Rowan Atkinson: A Story of Weakness to Success

In the world, we hear of many people with physical disabilities who have become successful in life. For example, Stephen Hawking (Gradual Paralysis), Helen Keller (Deaf and Blind), Nick Vujicic (No arms and Limbs) etc. I would like to share the story of one such person Rowan Atkinson, a world-renowned comedian, who made his greatest weakness of stammering his greatest strength in life with courage and determination.
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson was born in the year 1955 in Newcastle, England. He was the youngest of the four children. While he was at School he was shy, he had a low-confidence level, He was self-oriented and was always bullied by his classmates. Despite all these factors with determination, he continued studying at Oxford and became an electrical engineer. There inspired by Charlie Chaplin he figured his talent of comedy and wanted to become an actor and comedian, but when he went for interviews everyone rejected him because of his stammering and speech disability.
But he did not get disappointed and kept trying finally BBC radio invited him to act in a comedy TV show “Not the Nine O’clock News”. Soon his fame spread. He then earned a role in “Blackadder” and “Just for Laugh” in the 1980s. But he became famous worldwide for his character of Mr. Bean which was screened in the late ’90s and early 20’s a total of 104 episodes. He also appeared on the big screen in the movies “Mr. Bean Holidays” (2007), “Johny English” (2011) and “Johny English Strikes Again” (2018) all were great hits. He also won an ‘International Emmy’ and a ‘British Academy award’.
Rowan Atkinson never quit and never got disappointed. He defeated his disability and became a shining star. He defeated his fear by exposing himself to the same fear and it gradually disappeared and became his strength. Every person is especially gifted with some special skills we all need to discover it, polish it, and make your position in this world. For some of us its music, dancing, acting, cracking jokes, speaking, writing, video making, etc. Let us discover this special gift, develop it, and be successful in life.

Cl. Aegidius Pereira

Cosmology - The Study of Reality

Ø  The Origin of the Universe

Basically, there are three positions concerning the origin of the universe. They are Creation, Evolution and Creative Evolution.

Creation:

- This is the most primitive theory. It is the most ancient answer that is given by man. Creation is a position according to which the universe is produced by an infinite being out of nothing. It exists from eternity.

- Two principles to be understood. A being cannot create a being of a superior nature. But it can make another being with the help of another being.

- The entire universe superior to man, so a man would not have produced. At the same time, the universe is finite in nature. Therefore, it cannot account for its own existence.

- Therefore, it must have been created by an infinite being, whom the believers call as GodThe purpose is - out of free will he created. Evidence - genesis 1\1.

Evolution:

- Modern scientific development has given rise to several theories to explain the origin of the universe. Evolution is an attempt to explain the origin of the universe without bringing in the infinite being. In the beginning, there was a primeval atom and later it evolved.

We give only three of these which are the most important. They are; - The evolutionary theory of Lemaitre, the steady-state theory of Hoyle and Big Bang theory.

1. The Evolutionary Theory of Lamaitre: Lamaitre was a Belgian priest. For him, the whole universe existed in the form of an atomic nucleus. It was so unstable and as soon as it came into being it broke into numerous pieces.

And finally at the particular time they become stable due to gravitation of earth etc.... It is a state of equilibrium. Thus they form different planets. They are constantly attracted to each other and repelled.

He explains the origin of the universe in terms of a process of expansion from a hyper-condensed state to a diffused state. For him, the universe is the violent radioactive disintegration of a superdense primeval atom.

2. Big-Bang Theory of Gamor: For him, in the beginning, the universe dense neutrons. After half an hour of existence, these neutrons exploded and the universe came into being.

3. Steady-state theory of Hoyle: This states that matter has been coming into the universe constantly; this matter condensed and became stars and galaxies. They disappear and reborn in the course of billions and billions of years.

- The starting point of the universe is a thin hydrogen cloud that pervades everywhere. Because of gravitation the hydrogen atoms merge together giving rise to still larger condensations or galaxies.

Evolution of Life and Man: How did life come? There are different and numerous theories for it. Evolution does not say that man came from a monkey. Evolution differs as it is explained by many scientists. There is no one definition for evolution.

- Evolution is a a theory that holds that every living creature is originated gradually by natural descent from one or a few original creatures.

- From where do men come from? There was a jump from ape to man, irrationality to rationality - missing link

1. Lamark;- A French biologist. He pointed out a comprehensive theory of evolution. There must have been an evolution taken place. The word Biology was from him. His theory is a transmutation of animal species. He says sometime in the past, there has been a transformation of animal life.

- There has been a steady increase in the complexity of organization of life, of living beings. He finds that there has been an upward movement from simple living to a complex living. Certain animals when they are not able to cope up with the environment, adapt to the environment; man would have come into being this way.

The Church reaction; - Before this theory came, the church believed in these four - 1. Creation of all things by God at the beginning of time as complete entities

2. The special creation of man - God intervened and makes man from clay.

3. Formation of the first woman from the first man.

4. Concept 1 sin - the first fall.

- In 1951 Pope Pius XII published the encyclical called Humani Generis - The origin of man. They changed certain positions. We need not literally believe the account of the genesis, but should not give up the following. We believe that the earth was created by God. We may believe in the evolution of the body of man, but the soul has been created by god. Original sin is not by a group of people but a single man whom we call Adam. It is from whom the humankind might have evolved. If we deny the original sin, Christ's redemption has no value.

Creative - Evolution: Today the The church does not deny evolution, but it states that God supervises and guides the whole process of evolution and brings it to perfection. Evolution does not take place randomly, as the various theories suggest. Evolution has its beginning and end in God – The Designer.

The linguistic concepts refer to the various regional creation myths which give some meaning to lives.

This article has been a combined effort of Alex and Meban

The Reason for our Hope (Book Review) - Sanket Chauhan

A native of New York, Fr. Richard Viladesau completed his philosophical studies at the Immaculate Conception Seminary (Huntington), and pursued his theological degrees at the Gregorian University in Rome (S.T.L., 1970; S.T.D., 1975). He was ordained a priest at St. Peter’s Basilica in 1969. He taught for twelve years at the Immaculate Conception Seminary before joining the theology faculty at Fordham in 1988. He engages in ministry in both the Latin and Byzantine Ruthenian rites. His work has centered on philosophical theology, in particular the question of the knowledge of God and the concept of revelation, both in Christian and non-Christian traditions. In recent years he has become known primarily for his contributions to the field of theological aesthetics: theoretical (epistemology of aesthetics) and historical (theology and the arts.

Ch.1    Giving reason to our Hope

·         Task of Christina anthropology is to understand suffering and empathize with the people.

·         There is usually difference between preaching and practice.

Ch.2    The Transcendent Subject

·         Consciousness is what distinguishes mode of being; subject from that of mere ‘objects’, or things.

·         Things present themselves to me simply as being ‘there’, over against me and independent of myself.

·         Consciousness on the other hand is not simply there, it must be activated.

·         Life is not simply what we are but is a project, an involvement in our own being, in our own becoming. Our being consists more in what it is not yet than what it is.

Philosophy about the world

·         Lonergan’s heuristic structure.

·         Self as material in nature yet transcending in spirituality.

·         The dynamism of the world; the world is moving toward Spirit.

·         Spatially the universe contains me but in thought I contain the universe because the universe is not conscious of me (but I am conscious of the universe).

·         The meaning of the world depends on the meaning of man (the universe is what I think it is).

·         Man is not only master but also servant of the world.

·         Are we mere things condemned to a brutal death with the fate of the knowledge of the whole universe?

·         Question of ultimate meaning, raises the question of God, the ultimate ground of being.

The question about God

·         The word God seems to be like any other word used in most languages.

·         Yet word God must be translated from language to language while other proper nouns may not.

What does this word signify?

·         The word God is more than mere personal name.

·         Rhaner calls him ‘Holy Mystery’.

·         The word which signifies source of all intelligibility, therefore the ground of all words.

Ch.3    The grounding of Transcendence without God

·         ‘Now God is dead! You higher men, this God was your greatest danger.

Now at last the mountain of man’s future is about to give birth. God is dead; now it is our will that the Superman shall live.’ Nietzsche

Alternatives to faith in God

·         Purva Mimamsa- we even find the proofs for the non-existence of God.

·         Samkhya explicitly is a non-theistic system.

·         Bhuddism – religious yet non-theistic.

·         Negative theory- since nothing can be said about the absolute, even to raise question about Him becomes a distraction for man’s salvation.

·         Religion which speaks of Nirvana but are agnostic in nature- Samkhya, yoga, Bhuddhism, Theravada, etc.

·         Heidegger speaks of Dasein, Self-realization of one-self, silent about God.

·         Sartre:- ‘If God were to create man, then God’s creativity would cover all human life; all value and meaning would be fixed; man would be unable to be truly free, for-self, but would be reduced to a mere thing. However it is obvious that man is a free and self-realizing being, and therefore the hypothesis of God must be rejected, as a contradiction to that freedom. ’

Ch. 4   The grounding of Transcendence in God-1

The traditional ways to God by reason

·         It is common that in different traditions people speak of proofs for God.

·         Aquinas speaks about ways not proofs. Human mind is incapable of reaching God’s essence. It is impossible for God’s being to be made evident to our minds.

·         Proofs adduced by Thomas and others are simply statements of reasons which induce mind to accept the proposition that God exists.

·         What our arguments render evident for us not God Himself, but testimony of him contained in vestiges, signs here below.

From the Idea of God

·         Anselm’s proof for existence of God.                                              

God cannot even be thought of not to be; therefore, He must be and He is.

·         Concept of God is absolutely unique among all concepts, in that it alone signifies an existence which is absolute; if is thought at all it must be thought of as really existing.

·         Tolstoy’s War and Peace Pierre speaks, ‘If God did not exist; we would not be speaking about him, my dear sir. Of whom, of what were we speaking? Who is it that you deny? Who invented him, if he did not exist? How is it that you and the whole world have formed an idea of such an inconceivable being, an al powerful being, eternal and infinite in all his qualities?

·         Aquinas’ five ways:-

                                                         I.            Unmoved Mover

                                                      II.            Uncaused Cause

                                                   III.            Necessary being

                                                   IV.            Absolute perfection

                                                      V.            Final cause

Augustine: ‘Ask the whole world and see, they’ll reply that God made them.’

The nerve of the proofs-mind and intelligibility

·         From the beauty of these things which are eternal, we discover the maker, who is internal to us, and who creates beauty in a superior way in the soul.

Moral argument

·         Kant says; ‘without God and immortality, morality would lose its grounds, the only cause which could give binding force to the moral law of our being is a supreme will of God.

Ch.5 The grounding for Transcendence in God-2

Transcendental method

·         Transcendental Method aims at a self-appropriation of the subject’s consciousness.

·         We seek to bring to our reflective attention those elements of conscious activity on which we always rely in thinking and willing, without normally being explicitly aware of them.

Question as starting point

·         Man questions because he is a metaphysical animal, being is not only the object in our selfhood, even prior to any explicit question.

·         Every proof of God’s existence manifests the fact that all being refers to God’s being, because all being participates in the divine being, in that which is absolutely and which nothing else is. This is especially evident in the case of self-reflective or conscious being. We cannot avoid reference to God, because consciousness itself, being at the level of spirit, is a conscious, although mysterious and perhaps obscure, participation in the divine, light that self-luminosity in which being and being-for are identical. It is perhaps in the realm of transcendence, in mystical experience, that the ontological argument has its place- not as a proof of God’s existence but as showing the structure of the experience of union with or participation in the absolute and self-evident being of God.

Ch.6 The free hearer and the free revealer

            To understand, to observe, to draw conclusions, a man must first of all be conscious of himself as living. A man knows himself as living, not otherwise than as willing, that is, he is conscious of his free will. Man is conscious of his will as constituting the essence of his life, and he cannot be conscious of it except as free.

                                                                                    Leo Tolsoi (War and Peace)

·         The reflection on the idea of freedom allows us further to determine the nature of the luminous experience of subjectivity. We can now say that the ultimate essence of being and of knowing is none other than Love, the free and conscious positing of the good. That is being in its primal case, which is not the being of things, bet Dasein is not merely intelligible, but is personal, free and responsible.

·         Man’s dynamism is necessitated by less than the good one finds oneself in principle free before them,

Free Revealer

·         What can a person say when he speaks of thee? And yet woe to those who are silent concerning Thee, when even those who speak are like the dumb.

-Augustine

·         All being insofar as it exists, participates in God’s being.

·         God must be unconditional being, for if He depended on anything else, He would not be self-explanatory. For the same reason God’s being is necessary. He cannot be in any way contingent, because he would then need an explanation outside of Himself.

·         God is first the exemplary cause of the world. That is all the perfections of finite being pre-exist in God in an eminent way, so that God the model for all being. Every finite being is in some sense an image of the infinite divine being; God is the source of the analogy of being. In platonic terminology, we speak of the participation of all being in God to signify his exemplary causality.

Second, God is the efficient cause of the world. All finite being are brought about by God’s free action, which makes them to be from a state of non-being. Everything is created by God. Since God is the Idea of Being and the Act of Love, ‘to be created’ is equivalent to being known and being loved by God.

Third, God is to be conceived as the ‘final’ cause of the world, that is, the last end or goal of all finite being. God is the source of the world’s meaning, the ground of its value, by being the objective of all its striving, the ultimate beloved of all things. God is the supreme answer to the question ‘why’ in the sense of ‘how is that?’ God is the model of the universe in its being and goodness. Efficient causality tells ‘why’ in the sense of ‘where from?’ God is the goal of the universe. Final causality tells ‘why’ in the sense of ‘what for?’ God is the final goal of the universe.

Ch. 7 Salvation as Revelation

            The blocking of Transcendence –Biases

·         Lonergan speaks of ‘biases’: individual biases, group bias, general bias.

·         Abraham Maslow quoting Freud says, ‘the greatest cause of psychological illness is the fear of knowledge of self.’

·         Fear of self-knowledge is parallel to fear of the ‘outside’ world.

Sin

·         We are nonetheless transcendentally free, and capable of some restricted categorical realization of freedom.

·         Kinds of evil (physical, psychological, moral)

·         Socratic notion of sin- man necessarily seeks good; evil is simply a mistake, if a man chooses evil it is because he has chosen the ‘wrong good.’

·         Lonergan- sin is by its nature absurd; it runs counter to man’s deepest drive toward the good and therefore counter to the intelligibility which is identical with goodness. Sin therefore is the root of the irrational in man’s rational self-consciousness, and by extension it is the root of the irrational, meaningless, in man’s alienated situation. Intellect can understand the nature of sin only by means of an inverse insight. If it had a reason, it would not be sin; for sin consists not in yielding to reasons, but in failing to do so-even though the reasonable course is known.

Sin is by its nature the negative in human decision, not a positive content. It is in its essence a failure to will, an absence of response to moral obligation. The root of all sin is the sin of omission; for even in the morally evil, act which is positively chosen, the evil lies not in the being or act, but in what is lacking to it; namely the proper relation to the self, to other, the world and God. The sinful act insofar as it is sinful, is not an event or being but is a failure or being and the lack of an act. It is namely the failure to respond reasonably and lovingly to obligatory motives.

·         Augustine: fundamental attitude of sin is ‘pride’ for it is a refusal to be a creature, i.e. to have one’s end outside oneself.

·         The act of love also necessarily involves man’s mind; for freedom is the highest level of rational self-consciousness. Love is always connected with meaning and truth, just as evil as its root lie and a surd. The solution to the problem of evil must therefore involve a higher collaboration with God and with others in pursuit of the true meaning of existence.

·         For every human being is finite, and can therefore only a virtually unconditioned value or object of love. Moreover, the life of the beloved is changeable; the values affirmed in the act of love can be altered by the free options of the person loved. There is a certain inevitable possibility ‘fickleness’ inherent in any finite free person; no finite being can, be worthy of an unreserved trust. Man cannot justify an absolute love, in which one commits self unconditionally and entrusts oneself completely to the other. Our neighbor can only be loved conditionally; if the conditions are fulfilled, then the act of love is grounded. Only God is unconditioned value which can ground a completely unconditioned or absolute mode of love. But if we in fact experience within ourselves a call to an absolute love of our neighbor then the implication must be that the love of this finite being is somehow identical with the love of the absolute and unconditioned: that the love of neighbor is the love of God. Only thus could an absolute love be justified. If we do experience a summons to an absolute love of neighbor, therefore, we must recognize that such love implies a supernatural intentionality; that it has as its proper object God himself, somehow united with the finite object of love.

·         Christian anthropology has led us to make three fundamental statements about man.

1.      Man is capable of God- that is man is by nature open to the infinite, and stands as a question to the Absolute.

2.      Man needs God: confronted with the existential dilemma of evil and sin, man looks to God for salvation.

Man experiences the working of salvation in life, and in this experience implicitly anticipate from God an absolute saving event by which God communicates himself in history.

St Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274) and St John Bosco (1815-1888) on forming “Good Christians and Upright Citizens”

Obvious differences: Aquinas – born into a noble family in the castle of Aquino near Naples; received a privileged education as a Benedictine oblate in the Monastery of Monte Cassino; as an adolescent, studied philosophy in the Arts Faculty of the University of Naples under Peter of Ireland; as a young Dominican, studied theology in the University of Paris under Albert the Great, and continued his theological education with him in Cologne; returned to Paris to prepare to take up the chair of theology in the University of Paris as Master in Theology. Spent all his life in teaching and writing in the University of Paris, in the papal courts of Anagni and Orvieto, and in the Dominican House of studies at Rome.

Don Bosco – born into a very poor family at Castelnuovo d’Asti in Piedmont, orphaned of father at age 2; as a young boy, received an elementary education under Father Calosso; as an adolescent, continued his schooling at Chieri, and joined the Seminary at Chieri to study for the priesthood. After his ordination, spent three years at the Convitto Ecclesiastico in Turin under the guidance of Father Joseph Cafasso and Father John Borel. Spent all his priestly life and ministry in the education of poor boys in the Oratory of St Francis de Sales in Valdocco, Turin; founded the triple Salesian Family of SDB, FMA, and the Salesian Cooperators.

Some Common Affinities: period of great turmoil in several areas

Aquinas: In the University of Paris, the mendicant friars (Franciscans and Dominicans) were resented for having acquired two chairs each in the faculty of theology. The secular masters opposed their studies and teaching in the University and raised up a bitter polemic against them. Aquinas and Bonaventure gave their inaugural lectures in the University under armed escort. The entire works of Aristotle were translated into Latin, and began to be taught in the Arts Faculty of the University of Paris, notwithstanding papal prohibitions and attempts at expurgation of the writings. A bitter polemic rose up between the Augustinian-Franciscan school of thought, and the Aristotelico-Averroist teaching in the Faculty of Arts of the University. The doctrine of Aquinas inspired by Aristotle, but against the Averroist interpretation of Siger of Brabant, came under severe attack from the Augustinian-Franciscan school and the Averroist school. Aquinas had to face a battle on two fronts with peril of condemnation.

Don Bosco: political turmoil with the unification of Italy and the dissolution of the Papal States, with strong anticlerical sentiments, and laws that curtailed the freedom of the Church and restricted its rights. Economic and social unrest because of the initial industrial revolution, caused large-scale migration of the poor, especially of young people, from rural areas to the cities, with inadequate support systems, housing and sanitation, and increasing phenomenon of juvenile delinquency.

A Common Mission of Re-Evangelisation of Culture (Forming Good Christians…) and Social Engagement with Civil Society (… and Upright Citizens) through education

Aquinas: was the first to grasp the perils of the Averroist doctrine, and its dangers for the Christian faith. But he was also the first, through a sustained and critical study of Aristotle, to seize the opportunity of a much-needed correction of the Augustinian-Franciscan doctrine, and to rethink and to work out a profoundly original synthesis of Christian theology and philosophy. He laid the groundwork for a new re-evangelisation of culture with direct implications for a renewed social engagement with civil society.

Perils of the Averroist doctrine: the Averroist doctrine of the unicity of the human intellect (one intellect for all humankind) reduced the dignity of the human person to a glorified animal, and endangered personal moral responsibility, and personal immortality, leading to the risk of licentiousness in moral behaviour, and disruption of the social order and civic society.

Inadequacies of the Augustinian-Franciscan doctrine of the human person: this doctrine took its inspiration from the Platonic dualism of body and soul as two distinct and separate substances united together in action, with the consequent weakening of the unity and substantiality of the human person, and the cohesion of his sensible and intellectual powers. The Augustinian-Franciscan school of thought, with its insistence on inwardness and interiority, diminished the value of nature and natural causes at work in an interdependent world. Augustine’s preferred process of thought was from the exterior world to the interior world of the self, to the superior world of God. Bonaventure merely glanced at the world and saw present in it the shadows, vestiges, signs, and similitudes of God. The real world in itself was of no importance to him, except in as much as it was a pointer to God.

Aquinas’s profound rethinking of nature: with his original understanding of creation out of nothing as a gratuitous conferring of existence on things endowed with their proper natures and pursuing their proper perfections, and constituting the real world made up of interdependent, interactive and dynamic substances attaining their proper perfections. Because the world has issued from a super-intelligent God, the world is not chaotic but suffused with a thoroughgoing intelligibility, not just as signs and pointers, but as revealing the intelligent design and plan of God inscribed in their natures as rational principles and laws. Because of this, a scientific study of the world both in the macro and micro levels is possible and highly desirable.

Aquinas’s profound rethinking of human nature: with his total adherence to the hylomorphic structure of the human composite, he ensured the strict unity in one substance of body and soul as well as the personal immortality of the soul after death. He insisted that all knowledge begins from the senses, while emphasising that all true knowledge and all free choices project human beings to the Absolute. Human beings can attain the truth and the good with certainty, for which they are made, even though in a partial, progressive and never-ending manner. Because they are made for the Absolute, they are truly persons, with the dignity of being an end unto themselves, enjoying inalienable rights and corresponding responsibilities. This makes for a committed and sustained engagement with fellow human beings to create a humane civic society of justice, peace, and harmony among peoples.

A profound harmony of reason and faith: with his rethinking of nature and human nature, Aquinas brought about an original and complete synthesis of reason and faith, such that reason, employing its natural resources of investigation, opens up to the teachings of the Christian faith, and the Christian faith, rooted in the Divine Revelation, engenders and sustains human reason. The ensuing harmony of reason and faith embraced by Christians, results in a profound unification and equilibrium of the human personality, ensuring a well-balanced adherence to the whole of reality, giving meaning and significance to human life. This is the Christian humanism of Aquinas from which emerges a sanctity that promotes human values and inculcates the heroic practice of Christian virtues.

Don Bosco: he was the first to grasp the significance of his times at the threshold of the Industrial Revolution, and to see the need to help poor young men and women to face a new world and a new society, and to take their place in it as active and responsible contributors. He saw education as the key to the transformation of the human person, and the training to skilled work as the means to engage with society productively. At a time when his contemporaries, Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) were writing the Communist Manifesto, denouncing the evils of unbridled capitalism, and castigating religion as the opium of the people, Don Bosco was busy opening trade schools and technical centres preparing young people to enter the workforce to gain an honest livelihood. His most original synthesis of a new Christian education of young people for our times is the Oratory, which is a happy blend of education to the Christian faith, and education to life and the world of work, in a serene and joyful atmosphere conducive to holiness of life. This is the Christian humanism of St Francis de Sales, translated to cater to the needs of the young and their development. It gives full rein to their deepest desires and aspirations for growth to maturity as citizens of their country and at the same time, as citizens of heaven.

Aquinas, the Common Doctor of Humanity, and Don Bosco, the Father and Teacher of the Young, are two towering saints, separated by 600 years, but united in the one common mission of education and evangelisation, who understood the signs of the times, seized the moment of opportunity, and bequeathed to us an enduring and still relevant legacy of Christian humanism for the transformation of people.

St. Augustine's View of God

Augustine

            St. Augustine says “things of the world poured forth from God in two ways: intellectually into the minds of the angels and physically into the world of things.” Because of this search for what God is like take many turns and twists to understand it. St. Augustine in his later life tried to search for God and he was restless and determined to meet God. In his quest he struggled with himself to find the truth. In his early life St. Augustine did his philosophical studies, he read Socrates and Cicero and they made impact on his life. He spoke about being taught by the teacher and what it means to be a teacher. A teacher is one who has an idea of what truth is, the students with the help of teacher his words and philosophical understanding discovers the truth.  Augustine realized that this truth was within himself. In The Confessions he writes on varied topics, his autobiography, philosophy, and theology. Augustine received baptism only at the age of 32, before that he followed Manicheism (At its core, Manichaeism was a type of Gnosticism—a dualistic religion that offered salvation through special knowledge (gnosis) of spiritual truth. Like all forms of Gnosticism, Manichaeism taught that life in this world is unbearably painful and radically evil.), he lived by having recourse to pure reason and philosophical thoughts. Born and raised in Thagaste, his early studies trained him to devote him to intellectual pursuits, rather than pursuit of God. In his youth he was lost in principle of pleasure and fun but in his quest for truth and wisdom he left his vices. Augustine was passionate for philosophical truth, he learned doctrine of Manicheism and Neoplatonism. He also related Neoplatonic ideas with Catholic theology. At the age of 17 he took concubine and after 15 years she bore him a son Adeodatus. When he was studying in Thagaste he lost his best friend because of which he returned back to Carthage, at this time he became Manichee. When he was in Cathage he read Cicero which led him towards the search for wisdom and further his studies were driven towards it. Augustine, though reluctantly, pursued philosophy to its very limit, he learnt   that truth is not merely something we are given, but something we must also choose; this idea of his was very distinct from all other philosophers who were in search of truth. Once his son Adeodatus was discussing about problem of learning and teaching, he had heard, “man is only prompted by words in order that he may learn, and it is apparent that only a very small measure of speaker thought is expressed”. Augustine added that we learn “whether things are true” from him who dwells within us by grace. This inner truth was something that was independent of the teacher, and in a sense of the learner. Augustine as he was searching for the truth also taught as a teacher of rhetoric at Carthage. After meeting Faustus, a Manichee wise man, Augustine was ready to explore more truth. When Augustine read about Neoplatonism he replaced his Manichee beliefs. He was impressed by Neoplatonic solution to the problem of evil and also tried to see striking philosophical similarity to the Bible. The bishop of Milan Ambrose had strong influence on him. First Augustine had tried to relate Scripture and philosophy but he could not get at inner meaning of Scripture. Further when he accepted Scripture, he was happy to get the value of scripture only after philosophy as they gave him solid ground for what was yet to come.

In pursuit of truth and wisdom he had company of two young men, Alypius and Nebridius. They formed a philosophical circle to find out what they were discovering.  Three of them the young potential philosophers tried their best. St. Augustine from his nineteenth to his thirtieth year, was searching for the truth but had not yet reached. Thinking his immoral life as hindrance to his pursuit he changed his life. In his philosophical discussion when he meet Platonists, their ideas brought him to reflect about God, evil, and transcendent being. He realized to seek after higher way than philosophy. When in agony of deciding what to do in his attempt to search the truth he heard a voice which told him to “take and read”. He read from the Apostle’s text passage from the Letter to the Romans: “not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lust thereof”. Of all the classical young men, potential philosophers, who sought the truth, Augustine perhaps was the first to stress that this same truth must also be chosen. Not only by philosophical intervention but also by grace. Augustine was a true follower of Socrates in knowing himself. He was clear that, truth we must look for is a truth we do not make. Augustine addressed many philosophers and Socrates who were in search of truth that their quest was not wasted. Socrates at last defined that he did not know and he knew that he did not know. Augustine taught differently he was clear of what he knew about himself; even what he didn’t know about himself but by the light of what he knew and by that light of God his darkness was enlightened.   

Reflection

            What is God like? This book tries to describe God and our understanding to meet him in our life. The writer tries to explain God, about God by our ordinary experiences that we experience in our lives. The book speaks about meeting the personality of God by describing different examples of mystics, intellectuals and Christian models who have encountered God at different degrees in their lives. James Schall describes how we meet God in different situations of our life, in frailty in laughter and in our friendship. Not everyone gets to know about God with the help of intellectual truths. As God wants everyone to be saved He meets us wherever we are. God meets us in our personal experience which is at the core of our being. By the mutual search between us and God, we encounter each other and then we truly understand what God is like. God would also directly tell us His true self. But, God takes the risk of our refusal and by His grace He works in our life to make us realize His importance and his need for us. By this we get the idea of what God is like. We are given intelligence to understand rightly about relation between God, world, evil and ourselves. All this is fulfilled by the “Word that was made flesh”. The Incarnation guides to know what God is like. The reflection in the book ends with Augustine whose life – with Monica, Alypius, Nebridius, Adeodatus, and Ambrose – was in fact a response to God’s search for him. His restless heart sought the truth and when he found it, he changed his life for that truth. The story of Augustine tells us that we might see that even in frailty and in our sin God is there, not just redeeming the sinner, but through this redeeming teaching him, he taught us. 

And the Mountains Echoed - Book Review

NARRATIVE OVERVIEW

Khaled Hosseini’s powerful narrative of separation, power, love and life leaves one stunned and awestruck at the beauty of the many intertwined stories. The story revolves around the powerful relationship between a brother and his sister - young Abdullah and Pari. Their mother died while giving birth to Pari and their father remarries Parwana who bears him a son. This forces Abdullah to become a mother to his sister creating an unbreakable bond between them, which will have to face the test of time and distance. Their uncle, Nabi works for a rich gentleman in Kabul. He regularly comes to see them in the village. He invites them to Kabul for a tour of the city. This seemingly innocent trip turns into a nightmare when Abdullah and Pari are separated. Pari is ‘taken in’ by Mr. Wahdati and his wife – Nila. The story then shifts to Mr. Wahdati’s new family. All seems to be going well but their perfect life is disrupted when Mr. Wahdati has a stroke, which leaves him paralyzed. Nila leaves him with Pari and settles in Paris. In France, Pari grows up in a new culture and struggles with her identity and history. The storyline then shifts to America, where Abdullah had emigrated after the war displaced them from their village. He has a daughter who he named Pari in remembrance of his lost sister. She manages to reunite the long separated brother and sister, but will they recognize and recapture their lost relationship? The author stuns us with a seat-gripping answer. We also see the story of two brothers who fled the war and return to claim some land. We realize the struggle they face when confronted with the reality of their broken country and traumatized fellow citizens. The author also shows us the heroic work humanitarian groups are doing for Afghanistan with the story of Markos who works as a Plastic Surgeon, helping people who have been disfigured after the war. At the end, he ties up all the stories superbly and teaches us many valuable lessons.

REFLECTIONS

RELATIONSHIPS

Abdullah’s and Pari’s separation is complemented with a variety of other relationships giving us an overview of the dynamics of various relationships and how they can help or hurt the person. For example, Pari’s relationship with her brother was one of total trust and confidence. She knew that he would do anything for her and he actually did that. He loved her with a pure and divine love. This shaped her life in a huge way. After the separation, when she grew up she always felt a presence missing in her life. This surely can be traced back to the strong relationship she had with her brother when she was young.

We also see the strength of the relationship between Nabi (Pari’s uncle) and his employer, Mr. Wahdati. Nabi is grateful to his boss for having given him the job and learns to accept and live with the many eccentricities of Mr. Wahdati. He does his job well and Mr. Wahdati does not give him a hard time. After Mr. Wahdati gets a stroke and becomes paralyzed, His wife Nila leaves him with Pari. It is now that Nabi shows his loyalty by sticking by his master’s side during this difficult period. The relationship of ‘Master-servant’ transforms to one of ‘Father-Son’. Nabi becomes more than a friend to his employer; he becomes his son. This transformation is certainly surprising and shows a selfless attitude on Nabi’s part. What is even more surprising is the fact that after Nabi discovers that his master is homosexual and has feelings for him; he continues to behave normally with him. This fact does not change anything in their relationship but actually strengthens it because Nabi, rather than judging Mr. Wahdati, understands him and grows closer to him. In the end when Mr. Wahdati passes away, Nabi is shocked to find that he has inherited all the property, which his employer owned.

MAKING CHOICES

The book starts with Abdullah choosing to follow his father and sister to Kabul and staying fixed in his choice. Though his father is trying to dissuade Abdullah from following them, but he will not be shaken. Nothing can separate him from his beloved sister. But when they arrive in Kabul and meet their uncle Nabi, little did they know the choice he had made. He had chosen Pari to be his mistress’ new child. Since she was not able to conceive naturally, Nabi recommended adoption. He approached his brother and told him all about it. Her father also chose to give Pari up for a payment. These series of choices and decisions made a huge impact in the life of little Pari. She was not aware of all that was going on but it affected her on a deeper level.

We also see what Nabi chooses when he has to decide between remaining as a servant or leaving his master after his master suffers a stroke. We see Nila making a choice of leaving her husband after he becomes paralyzed. In this book, we understand that one has to make hard choices in one’s life. What influences these choices are not the concern but that in life choices are to be made. Once they are made, one has to learn to live with them. Whatever the consequences of one’s choice are and however hard the effects of the choice are; one has to live with it. Since one cannot change the choices in one’s life, we must be aware while making big and small decisions. Understanding that all our choices, however small make a difference in our life and in the lives of others is essential to making good choices.

EFFECTS OF THE WAR

The war in Afghanistan displaced thousands of people and the beautiful village of Abdullah and Pari is not spared. Abdullah and his family become refugees and they flee to Pakistan. We are given an example in the book that shows us how easily the country forgets its people in the name of development. It is the story of Aziz, whose father is a rich executive who helps the needy and solves the problems of the ordinary man. But he has bought the entire village at dirt-cheap prices since the war was ongoing and now he runs an orchid farm on it. When Ghaloum comes with his father to reclaim their village land, he is shocked to find his house demolished and see fruit trees in its place. When they approach Aziz’s father to ask for their land back, they are rudely refused and ignored. They are now made paupers and have to do small jobs while they can settle down and rebuild their life again. Aziz and Ghaloum strike an unlikely friendship and they bond over football and secret cigarettes. But when Ghaloum reveals his unfortunate story to his friend, Aziz loses faith in his whole life starting from his father. Aziz goes through an identity crisis and understands that the world is unfair.

We also see through Ghaloum the horrific state of refugee camps. This reality forces children like him to grow up much more quickly than a normal child. The effects of a war are very devastating. We see the far reaching effects that it has on the psyche of people. Awareness of the problems allows us to help these people if we come across them. The feelings of compassion and empathy that the novel evokes should lead us to helping out in real life. Once that is achieved, real good is done through novels like this.

SEXUALITY

The author pushes into new areas of sexuality, at least for the novels initial place. We see this in the fact of Mr. Wahdati being homosexual. Is the author trying to send a subtle message to the audience, especially conservative Afghanistanis? He says that perhaps he was born in the wrong age, the wrong culture or both. This presents Mr. Wahdati as a trapped and misunderstood person. This explains the reasons for his eccentric character.

We also see on the opposite side his wife Nila. She is an extroverted and extremely sociable person. She has affairs and is a ‘loose cannon’. We see the contrast presented very visibly with Nabi –their servant observing them closely.

CONCLUSION

The book is a wonderful read; the language is clear and easy to follow. The author is creative with the form of writing. To break the monotony of narration, he uses letters, interviews and stories within stories to engage us. The chapters are not placed according to a logical flow giving the reader a puzzled but curious feeling. Though the chapters don’t flow into each other, there is a connection which is up to the reader to make. Ultimately an engaging read, ‘And the Mountains Echoed’ leaves the reader satisfied yet thirsting for more. Read and enjoy it for yourself.

Alfred Menezes