God, Spirituality, and Priorities

If we had forgotten about God and the power of nature, the tsunami and earthquakes at the end of 2004 reminded us with ferocity that there is a world beyond money and day-to-day "making it." We have been reminded that our priorities are fundamentally wrong. People have lost the basics–food, water, and shelter–and faith. People have been shaken to the core.

What makes God and nature turn against human beings? Of course, the objective answer is that God and nature don’t single out humans as targets. The subjective answer is that people affected won’t understand what happened to them. Did they deserve it? The answer is obviously no. But, we do need to react to a new reality. Which brings us to a basic philosophical question... Are we the "masters of our own destiny" or are we subject to the power of God and nature? At this point, it might be a good idea to refer to both the Divine and nature as one power. So, are we the masters of our destiny? The answer seems clear to me. We are not masters of our own destiny. However, we can choose to react to events. Thus, we can say with some certainty that we are masters of our reactions but not the world around us.

We forget that there are forces on earth that are more powerful than us. We hate to admit that we are helpless in the face of God’s power. But, in the face of this tragedy, it becomes clear that though material needs matter a huge amount, in the end, spiritual, mental, and emotional needs matter just as much. The people who will survive such a great upheaval will have to have a framework that allows them to function when the incomprehensible happens. Unless the people who are affected (and those who help them) are grounded spiritually (and thus mentally and emotionally as well), the material help that is sorely needed will not provide the relief it seeks to alleviate.

Without meaning to demean the lives of the people who have died, I would like to suggest that life is for the living. It is we who are asked to respond–show our goodwill and humanity towards those who have survived. Did God turn his back on us? No, in his own way, he has provided us with a forum to demonstrate our humanity. If we can learn compassion from such a tragedy, some kind of lesson will have been learned. It is not only about money and "making it" on a day-to-day basis. It is about much more. We are put on this earth with no guarantees. Some babies don’t make it past a few days. Some people live 80+ years. No one knows what our time on earth is. Life is a gift. We might not have control over our destiny, but we should not be instrumental in taking it away.