Starving, Fasting, Hoping

Ramadan begins today, and this morning I came across this most downer headline: Somali famine refugees begin Ramadan fast. After reading the article I am touched by the determined faith of the drought refugees. During this time when many must feel completely abandoned by God, and by the world for that matter, one refugee highlighted in the article notes that famine is "a fast without reward," while observing Ramadan is a fast "inspired by God." Creating space for hope in the most dire of circumstances is truly greater than observing any religious tradition. Yet how awesome and inspiring is it that keeping the fast of Ramadan while suffering the harsh refugee camp life might provide some comfort and solace?

I am reminded of the influential work by Auschwitz survivor Victor Fankl, Man's Search for Meaning, in which he introduces the notion of "logotherapy," or existential therapy. Frankl's experience in the concentration camp brought him to ponder why he maintained a will to live while for others (understandably!) life lost all its meaning amidst the horrors of the Holocaust. Roughly, existential therapy posits that seeking meaning in life is the single most motivating force in human experience. I could not agree more. While existentialism played a significant role in the Catholic imagination during the twentieth century (most famously by French philosopher Gabriel Marcel), my personal imagination has been overwhelmingly informed by a "will to meaning." I see this search for meaning as the fundamental unifier in all human experience--regardless of dogma, ethics or privilege, all humans create some sort of system of meaning to which they ascribe their very being. The form might be in answer to the question, "Why are we here?" or may be a directly inherited system of meaning, such as a religion, a political agenda, a moral understanding. For example, the Golden Rule or the concept of karma might deeply influence how one sees oneself, sees others, sees the world. This is truly the meat of my interest in spirituality, which I have previously defined as the relationship with self, others, and God, especially regarding making meaning of the human experience.

The article on Somali refugees entering Ramadan quotes AU Commission Deputy Chairperson Erastus Mwencha, who instructs that "Around the globe, everyone must dig deep into their pockets to rescue the people of Somalia from the abyss they find themselves staring into." If there's to be any hope in that abyss, its meaning can be found by God's inspiration, as lived out in the aid given by us.


Want to give? Here are some links:

http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer

http://crs.org/somalia/partners.cfm

http://www.irusa.org/countries/somalia/