Nicholas Otieno's journey of self-discovery has taken him from his home village in Kenya to a monastery to the midst of South African politics to the Yale Divinity School.

Yale just one stop in Divinity student's quest for universal truths

Ever since Nicholas Otieno was a young boy growing up in Kenya, he has contemplated some of the timeless philosophical questions: Does God exist? What is the meaning of life? And, what is a life well lived? His search for those answers has led him to a Benedictine monastery; stirred him to political activism in Africa; and ultimately inspired him to travel halfway across the world to the Yale Divinity School, where he is now a first-year student. For Otieno, each step along his journey has been a "flight into the unknown," he says, but has been oriented toward the goal of helping him discover how he can best be of "service to humanity." He incorporated some of his experiences -- including his decision to leave the Benedictine monastery in Tanzania, where he had been living for eight years -- in his new book, "A Flight into the Unknown: Contemplating the Hidden Meaning of Life." The book, published by Franciscan Publishers & Printers Inc., is a fictional account of an African man's spiritual evolution and his struggles with some Western values. Writing "A Flight into the Unknown" was, Otieno says, both a means to express his own spirituality as well as to communicate some of the challenges he has encountered as he has redefined his life and his mission since leaving the monastery. "During those years in the monastery, I became very accustomed to a certain way of life, and in many ways I am still adjusting to the 'outside' world," says Otieno, who grew up in a small village in Kenya and joined the Peramiho Abbey in Tanzania when he was 19 years old. At the monastery Otieno led a highly regimented life, with most of his time devoted to prayer, silence, spiritual contemplation and religious services. Communication with fellow monks was permitted only at certain times, such as during dinner and brief daily recreation periods. While still in training at the monastery, Otieno spent three years in Rome, where he earned his B.A. in philosophy from Urbanian University. While there, he kept his vows and maintained the monastic lifestyle. After he returned to the Peramiho Abbey, shortly before he was to take his final vows and be ordained to the priesthood, Otieno experienced "a crisis of faith," he says. Two experiences in particular influenced his decision to leave his life as a monk. Once, while he was visiting a monastery in Nairobi, Kenya, he saw a poor woman with a child on her back digging for food around the walls of the monastery, which resembled a huge castle. "I was struck by the fact that inside the monastery, we only were concerned with being spiritual and were indifferent to the poverty that surrounded us," Otieno recalls. "It was for me a very disturbing reality." In addition, during a visit to his home village in Kenya, Otieno realized how alienated he had become from his own family members and community. "My way of life in the monastery, with its traditions that dated to medieval Europe, conflicted greatly with the traditional values of my community," Otieno says. "Solitude, for example, is in African tradition looked upon with suspicion, because the individual is seen as part of a moral universe or communal persona. The notion of celibacy is also foreign to sub-Saharan African tradition; it is out of step with what my culture considers to be the transmission of the vital force that sustains life in the universe." In fact, when Otieno tried to talk to village elders about an issue regarding his mother, he was told that he was not "of age" because he vowed to live as a celibate for the rest of his life. "Because of that vow, my integrity was in question," the Divinity School student explains. He also felt out of touch with some of the grave issues confronting his fellow Africans -- including AIDS and ethnic conflicts -- and missed such simple pleasures as being able to laugh heartily with friends, he says. After leaving the monastery in 1991, Otieno became editor-in-chief of an ecumenical newspaper in Kenya that aimed to "give voice to voiceless" Africans and monitored ethnic violence in Kenya. He then worked briefly in Zimbabwe as executive director of Ecumenical Documentation and Information for Eastern and Southern Africa. There, Otieno crafted a proposal to help bring economic justice to politically and economically vulnerable African nations, particularly to blacks in South Africa in the period immediately following the end of apartheid. He served as an election observer during the historic political elections in South Africa in 1994. In 1995, the former monk became chief executive officer of the Civic Resource and Information Center, an organization he founded to promote dialogue between different political parties in African nations and between the public and private sectors. He was also convenor of the Movement for Dialogue and Non-Violence, which promotes civic virtue and popular participation of citizens in the political process. Through his work with these organizations, Otieno also aided the victims of the bombing of the American embassy in Nairobi in August 1998. For his efforts at promoting civility and nonviolence in his homeland, Otieno was awarded the United States' Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Award in 1996, which was presented to him by former U.S. ambassador to Kenya Aurelia Brazeal. "I share the interest Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. had in bringing about major change in society through peaceful means," says Otieno, who earned his M.A. in philosophy in 1997 from the University of Nairobi. Otieno is now a consultant for the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva, Switzerland. Next month, the WCC will publish Otieno's next book, "Towards Reconstruction in Africa," a critique of ecumenical interventions in African countries based on research he conducted for the WCC. The Divinity School student is also author of a collection of poetry titled "Thoughts After Sunset," as well as three other nonfiction books: "Beyond the Silence of Death -- The Life and Theology of the Bishop Alexander Muge," which Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa helped launch; "The Cursed Arrow," which explores violence against democracy in Kenya; and "The African Struggle: The Church and the Emerging Civil Society in Africa." Otieno says studying at the Divinity School allows him to continue his quest to find answers to some of life's biggest questions. Since coming to Yale, he has occasionally gone on retreats to St. Paul's Abbey in New Jersey in order to "re-energize," he says. "The monastic legacy will never leave me," comments Otieno. "For me, a monastery is still a shrine because it is a place where I met God and is a place that I passed through along my journey. But in my view, the whole universe is itself a monastery." One of his future goals is to help people across the world engage in non-denominational conversation about concerns that affect humankind, including such controversial bioethical issues as genetic engineering. "I do believe that there is a crisis of meaning in our culture today," says Otieno. "Religious symbolism tends to be out of place in our day-to-day life, and organized religion has failed to give us answers to many of our questions. Ultimately, all of us are keenly aware of our own solitude. I think that most of us have a craving for something out there, and one of my interests is in getting people to talk to each other -- undivided by religious denominations -- about the reality and future of human existence." -- By Susan Gonzalez T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S Yale will invest over $500 million in science and engineering Gift from alumnus John Malone to fund engineering building Yale luminaries combine talents to teach students the benefits of 'strategic thinking' Commissioner Howard Safir describes NYPD 'success story' Senator to discuss Irish peace talks Garten reflects on first term as dean of Yale SOM Ex-curator donates T.S. Eliot archive to Beinecke Professor Chang enjoys writing about Yale for a Chinese audience University fellowships will support junior faculty's research projects Survey reveals fewer 'near-Earth asteroids' than once believed Yale Rep will stage work by 'a rock and roll poet' Theologians to discuss milestone church accord Yale just one stop in Divinity student's quest for universal truths Yale libraries launch new website devoted to public health issues in New Haven area Scientists identify direct link between DQ8 gene, diabetes Study: Chronically ill give low ratings to managed care Yale team develops non-invasive test for fetal anemia Molière play balances 'moments of deep pain' with laughter Drama students share theatrical know-how with class at ECA magnet school Movie screenings benefit child clinics Sexual orientation and Christianity is focus of the 'Opening Doors' series in February Grey named to federal council on nursing research Dr. Dennis Spencer honored for his work on epilepsy Yale Scoreboard YSN outreach worker receives AIDS leadership award PathMaster database aiding in cancer cell diagnosis English Language Institute Courses for Spring Term Campus Notes . . . 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