There was an interesting debate in the U.S. Congress this week over a resolution to mark the anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The debate was not over support for the troops but over what was accomplished by the war (which, of course, is ongoing). Has the world become a safer place now that Saddam Hussein's regime has been overthrown? And, to expand the question, are we all safer as a result of the U.S.-led war on terrorism?
The issue in the headlines is security, and it is bound to be one of the crucial concerns during the U.S. presidential election campaign this year. Since 9/11, Americans have felt insecure, and the media and the Homeland Security people have provided a steady diet of reasons to be afraid. Now with economies around the world tanking, with concerns about the environmental impact of global warming growing, and with violence continuing unabated in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Middle East — it seems that there is no safety or security anywhere. Everything is up for grabs; and nothing is permanent.
Now there's a concept spiritual people understand — impermanence. Teachers from all religious traditions have made it clear that security is an illusion. As human beings, we are vulnerable and stand in the face of death.
Suffering, according to Buddhists, is the milieu in which we live out our days. Judaism, Christianity and Islam advise us not to put our trust in safety zones but in absolute surrender to God. As Erik Kolbell reminds us in What Jesus Meant, Jesus was well acquainted with uncertainty, from when he, as an infant, was forced to flee with his parents from Bethlehem to his anticipation of death at an early age. During his public ministry, he had no visible means of income and never knew where he would lay his head at night. Jesus modeled what it means to live with scant security, comfort, or safety.
Let us begin our exploration of the spiritual response to security concerns with some quotations. Our readings present definitions of security and illuminate our typical responses to vulnerability. The practices give us everyday ways to embrace insecurity.
Quotes
"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do children as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."
— Helen Keller
"Security depends not so much upon how much you have, as upon how much you can do without."
— Joseph Wood Krutch
"Safety does not come first. Goodness, truth and beauty come first."
— Maggie Smith as Miss Jean Brodie in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
— Benjamin Franklin
"Every time we choose safety, we reinforce fear. When we try to avoid the discomfort that we call fear, our world grows smaller and smaller."
— Cheri Huber in The Fear Book
"The heart of spirituality isn't safety and security. Instead, it is what Dorothy Day called 'precarity.' In the mind of most, precarity (or precariousness) is a bleak state of uncertainty and danger. The word connotes instability, poverty, marginalization, and the absence of a safety net....It also suggests radical dependence: the Latin 'precarious' is the state of being dependent on another's will, being upheld or sustained by another's force. So a spirituality centered on precarity acknowledges the radical uncertainty or contingency of human existence and our utter dependence on God."
— Kerry Walters in Jacob's Hip: Finding God in an Anxious Age
"Little by little we are able to hear the still small voice in the hurricane, the earthquake, or the fire. God is hidden in difficulties. If we can find him there, we will never lose him. Without difficulties, we do not know the power of God's mercy and the incredible destiny he has for each of us. We must be patient with our failures. There is always another opportunity unless we go ashore and stay there. A No-risk situation is the biggest danger there is. To encounter the winds and the waves is not a sign of defeat. It is training in the art of living, which is the art of yielding to God's action and believing in his love no matter what happens."
— Father Thomas Keating in The Daily Reader for Contemplative Living
Readings
- Ezra Bayda on the Illusion of Trying to Maintain Control in an Uncontrollable World
Ezra Bayda is a teacher at the San Diego Zen Center. In his book Being Zen: Bringing Meditation to Life, he uses the documentary film "Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control" to illustrate four ways we try to maintain control in an uncontrollable world: never showing fear, building technology to do our bidding, creating artificial conditions to ward off danger, and working with diligence to prevent damage.
- Susan Corso on Security: A Definition of the Term
In God's Dictionary: Divine Definitions for Everyday Enlightenment, Susan Corso, an ordained multifaith spiritual counselor and peace worker, examines a the meaning of the word and cautions us against looking outside ourselves for security: it is "an inside job."
- Thich Nhat Hanh on Creating Safety
In Friends on the Path: Living Spiritual Communities, Buddhist teacher, poet, and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh points out that safety does not come from having a powerful army and a stock of weapons. "A country cannot be safe if it doesn't do something to help other countries feel safe, too." Safety is built by the way you live your life, and it is not an individual matter.
- Father Thomas Keating on the Storm on The Lake and the Sleeping Jesus
Father Thomas Keating, the founder of the Centering Prayer Movement, provides an interpretation of Mark 4:35-41 where the disciples, in great fear, turn to Jesus for help during a storm at sea. He finds in this story insights about faith and surrender to divine assistance. "God's lack of help on one level is the way God moves us from one level of faith to another level."
- Kerry Walters on Embracing Insecurity
In Jacob's Hip: Finding God in an Anxious Age, Kerry Walters, professor of philosophy at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, challenges us to embrace insecurity. He suggests that our horror of vulnerability had made us to accept safety zones and security barriers which in turn lead to isolation, alienation, self-absorption, and an erosion of fellow-feeling — all spiritual crises. Writing as a Christian, he encourages us to live as Jesus did, knowing that insecurity is a necessary and even welcome part of the human condition. Quoting Martin Smith, he notes that we "sin by thinking and acting as if other forces in the world were actually more powerful than the creative love of God."
Practices
- Robert Thurman on Practicing Nonretaliation in Times of Insecurity
American Buddhist monk and scholar Robert Thurman presents Tibetan practices for a wide variety of situations in his book "Infinite Life: Seven Virtues for Living Well." One very powerful exercise asks us to imagine situations that upend any sense of safety or security we might have and then to practice with them until we can react with compassion and equanimity. Here by embracing suffering, danger, and our enemies, we build a peaceful fortress of tolerance.
- Thomas Merton on Trusting in God
Finally, here is a prayer by the Trappist monk Thomas Merton that acknowledges that insecurity is at the core of life and responds to it with an affirmation of truth.
