Every now and again a word surfaces that seems to perfectly fit the mood or the need at the time. And just now all around me in little ways I see the need for courage. And I'm sure many of you will sense its pressing urgency too.

It came to mind recently during an inspirational talk in Perth by the Rumi scholar Andrew Harvey (who incidentally is finishing his current Australian tour in northern NSW early this month). Andrew described our current age as a time of "spiritual anorexia", a painful image of the gnawing angst at the heart of so many people. We see it all around us - relationships that fizzle and die, soaring rates of depression, drugs and drink, endless retail therapy. Andrew also sees spiritual starvation in the West's distrust of Islam, in such sad contrast to the golden age of Sufism in Rumi's 13th century and the wonder of the Mughals in 17th century India. Just think of the Taj Mahal.

But Andrew was at pains to tell us all is not lost. The fact that Rumi is the widest read poet in the world making him the "supreme voice of our time" tells us so much about what we are seeking. With his guidance we can ride out this rough patch, this "global dark night", and begin our journey to the heart centre. One other, much more beautiful, Rumi image stays with me from that talk: "The whole world will grow green with our love." Green, the colour of the heart chakra, is also the colour of divine love in Sufism.

Courage has popped up in our features this month and Charmaine Saunders almost redefines the word as she shares her own recent very frightening and painful experience in ' A Journey Shared'. As a born counsellor, she feels we can all gain strength to face our own trials by sharing another's and I'm sure it's true. I can't thank her enough for her commitment and honesty and wish her a full recovery.

Our cover feature 'Give Back to Tibet' sets us a different sort of challenge, one that's very timely given the Dalai Lama's visit to Australia this month. We all love him - who could not? - so maybe it's time we thought more of what we can do for him and his country rather than focus on what he can do for us. Long-time friend of Tibet, Jeremy Ball, presents us with some deeply disturbing images that speak of the torment Tibetans are enduring under Chinese oppression.

Many would suggest Tibet is the 'Heart Centre' of the world, to use Rumi's powerful words. Jeremy asks if we truly value a culture and spiritual practice that have given us the Dalai Lama, can we stand by and do nothing while Tibet burns?

We have up till now, but we can change. All in all, it's time to get real. Once again though, Andrew Harvey has a reassuring message for us - don't let the current 'dark night' get you down.

It will pass and it is essential for us to transform into the divine beings we are at our core. Let's start with love!

Margaret Evans
NOVA Editor
May 2013

As the Dalai Lama visits Australia this month, Jeremy Ball calls on us all to translate our love for His Holiness into tangible support for his tormented homeland.

Tibet is burning. The torment of the collective Tibetan soul is being expressed in the extreme tragedy of self immolations. In the last three years, 119 Tibetans have set themselves alight in a very typical Tibetan protest demonstrating the deep pain and frustration in their soul but without any desire to inflict pain on even their captors.

As His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, graces our shores once more I could easily and happily write an article celebrating his virtues, but instead this article is a call for Australians to rise and meet the gift that is being given to them.

There comes a time in everyone’s spiritual path and any path we take in life, be it career or family, where we no longer expect to be spoon fed and taken care of but when we become a leader in our own right. No longer the apprentice chef but the leader of the kitchen, no longer the student but the teacher, no longer the child but the parent.

And it is with this in mind that I turn my passionate urgings tinged with anger on my fellow countrymen who gorge themselves in the luxury of receiving teachings and blessings from the presence of the Dalai Lama, surely one of the most noble beings to grace this Earth at this time. But once the feast is over they do nothing to support or protect the culture that gave birth to the Dalai Lama. We are all happy to pick the fruit but how many turn and care for the tree that raised it.

We flatter ourselves at how special we are to sit in our comfy seats and receive these blessings but do we reflect on the hundreds of years of work and struggle that it took to create Tibet and the office of the Dalai Lama, to create a society and culture to be a womb for this level of Divinity. For the last 60 years, that tree has been facing unbelievable trials and torture. Even as you read this article, Tibetans are being tortured and suffering under severe oppression.

How many of us, after we have read a book by the Dalai Lama or hung some prayer flags or dinged a singing bowl, give a thought beyond our own spiritual materialism and self aggrandisement, to do something practical to support the many mothers in Tibet whose sons languish in Chinese jails facing frequent beatings and worse. Or the young children crossing the roof of the world in sub zero temperatures, avoiding snipers, not knowing if they will find freedom, or if they will see their family again. Or, in fact, all Tibetans living under the dread of the constant surveillance, informers and oppression.

I have had the great blessing over the past 12 years to befriend many Tibetan people; most of my best friends now are from Tibet. I entered Tibet in 2001 for the first time with entirely selfish motives. I was too troubled with my own suffering to be able to spare a thought for those outside my skin.

But the love and respect and offering of simple human dignity I received opened a path of healing for me. My eyes began to open and I saw that the very people who were helping me had circumstances many times tougher than my own, from the basics of getting food to sustain their bodies to the suffering of the recent past in their family lines ravaged by the Red Army and secret police, to the continued harassment and genocide.

But this is in the Tibetan psyche; you will rarely find a Tibetan asking for help; they are only too willing to lend a hand but they will not ask. This does not mean they do not want help or that the nation does not require outside assistance but Tibetans won’t put a burden on another person.

Let me tell you one story. It was the deepest instruction to my being and one that I reflect on often and still brings a tear to my eye.
In 2011, I travelled to Amdo to attend my friend’s wedding. He comes from a part of Tibet that faces some of the strongest oppression.

Like all Tibetans who have escaped to the West he faces hours of interrogation each time he returns and it is only possible to return once you have a passport from a country that wields influence in Beijing, a country the Communist Party doesn’t want to upset for fear of losing public respect and valuable trade.

He comes from a traditional Tibetan rural village which now has many Chinese families sent in to colonise the locals. In true Tibetan custom, several hundred people attended the wedding feast, all of them Tibetan except one obviously Chinese adolescent who kept walking up on stage and taking the microphone.

After a few moments’ analysis, it was obvious the young man had a mental impediment. The Tibetans were so kind to him, they would let him have a few moments’ fun and then pass the microphone to the next person in the proceedings and sure enough the boy would come up again and again.

I asked the groom who this boy was and I was told he was Chinese and lived in the village. His own family was embarrassed by him and his fellow countrymen often beat and ridiculed him so he hung out with Tibetans, who, it was obvious to me, accepted him as family. His plate was never empty, his glass was ever full and most importantly his heart was filled with love...

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