{"id":1755,"date":"2012-10-14T06:21:55","date_gmt":"2012-10-14T13:21:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegatheringcincinnati.org\/?p=1755"},"modified":"2012-10-14T06:21:55","modified_gmt":"2012-10-14T13:21:55","slug":"october-14-2012-touching-the-spirit-courage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/2012\/10\/14\/october-14-2012-touching-the-spirit-courage\/","title":{"rendered":"October 14, 2012, "Touching the Spirit: Courage""},"content":{"rendered":"

Message 109, Touching the Spirit, Courage, 10-14-12 \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(This message contains some disturbing information which might be upsetting to children and young teens.)<\/p>\n

Click here to listen to message or read below:<\/p>\n\n

 <\/p>\n

Najibullah Quirashi is now a famous man whose life is nevertheless threatened.\u00a0 An Afghan journalist who was seriously injured and then exiled after the American military invasion in 2001, Quirashi returned to his native country two years ago to investigate an ancient Afghan practice called bacha bazi.<\/em>\u00a0 Banned by the Taliban but now popular among rich and powerful men, bacha bazi<\/em> is a practice where poor boys as young as 9 are bought in order to dance, entertain and be sexually exploited by men at exclusive parties.<\/p>\n

In a landmark documentary entitled \u201cThe Dancing Boys of Afghanistan\u201d – shown on PBS\u2019s Frontline last April and available to watch on their website, Quirashi reveals a dark and sinister world of sexual slavery that is quietly endorsed in Afghan culture.\u00a0 Many of its practitioners are wealthy businessmen, police officers and government officials who talk openly of the prestige in owning boys – often with the acceptance and approval of their wives.\u00a0 Boys are taught to dance in women\u2019s clothing and sing love songs to men.\u00a0 They are regularly raped and traded for their sexual services.\u00a0 One boy of 14 hauntingly confides to Quirashi that his life is ruined knowing that as a sex slave, he will wear out his usefulness once he fully matures, but then be a social outcast because of his past.<\/p>\n

Afghan laws officially ban bacha bazi<\/em> and it is illegal to own another person or to engage in sex with a child.\u00a0 But the practice is all too common as is the indifference toward the severe harm done to the boys.\u00a0 One abuser exhibits his scorn – \u201cthey are boys,\u201d he says.\u00a0 \u201cThey will forget.\u201d\u00a0 Those boys who run away or defy the orders of their owners are usually murdered – nameless casualties in a nation where killing is all too common.\u00a0 \u201cIf you don\u2019t please them, they beat you and people get killed.\u201d one young boy says in the film.<\/p>\n

While bacha bazi<\/em> is a disturbing look at the underbelly of Afghan culture, (and, it must be noted, child abuse is sadly common in many others nations including the US) it is the filmmaker\u2019s courage in revealing the abuse that is also startling.\u00a0 Quirashi courageously acts in the face of prevailing indifference and even acceptance of the practice.\u00a0 After interviewing several high level police officers who piously claim the practice is strictly illegal and those who practice it will be arrested and punished, Quirashi covertly films the very same officers and government officials at one bacha bazi<\/em> party.\u00a0 Men, women, local officials and the police all implicitly accept this practice.\u00a0 There is no cultural outrage against it and many impoverished parents accept it as a way to earn money.\u00a0 Indeed, Quirashi says he is in fear for his safety and one Afghan UNICEF official who also investigated the practice, believes he might be killed for speaking out.<\/p>\n

Despite prevailing cultural indifference, these men had the courage to confront the practice.\u00a0 Indeed, they have tapped into a spiritual core within themselves that instinctively knows that child slavery and rape is a universal evil.\u00a0 Instead of looking away as the majority of Afghan society does, they speak out and thus face great individual peril for their bravery.\u00a0 As Steve Jobs once said, people of spiritual courage are not trapped by dogma, which is the result of someone else\u2019s thinking.\u00a0 Spiritually courageous people, he said, refuse to let the noise of other opinions drown out their own inner<\/span><\/strong> voice.\u00a0 They have the courage to follow their heart and intuition.<\/p>\n

What leads a person to be spiritually courageous?\u00a0 How do we confront our own fears or indifference and take a stand against a moral evil – even when we could jeopardize our personal safety or well-being?<\/p>\n

To see, feel and act in ways that are beyond our normal abilities, we must touch our inner spirits.\u00a0 Our inner core of values, beliefs and sense of justice must be touched in a way that is beyond rational or normal thinking.\u00a0 Our spiritual selves must feel a sense of moral outrage and then, courageously, guide our actions in ways contrary to a normal desire to be safe, secure and go along with the crowd.<\/p>\n

In a psychological experiment designed to measure spiritual courage, persons were asked to identify and name certain geometric shapes.\u00a0 When asked alone and individually, most responded correctly.\u00a0 When placed in a group of people who were told in advance to give incorrect answers, these same individuals followed the lead of the group and also answered incorrectly – even though they knew the correct answer.\u00a0 The power of group-think influenced their responses.\u00a0 Humans are a tribal people.\u00a0 We hesitate to buck the trend and exhibit the courage to stand out by defying what we know to be wrong.<\/p>\n

Of interesting note, when scientists scanned the brains of the individuals after they were placed in a group setting, the part of the brain that registers fear lit up strongly .\u00a0 It seems fear guided their refusal to defy group answers.\u00a0 Even when these people knew they were right, they instead went along with a crowd that was very, very wrong.<\/p>\n

Indeed, history is full of examples of immoral or incorrect group think.\u00a0 German indifference to and look the other way attitude toward the holocaust, while it was being carried out, is a prime example.\u00a0 Crowd reactions to lynchings in this country were much the same – too many feared to stand up against that moral wrong.\u00a0 And today, we know that bullying in schools is allowed to thrive primarily because the vast majority of students – the bystanders – fear confronting the bully lest they too become the object of abuse.\u00a0 Each person in all of these groups had a spirit self capable of sensing right and wrong.\u00a0 And yet, for most of those people, a failure to touch their inner spirit prevented them from acting.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, a very few people do allow their inner spirits to be touched.\u00a0 They refuse to allow fear to override their heart and soul.\u00a0 People like Corrie Ten Boom, a dutch Christian woman, were spiritually courageous enough to hide Jews and protect them during the holocaust.\u00a0 As we know, she and others were later arrested and many were killed for their bravery.\u00a0 Some Americans did speak out against lynchings and some courageous teens now confront a culture of bullying and its destructive influence.\u00a0 Heroes of courage act in spiritually amazing ways.\u00a0 They defy majority opinion and indifference.\u00a0 They choose to ignore the normal instincts of fear.\u00a0 They touch their inner spirits.<\/p>\n

What we learn from the nature of human behavior in going along with a group majority is that it indeed takes supernatural courage to confront wrong or immoral behavior that is popularly or implicitly sanctioned.\u00a0 As we discussed last week when considering how feelings of wonder and awe touch our inner spirits, the same spiritual force guides human courage.\u00a0 Such force is the part of ourselves that feels, senses and knows without thinking.\u00a0 It is a mysterious but powerful inner force that defies scientific or biological explanation.\u00a0 It perceives things that are beyond rational thought.\u00a0 It knows wonder and awe.\u00a0 It knows eternal and universal standards of right and wrong.\u00a0 It informs our human meaning, emotional intelligence and purpose in life.\u00a0 No Scripture, no cultural practice, no amount of mental analysis or group led opinion can supplant what the human spirit senses and perceives.<\/p>\n

Indeed, when we witness people who act with great courage, we are often seeing the supernatural at work.\u00a0 We are witnessing people guided by an other-worldy spiritual force.\u00a0 It is the spirit implanted in every human heart that intuitively knows intolerance is never good, human dignity is an essential right, hate is an eternal wrong and compassion is a wondrous virtue.\u00a0 The rational brain might agree or disagree with such statements, but it is one\u2019s spirit<\/span><\/em><\/strong> that deeply feels<\/span><\/em><\/strong> them to be true.<\/p>\n

This a form of inner wisdom that knows without thinking the eternal truths of peace, compassion and generosity.\u00a0 Many feminist writers believe this spirit center is the female side of humans – that which is able to perceive, emote, feel, empathize and nurture.\u00a0 When touched or ignited, our minds are then stimulated not by fear or by reason but by this mystery force that compels action in behalf of what is right and good.\u00a0 The proverbial male side of ourselves, however, that which is prone to analysis, aggressive action and domination, has come to prevail in too many cultures.\u00a0 Too many humans, myself included, can lose touch with their spirit – the so called feminine in us.\u00a0 We are out of balance.\u00a0 We are too reason focused.\u00a0 Humans often fail, as we noted last week, to experience wonder and awe before the great forces of the universe and nature.\u00a0 Tired dogma and reason control our thinking and our actions instead of balancing them with amazement, emotion and mute reverence of nature, the universe and timeless truths.<\/p>\n

Humans also fail, as we note today, to feel and act from the inner spirit which senses authentic morality.\u00a0\u00a0 Such a failure encourages group think and inhibits spiritual courage.\u00a0 What we ironically learn is that the so-called masculine within us, that which we believe to be the courageous side of the self, is in reality the cowardly side.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is easy, as Steve Jobs noted, to react with the mind and go along with majority opinion – to choose violence over dialogue, to feel powerful and strong by dominating others, to bully, to hate, to swarm with the mob and feel superior to those who are different, gay, challenged, physically weak or of another race or religion.<\/p>\n

Instead, there is great strength in what appears to be weak – the side of the self that feels, perceives, empathizes and cares.\u00a0 Najibullah Quirashi deeply sensed the moral wrong of bacha bazi<\/em> and he strongly and courageously acted against it.\u00a0 The strutting Afghan warlords, corrupt officials and businessmen who think themselves strong and powerful because then can own, dominate and sexually control young boys are the truly weak and cowardly.\u00a0 So too with the bully, the homophobe, the intolerant race baiter and, sadly, those who stand by the side too controlled by fear to touch their spirits and act accordingly.<\/p>\n

Experts assert that in order to touch our spirits and thus be empowered to act with spiritual courage, we must first recognize the fears that are within us.\u00a0 If we do so, we take the first step in touching our spirits and finding needed courage.<\/p>\n

Just this past Wednesday, after I had already finished the first draft of this message, I was driving home at about 9 pm.\u00a0 I witnessed a woman violently thrown into the street by a male assailant.\u00a0 She screamed and looked up at me as I passed.\u00a0 I stopped my car but was very anxious about my own safety.\u00a0 The man came and hovered over the woman.\u00a0 I rolled down my window and called out, asking the woman if she needed help.\u00a0 She said yes but the man told me to \u201cf-off\u201d.\u00a0 I turned around and then stopped my car in the middle of the street next to the woman.\u00a0 The man came up to the passenger window and yelled at me to get lost.\u00a0 I pulled ahead thirty feet or so, stopped and called 911.\u00a0 I stayed there while the man continued to menace and yell at the woman who strangely did not flee.\u00a0 They knew I was there.\u00a0 The police arrived within five minutes and it turned out to be a domestic fight.<\/p>\n

What struck me was that I was very afraid throughout this incident.\u00a0 Every instinct in me told me to just drive away and then<\/span><\/em><\/strong> call the police.\u00a0 I did nothing even remotely heroic and yet I do feel my presence may have protected the woman.\u00a0\u00a0 Strangely, as I thought about it after I got home, I realized that I somehow sensed during the incident that I could not leave that woman alone and drive away.\u00a0 Thankfully, I didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

As I have mentioned in here before, I am a conflict avoider.\u00a0 I fail too often in not tapping into that inner core of me which mysteriously knows goodness, compassion and decency and can give me confidence in what I should do.\u00a0 Were I to always rely on that core in me, I might be better able to muster the courage to confront myself or others when my spirit perceives something wrong.\u00a0 By recognizing my fear, and admitting how it holds me back, I have taken a first step.<\/p>\n

The next step in mustering spiritual courage is to undertake a personal spiritual inventory.\u00a0 What are our core beliefs and values?\u00a0 What provokes our spiritual sense of moral evil and what part of us weeps with joy at moral good?\u00a0 What parts in us need growth and refinement?\u00a0 Understanding our spirit, we can know it, trust it and rely upon it when are fearful or too analytical.<\/p>\n

Finally, we should acknowledge and celebrate each instance when we exhibit spiritual courage, no matter how minor or small.\u00a0 With each success, we can know that we have stood on the side of good.\u00a0 The Dalai Lama once said that true religion is simple.\u00a0\u00a0 It has no need of great temples or complicated and elaborate theology.\u00a0 Our hearts, he said, are our temples and our theology is kindness.<\/p>\n

Truth, love and goodness is within each and every person.\u00a0 We are each born with such innate moral spirits.\u00a0 It is that spirit that animates the soul, ignites the heart and stirs us to greatness.\u00a0 As many of you related last Sunday, when our spirits have been touched, we can stand on a windswept shore and thrill at the wonder and beauty of the sea, the stars and all creation.\u00a0 When we investigate the miracle of our bodies or the wonder of birth and growth in children, we are in awe.\u00a0 When we witness other creatures alive, active and stirring up the miracles of their own reproduction and daily life, we can be reduced to tears.\u00a0 Our spirits allow us to feel great wonder.<\/p>\n

But so too do our spirits challenge us to be courageous and forthright.\u00a0 If we allow our spirits to guide many of our thoughts and actions, we are empowered to act courageously.\u00a0 We defy our fears and our rational minds and in our weakness, we become very, very strong.<\/p>\n

How much courage does it take for each of us to come here, to buck the prevailing winds of orthodox religion, narrow minded thinking and dogmatic interpretations of scriptures?\u00a0 How much courage does it take to continuously explore and ask questions instead of asserting absolute knowledge and faith?\u00a0 How much courage does it take to meet here in a diverse neighborhood with poverty, crime, and addictions all around?\u00a0 How much courage does it take to stand for the timeless ethics of Jesus – to advocate for and embrace those on the margins of life, the poor, the mentally challenged, the weak, the sick, the hungry, the homeless, the imprisoned, the transgendered, the lesbian, the gay, the aged and the powerless?\u00a0\u00a0 This place, this gathering of souls, is indeed a small place but it is a miraculous assembly.\u00a0 In our smallness and out of our weakness, may we find our strength.\u00a0 May each of us gaze into the great realms of the universe and then into the deep recesses of our souls, and touch our inner spirits.\u00a0 As we do, we will see visions of tremendous beauty and good.\u00a0 We will have sensed true morality.\u00a0 We will be emboldened to courageously battle forces of hate and injustice…and in the process, touch the face of the divine and of all eternity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Message 109, Touching the Spirit, Courage, 10-14-12 (This message contains some disturbing information which might be upsetting to children and young teens.) Click here to listen to message or read below:   Najibullah Quirashi is now a famous man whose life is nevertheless threatened.\u00a0 An Afghan journalist who was seriously injured and then exiled after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}