Human Spirit…

 

Last night I had a dream. It was not pleasant. I will spare details, but it took place in a concentration camp. Perhaps this dream originated on a recent trip to Northern France where I spent time traveling amidst WWI battlesites where some 1.5 million men were killed in a terribly bloody war. Perhaps that had an impact on my delicate mental and emotional landscape. Most likely, and I’m glad for it. I am reminded that the human psyche is a highly liquid medium, capable of great manipulation, inspiration and influence. I think of war propaganda and the commercials spliced between Saturday morning cartoons and the impact that these barrage of informational bullets have on us overtime.

I can tolerate war and accept it even. It has been a part of our human experience since the beginning and we are learning to manage ourselves as a species to mitigate its impact and lessen its presence. Pain and suffering still exists in this realm of life action but it’s impact has been significantly diminished. I understand the warrior nature of men and their pursuit of glory in protecting what is theirs and what matters to them, be that women, children, land or natural resources. That is not likely to go away, although the face of this expression may change.

What pains me in my thoughts is not the war itself with its death and demolition, but rather the deadening of the human spirit. The dimming of the human flame, not in death, but in life. I never pity the dead. I exalt them. There is peace where they are. My heart breaks for the living who have been snuffed to mere shells of the vibrant and dynamic beings they once were.

Nowhere was this more systematic than in the Holocaust, and other periods of highly organized torture and execution throughout human history. A grim subject upon which to reflect, but a valuable place to look from time to time. To check in with ourselves and with life and make sure that we are present to our own presence on this planet. Our own health and in tact limbs. Our own living families and endless oceanic expanse of choices and possibilities.

For those who died casualties of war, the tortured ones, I do not mourn their death. I mourn their death before death. The wilt of their essence before the flame went out. The numbing of their sweet smile. I want them to know, to feel my love for them and my gratitude for their role in the unfolding of the future. Their light glowed and then left us, and my light glows brightly now in their memory. I think of the vibrant life flames of my young students, ablaze with the future before them. Thank you. For me and for them. For humanity. You now exist as pure human spirit, and I envision you circling us with delight as we live our time here on Earth. I am grateful to you.