.

If I am to write a crime novel (I would perhaps trace the pattern of signs: the first victim of murder succumbed to death by having hit by an iron rod on the head. This time ‘Scaria’ was hit on the head with a stone. The question of being-in-the-world with others is a real question. As long as I have eyes I see unless I choose not to see. Is witnessing a crime a mistake when you happened to be there? (Being a passive onlooker by the mere fact of being there). If the criminal senses a sense of threat when he is seen by anyone, he is caught by the inescapable watching eyes. He concludes, “The other is a threat, hence elimination is necessary to feel secure.” The one who murders lives a horrendous torturous existence. He is taunted day and night by his own remorse, guilt and the incapacity of lifting himself up. He is confused and murders himself- his experience of his taunting existence is now more murderous than the act of murder. The murderer and the murdered are victims. The murderer is the victim of his faulty conscience and the murdered is the external victim of the action of the murderer.

The murderer lives in a society and has to be a law-abiding citizen. Who has the right over the life of others? He has definitely broken the harmony of the natural laws within him, around him and at large those of the society. Is an escape to freedom possible for this man? He flees like the wandering Cain, when his brother’s blood cries out to the creator from the ground. The nature is a silent witness to all that happens.

Man the wanderer, failing to find favour in the eyes of the mighty, the society and the anguished members of the family, absconds, loses his meaning in life. Can he be back? It is Difficult. Public opinion and their image of him is colored by the facts of his acts. There are people who change, picking up the pieces of brokenness and assuring themselves- “let me start again.”

“Eyes of the media” is almost inescapable these days. “A piece of news is like a morsel of bread”- yet this is done for a living, sometimes or often to create sensationalism that of the “muktab” (evening newspaper in a town nearby my own native place) with headlines “Scariyaye konna cheriyaan olivil (cherian who killed scaria absconds).

Those days of my blooming existence could not but capture the occasional instances of crime, murder, political agitation (with the policy of ‘return’ even in murder). Ripper Chandran, a mysterious man who breaks into any house, any place could enact the scene of a mass murder in a systemic or patterned way.

News flashed on stealth, my neighbors found guilty. It was a planned stealing. The man returns from the bank late evening with some solid amount, two of them notices it and follows him. It grew dark, there was no torch, no light with him; and on the spur of the moment, they push him, snatch the bag and quickly take to heels. The man who is pushed away shouts for help and spots the places to which they ran. He followed them for quite some time and lost the track since the two men ran away to two distinct places. He files FIR and the investigation begins the next day. Policemen arrive with their dog. I was curious to watch what will happen, how the traces of the men are found (a shoe thrown on the roadside). The ‘police dog’ loses the trace at the stream. But later the two men in the neighborhood were found missing. One left his wife and four children never to return (he was a carpenter by profession), the other man was arrested, confessed his mistake and later got off. He could no longer stay in his countryside, so he married a Muslim girl, and went away from the scene on the pages of history and the rising minds of the new generation of the young.

 ‘Koodotram’ (Black magic) was also prevalent. I used to wonder. I remember one day our buffalo was dying. There was holy water hung on the roof of the shed ensuring protection from the evil forces. When our ‘eruma’(domestic buffalo) was seriously ill I was asked by my mother to go to the church and burn candles and pray for the well being of the buffalo. I did light the candles and prayed very fast and came back.

Consulting a priest was necessary for my mother. And she went and really found out the culprits involved in the theft in the house of my uncle (the culprit was the brother of my aunty though they never spoke about it).

I lived together with my Hindu-Muslim friends. And I being a Christian did not consider my religion as the superior religion in the world. I attended Hindu festivals like ‘vishu’, ‘onam’, ‘navaratri’, etc.  I got ‘payasam’ on ‘ramsan’. And noticed that they were very faithful to the fasts and prayers. I even got a chance to be present in an event where, “they were going on pilgrimage to Hajj”. This ceremony was great. I liked the way, “how they greet each other” and even asking for forgiveness from the domestic animals (the aspect of being in harmony with nature). It is a great thing to die in Mecca – something very holy. I cherish the function of my friend’s going to Sabarimala (a pilgrimage centre for the Hindus).

The concept of freedom.

I believe in the inner freedom and am convinced like Viktor Frankl that no one can take away your freedom of choosing my attitude towards anything, any situation or persons even in an unalterable event.

The concept of man

Man is a curious wanderer, ready to explore. He/she naturally tends towards the fullness of being and constantly moves towards the supra-meaning which one may call as God.

It is in a chaotic condition of being human that I seek clarity and meaning. Philosophers have said that nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses: Nihil est in intellectu, quod prius non fuerit in sensu. I am a bodily human being with special language of its own. When I am fatigued I feel the weight of my body, when the body is ill the other dimensions of my body is invariably affected except the fact that I can fight the illness with a bold attitude of courage and the will to live and find meaning even in suffering. Knowledge comes through my body. The changes in my body in the different stages of growth forces my curious nature to understand the mystery of my being, while still I continue to be in a stage of  wonderment.

Human progress is possible only in experiencing confusion and chaos, because chaos precedes order. Man is a curious wanderer in search for meaning. We all move to that awareness while confronting such questions as- who am I? Who is He (God)? Why am I? Why this physicality of my being and the limitation of it which do not allow me to be what I am. But transcending this human condition is possible through faith and love. Faith in a God who is hidden in the chaotic experiences of lived history, faith in the found meanings longing for its expression in the future and in an unseen presence that goes before you with the assurance of SOMEONE-WITH-YOU/ME/US.

Young people of today

Young of today are difficult to handle as they are the products of the traumatic time they live in. some of them have wounded past (some later having processed this experience turn out to be wounded healers and those who don’t become predators). Some others are under authoritative parents, in working condition under someone, etc. Anyone who is interested in the well being of the young need to be either experienced or professionally qualified in handling or attending to them. They are by nature liberal in thinking, they like easy way of doing things or getting things done. (this is very visible in the studies they do – have fun, when exams near, Xerox class notes, even lead them to use unfair means, browse internet – partly because knowledge is accessible at a stone’s throw). They avoid (except few who are exceptionally motivated at young age to live responsibly) a slight inconvenience or little pain. They conform themselves under peer pressure to the values and behaviors not healthy for their age. This is because they take time to establish themselves or to move from the infantile dependency through independence to interdependence.

They need acceptance and love. And if the educator himself has not met these needs, the students may fall victims of his/her narcissistic tendency – dominion and acceptance of what you seem to impose. It also takes time from the part of the educator to understand the young sufficiently if one is not open to the changing times of the young. If one judges them in an anachronistic way, there comes to existence ‘a generation gap’ and the ‘defying nature’ of the young increases even more rapidly. This may even lead to an outright denial of moral, religious and traditional values.

The perceptions do matter. Youngsters should be perceived as individual persons, having their own history that should be revered and respected, if need be to be purified.

Being human and having brought up in a religious background any one can tend to be religious (not scrupulously religious, but a seasoned way of looking at things). This religious bend gives the awareness – “you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you.”

Human Nature

Human nature is always vulnerable. But the strong inherent spiritual dimension in you makes the vulnerability a strength to empathize with another. Though it is said that the human nature is the same always and everywhere, we have to accept the fact that there is nothing permanent except change. By change, I mean the behavioural and attitudinal change that makes man either the victim of his thoughts, victims of the action of the other or a master making his own life meaningful.

A Victim: In infancy you need the help of others to address your needs. One suddenly finds oneself thrown in the world of the adults (who themselves do not know who they are, some are driven by negative impulses of emotions, passions, etc or they themselves have been victims and grew to be perpetrators). As you grow up you are vulnerable to be manipulated by the elders even to the extent of your trust in them being betrayed.  And there is a chance of the manipulated becoming the manipulator in the future because of the deep-seated anger because you are denied of the basic right to be a human person. There is a hunger for being loved, affirmed and cared for. To remain a victim is the saddest part of human life but accepting the reality of being a victim and the attitude towards such ‘being-in-state’ can be overcome when one considers that what have been is also a kind of being. What is past is not irrevocably lost but irrevocably stored in order to make it a resource for being well in being and move towards creating meanings for ones meaningful existence. (Adapted from Viktor Frankl)

A Master - steward

Human being is also a master. When I heard such scripts as “ithente thalayezhuthanu”(the fate is written on my forehead – a literal translation from malayalam), I almost believed that I can’t do anything on my own to change situations except to succumb to the fact of being destined. If one holds a view of ‘destined to be’ the attitude towards life would be drastic, and the life would be torturous when you are in conflict with your own value system, assumptions and outlooks towards life. For instance, if a woman is married to a drunkard (especially in the case of arranged marriages), she can say that it is her fate to live with such a man. If she continues to mourn or brood over the fact that her husband is a drunkard, due to which attitude she will be victimized by her own thoughts and those thoughts will make her susceptible to remain in the prison of her own thoughts. This is hyper reflection. (Mention the nature of collectivity in Indian context)

When the attention given on one’s life and its experiences however negative and traumatic, is shifted to others’ uniqueness with their own historicity (it usually takes time, a lot of reflection, self-distancing and guidance) an optimistic future is at your door step. Since the future is unknown to me and known to the Timeless Presence alone, I begin to live responsibly committing myself to the meaning of the moment. The whole attitude of ‘destined to be’ vanishes when the following conviction dawns: “I am created, I do not remain in the passive state of being created. My ability to transcend and the inherent tendency to move towards the Invisible Presence draws me to be a co-creator (through my progeny, creative and meaningful tasks, love) sharing in the responsibility of sustaining what has been, what is and what is yet to be. This makes me a responsible steward.” The reason to be me is in the fact that “I am because HE IS”.

Seeing is important in being a master-steward. We are as we come to see and as that seeing becomes enduring in our intentionality. We do not come to see, however, just by looking but by training our vision through the metaphors and symbols that constitute our central convictions. How we come to see therefore is a function of how we come to be since our seeing necessarily is determined by how our basic images are embodied by the self – i.e., in our character. (Taken from Peterson’s “Under the Unpredictable Plant”). 

When does one begin thinking?

In answer to the question, Emmanuel Levinas (A Jewish Philosopher) has an answer which really captivated me. He says that one begins thinking through traumatisms or gropings to which one does not even know how to give a verbal form: a separation, a violent scene, a sudden consciousness of the monotony of time. It is from the reading of books – not necessarily philosophical that these initial shocks become questions and problems, giving one to think.

Seven principles of Viktor Frankl for a worthy living

Alex Pattakos in his book "Prisoners of our thoughts" Applies the ideas of Viktor Frankl for everyone.

1. Exercise your freedom to choose your attitude: Viktor Frankl says that even in the worst of circumstance we are never controlled by anything and no one can take away our ability to choose our attitude towards anything.
2. Realize your will to meaning: A human being’s basic motivation is not to seek pleasure (according to Freud), nor to seek power (Nietzsche and Adler speak of it). Frankl says that the primary motivation for every man is the will to meaning. Meanings are manifold and thus are unique to each special situation. One can find ten thousand meanings in ten thousand situations.
3. Detect the meanings of life’s moments: It is your or my duty to find the meanings for each and every moment.
4. Don’t work against yourself: Frankl speaks about what is known as hyper reflection: a tendency to overly reflect on oneself, one becomes very attentive to oneself, watching oneself severely. While overly reflecting, you are increasing your worries and anxiety, adding to the severeness of your anticipatory anxiety.
5. Look at yourself from a distance.
6. Shift your focus of attention: May your attention be directed on someone, something. We human beings are always searching out for meanings to fulfill and other human beings to encounter.
7. Extend beyond yourself: We have the capacity to rise above our daily trifles. We have the power to transcend.

Understanding the phenomenology of Religion

In today’s Scenario, when we look at the phenomena of religion, we notice several things like a growing indifference towards organized religion even to the point of taking an atheistic stand. On the other hand we see an attraction to the phenomena of religion especially proven in the fact that men turn to various religions to solve mysteries of the human condition, which today, as in earlier times, burden people’s hearts. There is a religious pluralism, especially in a country like ours.

First of all I need to understand what religion is. Though there are many definitions (substantial and functional) I shall content myself with the definition that Levinas proposes: Religion is God’s search for man and Man’s loving response to Him. As Van der Leeuw would speak of the horizontal and vertical dimension of religion, I would say that at the horizontal realm we try to understand the phenomena – the varieties of religious expressions espoused in the religious language (God-talk), symbols, myths, rituals, etc. The vertical realm is understood in view of the faith and trust in the ineffable.

“Religion is an attitude of the whole human being as person and as community interior as well as exterior which is characterized by the acknowledgement of a radical dependence on a personal and transcendent being from which everything proceeds out of love and to which everything returns as a response in love.” Carlo Cantone

Since there have been many approaches (sociological, anthropological, psychological, theological, etc) to unearth the phenomena of religion in its essence, they were reductionist in nature and would not genuinely look at religion as it appears. So applying phenomenological method is a suitable method to do justice to the phenomena of religion.

I realized that Man is a fundamental phenomenon when we study phenomenology of religion. Man is the one who seeks clarity in the face of what appears before him. Van Roo would name man as the symbolizer who makes what appears intelligible and move towards meaning. The very fact that many philosophers and theologians looked at the phenomena of religion and analyzed religion with the application of the phenomenological method reveals that Man is confronted with meaning and religion is just the responsible response in action towards meaning. Man is basically spiritual.

As I studied religion as the subject-object relation, I would like to say that the bipolar tension between the subject and object is a dialectical tension in as much as they are irreducible. Many philosophers like Martin Buber, Emmanuel Levinas tried to solve the subject-object duality through the concept of irreducibility in the event of knowing (subject in itself and the object in itself). The theologians solved this problem in the event of God becoming man (in which there is no separation of the immanence and transcendence, i.e the immanent is in the transcendent and the transcendent is in the immanent).

Macquarie says that the essence of religion is the self-manifestation of Being as this is received and appropriated in the life of faith. Heidegger would say that we need to be attentive to the self-manifestation of Being and wait to let Being come-to-presence.

Macquarie tried to find a reason for the existence of varieties of religion through his typology of religion in two convergent series – immanence and transcendence. In applying the phenomenological method, he attempted to talk of general structures of religion on the basis of participation in a particular religion (he being a Christian).  He observed that all religions can be seen as variations on a fundamental theme - the impinging of holy Being upon the being of man.  In connection with the variations, he says that when Being discloses itself, the expression of those whom Being is revealed is conditioned by history and circumstantial conditions.

The point that Maquarrie makes is that one can commit oneself within one’s own community of faith and in terms of the symbols established in that community, and yet believe that for a person in other circumstances, the same God reveals himself in another community and under different symbols, and that there may be nothing defective or inadequate about that person’s commerce with God. This fact could be expressed in the wisdom of sages - Ekam Sat vipraha bahudah Vadanti (Reality is one but sages call it differently).

One final point to make is that as the human consciousness develop, it is the interpretation that changes with the time. Hence, I would say that Religion is never ‘is’ but ‘becoming.’ In any religious phenomena, the dialectical process goes on and on (experience, revelation, tradition, scripture, culture, reason).

Viktor Frankl would say that if religion is to survive, it will have to be profoundly personalized. This does not mean that we need to do away with symbols and rituals. Because we do not come to see just by looking but by training our vision through the metaphors and symbols that constitute our central convictions.

A Situation we are faced with in the event of being educated - an analogy

In the act of understanding the dynamics of education, i am faced with a situation. This in turn forced me to conceive education as an ‘image recorder’. The process of education is within the treasuries of the human mind, heart and soul.  The image that is often captured by the camera can be ‘actions’ or ‘reactions’. This takes place because of the external stimuli, i.e. the photographer being an extern, perhaps an unknown, unfamiliar face to the students who are being captured. He clicks the photos according to his intentions. The students are caught unawares in the particular situation they are faced with.  In the case of taking a photograph you can see many students, actually shying away from the photo being clicked or rather trying to adjust to the situation. This is the action that happens at the ‘click’. In education what happens at the click of an ‘insight’. It spurs one into action. The action can be active in the sense of adjusting to a situation. Here the adjustment is automatic and to a certain extent forced. One wants to move away from the photo being clicked and at the same time one can’t really move away but be a part of it while the image being caught by the camera. Hence, it makes you active automatically in adjusting to the situation no matter how it influences you. But one is acted upon by imposition of the intention of the intended. Here the case being the intention of the photographer.

The finger that clicks is the active mind ready to capture what is intended. Now the process of recording the particular image is an internal function. By this can we deny the other sources of knowledge as understood by educators, for example the empiricists who stressed on the sense knowledge, the rationalists who stressed on reason and mind. But now we are faced with a situation in which the educand or the educator find difficult to identify the internal happenings present to both in the process of education. The others around the educand may be initially seen as strangers living in anonymity. In the beginning when the child steps into the school, his whole experience will be that of strangeness mingled with newness (here what I have in mind is not the internal happenings of the child but the external happenings). But there is a whole process of influence and being influenced mutually. On the other hand one cannot neglect the fact that wherever one goes, one cannot ignore the people.

Now there is another dimension to it i.e. adjustment. The photographer adjusts his camera according to the right image he wants to capture (the adult world of imposition). Among the students the adjustment is both comfortable and uncomfortable to the extent of the situation and the context of the whole education support system they find themselves in. Now it is important to consider the support system in which one finds oneself in.

Outlook on life - a parable of two Dogs

Stray Dog: Why are you barking? See how happy and free I am.

Domestic: My master told me to bark at strangers.

Stray: Oh I see, you treat me as a stranger, forgetting that we belong to the species of dogs.

Domestic: you thin fellow! You boast of your freedom! Let me ask you how free you are! If you recall, there could be instances when some strong dogs frowned at you, you put your tail down and ran for life. How insecure are you in your freedom? See, I have practically nothing to do. I am given food timely, given bath and cared for. The children play with me. They all love me.

Stray: my condition is different from you; I go to garbage and satisfy my hunger. Still I have no worry      because Jesus told not to worry. Look at the birds of the air and fish, they are fed. I know all this, but nothing can change my attitude towards life and others.

Domestic: I am beginning to make out that you are forced into existence. Anything that comes on your                way means nothing to you.

Stray: I am free, and people also are free to throw stones at me a stingy dog. Who cares? Do what I want             as long as I live. After all one day I will die and liberate myself from this existential misery.

Domestic: I thank my Creator for having brought you in front of me. I am in chains, but you are in the     pangs of existence. And I don’t want to waste any moment here and now. Hence I pray: “Lord make me a captive then I shall be free.”

Body: A locus of beauty and a source of wisdom.

I have often heard from the mouth of some young men who pass comments on the girls passing by – “Kya maal hai yaar!” why are they so obsessed with the body of a woman? Why do young people surf the porn sites so madly to see the naked bodies of women? Why cyber sex is so rampant? Why some movies are so suggestive and filled with so many subliminal messages? Why a body has so much charm? The body is so much glorified and deified today and the degrading of the bodies is also common, no doubt about it.

We need to understand the way we perceive. What about the bodies or how was the body perceived in the early periods of the human history?

Early Greek philosophers glorified the mind and spirit over the body because of the indisputable fact that the body is clearly corruptible, obviously fragile, and ultimately worthless; all of which conditions constituted clear proof to them that life as we know it here is inferior at base. St. Augustine tried to answer the question of human imperfectability with the doctrine of original sin. Since bodies sin, he reasoned, it is the soul that is superior. Even before Augustine, Plato had spoken of the body driven by the black horse and making the liberation impossible. He said that it is through knowledge that we attain liberation. St. Thomas Aquinas said that eggs are eggs to mean that we have to realize being as it is in itself as it manifests itself in itself. He held that the senses are the windows of our souls.

Even in some of the bible passages we see our body as a prison and our soul is imprisoned in our body. Now our understanding of the body needs to be changed. Our body is a source of knowledge for us. We have heard the piece of wisdom in the gospel – “the stone which is rejected by the builders has become the corner stone,” similarly the body which lost its significance in the early days and even now to a large extent, we need to realize that it has to become a stepping stone to the higher truth – realization. Just imagine you doing vipasana meditation, you become aware of the innumerable thoughts that pass through your mind, the sensations that you feel in your body. In doing vipasana meditation you realize that life is transitory, the sensations come and they disappear.

One may even ask me – what about those people who are leading a vegetable life/ who are paralyzed and unable to feel anything in their body. I would say that even this paralysis itself is a realization that body can feel no more (is it not another sensational wisdom leaving for the soul to take care?)

Just examine your own body – I see that everything is in proportion that adds beauty. I do not see that one of my ears is larger than the other, in case it is, it would suggest ugliness. Beauty also can not be limited to the proportionate parts of the body but it consists in the charm it gives out. A thing of beauty is always desirable and when it is desirable it is good. Goodness consists in perfection and desirability. And we read in the beginning of Genesis that God created everything and they were good.

A symbolic journey from-to.

Our life is a personal narrative. In this connection I would like to narrate an experience of a bus journey which I will use to show the reality of our day to day existence with the world, God and others.

Any journey has a beginning, a middle and an end. On the journey we meet with so many things. But always keep in mind the principle – “the first in intention is the last in execution.” I began my journey keeping in mind the stop in which I will have to get down and further go wherever I want to go. To reach the intended final stop, I will have to pass by many other stops.

Now you are not alone in the bus. You are along with the fellow passengers. Now let me put down the several elements of the journey:

The driver: you are just in the bus and you are taken to your destination by the bus driver (who knows the route, the art of driving, he is observant and careful not to meet any hurdles on the way that might risk the safety of the passengers. In a way you are driven – you might not know how to drive even, yet you are depended on the expertise of the driver to help you reach your intended destination). As you are on your journey to meaning, freedom and joy, who or what drives you? What it means to be on a driver’s seat?

The fellow passengers: the circumstances and experiences of the fellow passengers are varied. I noticed the faces of all the fellow passengers. I found that every face was utterly unique and different. They spoke in different languages. I could not understand. They share in different world (here what I mean by the world is the personally constructed world of acquired perceptions and meanings). Some I saw very busy over the mobile phones trying to connect with someone distantly other. There was a drunkard who got in the bus only to find himself again in the place he got in when the conductor told him to be out of the bus. The passengers are mostly the average poor, who do not own the means of travel.

The world seen from inside the bus: the world outside seemed to pass by reminding me of the lines of the poem, “the world is not my home; I am just a passing through”. The world was just a passing reality which you just glance through while you have no real contact except through the powerful way in through your eyes. St. Thomas Aquinas would say that “our senses are windows to our souls.”