THE BETHANIAN WAY OF LIFE: A MODEL FOR

INTEGRAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT TODAY

A Study on the Human Development in the Consecrated Life as Lived Out in Bethany

Ashram and its Possible Application in the Development of the Modern Human Being

Uç

GEORGE SEJIN JOHN OIC

ROLL NO. 11623 III B.TH.

hÇwxÜ à{x Zâ|wtÇvx Éy Rev. Dr. Philip Vysanethu OIC

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Utv{xÄÉÜ Éy g{xÉÄÉzç

 

 

 

February 2014 

Bethany Vedavijnana Peeth (Extension Centre of Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth) 

Pune­411014 

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge with

gratitude all those who lend me a helping hand in one way or another

towards the fulfillment of this task.

First of all I join my hands with utmost humility and profound

gratitude before the Almighty for inspiring and guiding me all through

the work.

My deep and sincere thanks to Rev. Dr. Philip Vysanethu OIC,

the Director of BVP, for his guidance, support and timely corrections

as the guide of this work.

My heartfelt thanks to Rev. Dr. Isaac Parackal OIC, my Superior

and Rector and to all the Rev. Fathers in Bethany Ashram, Pune for

their encouragement.

My deepest appreciation to Bro. George Thomas OIC for his

valuable feedback and corrections.

Special thanks to all my batchmates and my junior brothers for

their brotherly concern and encouragement.

Once again a big thanks to all those who played a part in the

completion of this work.

George Sejin John oic

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

GENERAL INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 4

CHAPTER 1

FROM HARMONY TO DISHARMONY: AN ANALYSIS OF THE HUMAN CONDITION TODAY

1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 8 1.1 Biblical and patristic understanding of human Beings: ............................................... 8

1.1.1. Human being as a composite of body, mind and soul......................................... 9 1.1.2. Relatedness ........................................................................................................ 10

1.2 An idea of integral human development ................................................................... 12 1.2.1 Development of the Body ................................................................................. 12 1.2.2 Development of the Soul ................................................................................... 13 1.2.3 Development of the Spirit ................................................................................. 14 1.2.4 Growing in one’s relation with God ................................................................. 14 1.2.5 Growing in one’s relation with other human beings ......................................... 14 1.2.6 Growing in one’s relation with the world ......................................................... 15

1.3 The present human condition: a loss of harmony ...................................................... 16 1.3.1 Primacy of intellectual growth: a neglect of the body and spirit ...................... 17 1.3.2 Primacy of the body: a neglect of the soul and spirit ........................................ 17 1.3.3 The spiritual renaissance and the emphasis on the primacy of the spirit: a neglect of the body and soul ............................................................................................ 18 1.3.4 The human quest for autonomy from God from God ....................................... 18 1.3.5 Rising individualism: the other as a hell. .......................................................... 19 1.3.6 Objectification and destruction of nature .......................................................... 19

1.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 19 CHAPTER 2

HOLISTIC HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN THE BETHANIAN CONSECRATED WAY OF LIFE

2.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 21 2.1 The Institution of Consecrated life as a model .......................................................... 22 2.2 The Problem of Consecrated Life as a Model ........................................................... 22 2.3 Bethanian Consecrated Life as a way of life and a model ........................................ 23

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2.4 Unique aspects of Consecrated Way of Life contributing to Holistic Development 23 2.4.1 A balanced and harmonious way of life as a rule ............................................. 24 2.4.2 Self-awareness through constant self-critique and fraternal corrections .......... 24 2.4.3 Emphasis on discipline ...................................................................................... 25

2.5 Holistic human development in the Bethanian way of Consecrated Life ................. 27 2.5.1 Spiritual growth ................................................................................................. 27 2.5.2 Psychological growth in the Bethanian way of life .......................................... 28 2.5.3 Intellectual growth ............................................................................................ 29 2.5.4 Physical growth ................................................................................................. 29 2.5.5 Growth in the Cosmotheandric union ............................................................... 30

2.6 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 32

CHAPTER 3

THE BETHANIAN MONASTIC MODEL FOR BUILDING THE LOST HARMONY

3.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 34 3.1 Spiritual Growth and harmony with the Divine ........................................................ 34

3.1.1 Prayer as a genuine human need ....................................................................... 35

3.1.2 Practical approach towards spirituality ............................................................. 35

3.2 Physical Growth: A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body .............................................. 38 3.3 Psychological Growth: Remaining Sane in an Insane World ................................... 38 3.4 Towards a Harmony with Fellow Beings .................................................................. 39 3.5 Towards a Harmony with the Cosmos ...................................................................... 40 3.6 Towards a Change in attitudes .................................................................................. 41 3.7 Self-awareness: a starting point towards self-renewal .............................................. 41 3.8 Putting on a new and better self: an inspiration from the monastic consecration ..... 42

3.8.1 Metanoia: a full turning back ............................................................................ 42

3.8.2 New zest towards life ........................................................................................ 43

3.8.3 New responsibilities and duties ......................................................................... 43

3.8.4 New meaning and purpose in life...................................................................... 44

3.9 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 44

GENERAL CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 45

BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................. 47

 

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GENERAL INTRODUCTION

0.1 Harmony and Interrelatedness

There are two things in nature that astonishes humans: one, the harmony and order in the

whole of the cosmos, which the sages of our great nation would refer to as rtha and second,

the interrelatedness between all the entities that exist. Both these characteristics which are

found in the whole of the cosmos are also found in each living organism, in each tiny cell and

in each tiny atom. Hence it is without doubt that human beings also, being part of the entire

cosmos, possess these two qualities of harmony and interrelatedness. The human person is a

complex being and according to Christian anthropology, is constitutive of body, soul and

spirit. These three dimensions of the human person exist in perfect harmony and is the source

of the well being of the individual. Externally, the individual human person is interrelated to

all the other entities that exist around him. First of all he/she is connected to God who is

his/her creator, redeemer and sanctifier. Secondly, he/she is connected to the other human

beings around him/her as brothers and sisters. Finally he/she is related to the nature and

cosmos as that which nurtures and sustains him/her. Of all created reality, it is the human

person who is endowed with intelligence and freedom. Hence, the Lord God who created

human beings has appointed him/her as the steward of whole creation and has entrusted the

whole created reality to him/her to ‘till and keep’.1

But unfortunately, humanity did not utilize this intelligence and freedom to ‘till and keep’ but

rather to ‘destroy and consume’ until the whole of creation is brought to naught. As a result

of this the whole order and harmony of the cosmos is now slowly turning into chaos. This

scenario is getting much worse with the onset of science and technology which has created

‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ not only in the military context, but in every field of human

activity. Slowly and steadily, this chaotic disorder which humans create out of their greed is

affecting humans themselves because, they are after all part of this cosmic interrelatedness. In

its quest for excellence, humanity no longer is concerned about the harmonious integration of

the body, soul and spirit within each individual which has resulted in the whole ‘system’ of

the human individual going haywire, thus giving rise to innumerable illnesses in all the

realms, physical, psychological and spiritual. On the extrinsic level, the cosmotheandric

interrelatedness is also slowly fading away. Each individual today is becoming increasingly

self-centred so as to question the role of the Divine, fellow human beings as well as the

                                                            1 Cf. Gen 1: 28, 2: 20.

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environment in sustaining his/her life. In short, the harmony and interrelatedness which had

been envisaged by the Creator to be part of Creation is now threatened and the whole of

creation is moving towards extinction at a dangerous pace.

0.2 Consecrated Way of Life: A model in harmony and integration

At this juncture, what humanity needs is a ‘metanoia’ – a full turning back to the situation

where the world is again characterized by harmony and interrelatedness. How can this be

done? For metanoia to take place what is first and foremost needed is a change of attitudes, a

change of life-styles etc. And any change in attitude can be brought out only through a

process of education that aims at an integral human growth and development. But in the

present scenario is there any education system that brings about integral human growth?

What humanity needs today is a model of human development that proves to bring about this

growth and development in an holistic and integral way, a model that does not ignore any of

the various composites that make up his/her complex being or any of the entities to which

he/she is interrelated. In the ancient times human development always did take into

consideration all these aspects, since, every human development was aimed at teaching the

future generations, the ‘art of living’ in contrast to today, where we only teach the ‘art of

earning’ in our schools and colleges.

Humanity need not go far and wide to look for such a model. For, such a model is surely to

be found within the confines of monasteries, religious houses and every place on earth where

human beings embrace the monastic/consecrated life. The way of life prescribed by

monasteries and religious orders not only give stress to a holistic development of humanity,

but also equips them to be competent in worldly affairs. The daily life of the consecrated

consists of adequate time for spiritual activities, skill development, recreation, physical

activities etc. thus creating a balance way of life paying attention to the body, soul and spirit

of the individual. The consecrated way of living also is a model of growth that does not

compromise one’s relatedness with the Divine, fellow human beings and the Cosmos.

0.3 Bethany ashram

Bethany ashram is a semi-monastic religious congregation founded in India by Servant of

God, Archbishop Mar Ivanios. The charism of this congregation is to imitate Jesus Christ,

(the perfect human being), in his life of prayer and action (his way of life, attitudes, world

view etc.) realized within the context of Oriental Monastic Traditions and Indian Sannyasa.

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Thus, the Bethanian way of living the consecrated life is part of the whole tradition of

monasticism (in which ever form it is manifest). Since the Consecrated Way of Life is

manifest in numerous forms each significantly different from the other, it is necessary to

concretely pick out one among the whole lot for our analysis and to prove the point. In this

paper, Bethany Ashram is the specifically picked out religious congregation, since the author

has a first-hand experience of the life lived here and it was this experience that made him

realize the importance of consecrated life as a model for integral human development.

Secondly, Bethany Ashram is unique in the sense that it combines different spiritual

traditions, the Eastern Orient, the Western Catholicism and Indian culture and spiritual

traditions. Thirdly because, ‘balance’ and ‘harmony’ are part of the slogans of Bethanian

Spirituality, as in balancing contemplation of Mary and the active service of Martha. This

balance is sought after the model of the Biblical Bethany where the diverse personalities of

Martha, Mary and Lazarus live together in perfect harmony. And such a place of perfect

harmony is where the Lord wishes to ‘rest and recline’,

0.4 Scope of the paper

As I began my work on this paper, I realized that I had very few researched works to bank on.

It seems that very few people have thought about the integral human development in

Consecrated Life in a serious academic way, at least, none which I have come across. In other

words, this was a road either less taken or not taken at all. As I carried on my work, I began

to realize that this is a vast topic having vast research possibilities. But at the level of a

Bachelor’s degree, there did not seem a scope for such a study. As a result what this paper is

about is only an introduction into this topic, a presentation of the possibilities to explore.

There are many areas in this paper where I have stopped short of a detailed elaboration and

have left open the topic for further exploration. In short, the scope of this paper is to just

introduce the various possibilities of this topic.

0.5 Division of the paper

The whole work consists of three chapters. The first chapter entitled ‘From Harmony to

Disharmony: An Analysis of the Human Condition Today’ underlines the harmony and

interrelatedness in human beings on the one hand as envisaged in the Christian Anthropology

derived from the Word of God and the Oriental Church Fathers, and on the other points out

the loss of this harmony and interrelatedness in the modern era. The chapter ends on a

negative note and presents humanity as looking for a model which would present modern

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human beings with the dynamics of an integral human development. The second chapter,

‘Holistic Human Development in the Bethanian Consecrated Way of Life’ presents the

Consecrated or Monastic Way of Life, concretely lived out in the Bethanian Way of Life, as a

model for integral human development. In the third chapter, ‘The Bethanian Monastic

Model for Building the Lost Harmony’ we try to apply the unique characteristics of human

development in Consecrated Way of Living, especially as that lived out in Bethany to the

problems of the modern world in order to bring about the lost harmony and interrelatedness.

With this short introduction, we embark on our journey towards restoring the harmony and

interrelatedness that human beings are on the verge of losing, whereby it looks towards

harnessing the ancient wisdom enshrined in the Monastic-Consecrated Way of Life, in order

to bring about an integral human development.

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CHAPTER 1

FROM HARMONY TO DISHARMONY: AN ANALYSIS OF THE HUMAN CONDITION TODAY

1.0 Introduction

We begin our journey by analyzing the present human condition. The revealed Word of God

manifest as Scripture and Tradition (mainly the teachings of the Church and the fathers of the

eastern orient) helps us to develop a Christian theological anthropology which effects as a

reference point for our analysis. God is the author of the whole of creation. Hence it is not

surprising to find order and harmony in the whole of cosmos. When this harmony is viewed

with respect to humans, we find that humans are part of the harmony extrinsically and

intrinsically. Regarding intrinsic balance, the Biblical and Patristic teachings view human

beings as a harmonious combination of body, soul and spirit. But modern humanity with its

misplaced priorities emphasizes one at the cost of the other thus tilting the balance.

Extrinsically humans have a balanced relationship with God and the whole of the created

cosmos. God, humans and cosmos form a wonderful harmony of relationship which is

described as Raimundo Panicker as the ‘cosmotheandric relationship.’ We shall also see in

this chapter the problems faced by humanity when this order too is trampled upon.

1.1 Biblical and patristic understanding of human Beings:

The biblical understanding of human beings begin with the assertion that human being is

created in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26,27). Such an assertion has a deep

implication as far as human dignity and ethics is concerned. In fact the entire Christian

anthropology is transfixed upon this single understanding of humans as the Image of God.

But in this paper, we do not take this understanding any further because it falls outside the

scope of this paper and leads to conclusions we do not wish to reach. Another view of human

beings in the Hebrew understanding that builds upon this idea of the Image is that of human

beings as composite of body, soul and spirit.2

                                                            2 Christian theologians would rush to point out that this is the Trinitarian dimension in humans since they are created in the Image of God who is Trinity.

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1.1.1. Human being as a composite of body, mind and soul

The Greeks understood human beings as a composite of body and soul. However, the Hebrew

understanding stresses upon a trichotomic combination of body, soul and spirit. In Christian

literature, this anthropological understanding is first seen in Paul who in his letter to the

Thessalonians say, “Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your

whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes

again.”3 The Husoyo prayer used during the Holy Qurbono according to West Syrian Liturgy

also reonates this idea of the Human Person, “Give rest to their souls, spirits and bodies and

shed the dew of your mercy and compassion on them.”4 The three constitutive elements of

humans namely body, soul and spirit are in constant harmony with each other. Each of them

has a particular role in shaping the identity of the human person. The inter-connectedness is

stressed by Isaac of Nineveh would put it as follows: “This spiritual element is often pitched

against the flesh in as much as its desires are opposed to those of the flesh. It is the soul

which is endowed with the gift of rationality and therefore freedom, which has to make a

choice as to let the body have its way or the spirit. The spirit’s desires correspond to the

Divine will and in following the spirit’s desires over that of the body, the human person

attains nobility.” Thus, human being is a harmonious existence of body, soul and spirit.5

1.1.1.1. Human being as the body

In Greek thought there are two separate terms to denote body and flesh each with its distinct

meaning. Sarx is the word used for flesh whereas the body is called soma. The Hebrew

thought holds no such distinction. For the Hebrews there is only basar which literally means

flesh, but understood as body. In fact, the very concept of ‘flesh’ in Hebrew corresponds to

the combination of the Greek concepts of body and soul.6 In other words, flesh in the Old

Testament understanding stands for the whole person.

1.1.1.2. Human being as the soul

The word ‘soul’ appears 754 times in the Old Testament with a variety of meanings. It simply

denotes breath, respiration, a sign of life, or in certain cases, throat or breathing canal. But

primarily, the soul is the principle of life which renders a man living. Soul is not a                                                             3 1 Thess 5:23 4 The Order of the Holy Qurbono of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, English Translation, Trivandrum, 2012, 23 5 See also Thomas Panicker, Some Features of Syriac Spirituality, Aikya Samiksha, September 2006: 5-15 6 Cf. Joseph Fichtner, O.S.C., Theological Anthropology: The Science of Man in His Relations to God, Nortre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1963, 14

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disincarnated reality like Greek thought, but the whole of man (Gen 2:7). The departure of

the soul causes death. It is the seat of psychic phenomenon and religious sentiments. In this

regard, it is often parallel with the spirit but closely linked with body organs such as the

throat and blood. According to Isaac of Nineveh, the soul has higher and lower elements. The

higher element is often named as the ‘intellect’ or ‘mind’ (nous). The lower element of the

soul corresponds to the soul’s constant temptation to turn aside from the spirit and yield to the

attraction of the body. It is the source of the instincts and passions.7

1.1.1.3. Human being as the spirit

Spirit is not strictly a supernatural reality but through it human being encounters the divine

Spirit of God, which makes possible a life with God. Specifically, it means breath or wind. It

implies something of a dynamic quality, a moving, active force within humans. God has

endowed human beings with the spirit so that he/she be open to the supernatural and docile to

the entry of God in him/her. By means of it, the human individual is prepared for

participation in the life of the divine Spirit.8 In short, the spirit is the supernatural concept

proper to revelation. It enables human beings to enter into dialogue with God.

1.1.2. Relatedness

Every human being is engaged in a harmonious relationship on three levels: first with the

Divine, secondly with other human beings and finally with the cosmos. This cosmotheandric

vision of reality, pointed out by Panicker would help us to explore and analyze some of the

problems faced by humanity today.

1.1.2.1. Human beings related to the divine

God is related to the human in as much as He is the human’s creator and protector. Further

the human is created in the “image and likeness” of God and hence have a semblance to Him

in the human’s very nature. In contrast to all other creatures, human beings stand in direct

relationship to God. Between a human and God there is the possibility of “correspondence.”

Thus a fundamental dialogical character constituting the vertical dimension of his existence is

underlined. Human being in this respect is a unique creature on earth; he or she is a person to

whom God speaks and who in turn answers Him. Further through the incarnation and death

on the cross, God opens wide the doors of communication to humanity.

                                                            7 Cf. Manoj Odalil OIC, Spiritual Vision of Man: A Study based on the Complete works of St. Isaac of Nineveh, Rome: Pontificium Institutum Orientalium Studiorum, 1999, 68 8 Fichtner, 14

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1.1.2.2. Human beings related to each other

The human being is related to the other in terms of being a brother, neighbour, and member

of the body of Christ. Primarily every human being depends on and needs the assistance of

other human beings to exist and prosper on earth. No one can even come into existence

without another human beings. Hence all of humanity is related to one another.

1.1.2.3. Human beings related to creation and the world

Human beings live in the realm of nature and are constantly surrounded by it and interact

with it. As creatures they are constantly aware of the influence of nature in the form of the air

they breathe, the water they drink, the food they eat etc. Christian theology reminds us time

and again that God, looking at creation constantly said to Himself that it was good. Hence an

authentic Christian theology would emphasis on this relation of human beings with nature.

The bearing on human beings being created in the image and likeness of God is that he is

required to ‘dominate’, ‘have control’ and to ‘tend and keep’. Often interpreted in a distorted

way, today theologians emphasis on ‘stewardship’ as the role of human beings envisaged by

God with regard to the created world. Humanity is able to transform the face of the earth by

its works.

Another aspect of the relation between humans and the created reality is that the latter helps

the former to praise, glorify and know God. In the letter to the Romans Paul reminds us that

creation is the basic and most natural means of God’s revelation, “Ever since the creation of

the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been

understood and seen through the things he has made.”9 In the Book of Daniel we read:

“Let the earth bless the Lord. Praise and exalt him above all forever. Mountains and hills, bless the Lord. Everything growing from the earth, bless the Lord. You springs, bless the lord. Seas and rivers, bless the Lord. You dolphins and all water creatures, bless the Lord. Everything growing from the earth, bless the Lord. All you birds of the air, bless the Lord. All you beasts, wild and tame, bless the Lord, you sons of men, bless the Lord”10

In his Message for the 41st World Day of Peace, 1 January 2008, Pope Benedict XVI placed

his understanding of peace, creation, responsibility and love into the context of the family and

the environment. He wrote: “The family needs a home, a fit environment in which to develop

its proper relationships. For the human family, this home is the earth, the environment that

                                                            9 Rom 1:20 10 Dan 3:52

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God the Creator has given us to inhabit with creativity and responsibility. We need to care for

the environment: it has been entrusted to men and women to be protected and cultivated with

responsible freedom, with, the good of all as a constant guiding criterion”11

1.2 An idea of integral human development

Though the Bible very vividly describes the creation account, recent inroads in science would

challenge us to read between the lines of the narrative that is more concerned with theological

understanding rather than recording history. Modern science would describe ‘evolution’ as

the process through which the world we see has come to being. The Church though hesitant

in the beginning now, accepts evolution but presents it in such a way as to point to God as the

cause of evolution. Whatever be the case there is no doubt that evolution is a part and parcel

of Being. In other words, ‘to be is to be in growth’. Anything that does not undergo some

change or the other as part of the evolution process is a non-being. Hence, today we have the

understanding of creation as a process through which God creates the potent being and

endows it with the capacity to evolve and develop while maintaining an ‘epistemic

distance’12 as eminent professor Cyril Desbruslais SJ of the faculty of philosophy at JDV

would put it. Hence the keyword in every branch of knowledge that studies reality is

‘growth’, or ‘evolution’ or ‘development.’ When it comes to humans, we know that the very

nature of human being is very complex as we have seen above. Hence any development of

the human being has to be an integral development: a development that involves the whole of

his/her being, of all his/her faculties. In other words, an integral development of the human

being would involve the development of the body, of the soul, and of the spirit. But for

human beings, growth, or integral growth cannot take place in isolation because human being

is a related being. Hence integral development or growth would also involve a growth in

relatedness to God, other human beings and the world.

1.2.1 Development of the Body

Christian theology, especially the Western counterpart, influenced by Socrates, Augustine

and philosophies like Gnosticism, Manichaeism often downplayed the body and matter as

evil and as a burden to the soul which was spiritual and nearer to God. While the soul desired

good, the flesh would not only prevent the good, but persuade it into sin and evil. But such a

thought is alien to the Biblical understanding of the human person as seen above. God

                                                            11 L'Osservatore Romano English Edition [ORE], 19/26 December 2007, n. 7, p. 8 12 Cf. Cyril Desbruslais, The Human Person, Pune: Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth, 34

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himself testifies to the goodness of matter. “God saw everything that he had made, and

indeed, it was very good. and he saw that everything was good.”13 The Eastern fathers while

insisting on disciplining the body in order to achieve spiritual growth, never did really call the

body or flesh as intrinsically evil. Secondly, Christian theology stresses on the resurrection of

the body. At resurrection the body is raised from the dead attains a glorified form. Regarding

the theology of the body, the Second Vatican Council teaches us thus:

Through his (human being’s) very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world. Through him they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise their voice in praise freely given to the creator. For this reason man may not despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honour since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day.14

From these perspectives we can safely conclude, that according to the Christian

understanding, the body is as important as the soul or the spirit. Hence any development of

the human person cannot take place while neglecting the seat of the material reality in beings,

namely the body.

1.2.2 Development of the Soul

The fathers believed that the soul possesses the spiritual faculties of intellect, will and mind.

Besides, the soul was also the seat of all emotions. Plato suggested that the soul of humans

have three parts: rational, irascible and appetitive. Isaac of Nineveh terms them as

concupiscible, the irascible and the rational. In any case, a harmony is attained only when the

rational part is able to attain mastery over the lower forces.15 This understanding seems to be

a pre-runner to the understanding of the mind developed by the father of psychology, Freud

who talks about the id, ego and the super-ego, with the super-ego balancing the id and the

ego. All this points to the fact that, what the fathers mean here to be the soul or the non-

material principle in human beings is in fact a combination of what we today perceive as the

intellect, will and mind and emotions. Hence an integral human development would also

involve intellectual, volatile, psychological and also emotive development. In such a view of

growth, the EQ, or the Emotional Quotient which measures the maturity of emotional

behavior is as important as the IQ, or Intelligence Quotient, which measures the intellectual

capacity and aptitude of the person.

                                                            13 Gen 1:31 14 Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes, [Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World] (7 December 1965) in, Vatican Council II, Vol I: The Concilliar and Post Concilliar Documents, ed. Flannery, O.P., Austin. Bandra: St. Pauls, 2010, 794- 879, no. 14 15 Odalil, 72

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1.2.3 Development of the Spirit

As we have seen above, the spirit which is the element of the Divine in human beings enables

the human to reach out to the Divine and yearn for communication and communion with

Him. From ancient times people have devised ways and methods to help the human spirit

grow in maturity. These include, prayer, meditation, contemplation, observance of silence,

penance, yoga and ascetical practices. Volumes and volumes have been written by great

sages and especially the fathers, doctors and saints of the Church. Of these the famous ones

are ‘The Ladder of Divine Ascent’ by John Climacus, ‘The Spiritual Exercises’ by Ignatius

Loyola, among many other. Even if one doesn’t believe in God, one has to allow their spirits

to grow and mature. Though they do not believe in God, they ought to spend time with

themselves to listen to the voice within themselves and to get in touch with their innermost

self. They could observe silence and solitude and help their spirits grow integrally with the

body and soul.

1.2.4 Growing in one’s relation with God

In the Genesis account we see human beings walking in the garden hand in hand with God

and communicating as if to a friend. This relation is now destroyed due to sin and human

beings need to yearn to regain this communion. By the passion, death and resurrection of

Christ, once again, the door of Divine-Human relationship is opened up. God has done

everything in His power to bring humanity back to Him and now its humanity’s turn to return

to the invitation of God.

This relatedness to God helps human beings in their growth and development towards

fullness and maturity. The Spirit of God constantly accompanies and guides the human

person in his/her journey towards the final destiny, which is essentially the fullness of this

relation. This guidance is concretely given to humanity through the Word of God, inspired

human beings, Church, sacraments etc. Openness to these realities and especially to the Spirit

of God would help a person to grow.

1.2.5 Growing in one’s relation with other human beings

From the womb to the tomb every human being is dependent on a number of other human

beings for their growth and development. In fact human beings grow together as a

community and not as isolated individuals. Hence an integral or holistic human development

cannot rule out the growth of inter-relatedness among human beings.

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The Vatican II document ‘Church in the Modern World’ underlines that God in his fatherly

care for us, desired that all human beings should form one family and deal with each other in

a spirit of brotherhood. It reminds us that love of God and of one’s neighbour, is the first and

the greatest commandment.16 According to the teaching of the Church, among the social ties

necessary for human development, some correspond more immediately to the innermost

nature of man. These include the family and the political community; others flow rather from

his free choice.17

According to the conciliar vision, man is a being who exists in relationships. Jean Galot in his

commentary on Gen 1:26-28 highlights the interpersonal aspect in biblical anthropology. He

puts it in this way: “it is a community that is created in the image of the community of divine

persons. Human beings are placed relationally to one another. They exist mutually. There is

no representation here of ‘being for itself’ which preceded the ‘being for others’. Since their

origin, they appeared as being ‘relational.’”18

1.2.6 Growing in one’s relation with the world

The simple word ‘world’ conjures a variety of meanings and ideas. Here we take into

consideration, the creation and the material reality into which human beings are placed. The

Word of God proclaims unto us that the human person is placed at the crown of creation. He

has the special vocation to have “dominion” and to “till and keep.” Nature and created reality

all help us in our journey towards our final destiny. It helps us in our quest for growth and

maturation. It aids not only by providing us and fulfilling our physical needs, but they also

meet our spiritual needs. In his book ‘Meditation: Hindu-Christian meeting point’ Francis

Acharya of Blessed Memory, writes of three books of meditation: they are, the Book of

Creation, the Book of the Human Heart and the Book of God’s Word. About the Book of

Creation he writes: The Book of Creation is the whole universe with its order, with all its

beauty and glory and mystery, seen as an epiphany (in Greek) or darshan of his invisible

nature, his wisdom and his power.”19

                                                            16 Cf. GS 24 17 GS 25 18 George Karakunnel, The Christian Vision of Man. Bangalore: Asian Trading Corporation, 1984, 85 quoted from J. Galot, La Personne du Christ, Gembloux, 1968, 49,50. 19 Francis Acharya, Meditation: Hindu Christian Meeting Point, Kottayam: Kurisumala Ashram, 2005, 16

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1.3 The present human condition: a loss of harmony

Thus it is without doubt that the human person, a complex reality is indeed a harmonious

being. The three composites or rather the three states of being of the human person namely

the body, soul and spirit exist in harmony with one another and as we have seen any human

growth and development that rules out one of these would be a thwarted or retarded growth.

Another aspect of the holistic growth we have already seen is the cosmotheandric inter-

relatedness which has to be regarded when talking of growth.

Coming to the present day situation, we find a loss of harmony in the being of the human

person where this holistic or integral human development would be ignored. Development or

human growth in our times is often profit-oriented and not human oriented. We are living in

an age where the human being is considered as only an object for use. Hence no development

is human oriented, rather money or wealth-oriented. Such a shift in orientation is taking a toll

on the human person. A growth that does not consider the holistic human development would

result in disharmony and imbalance. Issac of Nineveh, who lived centuries ahead of us had

already envisaged such a situation. Fr. Manoj Odalil OIC, who did his research on Isaac of

Nineveh, says:

Isaac insists that man who is composed of body and soul and functions on these three levels must have a harmonious disposition in his way of excellence. For, when there is an imbalance in one of the parts, it does not keep the ‘original measure of its stamp.’ The original measure is the state of man before the fall.20

Though many imbalances exist in today’s human growth, we shall here consider a few of the

misplaced priorities which give birth to these imbalances and disharmony. First of all there is

a tendency towards a misplaced priority given to the intellectual growth and development of

skills so much that the human person today has ignored the body and spirit to his

disadvantage. Secondly we have another group who might give priority to the growth of the

body, a growth which ignores the spiritual and in certain cases psychological and intellectual

growth. Finally as a reaction to the first two, we have a group of people who emphasis on the

growth and development of the spirit so much so that the body, intellect and psyche are

ignored.

                                                            20 Odalil, 76

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1.3.1 Primacy of intellectual growth: a neglect of the body and spirit

For the average human being of our century, the schools and colleges are institutions that aide

in growth and development. An analysis of the syllabi of the schools and colleges would

reveal that great stress and importance is given to equip the children to acquire skills that

would help them in getting a good job in the future. What the modern education system fails

to teach is the art of living. The modern human person is ill equipped to cope with the

pressures of life. Ignoring the spiritual aspect within him/her has left human beings without a

mechanism to face the challenges of life boldly. He/she has simply lost one perspective of

looking at reality, a perspective which helps him/her to see that the problem in front of

him/her can indeed be dealt with one’s inner strength and courage.

Again, in the pursuit for excellence and profit, the modern human person has ignored his/her

health again leading to disharmony and imbalance. Hence we have an onslaught of lifestyle

disease and disorders, stress related health problems, etc. affecting every other person we

come across. The irony is such that even doctors treating high blood pressure may have high

blood pressure due to work-related stress.

1.3.2 Primacy of the body: a neglect of the soul and spirit

If the modern education system goes to one extreme of overstressing the intellect and mind,

neglecting the body and spirit, there is another extreme which overstresses the aspects of the

body. On the one hand we have tremendous stress being given to health and physical fitness

and on the other there is a tendency towards luxury and comfort. As wealth multiplies, the

standard of living increases and a culture of comfort sets in. Technologies especially

television, internet and the mobile phone are increasingly turning not only adults but young

children as well into couch potatoes. When these very people are threatened by lifestyle

diseases and problems related to health, they have no hesitation in spending lakhs on gym

facilities and sliming centres to even cosmetic surgeries. As a reaction to this we have

growing number of fitness gurus and health magazines that focus on ‘improving’ and

attaining the ‘perfect’ body. Thus a growing number of people are obsessed with their bodies

to the extent that they are no longer concerned about their spiritual or psychological health.

All these alienate humanity from its real nature as the ‘image of God’.

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1.3.3 The spiritual renaissance and the emphasis on the primacy of the spirit: a neglect of the body and soul

The pace at which the world is ignoring the spiritual dimension of humanity is not without

reaction. Today humanity, which seeks answers and has found none so far, is finally looking

for answers in the spiritual realm after having found no solution in other spheres. Hence there

is a renewed interest in the Word of God, prayer, meditation etc. But the problem comes

when this renewed interest is exploited by some quarters to attract followers and with it profit

and wealth. Such individuals and groups survive by overstressing on the spiritual aspect of

human beings giving no consideration to psychological, intellectual or the physical needs of

human beings. Examples of such cases range from many of the retreat centers (as in Kerala)

to god-men who are concerned about their own hype and not on the holistic development of

human beings. As seen above, a holistic development of human beings would stress on equal

importance of the mind, intellect, body and all the faculties of growth.

1.3.4 The human quest for autonomy from God21

Humanity’s quest for independence from God begins in paradise when they (the first parents)

pluck and eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and bad which God had forbidden

them. The Serpent entices them with the very words, “you shall be like God.”22 This act of

rebellion against God is known in common parlance and Jewish-Christian religious literature

as sin. Gaudium et spes points out that:

“…man (humanity) enticed by the evil one, abused his (/her) freedom at the very start of history. He lifted himself up against God, and sought to attain his goal apart from him.23 Although they had known God, they did not glorify him as God, but their senseless hearts were darkened, and they served the creature rather than the creator. … For when man looks into his own heart he finds that he is drawn towards what is wrong and sunk in many evils which cannot come from his good creator. Often refusing to acknowledge God as his source, man has also upset the relationship which should link him to his last end; and at the same time he has broken the right order that should reign within himself as well as between himself and other men and all creatures.24

Today, humanity’s quest for autonomy has taken worse forms. Atheism is one among them.

Modern atheism which has taken on a systematic form insists on man’s desire for autonomy

as to object to any dependence on God at all. This is again pointed out by GS which says:

                                                            21 This phrase is used by the Second Vatican Council and seen in GS no. 20 22 Gen 3:4 23 GS no. 13 24 Rom 1: 21,25

18  

“those who profess this kind of atheism maintain that freedom consists in this, that man is an

end to himself, and the sole maker, with supreme control, of his own history.” So far as God

as a reality is deeply related to human beings as their creator and as one who loves them to

the point of folly, any growth or development without Him is not a healthy growth.

1.3.5 Rising individualism: the other as hell

“Nowadays for various reasons mutual relationships and interdependence increase from day

to day and give rise to a variety of associations and organizations, both public and private.

Socialization, as it is called, is not without its dangers, but it brings with it many advantages

for the strengthening and betterment of human qualities and for the protection of human

rights.”25 This is what Gaudium et spes has had to say about human relations today. But 50

years down the lane, we see that things today are very different from what the Church had

envisaged. The recent onslaught of media and technology was considered as a breakthrough

in improving human-to-human relations. But a simple observation of society today reveals

that human beings are becoming more and more individualistic. Each one is enclosed within

one’s own shell not willing to accommodate or even acknowledge the existence of the other.

An increasing number of people seem to agree with the Sartian principle of the ‘other as a

hell.’ Such an individualistic growth does not fit into the vision of an integral development of

man.

1.3.6 Objectification and destruction of nature

Much has been written and said about humanity’s attitude to look upon nature as an object of

exploitation for its own selfish needs. This paper therefore does not seek to elaborate any

further. For its holistic growth towards maturation and its final end, humanity requires the

help of nature. Just as a child is nourished by its mother, Mother Nature nourishes us with her

bounty and carries us forward on our journey towards our final destiny. Therefore the

destruction of nature is not desirable for humanity. Not only is it undesirable, it is also

suicidal. The recent change in the climatic conditions, depletion of the ozone etc. point out

that it’s high time to draw the line.

1.4 Conclusion

The order and harmony within human beings and their interrelatedness with realities outside

them has now been destroyed by humans themselves. As each day passes, the situation is

                                                            25 GS no. 25

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only getting worse. The need of the hour is to show that an integral human development is

not only most necessary, but also a practical and viable solution. One institution where this

integral human development takes place and still takes place is Monasticism. The way of life

prescribed by monasteries and religious orders not only give stress to a holistic development

of humanity, but also equips them to be competent in worldly affairs. In the next chapter we

shall explore upon the monastic way of life as a model for holistic human development.

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CHAPTER 2

HOLISTIC HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN THE BETHANIAN CONSECRATED WAY OF LIFE

2.0 Introduction

Archimandrite Boniface in his book ‘Eastern Monasticism and the Future of the Church’,

explains the need for paradigms in human society in the following manner, “All human

activity directed toward a transcendent goal and meant to build up community, needs an

exemplar as its model and incentive, a model that incarnates as in a life-giving root the

principal values that this community is meant to materialize in its myths and institutions.

Such a paradigm works as a constant presence or anticipation of the goal as if already

attained, and hence as a norm for living, an uplifter to hang on to, a boost to spur us on and to

inspire us.”26

In the previous chapter we have seen how modern humanity yearns to restore balance and

harmony not only within themselves but also in relation to external and internal realities.

Monasticism or in general the Consecrated Life in Christianity has been a champion of this

balanced way of life especially in the modern era where more scientific studies have shown

the genuine needs of human beings. Today, institutions of Consecrated Life have tried to

correct the mistakes of the past where certain aspects of human growth were overlooked or

neglected. Hence, we could say that the whole institution of the Consecrated Life has

positively responded to the modern anthropological studies and vie with one another to

provide holistic growth and development to their human resources. As far as the author of

this paper is concerned the concept of Consecrated Life is actualized and concretized by his

own congregation, the Order of the Imitation of Christ or commonly known as Bethany

Ashram. It is here that he has experienced this holistic growth. Hence this whole chapter is

concerned with an analysis of the Bethanian Way of Living: the way of living out

consecrated life according to the charism of Bethany, and how it serves as a model or

paradigm that, as Archimandrite Boniface had said, “serves as a norm for living, an uplifter to

hang on to, a boost to spur us on and to inspire us.”

                                                            26 Archimandrite Boniface, Eastern Monasticism and the Future of the Church, Kottayam: Oriental Institute of Religious Studies India, 1993, 77

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2.1 The Institution of Consecrated life as a model

Monastic or religious life is a life of perfection wherein a person who enters into this life

aims to attain perfection through daily practice of virtues and spiritual exercises. This quest

for perfection in the spiritual hemisphere of one’s life gradually spills out into other spheres

as is evident in the history of consecrated life. Thus gradually throughout the centuries,

monastic life has become an institution where human beings model their lives on the perfect

human being Jesus Christ constantly pursue perfection not only in spiritual matters but in

spheres of the mind, body and intellect. Consecrated life has thus become that institution

which not only inspires but also provides means to form human beings into better human

beings providing them with all the means to pursue a holistic development through a life of

harmony and balance.

Consecrated life has proved that this is possible through its history of around two thousand

years. Throughout the centuries, though the external form of consecrated life has changed

from covenantal life to eremitism to coenobitism and finally to the modern religious orders,

the basic ideal of monasticism as a life of constant pursuit of perfection to the extent possible

by humans remains. In other words forming a perfect human being is the ultimate aim of the

consecrated life. By the term ‘a perfect human being’, what is meant is a human person

developed in all his/her faculties and dimensions, of body, soul and spirit as we have

envisaged in the first chapter. Thus consecrated life which modeled on the perfect human

being Christ, who is the perfect image of God, seeks to restore the image of God which

human beings have lost in the paradise through the first sin and disobedience.

2.2 The Problem of Consecrated Life as a Model

Often in the past the opposite have been said of consecrated life, especially monasticism in

the middle ages. It is true that most of the time consecrated life has churned out human beings

devoid of humanity, true emotions, feelings and even maturity in terms of psychological

development. It is true that out of every thousand who pursue this life only a few may attain

the perfection we have claimed above. We extol them as saints and try to emulate their lives.

Their life-stories are quoted often to inspire the younger generations. At times we have a

Pachomios, an Antony, a Basil, a Benedict, a Theresa of Avila or Lesieux or Kolkatta. But

the truth is that for every saint, every good monk who is closer to perfection, there are a good

number of monks and nuns who fail to make it even closer to perfection. But the very fact

that indeed a good number make it to the ‘closer to perfection’ state vindicates the very

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institution of consecrated life in general. We cannot overlook the fact of human freedom

wherein every human being is able to choose his/her formative influences that shapes up

his/her life for the better or worse. Thus the very life of the large number of persons who

have succeeded in their pursuits point to the fact that monasticism indeed does possess the

means to a holistic human development which is nothing less than perfection. Thus

consecrated life takes after the Irenean axiom, “The glory of God is human being fully alive.”

2.3 Bethanian Consecrated Life as a way of life and a model

What is true for Consecrated Life in general is also true as far as Bethanian Consecrated Life

is concerned. That the Bethanian way of life indeed is a way of life that promotes integral and

holistic human development is the very experience of the author who has been living this life

for around twelve years. One cannot deny this fact when one compares oneself with the

generation of one’s companions with whom one had lived before taking up the Bethanian

way of Consecrated Life. Anybody who wishes to experience this may live a few days in any

of the Bethany Ashrams where strict religious routine is followed and experience this balance

and harmony for oneself. If that is too much, then a detailed study of the Daily Time-Table of

such houses would suffice to understand it at least at the intellectual level if not at the

experiential level. A Bethanian on an average spends a good deal of his (we shall consider the

men’s order since the author of this paper belongs to it) time in pursuit of spiritual activities

and experience of the Divine. The time he devotes to contemplation, divine office and

Eucharist is the prime time, the mornings and the evenings described in Indian tradition as the

shubha-muhurtha. As soon as one’s spiritual pursuit is over, one engages in the different

fields of one’s activity. In between one is given adequate time to pursue studies, to read,

update one’s knowledge and skills, to recreate, to chat leisurely with other members of the

community, pursue sports, cultivation, gardening etc. and all this is done within the short

span of twenty-four hours which includes an adequate sleep of about six hours as well. All

these activities belong to different spheres of one’s existence and hence contribute to the

growth of the different dimensions of one’s being, thus leading to a holistic development.

2.4 Unique aspects of Consecrated Way of Life contributing to Holistic Development

Consecrated Life especially monasticism has always been and still is acclaimed as the power

house of the Church. Having its humble birth in Egypt, monasticism spread out to Syria and

Palestine and the later into the Latin West. By the dawn of the modern era, monasticism had

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evolved in the West into religious congregations and apostolic institutes though some

monasteries do still exist. During this long history of evolution, consecrated life has churned

out great luminaries, spiritual stalwarts, thinkers, etc. who have not only provided the Church

with a sense of direction but also inspired humanity in general to pursue excellence first of all

in their spiritual lives and along with it in all the diverse dimensions of their lives. Through

its centuries long course of history, consecrated life has developed some unique

characteristics that make it make it an excellent model for holistic human development. Some

of these characteristics are as follows:

2.4.1 A balanced and harmonious way of life as a rule

We have already seen that the Bethanian lives a balanced and harmonious life engaging in

activities that contribute to his holistic and integrated growth. What needs to be pointed out

here is that this balance is sought to be maintained as a rule at all levels by the members of

the congregation especially the seniors. The author himself has had the experience in the first

year of formation, when a senior priest had scolded him for ‘spending too much time in

prayer’ when instead he should be spending time in leisurely pursuits with his brothers. This

author did not know then that one’s relationship with one’s brothers is as important as one’s

relation with God to the extent that the former is not to be sacrificed at the altar of the latter.

Another example that could be given would be of the situation when the whole community

might return from a programme, a trip or picnic at the end of the day tired and exhausted and

the superior might still insist that we come to the chapel and spend a few minutes in silence

and quiet reflection. Most often, after such a short silent meditation, many seem to be

energized and refreshed. In such cases, the superior, knowingly or unknowingly displays

wisdom which seeks to maintain the balance that is typical of the Bethanian way of life.

There are many other examples but to recount all of them would be beyond the scope of this

paper.

2.4.2 Self-awareness through constant self-critique and fraternal corrections

“Leaders thrive by understanding who they are and what they value, by becoming aware of

unhealthy blind spots or weaknesses that can derail them, and by cultivating the habit of

continuous self-reflection and learning,”27 says Chris Lowney to whom this author owes the

idea that self-awareness is of much value in today’s leadership skills. Lowney analyses Jesuit

history and way of life to give his leaders ample lessons in leadership and management. One

                                                            27 Chris Lowney, Heroic Leadership: Principles for Lasting Success. Mumbai: Better Yourself Books, 2008, 30

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of the most important leadership lessons for him, as already mentioned is self-critique and

evaluation that leads to self-awareness. Though Lowney presents this as a Jesuit quality, this

is in fact true of every religious order or monastery in the Christian consecrated life and

naturally in the Bethanian way of living too. The Holy Rule of the Order of the Imitation of

Christ (Bethany Ashram) prescribes spiritual reading, daily examination of conscience,

monthly recollections and annual retreats as tools for self-awareness.28

The Daily examination of conscience is of two types: General and Particular. In the general

examination of conscience, one examines one’s entire day to discover one’s faults and to

correct them with the help of God. This is usually done after the night prayers. Particular

examination of conscience is where one focuses on one particular vice and seeks to correct it.

Particular examination is usually done at mid-day, after the noon prayers.29 Besides these, a

day of every month is assigned as Monthly Recollection where the entire past month is

examined and an Annual Recollection of not less than five days every year.30

If the daily, monthly and annual examinations are personal and subjective, there is also

another mechanism in the consecrated life through which one sees oneself through the eyes of

the other. This mechanism is none other than ‘fraternal corrections.’ Since consecrated life is

a life of perfection, it is not surprising that co-pilgrims that we are, we help one another in

this pursuit by pointing out one’s drawbacks and correcting them with fraternal love. The

Holy Rule exhorts followers of the Bethanian ideal to accept with humility any corrections

and punishments on the one hand and on the other to help one another to correct

shortcomings in a spirit of charity. It asks the superiors to do so through exhortations and

above all through good example. The Holy Rule also talks about an assembly of the members

of a house at least once a month, for prayerful self-examination, fraternal dialogue and

corrections.31

2.4.3 Emphasis on discipline

From the time of Pachomios who introduced community life into consecrated life, discipline

came to be synonymous with the consecrated life. Think of religious life and one thinks of

rules, regulations, a strictly followed time-table, mortification, obedience, etc. All these have

one name in common and that is discipline. The very word used for one aspiring to this life is

                                                            28 Cf. The Holy Rule of the Order of the Imitation of Christ, Kottayam, 2000, nos.188, 189, 198, 199 29 Cf. Mishihanukarana Sanyasa Samuhathinte Acharanushtanangal (Malayalam). Kottayam, 2003, no. 252. 30 Cf. Holy Rule (HR) 199 31 Cf. HR 152

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‘disciple’ i.e. one who strives towards a life of discipline. This discipline is brought into the

life of a monk/nun through various means; some of the most relevant are presented below.

2.4.3.1 The religious vows

The religious vows of obedience, chastity and poverty are the most solemn means by which a

monk/nun binds himself/herself to the consecrated life. It is the symbol of one’s dedication to

God and a renewal of the baptismal vows. Servant of God Mar Ivanios, the founder of the

Bethany Congregations and the one who envisaged the Bethanian way of life, equates

religious consecration with the Biblical Holocaust which is the ultimate form of sacrifice

according to the Jewish customs.32 Obedience, the first of the vows is acclaimed as the

“foundation of all religious discipline.”33 For the practice of obedience one needs to subject

one’s will to the will of God which is manifest through the will of the Superior.34 The vow of

Chastity requires that one disciplines one’s thoughts, hearts and senses by diligently watching

over them, especially the eyes, ears tongue and touch and that one keep away from all

unhealthy relationships.35 The vow of poverty enjoins one to keep away from the love of

wealth and temptations towards luxurious goods and their usage. In other words, it entreats us

to discipline ourselves from vainglorious pursuits which lead to pride.

2.4.3.2 The daily time-table

As already mentioned earlier, the daily time-table is what infuses discipline into the lives of

the consecrated. This time-table should either be a common one or in the absence of a

common one, at least a personal one. Compared to great spiritual exercises, obeying the time-

table may not seem to be a big deal especially given the fact that it hardly invites much

serious censure. But history claims that mere obedience of the daily time-table has made

saints out of ordinary religious. As we have already seen earlier, the daily time-table is in

itself balanced with human activity that spreads out into every sphere and dimension of

human existence and growth. By obeying this time-table faithfully, one is rightly on the path

to perfection i.e. an integrated and holistically developed individual.

                                                            32 Cf. Archbishop Mar Ivanios, Girideepam (Mountain Lamp), ed. Dr. Antony Valiyavilayil OIC, Trivandrum: Cause of Canonization of Mar Ivanios, 2006, 133 33 HR 83 34 Archbishop Mar Ivanios, A Guide to the Malankara Sanyasa, ed. Dr. Antony Valiyavilayil OIC, Trivandrum: Cause of Canonization of Mar Ivanios, 2006, 93 35 Cf. HR 99

26  

2.4.3.3 Silence

Though silence belongs to the sphere of contemplation and prayer, it is also relevant in

disciplining a person. Fr. Placid OIC, once novice master of the congregation and an

exemplary religious, had introduced the Indian concept of mauna vratha among novices.

Every day each novice is to undertake mauna vratha i.e. the vow of silence while the others

were exempt from it. While all the others indulged in recreation (as permitted), this poor

monk had to maintain silence even when ridiculed or scolded. He had to bear everything in

humility and silence. This practice had instilled a lot of will-power and a sense of discipline

in the life of the novices.

2.4.3.4 A sense of nishkama (detachment)

Fr. Placid writing under the pseudonym Jnanadas writes in his article, “One who desires Yoga

and approaches the guru should be one who has renounced everything and is totally detached.

Among the things to be detached include most importantly, wealth, sensual pleasures and

pride. This trinity is the cause of attachment (raga). The renunciation of the same is

detachment (vairagya). Detachment leads to Yoga. The essence of Gita’s teaching is

detachment. A sanyasi should be totally detached from the work itself as well as the fruit of

the work. One neither abandons one’s duty nor is one passionately attached to it.” One is

often misled when one reads Girideepam that Mar Ivanios and his monks themselves tilled

and cultivated the land until they could produce enough. But the truth was that the monks

worked only in their free time and labourers were hired to do the rest of the work. Mar

Ivanios himself writes, “the Superior of the Ashram used to allot Sanyasis at the request of

the Ashramite-in-charge, for certain works for which workers need not have to be employed.

It was the strict rule of that they returned to the Ashram after completing the prescribed work

within the stipulated time. After all they should not foster any particular attachment or desire

or anxiety about anything.” Such strictness not only helps the subjects to be detached but also

maintains the balance and harmony in their lives.

2.5 Holistic human development in the Bethanian way of Consecrated Life

2.5.1 Spiritual growth

A Bethanian on an average spends around three hours a day in common spiritual activities

that include the Holy Qurbono, Daily Office, Mediation, examination of conscience etc. The

Bethanian imitates the life of prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ for whom the source of the

strength of his life was his constant union with the Father in prayer. The Holy Rule reminds

27  

us of Luke 10:42 where Jesus endorses Mary’s presence at his feet as the “one thing

necessary” and says that an inner attentiveness to God is indeed the ‘one thing necessary’ for

every Bethanian religious. The Holy Rule therefore exhorts every Bethanian to pursue a life

of radical living of the Gospel in an atmosphere of joyful asceticism, conversion of the heart,

flight from the world, silence, fast, and long vigils that are nourished by lectio divina,

unceasing prayer and ceaseless celebration of the Divine Liturgy.36 Such spiritual exercises

go a long way in the spiritual growth of the human person.

2.5.2 Psychological growth in the Bethanian way of life

This is one area where consecrated life has fared rather poorly as far as past history is

concerned. The present situation is not much different. Often in the past, the psychological

needs of the individuals in consecrated life had been neglected and as a result many were

seen to have turned neurotic and depressed. To add to it there is an ever increasing identity

crisis among consecrated which has only aggravated in the modern scenario. Many a times

religious communities were seen as a common machinery where all human beings were

passed through the same mould and their individuality neglected.37 There are also a vast

number of cases where the psychosexual development have never taken place adequately and

as a result we have a crop of immature and insecure monks and nuns, perpetually paranoid,

skeptical and vying for power and wealth as school children for toys. This situation has to an

extent been brought under control due to a general awareness in the recent times. Today,

there are several measures in formation to ensure psychological development of those under

formation though not in a professional way. One of the best of these measures is the

increasing human contact especially with that of the opposite sex. In the past, especially in

the monasteries, a rigid and misunderstood idea of the system of enclosure had kept the

consecrated away from genuine human contact, not only with the outside world but also

among themselves. Today on the other hand, those undergoing formation as well as those

who are already consecrated rub shoulders daily with a large number of people. Developing a

good and healthy relationship with these people especially those of the opposite sex would

ensure adequate psychosexual maturation.

Since the dawn of monasticism in its rudimentary form in the deserts one of the mechanisms

to maintain a mental and psychological balance was the fraternal recreations. There is a story

of St. Antony of the desert which goes as follows:                                                             36Cf. HR, 4:iii,a. 37 Cf. Thomas Merton, Contemplation in a World of Action. New York: Image Books, 1973, 75-100

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A hunter in the desert saw Abba Anthony enjoying himself with the brethren and he was shocked. Wanting to show him that it was necessary sometimes to meet the needs of the brethren, the old man said to him, ‘Put an arrow in your bow and shoot it.’ So he did. The old man then said, ‘Shoot another,’ and he did so. Then the old man said, ‘Shoot yet again,’ and the hunter replied, ‘If I bend my bow so much I will break it.” Then the old man said to him, ‘it is the same with the work of God. If we stretch the brethren beyond measure, they will soon break. Sometimes it is necessary to come down to meet their needs.’ When he heard these words the hunter was pierced by compunction and, greatly edified by the old man, he went away. As for the brethren, they went home strengthened.38

That recreation and brotherly love are adequate stress relief mechanisms is beyond

doubt. In Bethany, the bond of love and brotherhood is seen to be strong enough for any

brother in need to approach another to seek solace. Besides, today we also have a number of

personality development programmes, development of soft skills as well as

technical/vocational skills, to deal with identity crisis and other mental handicaps.

2.5.3 Intellectual growth

Intellectual growth of the consecrated personnel was one of the most important things in the

mind of our founder Servant of God Mar Ivanios. Having been the first person in the whole

of the Malankara Orthodox Church at that time, Mar Ivanios knew the importance of having

educated personnel in the service of the church. Hence he identified talented people, both

men and women and took them with him to Serampore and gave enabled them to complete

graduation at his own expense. From this bunch there arose tremendous leadership in the

Church which not only saved it from extinction, but also heralded the Malankara Church

(Catholic and Orthodox) into the twentieth century. Keeping this in mind, the superiors of

Bethany Ashram ensure that every Bethanian gets good quality intellectual training. But this

intellectual growth is not at the expense of spiritual growth or physical growth. Come what

may, a Bethanian is not to forgo his daily dose of prayers or manual labour or exercise even if

he is to appear for exams the next day.

2.5.4 Physical growth

Eastern monasticism has never considered the body as evil, rather as the temple of the Holy

Spirit. Yet the fathers teach that the body is the arena where temptations abound. But this is

not the fault of the body. According to St. Antony of the Desert, “the body possesses a natural

movement to which it is adapted, but which it cannot follow without the consent of the soul.”

                                                            38 Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Udhanamala: Udhanashram Editions, 2002, 9

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Moreover all fathers teach that passions arise in the heart. Heart here is not the physical heart

but the conceptual heart which is the meeting point of the body, soul and spirit and hence the

centre of one’s personality. Hence we can say that though it is the body that fall into

temptations, the whole human person is equally responsible for falling into it. But since it is

the body that houses the senses, and which plays the final part in the evil, it is necessary to

subdue the body and bring it under the control of the spirit. But nevertheless, the fathers

never encouraged mortifications that wounded the body. Rather they recommended fasts and

vigils. Though fasts and vigils did harm to the body, the real positive development was in

terms of developing the will power and thereby self-control. These fasts and vigils were also

accompanied by ceaseless prayer, obedience, practices of humility etc. which did not target

the body, but the ego, will etc. What is proved here is that the oriental fathers never had a

negative theology of the body unless inspired by the West.

Bethany Ashram being an oriental congregation shares the view of the oriental fathers.

Though canonically, it is a religious congregation, its way of life is semi-monastic. Hence it

follows the monastic ideals yet in moderation. An average Bethanian undergoing formation is

not only well fed but also taught to observe fasts according to the teachings of the Church. In

other words, both fasting and feasting is important but the balance has to be maintained.

Every Bethanian has to therefore learn how to maintain this balance. Besides, adequate

importance has been accorded to physical exercise. In the daily time table of the Bethanian

way of life the time after the evening tea and before sunset is the ideal time for physical

activities. Bethanians mainly take to manual labour and sports for physical activities.

2.5.5 Growth in the Cosmotheandric union

Cosmotheandric vision was a concept developed by Raimundo Panicker, a famous

philosopher and theologian of Indian origin who is also a Catholic Priest. According to him,

“there are not three realities: God, Man, and the World; but neither is there one, whether God,

Man or World. Reality is cosmotheandric. It is our way of looking that makes reality appear

to us at times under one aspect, at times under another. God, Man, and World are, so to

speak, in an intimate and constitutive collaboration to construct Reality, to make history

advance, to continue creation. The cosmotheandric intuition expresses the all embracing

indissoluble union, that constitutes all of Reality: the triple dimension of reality as a whole:

cosmic-divine-human. The cosmotheandric intuition is the undivided awareness of the

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totality.” 39 What Panikkar proposes is to live so open to this triple dimension of reality, open

to others, to the world, and to God that we might achieve harmonious communion with the

all.

2.5.5.1 Growth in harmony with the Divine

We have already seen the contribution of the Bethanian Way of Life towards spiritual growth

of a person. However growth in harmony with God is a different matter altogether, although

they are related. The reason is those even atheists possess a spirit and are in need for spiritual

growth. Even atheist need spiritual exercises like meditation, solitude etc. to maintain their

tranquility. The difference with the believer is that the believer experiences the same growth

in harmony with God. The best image of Divine-Human companionship seen ever is that

which is found in the book of Genesis where the first human beings and the prototype of all

human beings were seen enjoying the companionship of God in the garden of Eden. When

this companionship gets broken due to human infidelity, God takes initiative after initiative to

restore this relationship finally culminating in the cross of Christ. A consecrated person

surrenders his/her life at the foot of the cross as a response to this love, standing as a

representative of all human beings and reciprocating His love for humanity. The relationship

between a religious and God is like that of two lovers or in conventional words, of the

relation between a bride and a bridegroom.

In every growth there are only two directions: growth against God and growth towards God.

For a consecrated person, every growth has to be a growth towards God. In whatever he/she

does, whatever he/she gains, if he/she does not grow towards God and in harmony with Him,

the very purpose of existence of the consecrated person is futile. By seeking to grow in

harmony with the Divine, the consecrated seeks to restore the cosmotheandric union that was

seen in Eden before the first sin of humanity.

2.5.5.2 Growth in harmony with fellow humans

Consecrated life in Christianity unlike in Hinduism has a vertical as well as a horizontal

dimension. While the vertical stands for union with the Divine, the horizontal stands for

relationship with one’s brothers and sisters. Both these vertical and horizontal dimensions

add up to make the cross of Christ which is the symbol of ultimate love. Consecrated persons

begin their practice of horizontal charity at home, i.e. in their religious houses and

                                                            39 Raimon Panicker, The Trinity and the Religious Experience of man, London and New York, 1975

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monasteries. They begin their life of perfect charity by loving their brethren: their partners

and co-pilgrims in the journey to Christ. Fr. James Puthuparampil OIC points out that such

perfect charity cannot be said to be practiced by mere sharing of space, food or goods. Rather

it calls for an ‘intimate sharing of personalities in Christ.’ According to him this intimate

sharing of personalities is manifested concretely in the feeling of a sense of belongingness,

mutual help and mutual trust.40 Such an intimate sharing is possible since all are created in

the image and likeness of God and Christ is the perfect image of the Father. In other words

when one loves one’s brothers and sisters, one is in fact loving and honouring the image of

God within him/her and the cross with the horizontal and vertical dimensions is complete

2.5.5.3 Growing in harmony with nature and cosmos

The primary contact of the Fathers who lived in the aridness of the desert with nature was

through manual labour as they believed in the axiom that one ought to eat bread by the sweat

of one’s brow. According to Fr. Bobby Jose OFM Cap., nature came into the monastic

cloisters as a source of contemplation, admiration and revelation through St. Francis of

Assisi.41 He narrates one of the most popular stories of Francis wherein he asks different

objects in nature to reveal to him the love of God and each of the objects of nature respond in

their own particular way and show forth the splendor of their existence which in turn leads

Francis to praise and thank God. Talking of the importance of being in harmony with nature,

Fr. Bobby points out that in the Indian System of Sanyasa, a person could attain this state

only after successfully living in the dense forests for a particular number of years. He exhorts

us to traverse through nature not as a tourist, but as a pilgrim looking at each reality of nature

with the eyes of Jesus, the poet and sage who saw the grandeur of Solomon in the lilies of the

fields and the great providence of the Father in the birds flying carelessly through the open

sky.42

2.6 Conclusion

The author of this paper has put down in this chapter what he had been experiencing in his

own life for the past twelve long years. Standing at this juncture, as he compares himself with

his stressed and worn out companions in the world, he feels that the life that he lives, i.e. the

                                                            40 Cf. James Puthuparampil OIC, "Kristiya Sanyasathinte Samuhika Manam Adyapithakanmarude Darshanathil (Malayalam)", In Sanyasabhashaym (Malayalam), ed. Jose Mariadas OIC, Kottayam: Bethany Publications, 121-139, 2004, 131 41 Cf. Bobby Jose Cappuchin, "Sanyasathile Aranyakantham (Malayalam)", in Sanyasabhashaym (Malayalam), ed. Jose Mariadas OIC, Kottayam: Bethany Publications, 73-85, 2004, 75 42 Cf. Bobby Jose, 77

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balanced and harmonious Bethanian Way of Life has the solution to some of the problems

which people face in the world especially those that arise due to lifestyle mismanagement.

Hence what is done here is an analysis of the Bethanian Way of Living the Consecrated Life

and to pin-point certain values and characteristics in this Life which could be used for

application in modern lifestyles. A life of balance, self-awareness through constant self-

critiquing and fraternal corrections, discipline, detachment, holistic growth that aims at the

body, soul and spirit and a harmonious living relationship with the Divine, the cosmos and

fellow humans, all these are but a few characteristics that make the Bethanian Way of Living

the Consecrated Life a paradigm for modern human development. In the next chapter we

shall explore how we can apply these values in a modern society without making everyone a

consecrated religious.

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CHAPTER 3

THE BETHANIAN MONASTIC MODEL FOR BUILDING THE LOST HARMONY

3.0 Introduction

Pope John Paul II in his apostolic letter Orientale Lumen calls monasticism as the reference

point of all baptized. He writes, “Moreover, in the East, monasticism was not seen merely as

a separate condition, proper to a precise category of Christians, but rather as a reference point

for all the baptized.” Bethany Ashram founded by Servant of God Archbishop Mar Ivanios in

the year 1930 is deep rooted in the Oriental monastic traditions. Hence it would be most

appropriate to portray Bethanian Spirituality and Way of Life as a model and reference point

for all baptized. In this paper we have gone one step ahead to portray it as a model and

reference point for all people in the modern world. In the previous chapters, namely chapter

1, we have tried to analyze the situation of the world today and to present its various

problems and in chapter 2, we have looked at the characteristics of the monastic or

consecrated life especially as lived in Bethany Ashram, that serves as a model for human

beings in the modern world. In this chapter, we shall apply the unique characteristics of the

Bethanian Consecrated Life in the lives of the modern humans in order to make an attempt at

solving their problems and envisioning the development of an integrated and harmonious

human person.

3.1 Spiritual Growth and harmony with the Divine

John Shea OSA professor of Pastoral Psychology, points out in his writings that: “Spirituality

is a developmental reality and it comes into its fullness in adulthood.” 43 In this he refers not

simply to the attainment of years lived, but to the actuality of adult living. “Spirituality can be

defined as: that which gives meaning to life and allows us to participate in the larger whole.”

According to him, no matter how lofty its focus, spirituality is not something “other” than the

human or “transcending” the human, or “added on” to the human. It is a fully human

phenomenon.

                                                            43 John Friel C.P., Reflection on Psycho-Spiritual Development, Human and Spiritual Development Services, (article on-line: accessed on Jan 25, 2014) available from: http://daneoservices.weebly.com/refection-on-psycho-spiritual-development-john-friel-cp.html

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3.1.1 Prayer as a genuine human need

Prayer is to the soul and spirit what food is to the body. Observing that the Prophesy of Doom

regarding religions predicted by the Enlightenment philosophers have come to a naught,

former Pope Benedict XVI had pointed out during his weekly General Audience on May 11,

2011, that religion is intrinsic to human beings. The Pope explained that the source of

humanity’s religious instincts is nothing but a thirst for the infinite, a yearning for eternity, a

search for beauty, a desire for love, a need for light and truth, which impels us toward the

Absolute. According to him, the desire for spirituality is something we carry within us. It is

this desire that is expressed in prayer. According to Pope Benedict, “In prayer, human beings

experience themselves as creatures in need of help, incapable of attaining the fulfillment of

their existence or their hopes alone. In the experience of prayer we orient our very souls to

that Mystery from which we look for the fulfillment of our deepest desires and help to

overcome the poverty of our lives.” 44

In the past two chapters we have seen how humanity today is disconnected from God and

most individuals from his or her own spiritual self. We have also seen how the Bethanian

Way of Life treats prayer and connectivity with God as the “one thing necessary” (Lk

10:42).45 Besides, we have also seen that every monk or nun, whether Bethanian or not, is to

have an inner attentiveness to God at all times regardless of whatever activity he/she is

involved in.46

In today’s world it is difficult to develop a spirituality that is replete with hours of vocal

prayer, meditation, spiritual exercises etc. since people generally lead a hectic life style.

Hence what is applicable here is the idea embedded in the Holy Rule of Bethany Ashram, i.e.

of having a constant inner attentiveness to God47 round the clock even while one is busy in

the affairs of the world. In other words, what is needed is a practical approach to spirituality.

3.1.2 Practical approach towards spirituality

By a practical approach to spirituality what we mean here is an approach that contextualizes

theories of prayer so as to be realistic to the needs of the individuals in a busy world. Below

are some of the practical approaches to spirituality drawn from the monastic model.                                                             44 David Kerr, Prayer responds to human desire for God, CNA: Catholic News Agency, (article on-line: accessed on Jan 26, 2014) available from: http://www.catholic newsagency.com/news/prayer-responds-to-human-desire-for-god.html 45 Cf. HR 4/iii a. 46 Ref. Chapter 2, nos. 2.5.1 and 2.5.5.1 of this paper. 24, 28 47 Cf. HR 4/iii a.

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3.1.2.1 Prayer on the move

Those in contemporary religious circles are familiar with the concept of ‘contemplation in

action’. This concept is something derived from St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the

Society of Jesus and is enshrined in the very annals of Ignatian Spirituality. Ignatius’ men had

several tasks at hand to which they had devoted their lives, one of which was being at the

helm of the counter-reformation movement. These men had very little time to spend in

contemplative prayer or common liturgical prayers as in the monasteries. Hence Ignatius

devised the idea of ‘contemplation in action’. As a Jesuit website on Ignatian spirituality

would inform us,

“The key here is letting your reflection and prayer time inform how you approach your work when you return to it. Perhaps you discover the need for more rest time or that you need to focus more on a particular relationship. Or maybe you find that the activity you’ve been up to has become dissatisfying. Or perhaps you discover a desire to reinvigorate your job…Contemplation allows us to renew our active lives (work, play, relationships) so that all we do does not become mindless action but rather glorifies God. Then the cycle repeats. Your activity leads you again into a time of stopping, resting, reflecting, and then returning to activity with greater zeal and purpose. Being a contemplative in action means that your active life feeds your contemplative life and your contemplative life informs your active life. That is what contemplation in action means, and the cycle never ends.48

When applied to the daily lives of busy people, it could mean that they could make use of

every little time they could afford to spend time in prayer. Be it during travel or while

performing ablutions, taking a bath, any time when the mind doesn’t usually work is an

appropriate time to fix our attention towards the Ultimate reality and so as to renew our

spiritual self so that just as the above extract from the website informs us, we do not end up in

mindless activity nor do we end up losing our minds. As the author reminds us, our activity

ought to be interspersed with enough time for stopping, resting, reflecting, and then returning

to activity with greater zeal and purpose. The end result is that our period of activity is

intensified and our productivity increases.

                                                            48 Andy Otto, Contemplatives in Action, Dotmagis: The Blog of Ignatian Spirituality.com, (article on-line: accessed on Jan 26, 2014) available from: http://www. ignatianspirituality.com/16166/contemplatives-in-action/#sthash.EOEcPIRv.dpuf.

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3.1.2.2 Meditation and Contemplation

In an article “Why meditation”, Swami Chinmayananda cites the phenomenon of the split

personality of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.49 He points out that for the modern individual, the

various propensities within are straining at the leash and the individual is, more often than

not, an unhappy house divided against himself/herself. According to him, the modern

individual is rent apart by conflicting desires and ultimately, is bound to fall as an epitome of

desire and failure. The only advice he would like to give to such a person is that he/she

should resolve the conflict that tears him/her. And the ultimate solution pointed out by Swami

is meditation. In his own words,

The physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual personalities must all be blended into one harmonious whole. Meditation is the technique of achieving this harmony. It is the highest spiritual discipline. Through meditation man comes to experience peace within and without. Internecine wars between desires are ended. Conflicts between duties no longer wreck his nerves. His mind is enabled to view life as whole. There is nothing in which he shall not meet with success, for, his meaningless flutterings and the consequent dissipations have stopped. He would direct his potentialities with a concentration that cannot be baulked. 50

Swami Chinmayananda is not alone with these views. Modern management gurus to human

resource development personnel would suggest daily dose of meditation for the average

modern working man and women. Robin Sharma in his best seller ‘The Monk Who Sold His

Ferrari,’ goes one step ahead as to suggesting that every individual who seeks solace in the

busy world ought to not only devote one hour daily to meditation, but also that it should be

consistently the same hour and the same place every day. Sharma suggests that the sanctity of

the place is to be maintained in as much as it is not used for any other purposes except

meditation.51

                                                            49 Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the original title of a novella written by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson that was first published in 1886. The work is commonly associated with the rare mental condition often spuriously called "split personality", referred to in psychiatry as dissociative identity disorder, where within the same body there exists more than one distinct personality. In this case, there are two personalities within Dr Jekyll, one apparently good and the other evil; completely opposite levels of morality. The novella's impact is such that it has become a part of the language, with the very phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" coming to mean a person who is vastly different in moral character from one situation to the next. 50 Swami Chinmayanada, Why Meditation?, (article on-line, accessed on Jan 26, 2014), available from: http://chinmayasaaket.org/articles/gurudev/Why_Meditation.pdf 51Cf. Robin Sharma, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, (book on-line, accessed on Feb 11, 2014) available at http://khg.edu.vn/upload/file/eBook_The%20Monk%20Who%20Sold%20His%20Ferrari_Robin%20S.%20Sharma.pdf, 119

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3.2 Physical Growth: A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body

As we have already seen in the previous chapters, the body is given its due importance in

Christian Theology and is placed on par with the soul and spirit. We are once again reminded

of Pauline maxim of the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, through

Incarnation, the Son of God sanctifies the human body and makes it the arena of Divine-

Human encounter. This is why we need to insist on the physical health of the modern human

beings.

The average modern individual with the exception of sportspersons or certain fitness freaks

are on the downside when it comes to caring for their bodies. Some of the few problems

plaguing modern human beings with respect to taking good care of their bodies is the rise of

an unhealthy lifestyle with too little time for recreational sports, a culture of unhealthy eating,

late-night working etc. The result is an increasing number of life-style related disease and

disorders like diabetes, hypertension, heart problems etc. The model of consecrated way of

life, especially that of the Bethanian model points out the necessity of a balance in this

respect. An average individual needs to spend at least half an hour of the day in extreme

vigourous activity. Today with the surge of technology, one may have gym equipments

within the comfort of one’s home. But nothing can substitute outdoor exercise. Apart from

the average sports and exercises, indulging in a bit of creative manual labour including

gardening could work wonders as is the testimony of many monks and nuns who indulge in

creative manual labour.

Yoga is a good option for people of any age or profession. But yoga, as gurus say is not to be

reduced to mere physical exercises. Yogic physical exercises are meant to control the mind so

that the mind may engage in spiritual activities. This again points to the interconnectivity

between the body, spirit and psyche.

3.3 Psychological Growth: Remaining Sane in an Insane World

Stress, suicide, depression, anxiety, etc. are all words one would hear every now and then in a

modern society. According to a recent study, mental illness is on the rise in the United States

and other parts of the world. Yawo Besa, a professor of the Allen University in the U.S., has

contributed to psychology by showing the effects of society on the psychological health of an

individual. He brings in four different theories by four different social scientists to show the

co-relation between sociology and psychology namely, the structural strain theory (Merton,

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1957), anomy theory (Durkheim, 1951), the social stressor theory (Thoits, 1999), and the

labeling theory (Scheff, 1999). After a close study of these four theories, Besa has this to say:

A close examination of the four modern sociological theories reviewed above shows the importance of the concept of balance or equilibrium in their formulation. All of them put a strong emphasis on this central concept of balance and its corollaries. In the case of the anomie theory, Durkheim insisted on the importance of the balance or equilibrium between social integration and collective consciousness or “conscience collective.” … This pivotal concept of equilibrium noted in Durkheim’s theory of anomie is also present in Merton’s theoretical perspective of structural strain. … An analysis of Marx’s theory of social classes also stresses the importance of the concepts of balance or equilibrium. … According to Marx, the absence of balance between the productive force and ideology is a source of the revolution that causes social problems and alteration of traditions. Stability and order within society can be achieved through equilibrium between the structure and the superstructure of society. … The notion of balance was also important for Scheff and is consequently present in his labeling theory. … However, Scheff did not explicitly use the concept of balance or equilibrium but instead the one of conformity (Scheff, 1999). Conceiving of mental disorder as the non-conformity to residual rules reflects the idea of the disequilibrium between the individuals’ behavior and the residual norms. This can implicitly mean that the conformity of the individuals to the residual norms will result in the absence of mental disorder. This assumption stresses the importance of the balance or equilibrium between the individuals’ behavior and the societal residual norms.52

In other words, what the social scientists have proved is that individuals in a society tend to

lose their mental health when they tip the balance. Hence, balance is indeed a very key term

as far as psychology is concerned. And it is this very balance that the Bethanian Consecrated

Way of Life advocates. Modern individuals ought to righty prioritize every different aspect of

their life in order to maintain the equilibrium. One needs to find adequate time for prayer,

studies, work, recreational activities, hobbies, sports, etc. every day of their lives in order to

keep the balance which is so very necessary to ‘remain sane in an insane world.’

3.4 Towards a Harmony with Fellow Beings

After having achieved a harmony within the self, the modern human being needs to now

reach out to the other. Today in spite of the surge in communication and means of social

networking, human beings are moving away far apart from each other. The Community Life

model of Consecrated Life needs to inspire the rest of humanity of the importance of living as

one human family. People in the consecrated life need to show it to the world that such an                                                             52 Yawo Bessa, Modernity Theories and Mental Illness: A Comparative Study of Selected Sociological Theorists, Columbia: Allen University, (article on-line, accessed on Feb 2, 2014), available from: http://www. ijhssnet. com/ journals/ Vol_2_No_17_ September_2012/ 4.pdf

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ideal can surely be attained. Consecrated life indeed teaches us a theology of the ‘other.’ First

of all it teaches us that the other is an ‘image of God’ as much as I myself am. Usually

children are said to bear the resemblance of their parents. Thus here God is our Father and we

are his children. This leads us to the second understanding of the brotherhood of all human

beings. Besides, this whole brotherhood of humanity was further saved by Christ on the cross

and is being constantly guided by the Holy Spirit.

Hence the need of the hour is to reach out and build a network of relationships with as much

people around us as possible. More often even if we make friends, we limit our circle to the

few people with whom we share our interests and who we think would love us above all else.

But this is not the ‘reaching out’ that is envisaged here. Here we need to transcend the

boundaries of caste, creed, colour, ideologies, etc and reach out to the whole of humanity so

that the vision of God ‘that all human beings should form one family and deal with each other

in a spirit of brotherhood,’53 is fulfilled.

3.5 Towards a Harmony with the Cosmos

There is no monastery or a religious house or an ashram for that matter, without even a small

garden or a tree around. This explains the proximity of consecrated life to nature. We had

already seen Fr. Bobby Jose’s take on the interrelatedness between monastic spirituality and

nature, and Francis Acharya’s idea of nature as a ‘book of meditation’.54 This spirituality of

religious life that finds an echo in the Bethanian Way of Life teaches humanity to foster and

care for nature. It calls for a greater contentment and self-control. Moreover it teaches us to

treat nature with respect. Recently, the organizers of Kirloskar Vasundhara International

Film Festival was praised by the Green crusader Hema Sane for modifying the slogan reduce,

reuse, recycle by adding refuse and restore, Sane went on to add a new R, i.e. respect. She

reminds us to look at our past and see how we valued the environment then. She said that we

need to go back to respecting our environment in the same way.55

A nature centric lifestyle can only be wrought by a nature-centric spirituality and vice versa.

The relationship between these is such that one fosters the other as is seen in the model of

consecrated life. For the modern individual, a nature-centric lifestyle would mean growing

more plants in one’s vicinity, causing no harm to animals and birds through our frivolous

                                                            53 GS 24 54 Ref. Chapter 2, 2.5.3. 55 Cf. Times of India, Add Another R To Mantra, 26 Jan 2014, 4

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lifestyles, conserving trees and even promoting wild life. By keeping our needs to a

minimum, if not to the ascetical levels, but at least to the level of bare necessity, we could

develop a healthy relationship with the cosmos.

3.6 Towards a Change in attitudes

Finally what the modern human being is needed to do is to bring about a change in attitudes.

A change in attitude will go a long way in developing a healthy and harmonious life-style that

would lead to a harmony within the human person as well as without. This change of attitude

is something that is developed from the formation of an individual in the consecrated life.

From the time an individual joins an order to the time when one attains a maturity; one

undergoes a whole lot of transformation, if indeed one is open to the formation imparted.

This transformation is practically seen in the above said change of attitudes. Learning from

this, we could also suggest a similar change of attitudes for the modern individual who seeks

to live a life of integration and harmony. Thus from all that we have seen so far, we can

conclude that what is necessary at this time in history is a serious change in attitude from the

following perspectives: From an attitude of greedy conquering we need to inculcate an

attitude of contentment and sharing of resourses, from disrespect we need to change to an

attitude of respect and concern, from an attitude of arrogance towards God to an attitude of

self-surrender,

3.7 Self-awareness: a starting point towards self-renewal

The monastic-consecrated model as we have already seen is centered on self-awareness. We

have already seen the practices of examination of conscience, monthly recollections and

annual retreats and their efficacy in bringing about a transformation in individuals who

practice them sincerely. Any change in attitude aimed at a self renewal would only begin

from an awareness of one’s present condition. This self awareness should be constantly

complemented by self-critiquing. In a busy world, this self-awareness could be brought about

using quite moments of one’s life, preferably at the end of the day to spend time ruminating

over the entire events of the day, analyzing the way one responded to each situation. This

time could also be used to consider whether one has tipped the harmonious balance in any

way and to seek to correct the imbalance. One ought to also consider how one had fared in

building up and nurturing one’s relationships with other human beings within one’s family,

friend circle, colleagues and the rest of humanity. Occasionally, one could spend an hour or

so every month and year trying to evaluate the events of the past month and year respectively.

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For Catholics this may culminate in an annual confession. Such self-awareness should bring

about repentance for our failures in fostering the harmony and integration that God has

envisaged for us. And repentance in itself is not a virtue until it urges us to a full turning

back, which in theological parlance is commonly known as ‘metanoia.’ In other words,

repentance should make us put on a new and a better self.

3.8 Putting on a new and better self: an inspiration from the monastic consecration

The monastic consecration comes as a result of a candidate’s immense urge to consecrate

himself/herself entirely to God in response to God’s loving grace which he/she has

encountered. Through the monastic consecration, the candidate offers himself/herself fully to

God in order to be transformed by him. Since the moment of consecration, the candidate, who

now becomes a monk or a nun enters into a different mode of existence. His sinful past is no

longer remembered and he becomes a new creature having a new existence in God. In other

words, he/she is dead to the world56 so as to be reborn in Christ. This reality of experience

newness in existence is not limited to the monastic consecration. In fact, what happens in

monastic consecration is only an affirming of what happens in the life of every Christian

during the reception of each of the Sacraments in one’s life from Baptism to the Anointing of

the Sick.

Applied to the ordinary life, the moment one is encountered with a repentance for one’s failed

past, one needs to make a renewed commitment and consecration, if not to God, at least to

oneself, if not in a solemn ceremony, at least in a solemn moment of personal prayer or

silence within one’s heart. The failure of the past mentioned here does not mean a failure in

the sense of failing to succeed in worldly matters, but a failure to integrate the different

aspects of one’s personality and a failure to live in the cosmotheandric harmony. What

happens in such a renewed commitment is what St. Paul describes as putting on a new self or

a new man, “and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of

God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph 4:6). This putting on of the new self involves

the following processes:

3.8.1 Metanoia: a full turning back

Metanoia is a biblical and theological term derived from the Greek language meaning a full

turning back, a roundabout turn, or in colloquial terms, a 180 degree turn. In biblical                                                             56 HR 79

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Greek, metanoeō and metanoia signify a “change of mind, a change in the trend and action of

the whole inner nature, intellectual, affectional and moral.” This meaning of metanoia as a

“transmutation” of consciousness contrasts with classical Greek in which the word expressed

a superficial change of mind. It was in its use in the New Testament and in writings grounded

in the New Testament that the depth of metanoia increased until it came “to express that

mighty change in mind, heart, and life wrought by the Spirit of God.”57 Today some versions

of the English Bible translate metanoia as ‘conversion’ and most theologians and

philosophers use it in the understanding of a ‘full turning back.’

The first and foremost step therefore towards putting on the new self would be a full turning

back, a complete change of mind and heart, i.e. nothing short of a metanoia. Our metanoia

should involve a full change of our lifestyle and attitudes. If in the past we have been leading

a life of disharmony, we need to stop and turn ourselves until we are on the right track, in the

right perspective. We need to stop and consider ways and means to live a balanced and

integrated life in order to enjoy happiness and bliss which a true monk always experiences

even when living amid problems and tensions. We need to mend our ways so as to develop a

harmonious relationship with God who loves and yearns for us and with our fellow beings on

whom we depend for our sustenance and on the cosmos which engulfs us and is the basis of

our earthly existence. Only then can we have a peaceful and harmonious life.

3.8.2 New zest towards life

Consecrated life is marked by a positive attitude towards life. Metanoia is only a starting

point towards putting on the new self. A consecrated (who is true and sincere to his/her

vocation) begins every day of his/her life with new zest and vigour for his/her existence is in

Christ. Similarly every human being in this world needs to inculcate a positive attitude and

zest towards life. As the poet of Lamentations sings, “But this I call to mind, and therefore I

have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning.” (Lamentations 3:21-22)

3.8.3 New responsibilities and duties

When one has truly experienced a metanoia, i.e a full turning back from one’s past life, and

when one is full of zest and positive attitude towards a new life, then one is faced with new

responsibilities and duties. One of the first responsibilities is to sustain this experience for

                                                            57Metanoia (theology), (article on-line, accessed on Feb 14, 2014) available from: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/Metanoia_(theology)

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one’s lifetime. For this one needs to device ways and means. In the consecrated life, there are

structures that ensure such sustenance. One such structure is the daily time-table which

ensures that one’s whole day encompasses different fields of activity wherein all the

dimensions of body, psyche and spirit are engaged. Another responsibility would be to share

this experience so as to bring about a transformation in as many people as possible. The

number of such responsibilities that come with a new outlook towards life are endless. One

only has to continue to look at life in the positive way and live along.

3.8.4 New meaning and purpose in life

A new self, a renewed zest towards this life coupled with new responsibilities would result in

having a new meaning in life. When everything is new, one’s whole identity is changed and

one acquires a new meaning in life. One’s whole being gets a new perspective and one gets a

clearer vision about one’s goals and objectives and about the very purpose of life. Thus life

acquires a new meaning. One’s outlook towards oneself, one’s fellow beings, the whole of

cosmos and ultimately towards the Divine would acquire new dimensions.

3.9 Conclusion

In this chapter, we had been aiming at applying the values and characteristics of the

Bethanian Way of living the Consecrated Life into concrete human situations and trying to

envision a modern humanity that is integrated and harmonious with oneself and with different

realities outside including the Divine Principle we call and revere as God. A truly monastic

spirituality brings about an integration of the whole person bring in as we have seen above

spiritual growth, physical growth, psychological and intellectual growth and also helps one to

have better relationships with the Divine, Cosmos and fellow human beings. In order to

achieve this what is need is a metanoia: a change of heart, a full turning back from our

present and past situations and putting on a new self that is open to new challenges and ideas,

full of energy and zest for life. Thus the anthropological vision of the Bethanian Way of

Consecrated Life is thus complete.

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GENERAL CONCLUSION

There are two mantras that I remember from my novitiate days that our novice master taught

us. The first is: yoga chittavruthi nirodaha, and second one ‘tathra sthithav yagnav

abhyasaha. Both of these are associated with the life of a sanyasi. Yoga in its true sense

means ‘union’ with the Divine. According to its true philosophy it means the union of the

jeevatman with the paramatman. And this union is achieved through chitavruthi nirodhana,

i.e. through eliminating the fluctuations of the mind. Indian thought would compare the

average human mind to a ‘markada’ i.e. a monkey. In this case, the monkey, already an

irritable creature, gets all the more irritable when bitten by a swarm of ants. And to make

matters worse, it is also drunk with strong wine. If this is the condition of the human mind,

then to control it would required strenuous effort. Then the only solution is tatra sthithava

yagnav i.e. keep on trying relentlessly. Such relentless effort is called abhyasa which means

training, formation or education.

All through this paper we have seen the importance of restoring the harmony and

interrelatedness within and without human persons in the modern world. We could compare

our pursuit for harmony with a yogi’s pursuit for yog or union with the paramatman. For the

yogi to achieve his goal, he needs to control the fluctuations of his mind. Similarly to achieve

our goal, we need to control the fluctuations of our priorities, i.e. our tendency to prioritize

one aspect, often the most profitable aspect of our lives over the others we consider not so

profitable. In fact we all have the desire to improve our lives, but many a times we lack the

intent to pursue the journey towards a better life, since ‘the path to life is narrow and the path

difficult.’ Hence what is needed is abhyasa or in other words, constant and relentless effort at

renewal. Constant and relentless effort is a maxim par excellence as far as monasticism or

consecrated life is concerned. There is a story from the ‘Sayings of the Desert Fathers’ that

goes as follows: Once a young monk from a monastery was selling his wares in the market

when a woman asked him, “What do you do whole day in the monastery?” He replied, “We

fall and we rise again, again we fall, and with the grace of God, we rise up again.”58

Such an attitude of rise and fall until we reach perfection should mark our metanoia as we

look forward to a new life characterized by harmony and interrelatedness, a life akin to that

lived by our first parents in paradise, since this was the way of life that God the Loving

Creator and Father envisaged for us as humans. When this harmony was lost due to sin, the

                                                            58 The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Udhanashram Editions, Udhanamala, 2002.

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Son the Loving Redeemer restored this harmony through his life-giving sacrifice on the cross.

By emulating his life, we participate in the salvation granted by him. Consecrated Life is in

itself an imitation of Christ. Hence by modeling our lives on the positive aspects of the

Consecrated Way of Life, we are already participating in the life God has willed for us. The

Holy Spirit, who is the Perfector and fulfiller of all, will help us as the Paraclate in our effort

towards the achievement of this new life marked by harmony: between the different

dimensions of our being as well as in our interrelatedness with the Divine, our fellow human

beings and the entire Cosmos.

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