Friday, May 09, 2008 Arinday: Myanmar's tragedy: Was it God's wrath? By G.H. Arinday Jr. Sunfare
IN THE realm of phenomenology, no one is given to boast that the deepest secret of nature has been plumbed and the reason advanced is often couched in logically flawed pseudo-scientific explanation combining spiritual, supernatural and superstition as its anchors.
Climatic change is often the convenient answer to nature's fury as savagely demonstrated by Cyclone Nagris when it slammed into Myanmar (Burma), sweeping away villages, obliterating some landmarks, let alone the death of some 100,000 residents, more or less. Structures fell like decks of cards and millions of inhabitants are deprived of the basic daily needs like electricity, victuals, and homes, among other things.
The cosmic gravity of the disaster disquiets the world viewing the landscape littered with dead bodies, uprooted trees, and leveled infrastructures, which would take time to rise again. Just like the peduncle of the stalks, reconstruction would never be the same again. The damage wrought by the cyclone in many places is worst than any war staged in one day where 70 percent of the trees in the former state capital of Yangon (Rangoon) were felled.
Many observers saw the May 3 calamity in the military-junta-controlled country as a curse from heaven, claiming it as God's wrath for all the blandishments atrociously committed by its rulers, including the almost lifetime arrest of Nobel Peace Prize awardee Aung San Suu Kyi, a firm advocate for a democratic Myanmar.
The cyclone, which is considered 10 times more powerful than the atom bomb, was aggravated by the tsunami and virtually wiped out the coastal areas - the worst disaster since 1991.
Despite the disaster of apocalyptic dimensions, the secretive military rulers have never eased their unmitigated arrogance of power by requiring countries willing to give aid by explicitly defining the extent of their help or mission. Hubris in the face of major disaster!
Those engaged in esoteric venture into the unknown sphere of Delphic utterances with its moorings in volkgeist (folk-soul) laden with spiritual-cum-superstitious beliefs that in places where political repression and social disorders are unabated and its citizens frozen in extreme fear, nature has its own way of expressing its utter displeasure. But why punish the innocent ones?
Taking into this observation of psychic permeability is paroxysm of nature element of universal existence? Our curiosity remains unsatisfied. But the basic folk belief steeped in superstition reconciled with some spiritualism, mysterious though, cannot be avoided in fatalistic approach among Asians, notably those in the Buddhist tradition - of which different branches sprung out from the original Tree of Knowledge (Bodhi) like Taoism (China) and Zen (Japan) sects, among others.
In the empirical sense, the conjunction of reason (as in science) and mysticism (supernatural) growing out of the prodigious power of thought would continue to confront the human vibrations of considering the mysterious ways of nature.
Perhaps, in more ways than one, such beliefs, unexplainable in concrete form though, cannot escape one's curiosity why such idea still persists today despite the unprecedented advance in science and technology.
However, the philosophical mind still obsessed in the ultimate discovery, if possible, of Nature's way of influencing the individual quest for more answers shall continue to be an adventure in ideas.
However, the Myanmar tragedy is sort of a blessing in disguise as its proud military junta is compelled to open its borders for the urgent aid desired by the millions to recover from their nightmares. The humbling effect of Cyclone Nagris on the country's tin-pot dictators is still tainted by ingrained inferiority complex, requiring donors-countries to let the distribution handled by them, blocking the United Nations efforts Thursday to airlift urgently needed high-energy biscuits to survivors of a cyclone that may have killed more than 100,000 people, U.N. officials said. There is something fishy here as the junta personnel could exercise their partisan prejudices.
With the huge loss in terms of property and human lives from the unprecedented fury of nature, it is hoped by donors-countries like the European Union and the United States that Myanmar would eventually see the light that it could remain as an "isolationist" despite being a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
It would not be surprising if the force majeure like Cyclone Nagris would exacerbate socio-political disorders in the hermitic country, where the electoral victory of Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi some years back was trashed by the dictators. On the other hand, should the ruling military junta listen to the counsel of its Asean partners, the cyclone-tsunami ravaged country would greatly contribute to the peace in the region.
If not, then the karma of the Bodhi would assert its role if Myanmar deserves Nirvana.
