THE BUCK STARTS HERE

“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