Termites' Life: A Story We Can Learn From...

I like to eat everything woods and dry grass.  Humans do not like me because I destroy their buildings, trees, and flowers. They try to kill me with all kind of chemical liquids but they do not know that I must feed myself and my colony with those shorts of materials.

Humans call me “termite” or “white ant” because I am in the family of ant but I am also different from ant. We build our house in the ground near wood and we live in the group. People call our group is a colony of termites or white ants. We do not like to stay alone because our enjoyment and surviving depend on other termites, however, we don’t like to mingle with termites from other colony. In our colony we have our king and queen, eggs, larvae, soldiers, workers, and nymphs.

Our king and queen come from nymphs and when the nymphs have had matured wings, they are called “swarmers”. Then, they will leave our colony and fly to find lights. There they will find their destiny; they will find their partner and at the end they will be king and queen to start new colony. Therefore, they meet each other for the first time usually on the beginning of the rainy season and after pairing-up, they shed their wings and start finding chamber near wood for queen to lay eggs. During this time king and queen take care of eggs and these eggs will develop to become termite-workers. Thus, cycle of our life as termites begins again.

You, humans can learn from us, termites. Our presence and our cycle of life could teach you something about life itself. Life is about struggle to survive. We know deeply inside of us that many would like to have us around them and that our body could offer nutrition for some insects. However, we do not hide ourselves by stopping ourselves doing our duties; the termites-workers must seek and look for the food; the solders protect our colony, and our queen always produces eggs for the future of the colony. So please, you, humans, do not give up your life but do the best for your colony (your country). You must strive for the best for your country even there are so many challenges and difficulties that try to destroy your colony.

We, termites, follow our destiny. As termites we never dream to become other insects or animals. We know that one day some of us will start their own colony as termites; we follow each process of life as a process of making us ready to be a king and queen. However, each process of our beings starting from beings eggs, larvae, soldiers or workers, and beings nymphs and then to beings king or queen, is a normal process of our life as termites. We imagine that after leaving the colony because of our growing of wings we could become a butterfly but it never happens. We actually leave the colony to become independent king and queen to start another cycle of termites’ colony. Therefore, humans, you have your destiny, but you must know that you cannot be God or high humans. Your destiny is to become independent humans who will start your own life and begin your own colony (family). You leave your “nets” in order to start your own life. But the process of learning has been prepared for you, i.e. the process of socialization and education, in your humans’ system. Therefore, you, humans, should form humanly system that enables your members in each level to participate in actualize their being humans.

Looking from our point of view as termites, I could imagine that humans can have bright future to fulfil their purpose as humans by searching and looking for “lights”. Why I said so because we, termites, we find our true partners when we come closer to light. In this light we find our call of being king and queen. Thus, humans can find their true call of becoming “king and queen” in your society by coming closer to light. Remember that light offers opportunities for that purpose but at the same time it attracts dangers that can stop and destroy it because it happens to us as termites. We come to light and find our true partner there but in light also many of us lose their life because so many predators waiting to destroy our life.

Who is your light? Termites find light, created and provided by humans, but you, humans, must have a light. It can be your faith and believe; it can be your family and friends; it can be something important. However, the function of light is to lead you to find your true self and to find your destiny. So please, don’t stop your selves looking at the present condition of yourselves but this present state of yours can lead you to another stage of your life journey, where you will find your self-actualization, to be king or queen. Take care.

Kenosis and Sunyata

1.      Introduction

The doctrine of Sunyata in Buddhism seems to have a similar meaning to self-emptying (kenosis) in Christianity. However, if we try to look both concepts more deeply, we will find that both of them come from a completely different starting point: Buddhism's starting point is the mystery of human suffering and how humanity evades suffering while the Christian perspective is the mystery of incarnation of God in Jesus Christ.

In this paper I will try to see the concept of Sunyata and its relationship with humanity in Buddhism and then try to compare it to my Christian understanding of God and God's relation to humanity. In so doing, I try to investigate some key elements, of which could open up some opportunities for a dialogue between Christianity and Buddhism.

2.      Starting Point: the Truth in Buddhism

The Buddhist's understanding of Sunyata, I think, comes from their understanding of humanity in relation to creation where everything is interdependent. The truth about it is that the existential phenomenon of humanity is suffering.  Humanity is bound by a cycle of suffering: the experience of giving birth, sickness, death, and then re-birth. If one wants to get rid of all this suffering, she/he should get rid of all her/his desires, wants or needs. This way can be achieved by self-discipline, i.e., through the noble eightfold path: right beliefs, right thought, right speech, right conduct, right vocation, right effort, right attention (meditation) and right concentration. By following these eight paths one can hope to reach the state of an Arahat where she/he is freed from the necessity of re-birth.

This starting points show us that in Buddhism self-discipline and practice are needed in order to achieve enlightenment and to get rid of suffering. Those who reach this state of life can experience SUNYATA. It means that humanity has an opportunity to experience "emptiness" in this life. An experience of Sunyata is an experience of Buddha and enlightenment in this life.

 

3.      The Buddhist's Concept of Sunyata

Sunyata is the Sanskrit word for "zeroness" or "emptiness". This doctrine in Buddhism is used to explain the doctrine of the relativity and interdependence of all phenomena. According to Nagarjuna (the Indian Buddhist philosopher who founded the Middle Doctrine School and one of the chief of Mahayana Buddhism, lived in 100-165), Sunyata is not nothingness, but it is truth or the absolute reality of things or "suchness" of the universe. Sunyata is not being as distinguished from beings, nor is it a transcendent God distinguished from this world, nor is it nothingness distinguished from somethingness of ordinary life. It is not to be found outside oneself, nor to be found inside oneself. If it were any of these things, or if it were found in any particular place, it would be a relative emptiness, not ultimate reality.

Sunyata, therefore, is simply a name for the ultimately un-nameable force that makes things in its uniqueness, be what they are (James W. Heisig, Spirituality Today, Autum 1987, Vol.39). It seems to me that the concept of Sunyata is like Tao (the universal soul of nature or the all pervading energy of nature) in Taosim, which can never be put into a concept. It is an unnamed name.

 

4.      Sunyata and its Relationship with Humanity

When we acknowledge that Sunyata is the truth or the absolute reality of all things -its force is to make things be what they are-, we then can see that humanity in their existential reality of suffering because of desires, needs and wants can achieve its uniqueness as human by experiencing Sunyata by doing or following the noble eight-path in their lives. This condition is based on the fact that Buddhism has been a religion of practice rather than of grace. According to Japanese thinkers, in the absolute selflessness of pure experience, one finds the ultimate reality (Sunyata) that grounds our derivative experience of subjective selfhood and the objective world. All subjective and objective realities of conscious experience are forms of pure experience, which are unified by the self. Therefore, the unity of pure experience in humanity finds the oneness of reality as Sunyata, i.e., the original and true self of all things.

5.       A Comparative Study: The God of Christianity

 In Christianity the mystery of incarnation of Jesus Christ becomes the crucial point because it was the moment that God, who is far and transcendent became human in Jesus Christ who was, is and will be close to humanity and creation and immanent in human history. Therefore, God who became man in Jesus Christ has a special relation to creation. This means that God is the source of all creation. The doctrine of creatio ex nihilo, "creation is never from nothing, but out of God" shows us an understanding of God as the source of all. We, therefore, can use the doctrine of Sunyata by saying "creatio ex sunyata". It means that absolutely transcendent God is absolutely immanent in creation. Creation is the act in which God communicates God's reality.

The second point I want to make is that the God of Christianity is the God who has a special relationship with the humanity. Humanity was created in the image and likeness of God and humanity is sanctified by the presence of God in Jesus Christ. This consequence is for the benefit of humanity because of the grace brought by Jesus Christ. Dr. Rewata Dhamma, who spoke of Buddhist-Christian dialogue in London 27 March 1993, stated that:

In Christianity, one can also say that we all have an original union with God, given the creative kenosis of God at the ground of our being, and that we can obtain a realization of this fact through a redemptive union with God. But there is a major difference here between Buddhism and Christianity. In Buddhism one can become a Buddha in the realization of emptiness (by self discipline). But in Christianity, one cannot say that one can become a Christ in realization of the redemption. Rather, this Christian realization is a participation in Christ's redemptive kenosis.

The third point is the self-emptying of Christ found in Phil. 1:5-11. The Person of Jesus is the self-emptying God. The suffering of Jesus and his death on the Cross depicted the profound realization of his self-emptiness. Masao Abe, in Divine Emptiness and Historical Fullness: A Buddhist-Jewish-Christian Conversation with Masao Abe (Edited by Christopher Ives, 1995), on his theological reflection on the self-emptying of God by focusing on the kenosis hymn of Philippians 2:5-11, states that:

In the case of Christ, kenosis is realized in the fact that one who was in the form of God emptied himself and assumed the form of a servant. It originated in the Will of God. It is not that God become something else by his partial self-giving, but that God is something --or more precisely, that God is each and every thing-- by his total self-emptying. Only through this total kenosis is God truly God. Here we realize the reality of God which is entirely beyond conception and objectification. This kenotic God is the ground of the kenotic Christ.

6.      Conclusion

The ideas of Sunyata in Buddhism and Kenosis in Christianity have some similarities as well as differences but these elements may be developed further for dialogue. Sunyata is the absolute reality of all things which in the Christian understanding can be identified with God as the source of all creation. Sunyata in Buddhism can be gained by self-discipline and Kenosis in Christianity can only be achieved by the grace of God in Jesus Christ.  We, therefore, can learn from Buddhist's self-discipline. By personal prayer and meditation, we can achieve our self-emptying, which is the mark of our discipleship; the mark of our genuine desire to live in Christ.

A Hope from the Lake of Galilee and Dead Sea

I was fascinated and amazed to find out about the two big lakes in Palestine/Israel: Lake of Galilee or Lake of Gennesareth or Lake of Tiberias and Lake of Death or Death Sea. These two lakes give me a food for thought and to reflect on our life. They give insight on our life and deepen our being human.  

If you are Christian and you read the New Testament, you will find out that Jesus was calling His disciples on the bank of the Lake of Galilee, teaching on the boat by the shore-side of the lake, walking on the water of the lake, asking Simon Peter to catch fish on that lake, even after His Resurrection Jesus was appearing on the lake side, roasting some fish. So why was the Lake of Galilee so important for the people in Jesus’ time? It was because the lake gave life to the surroundings: people were coming to catch fish in the lake because so many fish were there; people were taking water from the lake for their daily use; even some big villages were found by the side of the lake. We can say that this lake gives life to the living creatures there.

I am just a bit of curious to see on the Google Map about this region of that lake. I discover that there are so many big farms and town by the side of the lake. There are lives by and in the lake.

Moreover, it is at the south of the Lake of Galilee, following the river Jordan, we will find another lake, called Death Sea or Lake of Death. Why people call it such name is that I don’t know but by its name we can say that that there is no living creature in it or by its side. By the fact that this lake has a high contain of salt or hyper saline water that make floating easily, it brings no life in it.

Interestingly these two lakes: Lake of Galilee and Lake of Death, gets the water from the same source, that is, the Jordan River. From north of the country, flowing the Jordan River that fills the Lake of Galilee and flowing trough and it enters the Lake of Death.

The question that comes up in my mind and that brings a sense of wonder within myself is that why do both lakes get different result: one brings life and other brings death, even though the two receive the same source of water? The Lake of Galilee spreads life in, around, and by itself while the Lake of Death produces no life around itself.

Therefore, why does the lake of Galilee spread life and brings life to every creature which is in contact with it? The answer is laid upon its ability to open itself. On the south part of the lake, there is an opening, which brings the water from the lake to flow out from the lake. This opening is the key. As water of the river Jordan flows to the lake from the North, the lake also allows its water to flow out at the South. The lake receives fresh water from the River Jordan and continues to refresh itself by allowing its water flowing out the lake. That is why the Lake of Galilee always produces the fresh water for the living creatures around itself and brings life to all.

On the other side, why does the Lake of Death produce death within and surround itself?  As we know that wherever, the high contains of salt in the water, there will be not any organism found in it. That is the nature of the Death Sea (the Lake of Death). But why does it produce high density of salt? Looking at the hot climate in this region, in which evaporation is very high, we will find some minerals coming in stay within the lake and make the lake contained high density of salt. So the key answer here is that Death Sea receives all the water coming in from River of Jordan but stops all the water within itself. There is NO an opening to let its water flowing out. Because of this, the Lake of death brings death and there is not a single living habitats staying within the lake and its shore-side is full of black mud which is not suitable environment for living creatures. However, in this deserted place and abandoned area like Death Sea, the goodness and blessings coming out from the lands. As we know that the black mud of the death sea contains many minerals for human body; the minerals of black mud can be used as a therapeutic and cosmetic treatments.

Nature gives a lesson for being humans; there are some moral lessons we can learn from the facts of the nature of both the Lake of Galilee and the Lake of Death above for our life. 

It is about life. Life is a mystery like nature but it can reveal itself when we come to meditate and contemplate it. Life has its own beginning, process, and purpose; such as river does it with life, it has source of streams, the process of flowing river and of filling the lake/sea, and at the end to fulfill the purpose on its ways. We are here and we want to see life; every experience we encounter and live is the experience of life but what do we see in life? What do we do with our life? How do we see life as a fairness of life? Is it a blessing and a grace? It depends on us who live our life.

However, life is not seen only from our human perspective, because it is also from the faith in God. That is God’s perspective. It means that life has its own source, that is, God. God is the source of life. As it is from God, life has its own goodness, blessings, and graces. When the life that flows from God touches other beings, they become alive and bring life. Even non-living beings have a goodness and blessings.

What is more, like the Lake of Galilee which brings life, should our life be. But in order to have life, we should open ourselves to share the blessings we receive freely from God. We must open ourselves to pour out each blessing that comes from God. We become the channel of God’s blessings to others. Not like the Lake of Death which brings death and no life found in it because it receives water and refuses to open it to sharing the water to others, should not be our life.  Our openness to others brings life and our self-selfishness brings death to others.

However, we cannot be so negative about our life when we see that our life is like a dead sea. Even though it is so, we know that we can still use this condition (dead sea condition) for the betterment of our life; we should have a hope because “at the end of this dark tunnel of our life, there is always a light”. We can make use of our bad and darkness experiences and turn them into something useful for our life and the life of others. I remember a writer said “the purpose of our life is to help others but if you cannot help them, at least don’t hurt them”. So, be a blessing for others because of the free blessing you have received from God.

BCL: the Story of Hope from Selebi Phikwe

Some days ago on the 7^th October 2016 in town Selebi-Phikwe, at which,  I have been residing, I heard the Government of Botswana liquidated the great mining and smelting company, BCL. This company has been in this town for 60 years because it begun to operate in august 1956. The town has been growing because of the presence of BCL. It becomes the only company that holds the town and other businesses in this town. I come to have an interest in this company not only because of its reputation for this town, but also because of its impacts economically and socially for the people. This liquidation rises up some questions for me to think and to reflect on it, such as, what will the future of this town? What will be the situation of its thousands of workers and their families? What will be its impacts on other small businesses around town?

Some business people I encountered told me about their worries. Some of them have direct-business relations to the BCL; some sell their services to BCL; some shop owners worry about their dropping in goods-sells. Moreover, many families of the BCL’s workers are sad because of this situation. Government of Botswana, having a big stake and responsibility for the BCL and knowing the impacts of liquidation for the social, politic, and economical spares of its people, has been in talk with the managements of the BCL, the local government, and with the workers to take a right decision for the best of the whole country.

However, looking and experiencing this situation, many people I met told me that they have a hope that one day it will be okay. They told me also to pray for the best coming out from the Mines.

In my reflection, I think about there are seasons in life: there is time to plant and to harvest; there is time to be born and to die; there is time of laughs and mourns; and there is time for everything. So when I see this situation, I ask myself: “Has the time of harvests in BCL finished? Or is it a time for us all, starting from those in decision making to those in laboring areas, in administrations, to think creatively about diversifying our economy dependency on mining?’ I then think of SPEDU: Selebi Phikwe Economy Diversification Unit, on which, this town and region has put their trust on, has a huge and challenging responsibility for the people on this town and region.

People of this town are very sad, stressed, and worried because of this liquidation but they have a hope on the Government and they have hope.

What can we learn from this situation is:

1. We must always be prepared: we cannot live as if life was all in roses; life has its ups and downs; life has its own challenges and difficulties. Therefore, starting from now, we must prepare ourselves by being creative looking for opportunity to develop our living or by learning some skills that can open up some opportunities for us.

2. Everything has an end: there are no lasting jobs, no lasting harvests, no lasting diamonds, and no lasting coppers. So when there is a time of plenty, we must save and think to make use of the plenty for next challenges where there is no harvest.

3. Everything has a purpose: there is a purpose of having a mining and smelting BCL and it has fulfilled its purpose by developing this town and this region; however, the liquidity of the BCL also has a purpose for us a town or as a country. But we must look from the big picture of life as country. This liquidity is making us think to be uncountable, transparent, and professional in every areas of our work.

The Road to a Friendship

 
It came without any plan … I was there and you too…

I saw you and started to recognize your presence: you are different yet interesting…

"Hi, how are you?"  You opened the conversation…

"Hi…" I replied.

 I knew that you had been aware of my presence… Then I introduced myself to you… and…

You gave your address and phone number…

In time, I moved to another level of understanding of who you are…

and in the silence of my heart I said "I like You"…

You are different yet special…

 But at the same time I was in an awareness of who I am… and in silence I promised, 
"I want to commit myself to the service of the Kingdom".

In time, I purified our relationship… and amazingly, you understood me…

You received me as I want to be…

You are now my friend and I am your friend…

I am here because you were with me…

and I will be there because you are in my memory…

 By elfridus ujan

 My friends, the central image of this narrative is about one's openness to be loved, to be accepted, and to be understood. Its message for us is that a true friendship only comes in a time, in a process, and in one's honesty. The narrative expresses Jesus's story in the Gospel of John when He offered a true friendship to Mary of Magdala's actions of taking a pint of pure and expensive perfume, pouring it on Jesus' feet and wiping the feet with her hair (Jn. 12:3). Jesus really accepted and understood the actions of Mary and Jesus knew her love. This shows us about Love, which is the central message of Jesus' teachings. Love provides energy in relationship: Jesus loved Mary and Mary loved Jesus.

Therefore, my friends, understanding, accepting, and loving each other are keys of friendship. These values are the antidote of our contemporary culture today, which is perceiving relationship in terms of money; relationship is respected by how much money you have. Money is everything for our culture today. People said that "if you have money, you will find easily friends". However, this narrative challenges our today's friendship. A true friendship comes when there is love, understanding, and acceptance. 

The story of Hope: Botswana’s Story

When I was landed for the first time in Gaborone, Botswana in December 2005, I found that the place was dry because it was summer time but not enough rainfall during that time. The lands were so sandy and no single grass was growing. Some trees around my place seemed dying. However, people were so welcoming by their beautiful smile and greeting me: “Dumelang” (greeting)

A day after my arriving in Botswana, rain was falling heavily. People were happy and I could see a bigger smile on people’s face. They were talking about going to prepare their fields and planting water melon, corns, sorghum, pumpkins, and sweet reeds. It was life. I happened to see a group of donkeys were playing happily running after each others. Life had come. And after a week, grass were coming out plentiful on the sands and trees became green.

 Botswana is semi-arid desert country with a well known desert of “Kalahari”. Kalahari derives from the local language Tswana “Kgala” meaning “great thirst”. The rainfalls in Kalahari are around 110 mm to 500 mm per year. Botswana has around 8 dry months and around 1 to 4 wet months.  It shows that Botswana has a very little rain falls in a year. Because of the very rarely rainfalls in this country, people see and perceive rain as a blessing from God. Every year every village and town held special prayer asking for rain. There is a month of prayer for rain. The cry of hope for the rain runs in the veins and hearts of the living creatures on this land.

During the dry months, especially when coming to the end of the dry season, everything seems to die: there seems no life at all on the ground; a single grass cannot be found on the sands; trees are dying; animals look unhealthy. Kgala “great thirst” is in this land now. Land is in great thirst; seeds are sleeping and waiting for water; trees are standing dry longing for water; animals are gasping to quench their thirst; people are longing for water; living beings are crying for rain. But because of this great thirst, people of this land have hope as Thales of Miletus, a pre-Socrates Greek philosopher said, “hope is the only good that is common to all people; those who have nothing else posses hope still”.  The feelings of being poor are being in still in their whole being during this time. They have many cows and goats but in this time they feel poor. They own big lands but there is nothing they can do with their lands. But what they have is hope; hope for water and hope for rain.

Thus, in the olden days when English saw this country having nothing and nothing to benefit for, they saw that this land was without hope for them. Then, they left and gave the country back to Batswana.  This was a beginning of hope for the country to build a hope and to become hope for its people. Botswana used to be the poorest country in southern part of Africa and now the economy and its development is one of the best in Africa. They used to have nothing and what they had was only hope. Moreover, just a year after the independence, the great contains of diamond were founded in this land. Non living things brought up a hope for living beings. However, the finding of this precious stone was a great hope for Botswana, the people in their deepest hearts were still longing for PULA.

PULA is the very word and the only word that is used to close a speech from many public leaders in Botswana. It tells us that PULA is very important. It is not only the name of the Botswana’s currency and Setswana for rain but also it shows a depth meaning, that is, blessing.

Pula (rain) is blessing and Pula (money) is the blessing. Pula is blessing for dry land; it is blessing for the dying trees; it is blessings for resting seeds; it is blessing for sick animals; it is blessing for Batswana. For Batswana, rain is life and rain is blessing. It is not coincident to say that Pula is “Madi Ya Botswana” (Rain is blood of Botswana) or (Money is the blood of Botswana). This means that like blood that becomes the source of life of a living being, Rain is the only source of their life to bring life and to bring energy and strength for all living creatures.

Hope is about looking at the positive side of life even surroundings are negative. Hope is the only light that can brings changes in life. Hope is what we count our days of struggle as ways of growing. The story of Botswana’s hope is our story of recognizing that in God’s time the blessing (PULA) will come. I hope for PULA.

The Story of Bamboo Tree: the Story of Life

The nature can teach us something about life. Flora and fauna can reveal something about the meaning of our life. Do you know about bamboo tree?

1. The Story of Bamboo Three

One day, a farmer went to his farm and he wanted to plant some Chinese bamboo trees and some mango trees. He decided to plant those bamboo trees on the one side of his farm and mango trees on the other side. He prepared the holes and put some good manure for those seeds; planted them and water them.

Day by day, he took care of them by watering them and putting some fertilizers needed. He was very faithful doing this job. He took care of them day by day and week by week. After some weeks when he visited the area of mango tree, he was very happy to see that the mango tree had sprouted; there was a small appearance on ground. He knew that mango trees were alive but when he came to the side of the bamboo trees, he found nothing. However, he continued taking care of them. After a year his mango trees were growing nice and healthy because of his regular cares.

Two years came to pass and he still continued doing his regular work, i.e., taking care of mango trees and bamboo trees. Sometimes he felt to give up on bamboo trees because of finding no result.  “Shall I continue to water and take care of the bamboo trees?” he was thinking, “already more than two years I have been taking care of bamboo trees but even a sprout of it was not there.”

On the end of third year, he realized that the flowers had come out from mango trees. He was very happy because he knew that soon he would enjoy the fruits of mango trees. Mango trees finally produced the sweet and nice fruits on the fourth year. However, he did not see any sign of life on the bamboo trees. He was wondering whether the bamboo trees had died already or not. He felt that he had failed to have a bamboo tree in his farm. This situation discouraged him.  In spite of this situation, he decided to continue taking care of the bamboo trees. He said, “I have chosen good seed, prepared the lands and put fertilizers on it, planted them with love, and taken care of them so there is no reason to give up on them”.

One morning on the beginning of the fifth year, while walking and checking his farm and thinking of his mango trees that had given him fruits and how sad he was on his bamboo trees, he moved unintentionally to the side where he planted bamboo trees and clearing some weeds on that side, he was so surprise to find an opening on the ground; it was small appear of bamboo tree. “They are alive”, he shouted happily. He was checking each hole where he planted the bamboo tree; they were all coming out nicely. They really broke open the ground to pass through it. He thought gratefully, “wow. It is wonderful; it is miracle, and it is hope”.

He continued doing his work taking care of his plants. He was happy that finally he could see his mango trees and bamboo trees. However, he was amazed to find out that only in six weeks there was a remarkable growth of his bamboo trees. Now he could see that his bamboo trees were growing already 6 feet and now was higher than mango trees.

The farmer was happily having mango trees and bamboo trees in his farm. Sometimes he made use of mango trees branches and bamboo trees stick in his farming life. He built a small hut by some branches of mango trees and he made some house furniture using bamboo.

One day, a disaster came to the farmer’s region. Strong hurricane wind came and destroyed many houses and lives on that area. The farmer’s farm and house also were among them. This disaster and calamity brought a sense of hopeless on him. He felt nothing and losing hope in his life. But one morning after recovering from the disaster, he went to see his farm. He found all were destroyed; his mango trees were uprooted and fallen scattering around the farm. One miracle was that he found his bamboo trees were still standing on the ground. His bamboo trees brought him hope to restart his life. He learned that during the five years of growth, the bamboo trees actually grow deeper and deeper in the ground. He could not see the growth because their roots were buried in the ground. Bamboo trees survived in the time of disaster of hurricane because their strong roots were buried deeper in the ground.

2. The Moral of the Story

The faithfulness of the farmer: the farmer could have given up on the bamboo trees. He could have stopped to take care of bamboo trees after seeing years of not making a good result. However, he did not do so. He continued and persevered to take care of bamboo trees; he did not quit to take care of bamboo trees. This kind of character is what we need in this life. We should have hope and never give up even at the moment of which we cannot see the result. We are living in the time of seeing result as the most important of life. People who produce nothing are seen as failures. However, we need people like the farmer who can bring hope for the society and give another chance for people. And we have encountered such people in our life who by their own ways bring hope to others. They are always faithful to their duty/work in order to bring others to reach their self actualization.

Bamboo tree’ following the essence of its nature: Bamboo tree was not complaining of not growing as fast as mango tree. Bamboo tree knows its condition and its ways of growing. It needs almost five years to appear on the ground surface and it needs only six weeks to grow higher than mango tree. In this life, everything created has a purpose. Things are created for a very specific purpose. Therefore, human beings are molded by cultures, knowledge, conditions, and circumstances. We have our ways of growth: some have a growth faster in emotional, some spiritual, some physical, and so on; some are good at maths, some at sport, some at social study, and so on.  We cannot put all in the same frame and make them think and act as we want them to be. Bamboo tree, which has its own way of growing, differ from what that of mango tree.  Thus, in this world that is full of diversity of languages, ethnics, cultures, religions, and believes, we must come to recognize who we are and the goal of our being here and now. There are some slogans such as “unity in diversity” and “one heart in many faces”.  However, these show that we must respect each person as he/she is and try to help them to grow in their uniqueness for the good of all.

Preparing time for future disaster: bamboo tree was not growing as we expect it to be because it prepared itself: preparing to grow deeper in order to grow up. The five years of deeper growth showed us that there is time in life, especially our early life to put a good foundation for the future. It may take long time but it prepares our life not only for good life, which produces fruits, but also for time of disaster. Bamboo tree could stay up during the hurricane because it had deep roots. Therefore, when we want to stay erect during the time of disaster in our life, we need time to put our roots deeper. We need to be prepared in our faith, hope, and love; we need to be prepared in our knowledge and our physical strength.  We need to be equipped to face any disaster in the future.

Finally, the story of bamboo tree is the story of our life: life is about process of becoming what we are supposed to be. We must open ourselves for the better and for the worst in life. Life is dynamic, not static. Therefore, we could become like a bamboo tree and at the same time like a mango tree or a farmer. It is about choice we make: the choice to be or to do; the choice to live or to die; the decision to continue our journey or to give up.  We will encounter some people who act like the farmer who refused to  give up but also we will find some people who give up life. We will find some people like mango tree that grew fast and produced the fruits but could not manage to face hurricane of life. But also we will know people who can act like bamboo tree. They are very slow to grow according to our senses but actually they find their purpose on the course of time and stay strong in the time of disaster. What I hope is that we should not give up in life; we have our ways of actualizing our potentiality.  

Critical Feminist Hermeneutics on the Women's Issues: Wearing a Veil and Female Genital Mutilation

1.      Introduction

The starting point of feminist theology as a theology of liberation came out from the universal women's experience, especially, their experiences of oppression. Specific impacts of their experience are influenced by social, political and cultural locations of women. Therefore the saying, "what we see depends on where we stand" points out the importance of our cultural context as our standing point in shaping our view of life. It influences our perception, attitude, behavior and value towards an object weather it is an issue, a person, or a group of people.

In this paper I will take a stance on how a cultural context shapes one's response to feminist theology. I am going to present, first of all, two cultural contexts of the issues on women: wearing of veil and female genital mutilation and seeing those issues on how cultural context perceives women and how women in their cultural context perceive the women's roles in their society. I try to develop "the how" by discovering its process.

2.      Women's Issues in their Cultural Context

The first issue: the issue of wearing a veil. The veil, in some cultures, especially in the middle-east and some Muslim countries, has a special meaning and symbolizes women's roles in that specific culture. The veil itself is a face covering or a piece of material worn over the head and shoulders. Interestingly, in Arabic, the word for veil "hijab" means an amulet to keep away the evil eye. Why do they give this meaning to it?

            Elisabeth and Robert Fernea in their observation and study point out that the veil has religious, social, and economical dimensions. In the religious dimension the veils women wear announce to the people that they are Muslims and therefore, they should be treated with respect. The veil signals their religious faith.

However, it seems that the influence of their social backgrounds becomes the point why they are wearing veil. This practice is rooted in the male view of women in the society where the woman is seen as a thing that has to be protected. An Egyptian anthropologist, Nadia Abu Zahra, states that "the veil expresses men's status, power, wealth, and manliness. It also helps preserve men's image of virility and masculinity (but men do not admit it). Men claim that one of the purposes of the veil is to guard women's honor." And according to Fatma Mernissi, a Moroccan sociologist, "women are seen by men in Islamic societies as in need of protection because they are unable to control their sexuality."

The second issue: the issue of female genital mutilation. The practice of female genital mutilation, which is the rites of passage from childhood to adulthood, is very important rites in some African countries. This kind of practice is seen by us as a violation against woman rights. However, as an African feminist theologian, T. M. Hinga points out the importance of the rites of passage in her African culture. She says that female puberty rites in African culture is very important for the young girls because it is the rites of passage, which is to facilitate the transition of the girl child from childhood to adulthood. She argues that the ritual is needed to help the child make a smooth transition physically, psychologically, and spiritually into womanhood.

Therefore, this type of rite, female genital mutilation, is a way of formation for the young girls. This rite contributes social, psychological, and spiritual formation for the young girls or women. Through this rite they can face their role as adults confidently in the society; this rite can give individual (a woman) a strong sense of social definition and personal pride. Through this rite a woman can define her role and her function in and for her society.

            Therefore, if a woman does not do this kind of ritual, she will feel unaccepted by her society. Hinga also argues that this rite is so important for a woman, particularly in matters of her sexuality and identity as woman. If she is not prepared to it, she will become a victim of such problems like teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and so on. Furthermore, the female genital mutilation, which is seen as a part of female puberty rites, brings feelings of woman’s sense of belonging to her society. The rite prepares a woman to act for her society; her identity as "real woman" will be recognized by her society because the rite validates her passage into adulthood and prepares her for marriage and for motherhood. This rite, therefore, is very important for the life of society; it holds the structure of the community because through this, the society produces an adult to take great responsibility in the society for the life and continuity of the society.

3.      How Cultural Context Shapes One's View on Women

Sociologically, we are determined culturally because of the process of socializing in our life. We learn values, behaviors, and attitudes from our own family, schools, and the community or group we have lived. Hence, it's not a strange thing to say that a culture determined by male system directly or indirectly is able to shape one's system of values, which put men superior than women.

We have known that there are different kinds of people's response to women's issues depending on the cultural context they belong to and on the awareness of the people about these issues. Some people see that the culture imposes the practices (the practice of wearing a veil or of female genital mutilation) on women for the sake of men. It is the man's culture that puts women like that. On the other hand, some receive these practices as a part of being women. These practices have to be done by women in order to get a respect in a society.

However, although, both cases show two different cultural contexts of women's experience, they both present a universal issue, that is, the issue of women in the patriarchal society. That is why I will try to discover this issue critically in the next part by looking at these two facts from the Perspective of Feminist Theology.

4.      Feminist Theology: A Response to the Issue

Responding two issues above critically, I am going to use Elisabeth S. Fiorenza's Critical Hermeneutics of Liberation's paradigm to seeing the experience of women in their cultural context because I think this is the best way of responding to the feminist theology issues. Although this model is being used by feminists for the interpretation of the bible, we can use this paradigm for the liberation of the women from their domination of the patriarchal groups or societies.

Fiorenza's starting point is the experiences of women. It is very critical point because women's experience in a society is a key aspect to understand and value women’s position and perspective.  Fiorenza calls this process "the hermeneutics of experience".  In "the hermeneutics of domination and social location", Fiorenza invites us to unmask the ideology, that is, the social, political, economic, and religious structure of domination. In this sense, we can use it as a way to question the patriarchal groups that dominate women. Then, there is "the hermeneutics of suspicion", which can challenge women in their blind respect, acceptance, and obedience to the culture they live. This aspect leads to "the hermeneutics of critical evaluation", which puts women to see and judge their situation critically.

Fiorenza goes on pointing out "the hermeneutics of creative imagination" as a way where women are encouraged to imagine their ideal vision of justice.  Hence, women are leading to construct and tell their own story, in which Fiorenza calls it "the hermeneutics of remembering and reconstruction". These aspects can open up the awareness of women in reconstructing their cultural context for their better life condition. Finally, this new perspective brings women to take an action in transforming their life. Fiorenza calls it "the hermeneutics of transformative action for change".

Critical Hermeneutics of Liberation's paradigm

	Issue of women wearing veil	Issue of female genital mutilation
Hermeneutics of experience	Women’s experience and story of wearing veil.	Women’s experience and story of this kind of rite.
Hermeneutics of domination and social location	Unmasking all social, political, and economical dominations why they wear veil.	Does this kind of rite show male dominations? Women should unmask it.
Hermeneutics of suspicion	Being suspicious to their situation of wearing a veil.	Suspicious on this practice in this particular society.
Hermeneutics of critical evaluation	Women’s judgments and evaluation on their situation.	Women coming to see critically and judge their condition.
Hermeneutics of creative imagination	Women are encouraged to imagine their ideal condition.	What is the ideal condition of being women?
Hermeneutics of remembering and reconstruction	Women come up to reconstruct their own story by looking their ideal condition.	Reconstructing the best ways of expressing what the true women is all about in the society.
Hermeneutics of transformative action for change	To live out the newness of life as women in the society.	Take an action to transform the life of women.

5.      Conclusion

The experience of the women differs from one culture to another. However, the truth is that there are some women live in the patriarchal society where their roles as women are seen for the sake and benefit of men. The veil and female genital mutilation are two examples, which may point out men's domination over women in a particular cultural condition.

Women in that context might be not aware of this domination because they see that practice as a “normal thing” in women's life. They see these kinds of practices are a way of being women in the society. However, Fiorenza in her critical feminist hermeneutics of liberation helps us and especially women to be aware of these cultural contexts, whose contexts are created to maintain men's power.

Reading Lists:

 Fernea, Elisabeth W and Robert A, Symbolizing Roles: Behind the Veil in Confirmity

& Conflict, 9^th ed. by James P. Spradley & David W.  McCurdy (eds.),.

 Fiorenza, Elisabeth S., Wisdom Ways: Introducing Feminist Biblical Interpretation

(Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2001)

Hinga, T. M, Christianity and Female Puberty Rites in Africa: the Agikuyu Case.