AN INTERVIEW WITH THE POET RANDALL BUTISINGH (PART TWO OF THREE)

May 03, 2009 Features / Columnists, The Arts Forum

“In search of THE FINE THREAD OF TRUTH . . .
journeying to the same destination”

Ameena Gafoor (A.G.): There are many Guyanese writers living abroad who are writing on issues of dislocation and exile and the problematic nature of race and cultural identity. As a writer in exile yourself, what are your thoughts on these issues?
Randall Butisingh (R.B.): There are many writers like myself living abroad, who rue the conditions which have caused a massive migration of the cream of the population, and would like to see a stable society where they can return and contribute to the prosperity of their homeland which, by all standards, has the resources to make it a great country.
The dislocation of families is one of the chief grievances. Families scattered [all over the globe] rarely have the opportunity to meet, especially on occasions as births and deaths and religious festivals. The generation born abroad is adopting the ways of a strange culture which has transformed behavioural patterns. It has made them cultural hybrids who cannot really find a secure position in societies of ethnic and cultural diversities.

A.G.: You were raised as a Christian from birth by Hindu parents and in 1940 you were appointed Lay Reader of St. Augustine’s Church where you served for 18 years. In an exchange with a correspondent at your blog site you stated that you “separated from the Church as I saw it as exclusive and divisive and I wanted to be involved in all mankind”. Tell us more about your experience with the Church.
R.B.: I separated from the Church because I found it exclusive and divisive. It demanded total loyalty. Fellowshipping, at that time, with other denominations was considered disloyal. In fact, when I took part in an event where another denomination was taking the gospel to the Hindus, the Bishop rebuked me saying that we cannot judge them, but we must be loyal to our own.
The Church could not run without money, so they had to get money through entertainments, teas, dances, raffles and the like. There was no true fellowship in the church; charity was exited. People rubbed shoulders at the alter rail but they hardly knew one another. You were excluded from the Holy Communion if you could not afford the dues.

In the case of an altercation between two members, the priest would not try to settle the matter before it reached the Court. Members would spy on each other to see how they lived and report to the priest who would then exclude them from Holy Communion.
If a child of a member died before it was baptised, the child was considered a sinner and could not be buried in consecrated ground.
A little girl of five was not allowed by a female teacher to enter the church during a children’s service because she had nothing to cover her head and had to remain outside, alone and disconsolate, until the end of the service.

Only the priest had the authority of absolving the [perceived] sinner through confession.
When I was a teacher, the school kept a school garden. There was a youth who was recalcitrant. The other teachers could not discipline him. I befriended him and succeeded in changing his behaviour. One day, he was working in the garden with me when the vicar’s maid sent a boy for some beans. Charlie, my convert, turned him away. The vicar was livid. He exclaimed, “Has no one ever heard of a vicar’s glebe?” He came there and then ordered Charlie to be suspended from school for two weeks.
Then, there was the instance of the lady, a visitor to the Church from the U.S.A. who was denied entrance to the communion rail because she did not have the communion card – a humiliating and embarrassing occasion.

After witnessing all these things contrary to the teachings of Christ, which are to love one another, to go the second mile and to reconcile with your adversary before you reach the courthouse, I felt I had outgrown the narrowness and decided to find somewhere [where] I could grow.
I still reverence the Church because it is the place where, from the beginning, I found the Master who was to be my Role Model. It was there I learnt the Lord’s Prayer, the twenty- third Psalm and some of the inspiring hymns I resort to in times of personal conflict. And whenever I visit the Church, that is, the building, I feel a little nostalgia. I see there is nothing wrong with the Church, but what is wrong is fallible man. They fail to find the fine thread of truth woven in its fabric. [Instead] they flaunt and worship the fabric.

A.G.: Did you turn to another religion after you left the established Church? Where did you grope to find the “fine thread of truth” you were seeking.
R.B.: I began to study comparative Religions and Philosophies. I believe there is a fine thread of truth woven into the fabric of all of religions, but very few are able to find it. Those who find it, the mystics, although their source may be different, find themselves in the same brotherhood journeying to the same destination. Those who [mis]take the fabric for the truth become exclusive and divisive, and therein [lies] the cause for conflicts. Many conflicts, brutalities and wars often have their roots in those who fail to see beyond the fabric.

A.G.: You seem influenced by Islam and its teachings. How do you now see yourself as a person who has transcended institutionalized religion?
R.B.: I had some Muslim friends and I happened to read the life of the Prophet and some of his sayings in the Hadith which I thought to be consistent with the gospel of Jesus. A Moulvi helped me to learn Urdu.
Later when I came to the United States of America, I learnt to read and write the Arabic script together with my son-in-law who is a Muslim. Now I can read from the Holy Qur’an from which I memorised some of the short Suras (chapters). I like the beautiful cadence of the Suras and also the elegant calligraphy of the script. I have read the Qur’an in English translations. Muhammad was a great Prophet, but some of his followers have strayed from his glorious example.

I also read the Bhagavad Gita and the Ramayan and I was attracted to their philosophy of Monism which sees God in everything, and their lofty concept of Brahman, the Absolute, the incomprehensible, sheer consciousness and bliss and I have written articles on it.
I also studied Buddhism and found some of its teachings parallel to that of Christianity. You may call me a Universalist, if you like. The true followers of every faith have had their inspiration from the one Source that has created and sustains every thing.

A.G.: What year did you leave Guyana and why did you leave?
R.B.: Apart from visits to my daughter from 1985 I spent most of my time in Guyana up to 1997.

THE FINAL PART OF THIS INTERVIEW WILL APPEAR IN NEXT SUNDAY’S ISSUE

This editor can be contacted on E-mail: [email protected]

Latest News