As I reflect on my journey in chaplaincy, I have noticed that much of my understanding of foundational skills, specifically, cultural competency, is shaped by my bicultural experience as an immigrant to the United States, my marriage and my academic studies. I am a preacher's kid who grew up in the United Church of Christ both in the Philippines (UCCP) and, after immigrating at the age of 17, the UCC in the United States. As an immigrant, I am a cultural hybrid who is able to speak three languages fluently. I am in an interracial and intercultural marriage after marrying an American Episcopalian priest who grew up in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) tradition. Hence, I can easily swim back and forth between low church culture and high church culture. While continuing to be rooted in Christianity, I am fortunate to have studied and explored different global faith traditions, first, as a Religious Studies major in my undergraduate studies, and second, in graduate school. All these experiences of crossing boundaries of culture, religious and theological frameworks have shaped my understanding of the significance of cultural competency in my work as a chaplain.

Chaplaincy is a very fascinating work in the realm of spirituality and religion in that while a chaplain might have their own spiritual (or religious) belief that shape their understanding of their life and the world, a chaplain's encounter with someone in emotional-spiritual struggle is person-centered. This means that while the spiritual caregiver needs to be fully aware of the spiritual-religious and cultural lenses that have shaped them and that they carry into the conversation, the chaplain's main job is to empathize as best they can with the spiritual-emotional world of the person in crisis. Subsequently, this means that the chaplain needs to have some level of cultural competency in providing spiritual care by entering into the spiritual-religious framework of the patient, and supporting them in drawing out resources from the patient's own spiritual well. In other words, the chaplain's role is to be open and curious companion-guide in helping the patient articulate their spirituality whatever that may be so the struggling person can find their bearings in a time of emotional-spiritual vulnerability and disorientation. 

In my work as a hospital chaplain, two metaphors - that are shaped by my experience and social context ​- help me frame the skill of cultural competency: food & the chameleon.

THE APPRECIATOR OF DIVERSE CUISINES
If spirituality is a source of nourishment like food, then the diverse spiritual and religious practices and beliefs are the cuisines. However, chaplains do not dictate or enforce what people should consume. We are not proselytizers of cuisines (i.e., religions). We are there mainly to be present and understand what cuisine(s) people use to nourish themselves to thrive, or what flavor(s) they prefer. When the person has allergies, and the food (or cuisine) is making them ill or not helping them thrive, then I bring this up to their attention.
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While it is certainly impossible to learn all cultural cuisines (i.e., religions, spiritualities and theologies), chaplains who have more exposure to the diverse flavors of spiritualities and religions are the ones who are more able to  meet the spiritual needs of a population in a religiously pluralistic context. When a chaplain understands the spiritual lingo of a person in emotional pain, it is much easier to connect by using “spiritual” or “religio-theological” empathy. The general contrasting flavors that I, as a chaplain, pay attention to in the spiritual-religious menu in North American context include, but are not limited to, the categories below (NOTE: These categories are not strict binaries; rather I see them as a spectrum, and would go so far as to say that some spiritualities and religions may not fit these categories at all - there are aspects of spirituality/religion that are too complicated to categorize in a box):

Contrasting flavors (a few categories):​​
          1) High Church vs. Low Church
          2) Eastern Spirituality vs. Western Spirituality 
          3) Theist vs. Non-Theist/Atheist/Agnostic (Article #1, #2 )
          4) Religious vs. Spiritual But Not Religious (Article #1, #2)
          5) Christianity: High Christology (Christ as divine) vs. Low Christology (Christ as human)
          6) Mono Spiritual/Religious vs. Poly Spiritual/Religious​

​Neuroscience tells us about the good news of neuroplasticity in our brain. That is, our brain has the capacity rewire. My hope is that by accessing a wide lens perspective of our life journeys with the help of wisdom stories, we consciously create new neural pathways in our brain (analogous to creating a new footpath or nature trail illustrated in pic on right) as we make new choices and embody new actions that lead to our thriving and flourishing. ​

​After getting hired as a chaplain for BH patients about three years ago and noting that there were no readily available curriculums in the chaplaincy world for spiritual care support groups, I immediately knew the approach I was going to use: Godly Play (or Spirit Play). For many years I have accompanied all of my three kids for Godly Play at our church, with me mostly serving as a “Godly Play door person” and keenly observing diverse facilitation styles of the trained Godly Play teachers. I have seen the effectiveness of the pedagogy grounded on Montessori theoretical frameworks which was very inclusive to different types of participants (age and mental capacity). While the Godly Play approach was sound, the only problem was that the selection of stories were limited by Judeo-Christian mythological narratives, which was limiting for my context as a chaplain in a secular hospital.

However, looking for stories beyond the Judeo-Christian framework was right up my alley. In college, I was a Religious Studies major exposed to the diverse mythologies of cultures around the world. Early on, through the work of Joseph Campbell (influenced by Carl Jung), I was hooked on the universal archetypes.

On top of being a world mythology geek, I have learned the significance of music after working with dementia patients. As also know the value of visual arts after serving as an art teacher and organizer of a summer arts camp program for inner city youth.  

With inclusivity as the main goal of my Spiritual Care Support Group sessions, I want to highlight in this blog why music, art and Godly Play (or Spirit Play) work as a method to facilitate support groups in BH:

WISDOM STORIES: Studies have shown that stories activate our brains. As soon as we hear a story, our brains naturally want to connect the story to our personal experience. That is why metaphors work. Thus, mythologies with universal spiritual themes/archetypes are fabulous tools to reflect about one’s inner life and struggle. These include stories of our experience of change and transformation: the human journey from darkness to light, from death to resurrection, from being lost to being found, from disorientation to some clarity, from chaos to stillness, from despair to hope, from emptiness to meaning & purpose, from dis-ease towards healing. It gives the person feeling lost and disoriented the opportunity to map themselves in the endless cycle of ups and downs of life. It gives the person in crisis the mental and emotional space to see the bigger picture, a lens with a much wider perspective, instead of a very narrow, reactive and blind-spot-laden lens to view one's experience. The brilliance behind Godly Play is that instead of the hearer merely imagining the story in the mind, one is also able to see and, if they like, touch the story in a tangible way through storytelling objects laid out on the floor. In Montessori understanding of learning, “What the hand does the mind remembers.” One patient responded to the method, which he experienced for the first time, in this manner: “I have heard this parable numerous times in my life, but witnessing this story unfold before me through these objects on the floor allows me to reflect on this story in a different way – a deeper way.” Lastly, wisdom stories allow participants to share their story in a way that's comfortable to them. While some might choose to be vulnerable with the group by sharing the details of the "dark" and "stormy" moments of their life journey, the participant can simply agree and point out that the archetype ("dark storm") was something that they went through.

​ART REFLECTION SHEETS: Like music, visual arts also invites us to move our hearts and minds in the affective dimension through color, lines, shapes and symbols. There are things that one can portray in shapes and color that may not be captured through words. This artist and mental health patient talks about how visual art has been an effective tool to express himself. ​

The Muslims of the Mutia family are Maranaos, descendants of Shariff Kabungsuan - the first sultan of the south (Footnote: The Maranao tribe - pejoratively known as “Moros” - are infamously known for their resistance towards Western colonization both by Spain and the United States - hence, they remained Muslim. The United States created the 45 handgun because of their fierce battles with the Maranaos). At this reunion, we learned how the Mutias eventually became Christian. During the Spanish times in the mid 1800’s, one ancestor (my great great grandfather) - fondly nicknamed “Tamak-Tamak” - converted from Islam to become a Christian after marrying a Christian woman. We learned that he was a merchant and never stayed in one place. He frequently travelled from town to town and travelled back and forth between Mindanao and Bohol.

​So I asked Dad, “So he seemed unable to put down roots and stay in one place. He was a wanderer. Doesn’t that sound like you?”

“You’re right,” he nodded in response. 

Growing up with Lucio as my dad, I always wondered why he could not stay in one place. Part of this of course had to do with his vocation. Clergy work often involves moving from one church to another. His confused older siblings (farmers deeply rooted to their land) shamed him: “We don’t understand your job - you’re constantly moving and you don’t have your own house. We might not have much, but we have dignity: we have our own house and land.” 

Dad, however, had no retort - he would just smile quietly. He understood their concern, but unlike his brothers who are anchored to the land, he was a sojourner. He was not phobic to novelty. If a new professional opportunity showed up, he would check it out and give it a try. 

An Ancestral Mythology of the Stormy Seas
Some years ago Dad shared an interesting ancestral story about one of Tamak-Tamak’s sons Eugenio (my great grandfather) and Eugenio’s son Francisco (my grandfather). One of Eugenio’s sources of living, on top of farming the land, was as a fisherman. One day Eugenio told his young son to paddle their only bangka (Filipino double-outrigger dugout canoe) into the deep waters because a massive storm was coming. Francisco didn’t have much time to ask why or protest, and simply did what his father commanded. Soon as he was out in deep waters, giant waves came, and my young grandfather carefully rode the bangka on the crests and troughs of the waves. 

​When the storm ceased, the young Francisco rowed his boat back to the shore only to see all of the bangkas on the shores destroyed by the giant waves that crashed the shores. 

I think that this story was a significant story for Lucio about his young father. Now and then he would retell this story to me, but I couldn't quiet understand why this story was meaningful to him until after his death.

Leaving the Farm to Pursue Education
Lucio was born on February 11, 1938 as the youngest of 9 children to a rural farmer and barangay captain (head official of the town) in Bato, Plaridel del Norte in Mindanao. Then at age of 14 young Lucio left the family farm with the adventurous spirit that would characterize his whole life. After quitting a week of work as a kargardor (cargo/baggage handler) at a ship port in Marawi, he found a job as a front desk clerk of a small hotel owned by a well to do Muslim man. This man was enamored by Lucio’s hard work ethic, and subsequently offered to financially sponsor his education and adopt him as his son but with one condition: Lucio must become a Muslim. The generous man even wanted to sponsor his trip to go on a hajj to Mecca. Dad could have easily taken that offer and reclaim back our Muslim ancestry, but he didn’t. Instead, he took an educational opportunity and scholarship at Silliman University’s Divinity school to pursue Christian ministry. 

Clergy Work to Full Time Teaching
After earning his education at Silliman in the early 60’s he became a young ordained UCCP minister (United Church of Christ in the Philippines) and served churches in Mindanao where he met my mom. In the midst of his church ministry he managed to create space and time to earn a Master of Theology. After his last church ministry in Ozamis City in 1978, he decided to return to Silliman after about 15 years of church ministry to become a full time university instructor at the Philosophy and Religion department.

He taught at Silliman for 13 years. This is where I hold most of my childhood memories. During this time, he went to Virginia for a year in 1986 to further his training in Clinical Pastoral Education.  ​

CPE in the U.S. and the Philippines
In 1991 he took off once again - this time to take a Clinical Pastoral Education supervisor position at the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals (VCU Hospitals). He also took up church start ministry with the United Church of Christ for the Filipino American community in Richmond, Virginia. Then after 19 years of ministry in the U.S., he decided to return to Silliman to develop a Clinical Pastoral Education program, which is a movement that continues to expand in the Philippines to this day. 

​Then I am reminded of the story Lucio shared about his dad, the young Francisco, who had to paddle out to the deep waters so that the giant waves would not crush their family’s bangka on the beach. Going out into the sea is deep faith.

Then I am reminded of Jesus, as someone who frequently hung out with fishermen was on a boat - Jesus did not find the depths of the sea intimidating especially during a storm. Jesus calls us to explore, not ankle deep, not chest deep - but out into the deep turbulent waters. 

God’s Abiding Presence
When Lucio was a clergy for Filipino American churches in Virginia, I remembered that certain biblical texts made him reflect introspectively. Psalm 139 was one of those readings. In deep contemplation, he would often close his eyes, and put his prayer hands in front of his lips.  

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
    Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
    If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

I believe that this is the text that gave my Dad ease and a sense of security in his new adventures. We cannot escape God’s abiding presence. God is in the here and now, in each step, in each breath, in each moment. With this knowledge, Lucio was able to venture into the depths of the Sea of Life, and allowed himself to be freely carried by its currents. He explored new territories, not with anxiety, or fear, but with curiosity and wonder.

Introduction
In the film "News of the World," Jefferson Kyle Kidd helps a young girl Johanna who has had so many losses and traumatic experiences. Kidd assures Johanna that their goal now is to journey forward and make new memories to replace the bad ones. But Johanna retorts: "To move forward you must remember first." Theologian Richard Rohr affirms this insight in his book Breathing Underwater when he writes: “You cannot heal what you do not first acknowledge.”

Since, as English author Neil Gaiman points out, 

The Challenge: First Two Tasks in Grief
In my blog on “Being A Good Host to Our Grief,” I reflected on the second task of grief - which is about experiencing the pain of grief (theorized by William Worden). In grief work, many grief experts phrase this skill as “feeling our feelings” or gently “leaning into our grief.” This work is not easy. There are normal bumps and complications that take place on the grief journey - after all, grief is non-linear. It twists and turns. It is labyrinthine. You take three steps forward, then you take two steps back. It oscillates nonstop between symptoms of loss and symptoms of restoration. 

However, there are situations when the person journeying through grief may feel stuck. For some it may feel like a nightmare that won't let up. For others it is a long-term feeling of being drowned by one or all of the many common (and normal) grief symptoms: anger, guilt, depression, meaninglessness, denial. When stuckness happens, it is important to reach out to a professional grief counselor for support. It is not recommended to go through grief alone. This is the healthy way to move forward: journeying through it with a companion(s) who know the process, and can witness and validate your experience, and mentor/model for you how to wade the waters of grief.

The Controversy​
In the grief world, complicated grief is a controversial topic. Some experts consider complicated grief a disorder that must be diagnosed and fixed. Others, on the other hand, believe that this phenomenon is a normal process of grief. Critics of "complicated grief as pathology" perspective claim that it supports misinformed and antiquated notions that (a) grief symptoms are a type of sickness that must be problem-solved, and that (b) there is a grief timeline and a right way to grieve. 

While the caution of those who critique ideas of complicated grief as a type of pathology is warranted, I also think it is important to note, at a minimum, what causes grief to be complicated - specifically, the experience of being stuck. The root cause goes back to the first two of Worden’s tasks of grief: 1. accepting the reality of the death, and 2. feeling our feelings. (See the illustration of the TEAR Model of Grief above). The tendency to deny reality and avoiding painful feelings is a normal human tendency that we all do at some level. But avoiding these two tasks at all cost - that is, dodging the task of accepting the reality of the loss and feeling the pain of the loss is, I believe, what causes complicated grief. It is OK to be tentative, but we still have to give dipping our toes in the waters of grief a try in spite of our fears and discomforts. Sometimes we may not have a choice: whether we like it or not, the tsunami waves of grief will wash over us anyway and we find ourselves trying our best to keep our heads above water. Whatever the case may be, the skill of learning to be in relationship with the waters of grief (i.e., emotional self-regulation) is crucial. This skill can be learned from others, say, from the loving support of a counselor or therapist.

​The following films below explore complicated grief. I invite you to view these films to get a sense of complicated grief and its patterns.

Released by Disney Plus, this film tells the story about Wanda Maximoff (from the Avengers) and her unresolved grief, including the death of her loved one, Vision. In this film, Wanda creates an alternate reality, a fantasy land, which keeps her in denial and out of touch with the pain of her many losses. Eventually, she is able to articulate the cause of her hesitation to do the first task of grief, which is to accept the reality of the death of her loved ones. She is terrified of being drowned by her grief.

​Vision replies with a few words of comfort: “It can’t all be sorrow.” He ends by saying, “But what is grief, if not love persevering.” This conversation is planting a seed of a different perspective in Wanda’s mind, namely, the possibility that “talking about [her grief] would bring [her] comfort.” Wanda learns that in order to move on with her life, she has to dismantle her fantasy world and let go of it in order to be able to do the second task: to feel her grief. 

Directed & written by Tomm Moore, ​the beautifully animated story of grief revolves around the family of a lighthouse keeper. After Conor’s wife dies, he avoids the task of feeling his pain. On the anniversary of his wife’s death, he goes to the pub to self-medicate his grief. The belief in avoiding grief at all cost is embodied by Conor’s mom “Granny” and Macha the Witch. To Granny & Macha, venturing into the sea or waters of grief is unsafe. The goal is to prevent those “terrible feelings” from “bubbling up”- one must bottle them up because these “nasty things” are “sick,” can “control you” and make you “feel so awful.” In this view, staying asleep from our pain by hardening our hearts into stone is “peaceful.” 

When Conor's son Ben realizes Macha's lie that by bottling up one’s pain “it will never hurt again,” he exclaims: “No, it doesn’t help at all. It just makes things worse.”  

​Leaning into our grief is a skill. It is about learning how to swim and wade without fear of being controlled by them, without the fear of drowning (like Wanda). In the end, what liberates Conor's family from feeling trapped is music through the magical shell given by Conor’s wife to her kids. The shell allowed them to sing the song of the sea. They are able to remember her through story and song, giving them the gift of wading and swimming into the waters.  

CONCLUSION
To close, the characteristics of someone with complicated grief include one or both of the following: (1) The desire to create an alternative reality that is not congruent with the reality of the loss. This human impulse, embodied by Wanda (in WandaVision) goes against Worden's task number one. Complicated grief also includes (2) the belief, held strongly by Conor and Macha (in Song of the Sea), in bottling up one's grief by making feelings and emotions suspect; here, emotions are not safe. This view prevents the griever from doing task number two of Worden's Tasks of Grief. These two actions cause the griever to feel stuck in their grief journey. Thus, getting unstuck requires one (like Wanda) to face one's fear of drowning in the sea of grief, and develop skills to open up oneself to be in relationship with one's feelings (gently leaning into grief) and learn to wade and swim in it. 

Occupying oneself with busy-ness is something that many people go through, such as those who are grieving or those who are burned out and going through compassion fatigue. Many want to return to the old norm by going back to work and just get busy. Many will say something like, “You know, I’m keeping myself busy. It really helps.” And it’s true. As a form of distraction, busying does help to some extent. In grief, for example, it is one of the things that we recommend to bereaved individuals especially if their grief is overwhelming. Sometimes we might say, “Do a fun project like gardening, or perhaps do an art work.” Distraction has its place.

But unfortunately, we can swing to the extreme with distractions. Instead of creating a balanced approach between feeling our feelings, and getting distracted through something that keeps us busy, we end up using busy-ness as a kind of a drug to numb ourselves from our feelings so that we don’t have to feel anything and become self-aware. 

Writer, Wendy Mogel, notes the danger of using busy-ness as way to numb ourselves from pain. She writes: 

"Busy-ness is the manic defense against despair. We speed up our lives unintentionally to escape feeling helpless. We’re not afraid of losing time but of having time to reflect. Without the usual distractions and interference, we may have to confront feelings of disappointment, loneliness, frustration, and our fear that we are not strong enough to make changes we need to make.”

So how do we slow down so we can become self-aware? How do we keep our brains from auto-piloting? How can we slow down so that we can take a deep breath and be fully present? How can we slow down so that we can be aware of our conditioned patterns of thinking and doing, so we can make the changes we need to make?

There is an ancient spiritual practice that might be a good antidote to busy-ness. And it might help us slow down. This practice involves walking a labyrinth. The labyrinth is an ancient symbol, an archetype. It is a divine imprint, found in all religious traditions in various forms around the world. If you are not familiar with labyrinths, see this video, and this handy guide on how to walk a labyrinth.

​A key principle in a labyrinth walk is to be in the present moment in each step that you take. There are 3 stages: (1) Release, (2) Receive, (3) Return. First, as you walk towards the center of the labyrinth, you release your thoughts and worries - anything that keeps you anxious and afraid. Second, when you arrive at the center of the labyrinth, you receive. At  the labyrinth’s center, we may bring up these wonderings: What insights have you gained? Perhaps it is something that you have learned about myself; perhaps a feeling of gratitude or a sense of peace; perhaps a deep sense of connection. Third, as you return and walk back out of the labyrinth, the goal is to integrate (or embody) the gift that you have received in your daily living.

Adapting the Stages to Your Work with Patients
Here’s the cool thing. While it is beneficial to do a meditative walk in a labyrinth, you can still integrate its main principles in your work. When you provide care for a patient, or someone in crisis, we do not have to default busy-ness to pass time with. Instead, we can turn these encounters into opportunities, much like walking a labyrinth. 

Release
On your way to see a patient or their family, let that be an opportunity to release your worries, fears and anxieties. Instead of closing yourself in worry or fear, name your intention, and open your heart. 

Receive
The second stage in walking a labyrinth is arriving at the center to receive. In your work, the labyrinth’s center is your interaction with your patient (and their family). Here you have the opportunity to receive a gift from this interaction even if that interaction might be challenging. After your interaction with you patient, pause. What insights have you learned about yourself? What does your learning from your interaction mean for your daily living? If any, what changes do you need to make in order to thrive and live more fully?

Return
The third stage is to return back to your daily living and integrate that insights that you have learned from your interaction. 

There is a phase in the grief process called “disorientation,” which is also known as the “pits.” Disorientation is the most difficult phase to go through because we are disoriented. We feel lost and confused. We are not fully functional the way we used to be. We are mentally unfocused, spacey and tend to forget. Most importantly, this is a period when we experience the very intense painful feelings: deep sadness, or grief bursts, or overwhelming anger, or perhaps incapacitating guilt, or fear.

​These painful feelings come knocking on the door of our hearts and minds like uninvited guests. I say they are "uninvited" because we do not necessarily want to feel them. So as the host or the doorkeeper of our hearts and minds, we can either shut them out, and not let them in. We tell these feelings related to our grief: “You all are not welcome here. Go away.” 

An easy way to shut them out is to busy ourselves. This is normal. By going back to work, and by returning to our regular routines of doing the mundane tasks of our lives, we distract ourselves from these uninvited guests that remind us of the pain of the loss. 

As a coping tool, ignoring these feelings by busy-ing will work, but only to an extent. As a participant of my grief class said: “Yes, busying works, but only for a while.” In other words, it is a temporary fix. Why? Because by ignoring these feelings, grief does not really go away. In fact, sometimes, the pain of grief gains more strength when we ignore and refuse to name them. No matter how hard we keep grief out of our awareness, somehow grief still manages to come around and return to us like a boomerang and painfully hits us when we least expect it.  

As we enter deep into the spirit of Christmas and into the darkness of winter, we celebrate how hope and new life emerged out of peasant town called Bethlehem during one of the most violent times of Roman rule in Israel. New life comes out of unexpected places, sometimes in spaces might perceive as insignificant and not worthy of attention.

Perfectionism & Busy-ness

Brene Brown says that riding through life driven by perfectionism is not a fun ride: "When perfectionism is driving us, shame is riding shotgun and fear is that annoying backseat driver."  Perfectionism conditions us to be ashamed of our cracks. We learn to ignore them not by slowing down, but by speeding up through our busy lives. While slowing down to rest might be what is needed, the act of slowing down can can threaten the mask of perfectionism. Slowing down unveils it. 

In my work in bereavement, many of bereaved individuals will automatically default to busying themselves as a form of distraction from confronting feelings that accompany the loss of their loved ones. Running away from feelings of grief works only for a while. A grieving daughter told me, “For a while for many months I was OK. I went back to work, back to my regular routine. Then for some reason, my grief came out of nowhere. I was in a baseball game with my husband, everyone was cheering, happy and celebrating. And there, in the middle of the party, I was overcome with an explosion of grief and sobs over the death of my dad.” 

Just because the emotional injury caused by life's crisis is not outwardly visible, we assume it is in a totally different category from physical injury and that we can simply ignore our grief and go back to "normal" - the way it used to be. Ignoring one's grief may be likened to someone throwing away a boomerang, hoping that it will never come back, but then grief whacks us in the back of our heads when we least expect it.

Slowing Down & Going Home

If we find auto-piloting in our usual routines after a surgery ill-advised, so it is with emotional injuries. Healing is never about speeding our way back to our regular routines. A good healer will tell us to slow down so our bodies recuperate. Such person will tell us to pay attention to avoid reinjury. When we are injured by the violent tremors of significant life transitions (grief caused by death, health change, mid-life crisis, divorce, economic instability), the best way to heal is to slow down. 

Thich Nhat Hanh says it well: 

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​The skillset that Jellaludin Rumi invites us to embody is easier said than done especially in a culture that considers the expression of feelings as a sign of weakness. Often I encounter many bereaved clients who find their feelings of grief shameful. This is especially true for men who are conditioned to keep their feelings hidden to present a fake persona of resilience.

Shame

Researcher on resilience, Brene Brown, talks about shame as a shackle that keeps us from claiming our power. She explains that if you put shame in a petri dish, it needs three ingredients to grow exponentially: secrecy, silence and judgement. In JK Rowling's Harry Potter, the Dark Lord is powerful by the fact that he is the one who must not be named. Shame's default is to sweep difficult thoughts and bad feelings under the rug. Keeping things unnamed and invisible is how shame keeps its powerful grip on us, paralyzing us from claiming that we are strong enough make changes we need to make. But no matter how much we keep shame out of our awareness, it always comes back to return and haunt us.

Christian tradition has an antidote to shame: confession (or penance). When the dark and shameful parts of ourselves are being witnessed without judgment by an empathetic listener, shame's powerful grip loses strength. Fully accepted and held in love, the parts of ourselves that are cracked and jagged gets to be seen in a different light. We are perfect in our imperfection and begin to hear the truth when God says: "You are my beloved child with whom I am well pleased" (Mark 1:11).

​New Life

After 28 years of living in the northern hemisphere, my tropical genes still do not welcome the arrival of cold air of fall. However, my eyes welcome the vibrancy of the colors that come with the change: the bright yellows, reds, and oranges on the trees. My neighbors and my family put pumkins on our porches. I dug a hole and buried my tulip bulbs for the spring. The beautiful zinnias in my front yard finally succumbed to the cold, lost their colors, and readied themselves to return back to the earth. I am thankful for the fall season's reminder that nothing is permanent.

Impermanence in Sports

I learned the spiritual practice of impermanence through athletics, specifically, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. In martial arts, rigidity of form will get in the way of your performance. When I roll with my training partners on the mat, my coaches encourage me to move fluidly with impermanence as best I can by adapting my movement to my training partner's movement. I often hear them invite me not to let my fight-flight brain to take over, which slows the practitioner's progress. In a fear-based fight-flight approach, my muscles are stiff, my heart is racing fast, my breathing shallow, certain muscles that do not need to be activated are in full tension. My physical actions are not well thought out. I get tired fast, more prone to injury, and I'm not having fun. Instead, I hear my coaches telling me to relax, to slow and deepen my breathing, and pay full attention to what my body is doing in relationship to my training partner's movements. They invite me to not focus on the end result (winning or losing), but pay attention to the present and have a good sense of fun and play. (For a more comprehensive discussion on this topic, read Matt Thornton's blog "Mindfulness & Martial Arts.")

​As the late martial arts philosopher Bruce Lee puts it:
Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put it in a teapot, it becomes a teapot. Now water can flow, or it can crash. Be water my friend."

Flowers & Nature

One reason for this is that in the vastness of nature, the human self is insignificant and ceases to be the center. Nature's transitoriness and ever-changing quality make the illusion of permanence more clear. We experience "oneness" with the beauty of nature in the present. To Jesus, this is where God's kingdom resides - not in the faraway future, but in the eternal now. 

Jesus says: "“Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them.” And “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.” The Buddha shared a similar insight using a flower. As the disciples of the Buddha sat around him in a small circle by a quiet pond to wait for his teaching, the Buddha simply pulled out a lotus flower and silently held it before them.
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These two mystics, Jesus and the Buddha, invite us to observe the ways of creation. In nature, nothing is permanent, but beauty, abundance, and grace overflows. As we move together with impermanence in the fall season, let us take a deep breath, be present in our bodies, and sing and dance while the music is played.

The synoptic gospels tell the story of very scared and anxious disciples on the boat pounded by a storm. After the disciples express their fear of drowning, Jesus says, “Peace be still,” then calms the seas. He invites them to have faith and not be afraid. In the middle of the stormy seas, Jesus found peace and invites his disciples to do so. Likewise, the Buddha invites his followers to find stillness in the eye of the storm (samsara) amidst our chronic and vain attachment to things shallow, superficial, impermanent and ever-changing.

We seek deep peace in our lives and yet our instincts to hook on to our anxiety, worry, anger, and fear seem to constantly follow us wherever we go. Its ugly head rears itself without warning. We wish we have control over our anxiety and fears, but our automatic threat response system seem to be a bit more wiley than we wish it to be. And before we are even aware of it, the automatic threat response system has taken over the driver’s seat. 

The Subcortex

In his book, Wired for Love, couples therapist Stan Tatkin talks in detail the researched data from neuroscience about the dynamic between the brain’s prefrontal cortex and the subcortex. He calls the former, the “ambassadors” - the part of our brain that specializes rational thinking. He calls the latter “the primitives” - which is the home of our automatic threat response system. In general, our brains lean towards negative bias (1 to 5 ratio of positive to negative), it has an extremely efficient tracking system for potential threats. The amygdala in our subcortex for instance exists to do what it was designed to do over thousands and thousands of years - to help us survive from life-threatening attacks from predators.

In a way, we literally have a kind of a reptilian instinct within us. This is our dragon. This raw animal instinct in us has come up in our mythology, our sacred stories, usually in the form of an actual animal (snake) or a giant reptile with wings that breaths fire (dragon), or someone that is part human and part animal (centaur, minataur). Or perhaps a human figure with horns of a ram with bat-like wings (devil)?

Mythology

Our human struggle with the dragon within ourselves is well recorded in human mythology. Scholar of mythology Joseph Campbell explains that the dragon from the East and the dragon from the West have differences. Personified in the story of St. Michael and the dragon, the western dragon, Campbell says, is to be killed so that the hero(ine) can access the treasure that the dragon protected in its lair. The dragon represents our ego, and our attachment to it. In western mythology, the ego has to die in order for resurrection to a life that is free from the shackles of self-centeredness. 

The eastern dragon, on the other hand, is different from its western counterpart. The Chinese dragon, for instance, is not necessarily an enemy to be defeated and killed. This dragon however is still dangerous and wild, much like it’s western equivalent. But this dragon represents vitality - it dances, it beats its chest and laughs a big belly laugh. This dragon invites the hero(ine) to participate in the dragon dance. A few times in San Francisco’s Chinatown, I have seen youth who take Chinese martial arts, take on the dragon costume to do the dragon dance.

Below are some mythologies - both contemporary pop culture and ancient  - on the human struggle to tame the dragon within.

Bruce Lee, the Dragon​
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Fans of Chinese Kung Fu films know that Bruce Lee, the martial arts hero, is identified as the dragon. He was an athlete who immersed himself in eastern philosophy which he integrated in his physical discipline. Lee fully understood that in order to become an adept athlete (which in his case is as a martial artist), he had to be aware that ultimately the demon that he has to fight with is not his opponent in front of him. The demon (the dragon) is within oneself: the attachment to one's thoughts and ego, unable to see "what is" in the here and now. In this clip from the blockbuster film Enter the Dragon, Lee engages a philosophical conversation with an old and wise shaolin monk about the value of engaging the martial arts discipline without the interference of the ego.

The Ancient One (in Marvel's Dr. Strange)

The Marvel film, Dr. Strange, also highlights the eastern mythology of the dragon within ourselves through a conversation between the master (the Ancient One) and the student (Karl Mordo).

Karl Mordo (disciple): “I wanted the power to defeat my enemies. You gave me the power to defeat my demons."

Ancient One (master): ​“We never lose our demons, Mordo. We learn to live above them.”

The Ancient One points out to the student (Karl Mordo) that overcoming the one’s demon does not mean eliminating (or losing) it for it is an inextricable part of who we are, so much so that we are hardly aware of it when it acts out through it's lighting speed automatic threat response, or when it narcissistically pumps itself up by stubbornly defending its self-righteousness.

Learning to live "above them" is a skill. Stan Tatkin explains that observing our demon-dragon (our primitives) in action helps to keep them in check. By developing disciplined self-awareness, we can observe how they behave, and begin experimenting if we can catch them in the act. We can develop and refine this skill over a lifetime - but not without help.

The Samurai and the Monk (plus Yoda)

For this reason, having a mentor or teacher is part of Eastern spiritual traditions as illustrated in the stories from Enter the Dragon and Dr. Strange. The Zen story about the samurai and the monk focuses on the role of the teacher as the one who guides the student to "awaken" from the self-centered habitual thought patterns of the ego.

​After a warrior returning home from war crosses paths with a wise meditating monk, the warrior asks the monk: “Explain to me the truth about heaven and hell.” The monk tells the samurai that this was not possible since the warrior was “dumb and ugly.” With his anger triggered, the samurai drew his sword ready to chop the head of the monk. Then the monk says, “And that my dear friend is hell.” The samurai awakens to the teaching of the wise monk. With the insight he had gained, he lays down his sword, and bows to the monk in deep gratitude. The monk then says, “And that my friend is heaven.” In this story, the monk helped the samurai catch his dragon in the act by inviting him to become the awareness or observer of his reaction which was in the process of turning from a small spark into a violent explosion. 

Avatar the Last Airbender

In the episode entitled “Firebending Masters” of the anime series Avatar the Last Airbender, the two characters Aang and Zuko give us some ideas how not to be paralyzed by our fears. When both confront the two ancient dragons to learn the secrets of firebending, the audience is held for a few moments of the possibility of the two teens being eaten by the dragons. While facing danger, Aang realize that in order to build rapport with the dragons, he and Zuko have to do the dragon dance. As soon as both perform the dance, the wild dragons dance with them harmoniously and gracefully, an act which imbue the two students with the wisdom and beauty of firebending. Both discover that learning the nature of fire merely through one's anger is not enough to sustain healthy resilience in the long-term. Anger - the fire that destroys - has a short life. In the end, they learn the life-giving nature of fire (sun), which sustains life on earth.

Sun-Girl & Dragon-Prince (Armenian Mythology)

While stories of humans taming dragons dominates in Eastern mythology, this archetype takes place in Western mythology as well. In an Armenian story, "Sun-Girl and Dragon-Prince," a girl by the name of Arevhat is about to be fed to the Dragon-Prince, but instead of being overcome by fear, she greets him warmly, "Good evening, King's son." The dragon is moved by her presence and empathy that the tears that roll from his eyes melt the scales in his body tranforming him into a full human. Much like the Zen story of the monk and the samurai, this story illustrates how awareness, presence and empathy has the power to tame the violent dragon impulse within ourselves.

Eustace Scrubb Becomes A Dragon (Chronicles of Narnia)

In C.S. Lewis' "Voyage of the Dawn Treader," eleven year old Eustace Scrubb begins as an arrogant self-absorbed boy, until he, unbenownst to him, becomes a dragon while on an adventure with his cousins. At some point, he realizes that the dragon that he sees in the pool is his own reflection. He begins to see something about himself that he has not been fully aware before: his "greedy dragonish thoughts in his heart." As a dragon, he tries to embody new behaviors by helping his fellow travellers find food and shelter. Eventually, the great lion Aslan helps him peel off his dragon skin and throws him into a body of water. When he emerges he becomes himself again, but is also transformed into new person that others around him can truly befriend. In order for Eustance to free himself from his dragon tendencies and impulses, he has to fully accept that the dragon is a part of who he is and find some self-awareness of the ways of the dragon. Only then can he allow space within himself to embody kindness, compassion, and true friendship with others.

Author and illustrator of children's books, Maurice Sendak, also plays with the theme of taming monsters. In the Wild Things Are, Max confronts his monsters as they "roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws." With the magic trick, he tames them and dances with them. This story points at the notion that often that which we perceive as threatening is often not as dangerous as we think it is. Writer of children’s books, Kathy Hoopman, writes in All Birds Have Anxiety: “The amazing thing is when you force yourself to face what scares you, or you start whatever it is you are worried about, the scariness shrinks….Then you will find that the things you thought would be terrible have no real terror in them, and things you thought would be horrible are not full of horror.”

Jesus' Temptation

In the synoptic gospels, Jesus struggles with his dragon, which comes to visit him in the form of devil in the temptation scene in the wilderness. The devil offers him the values of self-centeredness: power (turning stone to bread), control (kingdoms) and permanence (avoid death). Jesus rejects these offers when devil visits him in the desert. Jesus overcomes his automatic threat response system by responding to God's call towards altruism, love and empathy.

In closing, increasing our self-awareness will help make the dragon within us become more visible. Learning to tame and dance with our dragons is something we can develop and refine, but this will not happen overnight. It is a learning process that will take place over a lifetime, and not without help.