The Spiritual Lessons from Disaster:
Our Personal Story
© 1995 by Corinne McLaughlin and Gordon Davidson
Crises and disasters often bring great
spiritual blessings and purification--if we are open to change and willing
to learn from them. And this is the challenge which we personally
experienced. In the spiritual traditions of the East, it is said that we
must “cross the burning grounds three times” to purify our physical,
emotional and mental bodies, surrendering everything to God. But we never
expected to have to experience this literally...
While we were away for the evening, an arsonist
burned our house to the ground. By the time the fire trucks arrived
fifteen minutes later, the house already was a lost cause. And to top it
off, the water pumps on the fire truck did not work!
We lost everything but the clothes on our backs
and our cars. Everything was in ashes in less than 15 minutes--furniture,
clothes, office equipment, books, and most difficult of all--all our work,
our writing, our research.
The two of us had built the house ourselves from
the ground up--everything but plumbing, and electrical work. It was a
beautiful solar passive, energy efficient house that took three years to
build, working part-time. It was devastating, as it happened a week
before we were to leave on a 30 city book tour. We lost all our records,
including even the phone numbers of where we were to stay on our tour.
But we were determined to not let this stop us or our work. If anything,
it strengthened our resolve, and most importantly, provided some major
lessons and spiritual growth for us both.
Although it’s very difficult to write about
this, many people have encouraged us to do so as it may be of help to
others. With so many fires, floods, earthquakes, and violence destroying
lives and homes everywhere in the world lately, and more predicted for the
future, we’d like to offer what we’ve learned:
1.
The physical world is impermanent.
We had several pictures of saints and masters that were made of wood or
paper that were instantly destroyed. But a large stone statue of the
Buddha was sitting in the front window with flames all around him,
serenely meditating. Even the firefighters remarked about it. The next
day he was still there meditating, with everything in ashes all around
him. And what did the Buddha teach? The physical world is impermanent.
2.
Be detached from your material possessions.. There’s something
incredibly powerful in seeing all your possessions turn to ashes in 15
minutes. Everything that seemed so real and permanent. Everything we
collected or worked so hard to create, everything that took time and/or
money to accumulate. All gone. We were reminded of Jesus saying to put
your trust in God, and not store up treasures in the physical world where
they will rot and decay.
3. Release the past and live more fully in the present. Disasters
can be purifying and freeing. Losing everything helped lighten us
up--we needed a lot less to live than we thought. We could begin anew and
do everything better than before. We could go in new directions, unbounded
by the past. We could build on more solid foundations, whether literally
or symbolically.
4. Renew your faith in God or Spirit. We realized it was only a
house and possessions we lost. We still had our family and friends and
spiritual life. A woman we had written about in our book whose church was
destroyed by floods in the Midwest reminded us, “We only lost a
building.” And pointing to her chest, she added, “The real church is in
here, in our hearts.”
5. Open your heart and allow people to help. As the type of people
who are always helping others, we had to learn how to receive. All across
the country, people were generous and helpful, giving us money, clothes,
equipment, etc. Although we lived in a spiritual community, we found that
community is everywhere. Crisis draws out the best in people--their
compassion and their generosity. But why does it take a crisis for us to
remember our compassion and our common humanity?
6. Everything you give away will come back to you in some form.
Clothes we had given away to a free boutique were there for us when we
needed them. Course materials we had given to our students in our classes
were duplicated and sent back to us. Special music tapes and slideshows
we had distributed to people were duplicated and sent back. Economic
sharing and the circulation of resources are very important for the health
of our planet as a whole--and we are working on applying this more fully
in our own lives.
7. Meditate on the deeper meaning of the disaster. Adversity can
be a blessing in disguise that strengthens us. We realized that we were
relying on our house for economic security in a changing world. It’s easy
to get so focused on building wonderful buildings, and forget they are
only forms. Let’s not be fooled by the shimmering illusion of
security in our materialistic world. It seems to promise so much, but
always leaves us dissatisfied, searching for more.
Ultimately, the fire strengthened us and helped
renew our faith in God. It deepened our commitment to our spiritual
work. It helped us to release much of the past that held us back from
taking a more major role in the world, in helping to spiritualize politics
and create a better world.
Corinne McLaughlin and Gordon Davidson are
co-authors of Spiritual Politics: Changing the World from the
Inside Out, from which portions of this article are excerpted. They
are co-founders of The Center for Visionary in Washington and San
Francisco, co-authors of Builders of the Dawn, and co-founders of
Sirius Community, an ecological village in Massachusetts. Corinne
formerly taught politics at American University and worked for
President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development. Gordon was
formerly a director of Ally Capital’s Environmental Allies Fund and
Executive Director of the Social Investment Forum. They can be
reached at 415-472-9540;
corinnemc@visionarylead.org;
www.visionarylead.org
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Featured in Soul Light #21 |
