sunday times interview ; 2011

Tim HetheringtonAward-winning photographerkilled in action

The Oscar-nominated British filmdirector and war photographer waskilled in a mortar attack in the besiegedLibyan city of Misrata, along withAmerican photographer Chris Hondros.

Hetherington, 41, was thesecond journalist tohave died in Libya’stwo-month-old battlebetween rebels andLibyan leader

Muammar Gaddafi’sforces.

Pietro FerreroChocolate empire heir diesof heart attack

The Italian boss of Nutella and FerreroRocher was cycling near Cape Town,South Africa, during a break from acompany meeting when he fell off his

bicycle.The 47-year-old, who

was givencardiopulmonaryresuscitation by apasser-by, died shortly

after anambulancearrived.

Nicole SeahYoungest candidate in GE unveiled

The National Solidarity Partyintroduced this election’s youngestcandidate to date, which quickly led tocomparisons between her and anotheryoung female parliamentarian-hopeful,Tin Pei Ling, 27, from the ruling party.

The 24-year-oldadvertising executive, agraduate incommunications andnew media from theNational University of

Singapore, wants toengage youngSingaporeans in politics.

[ HEADLINERS ]

Lee Siew HuaSenior Writer

Benedictine monk Lau-rence Freeman once medi-tated under a bodhi treein India with the Dalai La-ma.

The Catholic had also invitedthe Buddhist leader to comment onGospel texts, including the Sermonon the Mount preached by JesusChrist, during a seminar in the1990s.

“The Dalai Lama said the ser-mon is very close to Buddhist think-ing on non-violence, and cause andeffect,” Father Laurence, 59, re-called.

Interfaith moments like theseare transcendent and reveal truthfrom another person’s eyes, he ob-served.

And meditation, he told TheSunday Times in a recent interview,is one key to such discovery.

“Meditation is universal, so ithas tremendous potential to createunity within diversity,” said theBritish priest who has advised Min-ister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on medi-tation, and heads the World Com-munity for Christian Meditation inLondon.

Inter-religious exchange has ex-isted since ancient times. “I imag-ine, at campfires along the SilkRoute, travellers were also talkingabout beliefs. In modern times, thishas taken on a new momentumjust like everything else, movingmore quickly and globally,” hesaid.

“We now need to do this dia-logue more consciously and mind-fully.”

Father Laurence sees himself as atraveller operating in a “monasterywithout walls”. He presides overmeditation centres in 70 countries,including Singapore, which he hasvisited often since 1988.

That year, he met Mr Ng KokSong, group chief investment offi-cer of the Government of Singa-pore Investment Corporation.

In an interview with The NewYork Times last year, MM Leenamed Mr Ng as the “Christianfriend” who taught him a medita-tion mantra. Mr Lee revealed thathe repeated “maranatha” whichmeans “Come, Lord” in his inner-most heart at night to quell theday’s pressures and help him sleep,especially when he heard sounds ofhis ailing wife’s discomfort in thenext room. Madam Kwa GeokChoo died last October, after a se-ries of strokes.

Through Mr Ng – now a trusteeand national director of the WorldCommunity for Christian Medita-tion – Father Laurence met Mr Leein London and Singapore last year.He was impressed by the MinisterMentor’s focus during meditation.

“Mr Lee had come to the deci-sion about meditation through avery clear and rational process,” Fa-ther Laurence said. “He has a veryopen mind. In that sense, he is veryhumble.”

The tech-savvy priest from theCongregation of Monte Oliveto, a13th-century monastery in Tusca-

ny, also has great affection for Sin-gapore.

“It’s a microcosm of the modernworld. It’s a fascinating, multi-cul-tural, secular state where people arereligious and spiritual and loveshopping too.”

“I got my iPad here too,” saidthe gadget-loving monk andformer merchant banker “in thedays before the big bonuses”, whoalso uses a BlackBerry, laptop andiPod. His taste in music runs liberal-ly from Bach to Sting, and the Eng-lish literature graduate from Ox-ford University loves reading andphotography too.

He became a monk at 27, afterjoining a six-month retreat to mas-ter Christian meditation with thelate Benedictine monk John Main.He had planned to return to hisjob, this time as a freelance bookand arts reviewer for the BBC andother outfits. “But at the end of sixmonths, I realised with a shock thatI had lost worldly ambition.”

In the religious sphere, Singa-pore is an inspiration for the world,he said. It defends religious free-dom, for starters.

“There is also a social and politi-cal emphasis on harmony without

interfering in the organisation of re-ligious groups,” he added.

He believes that it is in smalland intensely interconnected spac-es like Singapore that interfaith dia-logue can best flourish.

“What I like about Singapore isthat when I am at the airport, Idon’t know if my passport will bestamped by a Muslim in a head-scarf, or a Hindu, or a Singaporeannamed Thomas,” he said.

There is a vibrant sense that inthe public spaces here – whethercorporate offices or entertainmentvenues or the heartland coffeeshops – opportunities for dialogueare constant and many, he said.

He hopes Singapore can developthis foundation with meditationwhich will “pave the way for deep-er dialogues”. That is because medi-tation is a natural bridge for faithswith contemplative traditions likeHinduism, Buddhism and Christi-anity, he said.

He recounts how Christianteachers in Bangkok started medita-tion in schools. Before long, theirBuddhist colleagues had joined inand started outnumbering theChristians.

Meditation can also connect fol-lowers of faiths with the secularworld, where meditation is a popu-lar practice, he added.

It also bonds the generations,and he has found that childrenfind it natural to meditate.

His organisation is now workingwith a broad swathe of society –

children, mental patients, prison-ers, alcoholics, drug addicts, andthe dying – through the Meditatiooutreach programme.

Explaining its role in palliativecare, he said: “Meditation preparesus for death, because every time wemeditate, we die to self.”

The strong, distorting ego is adistraction for many human be-ings, who also do battle with a mul-titude of stress factors in urban life.

So in his chosen role, and alsothrough books he has penned suchas The Inner Pilgrimage, hepresents meditation as an antidoteto these tendencies.

And as a Catholic, he firmly be-lieves that meditation restores thecontemplative life as a vital dimen-sion of Christian spirituality.

Easter, he said, is a perfect timefor contemplation. Every year, hegoes to a Holy Week retreat in BereIsland in the south of Ireland,where his mother came from.

Reflectively, he unwraps Easterinto three days with universal sig-nificance for the modern man:

Good Friday, when Jesus died,represents the need to die to self, re-lease the past, and embrace suffer-ing as a facet of being human.

Holy Saturday is when the disci-ples of Jesus found his tomb empty.This signifies that we live throughseasons of emptiness and tedium.

Easter Sunday, when Jesus is res-urrected, symbolises hope and full-ness of life.

Quoting his favourite St Irenae-us, a second-century church fatherand thinker, he said: “The glory ofGod is a human being fully alive.”This, he declared, is the destinationof human endeavours.

Glowingly recounting his pastEaster highlights, he said: “There isa moment on Easter Sunday morn-ing when we go to a little hill in thecentre of the island. There is astanding stone, thousands of yearsold, where we wait for sunrise.

“The light is getting stronger,and we are waiting for the sun totip up over the horizon. It’s a mo-ment of absolute wonder. It’s a sa-cred moment, deeply enrichingand renewing.

“It’s very much like medita-tion.”

siewhua@sph.com.sg

RELIGION INAN AGE OFATHEISTICIDEOLOGIES

Tan Cheng YewRunaway lawyer gets nine years

The 43-year-old lawyer, who had beenon the run for six years before he wascaught in 2009, was sentenced to nineyears in jail for criminal breach of trustand cheating involving a total of$4.8 million. Tan was a one-time star

debater at theNationalUniversity ofSingapore lawfaculty.

L Why is it that religionstill flourishes despitethe advent of scienceand atheistic ideologies?The 20th century sawexperiments in Russia andChina to destroy religion assomething irrational andharmful. Those experimentsfailed because it would bethe same as trying to destroyart. It’s part of humannature to be religious, just asit is human to create worksof beauty.

Science was presented asan alternative to religion,with science explainingreligious experience asmyths. We are nowachieving a balance betweenscience and religion. Thebiblical story of creation at adeeper level explains ourrelationship to theenvironment.

L Does interfaithdialogue have any powerto resolve internationalconflicts?Inter-religious dialogue maynot solve problems but itcreates an atmosphere andenergy that can be directedtowards centres of conflictwhere reasonable behaviourhas broken down.

The Dalai Lama has saidthat if Buddhists andChristians can be friends,why not the Catholics andProtestants in NorthernIreland?

Barack Obama has triedand failed to resolve thePalestinian issue. Maybe it’sAmerican optimism runningup against old worldcynicism. Positions are soentrenched. There is such ahigh level of resentment andraw hurt.

We need to take along-term approach inwhich religion is an element.If inter-religious dialogue ata deep level can bepromoted between Israeliand Palestinian neighbours,I think you will see a gradualshift in attitudes.

I think political leadersdon’t want to touch religion,but maybe the spiritualdimension of peacemakingis something they shoulddiscuss. It’s not theirexpertise but outside theirpolitical club, they can findreligious leaders who caninitiate that. Meditation inthis scenario would be aweapon of massreconstruction.

Justin BieberCanadian pop star melts teen heartsin concert

The teen sensation set youngSingaporean girls’ hearts aflutter whenhe came to town for his first concerthere. While the 17-year-old managed to

charm the 10,000 at hissold-out concert at theSingapore Indoor Stadium,journalists at a 12-minutepress conference were lessimpressed, especially withhis rehearsed answers.

Globetrotting monksees meditation as a

way to unite followersof different faiths

Life of purposein monasterywithout walls

ST PHOTO: BRYAN VAN DER BEEK

Father Laurence Freeman, a British Benedictine monk, believes that it is in small and intensely interconnected spaces like Singapore that interfaith dialogue can best flourish. He says there is a vibrantsense that in the public spaces, opportunities for dialogue are constant and many. He hopes Singapore can develop this foundation with meditation which will “pave the way for deeper dialogues”.

44 thinkthesundaytimes April 24, 2011