Foreign Pulse: Spiritual diplomacy

When worldly-wise dip-lo-mats get exhausted in the quest for peace and justice, spiritual luminaries become the last rays of hope. After persistent American-brokered talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed in April, Pope Francis stepped in with a timely religious journey to the holy land in May. He followed it up a solemn prayer meeting in the Vatican gardens in June, where Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas embraced and kissed.

The Holy Father reminded the two antagonistic leaders, whose nations are yet again in a war-like standoff, about the will of God to heal wounds and overcome the hatred — “We have tried many times and for many years to resolve our conflicts. But our efforts have been in vain. Now, Lord, let it be you to give us peace.”
Besides imploring the heavens, Pope Francis also harped on the common origins of all three Semitic religions, viz. Christianity, Judaism and Islam. In the bitterly contested city of Jerusalem, he addressed Israelis and Palestinians as “communities who look to Abraham” and urged them to “respect and love one another as brothers and sisters, understand the sufferings of others, and avoid abusing the name of God through violence.”

One should not dismiss the Pope’s pastoral style of peacemaking as empty preaching that will have no real impact whatsoever on one of the world’s most intractable conflicts. His heartfelt words reached well beyond the tin ears of political elites on both sides that have dug in their heels and are playing familiar battles of brinkmanship. He was appealing directly to the conscience of ordinary Arabs and Jews and sermonising about what unites them deep down.

Seers like Pope Francis have credibility when they set out on missions of reviving moribund peace processes or upholding rights of the underprivileged because they emphasise non-duality of nature and living creatures. All the divisions of religion, ethnicity and nationalism, which set the boundaries of contemporary politics melt in front of the universal gaze of the savants.
At least for a moment, the uplifting rhetoric of an unpretentious Pope who has advocated for fair outcomes throughout his life can ring a bell in average people’s minds and raise the most necessary question — “why are we fighting endlessly?”

Between 2006 and 2011, as the gruesome war in Sri Lanka was raging and international mediation by Norway was unable to make headway, Indian spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar inserted himself intermittently as an unusual interlocutor between the Sinhalese and the Tamils. When the writer M.R. Narayan Swamy enquired how the founder of the Art of Living movement might be able to bring peace where international actors had failed, he replied that “there may be big powers in the world, but they cannot unite the hearts and minds of people.” His efforts to bridge chasms and lessen violence between communities through spiritual methods have been recognised in countries as far apart as Azerbaijan, Côte d’Ivoire and Ethiopia.

It is another matter that Guruji or Gurudev, as Ravi Shankar is known among followers, could not in the end prevent the horrific bloodbath in Sri Lanka that culminated in the defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). But measuring the efficacy of his interventions in Sri Lanka and elsewhere solely in terms of whether or not the violence was halted or a peace agreement was signed is too narrow.
All the stakeholders to conflicts who heard Guruji and imbibed some lesson from him would have experienced transformative thoughts or feelings. Such sensations may not have translated into concrete physical actions of laying down weapons or befriending the enemy, but they entered the consciousness and stayed there as seeds of peace that could sprout one day when conditions are more supportive.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama is an outstanding practitioner of spiritual diplomacy. In 2009, I witnessed him from close quarters during the Centenary International Conference of Mahatma Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj, and could never forget his utterly simple but profound message to delegates from peace movements around the world — “develop compassion for others”. It could sound like a cliché or a banal exhortation to those of us who believe in the baseness of human nature or the incorrigibility of people who chase zero-sum-game material gains at the cost of fellow living beings.

But like Pope Francis, the Dalai Lama is a colossal moral influence on the global psyche and a redeeming figure for distressed people confronting war, abuse or calamity. In 2009, when Typhoon Morakot ravaged Taiwan and killed hundreds, the Dalai Lama’s personal visit and soothing touch brought victims to tears and created a special bond based on sharing trauma.

Although the Chinese government vilifies him, it is thanks to the Dalai Lama that the rage of young Tibetans against Chinese colonialism has not funnelled into violent resistance. The Dalai Lama’s restraining hand on the Tibetan people, despite unspeakable injustices committed by China in their occupied homeland, transcends materialistic theories of peace that are based on the assumption that humans are driven by selfishness. It is not non-violence or patience for strategic ends but a more sublime connection to the creator through respect for all life forms.

From Vietnam, the Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh has also opened new vistas to peace by treading the path of “engaged Buddhism” that works to end wars and ecological destruction. His partnership with Martin Luther King Jr against the American carnage in Vietnam was a landmark contribution. In the words of the Dalai Lama, Hanh “shows us the connection between personal inner peace and peace on earth.” One can find parallels to Hanh in the philosophy and deeds of countless African and Latin American indigenous shamans. The refrain from all these enlightened souls and their respective religious traditions is the notion that selfless love and tolerance, not material possessions, produce happiness.

In 1944, the Soviet tyrant Stalin ridiculed the role of spiritual actors in the hardnosed arena of world politics by asking, “how many divisions (military units) does the Pope have?” But even as the mightiest of states and their representatives perpetuate misery with ulterior motives and insincerity, humble holy women and men remain the ultimate repositories of tenets for a better world.

The writer is a professor and dean at the Jindal School of International Affairs