Sunday Times 2
The big picture: Looking beyond me and mine
These are hard and testing times when we feel that our community has failed us; our education, our religions, our leadership, and most certainly our state have failed us. We have to acknowledge that all these fantastic socio-cultural, religious and political systems woven by generations of people have, indeed, failed us. What happens now?
Security personnel stand guard amidst the crowd at St Sebastian's Church, Katuwapitiya after the attack. Pix by Amila Gamage
We heard our leaders and others convey their condolences and tell us how they would ensure that measures are taken to punish the perpetrators. Any person with an ounce of humanity would feel the brunt of these heinous terror attacks, and the purpose of having a legal system is indeed to ensure that such measures are taken. Therefore, ensuring that legal action is taken is a given.
However, we cannot but notice that these measures are short-term solutions to the crisis at hand, and this crisis is not the first of its kind and probably would not be the last; therefore these solutions seem to treat the symptoms and not the root cause.
Just a glimpse through a local news broadcast would prove how Sri Lanka as a community witnesses streaks of violence and unrest time and again. Nevertheless, this attack in particular caught us off-guard due to its sheer magnitude, which continues to terrorise the nation.
Looking at the historical trajectory of the country, we cannot deny that treating just the symptoms has got us nowhere. It has never been enough, and this terrorist attack has given us all the more reason to stop and look at where we went wrong. What have we ignored? What is the root cause?
Let us begin by associating ourselves, our actions and our affiliations with purpose. Transpersonal Psychology believes that what we perceive as our ‘normal selves’, and those whom we consider ‘normal people’ are actually those enjoying a sub optimal state of being, meaning that these ‘normal’ human beings are yet to evolve and grow into ‘full’ human beings. A full human being refers to a state of consciousness that is more than just an ‘I, Me and Myself’. A person with such awareness sees one’s life as a stroke of a brush that helps perfect a larger masterpiece. Therefore, such a consciousness does not wish to interfere, disrupt or corrupt the masterpiece since it is aware that the masterpiece is what provides it value and substance, and that this one stroke of a brush makes the masterpiece what it is. In other words, a being of this nature understands one’s connection with the universe as a significant element which is intricately connected to that larger reality of existence.
A universal being of this nature has no competition and is guided by universal love since he/she is aware that he/she is a part of a larger system. Therefore, a full human being is not a ‘you’ and an ‘I’ or a ‘he’ and a ‘she’; but is a ‘we’ and an ‘us’. It is the state of awareness which makes one want to do good for others as much as for him/herself. It urges one to not do bad for others as much as one would not wish bad upon him/herself.
This branches from the understanding that all elements of the universe are so well connected to one another and that the wellbeing of others is as important as the wellbeing of one’s self.
All religions, may it be those following paths of surrender, wisdom and/or selfless giving, operate on this principle; and it is identified as the ‘Golden Rule’ among them – “treating others as one’s self would wish to be treated”. These others include every single manifestation of the universe including the most powerful amongst them – mankind.
Every religion has been established with the purpose of promoting this evolutionary journey of transforming/transcending the sub optimal human being into full human beings by promoting humanity. They all propose unique frameworks, different pathways and varied techniques to do so. They guide their followers to focus on the ball (the need to experience oneness in love) rather than the scoreboard (material wellbeing) which is a result of how well the batsman plays. Even though we are born to a religion, we do not have to die “with” or “for” that religion, since spirituality, which is at the heart of religion, begins where religion ends.
For most of us this understanding is an unusual one, since the religions that we know of are our identities, and we are proud of them, sometimes even dying for them. We believe that each of our religions are the way for salvation. As a result we are now quite preoccupied with the calibre of the bowler (the religion we follow) and not so much the ball (purpose of following a religion) and have thus missed the point of having such institutions in the first place. Religions which have been built with the purpose of serving, nurturing and healing humanity from its secularist clutches seem to have missed the ball and have fallen prey to secularism.
Consequently, what we have seen through these religious institutions are lucrative business units that are engrossed in increasing their numbers while competing to gain/remain in power by distorting the essence of humanity.
Education is yet another topic which depresses society since of late. What we see today is that the more educated – the more selfish people are – that education has failed society in general, since it seems to fall short of creating ‘full’ human beings. There is a categorical call for reformation.
The education system that we have today is one that has been perfected over years. Therefore, its pitfalls go beyond a mere subject or two and seems to stem from one seemingly simple loophole – its forgotten purpose. Why do we educate people? What do we expect of education? We expect ‘full human beings’ who are equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes. Humans whose definition of themselves go beyond their name, race, caste, creed, occupation or social status. Humans who know why their thoughts, words and actions should be a selfless service. Humans whose core is deeply spiritual. Is this what we teach in our classrooms? Ask a student if this is why they educate themselves, and they will laugh at you.
The Easter attacks which we witnessed, along with our historical trajectory of violence, deceit, governed by an overall sense of helplessness, is a rotten reminder of the consequences of this overall derailing of purpose. Thereby, while terrorism cannot be condoned, what we in reality see today are the mere victims of this tragedy, the mere actors whose action was a result of the ‘scoreboard mentality’ of our education systems, leaders, religions, state and all of us as one human race. It is a loud and clear wakeup call – a matter that we cannot ignore any further. It is time that all religions, our education system and our leaders stop looking at the scoreboard and start focusing on the ball, because despite how good the batsman (all leaders and countrymen) maybe, the moment he/she focuses on the bowler or the excitement of the scoreboard, the ball will most certainly be missed or better yet, misjudged – our vision cut short, our purpose lost.
If fostering humanity and nurturing full human beings is not on our agenda, our agendas are bound to have consequences that are destructive, dehumanising, and everything else that we have witnessed and are witnessing with unfathomable sadness.
So let us not forget our purpose and our oneness with the universe ever again and let this be our final lesson. Let us look at the symptoms and treat the root cause. Let us make humanity and human values great again.
(The writer is from the Center for Spirituality in Sustainable Business Management (CSSBM), Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of
Sri Jayewardenepura)