By
Jacob Waiswa
Situation Health Analysis
Dishma Inc.
dishma.imhs@gmail.com
Peace and Conflict Program
Makerere University
jwaiswa@arts.mak.ac.ug
Introduction
Spiritual (in a relationship with God) connections indeed completed the fullest of individual self along with the thinking, emotion systems, and the body. Without spiritual component, individual was simply worthless, he would feel it and everyone will see that from a distance.
Buddhism in Perspective
The spiritual part of our existence is what is beyond any one’s understanding verses man’s quest for it to shape life, and whose intellectual resources are inexhaustible –offering refugee to the restless and, whose relationship is determined by man’s quality of input into the relationship with it.
The good working relationship with it involves nature and quality of messages we gather in to our minds, and substances into our bodies during our interaction with the environment; and the rewards to that are fruits of good life around oneself.
The spiritual part completely provides freedom of choice to connect to it or get disconnected from it. To some, the ego assumes control and lightly shaped by the thinking system, or left bear to cause certain behaviors. To others, logic determines social processes and individual or group destiny. The orientation to spirituality also has its intensities.
While in the communities we come from there are people who substitute reasoning or logic to inherited philosophies about the quest for God, truthfulness their God, values formed around them, and comparisons developed to edge out existing ones and justify supremacy over them.
In the same vein we have people who subjected newly found or inherited belief systems to logical tests that caters for universal laws of love for all beings, universal law of kindness to all, universal law of truthfulness, universal law of diversity, and universal law of fairness to all –where if the test is positive then a given teaching or more of them can be conceived. If negative, then such a teaching (s) falls out squarely.
But we cannot forget the moderates, usually very interesting characters. They are appreciative of different religious elements that reflect realism of life, not otherwise. To them the humanity is the biggest asset, rather than ideology.
Diverse ideologies only made life here on Earth very interesting and brought out uniqueness of individual beings for self-reflection, sharing and learning one or two beneficial practices from them all.
Pan-Africanism and Buddhism
Very interesting to note also regards Buddha's background and principles of thought traced in the Black people in India known as Dravidians –another connection to Africa. They inherited India's older Black civilization known as the Harappan civilization, which existed from around 4,000 BCE and was the contemporary of Nubia prior to the first Egyptian dynasty.
In the centuries that followed, the Dravidians of India experienced a cultural and religious invasion from the north (circa 1,500 B.C.) by Indo-Europeans who called themselves Aryans (Nijel BPG, 1999.
In 520 A.D., a monk named Bodhidharma left southern India for China to re-define and spread the teachings of the counter religion to Hinduism called Buddhism. Buddhism was a religion founded on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama who taught the Four Noble Truths to enlightenment. While often portrayed as Asian, the Buddha was a Black man.
Today, we awake to the facts that Buddha's tightly curled knots of hair, and elongated ear lobes are unmistakable African cultural traditions (Nijel BPG, 1999). African traditional religion continues to play a leading role in healing ways.
A study carried out in eleven (11) Districts in eastern Uganda, 90% of people mental health-related problems preferred healers to health centers as the first point of contact –though there were no cases of patients cured confirmed. 59.3% sought religious leaders, 0.6% went to traditional healers while 2.3% visited modern health units (Nafula, 2007).
However, the trust and satisfaction between patients and traditional healers was enough to cause relief and hope that are essential elements of healing. In light of the popular traditional healing approach, Kigozi, F. in a report by Nafula (2007) observed, “…highly educated contacted traditional healers.”
Conflicts as usually are a routine, crop up only to motivate Africans to choose appropriate ways to live fulfilling lives. Availing options with accompanying information was relevant to that effect –from which to experience and, ultimately, make right decisions.
In a true Pan-African spirit, Prof. Murindwa, R. (2010) said, “Buddha was an African, Buddhism started in Africa, and so it is worth celebrating.”
Religiosity and Buddhism
Religion precisely organizes people towards attainment of spiritual expectations as pathways to achievement of life goals. Therefore, there must be a kind of relationship with the Divine (spirituality) –bound by a covenant (or set of rules) in order to realize one’s goal in life.
Many Buddhists writers and practitioners believe their practices are beyond religion.
“Christian definition of religion practically excludes Buddhism. Unfortunately, English language is not a spiritual language and many words do not do; just the Pali language words like Dhamma, Buddha sasana and so on... I think, a philosophical point of view is more inclusive.”
Ven. Bhante Buddharakkita,
The African Buddhist Monk.
Unfortunately, it turns into competition and hostility for fame among mainstream religious traditions –leading to violence and loss of religious importance. Buddhism uniquely argues that happiness is for all –regardless of race, ideology and background (Goenka 2007).
Negative Oneself and Healing
Healing is real and complete if the individual does not have negative conflicts (adversity) in the mind or defeating perceptions about life (or body). Positive actions and perceptions of life build positive spirit and vise-versa while negative actions detached individual from positive spirit (God) [good emotional feelings about oneself, life and others] for negative spirit (Satan) which reinforced negative thought, emotions and actions (anti-social behaviors and other associated psychological problems).
Optimism is associated with variety of positive benefits that includes, lowering production of stress hormone –cartisol, bettering body function and reducing risk of chronic diseases. During the practice of VMT, optimism (believing without doubt and faith) about and in life, and love for everything as nature, or for every human and animals rather than divisions of them are constituent principle to healing.
Tuning the mind changed body’s biochemistry accordingly (the structure and function of cellular components such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids and other bimolecular).
The negative oneself (feelings of anger, guilt, depression, fear) simply shrunk the life cells and compromised the immune system.
Spirituality and Emotions
Man’s failure to adopt and master nature dictates his downfall –helplessly. His decision to hand over management tools to the Divine is only a reflection of failure that came back to taunt him. Yet God as noted therein had no role to play in man’s failures and self-extinction –if he (man) chooses to.
Spirituality in Uganda (or Africa)
The African Traditions strongly believe in spirits. It is believed that spirits live among us for the good of people or the worse –depending on the nature of relationships with such spirits. If the relationship is bad, when spirits are not appeased, when the certain details of the covenant in the relationship are broken, when individuals or sections of society use them to attack and inflict pain on others.
In modern faiths, it is believed that bad spirits came from underground under the command of Satan (Lucifer) –who because of to God was thrown down to the Earth. He continued to live his ways and making numbers of followers to his side.
He is believed to be the cause of suffering and misery to man that can only be remedied through reading holy books, attending church services and extra fellowships. Christians specifically believe Jesus solely affords the task of successfully disposing demons from those possessed by them.
He is believed to be the cause of suffering and misery to man that can only be remedied through reading holy books, attending church services and extra fellowships. Christians specifically believe Jesus solely affordable the task of successfully disposing demons from those possessed by them.
If the relationship is bad, when spirits are not appeased, when the certain details of the covenant in the relationship are broken, when individuals or sections of society use them to attack and inflict pain on others normal life functioning is will be affected.
With broken spiritual life, individuals will have broken hearts and broken relationships, unless interventions are made as soon as possible. In African Tradition Religion, there exist experts in exorcism, who with ease freed their clients from evil spirits using both verbal and herbal means. Through the years, there were attempts to dislodge it with the mass penetration of western religious movement.
In the end both western and African got married leading to the Africanisation of foreign religious movement –a practice still live up to now. In the end both western and African got married leading to the Africanisation of foreign religious movement –a practice still live up to now.
The Mayuge Case
The entry in a Mayuge community began with the encounter of strong beliefs in traditional religion characterized by spiritual consultations by locals for revenge purposes, malicious damage and hurting others. While in defense of planned attacks, opponents too hired traditional religious Practitioners perceived to be of stronger influence over spirits for their ability to dispel them off or kind of detain them.
There were interesting beliefs like “if a dead body on transit usually by bicycle or motorcycle passed-by, one should make sure it does not get into contact with it” in such narrow village paths. It was seen as a taboo that came with curses.
While if a car got stuck in the mad with a dead body on it, that was perceived to be the reason for the car failing to move through the mad, clay, rural soils. The remedy was to slaughter a hen, to be able to appease the spirit of the dead to let the car move.
Prior mindset of the new entrant was threatened by new cultures that strongly advocated misplacement of intellectual abilities or reasoning for the new found beliefs. Even without subscribing to them, there was often moments when he met some fear –especially with the need to go for either long call or short call. But he moved on with it, side by side with belief system.
Now in a new setting X had first a dream: as he was walking along a street towards a junction (that was figured to be a place of his birth and growth), with people selling Ffene and Charcoal, he suddenly saw a high speeding bicycle with three (3) plastic containers on either sides and a wrapped dead body along the bicycle’s length. On noticing it, X jumped off the road for safety.
He narrated the whole story and one of them (very born-again) exclaimed, “You need prayers now!” to which X resisted. Several nights after, fear began to grow to the level when X’s courage only allowed him to enter the dark house and lay on his bed. But later in the night X could not sleep.
Every time he naturally closed his eyes, suddenly he felt lots of pressure in on himself as he breathed out. The past began informing him that that was a spirit sitting on him –trying to choke him and squeeze his chest to suffocation, where only calling out for the name of Jesus Christ was the remedy accompanied by resilient holding of the choking pressure (evil spirits). About three (3) calls of Jesus name were enough to cause relief in X.
But in doing so, X only won battles rather than the war. Fear eventually succeed and began to overwhelm X. Week in and week out he was not having enough rest; in fact, not all resting. As a result his day time was full of exhaustion and burnouts, refusing tasks and feeling very lazy.
X’s life suddenly changed throughout his one and half month there. When he returned to Kampala, where the environment was different, he began reclaiming his past scientific models to explain different events in life.
Six (6) to twelve (12) months after, he felt much better, and then one year to two years, he looks back laughing at it all. From X’s story we find change as strange regardless of who we are; whether highly educated, knowledgeable on the subject or naturalists, it will take on anyone for the better or worst.
Lessons
There is greater environment influence on life: both negatively and positive –depending on the nature and strength of it or such influences. Having opposing mindset yet positive, rational and realistic (PRR) to new negatively emerging experiences, became foundation for recovery.
It was important to connect such a person to an environment he once believed to be inspiring and positively rewarding to elicit images that strongly opposed the current interpretations of the environment yet PRR and foster recovery.
Unfortunately, the negative, unrealistic and irrational held their place in the subconscious until another opportunity arose to elicit them forward to the conscious, and the behavioral flames.
Exposure to different sets of ideologies was good for right decision making in times of confusion about life. It will be one of such ideologies that might be the Jesus during healing process.
Situation Health Analysis
If a particular faith is assumed to be toxic, steps have to be taken to analyze and assess it, and have all information revealed to affected party –so that when all go bad in future, he or she can remember the wrong part of it for the better, instead of sticking to one damaging without alternative.
It would not be easy to facilitate such a persons healing unless you new him or her very well –which information is rarely accurately revealed –regarding past religious associations.
It is also pertinent of individuals to choose what is constructive them in the rightfulness of their conscience and wellness of others to avoid generation of undue guilt and fear –which can change shapes from once perceived as irrational to rational and verse versa.
The effects cut across personalities and expertise –whether general in the army, president, professor of psychiatry or anything. It is a matter of time, space and opportunity.
Environment and Individual Effects
Held values are those that were responsible for person’s wellness and formed from past experiences. New values are those met in new environments that begin to consciously and unconsciously challenge old values –causing an intra crisis with the individual.
Desensitization is the process when an individual gradually loses his previous doctrines that affected his way of life.
Behavior change is another gradual process when individual begins to behave or develops an orientation as that of the new found community that instills toxic characteristics like fear, anxiety, and loss of personal self, nightmares, panic attacks and diminished productivity.
New values that caused instability within individual could only be changed by guided shift back to old environment that worked for the unstable individual. The same explanation can be applied to old instability-causing values to guided behavioral change program in new environment with positively rewarding stimuli.
Conclusion
The same explanation can be applied to old instability-causing values to guided behavioral change program in new environment with positively rewarding stimuli. So, let’s adopt diversity and analysis of various existing and emerging faiths if we are to e able to help victims of them.
We should not just look on as old and new faiths emerge; we should follow them up and influence policy –in order to protect our people and support healing processes. We need to not only have individual values formed and pursued to reach the destiny of wisdom, peace and happiness but firm, understood ethical and moral operating –and behavioral standards for the various spiritual groups.
We need to not only have individual values formed and pursued to reach the destiny of wisdom, peace and happiness but firm, understood ethical and moral operating –and behavioral standards for the various spiritual groups.
