Transformation of Robben Island Most countries seem to have their own forms of Alcatraz, maximum security prisons, escape-proof locations to banish their so-called unwanted of society.
South Africa is no different. They have their Robben Island, a rock jutting out eleven miles off Cape Town in the middle of Table Bay. At the end of apartheid, an amazing event happened; those who had challenged the culture politically were released and the island was opened for all people to visit and see for themselves.
At the close of the millennium, and the week the Island received recognition as a World Heritage Site, a delegation from the Parliament of World Religions took an
early morning ferry out to the Island to plant a peace pole.
What makes this pole unique out of the 200,000 that have been planted around the globe, are the words "May Peace Prevail On Earth" inscribed on it not only in English but also in Zulu, Xhosa and Afrikaans. Everyone was profoundly moved as we stood beneath the 185 flags of the nations from around the world while the Isibane youth choir sang: "Africa its been so long killing each other" and "Can you understand how I suffer."
This was a place committed to
man's inhumanity to man where regular beatings took place, dog attacks, and the horrific caging of human beings.
Men were forced to crush stone in the lime quarries out of the desire to quash their spirits for having spoken out against the injustices of apartheid. When released from prison, these men had every reason to be filled with hatred, anger, bitterness and rage, yet the world found something entirely different. These men had taken this solitary time to better themselves, some who had been imprisoned in this "nightmare" more than a quarter of a century. They turned their hell hole into an historic educational opportunity. So when the cell doors where finally opened, they stepped forth not only as heroes, but as leaders.
Great men such as a Nelson Mandela stepped forth to become president of the Country through an unheard-of peaceful revolution that stunned the world. He told our group: "While we would not want to forget the brutality of apartheid, what we want to reflect upon is the triumph of the human spirit against the forces of evil."
Thus the question can be asked: where in your life have you been imprisoned?
What hell of your own creation have you found yourself in that appears absolutely hopeless? We are all bound by our own concepts of what we have accepted. This even includes our concept of God. Too often we have placed our dependence on the outside world in order to feel comfortable on the inside which is entirely the opposite approach, particularly when our outer world is shaken to the core. The true spiritual life is the complete reversal of this. Self-entrapment comes when a belief in two powers becomes stronger than our faith in God. When we feel imprisoned by sickness, lack, or limitation, we give our potential away to some physical condition, erroneously believing something else to be stronger than God. Whatever healing one needs, the answer must be discovered within one's own consciousness, not somewhere external to it. Whether we find ourselves in a prison cell, loss of a job, financial challenge or a dissolving relationship, one must remember to turn within to God for the guidance, direction and answers. The real substance of all form is invisible. The outer effects are the result of inner activity.
Can you picture yourself joyously going through life, watching all that is required to live life fully, effortlessly unfolding from within? We must all allow our trust, faith, and confidence to rest in God, and not the outer conditions of the world - no matter where we find ourselves in life. It is wise to remember that it is God's good pleasure to give us the Kingdom so let it be our good pleasure to receive it. Let this be the spiritual activity of our persistent mental
practice. Then, and only then, we'll come to know that everything necessary to our freedom is already within our own spiritually centered being.
Dr. Christian Sorensen
President, United Church of Religious Science
1613 Lake Drive
Cardiff, CA 92007 (760) 753-5786 | 
