For yesterday’s birthday my team gave me as a gift the new book in German language about “Jakob Kellenberger – Diplomat and ICRC-President“, by Hansjörg Erni. It is written in interview form and gives an insight into the life and work of this outstanding personality in the service of humanitarian work at the International Committee of the Red Cross.When I opened the book this morning just casually, a sentence jumped into my eyes, about why he had studied literature: “A study of literature also teaches to take words very serious, because you gain insight into the portentious significance of words and into the associations they awaken. You learn to be very careful when dealing with language. This was later also of benefit for me in negotiations. Many conflicts and much suffering could be avoided if people whould take more serious the language, which influences also our perception and our feelings.”

On the path of spirituality, this power of the word is something you have to learn.

“On 10 December 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which has become a universal standard for defending and promoting human rights. Every year on 10 December, Human Rights Day marks the adoption of the Universal Declaration. On Human Rights Day it is celebrated around the globe that “All human beings are born with equal and inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms”.” says the Human Rights Education Association.

December 10th, 2004, Secretary General Kofi Annan said: “International Human Rights Day reminds us of persisting human rights problems in our communities and in the world, and of the enormous efforts still required to make human rights a reality for all.” You find more about Human right violations on the site of Human Rights Watch. See also our blogpost on Human Rights Watch.
Accepting the human rights of other people and nations is a sign of maturity. In spirituality you learn to govern yourself and let others govern themselves, without wanting to dominate their way of living and thinking. Imposing one’s own convictions on the others is seen as an aggression. This holds true for individuals as well as for nations.

I yesterday read an inspiring article in a magazine called Natürlich (Natural) about the “laughter-revolution” and the foolosopher Roland Schutzbach. His website: Hahahahaha.org, of the European Laughter Society. The goals are to bring back joy of life, love and optimism into daily life. He says, the energy of laughter is the direct way to englightenment, the joy-energy gives the experience of the present moment. After having been a teacher and philosopher for many a year (with a PhD), he decided to leave the “mainstream mill” and inspire people together with his wife. “HappyTopia” is their a project to realise the insights and ideas of the happy and foolish philosophy in a concrete community.

Some sentences from their site, to give you a taste: “To laugh about yourself – that’s something to laugh about!” – “Most people are born as originals and die as copies.” – “He who lives without foolishness is not as wise as he thinks!” – Andy Warhol: “Everybody has problems. So don’t make a problem with your problem.”
Another humanitarian clown mentioned in the article is Patch Adams, who is taking clowns to hospitals, prisons, even refugee camps and war zones to bring food, medicine and hope. By the way, the Swiss Red Cross is doing an Aids sensibilisation project with clowns in Swaziland.

Humour is a necessary ingredient on the spiritual path. In healthy spirituality there is an undercurrent of humour springing from the inner. It expresses in the more subtle form of smiling. In an e-mail I received yesterday a friend mentioned a quote of my spiritual teacher, Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar, saying: “Learn to smile. Smile lifts you up to Light. Work in that Light .”

And there is a site calling people for an International Day of Smiles, to be celebrated on December 9th, 2006 🙂 .

I yesterday came across the extrordinary biography of John Francis, a black American who lives car-free and silent for 17 years, who is walking and sailing around the world to heighten environmental awareness (see the site Planetwalk.org). He stopped speaking until 1990 because he was arguing all the time why he refused to use cars. Through the long years of silence he has developed and enormous power of listening. He even made a PhD during his time of silence and later was recruited by the U.S. Coast Guard to write oil-spill regulations and by the United Nations Environment Program to serve as a goodwill ambassador. He also has published a book called Planetwalker: How to Change Your World One Step at a Time.
You find here an interesting interview with him.

For about four years we had a youth group, where we met with four youngsters from our family and that of a friend. We called it a Mithila group and spoke about fundamentals of spirituality in a way adapted to the youngsters (see: Fundamentals of a Spiritual Education, PDF). Last Sunday we closed the group, for the interests of the youngsters had grown out of it.

Though signs had been there already since a longer time and my wife had seen them more clearly, I was a bit surprised and first felt sad about the development. We had a long talk and I came to understand the situation in a broader perspective. To sum it up: That which is resonating within them will find fruition, but it is up to the children to pick up what they want, for their way into life. Their blossoming does not develop in the way we suspect it. What has been important for me is not necessarily what they might consider important. They have to shape out their own way, and in freedom.

A friend sent me a link to a beautiful video on YouTube with Chinese female dancers representing in a performance the Thousand-Handed Goddess of Mercy. It is the female representation of the Buddha Avalokiteshvara, known in China as “Kuan Yin” and in India as the Boddhisattva of Compassion. All 21 dancers are deaf-and-dumb. Inspiring !

The 5th of December is appointed by the UN as the International Volunteer Day. It is meant to offer an opportunity for volunteer organisations and individual volunteers to make visible their contributions – at local, national and international levels. Volunteer work is an indispensible part of society and of great importance for a good functioning of communities. However, its importance is often not well recognised.

In Switzerland a number of organisations has joined since several years to a volunteer’s forum. They are issuing a volunteer card with which people can document their activities and might get a better position with job applictions.

Volunteer work is an expression of good will and very important for spiritual development. You might like to read the Good Will in Action on the Value of Service (PDF).

See also our posts on The Future of Volunteer Work and Recruitment and Good Will Co-Operation.

Yesterday morning before work I made a short detour through the old town of Berne in order to look for a subject for the Christmas picture of our newsletter. In the last days they had installed the Christmas illuminations in the streets and I was looking for a subject with a 5-pointed star, because of the subject of the Lunar Messenger of Capricorn (to be published around Dec. 20th). It is about “The Secret of the Dawn” – the awakening of self-consciousness, the 5th principle of man, and the symbol is the 5-pointed star.

At first I took some shots of illuminations in the lower old town, then I went to the cathedral. There I saw that the road next to the church was decorated with nice large 5-pointed stars. While some workers started preparing the stands for the Christmas market, I used one of their lorries as a “tripod” for my digicam, and also some walls. However there wasn’t the “shot” I was looking for. Then I made a few shots from the middle of the road – and yes, there it was: The stars looked like descending from the sky. In the afternoon at home I could cut out from one shot just the right part. Though it was quite a number of photos, only one proved to have hit:

You can click on the photo to send it as a Christmas card.

We pass by so many situations without realising the difference between the normal and the extraordinary. Messenger of the higher world often reveal in a second, the door might close again right away. People were passing over the street on their way to work, looking downward to the ground. May some also look up and see.

Today I got an e-mail from a friend forwarding a nice story in German about the power of appreciation and recognition. It seemed that it was translated from English, so I “googled” it out and found several versions of the story, which is said to be true (by “truth or fiction”). So here it is:

ALL GOOD THINGS
By Sister Helen P. Mrosla
He was in the first third grade class I taught at Saint Mary’s School in Morris, Minn. All 34 of my students were dear to me, but Mark Eklund was one in a million. Very neat in appearance, but had that happy-to-be-alive attitude that made even his occasional mischievousness delightful.

Mark talked incessantly. I had to remind him again and again that talking without permission was not acceptable. What impressed me so much, though, was his sincere response every time I had to correct him for misbehaving – “Thank you for correcting me, Sister!” I didn’t know what to make of it at first, but before long I became accustomed to hearing it many times a day.

One morning my patience was growing thin when Mark talked once too often, and then I made a novice teacher’s mistake. I looked at Mark and said, If you say one more word, I am going to tape your mouth shut!” It wasn’t ten seconds later when Chuck blurted out, “Mark is talking again.” I hadn’t asked any of the students to help me watch Mark, but since I had stated the punishment in front of the class, I had to act on it. I remember the scene as if it had occurred this morning. I walked to my desk, very deliberately opened my drawer and took out a roll of masking tape. Without saying a word, I proceeded to Mark’s desk, tore off two pieces of tape and made a big X with them over his mouth. I then returned to the front of the room.

As I glanced at Mark to see how he was doing, he winked at me. That did it! I started laughing. The class cheered as I walked back to Mark’s desk, removed the tape, and shrugged my shoulders. His first words were, “Thank you for correcting me, Sister.” At the end of the year, I was asked to teach junior-high math. The years flew by, and before I knew it Mark was in my classroom again. He was more handsome than ever and just as polite. Since he had to listen carefully to my instruction in the “new math,” he did not talk as much in ninth grade as he had in third.

One Friday, things just didn’t feel right. We had worked hard on a new concept all week, and I sensed that the students were frowning, frustrated with themselves and edgy with one another. I had to stop this crankiness before it got out of hand. So I asked them to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then I told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down. It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed me the papers. Charlie smiled. Mark said, “Thank you for teaching me, Sister. Have a good weekend.”

That Saturday, I wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and I listed what everyone else had said about that individual. On Monday I gave each student his or her list Before long, entire class was smiling. “Really?” I heard whispered. “I never knew that I� meant anything to anyone!” “I didn’t know others liked me so much.” No one ever mentioned those papers in class again.

I never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn’t matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another again.

That group of students moved on. Several years later, after I returned from vacation, my parents met me at the airport. As we were driving home, Mother asked me the usual questions about the trip, the weather, my experiences in general. There was a lull in the conversation. Mother gave Dad a sideways glance and simply says, “Dad?” My father cleared his throat as he usually did before something important. “The Eklunds called last night,” he began “Really?” I said. “I haven’t heard from them in years. I wonder how Mark is.”

Dad responded quietly. “Mark was killed in Vietnam,” he said. “The funeral is tomorrow, and his parents would like it if you could attend.”

To this day I can still point to the exact spot on I-494 where Dad told me about Mark. I had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. Mark looked so handsome, so mature. All I could think at that moment was, “Mark, I would give all the masking tape in the world if only you would talk to me.”

The church was packed with Mark’s friends Chuck’s sister sang “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Why did it have to rain on the day of the funeral? It was difficult enough at the graveside. The pastor said the usual prayers, and the bugler played taps. One by one those who loved Mark took a last walk by the coffin and sprinkled it with holy water. I was the last one to bless the coffin. As I stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to me. Were you Mark’s math teacher?” he asked. I nodded as I continued to stare at the coffin. “Mark talked about you a lot,” he said.

After the funeral, most of Mark’s former classmates headed to Chuck’s farmhouse for lunch. Mark’s mother and father were there, obviously waiting for me. “We want to show you something, his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket. “They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it.”

Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. I knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which I had listed all the good things each of Mark’s classmates had said about him. “Thank you so much for doing that,” Mark’s mother said. “As you can see, Mark treasured it.”

Mark’s classmates started to gather around us. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, “I still have my list. I keep it in the top drawer of my desk at home.” Chuck’s wife said, “Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album.” ”I have mine too,” Marilyn said. “It’s in my diary.”

Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. I carry this with me at all times,” Vicki said without batting an eyelash. “I think we all saved our lists.” That’s when I finally sat down and cried. I cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again.

The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don’t know when that one day will be. So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are special and important. Tell them, before it is too late.

I yesterday read a press release by the German organisation “Target Human Rights” about a conference they had organized at the Al Azhar University in Cairo about the delicate topic of female genital mutilation (FGM). This is a crime against women practised in many African countries, regardless of religion and nationality.

For two days internationally renowned scholars and doctors discussed the topic and came to the result on November 23rd: “Female genital mutilation is a punishable crime and offends against the highest values of Islam”. Before that scholars had discussed the different theological dimensions and agreed that genital mutilation has no roots in the Islam. Then doctors had presented insights into the horrors of the mutilation practice.
At the end of the conference the Great Mufti of Al Azhar, the highest authority for legal decisions, gave a decision which equals a Fatwa, a binding legal expertise. It says that the lawmakers are asked to declare this cruel deplorable custom as a crime, which has nothing to do with Islam.
This decision is a theological sensation, for every day about 8000 girls especially in the countries of the Sahel influenced by the Islam. Hopefully this decision will help strengthening the fight for eradicating this monstrous habit.