Join Mathai Fenn (PhD) for a 12-week journey through the intellectual landscape of India. Explore the reasons that has made India the destination for so many generations of people who have felt that there must be more to life than meets the eye.
“Three years ago, I was Siddhartha the Brahman’s son who left his home to become a sadhu. However that was yesterday, today I have entered a new path, that leads to your garden……”
Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha is a novel about the seeker ( Click here for book summary at SparkNotes). According to Indian Philosophy, the purpose of our human life is to find ourselves, our own true nature, true self, our soul. Everything else is temporary. The search for our true self is simultaneously the search for God. Only an outsider can describe this quintessential aspect of Indian culture. Although Hesse was German-Swiss, his grandfather, Hermann Gundert had spent many years in India and was the force behind translating the Bible to Malayalam, the language of the state of Kerala in India.
Dr. Mathai Fenn at Fennhall.in
Your guide, Dr Mathai Fenn holds a PhD in Psychology and a life long interest in the spiritual and philosophical schools of India. Born to a family of Practicing Christians in a country where Christians were a minority of less than 5%, his passion lies in introducing Indian Philosophy to beginners. This includes non-indians who are curious to know about Indian Philosophy as well as ethnic Indians who do not feel connected to their own spritiual and intellectual roots.
Every day, a reading from the Siddharta is followed by a discussion of its context. The first paragraph of the book reads ….
“In the shade of the house, in the sunshine of the riverbank near the boats, in the shade of the Sal-wood forest, in the shade of the fig tree is where Siddhartha grew up, the handsome son of the Brahman, the young falcon, together with his friend Govinda, son of a Brahman. The sun tanned his light shoulders by the banks of the river when bathing, performing the sacred ablutions, the sacred offerings. In the mango grove, shade poured into his black eyes, when playing as a boy, when his mother sang, when the sacred offerings were made, when his father, the scholar, taught him, when the wise men talked. For a long time, Siddhartha had been partaking in the discussions of the wise men, practising debate with Govinda, practising with Govinda the art of reflection, the service of meditation. He already knew how to speak the Om silently, the word of words, to speak it silently into himself while inhaling, to speak it silently out of himself while exhaling, with all the concentration of his soul, the forehead surrounded by the glow of the clear-thinking spirit. He already knew to feel Atman in the depths of his being, indestructible, one with the universe.”
While this is a good description of many villages in India until a few years ago, it also speaks of the nature of the Awakening. Although the paragraph depicts an idyllic setting, Siddhartha finds something missing. Popular accounts would blame technology or at least materialism. But it was not materialism that made Siddhartha restless. Indeed he already had the basic training in spiritual exercises from his family of priests. Sacred chants and hymns were as much a part of his life as was the river, the sun and the mango trees, yet he is not satisfied. Do you hear The Call?
To find out when the course is running next and to pre-register, click here.
Did you get a friend request from someone you do not know? Did someone ask you for a small down payment to send you a package that contains a precious gift? Perhaps someone (usually a pretty girl) offered you an investment opportunity of a life time. Worst still, did you get a call from your bank asking you to send them an OTP that just arrived on your phone? Perhaps because they are doing some testing on their servers?
Before you give away your money, investigate thoroughly the scheme and the person behind it.
THE SCHEME
If they are sending you a precious gift, why can’t they afford posting or customs?
If you do pay customs, pay directly to Indian Customs not to them. If you are paying for courier service, pay to a trusted courier service direclty.
If they ask for a loan, remember that the chances are you will never get it back and the person is not the person you think they are.
If the scheme sounds too good, it probably is. Please talk about it to some people who are good advisors. Make your choices but be fully aware of the risks involved
If you are buying a cheap product, check for independent reviews of the product and the seller and the platform. I know shopify is a META product, but I did not know that its just a template to set up a shop. So be careful. Look for independent reviews that could not be influenced by the scammer
Only make payments to official business accounts after verifying the business.
Finally pay by credit card to buy things. If things do not work out you can ask for a charge back. Recently a national airline took my money but would not offer me the service they promised. It was a cheap ticket buy a NATIONAL AIRLINE. I have complained to my credit card company and they are working on it.
Check URLS carefully. If your browswer shows wwww.thisisfake.com/doir or www.doir.thisisfake.com you can be sure that the website is NOT from Chrstian Doir.
If you have been ignoring security messages from your bank… do not share your otp or bank login password with anyone if you have anything worth stealing. Its ok to share bank account details, after all that’s how people send you money these days.
Try sending the firm a low value courier or post to verify their physical address.
THE PERSON Before you trust anyone with your personal information (things that they cannot get off the net) verify that the person is who he or she says he is. You can say your real name and phone number, especially if its published on the internet… perhaps even your address. You can share your public photos, but always be very careful to share any information or images that you would not publish on a public forum
Check profile. If a person has a new profile and no posts except some repeated stuff that is used to puff it up, that perrson is suspicious. If you have common friends, reach out to them and ask if they know this person
Background check. When a person says he/she is working at a particular company, check if that person is listed on their official website. Or at the very least, ensure the person knows enough of whats going on in the company.
Photos. Assume all photos are fake, especially in the days of AI and Deep Fakes. I sometimes ask for specific photos like send me a wink or a photo of you touching your left eyebrow with your right hand…they too can be faked but its harder. Remember the kidnapper’s method of taking a photo of the victim holding today’s newspaper? Nothing a photoshop cannot fix
At the very least please talk to the person on phone / preferably a video call before you decide to trust the person, even his or her gender.
Compromising photos. Recently I had a guy who transplanted my head onto a Porn clip and asked me for 25000 rupees to stop him from sending it to all my FB friends. I said I will pay him IF HE WOULD send it to them and send me a copy, I have always wanted to star in a porn film. Even normal photos can be misused. Some people never share their pictures in public, but that is no garuntee either.
Check friends. If he says that he studied in a particular school, does he have friends from that school?
DO NOT be rushed. Almost all scammers create a sense of urgency to make you short circuit rational analysis
Ghosting. You have a friend and suddenly he disappeared. Did something bad happen to him? Is he just tired of you? Or is he busy? Such uncertainities are part of life. If a person clearly does not want to be found, its best not to stalk the person. 10: Even when the person is who he says he is, remember he may change his mind later. Porn sites have a whole section called Revenge Porn, its filled with jilted lovers uploading intimate moments they shared. In many ways this is a risk that cannot be avoided. The biggest safeguard is …. nobdoy knows you or cares enough to sift through tons of content to find fake porn videos of you. Sadly, yuu can never bring personal risk levels to ZERO whatever you do.
Ever heard about unintended results ? Call it whatever you want. It certainly left me in tears! Blissful ones of course!!
The old lady must have been of my mother’s age. I noticed her chagrin face and stooped figure when I visited the Seniors Care home in Wayanad with two of my friends.
As I was about to leave the place, she approached me to check if I had some time to listen. I agreed to spend half an hour.
Her story of being abandoned by sons were quite painful indeed. Having picked up few bright pieces of her otherwise sad narration, I reframed it and asked her if it made sense. I could see flashes of light and a shy smile.
She took my hands, placed them on her head to bless and pray. After obliging her I knelt down requesting her to bless me. Seeing the hesitation, I encouraged her “as you would do to your son”.
Weeks after that day, this morning I had a call from Mabel as the true caller id indicate. It was the same old lady sounding so exuberant. She shared the most beautiful gift I ever received for Christmas!
Mabel told me the good news of her recovery from depression and ill health.
Little did I know how to respond to her question, “Were you not asking me to forgive when you knelt down and asked me to bless you in my son’s place?”
I confessed that I never planned that way but at the inspiration of the moment followed my heart’s prompting. I thanked her profusely and affirmed the insight she received!
The wellness and peace she felt came from the FORGIVENESS she extended through the act of blessing me in the place of her son! The words of Ireneus : Glory of God is humans fully alive echoed in me. Humans are fully alive when they receive and give forgiveness and peace.
The old lady’s vibrant voice revealed that the scar in her heart has turned into a star.
Rumi wrote: “The wound is the place where the light enters you.”
May the GLOWING PEACE of Christ Childtransform our scars to stars!
Can a morning walk turn you into a pray-er (one who prays) or transform you into a prayer-in-locomotion ?
During today’s stroll, the presence of creation suddenly exploded on me. Did I say ‘suddenly’ ? I could be mistaken.
Possibly it was there already happening like virus coming on to me! But then I’ve become resistant and immune !
The quiet gentle presence has always been there, slipping in and moving out like the silent breath unnoticed. Now through the birds’ chirp, insects’ whisper, the flowers’ smile, the sun’s kiss, wind’s hug, the leaves’ nods, the dew drops’ wink, it took me out to a different space!
It slows you down first. Roped in to a rhythm that sets apart from the ‘used to’ style, you are surrounded by an unusual swirl of energy! The rush of time has left you! You are just yourself and remain relishing each sight, each moment, each delight!
A different movement and mood seeps into you. The promenade is no more an exercise to shed your weight or follow some health regime. You are transported to a different manner of seeing, feeling, and being with. Your tiredness disappears!
You are invited to be open to everything, each element, each person -good, bad, sad, mad -with a delicateness! Not just a fascination of the other or excitement of the exotic!
The PRESENCE – not tangible yet a felt reality is the face you recognize in each and every thing or person! It looks at you, through you and at each of them with a kindness and tenderness! As you perceive the dance and the dancer, at once still yet dynamic, you become soft within. A childlike simplicity guides you to wonder at yourself and others. Call it anything you like -love, compassion, freedom, enlightenment ! It is accessible to all.
One experiences expansiveness and inclusiveness! It stretches you to THE INFINITE both beyond and within. It leaves you with a sense of connectedness that harmonizes without being obsessed with perfection.
This presence is elusive of anyone who tries to possess it or claim monopoly. It neither possesses nor is possessed! It leaves you with a porosity, a hollowed out feeling of emptiness.
Blessed are those who walk with porosity and allow the presence to flow in and through them!
A smart 23 years old young man suffering from the pull and push of expectations from his family, his college, and his girlfriend was introduced to me by a doctor. I took him for a walk and made him relax. As a good rapport was established, he was open to talk. The initial session followed by online conversations saw him get through a series of job interviews. As the euphoria of selection for a prestigious MNC subsided, he was in a low mood over his girlfriend’s reaction.
Having realized that the online session was not leading him to the desired result, Ajay (name changed) wanted to come and spend a weekend with me for further guidance. Seeing his initiative to complete the process, I kept aside my work and suggested a nature trip to Vagamon.
Ajay announced that he is owner of a new home – a portable tent! He was game for the adventure. In few hours time we were riding to the destination on his motorbike. Our first halt was at the hermitage of Mitraji at Vellilapilly, Ramapuram.
The homemade Rose apple arishtam (a spiced Indian fruit beer) and the food supplies provided by Mitraji kept us refreshed for the rest of the trip. The tiring bike ride through the poor roads on the hills finally ended.
Walking the forest path to Manishada cottage near Murugan mala refuelled us with fresh air.
Our visit to Pazhayakadu and meeting with Swami Ananda Thirtha was an unforgettable moment. The adventurous solo trips in his Mahindra jeep to Pangong lake and through risky roads of Kashmir as narrated by Swamiji made us stare at his puny figure in awe. The stories of how he was protected and cared for by people belonging to other creed gripped our hearts. It echoed parallels to our own life journeys.
Swamiji invited us to share his rice porridge with pickle, and papad. It tasted heavenly with his endearing ways of serving! Ajay remarked Swami’s childlike simplicity and love filled up his heart before food could fill his stomach!
Back at Manishada Ajay was in a mood to listen to some music. I drew his attention to the two snakes resting in the crevices of a wall in the common hall. I assured him that my old reptilian friends were paying a visit to me and they were harmless. Discreetly leaving the hall, we went to occupy another empty room.
The night must have been tough for Ajay till he poured out his heart. I noticed its resemblance to the kind of music he was listening to – blues! So many of us like Ajay search for safe space and time to bare our inner struggles. If there is a non-judgemental space and person who can accompany, we find clarity in serenity, guided by the inner compass. Giving him a relaxation exercise, I went to sleep.
Next morning as I was choosing my spot for a sunrise meditation, Ajay followed me. Enjoying the warm caress of early sun, I gave him a writing work called “life-line”. It demanded some quiet recollective moments. The psychodrama to get rid of negativities demonstrated by me inspired him to go on top of a hill nearby and work on his emotional baggage in solitude.
I saw a smiling Ajay whistling and descending from the hillby noon! He showed me a snap of his stripped clothes on the rock! A refreshing dip in the stream down and a joyful sharing around brunch revealed that he had basked in the sunshine of God’s love and felt free to forgive those who hurt him!
Though Ajay was my guest, I felt he hosted me in the sacred space of his heart!I met Immanuel (God with Us!) at work in Ajay! Who can lead humans to forgiveness unless divine grace works in human heart.
No sermon preached, no advice given. The trip of trust I shared with Ajay and few steps of interior cleansing of negativities as I did in my life, did its work. The words of my spiritual guide resounded: “Unless you burn you cannot pass the flame!”
No one can save anyone! We may share ways we are open to the presence of really real, from our limited angle. So much to learn from each other- even elders from youngsters, as it happened to me! As long as there is something to learn, life is exciting!
As the snakes do the sloughing off old skin, we are led to a process of shedding our old habits, familiar patterns and be ready for new beginnings! If we can regain the sense of wonder lost in the course of growing up, we are reborn!
The recent incessant rains in many parts of South India brought the lakes, ponds and wells overflowing after 16 years in Bangarapet, Karnataka. I visited Sparrows’ Nest at Bangarapet to meet its founders Gloria and Joe who had generously offered me an underground hermitage there in 2019. I loved to spend time there, in meditative living surrounded by mother earth reminding that I am dust and I will return one day to the soil !
Sparrows’ Nest is an Ecological Ecumenical Aaram (place of rest) founded on the dream of God’s Kingdom in the gospel, inspired by Sinsung nim (guru) KIM JUN HO a late hermit in South Korea known as the King of Beggars! Gloria who became his disciple after a healing at this holy man’s hermitage carried on the gift she received and shared it along with Joe Patmury her life partner, in India.
My last stay at Sparrows’ Nest was in March 2020 before the lockdown declared in India due to Corona virus. I had a very fruitful time there, attending an online international conference on Enneagram – a great psycho-spiritual tool developed by ancient Christian hermits in the deserts of Egypt and later on by Sufis.
This year I was planning to visit Sparrows’ Nest hearing about the illness of Gloria. I learnt from Joe’s Whatsapp message, that my hermitage was flooded in the rains! The video clip below (recorded by Inko their daughter) shows that it has become a swimming pool for the children to have a good time.
My certificates, books, torch and gadgets were all turned into useless waste! The kids who swam in there could save 3 drenched books and a bag of wet clothes!
When I received the news in Kerala, it was indeed shocking. I remained with a sense of loss with sadness swirling around me. A lot of other feelings-fear of future without credentials to prove, anger at my stupidity, self-pity etc. surfaced. They came in waves one after another. I observed them come and go paying attention to my breathing. I allowed them to wash over me without denying them and yet not being pulled down. All of a sudden in the middle of the whirl pool of emotions, I could sense certain stillness. The more I focused on this still point, the more it drew me to rest at the center, and I noticed silently the feelings gradually subsiding losing its force!
In the restful quiet awareness, I noticed the transitory reality of everything around. All which I think belong to me, do not really belong to me! They have been given to me or entrusted to me! The space I used to stay is no more my room but has become swimming pool for kids. It can be a pond for fish and other aquatic creatures today. I began musing on this truth, smiling at my foolishness in considering them as possessions. Nothing is permanent. Everything is changing! Even my own body!
In fact we are reminded of this truth if we care to take time to be still to observe. While I was admiring the painting of the family and inquiring, Inko made a revealing statement that she looked different every time in the pictures taken!
The maya (illusion) as many Indian philosophers termed it, can become leela (play) if we have the freedom to be aware and not get sucked in and be deluded! Watch this accidental video captured by a photographer. It makes us wonder at our taken for granted feel of constancy and permanency about our place on earth.
Earth’s rotation captured accidentally
During this Christmas season my gift to you is based on the above realisation:
The place where Christ was born (the cowshed adored as crib) at Bethlehem, offered to his parents temporarily was not his home. Very soon he was on the road to a strange land as refugee! Later he must have wandered with his dad in search for job.
It is a privilege to take part in the experience of Christ child who took in the reality of “anithya” (impermanence) and learnt to live with it further in his life owning nothing. At the end, dying with empty arms outstretched, he told John, “Here is your mother!” He did not say, I entrust you my mother! He turned to Mother Mary and pointing to John, said, “Woman, here is your son!” Ultimate gestures of understanding giftedness and passing it on!
The recent events of life have given me a felt sense of being freed from the weight of belongings. This insight had been growing in me since some time after the floods of 2018 in Kerala. It had made me to thankfully refrain from accepting a gift of land (1 acre 40 cents) and introduced someone else who could take care of it. Now that the Universe has confirmed this intuition, I am growing in contentment and gratitude!
Dear Br Charles, How did you receive the news of you being declared a saint? I ask this since your thinking and being went beyond the conventional ways. I am also aware of the fact that the official church did not respect your last will and transferred your remains to a Christian cemetery.
You had renounced the title of “Père”(father) and preferred “Frère” (brother) even though you were a priest. In Algeria, people called you a Christian marabout but you proved to them that you were their brother by receiving everyone especially the marginals in your abode. Revising the rule you wrote for the envisioned congregation, you cancelled the word ‘hermit’ and replaced it with brother.
Br Charles with freed slaves
The zest for universal fraternity made you go extra mile to protest slavery. In spite of that, did you allow yourself to be a pawn in the hands of political powers with hidden agenda? Did you have a different plan though you had to take their support? Or is it that you were docile to the Master planner who outwitted you always? In any case it is evident that you gave up the military translator and took guidance of an expert linguist Motylinski to return to the basics of learning. You seemed to have been consumed by a love that cleared a new path of fraternalizing. You were in for a new adventure to the inner landscape of the blue people listening to their proverbs and songs. 10 years of your labour with metal nib dipped in camel urine on paper, brought to birth a dictionary, grammar and a book of poems inTuareg language.
The Little Sisters staying in a hut at Madiwala slum, Bangalore, introduced me to your prayer and biography in 1984. The abstract texts on the philosophy of the other I was grappling with those days became palpable for me thanks to your life! The dream of universal fraternity had been sown in me by a one-act play Brother Wolf by Laurence Houseman from my college days. Lupo’s transformation from a man of violence to peace by the brotherliness of St. Francis tugged me away from my ambition of a career to truth seeking! The trace sketched by that story in my heart got a face when I understood how you went alone to live among total strangers in an unknown land of hostile conditions.
Your discovery of the taste for prayer among those who did not share your religion and culture confirmed for me the human capacity to relate to The Presence beyond name and form. Disenchanted with the church ceremonies, it was the solitude under the starry night sky that kept this precious gift alive in me. The vastness of universe glimpsed in total darkness left me in awe! Was it not the same infinite expanse that caught you unaware and turned your life upside down during your expeditions in sub-Saharan Africa?
The pilgrimage to the land of Jesus took you to an intuition that became a compass in your journey. I had my chance to get a peek into what you could have gone through during an International meeting of Franciscans at Jerusalem in October 2011. Bored up with talks and the guided tours, I took time out to soak in the ordinary daily life of people there.
With Arab family
The Peace pipe
Friar Louis Bohte who worked for peace and justice among Palestinians and Jews took me for such a stroll in Bethlehem. I noticed a protected cavern with a trough by the side of stairs to a house. It brought the Christmas scene alive in my inner eye. Invited by an Arab family in the refugee camp who shared their meal and the peace pipe, I could visualize where and how your passion for “leading the hidden life of Nazareth” sprang from.
I tried again to get into your sandals when I walked from Jerusalem to Jericho through the Palestinian desert much against the warning on the risks involved, by my confreres. Obtaining the needed permission, I set out on a one day pilgrimage on foot. The experience of losing the trail midway from Wadi Qelt to Jericho, opened my eyes to something which one learns only in helplessness! The kindness of Israeli soldiers and few bedouins helped me to get back on my path. I was reliving the parable of Jesus with a new twist – several good Samaritans! I began to get a feel of what you deciphered – the genetic code of the kingdom of God in human hearts!
Pilgrim in Judea
Caves, Wadi Qelt
The caves in the Wadi Qelt reminded me of the hermits who took distance from the Christian church domesticated by the Roman Empire. What led you into desert in spite of your wish to lead life of Nazareth? Did you battle with the dilemma of belonging or departing from the colonial ‘churchianity’? This tension is lived by many independent seekers whom I met personally – Yogi Kappen, Sadhu Videhi, Poojaji, Ananth Maash and Avadhut Joseph . It convinced me to learn from those who dared to go it alone in India: Sadhu Sundar Singh, Brother Thampi, Peter Reddy, Vandanaji and Prasanna devi.
You were a genius to live this paradox of finding wings to go beyond barriers, and put deep roots to touch the underground stream of universal spiritual quest. I try to emulate that difficult balancing act you were good at- to be free from organizational controls and find diverse expressions of unity.
Caves, Bellary hills
Cave terrace, Spiti
Your fascination for the desert is something we share in common. The solitude in the wilderness of the hot Deccan Rayalaseema and the stillness in the cold wilderness of Himalayas at Tibetan border exposed me to a naked reality of nature as well as own self.
What did desert signify for you? Was it a space to connect with inner self, away from the society which validates and rewards pretensions? The stories of desert hermits indicated to me this reality. My own experience of those who came and laid bare their inner turmoils revealed that people are looking for ‘safe spaces’ where they can be themselves and face their painful struggles without fear or shame. I sensed that your tent in the desert modelled after the Muslim Zaouias rather than a monastery held such a space of welcome.
Wherever you pitched your tent, you practised the nearness of that enveloping Presence with your spiritual guide’s accompaniment. Your restless kinaesthetic energy found hinges on which your life revolved- “food for the way” and the nourishment for neighbours. Was there a role reversal when you were nursed and clothed by thoseImohag sisters and brothers when you were sick to the point of death?
Elderly Br Charles
As a co-pilgrim with them you met the life giving sacred in the mundane! Did those graced moments lead you beyond the divisions maintained at great costs by organizational religions? Did you go through a dying and rising to new life that you needed no more the external symbols of the cross and rosary you used to wear on your gown?
The pandemic has exposed unseen masks of our social life! We live in new deserts of unsure care givers, lost leaders, vacant temples, insecure homes, clueless kids and virtual relations. Fears, anxieties, losses and traumas are all out there without disguise. You will understand the churning going on in many of us by the pulls of life’s transitoriness on one side and the treasuring of loving kindness on the other.
You came to terms with the fleeting life and yet found that buoyancy to celebrate it! You transmitted an authentic beauty of human bonding and healing which institutions and organizations fail to bring about. It is so relevant today more than ever.
I recall a scene from the film Life of Brian where a crowd comes to Brian declaring him messiah. Each time he denies, the crowd find all sorts of signs to prove that he is messiah. Finally the frustrated Brian says, “Ok. I am the Messiah… (the crowd prostrate). Now… all of you f***k off !” Fed up with our ceremonies and celebrations, would you tell us something to that tune? In the same scene, few from the crowd with confused faces ask: “Lord, please tell us how do we f***k off?” Hope you will not hear such petitions from us. I am sure you must be having a good laugh and praying that we value ourselves as Kintsugi bowls with our chinks and cracks as beautified by the Almighty artist!
With all your inconsistencies, you remind an insight lost to us the pedestal makers: our faults and failures cannot hurt God who sees our hearts! As a perfectionist, I am consoled to learn from your life that genuine holiness is enduring imperfections patiently- my own and others’.
Funny… I could not see clearly. Faces, figures all blurred in spite of blinking several times. I sat helpless and puzzled.
The flight from Kochi to Mumbai takes two hours. A panic began to creep in me. I checked with my co-passenger if she is having the same funny feeling. She replied affirming the same, saying, “Looks as if I’m in an operation theatre!” Meanwhile her son asked her, “Shall I help you?” He peeled off a thin film from her face shield. I frowned and wondered what was happening.
The thin film stuck to protect the face shield from getting scratches and dust was the culprit. I hurried to pick up and remove it from mine. Neither of us saw the blushing faces of each other. Ah.. the face shield has not only served hygiene purpose but was also face saving!
My vision got corrected. I noticed my co-passenger becoming more beautiful as she had a good laugh at our ignorance. I joined her to laugh together! It not only lightened but also brightened us!
Most of us wear face shields (personas) in life for the sake of traveling together. But many of us do not bother to peel off the film stuck on it and keep whining.
Checking or comparing with others’ experience as I did, need not improve the quality of our lives. But the following bring change in us:
Being aware of what is taking place.
Being relaxed and open
Smiling at oneself
Blessed are we to wake up and enjoy the life journey laughing at our foolishness!
This picture from pre-covid times, I noticed only few days ago! It has haunted and acted on me like a radioactive drug used in PET scan to detect the dis-ease within!
The above words of Pope Francis with one lung, gives an insight into the compassion which leads him to fraternal meetings with the ‘disfigured’ in our society .
All who suffer need not necessarily feel compassion. There are some who undergo a kind of transfiguration in passing through suffering. They become capable of a love that transforms the fear and aversion they undergo to empathy.
And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing
That’s how it is with God’s love once you’ve experienced it
You spread the love to everyone
And you want to pass it on
A wrestling was going on within me since sometime on how to accept a homeless person given shelter by my friend. It took a while to welcome him in my heart as a brother when I realized that I share the same homelessness and I have been shown mercy by so many!
I took time to enter the darkness and uncertainty he is going through and allowed myself to pass through it without reacting to the negative images of reports about him by others.
A new sense of love and freedom to relate grows in me as I took a small step to invite him to cut a cake gifted to me! It has become food for way forward.
As the preparation of Christmas season begin, I wish you a time to pause and move forward welcoming the faceless whom you meet.
Heard of Kogis – the guardians of the last functioning civilization alive from the past ? These indigenous people live in Columbia, South America. Ever since I heard about them from two of my visitors, I longed to learn more about them.
It’s only recently I came across a documentary film made at their request by the former staff of BBC Alan Ereira. The film is ALUNA (a 2012 documentary film sequel to the 1990 BBC documentary) done with Mama Manuel Coronado, Mama Francisca Zarabata, Mama Shibulata Zarabata – the leaders of this ancient hidden civilization. The mamas (shamans) travel with an aging Alan and 400 kilometers of gold thread to trace invisible connections in nature and show humankind how to avoid destroying the planet.
The first documentary From the Heart of The World: Elder Brother’s Warning, showed to the world an ancient Tairona civilization safeguarded by Kogi tribe (the Elder Brother) who offer their concern for people of the modern world (Younger Brother). We were cautioned to change or suffer environmental disaster. After offering the warning the Kogi retreated to their isolated community in the triangular mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, 5 miles high on the Colombian-Caribbean coast.
The Kogis have made the recent documentary film seeing us drowning in our own shit! To help us avoid the destruction of the world that they are trying to protect, and of ourselves they came up with Aluna which means conscience! Eight years after having raised their voice today we are alarmed by an insignificant virus choking our throats and lungs!!
I am no more proud to say that I am native of a town on the banks of river Periyar, where I was trained to swim at very early age by my wise mother who cut banana trunks and floated as life support. The same river very soon turned into a poison lagoon where we saw the dead fishes and tortoises floating !
Living since last 3 years at Vagamon, one of the sources of river Meencahil, I got involved in Save Meenachil River movement. In order to support the cause, along with some renowned artists I organized a workshop so that new generation will resist the indiscriminate development of tourism. The mobilized students and other enlightened people have been instrumental in forming a network of ecofriendly persons through Whatsapp group. They have been very effective to see to implementation of laws against pollution, and also to protect people from floods and landslides by prompt communication and mobilization.
pictures from Save Meenachilaar
We have seen the urgency for an understanding of life different from what we learnt from the mechanical text book learning at school to an organic interactive education with environment where art and spirituality became resourceful.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Albert Einstein
There is a touching scene in the film Aluna, where the Kogis after a respectful moment of silence and homage by the riverside, enter into the river bare bodied. The embarassed Britisher later removes his shirt in respect. It was a moment of realization that he was standing on the holy waters. Wisdom lesson!? To relate to nature we need to strip off our “used to” habits. It takes a naked reverential attitude to reconnect our true nature with the environment.
URGENT RETHINK
Dr Leonard Shlain M.D a neurosurgeon through his research on alphabetization, its effect on civilization and human brain showed that reading and writing had some unintended consequences on literate civilizations. Would the developments of the 21st century with its preference for audio-visual communication and greater openness to other dimensions of reality lead us to a more balanced thinking?
Could Android smart phones and google mapping tools empower indigenous people to raise awareness around the world and enable them to take their destiny in their own hands? The Sotori tribe in Amazon has mapped and measured carbon in their trees on their traditional lands and have sold their offsets in the carbon market bringing millions of dollars to their tribe to resist illegal mining! Read more Chief Almira was quoted in the press as saying, “The Sotori don’t know much about technology, but Google doesn’t know much about the forests, and we do, and together we can form a stronger partnership for the benefit of the people and the environment of the rain forest.”
Thus the way forward for our world is listening to each other and rethinking together so that a common home is possible! “Every violation of solidarity and civic friendship harms the environment” reminds the papal document Laudato Si.
Artists: Robert Athickal sj & Vincy Kallidukkil hsm
Yesterday our family chat was about Elon Musk and his neural link. Ofcourse it began with a discussion of an outdated concept called personal privacy. I found a quote by Rohit Fenn very apt…
“The clock is ticking. Soon there will be an event, something like a nuclear explosion in our understanding of consciousness and our umwelt is going to explode. I want to be as close to the epicenter of that as possible.“
Having said that Rohit is far removed from The Valley. He is in rural Vermont, earning a little above minimum wage by manual labour on farms!
Have you heard any strange rumblings or ticking noises that may hint at an imminent explosion?
