Kamran Mofid's Palm Sunday Speech
I am delighted and honoured to be here today, making this brief presentation. I wish to thank you for inviting me and to thank you for the generosity of your hospitality and friendship.
I am especially delighted to be in Australia now: a time of change and a time of hope. You, the good people of this beautiful land, decided that you wish to be, once again, a country of hope, a country of justice, peace and compassion, when you voted in your general election a few months back. Since then your new government has taken a few gallant steps, enhancing peace nationally and internationally. We need more governments around the world to be inspired by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and under take similar humane and just policies. I hope that people like Mrs. Clinton and Barack Obama are taking notice!
Friends, I can talk much about war and peace in general. But I wish to say a few words about war and peace in the Middle East.
As we all know, the Middle East seems on the brink of overwhelming disaster. Iraq is wrecked by insurgency and sectarian warfare. The ongoing conflict in Afghanistan is not much different to the disaster in neighbouring Iraq. Israel and Hezbollah have fought to a bloody standstill, a disastrous war for all. The Israeli-Palestinian struggle festers like a raw wound. There is great controversy over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The “Selective” push for “Democracy” –hugely expensive both in material and human life costs- is in ruins.
Prof. Stiglitz (a Noble Prize winner in economics) and his colleague, Bilmes , in a recently published book, have identified and estimated the economic and monetary cost of the Iraqi adventure to America - just America - at conservatively estimated $3 trillion. The rest of the world, will probably account for about the same amount again.
This month America will have been in Iraq for five years - longer than it spent in either world wars. Daily military operations (not counting, for example, future care of wounded) have already cost more than 12 years in Vietnam, and twice as much as the Korean war. America is spending $16bn a month on running costs alone (ie on top of the regular expenses of the Department of Defence) in Iraq and Afghanistan; that is the entire annual budget of the UN.
By way of context, Stiglitz and Bilmes list what even one of these trillions could have paid for: 8 million housing units, or 15 million public school teachers, or healthcare for 530 million children for a year, or scholarships to university for 43 million students. Three trillion could have fixed America's social security problem for half a century. America, says Stiglitz, is currently spending $5bn a year in Africa, and worrying about being outflanked by China there: "Five billion is roughly 10 days' fighting, so you get a new metric of thinking about everything."
To understand the magnitude of this disaster to all better, let us look at the figures once again:
$16bn The amount the US spends on the monthly running costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - on top of regular defence spending
$138 The amount paid by every US household every month towards the current operating costs of the war
$19.3bn The amount Halliburton has received in single-source contracts for work in Iraq
$25bn The annual cost to the US of the rising price of oil, itself a consequence of the war
$3 trillion A conservative estimate of the true cost - to America alone. The rest of the world, will shoulder about the same amount again
$5bn Cost of 10 days' fighting in Iraq
$1 trillion The interest America will have paid by 2017 on the money borrowed to finance the war
3% The average drop in income of 13 African countries - a direct result of the rise in oil prices. This drop has more than offset the recent increase in foreign aid to Africa.
At times like these, it is easy to despair. But somehow, for the sake of humanity and the enlightened self interest, the cycle of violence and inflicting inhumanity on each other must be broken. Here the wise words of Martin Luther King rings true as ever, “Sooner or later, all the peoples of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love”.
By now everybody should clearly know that, force begets force; hate begets hate; toughness begets toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction for all and everybody. All of us collectively must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe.
Some timely questions at this time in our history are: What now for the Middle East? How can Middle East’s broken heart be healed? How can we, East and West, Muslims, Christians, Jews- All the Children of Abraham- work together for the common good to bring peace, justice, freedom and prosperity for all to the region?
Moreover, what can we do about this? What role can we play as individuals and collectively as humanity? The ageless wisdom teaches us that humanity has a very significant role to play in founding the” Kingdom of Heaven on Earth”. In order to fulfil this most sacred role, however, we must first heal and transform ourselves. This is our responsibility; this is our destiny.
Below are my suggestions:
I believe that, there will be no path to peace in the Middle East without engaging the religious traditions of the region and in turn enabling the faith communities to get behind the process of economic and business development. Many people in the Middle-East and around the world express their highest hopes and aspirations for what it means to be human through religion.
Religion, after all, is a powerful constituent of cultural norms and values, and because it addresses the most profound existential issues of human life (e.g., freedom and inevitability, fear and faith, security and insecurity, right and wrong, sacred and profane), religion is deeply implicated in individual and social conceptions of peace. To transform the conflicts besetting the world today, we need to uncover the conceptions of peace within our diverse religious, spiritual and cultural traditions, while seeking the common ground among them.
The people of the Middle-East have the resources for doing so within the Abrahamic faiths. We have to insist that the lives of an Iraqi civilian, an American or British or Australian soldier, an Israeli teenager in a café, and a Palestinian child all carry the same inherent value. Here again we can be inspired by the wisdom of our religions if we note what they say about love and its true meaning and value.
The major religions of the world prescribe the unselfish love and service of others. Only when this love extends to all humanity without exception can a dignified and peaceful human future become possible. God is love and love is God. St. Paul wrote, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs”. Judaism teaches that “those who are kind reward themselves”. The Quran reads, “My mercy and compassion embrace all things”. In these and other traditions, unselfish love is deemed a Creative Presence underlying and integral to all of reality, participation in which constitutes the fullest experience of spirituality.
People everywhere, given a chance prefer to be compassionate, spiritual and caring. They want to be able to practice their religions freely. More and more, they also want to see that their religious values have a bearing on their economic systems and structures. This philosophy is nowhere stronger than in the Middle-East, whose people by and large are very spiritual, religious, hospitable, informed and cultural.
I hope with your help and prayers and actions we will witness peace in the Middle East and indeed every where in the world.
I now will conclude my talk by reciting a prayer and a poem; both have had a major impact on my thinking. First, Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, Where there is hatred, let me sow love;where there is injury, pardon;where there is doubt, faith;where there is despair, hope;where there is darkness, light;where there is sadness, joy;
O Master, grant that I may not seek so much to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Second, a poem by the Persian, Sufi sage and philosopher, Molana Jalal-e Din Rumi, very relevant and timely, given today's world situation:
What is to be done, O Moslems? For I do not recognise myself.
I am neither Christian, nor Jew, nor Gabr, nor Moslem.
I am not of the East, nor of the West, nor of the land, nor of the sea;
I am not of Nature’s mint, nor of the circling heaven.
I am not of earth, nor of water, nor of air, nor of fire;
I am not of the empyrean, nor of the dust, nor of existence, nor of entity.
I am not of India, nor of China, nor of Bulgaria, nor of Saqsin.
I am not of the kingdom of ’Iraqian, nor of the country of Khorasan
I am not of this world, nor of the next, nor of Paradise, nor of Hell.
I am not of Adam, nor of Eve, nor of Eden and Rizwan.
My place is the Placeless; my trace is the Traceless;
’Tis neither body nor soul, for I belong to the soul of the Beloved.
I have put duality away; I have seen that the two worlds are one;
One I seek, One I know, One I see, One I call.
He is the first, He is the last, He is the outward, He is the inward;
I am intoxicated with Love’s cup, the two worlds have passed out of my ken;
If once in my life I spent a moment without thee,
From that time and from that hour I repent of my life.
If once in this world I win a moment with thee,
I will trample on both worlds; I will dance in triumph for ever.
May this prayer and the poem be a source of inspiration to all those who are dividing and separating God's people for their own selfish, arrogant reasons.
In all, when I am inspired by something so powerful, I feel renewed in my hope for this world that has long turned in the darkness of greed, anger, revenge, fear, confusion, and pain.
Peace, justice, love, vocation, service, altruism, volunteerism, faith, hope and charity, these are the true values of our religions. With Easter just around the corner, this may be a good time for peace builders all over the world to join hands, be inspired by the teachings of their religions guiding us all to the chosen destination: the promised “city of peace”.
In conclusion and summing up, I wish to invite you to participate at the 7th Annual International Conference of GCGI, which this year will take place from 30th of June to 4th of July in Melbourne at Trinity College, where these and other relevant issues will be discussed and debated, so that together we may built a world that is free, just, peaceful and prosperous for all God’s people.
Thank you and God bless.
Kamran Mofid
Founder, Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative (UK)
www.globalisationforthecommongood.info
I am especially delighted to be in Australia now: a time of change and a time of hope. You, the good people of this beautiful land, decided that you wish to be, once again, a country of hope, a country of justice, peace and compassion, when you voted in your general election a few months back. Since then your new government has taken a few gallant steps, enhancing peace nationally and internationally. We need more governments around the world to be inspired by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and under take similar humane and just policies. I hope that people like Mrs. Clinton and Barack Obama are taking notice!
Friends, I can talk much about war and peace in general. But I wish to say a few words about war and peace in the Middle East.
As we all know, the Middle East seems on the brink of overwhelming disaster. Iraq is wrecked by insurgency and sectarian warfare. The ongoing conflict in Afghanistan is not much different to the disaster in neighbouring Iraq. Israel and Hezbollah have fought to a bloody standstill, a disastrous war for all. The Israeli-Palestinian struggle festers like a raw wound. There is great controversy over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The “Selective” push for “Democracy” –hugely expensive both in material and human life costs- is in ruins.
Prof. Stiglitz (a Noble Prize winner in economics) and his colleague, Bilmes , in a recently published book, have identified and estimated the economic and monetary cost of the Iraqi adventure to America - just America - at conservatively estimated $3 trillion. The rest of the world, will probably account for about the same amount again.
This month America will have been in Iraq for five years - longer than it spent in either world wars. Daily military operations (not counting, for example, future care of wounded) have already cost more than 12 years in Vietnam, and twice as much as the Korean war. America is spending $16bn a month on running costs alone (ie on top of the regular expenses of the Department of Defence) in Iraq and Afghanistan; that is the entire annual budget of the UN.
By way of context, Stiglitz and Bilmes list what even one of these trillions could have paid for: 8 million housing units, or 15 million public school teachers, or healthcare for 530 million children for a year, or scholarships to university for 43 million students. Three trillion could have fixed America's social security problem for half a century. America, says Stiglitz, is currently spending $5bn a year in Africa, and worrying about being outflanked by China there: "Five billion is roughly 10 days' fighting, so you get a new metric of thinking about everything."
To understand the magnitude of this disaster to all better, let us look at the figures once again:
$16bn The amount the US spends on the monthly running costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - on top of regular defence spending
$138 The amount paid by every US household every month towards the current operating costs of the war
$19.3bn The amount Halliburton has received in single-source contracts for work in Iraq
$25bn The annual cost to the US of the rising price of oil, itself a consequence of the war
$3 trillion A conservative estimate of the true cost - to America alone. The rest of the world, will shoulder about the same amount again
$5bn Cost of 10 days' fighting in Iraq
$1 trillion The interest America will have paid by 2017 on the money borrowed to finance the war
3% The average drop in income of 13 African countries - a direct result of the rise in oil prices. This drop has more than offset the recent increase in foreign aid to Africa.
At times like these, it is easy to despair. But somehow, for the sake of humanity and the enlightened self interest, the cycle of violence and inflicting inhumanity on each other must be broken. Here the wise words of Martin Luther King rings true as ever, “Sooner or later, all the peoples of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love”.
By now everybody should clearly know that, force begets force; hate begets hate; toughness begets toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction for all and everybody. All of us collectively must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe.
Some timely questions at this time in our history are: What now for the Middle East? How can Middle East’s broken heart be healed? How can we, East and West, Muslims, Christians, Jews- All the Children of Abraham- work together for the common good to bring peace, justice, freedom and prosperity for all to the region?
Moreover, what can we do about this? What role can we play as individuals and collectively as humanity? The ageless wisdom teaches us that humanity has a very significant role to play in founding the” Kingdom of Heaven on Earth”. In order to fulfil this most sacred role, however, we must first heal and transform ourselves. This is our responsibility; this is our destiny.
Below are my suggestions:
I believe that, there will be no path to peace in the Middle East without engaging the religious traditions of the region and in turn enabling the faith communities to get behind the process of economic and business development. Many people in the Middle-East and around the world express their highest hopes and aspirations for what it means to be human through religion.
Religion, after all, is a powerful constituent of cultural norms and values, and because it addresses the most profound existential issues of human life (e.g., freedom and inevitability, fear and faith, security and insecurity, right and wrong, sacred and profane), religion is deeply implicated in individual and social conceptions of peace. To transform the conflicts besetting the world today, we need to uncover the conceptions of peace within our diverse religious, spiritual and cultural traditions, while seeking the common ground among them.
The people of the Middle-East have the resources for doing so within the Abrahamic faiths. We have to insist that the lives of an Iraqi civilian, an American or British or Australian soldier, an Israeli teenager in a café, and a Palestinian child all carry the same inherent value. Here again we can be inspired by the wisdom of our religions if we note what they say about love and its true meaning and value.
The major religions of the world prescribe the unselfish love and service of others. Only when this love extends to all humanity without exception can a dignified and peaceful human future become possible. God is love and love is God. St. Paul wrote, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs”. Judaism teaches that “those who are kind reward themselves”. The Quran reads, “My mercy and compassion embrace all things”. In these and other traditions, unselfish love is deemed a Creative Presence underlying and integral to all of reality, participation in which constitutes the fullest experience of spirituality.
People everywhere, given a chance prefer to be compassionate, spiritual and caring. They want to be able to practice their religions freely. More and more, they also want to see that their religious values have a bearing on their economic systems and structures. This philosophy is nowhere stronger than in the Middle-East, whose people by and large are very spiritual, religious, hospitable, informed and cultural.
I hope with your help and prayers and actions we will witness peace in the Middle East and indeed every where in the world.
I now will conclude my talk by reciting a prayer and a poem; both have had a major impact on my thinking. First, Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, Where there is hatred, let me sow love;where there is injury, pardon;where there is doubt, faith;where there is despair, hope;where there is darkness, light;where there is sadness, joy;
O Master, grant that I may not seek so much to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Second, a poem by the Persian, Sufi sage and philosopher, Molana Jalal-e Din Rumi, very relevant and timely, given today's world situation:
What is to be done, O Moslems? For I do not recognise myself.
I am neither Christian, nor Jew, nor Gabr, nor Moslem.
I am not of the East, nor of the West, nor of the land, nor of the sea;
I am not of Nature’s mint, nor of the circling heaven.
I am not of earth, nor of water, nor of air, nor of fire;
I am not of the empyrean, nor of the dust, nor of existence, nor of entity.
I am not of India, nor of China, nor of Bulgaria, nor of Saqsin.
I am not of the kingdom of ’Iraqian, nor of the country of Khorasan
I am not of this world, nor of the next, nor of Paradise, nor of Hell.
I am not of Adam, nor of Eve, nor of Eden and Rizwan.
My place is the Placeless; my trace is the Traceless;
’Tis neither body nor soul, for I belong to the soul of the Beloved.
I have put duality away; I have seen that the two worlds are one;
One I seek, One I know, One I see, One I call.
He is the first, He is the last, He is the outward, He is the inward;
I am intoxicated with Love’s cup, the two worlds have passed out of my ken;
If once in my life I spent a moment without thee,
From that time and from that hour I repent of my life.
If once in this world I win a moment with thee,
I will trample on both worlds; I will dance in triumph for ever.
May this prayer and the poem be a source of inspiration to all those who are dividing and separating God's people for their own selfish, arrogant reasons.
In all, when I am inspired by something so powerful, I feel renewed in my hope for this world that has long turned in the darkness of greed, anger, revenge, fear, confusion, and pain.
Peace, justice, love, vocation, service, altruism, volunteerism, faith, hope and charity, these are the true values of our religions. With Easter just around the corner, this may be a good time for peace builders all over the world to join hands, be inspired by the teachings of their religions guiding us all to the chosen destination: the promised “city of peace”.
In conclusion and summing up, I wish to invite you to participate at the 7th Annual International Conference of GCGI, which this year will take place from 30th of June to 4th of July in Melbourne at Trinity College, where these and other relevant issues will be discussed and debated, so that together we may built a world that is free, just, peaceful and prosperous for all God’s people.
Thank you and God bless.
Kamran Mofid
Founder, Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative (UK)
www.globalisationforthecommongood.info
posted by Pax Christi @ Monday, March 24, 2008
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