“THE GENDERLESS GOD IS NOT DEAD AND CANNOT DIE”

Religious belief tends to evolve with the changing culture and intellectual climate. Yet if God is dead and unnecessary in the post-God and anti-theistic Western culture, to whom shall we (mortals) turn to for immortality and comfort? We are not the source and end of life in the cosmos. We are not our own; everyone (every one) of us belongs to God. He is our Father and She is our Mother too. Our existence is contingent upon the One who made us as his image bearers and according to her likeness too. Our life is dependent upon God who gives and sustains life.

The genderless God is life.
She is the life-giver and life-sustainer.
He is immortal and eternal.
No one is like Him.
She is the most compassionate and the most patient Being.
God is not dead because we humans are still alive.
If we can still breathe, God is necessary.
God is our Ubuntu; we are because He is. Our humanity is connected to God’s divinity.

“Can These Bones Live, Lord? Being Optimistic and Truthful about Haiti’s Long history of Trauma and Suffering”

Given Haiti’s long history of trauma and suffering, and a fragile democracy, sometimes, it terrifies me that the country of Haiti and its people will be destroyed by natural disasters and catastrophies. Natural disasters such as hurricanes, storms, floods, earthquakes, and other forms of traumas (i.e. economic, political, cultural, psychological, existential) visit the nation of Haiti and its dear people too often. Arguably, I have been struggling with this personal fear for a long time, and it has waged numerous battles within me. I believe that the most important task of a public intellectual is not to stir up the human conscience nor to awaken the national spirit. The concerning and people-centered intellectual will provide guidance to the people in fragile and tormentous times, help them to maintain a spirit of optimism and future possibilities, and will be sensitive to their state of mind and evolving psychology.

Nonetheless, I am a very positive person and always try to hold on to hope and not to let despair, hopelessness, or cynicism guide my thoughts and actions. I am not afraid to face this life’s challenges and moments of despair, desolation, and pessimism. Correspondingly, I am not afraid of the power of (personal and collective) lament and mourning over my country and my people.

1. Resilience is not another word for safety and hope.
2. Collective suffering is not often redemptive or salvific.
3. Staying alive does not mean living out the quality life or the good life.
4. Holding on to the end does not necessarily lead to restoration or
   victory.
5. Resistance to corruption, poverty, poor healthcare, violence, trauma, mass death, economic exploitation, racial capitalism, international sanctions, and foreign invasions and interventions is not equated with collective power and self-determination.
6. Holding on to a glorious past, and a history of revolution and resistance does not often produce collective peace, national unity, or political sovereignty.
7. Being zealously religious and spiritual will not help escape existential death, even physical disappearance from this world.

Yet I remain convinced today that a country that has given birth to a François Makandal, a Dutty Boukman, a Toussaint Louverture, a Jean-Jacques Dessalines, a Louis Félix Mathurin Boisrond-Tonnerre (“Boisrond-Tonnerre”), a François Capois (“Kapwa lanmò), a Cécile Fatiman, a Suzanne Béliar, a Marie Sainte Dédée Bazile (“Défilé”),  a Catherine Flon, a Marie-Jeanne Lamartiniére, a Marie Vieux-Chauvet, a Jacques Roumain, and a Charlemagne Péralte will be resurrected from the dead, and its people will rise triumphantly in the midst of its ruins. The source of our strength is within us, and our Messiah is not and will not be a foreigner, but a Haitian-born or Haitian-descent Savior. The Messiah is not an individual, but the collective. The Savior is not a person, but the people.

Can these dead bones live, Lord?

Yes, they can.

Yahoo News: “Haiti needs time to breathe’ after 1st devastating earthquake since 2010 disaster” by Marquis Francis

Here’s an excerpt of my interview with Marquis Francis of Yahoo News:

“Celucien L. Joseph, an associate professor of English at Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Fla., is a Haitian historian and literary scholar who moved to the U.S. at age 15. He blames a troubled history of foreign rule, including by the U.S., for many of the challenges Haiti struggles with today.

“The United States has contributed enormously to the suffering of the Haitian people and Haiti’s economic challenges and decline and political troubles,” Joseph told Yahoo News. “U.S. policies toward Haiti have been detrimental to the country’s economic development and autonomy.”

“The Haitian people are a people who have known or experienced political tragedy, trauma, suffering, natural disasters and all forms of abuse and exploitation coming from different directions and sources,” Joseph said. “Politics in Haiti is synonymous with national catastrophe, and the fragile political life continues to challenge the enduring legacy of the Haitian Revolution.”

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/haiti-needs-time-to-breathe-after-first-devastating-earthquake-since-2010-disaster-214755964.html

“Nations and the Practice of Human Cooperation”

We will save ourselves and others from a lot of trouble and misfortune if only the developed countries would leave the developing nations in the Global South and their governments alone. By alone, I would like to convey this idea: not to interfere in their politics, way of life, and tell them how they should govern their people and live in the world. The nations of the world have their own culture, practices, and moral framework, and they often look at the other nations from their own particular lens and worldview. Political sovereignty and national autonomy of a nation are significant to help develop a sense of national pride and patriotic sensibility, and achieve a level of economic sustainability.

On the other hand, as a matter of international relations and good will diplomacy, countries should help each other in moments of political crisis, natural disasters, war, violations of human rights, etc., and they should practice the ethics of human solidarity and the politics of international cooperation. The nations of the world are not just comprised of systems and institutions to enable them to function; nations are like people who need each other to grow and flourish in the world. Nations, regardless of their economic strength, amount of wealth, and democratic governance, are like individuals who need a cooperative lift or a human booster to help explore future possibilities and achieve a strong democratic character. Nations, just like people, need each other to make the world a more liveable and welcoming place for everyone. Human beings are like plants, and the nations of the world are like trees that need water and human care to grow, develop, and flourish. We are Nations. The countries are People. Let’s practice human cooperation and mutual reciprocity.

Reading Cicero for the Good Life in 7 Days:
Day 3 (“The Practice of Moral Goodness in Society”)

What is my individual duty and obligation in the world?

“For we are morally bound to cherish and observe the degree of right which comes within our comprehension just as carefully as the ideally wise man is obligated to cherish what is right in the full and ideal sense of the world. Because that is the only way in which we can maintain whatever progress we have made towards achieving goodness.

So much then for people who fulfil their moral obligations sufficiently well to be regarded as good. But those who habitually weight the right course against what they regard as advantageous are in quite a different category. Unlike good men, they judge everything by profits and gains, which seem to them just as valuable as what is right. Panaetius observed that people often doubtingly weigh those two things against one another. I am sure he meant just what he said: that they often do this, not that they ought to. For preferring advantage to right is not the only crime. It is also sinful even to attempt a comparison between the two things—even to hesitate between them.”

Do not harm or hurt others:

“Well, then, to take something away from someone else—to profit by another’s loss—is more unnatural than death, or destitution, or pain, or any other physical or external blow. To begin with, this strikes at the roots of human society and fellowship. For if we each of us propose to rob or inure one another for our personal gain, then we are clearly anything else in the whole world: namely, the link that unites every human being with every other. Just imagine if each of our limbs had its own consciousness and saw advantage for itself in appropriating the nearest limb’s strength! Of course, the whole body would inevitably collapse and die. In precisely the same way, a general seizure and appropriation of other people’s property would cause the collapse of the human community, the brotherhood of man. Granted that there is nothing unnatural in a man preferring to earn a living for himself rather than for someone else, what nature forbids is that we should increase our own means, property, and resources by plundering others.”

Source, Cicero, “Selected Works,” trans. with an introduction by Michael Grant, pp. 165, 166-7

Commentary and Reflection:

In the first passage above, Cicero argues because human beings share a common humanity and are universally endowed with a sense to fulfill their moral obligations or duties where they are in the world, they are compelled morally to do what is right and good in the world. Human beings are created with a sense to know the ideal good and the ideal right, which the Stoics called the ideal wisdom. Such moral vision of the world is inherent in the moral universe; in other words, we live in a moral universe due to divine providence and the divine spark that was universally bestowed upon every person, universally and transhistorically.

As a result, Cicero believed that it is impossible to realize moral progress without achieving moral goodness, which the Divine has gifted humanity. He connected human progress (i.e. human intelligence, reason, moral progress, economic progress, cultural progress) with the moral attributes of the cosmos; it is from this perspective, he could posit that the only way human beings could move forward toward global and universal progress is to fulfill both our individual and collective obligations in the world. In the most practical way, each one of us should be asking: what is my duty toward my family, other individuals, community, city, church, workplace, etc., to help others achieve progress and meet their respective obligations in various arenas and departments of life? Or as a national and global citizen, what am I supposed to do to contribute to the good life and human flourishing in society and in the world?

For Cicero, our moral obligations are linked automatically to the natural world and our nature as human beings, and the life worth living is the one that will fulfill such obligations already preordained in the moral universe by the Divine. Each one of us must always seek a way to do good and right, and to maximize the common good in the world. We are obligated to live in such a way because of our common identity as human beings. We do not live for ourselves, but to support and elevate our neighbor. Self-interest is the antithesis of the highest good. The pursuit of self-pleasure at the expense of the happiness and pleasure of another individual challenges Cicero’s conviction that the ideal good or the ideal right is a shared purpose of humanity.

Therefore, when an individual fails to fulfill his or her moral obligations in society, directly and indirectly, such attitude will result in postponing human progress in the world and deferring what should be profitable or advantageous to other human beings. If we follow Cicero’s logic about our moral obligations linked to his doctrine of divine providence, human-made calamities and evils such as oppression, abuse, exploitation, rape, dictatorship, authoritarianism, physical pain, poverty, famine, suffering, even death contradict the divine plan for the ordered moral universe and humanity. Harming or hurting another person is a counter action to what is morally good and advantageous. Abusing and exploiting another individual defeat our common purpose in the world. According to Cicero, if and when an individual exploits another person “to profit by another’s loss,” such action challenges “the roots of human society and fellowship” because we ought to live in cooperation and understanding and in light of the moral goodness inherent in the moral frame and order of the universe.

Practically, nobody should seek self-interest or should live a self-centered life; rather, each one of us should energetically and intentionally commit to the interest and wellbeing of others. Suppose each individually intentionally seeks the interest of others, our individual intervention will eventually complement each other and result in the fulfillment of our collective destiny and obligations. This is the only way we will avoid the (future) moral collapse of civilization and the progressive decline of our shared humanity. As Cicero warned us, “Granted that there is nothing unnatural in a man preferring to earn a living for himself rather than for someone else, what nature forbids is that we should increase our own means, property, and resources by plundering others.” The good life is how each one of us intends to live in the world in relation to the common humanity and fellowship we share as human beings and in respect to our moral obligations associated with divine providence in the world.

Reading Cicero for the Good Life in 7 Days: Day 2 (Achieving the Common Good)

To live according to divine providence:

“The Stoics believe that right is the only good. Your Peripatetics, on the other hand, hold that right is the ‘highest good’–to the degree that all other things collected together scarcely begin to weight down the balance on the other side. Now, according to either doctrine, there can be no doubt whatever about one point: advantage can never conflict with right. That is why Socrates, as the tradition goes, uses to curse men who had first begun to differentiate between these things which nature had made inseparable. The Stoics agreed with him; for their view is that everything which is morally right is advantageous, and there can be no advantage in anything which is not right.”

“The Stoics’ ideal is to live consistently with nature. I suppose what they mean is this: throughout our lives we ought invariably to aim at morally right courses of action, and, in so far as we have other aims also, we must select only those which do not clash with such courses…There ought never to have been any question of weighing advantage against right, and the whole topic ought to have been excluded from any philosophical discussion.”

Commentary: Cicero, an enthusiastic champion of Stoic worldview and way of life, believed that human beings and politicians should live up to high moral standards and should exercise self-restraint when making moral choices. When Cicero talks about nature or the Law of nature, he is referring to the things that have been (pre-) ordained in nature by the gods, what we call in philosophy and theology (divine) providence. For him, divine providence is a global human experience because every human being has been marked with the divine imprint and that the gods have universally distributed this divine spark among all people. Similarly, the Stoics held the same view.

To address the issue of right and advantage, Cicero discusses the two dominant views of his time: that of Peripatetics and the Stoics. For the former, doing what is right in life is to achieve the highest moral goodness. That would benefit all people, even one’s enemy. This is a moral obligation. For the latter, to act rightly is to do good because nature calls every man to live consistently to what is morally right. In other words, the highest good is always to do what is right that will push forward the project of human cooperation and understanding.  From both perspectives, something that is morally good will be advantageous to all people. To put it simply, when someone does the right thing, it will benefit someone’s else and contributes to the common good in society. What is morally right is always almost advantageous to society and individuals. To act contrary, that is,  to do what is morally wrong or “not right” is to act contrary to nature and divine providence. In such a case, such action will harm others, be disadvantageous to others, and defer human cooperation and flourishing in the world.  For Cicero, the aim of life is to do good always and to act rightly consistently, which is aligned with divine providence in human history.

Source, Cicero, “Selected Works,” trans. with an introduction by Michael Grant, pp. 12,  162-3

Reading Cicero for the Good Life in 7 Days: Day 1 (On Moral Obligations and Special Responsibility)

I am currently reading through Cicero (“Selected Works,” Penguin Classics) and would like to share with you some of his ideas on moral philosophy, ethics, and how to live the good life. In the next seven days, I will share brief personal reflections and commentaries. I will first cite texts or quotes from Cicero; second, place them under an appropriate heading; and finally, offer a brief commentary. Today, the first day of the series of seven conversations on moral philosophy, we begin with Cicero’s thought on moral obligations and special responsibility. Here are some of his ideas on some of the pressing issues and challenges we experience as human beings, especially when the matter pertains to making a moral choice (this is also called “Situation Ethics” in philosophy):

On moral evil and moral good: “One must not only choose the least among evils, one must also extract from them any good that they may contain.”

On the utility and goodness of philosophy: “My son: every part of philosophy is fruitful and rewarding, none barren or desolate. But the most luxuriantly fertile field of all is that of our moral obligations–since, if we clearly understand these, we have mastered the rules for leading a good and consistent life.”

Philosophy, Career, and Special Responsibility: “To everyone who proposes to have a good career, moral philosophy is indispensable. And I am inclined to think that this applies particularly to yourself. For upon your shoulders rest a special responsibility…Work as hard as possible (if study comes under the heading of work and not pleasure!) and do your best.”

Commentary and Reflection: for Cicero, philosophy, which intends to guide human beings in making wise decisions and good choices in life as they interact with other human beings in the world, contains all the essentials to help us living the good life that is consistent with nature and the moral imperative of life.Cicero believed that because human beings share common traits, they have moral obligations to each other. This is his main motive for his philosophy of human cooperation. We attain the good life by living according to those moral demands that sustain our common humanity and by actualizing the moral obligations we owe to each other.

What are the obligations that we owe to each other?

To answer this question, Cicero leads us to revisit the moral (philosophical) vision of Panaetius, who had had a considerable influence on him; In Panaetius, the questions relating to the moral responsibilities and demands of life fall under three broad categories:

1. “Is a thing morally right or wrong?
2. Is it advantageous or disadvantageous?
3. If apparent right and apparent advantage clash, what is to be the basis for our choice between them?”

In other words, for Cicero, to know exactly what the moral demands are, we must be able to answer these questions honestly and responsibly. Evidently, there seems to be an established binary of relations between them: the rapport between morally right and morally wrong choices, and the rapport between advantageous and disadvantageous decisions. So far, Cicero is making the following deductive arguments or reasonings or at least, he wants us to think in that direction:

A. Human choices could be labelled as morally wrong or morally right.

B. Those choices could be characterized as advantageous or disadvantageous.

C. A human choice or decision could be construed as apparent right or apparent advantage.

D. Right and avantage are not the same.

E. Wrong and disadvantage are not the same.

F. As a consequence, a human choice or decision could be understood as apparent wrong or apparent disadvantage.

The heart of the threefold questions take us to the foundation of human ethics or moral philosophy. In other words, what is the driven motive when someone chooses what is morally right or advantageous? Or what is the source of a person’s decision to choose what is morally wrong or disadvantageous? Morally right to whom? Morally wrong to whom? Who gets to decide the final characterization of one’s actions and decisions? Or why is a moral characterization (of human decisions and choices) already there before a decision is actualized?

Source, Cicero, “Selected Works,” trans. with an introduction by Michael Grant, pp. 159-161

“A Brief History of Presidential Assassinations in Haiti”

Haiti is one of the birthplaces of democracy in the modern world. To put it another way, as one of the oldest democracies in the Western world, the Republic of Haiti put an end to the unholy trinity of chattel slavery, colonization, and white supremacy in the French colony of Saint-Domingue through the watershed world and successful event known as the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804). Haiti has also contributed enormously to the projects of universal emancipation, human rights, and human subjectivity in modern times. Yet since its birth on January 1, 1804, the people of Haiti have struggled to live peacefully and democratically and to maintain national sovereignty and political freedom. Overall, the country has experienced a number of orchestrated crises and tragic political events, including the history of totalitarianism, despots, authoritarianism, dictatorship, and various coups and coup attempts.

Correspondingly, many Haitian Heads of state have died through well-planned assassinations. At least, four Haitian presidents have been assassinated while in power; below, I offer a brief account of these tragic events in the history of Haiti.

1. Jean-Jacques Dessalines is known as the Founder of the Republic of Haiti and the Liberator of the Haitian people. He served as Governor of Haiti for nine months and subsequently became the country’s first Emperor, adopting the monarchial title Jacques 1er. He was Emperor for two years and nine months (1804-1806). His administration had faced strong opposition or resistance in the Southern part of the country, and many of his top generals had turned against him. On his way to the capital, he was ambushed by a group of officers and violently gunned down at Pont-Rouge on 17 October 1806.
2. Sylvain Salnave served as President of Haiti for only two years and six months (June 1867-December 1869). When the opposition troops were causing chaos and violence in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, Salnave attempted to escape the country and eventually fled to the east side of the island: Dominican Republic. He was seized and brought back to the capital, where he was executed on 15 January 1870.
3. Michel Cincinnatus Leconte experienced a short-term presidency that lasted for only one year (August 1911-August 1912). As the grandson of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, he was named President of Haiti on August 14, 1911, after a violent insurrection. The opposition against him grew rapidly in the country; while he was sleeping in the National Palace (the presidential home), the building “mysteriously” exploded on August 8, 1912.The President, his grandson, and 300 Haitian soldiers perished in this catastrophic event. Many believe it was the act of the opposition, and thus concluded that his death was an assassination.
4. Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, who succeeded President Davilmar Theodore who spent only three months in power, served as President of Haiti for only four months. In fact, before the U.S. military invasion of Haiti on July 28, 1915, the country had experienced six short-lived presidencies or Heads of State, whose overall term lasted only three years (August 1912-July 1915): Cincinnatus Leconte (1 year: August 1911-August 1912); Joseph Antoine Tancrède Auguste (9 months: August 1912-May 1913); Michel Oreste (8 months: May 1913-January 1914); Oreste Zamor (8 months: February 1914-October 1914); Joseph Davilmar Théodore (3 months: November 1914-February 1915); Vilbrun Guillaume Sam (4 months: Mars 1915-July 1915). Dr. Rosalvo Bobo, an influential political leader and medical doctor who opposed Sam’s complicated dealings with the United States. He was a well-respected leader of the anti-U.S. movement in the country and mobilized his allies in the countryside and Port-au-Prince to overthrow President Sam. To counter the opposition, President Sam executed 167 political prisoners, and the tension against his presidency escalated in the capital. As a result, while he fled to the French embassy for refuge, the angry crowd dragged him into the street and tore his body in pieces.

***It is good to note the United States exploited these series of unfortunate political crises to invade and occupy Haiti for 19 years (1915-1934).

5. Jovenel Moïse served as President of Haiti from February 2017 until his assassination in July 2021. On Wednesday, July 7, 2021, at 1:00 a.m., President Moïse was fatally wounded and assassinated in his private residence by a group of 26 heavily-armed individuals. The first lady, Martine Moïse, was shot in the attack and is now receiving medical care at a hospital in Miami, Florida. It is reported that the Haitian Police (Police Nationale d’Haiti: PNH) forces arrested 15 suspects, killed 4 assassins, and are now pursuing the remaining 8 criminals associating with the murder of President Moïse.

Haiti might be a small country, but the Haitian people are a great people who have changed the world through the power of the popular will and collective determination. The people of Haiti never lose faith in the power of freedom and the general will of the people, and the triumph of democracy and human rights in their own society and in the world. They are a resistant and optimistic people who are always trying to reinvent themselves, to craft a new destiny for themselves and their country, and to explore future possibilities for the next generation.

***This article is also appeared or published in The Haitian Times: https://haitiantimes.com/2021/07/11/a-brief-history-of-presidential-deaths-in-haiti/

The Haitian People Are Tired!

• We are tired and ashamed of our collective failures and shortcomings to live up to the democratic ideals and the legacy of the Haitian Revolution.
• We are tired and ashamed of the history of our bankrupt democracy and human rights abuse in the Haitian society; our African ancestors stood up against the enslavement and trafficking of human beings and proclaimed boldly that all people were human beings and should live and die free.
• We are tired because we have not truly tasted and experienced true and full democracy nor have we enjoyed genuine national unity and harmony as a people and nation.
• We are tired and ashamed of bad political leadership and corruption traditions in Haiti; we are tired of unhealthy political practices that continue to produce despotic governments and authoritarianism in our society.
• We are tired and ashamed of the internal systems and structures that produce violence and death in our nation, and the institutions that work against the general welfare of the general masses and all Haitian citizens—toward the common good and human flourishing; we are tired of the foreign institutions, systems, and governments that help maintain and finance such cruel political life and system in Haiti.

• We are tired of being kidnapped and robbed, dragged, burned, raped, violated, and shot in the streets.
• We are tired and ashamed of living in dire poverty, living in fear of extreme starvation, and of cultivating false hopes of better future possibilities; we are tired of foreign and domestic policies that continue to produce such inhumane and intolerable life.
• We are tired of the powers and forces that support the ongoing violation of the human rights, personal and collective peace, and the personal and collective freedom of the Haitian people.

• We are tired of false religions that enslave us, shady missionaries that dehumanize us, and NGOs that misappropriate our resources.

• We are tired of the powerful individuals and institutions that are callous to our collective suffering, pain, and dissipation.
• We are tired and ashamed of corrupt Haitian politicians and the selfish Haitian bourgeoisie class that employ violence, fear, and weapon to defer national progress and economic development, silence the voice and will of the Haitian people, and undermine democracy and human solidary in the Haitian society.
• We are tired and ashamed of crooked Haitian politicians and leaders (i.e. the Haitian oligarchy) who have exchanged participatory democracy for personal power, collective freedom for personal authority, and national sovereignty for personal wealth and greed.
• We are tired of all the forces and systems that devalue Haitian life, treat Haitian orphans as slaves/restavek, and dehumanize the Haitian poor and marginalized communities.
• We are tired of foreign news reporters and journalists that create (mis-)information and (pseudo) knowledge about Haiti and the Haitian people to advance their own careers abroad.
• We are tired of intellectuals, researchers, scholars, activists, and writers who exploit Haiti and her resources and misinterpret Haitian history and culture to get (personal) research funding, gain acceptance into secret societies and prestigious academic organizations, and to write self-centered books and narratives about Haiti and her people while neglecting the interests and needs of the Haitian people.

• We are tired and ashamed of powerful and influential people who have been silent about the plot of the Haitian people and have withheld their resources, abilities, and power to fight injustice and corruption, eradicate oppression and all forms of social evils in the Haitian society.
• We are tired and ashamed of the so-called reasonable people and public intellectuals who appeal to human reason and the art of rhetoric to rationalize and counter the evidence (and the fact) in order to maximize their cultural and political power and lead the Haitian people away from the truth and existential realities.
• We are tired and ashamed of coward Haitian citizens who are not brave enough to walk in solidarity with the Haitian masses, to defend their right to exist and eat, their right to education and healthcare, and their right to democracy and live free.
• We are tired of Haitian citizens who are not peacemakers and nation-builders; rather, they have created an intolerable situation within the country’s civil and political societies and fostered an atmosphere and culture of division and alienation in the Haitian society.
• We are tired of being traumatized by fear: the fear of death, fear of social alienation, fear of personal and collective future, and the fear of life itself.
• We are tired and afraid of the prospect of democracy and justice and the future of our children and the generation yet to be born in Haiti, and the diminishing value of the enduring heritage of the Haitian Revolution in our own society and political practices.