Public Forum On World Religions

Haitians are still in Hell. Understandably frustrated with the slowness of relief efforts to bring desperately needed food, water and medical care, some are turning to violence to vent their rage. Looting, so far minimal, is on the rise. Roving bands of young men with machetes are taking what they want: not money, TV's or jewelry, but basic survival supplies, candles, rum, and toothpaste they smear under their noses to cloak the omnipresent stench of death. The government is in complete shambles and silent. The still infernal situation is perilously approaching every man for himself. "It is increasingly dangerous," said one observer. "The police do not exist. People are doing what they want." Today a severe aftershock rattled nerves and had many already profoundly traumatized people on their knees praying.

If all that weren't enough, we now have fundamentalist preacher Pat Robertson telling his flock that the quake was God's punishment of the Haitian population for their blasphemous belief in and practice of Voodoo, which he views as a "pact with the Devil." Sadly, this is how Robertson and other religious fundamentalists attempt to make sense of cosmic evil. Voodoo isn't Satanism. Most Haitians are Christian, but also traditionally practice Voodoo, a religion still popular in West Africa, the West Indies, Brazil and Haiti, as well as some sections of the United States. Voodoo is based on the belief in the presence of powerful yet invisible forces (les invisibles) that directly affect our lives and behavior. In times of crisis, a believer may invoke the aid of these spirits, also referred to as loa, for support and assistance. (Christians can invoke the so-called Holy Spirit for similar support.) This conception of metaphysical forces that can be both harmful and helpful is found in all religions. The ancient Greeks called them daimones. Other religions refer to them as angels and demons. (Actually, the word demon derives from daimon, but carries only the negative aspect of the daimonic.) In shamanism, they are known as spiritus familiares, "winged ones," supernatural beings not unlike angels but different: If the shaman accepts and cooperates with these spirits, they become helpful. But if he or she rejects or resists them, they turn demonic and destructive.

Cataclysmic occurrences like this--whether natural or man-made in origin--starkly reveal the human capacity in each of us for both evil and good, depending on the existential choices we make in response to such dire circumstances. Much as we might try to deny it, perhaps the scariest thing about what's happened to Haiti is that it could happen anywhere. At some level, often subconscious, we know and dread this. Los Angeles. London. New York. San Francisco. Miami. New Orleans. Mexico City. Be it caused by some cosmic evil like earthquake, tsunami, tornado, hurricane, massive volcanic eruption or apocalyptic meteor strike. Or by human evil in the form of mass conventional warfare or a nuclear terrorist attack on a major city. How well would you or I handle the chaotic aftermath?

Human evil is one possible response to such cosmic evil. Violent behavior, rage, resentment and anger can often accompany Acute Stress Disorder. (See my prior posts on Posttraumatic Embitterment Disorder.)  According to news reports, some disillusioned Haitians themselves conclude that God has intentionally caused their awful national suffering. They retain their belief in God, but conclude that they are being punished for some collective transgression. Self-blame is another common way of attributing some meaning to cosmic evil. Others have lost their sense of meaning and faith, feeling that God does not exist or has abandoned them. One reporter conveyed the vivid image of a disheartened Haitian woman seen tossing her Bible into a bonfire of burning bodies. Unfortunately, a frightening wave of evil deeds could proliferate in the devastating wake of this classic example of epic cosmic evil. (See Part One.) In Haiti we are witnessing what happens when social structure abruptly breaks down and people's basic psychological , spiritual and physical needs--which in the latter case, were extremely modest to begin with--are no longer being met.

At the same time, we see encouraging signs of human goodness: patience, kindness, compassion, caring, generosity, tenderness, dignity and heroic courage in both the Haitian people and those selflessly trying to assist them. Disasters like this can serve to strengthen spiritual faith, as, for example, in the biblical case of Job. They force us to acknowledge the fact that there are indeed unseen aspects of life beyond our control, powers far beyond our own that undeniably determine or influence our destiny. This is always a deflating blow to our egos, our narcissism, and our naive beliefs in a benevolent, parent-like god who will always protect us from harm. But it can also be the beginning of true spiritual wisdom.

Psychotherapy patients sometimes have similar reactions to the realization that there are uncontrollable external and unknown (i.e., unconscious) internal powers at work, both personally and collectively, which can shake up, undermine and  influence how we think, feel and behave, as well as subtly affect each other. (See my previous post.) That we, like everyone else, given the right or wrong set of circumstances, are each capable of evil deeds. And that every one of us is personally responsible for how we respond to these invisible life forces. Learning to accept the existential realities of both cosmic and human evil, and of our personal and collective destiny (see my prior post on fate and destiny) while embracing life nonetheless, is one way of defining genuine spirituality.

In this sense, all religions carry within them a vital existential truth: We are not masters in our own house. We are subject to mysterious powers beyond our ken and control. There are numerous spiritual and scientific names for those powers. But whatever we call them and despite their potentially negative influences, we remain morally and ethically responsible for how we deal with these archetypal energies. The people of Haiti may still be in Hell. But how they choose to comport themselves and the attitude taken toward their devastating situation will ultimately determine their personal and collective salvation. The same may be said of ourselves when faced with our own existential crises.

Source...
More news...