My name is Siroj Sorajjakool. I was born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand and was priviledged to pursue my undergraduate in Singapore, my graduate degree in religion from India, and my doctorate in California. I have one son, one wife, and I believe in one God. My current position is professor of religion, psychology, and counseling at Loma Linda University. My training is in the application Christianity and Eastern philosophy to the field of spirituality and mental health. My area of teaching consists mainly of spirituality in relation to health and mental health. In the past couple of years I have been involved in a number of qualitative research such as spirituality and cancer, spirituality and chronic pain, spirituality and chronic depression and I am starting another study on spirituality and schizophrenia. One burden that weighs heavily on me is the issue of poverty and children who are at-risk for sex trafficking and prostitution. I hope to be able to touch some lives while I am still breathing.
Regarding the concept “The Sacred and the Space in Between,” I’ve come to believe that the Sacred in life is that space in between. It is both/and. And it is neither. It stands between the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, the heaven and the earth, the joy and the sorrow, life and death. God stands in between. In this space one is able to breath, move, sway, dance, sing, and play. When there is no space, one becomes hyperventilated and congested. The Sacred is that space in between that enables us to be connected to the depth of real life…the real and raw aspects of our humanity that may not always be pleasent and presentable. In “Finding Space: Winnicott, God, and Psychic Reality,” Professor Ann Ulanov suggests, unless we find God within this space, we will be left with a disconnected spirituality. The importance of space within spirituality was confirmed when I heard my colleague, Carla Gober who directs the Center for Spiritual Life and Wholeness, spoke on a number of occasions regarding the space, this place in between. And again it is repeated in the writings of one of my favorite Chinese philosophers, Chuang Tzu, who once told a story about Chuang Chou. Chuang Chou dreamt that he was a butterfly, flittering and fluttering happily. Then he woke up but he wasn’t sure whether he was a butterfly dreaming he was Chang Chou or Chuang Chou dreaming he was a butterfly. It is when we find God in between that we find ourselves standing on a Sacred Ground.
This blog is an invitation to the Sacred…not within the boundary of the institutional structure (literally and metaphorically). But from the margin of humanity in various shapes and forms; from faces of children who know the meaning of pain, to the world of spirituality, and the place of dreams.
8 responses so far ↓
Crowmanic // June 1, 2007 at 2:42 am
Nice to have communication with you, and all the best with your endeavours, your vision, and compassion.
Abdur Rahman // June 9, 2007 at 7:27 am
Peace Siroj,
I’ve just come across your blog and I just wanted to say that what I’ve read so far is reall inspiring.
Best wishes and greetings of peace
Abdur Rahman
sirojs // June 9, 2007 at 7:33 am
Thank you for your kind words and blessings to you.
lovekatie // July 9, 2007 at 4:42 pm
I am instantly calmed and refreshed when I read your writings.
Thank you.
love,
katie
sirojs // July 10, 2007 at 3:04 am
Thanks Katie. And reading your posts gives me insights into the world that expands my understanding of people…and it is entertaining as well.
Andrew Baker // December 22, 2007 at 11:56 am
I have just come upon this site and find the writing very constructive and articulate in emotion and thought.
Having read about what motivates you I am intrigued by the confluence of your stated prime concern with children in poverty and the oft dynamic of people who suffer from depression in cherishing the child within. This is not to assume the confusion of self interest with legitimate altruistic concerns but of a connection nevertheless. I recognise this in myself and I would be interested in your thoughts.
sirojs // December 22, 2007 at 4:41 pm
This one I have not heard before but what an interesting question. Have not thought about it. I think there is but I’m not certain if it has to do with children in particular. But I could be wrong. My hunch is a strong need to find meaning in my life and the realization that may be helping those who are really in need could fulfill this longing in a concrete way. You raised a question that need my careful attention. Can you say more about yourself and the connection between depression and the child within for you?
Andrew Baker // December 23, 2007 at 11:55 am
Sirojs.
Thank you for your reply above. I am very mindful of making personal and what may be felt as impertinent comments to others which this medium of contact provides such a glorious and yet dangerous opportunity. I made my initial comments to you however because I strongly picked up a picture from you which resonated strongly with me.
These are some thoughts which by their nature are a discourse which may be incomplete.
The connection of depression and the child within for me reflects a sense that if I am able to view in the hearts mind that ever present part of me I am able to process those feelings which have been blocked or too painful to be felt. Where anxiety or fear may tend to reign in most subtle and pervasive ways it is possible to hold with the feeling and perhaps sense the original hurt or sense of seperation. The child within is the real presence within adulthood of those things which have been seperated off, which if this remains makes us less autonomous and emotionally literate. It is about making us more conscious of the processes which govern beyond the prattle of the mind and our intentionality.
As you will know this is about sublimation but is also pertinent to personal history too. My personal history. Which also has a common pathology with a lot of people, like myself, who suffer depression and anxiety.
The gift that we learn and which has formed a pattern for me is the gift of emapathy through those feelings. But here is the hitch. This gift for me has its dangers in self deception. The almost instant and seeming ability to sum up a sense of others and perhaps their needs and issues derives from a learned strategy to be alert to the dangers without which have, real or otherwise, a potential to hurt. Our perceptions may not be wrong but our own conditioning attached may not be realised. What do I feel?
The problems facing mankind or the individual are to find the ways to unconditionality, the ability to see ‘other’ clearly beyond the hidden return for us, which if not acknowledged, will as nature does will rear itself up right in our faces. It is a compulsion beyond ourselves to solve this mystery, it is our psychological health and our spirtual path.
As is normal for me I am comfortable at the head level and the writing here reflects this.
I am a trained Art Teacher in the UK, living in West Sussex amongst the South Downs. I am not currently teaching, as such, at the moment. I currently work with Learning Disabiltity and Autistic adults in an educational resource centre assisting them with their communication. Documenting and sharing their ways of expressing needs beyond ‘say and tell’. This is not well payed but has the opportunity for me to define my own role and take part in creative interactions. At the age of 52 I am looking at what direction is evolving for me. After having had many roles and experiences it feels like a return or an arrival at a beginning.
Imaginative drawings can be seen here at http://www.andrewmarkbaker.co.uk/Imaginary.htm
http://andrewmarkbaker.blogspot.com
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