In these days, the world is experiencing the global financial crisis. The heterogeneous reaction emerged, and the most dominant one is the fear and the concerned feeling because let us hope not what happened in the last 10 years again will destroy our economic system. Meanwhile the government in various countries efficiently took the policy and important steps that could rescue his economy from the global attack crisis.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhono, in his office (09/10) state that “the Indonesian government at least determined two focuses of the security. First, give priority to protect the basic needs of the people, such as consumer goods, the educational cost, the health, and the public's service. Secondly, that is connected with the control program and the increase in welfare of the community. Ascertained by us that the financing of the government in accordance with the change of APBN 2008, is really needed to stimulate the growth and the increase in welfare, continued to flow and to be channeled especially to finance the development activity.”
Is it enough to cope the economic crisis by practicing these two solutions? However, the answer is “Not enough”. Everyone must take the concrete action, at list in the state of the existence of the change in the attitude and the way of life. One of the living attitudes that agree with the situation now is that courage to practice volunteer poverty and reinforced the solidarity action with the other.
Voluntary poverty
If our efforts to reduce global poverty nuclear-warhead from the humanity point of view, then efforts improved the life of poverty of the other person was – borrow a paraphrase of Emanuel Levinas (the French Philosopher, the Jewish descendants) — as “pay attention to, addressed and nudged the other person who was poor as our own appearance”. These action does not stop only in the sense of expression or concerned merely sympathy, but more must be a revolutionary personal action, namely, the practice of simplicity of life, or in the religious context called it as “Volunteer Poverty”. Aloysius Pieris, an Asian theologian mentioned that voluntary poverty was as a spiritual struggle strategy “to” (to be) and “for” (for the sake) the life of poor people. He formed the revolutionary protest fought to oppose the greed of people, who worshiped money, the wealth and the hedonist, that were formed in forcing important to lack.
Therefore, the first dimension that wanted to be celebrated from this voluntary poverty is to invite the person to “live in poverty”. This mean that the person must be able to oppose the greed or her/his desire which always wanted more against material objects. In addition, indeed since from the beginning till now the greatest enemy of every religion in fact not the person's other religion, but mammon (the strength of material). Mammon not only as possessions, but also kind of subversive collusion between the authority and ownership/the wealth. Ownership not only limited in the problem of money and valuable objects but also could widen to education, the balance of knowledge, intelligence politics, the status or the high social position, the dogma, the rite, the law and everything that could become the accumulation implement of the authority. Therefore, mammon could be put forward in many faces, in the form of a country, the religious institution, and the other social agency, or in the form of capital of the tyranny authority. Atheist countries with the government totalitarian, the capitalist system “Darwinist Antithesis” caused a poverty that is forced (Force poverty).
From this point of view it is necessary for humankind to control his/herself from material influence or the wish himself not to be mounted by objects matters, and treated the wealth or material objects not as the aim of the life but as the implement or means that could be used in reached meaningful lived.
Meaningful life for anyone certainly could be interpreted in a different manner, but generally, people understand it as state of being together between two experiences, that is immanent experience (worldly things) and transcendent (religious experience). The synthesis of these two experiences could be expressed through the ascetic attitude, doing fasting, lived adequate (not wasteful and not possessed by the glory of worldly things), and could classify between the requirement and the wish.
This kind of way of life not only addressed to the ascetics or as the aspirations of spirituality monastic Buddhism, Christian, or the mystic life from Muslim mystics but also was the foundation of spirituality of all the religions. Therefore, in the context of “to be poor” is a universal dogma of all the religions. To be poor voluntary, everyone believed towards cohesive opposed mammon (the authority of material). Voluntary poverty could be regarded as the religious experience that was the liberation road towards the fulfillment of life but at the same time as beginning ammunition in producing the high social solidarity attitude.
Reinforced social solidarity action
The social solidarity action always has educative’ and ‘freedom’ aspect, therefore it must be distinguished from caritative actions. It has educative dimension, because this action taught unluckier to think about with thoughts personally, working with the strength personally and produced something for their life personally. As result, they can liberate themselves from poverty situation.
Meanwhile the dimension of the liberation happened in efforts to scatter and produce the independent attitude that is creative and productive from the poor people personally. On the other hand, Ignas Kleden word says that, Social solidarity is the attitude that bore the commitment to pay attention to the situation and the person is other fate or the other group. The social solidarity is carried out because of the feeling of the obligation that emerged to pay attention to the weak group from his socio-economic position, because of the awareness that prosperity that a group enjoyed more has “pay” by lack of prosperity of other group. The social solidarity also (usually) not born from the feeling of the cheapness and kindness, but from the feeling of justice. It is also emerging from a doubt that is moral hazard: what is my right to live in an abundant manner while the other person is in the lack?
In short, the social solidarity action was translation of social justice in the community. Now the caritative action, still referred to Ignas Kleden, was attention of the very weak group from his socio-economic position, without the commitment to change the structure of the disparity (was compared with the attitude a person throw away some amount of money from his car in the pocket of a beggar). In the caritative attitude, someone wanted to carry out goodness how far that disrupted or damaged his social position that is luckier (this analysis could be read in "Indonesia sebagai Utopia……" Kleden 2001, page. 67-69). The most important difference between two concepts was located in as far the willingness made a sacrifice from the person who will help that.
The caritative attitude negate the person's reluctance that helped to lose the safe and prosperous position that was enjoyed by him, while the social solidarity action announced the willingness helped while at the same moment was prepared to make a sacrifice more to help the unluckier, including the possibility of the disturbance of the security and prosperity himself. This meant the solidarity not only has the shape of the awareness about the structure of the disparity, but also was related to the commitment to take part in changing the structure of the disparity into the community's more just composition. The commitment will be far more difficult from only a demand of the caritative attitude. In addition, the commitment always supposed the attendance of a real action from personal every time to practice something that have been planned and agreed to, both individually and communally.
In addition, whenever we brave to do this, all (reinforced the social and brave solidarity road to become poverty volunteer); it meant that we carried out our two natural obligations. First as human being (the social dimension of human life), our very obligation is to help each other, maintained and helped created a living civilization that loved the life. For this strengthened commitment, the founders of this country legalized that value in basic regulations of our Country that is in UUD 1945: “the poor and the neglected are maintained by government” (the Article 34 articles 1). Afterwards was reinforced again by ratifying Covenant International about economic rights, Social, and the Culture in regulations Number 11, 2005.
Secondly, as the religious creature, we are practicing the awareness towards goodness that was accepted from God personally (if still trusted the Lord) that gave us lived free of charge. Therefore, we share it freely to other people through good deeds.
In other word, in order to reduce global poverty that was resulted by the financial, energy food crisis in these days, there is no other solution method apart from must be begun from our own self, that is being able to live out the ‘volunteer poverty’ and thickened ‘social solidarity action.***
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