Dit is soms goed om swaar te kry. Om kinders verstandig groot te maak.

Hierdie is ‘n merkwaardige artikel wat elke opvoeder moet lees. Dit gaan om karakterbou as ‘n wesenlike deel van ‘n kind se opvoeding. Ek kan my indink dat iemand wat met jongmense werk, hierdie artikel sal indrink. Dit moet ‘n uitdaging wees om hierdie waardes in gesprekke met jongmense te ontwikkel. ‘n Mens sou ‘n hele jaar se program vir jongmense en kinders (en sommer ook volwassenes) rondom sulke waardes kon inruim.

Ek haal net enkele paragrawe daaruit aan – die artikels self is ‘n goeie aand se studie werd.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/magazine/what-if-the-secret-to-success-is-failure.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha210

Die artikel begin waarin die betrokke skoolhoof beskryf hoedat hy agtergekom het dat dit nie noodwendig slim, hoë I.K. kinders is wat ‘n sukses van hul lewens maak nie. Dit is eerder kinders met ‘n goeie karakter wat in staat is om bo uit te kom en nie te vou nie. Hy het begin nalees oor wat ‘n goeie karakter uitmaak en van die navorsing van opvoedkundiges gebruik gemaak:

Seligman and Peterson consulted works from Aristotle to Confucius, from the Upanishads to the Torah, from the Boy Scout Handbook to profiles of Pokémon characters, and they settled on 24 character strengths common to all cultures and eras. The list included some we think of as traditional noble traits, like bravery, citizenship, fairness, wisdom and integrity; others that veer into the emotional realm, like love, humor, zest and appreciation of beauty; and still others that are more concerned with day-to-day human interactions: social intelligence (the ability to recognize interpersonal dynamics and adapt quickly to different social situations), kindness, self-regulation, gratitude.

In most societies, Seligman and Peterson wrote, these strengths were considered to have a moral valence, and in many cases they overlapped with religious laws and strictures. But their true importance did not come from their relationship to any system of ethics or moral laws but from their practical benefit: cultivating these strengths represented a reliable path to “the good life,” a life that was not just happy but also meaningful and fulfilling.

As Levin watched the progress of those KIPP alumni, he noticed something curious: the students who persisted in college were not necessarily the ones who had excelled academically at KIPP; they were the ones with exceptional character strengths, like optimism and persistence and social intelligence. They were the ones who were able to recover from a bad grade and resolve to do better next time; to bounce back from a fight with their parents; to resist the urge to go out to the movies and stay home and study instead; to persuade professors to give them extra help after class. Those skills weren’t enough on their own to earn students a B.A., Levin knew. But for young people without the benefit of a lot of family resources, without the kind of safety net that their wealthier peers enjoyed, they seemed an indispensable part of making it to graduation day.

As I spent time at Riverdale last year, it became apparent to me that the debate over character at the school wasn’t just about how best to evaluate and improve students’ character. It went deeper, to the question of what “character” really meant. When Randolph arrived at Riverdale, the school already had in place a character-education program, of a sort. Called CARE, for Children Aware of Riverdale Ethics, the program was adopted in 1989 in the lower school, which at Riverdale means prekindergarten through fifth grade. It is a blueprint for niceness, mandating that students “Treat everyone with respect” and “Be aware of other people’s feelings and find ways to help those whose feelings have been hurt.” Posters in the hallway remind students of the virtues related to CARE (“Practice Good Manners . . . Avoid Gossiping . . . Help Others”). In the lower school, many teachers describe it as a proud and essential part of what makes Riverdale the school that it is.

Maar alles is nie so eenvoudig nie:

“Can’t a trait backfire at you?” he asked. “Sure, a trait can backfire,” Witter said. “Too much grit, like Okonkwo, you start to lose your ability to have empathy for other people. If you’re so gritty that you don’t understand why everyone’s complaining about how hard things are, because nothing’s hard for you, because you’re Mr. Grit, then you’re going to have a hard time being kind. Even love — being too loving might make you the kind of person who can get played.” There was a ripple of knowing laughter from the students. “So, yes, character is something you have to be careful about. Character strengths can become character weaknesses.”

Ek is eintlik nie verbaas om dan te sien dat in die benadering kognitiewe terapie eintlik toegepas word: kinders word gehelp om te verstaan waar hulle tekort skiet of foute maak – dan is genesing makliker.

To Tom Brunzell, who as the dean of students at KIPP Infinity oversaw the implementation of the character report card, what is going on in character conversations like that one isn’t academic instruction at all, or even discipline; it’s therapy. Specifically, it’s a kind of cognitive behavioral therapy, the very practical, nuts-and-bolts psychological technique that provides the theoretical underpinning for the whole positive psychology field. Cognitive behavioral therapy, or C.B.T., involves using the conscious mind to understand and overcome unconscious fears and self-destructive habits, using techniques like “self-talk” — putting an immediate crisis in perspective by reminding yourself of the larger context. “The kids who succeed at KIPP are the ones who can C.B.T. themselves in the moment,” Brunzell told me. Part of the point of the character initiative, as he saw it, was to give their students the tools to do that. “All kids this age are having mini-implosions every day,” he said. “I mean, it’s middle school, the worst years of their lives. But the kids who make it are the ones who can tell themselves: ‘I can rise above this little situation. I’m O.K. Tomorrow is a new day.’ ”

Dit alles wys daarop dat dit goed is wanneer kinders soms swaar kry.

It is a central paradox of contemporary parenting, in fact: we have an acute, almost biological impulse to provide for our children, to give them everything they want and need, to protect them from dangers and discomforts both large and small. And yet we all know — on some level, at least — that what kids need more than anything is a little hardship: some challenge, some deprivation that they can overcome, even if just to prove to themselves that they can. As a parent, you struggle with these thorny questions every day, and if you make the right call even half the time, you’re lucky. But it’s one thing to acknowledge this dilemma in the privacy of your own home; it’s quite another to have it addressed in public, at a school where you send your kids at great expense.

'n Merkwaardige artikel - wat vir jeugwerkers, predikante en ouers veel leer.

Wanneer ontferming gevaarlik is....

By ons kontak-sessie van ons Meestergraad-studente, het ons 'n kansie gekry om te praat oor die inhoud van Spiritualiteit en mistiek. Ons het so bietjie nagedink oor ontsag, heiligheid, volmaaktheid en ontferming as vier woorde wat vir 'n mens meer vertel oor die kern van die spirituele lewe. 

Dit is, trouens,  iets wat alle spiritualiteite kenmerk. 

Ontferming is 'n mooi woord. Dit kan wys op jammerte, liefdadigheid, uitdeel, versorging en vele ander opheffende dade.

Maar mens moet nou nie dink dat dit 'n "sagte", "vroulike" tema is nie. 


Dit is 'n fundamentele fout om die bekende formule wat baie mense gebruik om ontferming verdag te maak hier te gebruik: ontferming het niks met 'n "bleeding heart" kompleks te doen nie.


Ontferming kan trouens juis  'n skerp kant hê. Dit kan besondere konsekwensies inhou. Iemand wat weet wat ontferming is en dit uitleef, kan selfs sy eie lewe in gevaar stel. 

Hier is 'n berig wat gister in die New York Times verskyn het oor die gevaarlike implikasies van ontferming. Die toegewyde Moslem-teoloog en nou politikus van Libië wat daarin ter sprake is, bekend vir sy dialoog met die Christendom en vir sy veroordeling van geweld, stel eintlik sy eie reputasie en selfs sy lewe bloot deur aan te dring daarop dat daar nie meer bloedvergieting in Libië sal wees nie. Dit is 'n risiko wat hy neem om daarop aan te dring dat dit nou, na die bevryding van die land, die tyd vir ontferming is. (Interessant is dit om in die berig te sien hoe die huidige, baie konserwatiewe pous, die een wat so omstrede was oor sy toespraak oor Islam in Regensburg, oor hierdie Moslem teoloog voel).

Wat 'n mens glo, kan 'n mens nie netjies van jou politiek en sosiale lewe weghou nie - dit is duidelik uit hierdie berig. Dit sien 'n mens in die lewe van hierdie man wat 'n kernbegrip van Islam, naamlik die ontferming, verinnerlik het en dit in sy lewe konsekwent integreer.


Voorts wys sy ontfermende instelling 'n gesig van Islam wat nie altyd so bekend is nie. Trouens, dit verwonder my hoedat hy daarop aandring dat ontferming die belangrikste kenmerk van Islam is. 


Ek lees dus die berig met groot aandag. Nie net omdat dit persoonlike geloof en dapperheid uitlig nie. Maar ook omdat dit wys hoe 'n kernwoord ontferming is - in alle spiritualiteite. En hoe dit bevestig wat Waaijman in sy groot boek oor Spiritualiteit daaroor skryf.

Hier is die berig uit gister se New York Times:

AREF NAYED was sipping cappuccino in the soaring marble lobby of the Corinthia Hotel near Tripoli’s seafront, quoting Montesquieu on law and Augustine on forgiveness in a conversation that had begun with earthier subjects, like the challenges of restoring Libya’s water supply and counting its dead.

He held forth on how Bedouin poetry shaped a moderate Islam in Libya, and he was just starting to explain the relevance to Libyan politics of the mathematical theory of complexity when his cellphone rang.

“I have to take this,” he said, glancing at the number. “Somebody wants to surrender.”

An associate of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the deposed Libyan leader, wanted safety guarantees before turning himself in. Mr. Nayed wanted to make it happen, and not just because fostering reconciliation is one of his many jobs for Libya’s de facto government.

He is also a Muslim theologian who, in addition to running a technology business, spent his time before the Libyan rebellion writing erudite papers arguing that compassion is the paramount value in Islam, that pious Muslims can thrive within a liberal secular state and that even the most righteous ones should adopt a “humble recognition” of their own fallibility.

Now, as the Transitional National Council’s coordinator of a Libyan stabilization team being asked to solve problems like fuel shortages and human rights abuses, he suddenly finds himself in an ideal laboratory to test his signature theological propositions — and to try to make them government policy.

“I don’t think there should be a witch hunt, purges or cleansings,” he said Monday at the hotel cafe, adding that those who committed crimes under Colonel Qaddafi should be tried. “Any time you deal with human beings with that kind of terminology, you end up with unfairness and persecution.”

But Mr. Nayed must himself navigate the shoals of a society that still lacks consensus on what kinds of dealings with the old government are forgivable.

Critics grumble about his family’s contacts with the old government. His father, Ali Nayed, owned a large construction business that worked on military installations, schools and other projects for the government before Colonel Qaddafi confiscated his property in 1978. More recently, Aref Nayed had contracts with Libya’s central bank, though he said they ended in acrimony. 

For Mr. Nayed, that simply proves the point that after 42 years in which Colonel Qaddafi dominated Libya’s entire economy, few can claim to be entirely pure.

“There was another choice — to leave the country forever — and I have a lot of respect for those who made that choice,” he said. But he cautions against writing off those who continue to work in Libya; exiles, too, face criticisms, from Libyans who say they are opportunists who do not understand the country’s recent sufferings.

Mr. Nayed, 49, stands out, even among the colorful characters in the Corinthia’s lobby, which has become common ground for fighters in camouflage, leftists and Islamists in identical gray business suits, rumpled aid workers, journalists and idealistic young students, all bustling about doing the business of the new Libya.

A tall, bulky man with a close-clipped beard and well-tailored suits, Mr. Nayed claims both Muslim Brotherhood members and Marxist feminists among his friends. He speaks with the nuance of a scholar and the polish of a politician — though he insists that he wants to return to preaching and teaching, not serve in office.

As Islamists and liberals vie for jobs and political influence, he tells his life story in a way that positions him as a bridge between them — as well as between loyalists and oppositionists, and between Islamists and Western states that are waiting warily to see what kind of leaders the NATO intervention has helped bring to power.

Mr. Nayed grew up in Tripoli, studied in the United States and Canada, and did business in Italy. He returned to Libya in the 1990s, pursuing business interests here and abroad. But even as he pursued engineering at his father’s insistence, he said, his heart was always in the study of philosophy, Sufi Islam and comparative religion.

IN recent years, as Colonel Qaddafi began lifting restrictions on religious teaching, Mr. Nayed helped restore and reopen a picturesque Islamic school in Tripoli’s old city and became involved in outreach to Christians and Jews.

After Pope Benedict XVI made controversial comment on Islam in Regensburg, Germany, in 2006, Mr. Nayed was one of 138 Muslim scholars who drafted a letter inviting Catholic-Muslim dialogue. He took part in a conference of clerics who recently reinterpreted the 14th-century scholar Ibn Taymiyya’s celebrated fatwa, or religious edict, on jihad, arguing that radical Islamists who use it to justify killing are misguided.

Seven months of images from the fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

When the rebellion started in February, he and other clerics issued a fatwa calling on Libyans to resist Colonel Qaddafi. Two days later, he fled to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he runs Kalam Reseach & Media, perhaps best described as an Islamic theological research and policy organization.

It was the women in his life — his wife, sister and daughter — who pushed him to take the risk of joining the opposition, he said. When loyalists threatened his sister’s sons, he said, she told him, “If they kill them one by one, do not back off.”

Anti-Qaddafi leaders made him ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, and he became a public face of the revolution — a reassuring one for many in the West. When he was named to the stabilization team, a Vatican newsletter rejoiced that “an old friend of the Vatican” was an important figure in Libya, saying his appointment might help allay the church’s fears of a radical Islamist takeover.

YET some Libyans are wary of anyone who is a darling of the West. In Tripoli’s mosques and cafes, people are on the lookout for Libyan versions of Iraq’s Ahmad Chalabi — those vaulted to power more by ties to the West than by legitimacy among Libyans. One target of such criticism is the interim government’s prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, who has appointed close associates and fellow members of the Warfalla tribe, among them Mr. Nayed.

Still, Mr. Nayed’s ideas appear to resonate with some Libyan leaders and citizens.

In his first address in Tripoli’s central Martyrs’ Square on Monday, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, the Transitional National Council’s leader, called on crowds to be forgiving toward the rank-and-file soldiers who fought against the rebellion, saying they, too, were victims of the government.

Mr. Nayed argues in official meetings that anyone who committed crimes under Colonel Qaddafi should be tried but that calling all Qaddafi supporters a “fifth column” veers close to the language Colonel Qaddafi used to demonize opponents.

Mr. Nayed has grand hopes for Libya. He imagines it becoming a homegrown model for the Arab world. He sees Libyans, in their support for the NATO military intervention that aided a Libyan-led revolution, embracing the West without losing their dignity.

He says that Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood are integral to Libyan society, and that so far they are competing for political influence without using tactics of intimidation.

And he says that Libyan women, whom he calls “quite pious, quite free and quite capable at the same time,” will hold high positions in the government, showing the region that such freedoms do not equate to “anti-religious secularism.”

“If we do a good job here,” Mr. Nayed said, “this could become an example for mutual respect, mutual compassion, mutual love amongst humanity.”

Arende

Die rugby vanoggend was hard, taai en woes.

Die Fidjiane is nie stadsjapies nie.  Die snor-man dink seker ook hulle is nie tutu-draers nie. Die game sê die manne was reg vir 'n harde, meedoënlose stryd.

Maar so halfpad deur die wedstryd rol die kamera op die Fidji reuse wat op die kantlyn sit. En die lens fokus toe op een van hulle se pols, waarop 'n verband is en op die verband staan daar Jesaja 40:31.

Ek sit die hele wedstryd deur en wonder watter teks dit is, maar wil ook nie opstaan om te gaan kyk nie. Die rugby is te mooi. Jy mis dalk 'n wonderlike hardloop drie van ons manne en hulle het tog al 'n hele ruk terug laas sulke opwindende hardloop-rugby gespeel. Mens wil niks mis nie.

Na die wedstryd gaan kyk ek in my Bybel. Hoe kon ek die teks nie onthou nie:

Die wat op die Here wag, kry nuwe krag; hulle vaar op met vleuels soos die arende. Hulle hardloop en word nie moeg nie; hulle wandel en word nie mat nie.

Meer gepas kan dit nie wees nie. Hoeveel mense het gou na die wedstryd hulle Bybels gaan opsoek, wonder ek.

En al het die Fidjiane nie soos arende uitgetroon as wenners nie, was die teks en die aantreklike, harde wedstryd al inspirerend genoeg.

Maar - moenie dink daardie teksvers was 'n toevalligheid nie. Kyk na die twee berigte hier onder. Mooi.



WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - The Fiji rugby team has been urged to play clean rugby and avoid off-field temptation at a church service marking their impending departure for the Rugby World Cup.

Religion and rugby are central elements of Fijian life and the Fiji players chose to attend a service at the Centenary Methodist Church in the capital Suva Sunday before entering camp to prepare for their departure for New Zealand.

In his sermon, the Reverend Sakaraia Koli urged the Fiji players to always be at their best.

Reverend Koli told the team "it will never be easy going out there. You will have a lot of relatives and friends in New Zealand who may tempt you to drift aside from your goal but you make sure to understand your goal."
Reverend Koli warned the players on Sunday of the importance of discipline.

"There are only two key components if you want to do well," he said. "That is to play clean rugby and be a disciplined player on the field.

"You cannot win games if you have 13 players on the field so that is where self-discipline is very important to the team."

The Reverend Koli took inspiration from the Corinthians text in the Bible for his serman.

"Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training," he said. "They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever."

Reverend Koli then turned from the bible to the training manual to provide technical advice.

"I want to share with you the four Ps," he said. "That is to maintain possession which will carry you to the opposition's tryline, with a very fast pace. Pass when it is the right time to pass to carry on the momentum of the game and position yourself in the right position every time."

The Fiji team will go into camp in Nadi before leaving for New Zealand later this week.

En - ook mooi:

The Fiji squad holds nightly church services to help them bond as they prepare for the Rugby World Cup. Fiji’s strong Christian heritage had helped bind the side together since their arrival in New Zealand

The 30 strong  squad features 21 overseas-based players. “It’s a team literally from around the globe – all over Europe, Japan, France, New Zealand and Australia, as well as quite a few of us in the UK – and logistically it has been a bit of a nightmare getting us all in one place at one time,” says captain Deacon Manu

“Services are important for us as a team. Training hard and then a church service has brought us close”, says  Manu, who was raised in Taranaki

“We are a team that play hard but we always take that spiritual aspect with us on to the field; it’s part of the Fiji culture. It’s different to a lot of other teams but it’s a huge part of the guys’ growing up.”

'n Ma

Die video hier onder, wat Lion uitgestuur het, het almal wat die aand meegemaak het, bewoë gehad. En raak blykbaar nog baie mense soos dit met hulle gedeel word.

As 'n Irakese weeskind met 'n hoogs verminkte liggaam op die verhoog van die X-factor voor 'n reuse-skare verskyn, al strompelende, om sy sangtalent te wys, is die gevoelens intens gemengd.

Groot is die verligting en stormagtig die reaksie.

Almal is vol verwondering oor sy moed en vasbyt. Dit sê die beoordelaars ook. 

Maar, in een van die werklik mooi oomblikke, sê een van hulle niks daaroor nie. Hy, met  bewoëndheid en nugterheid, merk op dat die seun eenvoudig net 'n mooi stem het. Die beoordelaar doen absoluut die regte ding: Dit is tyd om na die seun as mens en sanger te kyk.

En tog, mens kan nie anders as om sy geskiedenis te bly bedink nie: watter gemaklike jong seun is hy tog nie. Hier stap hy op, vol glimlagte, vol uitsien na die oomblik dat hy kan sien. Sy lewe is heel. Hy is ontspanne. Hy wil sing. En juis daarom is hy so 'n volledige persoon.

Ek dink 'n paar dinge: oor die verskrikking en verminking wat oorlog bring. Oor kinders wat in weeshuise beland en wat die lewe ingaan sonder dat hulle eers weet wanneer hulle gebore is nie. 

Maar wat regtig tot 'n mens deurdring is hierdie een vraag: hoe is dit moontlik dat hy so natuurlik, gesond, vol vertroue, gelaai met menslikheid kan wees. Wie sit hier agter?

Die antwoord is duidelik. Hy het 'n besondere ma: hierdie Australiese vrou wat kindertjies in die Moeder Teresa weeshuis in Bagdad gaan haal en grootgemaak het, hulle in haar huis ingebring het, vir hulle die beste gegee het deur vir hulle normaal en gemaklik en vol geesdrif groot te laat word. 

Wie is die vrou? wonder ek. 

Die video vertel alles van die seun, maar laat weet min van die ma.

Ek gaan soek bietjie en, nog meer verrassings: sy het haar werk vir ander aan die sy van Moeder Teresa begin en toe - van alle plekke - in Botswana en Johannesburg. En haar hele lewe is gedryf deur sulke werk onder hulle wat byna geen hoop het nie. 

Heel onderaan is 'n weergawe van haar lewe. 

Born in 1964, Moira commenced her selfless contributions to the less fortunate at the very young age of 13. At 20 years old, she left home and went and worked with Aboriginal children in Western Australia.


At 22, Moira worked alongside Mother Theresa in Calcutta. After working in Calcutta Moira returned home to work with AIDS sufferers and establish a "special unit" for boys with behavioural problems at Sutherland Homes.


At 26, Moira left Australia again for Botswana where she worked with the Kalahari bushmen on a self help project. She then travelled to Johannesburg and then New York. Whilst overseas, Moira worked with some of the world's least fortunate people. She has carried out large-scale humanitarian projects and has been there to assist desperate and sick individuals in Johannesburg, the Bronx (USA), Romania, Bosnia and Albania. She has set up soup kitchens, refugee camps, dental clinics, schools, managed an AIDS hospital and adult education programs.


Moira has been recognised with many community, national and international awards for her humanitarian work. In 1989, at just 25, she was awarded a Queen' Trust Achiever Award and the Victorian Young Achiever Award for Community Service.


In 1994, Moira was awarded the inaugural Sir Edward Dunlop Award for humanitarian service and in 1995 Moira's efforts in Bosnia were honoured by a meeting with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.


In 2001, Moira received a number of national and international awards for her incredible work. She was awarded the White Flame Award given by Save the Children to recognise outstanding service to disadvantaged children. She was also was one of 10 people recognised internationally for their contribution to the world. In Australia, Moira received The Prime Minister's Award for outstanding community service and was made an Officer (AO) in the General Division of the Order of Australia in recognition of her "outstanding service to the Australian community through the provision of social support and service for disadvantaged people, and to the international community through the provision of humanitarian relief and assistance and the organisation of medical treatment for those affect by war or insurrection".


In 2003, and again in 2004, she was honoured by being nominated for Australian of the Year.


Moira's work has been the subject of three documentaries: A Compassionate Rage, Brothers in Arms and Foreign Correspondent. Her work has been acknowledged internationally and carries on today through the Children First Foundation.


http://www.childrenfirstfoundation.com/moirakelly.aspx




En hier is nog 'n merkwaardige verhaal - oor sy broer, en nog inligting oor sy ma:

First published on August 11, 2011.


EDMONTON - Watching quadruple amputee Ahmed Mustafa Kelly churn through the pool is an amazing, and humbling, image to conjure with, and then you remember he only took up swimming after reluctantly abandoning his first sporting love — Aussie Rules Football.


The thing is, Kelly’s significant sporting successes are only part of a cross-cultural journey of truly staggering proportions for the 19-year-old Australian, who is competing in Edmonton this weekend at the Pan-Pacific Para-swimming championships.


Ahmed and his brother, Emmanuel, were born in war-ravaged Baghdad, Iraq, both afflicted with severely deformed arms and legs. Ahmed’s arms end at the elbows, and his legs have been amputated below the knee, permitting him to wear prosthetic legs.


So daunting was the parental challenge of raising two youngsters with extreme special needs, the boys were left as infants at the Mother Teresa Orphanage in Baghdad. Ahmed was left on the steps of the orphanage; Emmanuel was found nearby in a box.


Moira Kelly, a renowned humanitarian and founder of the Children First Foundation, met Ahmed and Emmanuel in 1998 and finalized the adoption of both boys in 2000. The boys grew up on Kelly’s farm near Kilmore, a town located 62-kilometres north of the sports-mad city of Melbourne.


Moira Kelly has made it her mission to “provide a safe haven in Australia for children, irrespective of race or creed, who are in need of medical or emotional support.”


Or, as Ahmed Kelly says, “The foundation brings kids with disabilities from all around the world and we try to fix them up, so they can have a better life back home.”


For Ahmed and Emmanuel, home is Australia now. Ahmed, who got a late start in school for obvious reasons, is about to graduate from high school in Melbourne. He plans to study broadcast journalism at university. Emmanuel, an accomplished singer, has designs on a musical career.


The brothers have two four-year-old sisters, Trishna and Krishna, Bangladeshi children who were conjoined twins when Moira Kelly adopted them. The girls were surgically separated in a procedure lasting more than 27 hours in November 2009. Later that year, both boys were granted Australian citizenship.


“My family is extraordinary, they do amazing stuff,” Kelly said Thursday after setting a personal best in winning his morning heat of the 50-metre freestyle. “When you look back and think about it, it’s pretty extraordinary.


“But we don’t really think that. We live every day as best as we can, do whatever we can, treat every day as just a normal day.”


Sport is front and centre in Australian life, so it is normal that Ahmed has been an avid, rambunctious participant for years.


“I used to play Aussie Rules Football,” Kelly said on Thursday. “That took me to a certain (level), before it started getting really rough and the sport was moving on to become really fast.”


Kelly’s approach to that quintessentially Australian sport was sufficiently tough and fearless — he chose not to use prosthetic hands — that respectful teammates nicknamed him ‘Nails.’


When he opted to channel his competitive spirit into the pool instead of onto the pitch, the regard from his peers remained, but the nickname was tweaked to ‘Liquid Nails.’


“Mentally, I was capable, I really wanted to go on,” Kelly said of his passion for Aussie Rules Football. “But physically, I had to look at the (reality) of it all.


“So, I had to stop. But I didn’t want to be doing nothing in my life after stopping football.


“So, I took on swimming and I’ve found that’s a good challenge to strive for. I’ve slowly worked myself up to where I am now.”


Among other things, where Kelly is now, four years after beginning his swimming career, is the world record holder in the men’s 100-metre breaststroke in the SB3 disabled category. Clearly, whether in football or swimming, he is a quick study.


“You don’t work on a timeline, you just work as hard as you can and give it your best every day,” Kelly said. “I train pretty hard, I’ve got a great coach, great family support, as well as from my school.


“It’s hard not to do well when you’ve got that much support around you.”


Kelly will race in four events here in Edmonton. He was fifth in the 50-free on Thursday night and swims the 50-metre breaststroke today. He has his sights set squarely on qualifying for the 2012 Paralympics in London at the Australian trials next spring in Adelaide.


“When I get to the Paralympics, it’s going to be amazing, overwhelming,” Kelly said. “It’s just something I’ve worked really hard for.”


Part of that experience, should he qualify for London, would be to march into the stadium with Team Australia and see, as well as compete against, athletes from his native Iraq. He and Emmanuel plan to visit their homeland at some point, “when things settle down.”


“But at the end of the day, we’re there (at the Olympics) to race for our nation,” Kelly said. “I want to get gold as a way of saying thank you to Australia for all they’ve done for me, for making my life a lot better than it was.


“Iraq will be there. It will be great to see them competing. I respect the Iraqi people, and I’ll go over there and say hello and tell them I was from Iraq.


“You’ve got to remember where you were born; you can’t forget that completely.”

Dat Immanuel Mustafa-Kelly 'n paar rondtes later uitgeval het, maak nie saak nie. 

Sy lewe is 'n monument vir ontferming.


Hier is die bron:
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Para+swimmer+cross+cultural+sports+journey+staggering+Quadruple/5243168/story.html

Die spore van die lewe. Oor volharding en mededoë

Die kontak-sessie verby, al my afsprake daarna agter die rug, en met – vir ‘n verandering – ‘n nag se goeie rus agter die blad, is ek, tevrede met alles, met die goeie dae van gesels, met goeie werk van die deelnemers en met nuwe insigte, op pad, lughawe toe.

Ek gaan huis toe.

Die taxi is bietjie gehawend, soos ook die Afrikaanse bestuurder. Hy het, sien ek aan sy gesig, nie ‘n sagte lewe agter die blad nie. Die spore van sy verlede lê op sy gesig uitgetrap soos die van voortrekkerwaens op die Drakensberg.

Gou-gou knoop hy ‘n geselsie aan. En ek wil meer oor hom weet, want ek kan my mos nou indink hoe dit moet wees as allerhande soorte mense van alle volke, nasies, tale en oorde oor die drempel van jou ryding klim. Dit is ‘n lewe vol van dinge vir die een wat nuuskierig is, soos ek.

Gewone mense, sê hy, vat nie sommer ‘n taxi nie. En dit is ook net naweke dat hy nie ‘n oomblik iewers sit en wag vir kliënte nie. Dan is dit besig. En ook, sê hy, die middel van die maand. Hier op die vyftiende van elke maand kry ‘n klomp staatswerkers hulle tjek en dan ry hulle taxi asof hulle nog nooit ‘n paar wiele gesien het nie.

Dadelik verwonder ek my oor die mensdom wat hul salaristjektyd op taxi’s uitry en wonder wat hulle doen as die geldjies op is? Loop hulle dan? Sit hulle eerder by die huis? Of ry hulle fiets? Kry geleenthede van die bure en kollega’s?

Dit is nou alles kort ritte in die stad, vra ek. Maar wat van langafstande? Die is daar ook, vertel hy ywerig. Maar dis die vreemdes van die land en die besoekers uit verre oorde wat sommer maklik vir jou sal vra om vir hulle van Bloemfontein na Kaapstad te neem. En R8000 daarvoor sal betaal.

R8000? My ma het altyd gesê: “Nou staan my verstand stil.”

Wat praat ‘n mens nou met sulke vreemdes as jy honderde kilometers vir hulle moet rondry, wil ek weet. O nee, vertel hy my dadelik, hy skakel sy radio hard aan en ry maar net. Maar hy hou hulle in sy spieëltjie darem dop. En hy sien hoe hulle soms vinnig om en agter hulle kyk, asof hulle onrustig is.  En as hulle dit doen, weet hy dit is ook nie verniet dat hulle ‘n taxi vir die trippie huur nie en dat hulle genoeg geld het om te betaal. Hulle wil hul spore agter hulle uitvee of is bekommerd oor wat hulle in hul tasse het.

Ek sê maar niks nie. Wie is ek nou om te spekuleer oor die verborge doenigheid van daardie uitlanders met duisender rande se taxigeld in hul beursies waaroor hy praat.

Die lekkerste trippie ooit, vertel hy dan met kennelike genoeë, was Durban toe. ‘n Man en sy vrou het hom gevra om hulle die oggend te neem en die volgende oggend terug te bring. Hy moes in Durban dus vir hulle wag. Hulle het hom sommer saam met hulle in die hotel ingeboek en uitgevat vir ete. En, boonop, het hulle al die tolgelde betaal – wat normaalweg in die prys ingesluit is.

Ek hoor aan sy stem dat hy inderdaad goeie herinneringe aan Durban het.

Toe, uiteindelik, vertel hy my dat hy voorheen in die konstruksie-bedryf was waar hy ‘n goeie werk gehad het. Ewe skielik hoor ek sy stem kry ‘n effens donkerder kleur, maar hy bly nietemin ongeërg. Dinge het erg skeef geloop, sodat hy sy werk verloor het. En hy kon geen ander werk kry totdat hy later, 600 kilometer ver, darem weer as taxi bestuurder op ‘n kommissie basis kon  begin werk. Al die pad het hy uit sy tuisdorp gery en sedertdien is hy die bestuurder van die gehawende motortjie waarin ons op pad is lughawe toe.

Die spore van die lewe besef ek, wat so diep lê, is die houe wat ons tyd aan Afrikaanse mense van sy soort uitdeel: aflegging, sukkel om weer werk te kry, maar dan eenvoudig vat wat beskikbaar is en die beste daarvan maak.

By die lughawe vertel hy my vir oulaas van die Hollandse toeriste  wat hy lughawe toe moes neem. Daar aangekom wou hulle nie uitklim nie. Nee, sê hulle, ons moet Nederland toe vlieg. Neem ons na die groot lughawe! Ek vernkneukel my aan sy humor. Saam lag ons en dan betaal ek hom sy geldjie.

Op pad die lughawe gebou in, ry my gedagtes saam met die taxi terug na die stad. Daar lê in my, besef ek skielik, nou soveel gevoelens – byna ‘n tederheid oor ‘n mens wat in sulke slegte tye daarin slaag om kop bo water te hou en al pratende, in die skedonk-taxi, vir hom ‘n bestaan uitkerf.

Ek besef skielik, dink ek, so bietjie waarom die spore so diep oor sy gesig getrap is.

En onwillekeurig kom ook ander herinneringe by my op: Vroeër die oggend loop ek ‘n ou bekende raak. Hy vertel my van sy familie in ‘n klein plattelandse dorpie waarvan die meeste Afrikaanse mense nou al weggetrek het. Al die sekuriteite van baie jare, al die instellings van weleer – skool, kerk, bank, het onder hulle weggeval. Hulle leef in ‘n ander, nuwe dorp. Maar hulle bly nog dapper daar aan. Hulle het dit nie breed nie, maar hulle kan darem ordentlik lewe. En hulle het hulle jare lange huiswerker darem ook nog behou sodat sy ‘n werk en ‘n inkomste kan hê.

En toe, onlangs, het hulle ‘n geldjie afgeknyp om vir haar ‘n huis te koop. Na al die jare wou hulle graag dat sy daardie sekuriteit ook het.

En hulle het ook nie net gesorg vir ‘n dak oor haar kop nie. Saam met haar het hulle gegaan dat sy vir haar huis meubels kan uitsoek.

Op die lughawe lees ek vir die eerste keer in drie dae weer koerant. 

Daar is ‘n berig oor ‘n kwaai jong politieke leier wat praat van die ryk witmense in ons land, roep hy glo woedend uit, wat “ons” besteel het en teen wie “ons” nou ‘n ekonomiese oorlog verklaar het. 

Dit is asof die taximan en die plattelandse huiskopers nooit bestaan nie. 

U het my omring - oor God en mense

By die kontak-sessie kyk ons vanaand "Of Gods and Men".

Die is voorwaar 'n deurleefde, wyse film waarin die aard van martelaarskap helder uitgespel word (egte martelare vrees die dood en soek dit nie). Dit is 'n film wat wys hoe 'n gemeenskap van gelowiges goed kan doen. En dit is 'n film wat die sinloosheid van geweld helder uitbeeld.

In een van die laaste tonele in die film word die laaste aand van die priesters uitgebeeld. Dieselfde nag sou hulle weggevoer word en deur fundamentaliste vermoor word.

In 'n pragtig verfilmde toneel waarin die priester langs 'n kers in die donker sit, bid hy 'n Psalm-gebed van 4 reels:

Here U oorweldig my

U omring my

U is oral om my.

En ek het U lief.

Die verborge ruimte.

Wie Waaijman se beskrywing van die mistieke ervaring ken, sal onmiddellik besef waarom gaan dit in die volgende paragraaf van Spurgeon (uitgestuur deur Bible Gateway):

"I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not."
Jeremiah 33:3

There are different translations of these words. One version renders it, "I will shew thee great and fortified things." Another, "Great and reserved things."

Now, there are reserved and special things in Christian experience: all the developments of spiritual life are not alike easy of attainment. There are the common frames and feelings of repentance, and faith, and joy, and hope, which are enjoyed by the entire family; but there is an upper realm of rapture, of communion, and conscious union with Christ, which is far from being the common dwelling-place of believers.

We have not all the high privilege of John, to lean upon Jesus' bosom; nor of Paul, to be caught up into the third heaven. There are heights in experimental knowledge of the things of God which the eagle's eye of acumen and philosophic thought hath never seen: God alone can bear us there; but the chariot in which he takes us up, and the fiery steeds with which that chariot is dragged, are prevailing prayers.

Prevailing prayer is victorious over the God of mercy, "By his strength he had power with God: yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Beth-el, and there he spake with us." Prevailing prayer takes the Christian to Carmel, and enables him to cover heaven with clouds of blessing, and earth with floods of mercy. Prevailing prayer bears the Christian aloft to Pisgah, and shows him the inheritance reserved; it elevates us to Tabor and transfigures us, till in the likeness of his Lord, as he is, so are we also in this world. If you would reach to something higher than ordinary grovelling experience, look to the Rock that is higher than you, and gaze with the eye of faith through the window of importunate prayer. When you open the window on your side, it will not be bolted on the other.

Net een onskuldige is een te veel....

In Amerika het 'n intense debat losgekom oor die goewerneur van Texas, Rick Perry, 'n kandidaat vir die presidentsverkiesing, se opmerkings oor hoe foutloos en hoe onberispelik die voltrekking van die doodsvonnis in Texas is. In vandag se New York Times word 'n videogreep hieroor opgeneem met, net daarna, 'n deel van die debat oor die groot probleme wat rondom die doodstraf bestaan en hoeveel onskuldige mense al ter dood veroordeel en tereggestel is. 

Terwyl Perry vertel dat daar onmoontlik enige twyfel oor die teregstellings kon bestaan, is dit ontstellend om te sien dat die statistieke wys dat hy nie eerlik is nie. Trouens, dit is skokkend om te sien hoe mense onskuldig veroordeel en selfs tereggestel word - soos uit inligting wat hier onder opgenoem word. 

As die syfers klop en daar mense is wat onskuldig doodgemaak word, is dit al genoeg rede om nie die doodstraf toe te pas nie. Een onskuldige slagoffer is al genoeg rede waarom die doodstraf immoreel is. 

As 'n mens die gegewens bekyk, is dit des te meer boeiend dat ons land, met al sy misdaad, nie die doodstraf toelaat nie, terwyl die V.S.A. dit nog verduur. En as 'n mens kyk hoe die gehoor van Perry hom toejuig, en dit terwyl hulle in 'n sogenaamde "liberale" staat soos Kalifornië woon waar doodstraf nie toegepas word nie, is dit duidelik dat baie mense totaal onbewus is van die probleem dat onskuldige mense nog tereggestel word. 

Dit verwonder my altyd hoe voorstanders van die doodstraf aan onchristelike veronderstellings vashou: hulle gaan uit van die standpunt dat mense onhervormbaar is. Hulle hou vas aan die beginsel van weerwraak. Origens het mense nie 'n vae idee van hoe ingrypend dit is om in 'n tronk te sit nie. Miskien loon dit baie mense om Foucault se beroemde en epogmakende werk oor die geskiedenis van die wêreld se gevangenissisteem te lees (Discipline and Punish) juis om te besef watter wreedheid daarin ingebou is. Dit is net as 'n mens so 'n boek lees dat 'n mens besef dat selfs "lewenslange" tronkstraf iets is waaroor 'n mens baie versigtig moet praat.

Dit is beslis nie gewild om teen die doodstraf te wees nie. Trouens, 'n mens kan jouself besonder ongewild maak as 'n mens die doodstraf as onmenslik en, belangriker nog, as onchristelik beskou. Maar, soos met spiritualiteit is dit in die geval van die doodstraf ook die praktyk wat die deurslag gee. Ek onthou hoeveel mense in 2001 geskok was toe 'n Afrikaanse vrou, Mariette Bosch, in ons buurstaat, Botswana, ter dood veroordeel en tereggestel is omdat sy skuldig aan moord bevind is. Vele mense, goeie mense, het toe begin sê dat dit teen hulle grein en hul gevoel vir menslikheid ingaan. Dit is een ding om te praat oor mense ver van jou wat doodgemaak word. Dit is ook een ding om moordenaars van onmenslikheid te beskuldig en dan in die proses 'n mens se eie menslikheid prys te gee deur hulle daarvoor met die dood te vergeld.

Een van die grootste toets vir iemand se spiritualiteit is myns insiens hoe daardie persoon oor die doodstraf praat. 



Hier is 'n gedeelte van die berig in vanoggend se New York Times oor hierdie saak:


WILLIAMS: Governor Perry, a question about Texas. Your state has executed 234 death row inmates, more than any other governor in modern times. Have you… 

(APPLAUSE) 

Have you struggled to sleep at night with the idea that any one of those might have been innocent? 

PERRY: No, sir. I’ve never struggled with that at all. The state of Texas has a very thoughtful, a very clear process in place of which — when someone commits the most heinous of crimes against our citizens, they get a fair hearing, they go through an appellate process, they go up to the Supreme Court of the United States, if that’s required. 

But in the state of Texas, if you come into our state and you kill one of our children, you kill a police officer, you’re involved with another crime and you kill one of our citizens, you will face the ultimate justice in the state of Texas, and that is, you will be executed. 

WILLIAMS: What do you make of…

(APPLAUSE) 

What do you make of that dynamic that just happened here, the mention of the execution of 234 people drew applause?

PERRY: I think Americans understand justice. I think Americans are clearly, in the vast majority of — of cases, supportive of capital punishment. When you have committed heinous crimes against our citizens — and it’s a state-by-state issue, but in the state of Texas, our citizens have made that decision, and they made it clear, and they don’t want you to commit those crimes against our citizens. And if you do, you will face the ultimate justice.

For some — in this case, opponents of the death penalty — this was sort of a double whiplash moment, a gasp within a gasp that may have been more confusing than mobilizing. Because which was more disturbing (or heartening, depending on your political view)? Perry’s unbowed defense of the “thoughtful” trial process in Texas and the clear expression of his untroubled mind in the face of possible moral doubt and complexity (i.e., Have I facilitated the death of an innocent human?)? Or the audience applause that bracketed the exchange, the rousing audience cheers for an aggressively applied death penalty? In California, mind you, not Texas.

Let’s look at the applause, the “execution cheer,” if you will. Because any number of analysts might have expected Perry to say what he said, but the cheer was a surprise — a welcome sort for some, but unwelcome for others.



This is the digital age, so let’s begin with an immediate outburst from Andrew Sullivan, who during his live blogging of the debate, wrote:

9.48 pm. A spontaneous round of applause for executing people! And Perry shows no remorse, not even a tiny smidgen of reflection, especially when we know for certain that he signed the death warrant for an innocent man. Here’s why I find it impossible to be a Republican: any crowd that instantly cheers the execution of 234 individuals is a crowd I want to flee, not join. This is the crowd that believes in torture and executions. Can you imagine the torture that Perry would authorize? 

Thank God he’s doing so poorly tonight. 

The next morning, Sullivan’s former colleague, The Atlantic’s Ta-Nehisi Coates, seemed somewhat less rattled, though hardly cheerier. “Apparently people were shocked by the applause here,” he wrote. “The only thing that shocked me was that they didn’t form a rumba line. It’s a Republican debate. And it’s America.” He continued:

Perry’s right — most people support the death penalty. It’s the job of those of us who oppose the death penalty to change that. 

It’s worth remembering that no Democratic nominee for the presidency in some twenty years, has been against the death penalty. This is still the country where we took kids to see men lynched, and then posed for photos. 

We are a lot of things. This is one of them. 

Glenn Greenwald at Salon found it unwelcome, too. Actually he found it “creepy and disgusting.” (Greenwald, like Perry, is direct.). In a link-laden broadside, he wrote: 

[I]t’s hardly surprising for a country which long considered public hangings a form of entertainment and in which support for the death penalty is mandated orthodoxy for national politicians in both parties. Still, even for those who believe in the death penalty, it should be a very somber and sober affair for the state, with regimented premeditation, to end the life of a human being no matter the crimes committed. Wildly cheering the execution of human beings as though one’s favorite football team just scored a touchdown is primitive, twisted and base. 

All of that would be true even if the death penalty were perfectly applied and only clearly guilty people were killed. But in the U.S., the exact opposite is true; see here to read about (and act to stop) a horrific though typical example of a very likely innocent person about to be executed by the State of Georgia. That Perry in particular likely enabled the execution of an innocent man — as well as numerous other highly disturbing killings, of the young and mentally infirm — makes the cheering all the more repellent. That the death penalty in America has long been plagued by a serious racial bias makes it worse still. That this death-cheering comes from a party that relentlessly touts itself as ”pro-life” and derides the other as The Party of Death — and loves to condemn Islam (in contrast to its war-loving self) as a death-glorifying cult — only adds a layer of dark irony.

That whole “perfectly applied” thing — the goal of which requires the person being put to death to actually be guilty — also troubled others. Marie Diamond at Think Progress Justice undertakes a thorough debunking of the idea that everyone executed in Texas in the past decade or so was guilty: 

[D]uring Perry’s tenure as governor, DNA evidence has exonerated at least 41 people convicted in Texas, Scott Horton writes in Harper’s. According to the Innocence Project, “more people have been freed through DNA testing in Texas than in any other state in the country, and these exonerations have revealed deep flaws in the state’s criminal justice system.” Some 85 percent of wrongful convictions in Texas, or 35 of the 41 cases, are due to mistaken eyewitness identifications. 

Those exonerations include Cornelius Dupree, who had already spent 30 years in prison for rape, robbery, and abduction when DNA evidence proved unequivocally that he was not the man who had committed those crime. Tim Cole, the brother of Texas Sen. Rodney Ellis (D), was posthumously pardoned a decade after he died in prison when DNA evidence proved his innocence. The total failure of the Texas courts to protect these innocent individuals reveal a system plagued by racial injustices, procedural flaws, and a clemency review process that’s nothing but a rubber stamp on executions.
 
Leading the country in wrongful convictions probably should give Perry a moment’s pause about the reliability of a criminal justice process he described last night as “thoughtful.” … 

And he may well have already executed an innocent man. The case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004 for the arson deaths of his three daughters and maintained his innocence until his dying day, will likely continue to haunt Perry throughout the campaign. Several scientists and forensics experts have questioned the evidence that led to Willingham’s conviction, but Perry “squashed” an official probe into his execution.

Hammerskjøld: wanneer die dood die verlange van die hart vervul

Hammerskjold se Markings (Merkstene) is een van die beste voorbeelde van moderne mistiek. Dit word as een van die meesterwerke in spiritualiteit van die twintigste eeu beskou. Hierdie man wat die Nobelprys vir vrede in 1961 ontvang het, het 'n besondere sin vir sy roeping gehad. Vir hom was die roeping wat God vir hom bepaal het, iets wat hy in die openbare, politieke sfeer wou uitleef. Hy was intens daarvan bewus dat sy werk nie maar net vir 'n salaris is nie, maar dat dit 'n self-prysgawe is waarin hy die wil van God vir sy lewe uitgeleef, gehoorsaam en gesoek het. 

Hy het die volgende geskryf:  

Do not seek death. Death will find you. 

But seek the road which makes death a fulfillment.

Die aanhaling (raakgesien deur Louis in sy werkstuk van vandag oor Hammerskjøld) laat my besef hoedat ons tradisionele siening van die dood as die laaste vyand tog iewers vanuit 'n mistieke hoek gerelativeer word. 

'n Mens staan wel voor die onvermydelike: die dood is ons aller lot. Maar die geheim is om nie daarop vas te kyk nie. Moenie die dood soek nie. Moenie geobsesseerd, selfs angstig wees daarvoor nie. 


Dit is hoogs mistiek.


En die mistieke word dan verduidelik deur die laaste sin: mense kan vry wees van doodsangs deur 'n bepaalde weg te kies. Dit is uiteraard die weg na God. Hierdie weg wat die mens uit liefde vir God opsoek en waarheen die mens dan sy of haar hele lewe deur op pad is, eindig by God. Al 'n mens se verlange is uitgestort op die weg na God. Om by God te kan wees, om by die Ewige te kan woon....


Daar is net een ding wat ons hiervan skei: die dood. As die dood kom, kom die vervulling van ons begeerte om by die Ewige te wees. Want as die dood gekom het en die vervulling van ons verlange na God aangebreek het, ontdek 'n mens die onbegryplike: niks kan 'n mens skei van die Liefde nie. Die dood bring die vervulling van die Liefde.


Soek dus daardie weg wat die dood 'n vervulling maak.

Wanneer 'n mens gedring word tot die lewe: Oor Katafatiese Spiritualiteit

Ons is gewoond daaraan om te dink dat die skepping die voorwerp van God se hande arbeid is en dat daar daarom ‘n groot verskil is tussen hulle. En dit is sekerlik waar. Dit sou dom wees om te dink dat God en die skepping identies is. God kan onmoontlik in die skepping opgaan.

Maar daar is ook ‘n ander kant van die saak, waaroor ons te min dink. Want daar is ‘n noue eenheid van God met die skepping. Die skepping het sy bestaan in God. En vanuit die herskepping kan Johannes die volgende merkwaardige woord skryf: “Elkeen wat uit God gebore is, doen geen sonde nie, omdat sy saad in hom bly; en hy kan nie sondig nie, want hy is uit God gebore” ( I Joh. 3:9).

God se saad bly in die mens! Watter mistieke uitspraak waarin die noue, intieme en onlosmaaklike band tussen God en skepsel uitgedruk word. 1 Johannes 1 en 2 is hoofstukke wat herhaaldelik van hierdie band praat, om nie van die Johannes Evangelie se gedurige beklemtoning van God se inwoning in die mens te praat nie. ‘n Mens kan weke lank in mymering met hierdie hoofstukke besig bly, oorweldig deur die nabyheid van God in en by die skepping.

Daar is ander tekste van ander skrywers wat die gedagte ook beklemtoon. Paulus praat ook van hulle wat die Here aanhang, wat “een Gees met Hom word” (1 Kor. 6:17; N.V.: “is geestelike een met Hom”).

Eintlik is daar ook iets logies aan die noue band tussen God en die skepping. Dikwels, baie dikwels ontmoet mense God in hul daaglikse ervaring en lewe. Wanneer ‘n mens in die natuur is, wanneer ‘n mens die Bybel lees, raak ‘n mens soms op ‘n mistieke wyse bewus van die nabye teenwoordigheid van God. ‘n Mens kan jou heeltemal daarin verloor.

En kyk net na daardie hoogs mistieke vers in Kol.1:16: “want in Hom is alle dinge geskape wat in die hemele en op die aarde is, wat sienlik en onsienlik is, trone sowel as heerskappye en owerhede en magte – alle dinge is deur Hom en tot Hom geskape.”

Dit is ‘n merkwaardige trits van frase’s: In Hom, deur Hom en tot Hom – dit is die verhouding van die skepping en skepsele tot God. Dit is die allernouste van denkbare verhoudinge. Om te dink: die skepping is in God geskape…. Sonder God kan dit nie. Weer eens beteken dit nie dat God en die skepping dieselfde is nie. Dit beteken wel dat God se teenwoordigheid in die skepping herken en ervaar kan word. Die sleutelwoord hier is dat God teenwoordig is. En dit beteken ook dat die skepping in God teenwoordig is.

Dit alles is wat mense nou katafatiese spiritualiteit noem. Dit is ‘n spiritualiteit waarin die verhouding van die geskapene met God in woorde uitgedruk word. Taal word gebruik om te vertel wie God is en hoe God na die mens in die allerintiemste manier uitreik. 

Katafatiese spiritualiteit bevestig God in God se verhouding met die geskapene. Dit is 'n perspektief wat veral belangrik is vir Christene wat sosiaal bewoë is, wat die skepping vanuit God se heerskappy wil bekyk en beleef, wat stry om sosiale geregtigheid en menswaardigheid en wat hulle instel op ekologiese kwessies.

Naas katafatiese spiritualiteit staan nou apofatiese spiritualiteit. Apofatiese spiritualiteit laat vir ‘n mens die ander kant van God se wese sien: God is wel in die skepping te ervaar, maar God is ook baie meer en totaal anders as die skepping. Ons menslike taal kan vir ons help om iets te vertel van die verhouding van God met die skepping – en dit kan tot wonderlike ryk gedagtes aanleiding gee. Hoe aangrypend kan ‘n mens tog nie in menslike kategorieë praat oor God se liefde, God se geduld, lankmoedigheid, ontferming, bewoëndheid en vele ander menslike begrippe nie.

Maar God is ook baie meer en baie anders. Niemand moet arrogant genoeg wees om te dink ‘n mens kan God vasvang in sulke begrippe, woorde – in menslike taal nie. God is bo alle menslike verstand en begrip.

Hoe meer ‘n mens op pad is met God, hoe verder ‘n mens die geestelike reis loop, hoe meer besef ‘n mens die vreemdheid van God, die andersheid van die pad wat ons loop en hoe meer besef ‘n mens watter bevryding daar te vind is in die bevraagtekening van al ons menslike belangstellings, voorwaardes, grepe en gedagtes. Die pilgrim is op reis na die Onbegryplike, die Verborgene.

Dit is, soos Dionusios die Areopagiet geskryf het, om soos Moses in die donker wolk in te gaan. Die Israeliete, die oningewydes, staan eenkant, verbyster voor die Verborge gebeure wat op die Berg sal plaasvind. Maar Moses, hulle wat lei, die ingewydes, hulle wat aanstap op die geestelike reis, weet dat dit is waarom dit werklik gaan – dit gaan om die God wat ons nog net heeltemal ten dele ken en voor wie se Onbekendheid ‘n mens uiteindelik te staan sal kom.

Dit is eintlik waarom kontemplasie gaan: om by God te wees, buite alle begrip, verstand om. Om so naby aan God te wees, dat ‘n mens in totale nietiging alle aandag vir jouself en vir jou eie, klein, vaal wêreld verloor. Dit is dan die punt dat ‘n mens niks geword het, en God, die Onsienlike, die Onpeilbare, die Onmeetlike meer. Dit is dan dat ‘n mens begryp wat Paulus skryf: Ek leef nie meer nie… Dit is dan dat ‘n mens niks weet of verstaan of ken nie.

Die pelgrimsreis neem ‘n mens al hoe meer en al hoe dieper in hierdie vreemde toestand van niks-weet in, in daardie lewe waarna die mens se hart volledig verlang en waarin die hart eers werklik tot rus sal kom. Alles waaraan die mens so gewoond was en waaraan die mens so verknog was, sal verdwyn. Paulus praat selfs van geloof wat sal verdwyn (in 1 Kor. 13).

Dit is die oomblik waarin die pilgrim sal aankom en uiteindelik van aangesig tot aangesig sal wees.

Op die geestelike reis is beide elemente – die katafatiese en die apofatiese – twee noodsaaklike perspektiewe. 

Want, dit is ook waar: 'n mens kan so omgee vir die skepping, vir sosiale geregtigheid, vir menswaardigheid dat 'n mens die Skepper kwyt raak, of vergeet dat God nie net die Skepper is nie. Maar veel, veel meer as die Skepper.