Session
7
Seeking the Sacred: Leading a Spiritual Life in a Secular World
TRIAL, THE STRUGGLE - General Roméo Dallaire
"...when we understand the joys and sufferings of life, and still operate out of hope and light, the world has the opportunity to create Heaven on Earth."
Index Larry's Meditation Chapter Summary Chapter Commentary Additional Links References
Larry's Dallaire Meditation -

It is difficult to facilitate a meditation which follows on the massacre of 800,000 men, women and children in 100 days. This is so because one of two major weaknesses I find distasteful in much Christian talk and practice is a too easy optimism in a world of hate and destruction. So perhaps we might begin with an anguished cry of abandonment that might well represent the devastation of so many of the earth’s inhabitants who justifiably feel abandoned by God.
PSALM 22: Verses 1 to 9, 21
Alone---I’m all alone.
There is no God; there are no friends;
I’m all alone.
I call all day, but no one calls me back;
I cry all night, but no one comforts me.
Could God create a world this rotten?
Could any God call this good?
Our ancestors were deluded.
They trusted God.
They thought God changed the course of history for them---
They actually believed it!
With scientific detachment, I know that I am nothing.
Nothing I do makes any difference.
Universes and social systems roll inexorably onward;
They mock my pathetic struggles;
They laugh at my lofty ideals.

Yet still I talk to you, as if you were real.
I argue with you, as if you had a mind to change.

The jaws of the carrion eaters are closing on my flesh;
I’m desperate, God!
Everyday Psalms ... James Taylor

CBC’s Brian Stewart confronted the issue of optimism in a query addressed to Romeo Dallaire:
STEWART: How can you have any optimism about human nature when you've seen really the "heart of darkness" itself -- the worst genocide of our recent decades?

DALLAIRE: Padre once asked me a similar question, and I said you know padre, now I know there's a God, because I actually shook hands and negotiated with the devil. And I know what he looks like; I know what it does; I know its character and I know the horror that can come from paradise turned into hell.

They were devils. And I couldn't see them as human," he says. "Just as I know there was a presence of a superior being on a couple of occasions, present as a physical vibrating sense to help me through very, very difficult moments. That same reality came through with those people. I was not discussing with humans. They had erased themselves. Which created in itself an ethical dilemma, do you negotiate with the devil? Or do you just take out your pistol and shoot him between the eyes. I describe at one point in the book where I walked in and for a second or whatever, long enough to be conscious of it, I wasn't sure if my hand would go take my pistol out or would move to shake their hand. It was that strong,"

The chapter on Dallaire which we are considering tonight does not provide any analysis of the nature of this devilry. Some have ventured the beginnings of some explanation. M. Scott Peck, for example, has noted the magnified presence of laziness and narcissism as one of the root causes in cases of “group think” and “group evil”. Peck, referring to the Mylai murders by US marines in the Vietnam War, asserted a form of regressive discipline:

“More than anything else, it is probably a matter of laziness. It is simply easy to follow, and much easier to be a follower than a leader.” (p. 233, People of the Lie).

In authoritative, if not authoritarian, military, political and religious institutions killing is justified in the name of race, class, nation and God. Wholesale butchery is much easier to justify when done in the name of God, or overcoming “the enemies of God” “witches”, “heretics” “aliens to Allah” “the axis of evil”.

I submit that there is no obvious and easy answer to the evil we are considering tonight. I do, however, hope we will face and weigh it, and not dodge or talk around it. Meister Eckhart has said that in the bleakest of moments or times we may just have to go on to “live for the sake of living”.

I opened by saying that many of us detest what we see as “blasé and shallow optimism”. Much Christian thought and practice can be too easily gift-wrapped as “accepted beliefs and doctrines”. But equally, some of us loath the constant harangue about suffering as the necessary prerequisite to all redemption. It is spoken of as if it were some fixed formula. In this regard Mel Gibson, for one, would have us believe that no human ever suffered physically as much as Jesus and so sets out to prove it in his ludicrous manner as director of “The Passion of Christ”. Gibson separates all other human suffering from his depiction of Jesus by shouts of “more red paint”.

No, what seems clear, I think, is what the Roman Catholic Romeo Dallaire and most thoughtful humans of all religious persuasions have said following large-scale injustices, whether the nuclear threat, the WW2 holocaust or the Rwandan Genocide. The very presence of this depth of evil is evidence of the necessity of love and justice in spite of it. If there is any transformation or redemption it is not so much mystical as it is practical—applied justice and compassion. Where there are no such qualities all is chaos and wholesale annihilation.

The practical application of compassion for the “least of these my sisters and brothers” might be said to be the strength of the Christian doctrine of “Incarnation”. But Hindu, Muslim and Judaic followers are equally passionate about God’s place in the midst of suffering. Rabbi Abraham Heschel, as one example, having narrowly avoided the Jewish holocaust of the second world war explains that “We have entered not only the dark night of the soul, but also the dark night of society. We must seek out ways of preserving the strong and deep truth of a living God theology in the midst of the blackout.”

Heschel holds central the notion that God does not stand outside the range of human suffering and sorrow. He is personally involved in, even stirred by, the conduct and fate of humans. God’s participation in human history…finds its deepest expression in the fact that God can actually suffer.”

In a like manner Buddhist Mindfulness constitutes a practice of immediateness which similarly calls forth compassion. Perhaps we can temper our Christian shortcomings by Buddhist and other eastern emphases on attending the here and now, learning from but also forgiving the past, patiently building what is always an unknown future and doing so by present actions of justice, courage and love. We may learn from the words of the Dalai Lama. If you are comfortable in doing so, let us read in unison:

We can reject everything else:
religion, ideology, all received wisdom.
But we cannot escape the necessity of love and compassion.
This, then, is my true religion, my simple faith….
Our own heart, our own mind, is the temple.
The doctrine is compassion.
--Dalai Lama,
Ethics for the New Millennium

FOOTNOTE: (not part of the presentation)

The evil which Dallaire confronts goes unanalyzed in nature, although its possible prevention by international attention and organization is posited by the Lt-General in his new book. M. Scott Peck, in his study of Mylai, Vietnam, and the wholesale murders of villagers including women and children by U.S. Marines, does harken back to laziness and narcissism as root causes. Peck describes “group evil” in Mylai, a group dynamics of dependency and narcissism where individuals routinely regress since: “More than anything else, it is probably a matter of laziness. It is simply easy to follow, and much easier to be a follower than a leader.” (p. 233, People of the Lie). This may be particularly so when procrastination and sloth replaces diligence in part because of the authoritative, in many instances authoritarian, nature of much military discipline. The same might be said of churches, mosques and synagogues where authoritative, or traditional tenets shape their adherents’ beliefs and thinking and thus their disposition whether or not to tenaciously confront the presence of evil or evil-doing.
Summary Notes - Jock
Romeo Dallaire is the model of the hero. He is the everyman who found the inner courage to stand his ground despite being abandoned by all. The theme of this book Seeking the Sacred is about finding the sacred where we are - in the secular world. For Dallaire it was not so much that he found the sacred, but that he found evil, and stood against it. His book "Shake Hands With the Devil", and this chapter tell about this evil.

Joseph Campbell was the scholar that brought back to us the meaning of the grand story of the hero. It is a good place to see Romeo Dallaire from.

VIDEO - Joseph Campbell - The Hero's Journey Part 6 - YouTubeLink 5:10

In Dallaire's chapter in Seeking the Sacred, he reviews the horror of Rwanda in 1994 and the elements of it. He thinks the idea among the "have" 20% of the world that things are going along very well indeed, even exponentially very well, to be "haughty and pretentious" in light of the facts. He makes a history lesson of post colonialism that concurs with that of Stephen Lewis. That since Africa has lost strategic purpose, the west has simply not treated it with concern or conscience. We have in consequence "20-100 year cycles of revolution resulting from ethnic disputes, racism, religion, and poverty."

And when Dallaire was on the spot, the nations of the world broke their commitments to send help. "...not one". "The UN was inept, emasculated, and hedging its bets. ... the world refused to get involved. ... let them wipe each other out." He points out that at the same time, the world put billions of dollars and tens of thousands of troops into Yugoslavia. Only when the death toll was over 300,000 did the Security Council send troops, but even then, not trained men nor equipment, but to developing nations. So the toll of death and dislocation continued unabated. The world was more interested in the trial of OJ Simpson. He tells of being ordered to fly not doctors and nurses in to help the 400,000 orphaned children but to fly 87 hurt children out, and how they had to wait 11 hours on a hot runway for the interchange to take place - because of the need for media coverage.

VIDEO - excerpts from Hotel Rwanda used in an Amnesty International appeal - YouTubeLink 7:23

The General describes some of what he witnessed. Children coerced into killing each other. Churches used as killing places. People giving their killers bullets rather than die by machete. Soldiers that see things that no one should ever have to see and have to decide in "nanoseconds" to kill children that are themselves killing.

And he saw soldiers without hesitation stepping into mayhem to helping bleeding people - without regard for the danger of HIV. He asked the officers of the 26 nations represented in his contingent who would be so reckless and brave. Only 3 said of course - the Dutch, the Guineans and the Canadians. Where does such compassion come from he asks?

VIDEO - Romeo Dallaire - Leadership of the Future. - YouTubeLink - 5:14

General Dallaire's gift is to ask the penetrating question. And so he does, one after the other.

Why he asks was the American response to the killing of 3000 in the 9/11 tradedy a search and destroy operation of terrorists, rather than a locating and bring to trial of the guilty criminals? Not disconnected he suggests from the fact the US has not signed the protocol of the International Criminal Court. How is this examination of alternatives not viable in the greatest democracy? Why did the UN not step into Iraq when the US got to Bagdad? Why has Canada abdicated its own defense? Why have we built a fortress of North America and so sustain the rage in other parts of the world?

He proposes that Canada should and is qualified to act in this new world. "We have got to support the suffering nations and give them a reason to believe in humanity, to regain hope, to inspire their young so they can believe in a decent future." Canada he says "will be held accountable." He believes the NGOs are the greatest hope for the future.

In response to questions about his encounter with evil in Rwanda, he said "I am not healed." and "I know there's a God because I negotiated with his enemy."

VIDEO - Africa - Land of Chaos - YouTubeLink - 2m
Additional Links
The CBC did a documentary - Carol Off interviewing Dallaire about these matters, and have made it available in their archives. CBCLink

National Film Board - Info on the Documentary "Shake Hands with the Devil". NFBLink

Here's a When you visit YouTube, you'll be given related videos to choose from, so any one of a series will show up its neighbours. The above link of Campbell will show for example the other 5 parts of the series on The Hero's Journey. There is another series of lectures by Campbell on YouTube that speaks to the inner part of the that journey, and this link is the most salient - part 2 of 5 in the series The Inner Journey YouTubeLink.

Charlie Rose (PBS) has a very good interview with Romeo Dallaire reviewing Rwanda and the future of Africa (including Darfur) (from 24 minutes to the end of the 1 hour show). GoogleVideoLink.

Canadian Voices puts a lecture by a Canadian each week on their website, and have now got quite a wonderful collection. They also have a podcast feed of these. Here is a link to their page featuring Romeo Dallaire's speech on his current project of working to deal with the problem of child soldiers. "Child Soldiers in Africa: New Angles on this Instrument of War" - Carlton, March 2005.

There is reconciliation also in Rwanda. And that surely is the spirit we seek to find.

Here first, picking up on Romeo's current work with child soldiers is a piece from the Australian Broadcasting System (only 30 minutes) that speaks of how these damaged children are being brought back into community. In the mind of the child soldier. Here is the transcript. And here is the audio from podfeed. (yes, ABC podcast All in the Mind.)

The reconciliation must needs be in the familiar traditions of the people. They call it Gacaca. Here's a sample. YouTubeLink.

Then I'd like to introduce Jan Oberg, a Norwegian photographer and peace activist. On Reconstruction. His photos from 2 trips to neighbouring Burundi. And if ever there is evidence of the spirit in the secular it is in his website for alternative news in the world. The Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research.

And as a closing meditation, the artist wyclef singing with a choir of children from Rwanda on the past and the future of that troubled country. YouTubeLink 3:45
Discussion - Discuss: What can I, as a Canadian, do to improve the living conditions of the poor in 80% of the world?
Dallaire quotes:

"There is something more to Canada than what we are today." (58)

"We need to begin thinking with our hearts. When we do, it will cost us something." (60-61)

"I know there is a God because I negotiated with his enemy." (62)

"Perhaps we should begin by thinking about the living conditions of the poor in our own city of Calgary, and on the reserves of Canada's First Nations. Then we can make connections with the poor elsewhere. Perhaps we can do both at the same time.
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St. David's United Church.Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Jan
2007