Carl Jung, the famous Swiss psychologist, defined life as a ‘luminous pause between two great mysteries which themselves are one.’ On the other hand, the Spanish poet and philosopher, Miguel De Unamuno, wrote about ‘the tragic sense of life.’ French philosopher Sartre would claim that ‘life begins on the other side of despair,’ while Dostoevsky affirmed that ‘suffering is the origin of life consciousness.’
All very profound statements! Difficult to comprehend at first, and still more complicated to understand fully. We all are caught in a world of extreme contradictions. Health and sickness, success and failure, tranquillity and turbulence, death and life, the sacred and profane are but a few such extreme contradictions. We define and bracket life by the distance between these contradicting extremes. “Where is my place in such an extreme cosmos?” we ask. Is peace possible amidst the ever-flowing undercurrents of uncertainty, doubt, chaos and conflict?
SUDDEN TURBULENCE: My mind goes back to 1998, when I made a visit, along with my family, from Zanzibar to Changuu Island, also known as Prison Islands. The small island is about six kilometres North West of Stone Town, Zanzibar. We sailed in a small eight-seater canoe. The sea was as calm as a glass sheet—the waves so gentle, the breeze gentler still. The sailing was peaceful.
But then, on our return trip, a few hundred metres before we touched shore, the wind grew stronger, the waves lashed over our tiny canoe, and the poor boatman was nervous and helpless. No amount of paddling could steer our fragile boat to safety. Death stared us in the face. A watery grave was ready to swallow us alive. Our prayers seemed to go unanswered. Our boat drifted off like a matchstick way beyond the wharf. The screams of the people on the shore only added to our anxiety. Our heart beats raced as never before.
But then, out of the blue, the miracle waiting to happen arrived. We touched shore a good hundred metres away from our expected point of arrival. Drenched in sea water, our tears never felt so salty! Safe at last, but with an experience that would haunt us the rest of our Zanzibar safari.
Turbulence is an enemy to life and one that we would not want to befriend. And yet, turbulence is part of our ‘luminous pause’ in life.
FACING THE UNEXPECTED: With all our faith, it is but a myth to believe that life is a turbulence-free journey. One’s peaceful life is suddenly interrupted with chaos. Financially stable jobs are punctured with a sudden economic crisis. Healthy bodies are weakened by deadly viral fevers. Intelligent minds are accidently damaged and erased of all knowledge. Emotionally balanced lives are shattered by tragic psychological experiences, while spiritually upright ones backslide the downward spiral to live lives in darkness and meaninglessness. In such unexpected instances, how does one walk through life with a sense of tranquillity, meaning and sense of purpose? One has two choices: take control of the circumstances around you and make ‘eureka experiences’ out of them, or, more sadly, become a victim to the external forces and dwell forever in ‘caramba experiences’ that negate the very meaning and purpose of life.
FINDING TRANQUILITY: Being tranquil is a gift we all long for and wish to embrace all our life. It is an inner state of being that empowers one to remain calm even when externally we are caught in the storms of confusion and despair. Here are a few simple steps we can take to cultivate this gift of tranquillity:
- Dwell in the Luxury of Doing Nothing: Caught in a world of intense activity, we need to step out of it at times and just dwell in the luxury of doing nothing. There is great wisdom in this. Our lives are so determined by ‘how much we do’ that we pay very little attention to ‘just being me.’ My ‘being’ is more important than my mere ‘doing.’ An idle mind is a devil’s workshop, we were told. This adage has been the cause of much activism. Our workshop has become so cluttered with noise, debris and useless activity and we have become the ‘devil.’ Many of us would simply love to make the words of this song come true: ‘Stop the world and let me go, I’m tired of going round and round.’ It is important to just stop the clock every day and dwell in constructive moments of doing nothing.
- Surround Yourself with Soft Music: The world is a noisier place than ever before. Speeding vehicles, bursting crackers, noisy festivals, and blaring street music have raised the decibels of noise pollution. Listening to soothing classical music is not in our culture. But doing so enables us to experience greater serenity and peace, lower heart rate and improved brain functions, too. Soft music stimulates the happy hormone ‘serotonin,’ a neurotransmitter that allows us to sleep like angels!
- Sync with Nature: Take a dip in the river, build sand castles on the sea shore, climb the delicate branch, scale the mountain peak, run after the butterfly, savour the ever-ripe mango, sleep under the starry skies, ride the camel’s back, relax by a waterfall, smell the perfumed flowers, cuddle your favourite pet, ride across the rugged beaten path, harvest the fields, whistle your favourite song. Sounds easy, but believe me, most of us would not find time to sync with nature. There is a world we miss out on when we imprison ourselves in our concrete jungles. Tranquillity is nature’s best gift to us.
- Connect with the Divine: All our material and earthly problems can only find their solutions in deep spiritual quests. The Divine-Human adventure is ever at work. One needs to daily live in the awareness of a supreme God who wants our human nature to be open to his Divine grace. Taking time to meditate, to read Holy Scriptures, to chant religious hymns, to practice mortification and reach out in charity, to live in harmony with peoples of other faiths and to participate in one’s religious services and sacraments with a pure heart—all these are sure means to live a tranquil life. Inner turbulence and chaos are often overcome through sincere forgiveness and inner healing. The foundation of all tranquillity or inner peace is union with the Divine.
- Change Your Perspective of Self and Others: I have always believed that changes in perspective lead to procedural outcomes. When we believe in ourselves and accept ourselves, we also change our perspective of others and the world around us. We are all ‘human-beings-in process.’ We are never a finished product. We need to embrace a ‘Mary’s heart in a Martha’s world’ scenario. Lest we get caught up, like Martha, in the worry and anxiousness of our busy everyday lives, we need to have the courage like Mary to choose the better part. Celebrate your uniqueness and appreciate the differences in others. Learn to enjoy the little things of life. Make your life a great contribution to others around you.
We can all rise above the storms that put us down. Christ is our Peace! May we all add up to increase the ‘tranquillity index of the world’ and overcome all forms of turbulence that rock the boats of our everyday journey to wholeness. It is worth trying. It is doable. The results are worth the effort.
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