SPIRITUALITY WAY OF FACING CRISIS

We need to start now! Bhante Mahinda has this underlying message in his keynote address on Spirituality in Times of Crisis at the recent ALERT National Workshop

"We need to take time to cultivate and purify our minds to realise the true nature of life, our self and the world around us..." This is the spiritual preparedness Bhante Mahinda advocates.

Sprituality prepares us to face crises but we must not wait until a crisis occurs to be spiritual.

Lest it is misunderstood, Bhante points out the difference between being spiritual and being religious.

He says: "We often associate spirituality with religion because religion provides the basis of faith and belief -- which are very important in spirituality. But a religious person may not always be spiritual. They may be able to chant, preach the scriptures and perform other rites and rituals but they may also be very self-centred and egoistic, acting with all sorts of ulterior motives."

What then is a spiritual person? Bhante adds that a true spiritual person, whether monastic or laity, is one who has developed his/her mind to a certain degree of purity -- possessing all the qualities of reverence, humility, contentment and gratitude. He/She has gone beyond the gross idea of self or ego and has realised the state of emptiness in the mind.

Sprituality is about transcending our "self" and the ego. We need to go beyond our deluded idea of "self" and "ownership" and transcend our materialistic outlook on life. Everything that we think is 'ours' -- including our bodies, minds, children, partners, possessions -- are simply made up of causes and conditions. At best, we are their temporary custodians. In times of crisis, there is a very real possibility that we will lose some or all of these things. The only way to effectively prepare ourselves to cope with crisis is to cultivate our spirituality and go beyond the idea of 'I', 'my', 'me' and 'mine'.

In addition to going beyond self, we need more faith and loving kindness to cope with pangs of sorrow, grief and lamentation. Bhante points out that once the shock and numbness stage is over, anger, confusion and self pity may then set it. "Why is this happening to me?","Why did this bad thing happen to my loved one who has been a good person?", "What did he or she do to deserve this?" and other questions that question the unfairness of it all will arise.

This therefore calls for an understanding of the impartial law of cause and effect, which then takes away the pain and lessen the suffering.