It's time to 'hunt the words'
Print Friendly Version| From Where I Stand by Joan Chittister, OSB | March 29, 2007 |
| Vol. 4, No. 38 |
There's an old monastic quatrain that fascinates me. It reads:
I and Pangur Ban my cat,
T'is a like task we are at.
Hunting mice is his delight.
Hunting words I sit all night.
What intrigues me about the little rhyme is that it was written around the year 800 by a monk who lived on Skellig Michael. I'm not surprised that he wrote it; I'm surprised by its implications -- for both then and now.
You see, Skellig Michael, a pyramid of needle-pointed rock totally unredeemed by beaches or fields at its base, juts out of the Atlantic Ocean 714 feet above the sea that froths at its jagged edges. It stands bare and forbidding, not a piece of flat land on it till you get to a ledge below the summit. Up there, a group of sixth century Celtic monks began what historians say was the first monastic settlement in Europe.
Intent on living in direct relationship to God and nature, these early monks left the mainland to build five "beehive huts" -- small, cone-shaped rock cells -- at the peak of the mountain. They lived off the fish of the ocean, a few small native plants, and the thousands of birds that inhabited this otherwise uninhabitable place with them. They were, to all appearances, totally removed from the world around them.
Most striking of all about Skellig Michael, perhaps, is that this bare chunk of a mountain in the middle of the sea is over nine miles off the coast of County Kerry in Southwest Ireland. To reach the mainland would take a day's sail, and then only when the water was calm enough to allow them to even attempt it. To reach the summit, the monks chiseled, by hand, more than 2,300 stone steps into the surface of the mountain. (I know that because I have climbed them myself .) Up there at the top, where the winds are strong enough to blow a person right off the side of the crest into the bitter sea below, life was raw, cold and remote. Very remote. Surely isolated. Definitely 'out of this world,' out of touch, out of step, out of time.
Don't believe it.
The monks who inhabited this God-forsaken place in the middle of the ocean for more than 500 years -- until midway through the 12th century, in fact -- wrote most of the history of that part of the world. They wrote about earthquakes in Gaul, about small pox epidemics, about cures for disease, about the plunderings of the Vikings, and about one social struggle after another over hundreds of miles away. Clearly, "hunting words they sat all night." Physically distant and totally separated, far removed and supposedly disinterested in the world around them, they nevertheless knew what was going on and set out to alert the rest of the world to it. They contributed to the development of Europe from a mountain outpost in the Atlantic Ocean.
Point: We all have a responsibility for the world around us. No one is out of touch unless he or she chooses to be.
Which brings us to the present.
We have in modern U.S. history, it seems, our own version of Skellig Michael. It's called "The White House." It juts out of the sea of people who think it's there to represent the ideals of this country and its people, but it is out of touch and out of time.
There, separated from the rest of the world and isolated even from its own, a community of advisors who think the country elected King George I instead of President George Bush, work hard to maintain his isolation. But we know now that there are breaches in the system.
For instance, this president has been told by countless political figures -- Congress people and heads of state, by two secretaries of state and now by his own new secretary of defense, Robert Gates (See Chanker and Sanger, New York Times, March 23) to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Called a "detention and interrogation center" in polite language, conducted as a torture center, in plain language, Guantanamo is still holding 385 prisoners incomunicado after five years of imprisonment and is doing more harm to this country than anything any enemy could possibly do to us.
Supposedly designed offshore to protect the United States mainland, it has ruptured not only our public relations with other countries but our own sense of self. With its policies of illegal detention, isolation, abuse and torture, it is doing more harm to the reputation, credibility and future of this country than anything in U.S. history. It serves only to harden the world's attitudes against us and to justify the very evil we say we're fighting.
It discredits the whole notion of U.S. justice, of public morality, of civil rights and of the rule of law in what we like to think is one of the most moral countries in the world. To be held without charge is probably to breach the most fundamental human rights we have, the very ones the founding fathers struggled to establish.
And, counseled by their own advisors, as well as the U.S. public, to close Guantanamo for that reason, the White House knows that. What is hard to understand, then, is why they go on maintaining it.
But what is at least as difficult to understand as why they do it is why we as a country, as a judiciary, as a legislature, as a people, allow it to go on? What kind of democracy is it that never raises its voice? Is this the real spiritual vacuum we face as a nation while we struggle so hard to present ourselves as a spiritual people and so preserve a patina of ongoing moral righteousness?
From where I stand, it is clear from the history of Skellig Michael that it's true: no one really is an island, no matter how hard they try to be. Like the monks in the middle of an ocean, we cannot simply stand afar off and say nothing when our world is being systematically dismantled in the name of God, by virtue of raw power, without regard even for our own best ideals.
The monks went offshore to find God but there they discovered that, in order to do that, they needed to accept responsibility for one another, as well. It may be time for us, here and now, to learn that lesson again, to "sit all night," to "hunt the words" that say it clearly, that make it real.
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Easter 2007: Love Conquers
Easter 2007: Love Conquers All
Jesus' death on the cross exemplifies a love which is sufficiently strong and divine to forgive sin and swallow up all evil-doing.
Maybe we can learn something about Love and Forgiveness from Jesus?
The more we discover how much we are Loved by God, the more we want to do God's Will
Osama bin laden sacrificed
Osama bin laden sacrificed twenty of his 'best' to kill 3,000 people in the US.
Geo Bush sacrificed 3,000 of our best to kill a half million over there but Abraham stayed His hand. Sacrifice is sometimes a dirty word [maybe we should go ahead and use the dirty word ].
Ok.. lets see. We go from
Ok.. lets see. We go from 800 AD Irish contemplatives, to the transitional sentence "Definitely 'out of this world,' out of touch, out of step, out of time" to advocating the unconditional release of mass murderer and 9/11 architect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. With profuse apologies for inconveniencing him on Guantanamo.
As i reflect on the passion
As i reflect on the passion of Christ and moreso, His Resurrection... i find Hope for all the suffering in the world... but i do not live in Iraq. ... the fruit of Redemption is Hope... God save us from losing Hope...
Thanks for the excellent article Sr. Joan!
Guantanimo --Long Kesh-- One
Guantanimo --Long Kesh-- One has to wonder if Geo Murdock Bush got lessons from what the Brittish accomplished in Northern Ireland, namely nothing. The calm there was brought about through the efforts of two men, John Hume and Geo Mitchell not through the endless abuse of prisoners. What will come out of Guantanimo is lots of hatred, legends and songs of hatred, and reasons to hate.
Who advises this man? Is he capable of these acts without input from somewhere?
"For all Americans, this is
"For all Americans, this is a profound time of shame."
These are the best words yet, for the horror of Gitmo. What have we become as a nation---that which we supposedly despise?
JT Colkoch, It never fails
JT
Colkoch,
It never fails to amaze me that so many Americans who identify themselves on the political, cultural, and religious left are so quick to believe the absolute worst about their country's government, and at the same time, are as quick to discount or ignore horrors perpetrated around the world by real dictators and their confederates across the globe. I would suggest to you and to others visiting this site, that there is something more going on here than an honest appraisal of current events.
What say you?
JT, America has gone through
JT, America has gone through times when we messed up and we backed up and tried to do things better. People need to do this; nations need to do it.
Right now is really one of those times. The writ of habeus corpus has stood in this country since its' inception. Since something like 1215--the Magna Charta--it has been the hallmark of fair government. But our American government has suspended the writ of habeus corpus for men at Guantanamo Bay. And some of those folks have been there for 5 years--5 long years--and aren't charged with anything. That is wrong. If American men and women were being held for 5 years without charges we would be outraged. I am outraged and beyond belief that we--the United States Government--are doing it.
Ever heard of becoming the thing you fear?
Those of us that are squawking about this so loudly are doing it because we expect more than re-tred Stalinism from our government.
You know the sacrament of reconciliation asks us to do one most useful thing that has highly gone out of style--to examine our conscience. Nationally, we need to examine our conscience. Extraordinary rendition, Guantanamo Bay, wire tapping, marginalization of the very poorest, abdication of our position in the world community by refusing to take a leadership position in the Global Warming response, shifting of global wealth to a tiny minority of the very richest as the expense of working Americans and others on the globe. These are all practices we need to examine in our government and in our people.
You know, loyal Americans should be questioning what is happening. It is loyalty to question.
JT, I'm not discounting the
JT, I'm not discounting the horrors perpetrated around the world by other leaders and governments. I am no more enamored of the government of Saudi Arabia, for instance, than I am the government of Iran. To me both are equally dictatorial and repressive. What makes me even sadder is to think my current American government isn't much better, and Gitmo is one of our sadder examples.
An honest appraisal leads me to believe it's all about money and resources. Who has it and controls it and who doesn't, and what are the things being done in my name in order to keep the US on top. Then I have to ask the question just how complicit am I in some of the material choices I have made. So far, I don't like any of the answers I'm coming up with.
There was a time in my life when I was a flag waving card carrying republican. Not anymore. Now I'm just a disheartened, disenfranchised quasi liberal independent.
Thank You Sister Joan. The
Thank You Sister Joan. The other day out of the blue came a thought email your congressman about not funding the Iraq war. I did do it. The first time in my history that I did such a thing but I thought the same as above we the people must start to speak out and let congress act for us. Now it seems they do not have enough strenth
to over ride a veto. I think we all now need to start calling and emailing our wants about ending our part in the violence in Iraq and bring those service people home. The same for the disgrace of Guantanamo. I think it is time for me to sent another email.
It seems to me that in the
It seems to me that in the recent election we tapped the shoulders of our elected representatives. It is time now to tell them what it is we want done. They do not read minds, write to them.
After having written
After having written hundreds of letters to Mr. Bush, to Congresspersons from Florida and other states (although they try hard to make it impossible to hear from anyone but their own supporters), I've pretty much grown skeptical that such a discipline does anything at all. Nevertheless, atop my own Skellig Michael here in the Everglades, I, a word-hunter in the swamp, wrote the following this week:
Dear Mr. Bush:
The 60th day of a water-only hunger strike by Dr. Sami Al-Arian! Let me see you try not eating for _three_ days. Try it during Holy Week.
Dr. Al-Arian is in critical condition, having lost 53 pounds, over 25% of his body weight. According to family members who recently visited him he is no longer able to walk or stand on his own. What a travesty of justice!
As an employed resident of South Florida for 35 years, I have followed with interest the situation with Dr. Al-Arian from the beginning. During my time teaching in Florida, I have attended USF as have many of my students and I am associated with several Professors of English there. I traveled to Tampa to demonstrate in his favor twice since this terrible adventure began so long ago. You must know that the charges against him are specious. Everyone outside of the prejudiced and angry mob who demanded his resignation and incarceration knows he is innocent of sedition and treason. Any American of reading knows the actual situation between Israel and Palestine. Any American with a heart favors the powerless oppressed. Any American not wholly brainwashed by the Murdoch-owned media believes that Dr. Al-Arian is being unjustly punished for a crime he did not commit.
Even Amnesty International has declared that Dr. Al-Arian is a Prisoner of Conscience. There should be no such prisoner in this country. His horrible treatment accords only with the extreme paranoia generated by the current regime of which you are the leader. I pray that your conscience be not deadened by the din of war and that you will have compassion on this brilliant man, Al-Arian. Please do not allow him to be tried again in Virginia in front of a hard-hearted and prejudiced judge, Gerald Lee. Please do not allow our penal system to punish Dr. Al-Arian a single day more.
If he dies or is permanently damaged by his hunger fast, his life and those of his wife and children must be added to the heap of lives destroyed by us. No fear justifies such appalling disregard for our obligations to be humane, brave, and just.
Free Dr. Al-Arian now.
John
pcnaples.org
__________
At the bidding of his family Professor Al-Arian (a diabetic) has begun this week to take juices as well as water (as Gandhi recommends). The forced feeding of hunger strikers at Guantanamo with specially constructed chairs and NG tubes has been photographed and will no doubt be another horror most of us Americans will shrug off and brush aside with a wave of the hand and an inane illogical remark. "Together we stand" on an unsustainable island of temporary privilege.
Thank you, Sister Joan, for being the ravenous word-hunter you are. Long after we've left this world, our words will endure.
Excellent Post Joan. I thank
Excellent Post Joan. I thank you for your willingness to remember your fellow human being. Even as Jesus taught us to love one another. You forget not those who are suffering at our hands. You think of them in their hour of need.
God Bless You Sister! And God save our brothers and sisters imprisoned at Guantanamo from suffering caused by our hands or any other.
As you rightly say Sister:
"The monks went offshore to find God but there they discovered that, in order to do that, [ they needed to accept responsibility for one another ], as well."
And this is in line with what Pope Benedict XVI says:
"Our times call for a new readiness to assist our neighbors in need."
and our Pope also says:
"Love of God and Love of neighbor are thus inseparable, they form a single commandment."
And your heart felt statement sister along with the Pope's, complies and rings true with what Jesus said:
John 13:34 "...Love one another. Such as my love has been for you, so must your love be for each other."
For those who would forsake this truth, I ask them to remember this:
Forgiveness
"The Father in heaven has forgiven you even before you have thought to ask him, but such forgiveness is not available in your personal religious experience until such a time as you forgive your fellow men."
Father and Mother God I ask your forgiveness for my judgement and intolerance of others. Make me a servant of your Will. Correct my errors and allow my heart to forgive others even as I ask you to forgive me.
Thank you Father and Mother for your abundant Love, ceaseless caring, merciful tolerance. My bother Jesus, son of God, benevolent ruler of our universe, grant that I may love others as You have loved me. Thank You for living the life of Love and teaching and living the Will of God for our salvation. Take me into your embrace and show me how to forgive others as You forgave even at your death from our hands when you pleaded with our Father..."Father forgive them for they know not what they do."
Forgive me Lord for lacking in my ability to forgive. But in You my ability will be made stronger. Make me stronger to forgive Lord and less willing to condemn. This I ask of God through You Lord, through the Blessed Virgin Mary and through all the saints and entities of our God's creation as within their power to grant me this blessing of forgiveness within my heart and within the hearts of all my brothers and sisters through out the world. Amen.
The more we discover how much we are Loved by God, the more we want to do God's Will
It is a shame when the
It is a shame when the leadership of our nation act contrary to the needs and desires of the majority of not only of our countrymen, but the population of the world as a whole. The total disregard of the future health of our planet and equitable treatmen of all human being is certainly a gross insult to God!!
Those who go with God are never lost!
John V.S.A. Vaisvil
If you haven't read or heard
If you haven't read or heard Amy Goodman's reporting on David Hicks, aussie prisoner from Guantanamo, you should seek it out. Here is a link to her article on Truthdig:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070327_american_kangaroo_court_claims_its_first_victim/
I never thought I would see the day when America would conduct itself in a way so comparable to governments we used to scorn.
How would any of us feel if we had a son or daughter held incommunicado for 5 years and charged with nothing. THEN they go to court, kangaroo court and plead "guilty". Whatever that means. Out of this same prison we have a high value suspect, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has pled guilty to every evil short of being the snake in the garden of Eden. But, give the Guantanamo interrogators a chance. I'm sure they can get that admission out of him, too.
For all Americans, this is a profound time of shame.
Our reaction to current
Our reaction to current events taken together---say, The War, mass murder on campus, and the Don "Shame-on-us" Imus debacle, among others---needs to be re-thought to include real honest-to-goodness action. As Christian Americans, (and well meaning other denominations)we squawk after the fact, and move on, while what we should be doing is squawking BEFORE events occur, knowing that history will repeat itself and knowing that the quality of life in our country is at stake---not only for us but for our children and grandchildren. I firmly believe that sharing the power with women in our churches would almost guarantee peace in the world. That would be a strong start.
First, recognize that Just War Theories are defunct...outdated...useless. The obvious anti-war measure would be the promotion of Conscientious Objectors. But just as important is Waging Peace, perhaps by donating time and resources to active peace keeping---active being key. Not just waving peace banners and protesting on the Washington Mall but personally (not through governments)delivering life saving resources, expertise, and time to the dignity of the needy and abused around the world. Where is our voice of mercy and value of life when ethnic groups bring civil war onto each other... brutalizing and uprooting so many lives. Why are we not defending our loving God's ways and denouncing violence by any one or any nation, especially in the name of religion? Why are our church leaders not scre-e-e-aming about the African genocides? More discussion on the world stage at World Youth Day or at Christian Women's Conventions (We Catholic women were 4000 strong in Boston this year...but no discussion.)We need an agreed, prioritized platform and plan of action. When we leave our churches, we hear, "Go to love and serve God and others." Where are the on-going dialogues among diverse cultures to dispel fear and misunderstandings? Organize and speak up...it's free! Everyone can do that at least.
Further, we need to stop the use of, and the exportation of, our cultural trash, particularly through the media. It totally undermines our image and goodness as a people. We are out of control. It is not an issue of 'freedom of expression' so much as it is about at what price? Produce your trash but don't sell it or get it in my face at every turn, or promote it on public airways. What ever happened to common decency?! The Rutger's Women Baketball Team spoke for all of us, especially women and children who are constantly bombarded with violence and disrepect, usually in the name of capitalism. Just say, "No," for a change. Where are the controlling men when you need them most? (...making money instead of guarding our quality of life, perhaps?) Why are we not taking back our streets from gangs...whatever it takes....National Guard or whatever? Round them up! Enough!
And the sadness of the VA Tech students and professors. I have so often seen the 'loners' in our society, having been in public education. Our kids are narcissistic, ungrounded in values, education-resistant because the process becomes a power struggle, even with their parents, who often condone the bad behavior. The tough guy image. The me-first attitude. The 'it's a free-country' personna. Our society as a whole teaches revenge, over-reaction, and blame instead of forgiveness, caring, compromise, affirmation, inclusiveness, respect, and love of every person in our human family. Education is not about money...it's about quality of character. Demand it!! It's our right and the right thing to do.
Think about it. And, Joan if you happen to read this...how can I help in the World Peace oganization you work with?