The Rapture

*



Sydney Harbour

"It seems people aren't so much turned off by politics as the way politics is done. Public disengagement is a symptom of disempowerment. Too often we shut people out when we should be letting them in.

"Such a shift is in keeping with the spirit of the times. Faced with forces that feel beyond control, people are taking refuge in what they know: their families, communities, local identities. Ordinary consumers are getting a taste for greater power. But while people may have become more empowered as consumers, they feel disempowered as citizens.

"Ours remains a 'them and us' political system, framed in an era of elitism. Rulers ruled and the ruled were grateful. Economic advance and universal education - and now the internet - are sweeping aside deference and ignorance. Representative democracy from the past century can evolve to a more participatory democracy in this."
Alan Milburn, British Labor Party figure.


He must have known the state he was in: the absence of God, bereft of all hope. It was as if the Cardinal had singled him out for special attention. After the homily, in the crowded cathedral, Sydney's, probably Australia's, largest pile of stone, the reverential crowds, the soaring music, the smoke of incense and the light streaming through the stained glass windows, it was here he confronted his own worst fears. He had been in a terrible state; battling with unexpected, unexplained depression, bereft, there was no other word for it, the way he felt. The religious call this state the absence of God; and he was in no position to argue.

The cold fragility of the dawn led only to a "one foot in front of the other" courage; a quiet dignity despite the approaching calamity he felt on all sides, the resignation, the gathering unto himself, the silence. This was the way he had been: a million years old and full of grief. The streets were as bleak and pointless as he had come to expect; and he kept himself busy only to stave off thought. And then he was there, on assignment, underneath the great vaulting arches of the cathedral's ceiling, and even he could not resist the power of the music so beautifully sung, the rapturous belief of those around him.

Wreathed in failure and neglect; a terminal case serving out his time, that was the way he felt. As if his protective mantle had been ripped from him. His guardian angel had long ago deserted him. And now he was here, caught in the rapture of other people's beliefs, the powerful remembrance of past relationships, quietening his fear, dreading death, fighting its inevitability, these were the times. In the homily he spoke of Jesus on the Cross, the thieves beside him. He spoke of that same state that Jesus Christ had reached: "Oh Lord, why has thou forsaken me?" The absence of God. And he turned to the Good Thief and said: "You will join me in paradise".

These stories based around events which took place 2,000 years ago on the other side of the world were astonishing in their power to transmit. The Christian tradition was alive and well. Indeed this Easter attendances were up at services all around the country, as if everyone was seeking meaning in disturbed times, as if he wasn't the only one who had woken up saying: there is nothing, there is no God, my barren heart is full of despair and unease; oh why hast thou forsaken me?

And so it was that the imposing figure of the Cardinal, draped in his grand cream and gold and silver robes, with his peak hat and his staff, was suddenly striving towards him, swinging the vessel of holy water. And the first splash, the very first splash, landed vigorously on him, although he wasn't even a Catholic. Time was the cruelest master. If only he had converted earlier. If only he hadn't waited until his 50s, if only he hadn't endured so many dark days. Startled at having been so deliberately singled out, he watched as the Cardinal moved through his packed congregation, splashing the water vigorously on others as he had done to him. Instantly he felt different. There was no longer the aching doubt and discomfort, the frantic longing to always be somewhere else, the tragedy written in every window and stream of light.

Instead there was vigorous meaning, a flood of warmth, a blessing. Suddenly he knew what they were all talking about, why they had come to this church, assembled in such crowds. Suddenly he could understand it all, the gratitude flowing through his veins, a sense of purpose. His thought disorder dissolved along with this despair. The church was exceptionally beautiful, and his spirits soared on the magnificence of it all, the occasion, the communion, the pathway to God.

And he knew, in that one instance, there was no use fighting anymore. There was no use wondering why he couldn't believe, no use pouring over Dawkins' The God Delusion and marshaling logical arguments to defend his absence, no use denying he had always wanted to believe in something, no use pretending that death was a long way off. He knew it was all going to end. He knew the cycle was over. He knew that sooner or later he would have to abandon his children to their own devices; that he needed to retreat to another place, that this world meant nothing anymore. He was going through the motions but his heart was long gone. That "splittist" thoughts would remove him from this time and place, and events would roll on over the top of him and it would be as if he had never been.

The rapture is for everyone, he heard the cardinal say. These gifts are for everyone. Dedicate yourself before the world tugs you back. Grant us your soul before the world closes in. Come to me my son and be grateful for what I have given you. And then through that terrible morning, he grasped the only life raft available. He could no longer maintain the cold self-doubt, the heroism of unbelief was killing him, not anyone else, and h reached up his hand and wiped his cheek where the holy water had landed, as if to confirm this miracle really had happened. Astonishingly, he didn't feel fractured anymore; and he lifted up his eyes and smiled at the person next to him, who smiled warmly back. He had come to know what it was to be human, he had come to understand the religious. It was a giant step toward salvation.


THE BIGGER STORY:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h5Z6bJwtN_roGSIUQiQnfbf2NkhgD8VJ9HM80

CHENGDU, China (AP) — China accused the Dalai Lama on Sunday of stoking Tibetan unrest to sabotage the Beijing Olympics and also berated House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying she is ignoring the truth about Tibet.

This month's violence in Tibet and neighboring provinces has turned into a public relations disaster for China ahead of the August Olympics, which it had been hoping to use to bolster its international image.

The Chinese government said through official media that formerly restive areas were under control and accused the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, of trying to harm China's image ahead of the summer games.

"The Dalai clique is scheming to take the Beijing Olympics hostage to force the Chinese government to make concessions to Tibet independence," said the People's Daily, the main mouthpiece of the Communist Party.

The Tibetan spiritual leader called the accusations against him "baseless," asserting that he supported China's hosting of the summer games.

"I always support (that) the Olympics should ... take place in Beijing ... so that more than 1 billion human beings, that means Chinese, they feel proud of it," he said Sunday in New Delhi, India.

Pelosi's visit to the Dalai Lama in Dharmsala, India, on Friday was the first by a major foreign official since the protests broke out. The Democratic leader said if people don't speak out against China's oppression in Tibet, "we have lost all moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/world/asia/24china.html?em&ex=1206417600&en=e4a05bcf4c42d15b&ei=5087%0A


Scholars Urge Dialogue With Dalai Lama

By HOWARD W. FRENCH
Published: March 24, 2008

SHANGHAI, March 23 — A group of prominent Chinese intellectuals has circulated a petition urging the government to stop what it has called a “one-sided” propaganda campaign and initiate direct dialogue with the Dalai Lama.

The petition, which was signed by more than two dozen writers, journalists and scholars contains 12 recommendations which, taken together, represent a sharp break from the Chinese government’s response to the wave of demonstration that have swept Tibetan areas of the country in recent days.

They come, moreover, at a time when the government is working hard to convey a sense of strong international support for putting down what is being depicted here as a civil disturbance by lawless people being instigated by the Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who Beijing denounces as a secessionist, or “splittist.”

In recent days, the state controlled press has also stepped up its criticisms of the international press for what it says has been biased and overblown coverage of the Tibetan crisis.

China has barred international journalists from Tibet and expelled most tourists and other foreigners from the province since the beginning of the crisis. As trouble has spread to neighboring provinces where many Tibetans live, the government has blocked access to these areas, as well.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200803232124.htm

Prachanda defends Chinese crackdown on Tibetans

Kathmandu (PTI): In what could be music to Chinese ears, Nepal's Maoist chief Prachanda on Sunday defended Beijing's crackdown on Tibetan protesters saying it was its duty to control the "separatist violence".

In response to a question on the Tibetan unrest which erupted on March 10, Prachanda, whose outfit CPN (M) uses Chinese patriarch 'Chairman' Mao Zedong as its mascot, termed the revolt of the Tibetan people against Chinese rule in neighbouring Tibet as "separatist violence."

"It is the duty of Chinese government to control violence," said Prachanda, whose real name is Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

"We believe that Tibet is an inseparable part of China, he reiterated. I do not consider it as a crackdown by Chinese authorities," he said.


Sydney Harbour.