Cardinal Oswald Gracias on Homosexuality

zn pic[An interesting article that includes a lot of psychological insights into one of the modern developements in the area of human sexuality. That Cardinal Gracias of Mumbai has expressed his views on the subject is welcome when most other prelates don't dare open their mouth.  I found the following observations very interesting: "Homosexuality has arisen because we have deprived people of heterosexuality." "How can the unnatural happen? If it happens it must be natural — otherwise how can it be?""

"With a man and a woman there are problems…problems of misunderstanding. They live in totally different worlds; they are two different poles of consciousness. The woman thinks intuitively, the man thinks intellectually, hence there is no meeting.

It can’t happen in a homosexual relationship. That’s why homosexuals are called gay; there is no dialectics, they are always smiling. But their smile seems to be shallow; it cannot be very deep. They are smiling because there is not any possibility of tears, and they understand each other. They are both men or both women, so they understand each other." – Zach Nedunkanal, asso. editor]

If This Became the Norm –  Don Aguiar

AguiarThere is a very old Egyptian saying: Even the right thing becomes wrong in wrong hands. And the contrary is also true; Even the wrong thing becomes right in right hands. Ultimately things are decided by the quality of your being- not what you do but what you are; that has to be remembered

Remember: each human being, maybe the human being is Alexander the Great or just a beggar on the roadside, each human being is as fragile as anybody else. Deep down he is the same – the same consciousness, the same fear, the same death, the same lust, the same love: all exists the same. Accept yourself; allow your unconscious to be revealed to you. This is how each human being is. By knowing it, you become a different kind of human being. By accepting it, cherishing it, you bring a revolution to your life. And when you look at others with that understanding, you will not find strangers; you will find all are friends. Nervousness disappears; what is there to be nervous or guilty about? We are all in the same boat.

In his expansive work, 'Sapiens, A Brief History of Humankind', Yuval Harari makes the very interesting case that the fundamental reason humans have thrived as a species is our ability to create fiction and believe in it. This includes the concept of sex, money, nations and Gods. This fiction enables us to co-operate with strangers and get things done that Chimpanzees or other animals cannot. Since, it's the outer, more evolved layers of human brains that have this ability; it is not a surprise that humans have created several stories. Some of this fiction may just be what we now call learning, shared concepts that help us move ahead in scientific discovery. Catching up on the shared concepts and views of the participants at the just concluded family synod, one of the cardinals shared these concepts and views in an interview to the news agencies which goes as under

Cardinal Oswald Gracias in a recent interview at the Vatican, where he went to attend the bishops' synod on family, had said that the Church should not be judgmental while dealing with members of the LGBT community. They should not be denied their right to be treated with love and compassion and the use of gentler language when referring to members of the LGBT community would gain acceptance in the Church 

Cardinal Oswald Gracias, who has been at the forefront of the fight to decriminalize homosexuality in India, had said. "You must make a distinction with an individual who is absolutely part of the Church, who we must care for, and who might have a [homosexual] orientation. You can't put them in chains, or say we have no responsibility whatsoever,"

Pope Francis closed the synod on family at the Vatican, reiterating the call for a more compassionate church.

The problem is that we are all searching for conclusions, so that we can shut the lid on many of life’s posers and move on. But life is a continuous process, which ravels itself layer by layer. Whatever we conclude from the outer layers can at best be guesses – some intelligent some not. It is another matter that the reality may be worlds removed from our best conjectures. Most of the time our conclusions and views are sops to make us feel better.

How can the unnatural happen? If it happens it must be natural — otherwise how can it be? And it is happening only to man because man is more alert and conscious, because man is more intelligent — he finds out new ways to relate so nothing to be worried about! In fact when you are in love with a woman or a woman is in love with a man, it is a biological phenomenon. When a man is in love with a man or a woman is in love with a woman, it is more psychological than biological. In fact it shows that you have, in a way, gone beyond the ordinary biology. You have taken a step aside — you are fed up with the ordinary biology, you want to relate in a certain new way which only humans can do.

When you want to relate in a certain new way you go on hiding it, but sooner or later you find out somebody, and there are ways how homosexuals indicate. They walk differently — they may not say, but they walk differently. They look differently, they talk differently, their gestures are different, and other homosexuals immediately understand the language.

And it is not a small minority, remember. Ten percent people all over the world are homosexuals. Out of ten, one person is a homosexual; it is a big number. And this is increasing every day, because the women’s liberation movement is creating lesbianism. “Why depend on men, even for love? Sisterhood is beautiful. Love your sisters. The natural outcome will be that many brothers will be left alone.

Sex is such a fundamental activity in nature that the ego of man started trying to get rid of it.

The first thing you need to remember: sex is natural. There is no need to make any effort to get rid of it…although a moment comes when you transcend it that is something totally different. It is not by your effort that you can get rid of it; if you try to get rid of it you will fall a victim of perversions. Because for centuries man has been trying to get rid of sex, he has created many kinds of perversions. Homosexuality has arisen because we have deprived people of heterosexuality.

This whole phenomenon has nothing to do with one personally. It is a social disease spread all over the world.

Cardinal Oswald Gracias views which people say are progressive as per news reports are in line with Pope Francis' efforts to create a more welcoming Catholic Church. Pope Francis has also talked about humility and inclusiveness. It is gathered from news reports that several Catholics have supported Cardinal Oswald Gracias' appeal to have a more open approach towards the people of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Christ opened the doors of the Church to all the faithful. Who are we to judge others? The Cardinal has welcomed those [homosexuals] as individuals 

The Cardinal by sharing his views and concepts is looking at his community to move ahead in line with the recently concluded bishop’s family synod where he also talked about compassion and use of gentler language. But compassion and use of gentler language as well as his sharing of his views and concepts is meant for progressive minds and not regressive mindsets

Homosexuality has come into existence because of repressive measures, because of repressive moralities, because of thousands of years of separating man and woman into separate camps. In the colleges, in the schools, in the army, in the monasteries — everywhere men and women are kept apart. The natural outcome is going to be homosexualism, lesbianism, because the natural energy will try to find out some outlet.

It is a well known fact that the religious monasteries have been full of homosexuality. It was bound to happen because you don’t give them the science of transcending sex, and you simply tell them to repress the energy. Now the energy starts moving into perverted ways.

And don’t take offense at the word perversion. It simply means unnatural, it simply means not as it was prescribed by biology. The biological route is heterosexual. If you prevent it… It is like a small stream is flowing: you put a rock in its way, it will start flowing from some other side, it will go by passing the rock, it will become two streams instead of one. You can go on preventing it and it will go on splitting into many streams. It will find out some way. It has a source of water that has to be taken to the ocean.

The fundamental principle is acceptance, as our current pope has talked about humility andinclusiveness. Whatsoever is the situation, one should accept it. From there things can begin. Don’t reject it. It is out of rejection that the problem has arisen. Relax into it and you will be surprised. If one can accept it without any guilt, slowly the homosexuality will turn into heterosexuality again. Why? — Because guilt is also a religious phenomenon, and homosexuality too. They are joined together, they are tied together. If you go on feeling guilty, you will remain homosexual. Drop the guilt, accept it. Nothing is wrong; you are just carrying the whole ugly past of humanity. What can you do? You have come a little late, people have proceeded before. They have dirtied the whole beach. So it has to be cleaned.

Friendship is possible, but love is not possible, and friendship and love are different dimensions. Friendship has its own beauty. Love needs polar opposites, only then there is attraction, only then there is tension enough. Love needs a subtle dialectics; it is a process of dialectics. The man and woman relationship is a dialectical process full of hazards, adventures and fights. It is a kind of intimate enmity. In the morning the fight, in the evening the love, in the morning again the fight, and it goes on moving from one polarity to the other. But this is how it keeps itself alive. It is Hegelian dialectics: thesis, antithesis, synthesis, and again synthesis become the thesis.

Two women in relationship can’t have a very great love affair. It will remain on plain ground; it will not have heights and it will not have depths. So people who are afraid of heights and depths will find it very comfortable, convenient. Hence the homosexuals are called “gay.” They look gay; they look far more gay than heterosexuals.

With a man and a woman there are problems…problems of misunderstanding. They live in totally different worlds; they are two different poles of consciousness. The woman thinks intuitively, the man thinks intellectually, hence there is no meeting.

It can’t happen in a homosexual relationship. That’s why homosexuals are called gay; there is no dialectics, they are always smiling. But their smile seems to be shallow; it cannot be very deep. They are smiling because there is not any possibility of tears, and they understand each other. They are both men or both women, so they understand each other. With understanding there is no fight. A man and woman never understand each other, they cannot. If they understand each other, immediately all is finished, they both have become Buddhas.

The cardinal’s archdioceses is a community of predominately Bible understanding people who look at a life of dignity, humility, compassion, inclusiveness and ethics: to seize the archdiocese’s attention through religion using compassion and ethics as the toll during an interview is not only ironic but also spiteful.

We need to celebrate our understanding of our Bible and not our primitiveness. And it doesn’t matter if it is homosexuality or heterosexuality or bisexuality. What matters is that the community must not feel let down and that too by the views or concepts of the recently concluded bishop’s family synod, how bizarre would it be if this became the norm?   

It has been noticed that the intellectual shared concepts and views during the family synod have been captured by a certain kind of people, with certain kinds of views. It is a bit like a monopoly and that monopoly does not like outsiders and that monopoly survives on the basis of networks. 

These are complex times in Christianity. All the international press and networks attention our community is drawing is around issues relating to personal choice as discussed at the recently concluded bishop’s family synod which at times we come across as a community of divisions and chaos, which we are not. So I ask why on earth do we want to be the ones who are scoring self goals against our own community.

 We should start looking at real problems, and should not be concerned about unreal problems. There are real problems to be solved. And this is a trick of human mind: to create unreal problems so that you become occupied with them while real problems go on growing. And this is an old strategy: politicians, priests, so-called religious leaders go on giving you pseudo-problems to solve, so that you become occupied with the pseudo.

 Let me end (not conclude) this by quoting Robert Anton Wilson, “In conclusion there is no conclusion. Things will go on as they always have, getting weirder all the time.”     

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