Waaraan moet 'n mens in Spiritualiteit die hoogste gesag toeken? Wat is dit wat 'n mens heel eerste op jou geestelike reis moet raaksien en gehoorsaam?
Hier is 'n antwoord:
Jon Sobrino, die
Suid-Amerikaanse teoloog, skryf hoedat hy op ‘n dag besef het dat sy Westerse
teologiese opleiding hom in ‘n “dogmatiese geslaap” laat verval het.
Toe hy in sy land
terugkom en die onmeetlike ellende van armoede en lyding gesien het, het hy
besef dat sy studies hom nooit die wêreld in sy harde werklikheid laat herken
het nie. Hy het besef dat hy uit sy slaap van onmenslikheid, van egosentrisme
en selfsugtigheid moes opstaan.
En, toe hy
uiteindelik uit sy slaap opgewek is, het hy vanuit die ervaring van slagoffers
na die wêreld begin kyk. Hy het begin raaksien hoe ‘n proses van
verontmensliking 50 miljoen mense elke jaar aan armoede laat sterf.
Hy het besef: wat saak maak, is lyding. Dit is die hoogste waarheid waarmee 'n mens te doen kan kry.
Die onverdiende lyding van ander is die hoogste gesag vir 'n mens se geestelike reis. Daaraan kan jy nie verbykom nie. Dit vra heel eerstens jou aandag. Dit is wat op jou lewe beslag lê wanneer jy God lief het.
Ek lees die
opmerking met ‘n gevoel van skok. Die 50 miljoen is meer as die Suid-Afrikaanse
bevolking.
Ek vat die spoor
en sien dat die syfers wissel. Sommige sê dit is 1 en ‘n half miljoen mense.
Ander skat dit is 8 miljoen. Ander weer werk uit dat 500 miljoen mense op aarde in
absolute armoede lewe. In hierdie geval sterf 15 miljoen kinders elke jaar van honger.
Maar toe lees ek
die volgende net oor Suid-Afrika:
There are 18.3 million children in South Africa
(4 million in KZN). A disproportionate number of our children (68%) live in
poverty (in households with a per capita income below R350), deeply impacting
on every aspect of their lives. In a 2005 survey, the poorest 10% of the South
African population received 0,6% of total income and the richest 10%, 55.9% of
the income. Over 2.6 million children live in backyard dwellings or shacks in
informal settlements and 42% of these children are aged between 0 and 5 years
old.
The well-known acronym “OVC” suggests that
children are vulnerable for a number of reasons of which orphanhood is clearly
one of the most significant. Whilst there are an estimated 2.5 million orphans
in South Africa, we should not lose sight of the fact that other reasons for
vulnerability exist. These include income-poor households, terminally ill
parent/s, children who are ill themselves, and neglected or abused children. A
recent study, Home Truths: Facing the
Facts on Children, Aids and Poverty, found that, as orphans are more
likely than other vulnerable children to be taken into the care of extended
families, “poverty is equally endemic to non-orphans, if not more so”.
Orphans are categorised as children who have
lost either a mother (maternal orphans), a father (paternal orphans) or both
parents (double orphans). Of the 2.5 million orphans in our country, 4% are
double orphans. Surveys show that older children are more likely to have
deceased parents. In the South Africa
Demographic and Health Survey done by the Department of Health in 2003,
16.2% of children aged 14 years old and under were orphans and the largest
percentage of orphans in this age group, relative to the number of children in
the Province, were in KZN where 21.2% were orphans.
According to 2007 surveys, there were 148 000
children living in 79 000 child-headed households throughout South Africa, 39%
of which were orphans. However, double orphans make up only 8% of these. The
focus on HIV/Aids masks the fact that other social realities, like the need for
many parents in rural areas to migrate to cities to find work, contribute to
child-only households.
HIV/Aids
In 2008, there were an estimated 280 000
children living with Aids in South Africa and about 1,4 million Aids orphans,
who had lost one or both parents to HIV/Aids. Children of HIV-positive parents
however face significant vulnerabilities long before their parents die. With
diminished income and increased medical costs, they suffer further deprivation,
including less food for the family.
Sobrino dink na
oor die oewerlose lyding in sy land. Onverdiende lyding. In lyding en armoede ontvang en gebore.
Hy verwys dan na Lukas 10:29-37 en Matteus
25:34-40.
Ons het nie geweet
nie. Ons het nie gesien nie. Ons was nie bewus nie.
Dit was die
standaard-antwoord toe Jesus oor die geestelike reis van onnadenkende mense gepraat het. Die lyding
dring nie tot mense deur nie. Hulle loop, priesters en Leviete, rustig daarby verby.
Hoe gebeur dit dat
‘n mens nie draaie om lyding loop nie – soos die priester en die Leviet? Hoe
gebeur dit dat ‘n mens intuïtief, sonder om te dink, uit jou pad gaan en by die
lydende persoon gaan neerkniel om wonde te verbind?
Hoe weet ‘n mens
jy moet dit doen? Hoe sien ‘n mens die lyding raak? Hoe kom ‘n mens tot daardie
bewussyn?
Boeiende vrae.
Eggemeier skryf hieroor: Die fundamentele taak van Christelike Spiritualiteit is om wakker te word, jou oë oop te maak en eerlik oor die werklikheid te wees deur die absolute gesag te herken van hulle wat onverdiend ly.
As jy eers dit besef het, word jy, voorheen gesus deur 'n vroom teologie, wakker uit jou slaaproes.
