“I have come that they may have life,
and have it to
the full.”
(Gospel of John 10:10, quoting Jesus of Nazareth)
“For everyone who has will
be given more, and he will have an abundance.
Whoever does not have,
even the little that he has will be taken away from him”.
(Parable
of the Talents, told by Jesus of
Nazareth at the Mount of Olives,
recorded in the book of Matthew 25:29)
The buck
starts here.
“Why is the goal to eradicate extreme
poverty so critical now? Is it achievable? What is required to achieve the
goal, and to what extent does this represent additional and/or different
efforts from what the development community has done in the past?” – DEVEX for USAID.
The
demise of Poverty is 2,014 years or so overdue. When the gift of abundance is
not fully received did the giver miss something? Or could it be that the intended
recipients have all along been asking a prolonged “who me?” instead of appropriating
the “talents” given with an eager and grateful “yes, why not?”?
Is the
goal to eradicate poverty achievable? Is this the right question?
The Blind Minstrel of Subic - The Unseen
Roots of Poverty
A case of mistaken identity? The abundance yet unseen? Learned
helplessness?
At the
Subic Bay Freeport gate to Olongapo City people sometimes see something very
ordinary – a blind man singing old ballads like Freddie Aguilar’s “Anak”, songs
easily recognized and remembered; sad, dirty, indifferent face; clothes, guitar,
harmonica and portable amplifier that look so old. Standing beside him is an
old, lonely shoebox, empty except for a few coins and passing by all around, a
crowd of indifferent faces, rushing in all directions; no one seems to hear, no
one seems to care, indifferent audience, indifferent performer.
But wait.
Take a few moments to listen and feel, and ah, what a surprise! What beautiful
music, what perfect notes, what haunting voice, and what nimble fingers dancing
with such mindless rhythm and mastery that they seem to have a life of their
own. Don’t look, just listen, and see pure talent in action. He’s got talent
yet he’s poor?
Is the goal to eradicate poverty
achievable? How many
of the countless poor are like the Blind Minstrel of Subic? Looking at his own
poorness, he does not see the wealth of his own talents and the abundance all
around waiting to buy a good product at a price he may not know equals whatever
value he gives it. As the marketing gurus say, if you got talent,
you make a brand, you have a market and you create your Price
and VALUE!
Will I
pay P200 to see him play in a bar? Yes, I will. Will I pay P500 to see him in a
concert with Freddie Aguilar? Why not? Will Erap or Pacquiao pay $1,000 to see
him in concert with Andrea Bocelli? Likely! Why is the Blind Minstrel, he with the
nice voice and masterful fingers, poor in the midst of abundance? Is it because
he sees himself as poor and the “market” sees only what he sees? What makes him
poor and Andrea Bocelli rich? Can Bocelli even play the guitar and accompany
himself?
Is the
problem merely his physical presence and condition? Or is the “soulution” his
spiritual resonance that can be seen, heard and felt in spiritual ways,
language and systems? How does Blind Minstrel unlearn the “learned
helplessness” that has become a part of him like the guitar in his hands?
Exposing the Roots of Poverty
Are these
the right questions to ask to expose the hidden roots of Poverty? Could these
be the key that will unlock an understanding of Poverty and redirect an
inspired and widely shared work of poverty eradication? Is it not easier for
Blind Minstrel to be rich when he starts to understand that he does not have to
be poor because he is rich? The Parable of the Talents indeed works for
those who “have” who know what they have. It works too for those who “do not
have” because they do not know what they have. The only ones that “do
not have” are those who do not know what they have.
If
everything is energy, and energy cannot be created or destroyed, only
transferred or transformed, is not the earth as abundant now as it was at the
time of Eden? If so, is Poverty a distribution issue, to be remedied by a
properly functioning distribution system? That is another story, a social
and economic story, and another angle for sociologists and economists to essay.
The Spiritual Roots of Poverty
What if
Poverty is also a spiritual issue and spirituality the missing component in past
development programs, the unseen dimension of Poverty that many in the development
community tend to “unsee”? Are we limited physical bodies with eternal spirits,
or eternal spirits living in limited physical bodies? Is there anything other
than spirituality that can match the abundance and indestructibility of energy?
Did
Poverty take root when people started believing in their own physical
limitations, forgot their unlimited spirituality and started relying on
inherited and/or acquired “copouts”, the wrong and limiting belief systems? Limiting
beliefs like “it’s OK to be poor”, or “making money is too difficult”, or “I
have to go abroad to make enough money” or “I’m not good enough”, or “the
economy is down”, or “nothing works here”.
The War on Poverty: The Real Score
Poverty is an attitude and way of thinking. People who think poor are
poor. Poverty is the physical manifestation of a spiritual reality. To win the
fight to eradicate poverty it must strike the spiritual roots of the problem.
Governments, Multilaterals, NGOs, churches, social investors and
philanthropists continue to wage war on poverty. Meanwhile many poor people
remain poor thinking that “it’s OK to be poor”. Many people stop trying to
become rich thinking “it’s not OK to be rich”. Does this come from wrong and
limiting belief systems that have been embedded and fractured in the soul from
generation to generation? Can this be
reversed? Talk about the Pork Barrel,
Philippine style, and see that there is no lack of abundance, only a
malfunctioning distribution system at play.
Spiritual Aspects in Poverty
Eradication - Paradigm Shifts
The world
today is shifting in quantum shifts. The shifts are many, both happening in the
physical and the spiritual. The former is easily seen, the latter less readily
noticed. They are two dimensions of what quantum thinking calls “observer
created reality”. Global movements and advocacies towards poverty eradication
seem to converge in business, government, non-government, church sectors and
now in the consciousness of the middle class, the sector that could be the
tipping point when it decides to get engaged.
In
the Shifting, Nothing is Impossible…
As humans
shift from a consciousness of helplessness to a consciousness of abundance, as
people see and believe that the war on poverty has been won 2,014 years or so
ago, it will be won. This shift is readily seen from the way Pope
Francis’ message of compassion, development and inclusion of the Peripheries
was easily spotlighted and universally accepted. It affirms the
timeliness of fresh approaches and paradigm shifts that use the lens of human
spirituality, the practice of pragmatic spiritualism so to speak, to put focus,
perspective and energy to the effort of Poverty Eradication. This story is trending
around the planet now, spontaneously.
Whether
Pope Francis said it or not, Gospel means good news and the good news is that
there is no Poverty in Heaven, nor will there be in the Heaven on Earth that is
presently under construction. This is not the Gospel of material affluence.
This is the good news of the human spirit’s infinite worth in the Divine image.
This is the story of the spontaneous,
independent local manifestations of a global shift from the old “what’s
in it for me?” outlook to a quietly emerging outlook of “how can I participate
and co-create and share in the abundance of an inter-connected world?”.
The Blind Minstrel of Subic is in for a surprise!
Bob Calida
HECC, January 25, 2015
