I am My Change

This last week saw major holiday time in Thailand as it was the annual Songkran or New Year Festival which is the time for water fun.  Well, instead of indulging in the obligatory water sports, I went with good friends to a resort for a day or two and got to visit this marvelous Buddhist temple with them - Wat Yansangvararam.  It was a most welcome and unexpected surprise. 


You alone can change yourself.

I never knew that I was going to enter a centre where I would gain for the first time such real insights into Buddhism.  On leaving the temple, I had the feeling that I had just been somewhere powerful.  The visit had made its impact upon me.  What was it that had such an effect on me?

It was the exhibition presenting the Buddha's teaching in such a succinct and meaningful way.  It presented the Buddha's belief in "a human being's potential to be able to find the path to enable one to be freed from endlessly floating in an ocean of sensual desires, and to reach the shore and end the suffering".
A spiritual path - a path offered by all religions due to the very nature of religion.
So the lessons continued.
"A multitude of emotions circulate in your mind each day.  The soul determines which way to look at the universe."  So "when a viewpoint is changed, your life will be changed".  

The Buddha discovered that to escape from an ocean of sensuous desire, life has to be led not along the path of the extreme but along the path of perfect balance.  This is the life lived by following the way of the Middle Path.

There was much offered to ponder and reflect but here I just offer a part of what so spoke to me, a taste.

For the first time, I felt an inner understanding and appreciation for Buddhism and its message for humanity.  I also started to reflect how it was so lacking in its malpractice by many of its followers today around me in the wider community.  But then isn't that what Ghandi said about Christianity?  The problem was not with Jesus but with his followers.  We can change.  We are our change.

In the Christian context, the word is transformation.  Humanity - all of us and each individual - is transformed into the new humanity through and with the power of the Risen Christ.  This is not magic.  It takes belief and action together.  It is not an easy way to go but the way to go.  I have to remind myself of the way.  This is my preaching to no one but  myself, my sharing an experience that made its imprint on me so that I may not forget.  Happy Easter!  Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

 

Happy Thai New Year!

Yes, it is New Year in Thailand, as in Myamar, Laos and Cambodia, this week. They follow a Buddhist tradition using a lunar calendar.  So the local and real New Year for the locals falls on 13, 14 and 15 April each year.  It is full on holiday time and full on celebration.  I think you can see what the dominant symbol is for the festivities.  It is used freely and just watch out as no one escapes a dousing. 

All get into the spirit - young and old, police and firemen.  It is all quite something to behold.  What you see is the unfreeing of the Thai spirit and let her rip for three days and then it is back to Thai demureness. 

So for now, all one can do is join in and enjoy. 

I am a big man?

As I was told at the office last Friday, by a senior Thai staff - You think you are a big man.  He was not referring to my size but my sense of self-importance. And he was not giving me a compliment but speaking out of anger.  How did it get to this? 

I am not sure actually as I just go along, doing my work and fulfilling my responsibilities as best I can.   In last Friday's conversation, the level of angst escalated after I used the word "big" to refer to my having a big picture of needs in the workplace.  From there, my colleague used "big" to refer to level of seniority and importance which was never my intent. 

In part, I would identify this as being yet another experience of Thailand that tells you that no matter how long you are here, you will never really understand what you are in the midst of.  Even after over 11 years here, I am still taken aback by what I experience and lack a real understanding of what is going on around me.  Like the Trinity, Thais are a mystery.  But is it rocket science?

Maybe it is the experience of this part of the world or maybe it is just humanity at play.  We are all a mystery for my Thai counterpart did say that he just did not understand westerners and that all westerners are arrogant.  From my experience here, I (and other westerners) could make the same reflection in return on Thais.  So maybe it is that as humanity we so fail to understand others who are perceived to be different or maybe worse - a threat.  Then what comes to mind are the words of a mentor - Don't try to understand or explain here. Just accept.   Good advice but here I am being so me, trying to put together what happened and understand so that I can deal with what I face.

I will not go into a blow by blow description as this is not a verbatim for some clinical course.  However, I will share the logic the Thai guy used to present his side of his experience of me in the office.  It is such Thai logic which so ever intrigues me.  Here is a bland, logical summary as I heard the case being presented against me.
A)  There is Thailand and then the rest of the world.
B)  The rest of the world is to blame for the woes experienced here.  
A + B = C.
C)  I am to blame for what is upsetting the Thai person.
Welcome to Thailand! 

This may be enough to digest for now.

Life

I am two weeks back from a memorable time in Europe.  It was for work but it was about much more than just being a successful work tour.  One of the three places I went was Dublin.  It is true that Dublin is a fair city but what stays with me even more is a place called Glendalough.

My Irish friend, Daniel, took me on an afternoon drive.  We went south through bog country on which stood no building, no tree, no animal.  It was eerie.  We went for over an hour to get to this place Daniel so wanted to show me.  It was Glendalough in County Wicklow.

What a treasure of a place!  The countryside was more than eerie.  The hills, the green, the mist, the lake in the near distance made it a spiritual place.  Daniel knew where he was taking me and why.  This was a centre of beauty, history, culture, religion and learning.  While little remained standing and there was but a hotel and a visitors' centre, there was much to behold.  A city was not needed here and would only serve to destroy the place and what it truly has to offer.

This was the home of St Kevin, an early Irish saint, who attracted the people.  They came and built a monastery, a home, a church, a centre of learning, and it all served humanity for some centuries until finally destroyed.  What remains may be little but the feel of the place itself with its natural setting and its ruins, along with the passion of Daniel for all that is there - it all made a huge impact on my spirit.  There was something great there and it still is.  It is the spirit of humanity, the spirit of the divine that is much stronger than any great city or worldly power.

This place, its experience stay with me.  It does not have to be described.  The experience just is and it is good for the spirit.  While it can't be captured by words, it is good to share it and deserves to be shared for it is about sharing life and the spirit of life which endures and is much stronger than we ever realize in our daily existence.  Long live life!  Daniel, you were so right to take me to Glendalough.  Thanks ever so much.  

A Picture Truly does Share 1,000 Words

As I have said before, a picture says 1,000 words.  This picture says it all.  At one time, Theresa May is all in.  Now she is all out.  An amazing pictorial commentary on the state of our politicians in the West today.  The image is not lost in its message. 

Now for words from a world leader who means what he says.  Pope Francis gives us a new and more contemporary take on fasting.  He is a man who speaks to us, who stands up and out to a Church that may not listen to him but that does not stop him.  He keeps going.  Roll on the Church of the poor, for the poor.  The Church that shows the way to encountering our world and all its peoples, our brothers and sisters. whoever they may be and wherever they may be.  As I say this, I know I am part of a Church that in so many ways is caught up in its own power struggles and concerns, a Church blind to the world of real people in their little worlds.  Open up our windows and blow down our walls so that we can be where we are called to be - with our brothers and sisters; so that we can be where we say in word we want to be but are so often not.       



And What a Journey!

I have just had two weeks away, going to Madrid, Rome and Dublin.  Yes, it was for work and good work was done but what a trip.  Yes, I saw some great sights and had some great experiences but there was much more.  There was the connecting and reconnecting with significant people I know from my past and with ones I have never met before but are part of who I am through my being in the Order and my mission.  It was all very significant.

I could have shared one of my great shots from Glendalough, the home of St Kevin in County Wicklow, or from one of the many special churches I visited but no one shot would capture my overall experience.  So I share the picture of a Turkish Airlines jet I flew as a symbol of the journey and what a journey it was. 

The opportunity to move out of one's usual pattern and environment offers much nourishment for life.  Maybe we do not have the luxury of getting on a plane and going somewhere beyond but we can all move out of our daily ruts and routines in one way or another and it does us and those around us so much good.  Go for it!

Life is a journey

These pictures feature a spiritual highlight of my time away so far, first in Madrid and now Rome.  I had a special time being in this basilica in Madrid - the Basilica San Francisco el Grande. I was engrossed in an environment that gave me a sense of the other. 

Yes, I am away for the sake of my work with Caritas and refugees but in the midst of all and any activity what is essential is time to nourish the spirit.  The journey gives opportunities for special 
times of nourishment such as my time that I try in rather inadequate ways here but still I want to share what I found so special along the way. 

Life is a journey that demands and deserves decent nourishment.