“It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it. Most Burmese are familiar with the four a-gati, the four kinds of corruption. Chanda-gati, corruption induced by desire, is deviation from the right path in pursuit of bribes or for the sake of those one loves. Dosa-gati is the taking the wrong path to spite those against whom one bears ill will, and moha-gati is aberrartion due to ignorance. But perhaps the worst of the four is bhaya-gati, for not only does bhaya, fear, stifle and slowly destroy all sense of right and wrong, it so often lies at the root of the other three kinds of corruption.” These are the words of Aung San Suu Kyi, a long time political prisoner and advocate of democracy, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, who was just released from imprisonment in Burma.

Being imprisoned because of her words and her popular leadership, Aung San Suu Kyi has not depended on the powers of this world (see Luke 4:4-6 and John 18:36). Instead she has proclaimed, “Without a revolution of the spirit, the forces which produced the iniquities of the old order would continue to be operative, posing a constant threat to the process of reform and regeneration. … A people who would build a nation in which strong, democratic institutions are firmly established as a guarantee against state-induced power must first learn to liberate their own minds from apathy and fear.”

Enduring imprisonment she has lived out her universal call to overcome “fear of imprisonment, fear of torture, fear of death, fear of losing friends, family, property or means of livelihood, fear of poverty, fear of isolation, fear of failure.” Instead of fearing, she has relied on “the wellspring of courage and endurance in the face of unbridled power … [and] a firm belief in the sanctity of ethical principles … [and] a historical sense that despite all setbacks the condition of man is set on an ultimate course for both spiritual and material advancement.” She believes in a “vision of a world fit for rational, civilized humanity” and in “concepts such as truth, justice and compassion” which empower her “to dare and to suffer to build societies free from want and fear.”

A BBC article, also found under Empower News (see tab above), provides more information on today’s release of Aung San Suu Kyi.

God bless Aung San Suu Kyi and God bless us all!

The night before last, I had a dream of a man who was in a barracks building in which he lived. Without warning some uniformed men entered the building and arrested him. They took him to another building and accused him of disturbing the social order because he had asked this question: “If our work with underground oil can suddenly cause such a catastrophe, what can result from our work with bombs?” The interrogators viewed the man as a danger to society and intended to keep him in custody for a long time.

Today, with a much greater appreciation for the scriptures, the Catholic Christian tradition identifies Bible readings for each day. After the dream, I read the Gospel reading of that day. It is very relevant to the Aung San Suu Kyi’s call toward liberation from apathy and fear:

“’As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man; they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building; on the day when Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all. So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, a person who is on the housetop and whose belongings are in the house must not go down to get them, and likewise a person in the field must not return to what was left behind. Remember the wife of Lot. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it. I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. And there will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken, the other left.’ They said to him in reply, ‘Where, Lord?’ He said to them, ‘Where the body is, there also the vultures will gather.’” – Luke 17:26-37.

For me, one very convenient source of receiving daily scripture readings by email is The Daily Gospel.

In an earlier post, Make Your Noise, I also quoted Aung San Suu Kyi.