Escape rooms are a fascinating fad. People are locked in a room and the object of the escape trick is to figure out clues to get out of the room before the time is up. It’s an interesting quandary. We are all looking for ways to be true to who we’re called to be and find “a way out.”
Sometimes we’re forced to figure out our circumstances and work within to liberate ourselves from the prisons imposed by the world.
St. John of the Cross was kidnapped by his fellow friars who objected to his reform of the Carmelite order. The mystic survived 9 months in a ten by six high cell. He was subjected to beatings, and went long hours in darkness. While in darkness, he mentally wrote the poetry that would make him famous and become some of the most important literature Spain has to offer. He would later escape through a window associated with his cell. Interestingly enough, though, it was his spiritual discipline that kept him from going mad.
In modern times there are countless stories that point to the power to rise above the gravest of circumstances. Rwanda is one such example. This tribal war between the Hutus and Tutsi took place in the 90s. It initiated friends and neighbors to become villains and murders. Immaculee Illigbazi, a Tutsi, survived the Rwandan genocide in a three by four-foot cell with five other women. The priest who hid them was part of the Hutu majority. He risked his life to save them. When Hutu soldiers arrived to search his house having heard that there were Tutsis there, he diverted them the best he could. When they arrived at the final room where the women were hiding, one of the officers told the priest, “We believe you,” and didn’t check the room. If they found the women, the priest would be forced to kill them and the soldiers would kill him. It is a miraculous story.
These women had to develop a tenacious spirit to endure the hardship against horrifying odds. Battling fear in a bathroom, rising above personality quirks and nuisances. Immaculee along with the other women managed to survive the genocide. Imbuing themselves with certain disciplines to stay alive in that small room, the Tutsi women prevailed in overcoming evil.
Over the years, I’ve learned from some master teachers. One of them is 92 years old and does not take one pill or medication. He’s a Sufi who has developed techniques through meditation and contemplation; a steadfast, disciplined and devout man, he taught me many years ago, “the only way out is in.” Find a place within and make it your own. Build the prana of the room through meditation, praying, and contemplating the great questions of life.
Everyone needs a safe space to ponder, to yearn, to rest, to understand, to ease into a new awareness about who he is and who he is called to be.
The frustrations of this life can be numerous; bullying, rejection, perceived failure, self-defeat and insecurity, blistering inner wounds that don’t seem to heal and agitate the mind and distract us from being present to the fruitfulness of a day. The battles we wage in earnest to survive turn us around and engender fearful thinking and can lead to our dissatisfaction with the world and in some cases our undoing.
At my school we once had “a peace room.” The peace room was a place where students would go if they were struggling to focus in class because of distractions at home. The distractions ranged from a lack of money, divorce, peer and parental pressures and school problems to you name it. The peace room was in the chapel and was manned by a teacher. Students would talk though their problems to get to the heart of issues they were facing.
Somehow, I think the symbol of that room served in bigger ways for the community. We all need that one space to call our own – a safe space where we feel the warmth and comfort of unity. We need that critical thinking and discernment to help us face the world and know we are not alone in overcoming it.
We create our altars, and quiet our minds in hopes that we may construct a space in our hearts and minds to fortify us against the greatest storms the world has to offer. I’m astounded when I hear stories of individuals rising to discover their best selves. The greatest visionaries are born of humble dwellings.
Immaculee said, “The only thing we can do that is worthwhile, that can build the world, is loving one another. Every day I wake up thinking of how I can help another person. Love is a gift and it is how you choose to use it that makes the difference.” She said, “If you choose love, I am with you. Love heals.” What a fortress she’s built.
The cardinal virtues help us in laying out the blueprints for our being. If you don’t believe in the basic human rights guaranteed to individuals, you’re laying a foundation that is unsound.
Love is the brick and mortar that fortifies the foundations of our being. We may be looking for ways to liberate ourselves from fear, but we can all take comfort in that one sacred space we create for ourselves to establish a position of comfort in facing the dilemmas in the world.
How we form the peace room within makes all the difference.
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