Franz Jagerstatter pictured on the cover of a book of his letters and writings from prison.
He was in many people’s eyes just an uneducated farmer. He had made mistakes in life, like all of us, and he had his faults. Many people, including his parish priest, bishop, and many close friends, thought he was crazy. His name was Franz.
Franz was born in 1907. He was a loving husband and a devoted father of four young daughters. He had been inspired by a dream in 1938. In his dream, he saw a marvelous train coming around a grand mountain to pick up a large group of people. For the people, young and old, the train was the latest craze, the rage of the moment. Almost everyone rushed to get on the train, but then Franz heard a voice, “This train is going to hell!”
Physically waking up, Franz understood the train to represent the Nazi Regime. Spiritually waking up, Franz then refused to fight with the German armed forces. Because of his refusal, Franz was arrested and later beheaded in 1943.
Today, just as in Franz’s Austria, we, like the Austrians, are being propagandized into wars. No doubt, there are grave evils to be addressed, but war, if it should ever come, should only come as a last resort.
It’s deadly wrong to leave the causes of conflict largely unaddressed, not seeking first to create peace through the establishment of justice, and then when people get caught up in the fight, decide to vanquish them through military might.
Yes, in this moment, all this applies to the United States, to my beloved country, to us. Obsessed with our own comforts and security, and blind to the needs and grievances of others, we have spent trillions of dollars on war efforts while investing relatively little time, effort, or money into justice-making or peacemaking. For this reason and others, our current war efforts are not wars of last resort; they are not just; and they are not of God.
I am not talking about our soldiers; they are good people, and most are sincerely seeking to serve our country and humanity.
I am talking about the current calls to war, deceptively scripted for our consumption. Our leaders, our media, and all those behind this are urging us further into war, further into perpetual conflict, and further into something worse. We may feel the lure of their war train calling out to us, “All aboard!” and yes, it may all look marvelous but “This train is going to …!”
Please listen deeply to this story.
While an innocent man was still urging his close friends to pray and resist temptation, an armed crowd, led by a another friend, arrived. Determined to arrest the innocent man, they grabbed him. Immediately, a close friend drew his sword, swung it, and cut off a man’s ear. But the innocent man said, “No more of this!” and he touched the man’s ear and healed him. The innocent man then said, “Put your sword back into its sheath! For those who live by the sword, die by the sword!” He was then bound and carried away.
Jesus healing Malchus’ ear. May we all reach out in love to heal each other.
This is the only time in the Gospels that a follower of Jesus caused someone grave physical harm. Jesus’ first response is clear and direct: “No more!” and “Put away your sword!” His subsequent, more reflective words speak of a death, which all who live by the sword experience. While physical death is not to be excluded from Jesus’ meaning, we know that not all who live by the sword, physically die by the sword. Here Jesus is speaking of a deeper death, a spiritual death that comes whenever we live by the sword. From this story’s perspective, by our own actions, we all share in this death, but this death can be remedied by the healing touch of the Messiah, the innocent man, who allowed himself to be bound, taken away, beaten, and killed for our benefit.
Postscript:
While the Catholic Church, which I love, sadly did not support Franz Jagerstatter well during his life, this church in 2007 did honor him as a martyr for his faith and now calls him “Blessed.” In the words of Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, “In a time like ours, the testimonial of Blessed Franz, his unbroken bravery, and his imperturbable strong conscience is a shining example.”
Prayer:
Learning from our past, let us pray that all of us from every faith and from every good spirit will not wait too long to recognize the path to peace, and that we will earnestly seek healing and justice for all, and do all that we can now to avoid war and work for peace. Let’s pray too that it’s not yet too late for each of us to join together and say, “No more!” and to leap off our train and leap into the loving arms of the Spirit for Peace.
Last week, I dreamt that I was in a capsized boat. I kept trying to figure out how to right the boat or to find safety. But it was dark, and I was just stumbling through the boat, waste deep in water. Abruptly, I fell forward but caught hold of a handrail. My head was still above water, and as I caught my breath, I began to think how older folks, like me, with a few years left in their life, were needed to get the boat righted. I thought of young people too and all kinds of people working together to right the boat. Then I woke up.
Later that morning, I reflected on the dream and our world situation. I wrote:
Our boat is capsized
not all see it or feel it
but look around
the needs – the news
the storms
Our boat can be righted
not so much for ourselves
we have slept too long
but for the young and for the future
the alarms are ringing
The Seawise University (formerly RMS Queen Elizabeth) capsized in Victoria Harbour (Hong Kong). Photograph by Barry Loigman, M.D., July 1972.
Some of the wisest words, ever spoken, were spoken by Mahatma Gandhi, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” These words compliment Jesus’ perception: “How can you say to your neighbor, ‘Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? How fake, how bogus! First take out the log in your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck out in your neighbor’s eye.” To right our boat, each of us needs to start with our own self, not accusing anyone else of anything, but continuing to focus on our own improvement and the improvement of our own groups.
To right our boat, we must also work together! This requires that we practice respect, trust, forgiveness, and love for one another – whether the other be Agnostic, Atheist, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, or a believer in another religion. Let us open our eyes, not so much to what the propaganda machines or the accusing Satans want us to see, that’s focusing on all the specks in our neighbor’s eyes, but focus on “whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, gracious, … excellent, … worthy of praise …” (Philippians 4:8). In this way, we can grow together in peace, righting our boat with joined hands, step by step, benefitting from each other’s perspectives. In this, we are ultimately trusting in God, who has placed all these extraordinary people and perspectives here for us and for our benefit. Trust! For “whoever trusts in God, God will suffice!” (Qu’ran 65:3). As we look forward in trust, we need also to forgive the many transgressions of humanity. As the Jewish book of Proverbs teaches, “Love flourishes whenever an offense is forgiven” (Proverbs 17:9). Finally, it’s each of our answers to the call of love that matters. This is beautifully expressed in Shantideva’s prayer:
May I be a guard for those who need protection
A guide for those on the path
A boat, a raft, a bridge for those who wish to cross the flood
May I be a lamp in the darkness
A resting place for the weary
A healing medicine for all who are sick
A vase of plenty, a tree of miracles
And for the boundless multitudes of living beings
May I bring sustenance and awakening
Enduring like the earth and sky
Until all beings are freed from sorrow
And all are awakened.
In doing this, we will see Christians standing for Muslims, Muslims standing for Buddhists, Buddhists standing for Jews, Jews standing for Hindus … Africans standing for Australians, Australians standing for Pacific Islanders … and in this solidarity we will discover and win “liberty and justice for all!”
May each of us work to right our boat: being the change we seek in the world, focusing on bettering ourselves, working together, patiently trusting each other, generously forgiving, and loving all, just as God loves each of us.
Finally, be assured, that each of our parts in this is far greater than we can imagine. Even our seemingly “small” positive actions are having extensive effects beyond what we see. Each of us is part of a much bigger picture, that is beyond our comprehension, and that is creating a new and better future for us all. But we need to work well together now to right our boat.
“Where there’s a will there’s a way.” This proverb is inspiring and true, but often our hearts are not awakened and energized. Day in and day out, we’re weighed down by a stressful world that places heavy demands on us. We are just too weary to face the injustice, oppression, waste, pollution, falsehoods, violence, disease, and divisions that afflict our world. Fears and even visions of disaster, of crashes, may just add to our experience of being overwhelmed.
The Dream
Following a tough day in January 2006, deep into the night, I had a mysterious dream. I was in the Earth, in a roomy cave, looking toward a further smaller cave ahead of me. When, emerging from that smaller cave, I saw a very old woman, an ancestral Grandmother.
As soon as her face caught some light, she began presenting the 10 reasons why dancing is so important. At first, I wasn’t listening well. I was more interested in this person who wore colorful but faded clothes, simple and rough, with curious handiworks attached. I assumed she was a farmer and likely a healer as well. She was Native American, very connected to Mother Earth, and there was sacredness all about her.
I don’t specifically recall the wise woman’s first 5 reasons for the importance of dancing, but she expressed her enthusiasm for family, full receptivity, healing, rejoicing, and breakthroughs.
As the woman began her sixth reason for the importance of dancing, her disciplined, orderly approach caught my attention. Right away I started ardently focusing on remembering what she was sharing and repeating her reasons in my mind as best I could. As I share her gift now, I will state her reason for the importance of dancing, share what I can remember about her explanation, and add my reflections.
Touching the Earth
The ancestral Grandmother’s sixth reason is that dancing puts the dancer in touch with the Earth. Much of what she said was over my head, but I was picturing beautifully unrestrained, barefoot people reveling in direct physical contact with the Earth while dancing. Additionally, she was describing how dancing places us into a stimulating, collaborative union with the Earth – a communion.
I’m a thinker, a chess player. I teach computing. I’ve never been much of a dancer. But I’m learning that when we touch the Earth, we become connected with a Reality far more real than the world of our making – real as in what makes us rejoice and cry – real as in the root, core, and heart of our being. Dancing can be a tremendous remedy for hard times.
I am learning too that no one owns the Earth, and that no part of the Earth should be wasted. The Earth can fill all our needs, can provide all that we need to share, and can renew her gifts bounteously for future generations. We are part of her, and she is at the core and heart of our being.
With the Earth, we, every day people, can do astonishing things. By way of illustration, if each person planted and cared for a single fruit tree, then in just 10 years our cities and lands would be filled with many diverse fruits. Or, if each person would learn one skill to generously teach others, we could all become incredibly skilled. Or, if communities, especially larger communities, would commit themselves to preserving the heritage of one of Humanity’s diverse cultures, particularly one of the many endangered cultures of smaller communities, then so many wondrous treasures of Humanity would be saved and shared.
Spinning and Circling
The Cave Grandmother’s seventh reason for the importance of dancing is the health and energy we receive from spinning and circling together. Her further words prompted me to think of having Oneness with the Universe and with all its spinning and circling objects like atoms, swirling waters, hurricanes, moons, planets, stars, galaxies, clusters of galaxies, etc.
When we dance, we become dizzy and lose our self-centeredness. While circling, we admire each other’s beauty, listen, adapt to the many beats around us, stretch ourselves, remove negative labels, support each other, soothe each other’s anxieties and hurts, smile and laugh, dispel loneliness and despair, and enjoy each other’s gifts. While spinning, we sometimes fall, try again, forgive each other’s missteps, turn around, re-approach one another, reaffirm each other, embrace, lift each other high, and break free from all that holds us back. When we dance, we strengthen each other in innumerable ways.
Eagles, Bears, and Dolphins
The vibrant old woman’s eighth reason is that dancing helps us to transform ourselves into various awe-inspiring beings such as Eagles and Bears. While dancing as new Beings, we can change the character and direction of our lives. Likewise we can overcome our individual limitations and step by step grow into ever more splendid persons.
I saw a transformative dance like this in the summer of 2010 not long after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. I was walking on the Dauphin Island beach and spotted some dolphins jumping into the air. Pointing I showed them to a mother and her two children. The children, a boy and a girl of about 4 and 6 years old, were thrilled to see the dolphins, and their mother and I began discussing the oil catastrophe. Soon the two children started wildly running in tight circle around the mother and I. Faster and faster they went. Soon, full of life, they were jumping like dolphins and mimicking the dolphins in other ways as well. Next, they started yelling, “Mommy, Mommy, we have to save the dolphins!” Exuberantly running, spinning, and jumping, over and over again yelling, “Mommy, Mommy, we have to save the dolphins!”
Dancing can awaken our hearts to others, especially to those who are most needy. Like children dancing with Dolphins, our hearts can dance with those who living without reasonable access to water, food, land, and shelter. Our hearts can dance with our sisters and brothers who are suffering from wars. Our hearts can dance with our companions who are dying from pollution of their air, water, and land. Our hearts can dance with our friends who are being expelled from their homelands. In doing so, we can share in the character of Dolphins, Eagles, and Bears – drawing on strengths we never knew we had – transcending our self-boundaries – sharing in the Collective Spirit of the Earth – running, jumping, and yelling over and over again, “Everyone, everyone, let’s join hands, let’s save each other, let’s dance!”
Uniting Past, Present, and Future
Our faithful Grandmother’s ninth reason for the importance of dancing is its ability to unite people and to unite past, present, and future. By this time in the dream, I had a sense that she was a real person from the past coming to teach me things that I needed to know.
Today, we have many reasons to fear for the future, but our days together on this Earth are not coming to a close. As one witness to this, see the 2012 The Mayan Word video on the right.
Our days of division and injustice, however, are ending, one way or another. We will either be united in an Awakening of generosity or we be united in a crash of global suffering. These two choices are already embedded in our lives. The crash is real in all the disheartening aspects of our world and in all those who are suffering greatly now. The Awakening may appear small now but it is budding vigorously. Already our hearts are being moved from within by our growing compassion, and already the seeds of positive, communal endeavors are being sown.
Our Awakening toward generosity is not an Awakening for individuals acting alone. It is even more universal than the current moment. Our ancestors and others too, who have gone before us, are ready and willing to support us with their presence, strength, prayers, and love. As our ancestral Grandmother says, “Dancing unites us! Dancing energizes us!” Many dancers among us are being lifted up by our ancestors now. A wondrous future is reaching out to us too, extending its hand to us, ready to lead us into a new dance.
The invitation is before us all to join hands with our ancestors, to celebrate their hopes and dreams, to reach out as well to our wondrous future, and, with our strengthened, outstretched hands, to offer ourselves in dance-filled service to our present moment generously and gratefully! “Would you like to dance?”
Waking Revolutions
I remember our generous Grandmother’s next words almost exactly, “The tenth reason for the importance of dancing is making siege, a very compelling, non-violent means of creating social change and of winning revolutions!” This tenth reason was so striking that it woke me up. At that moment, as is my habit, I picked up a pencil and paper and recorded the dream as best I could.
Right now I’m thinking of Martin Luther King whirling around with his heart so alive – no longer afraid to die – so happy to have seen the mountaintop – reminding us that it “is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it’s nonviolence or nonexistence.” As he and so many others from so many cultures have taught us, “Do not return evil for evil!” As he and so many people have sung: “Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around” and “We Shall Overcome!”
I’m thinking too of Isaiah, the prophet, who spoke of doom, yes, but more importantly encouraged us to journey together to God’s holy mountain where the “wolf” is the “guest of the lamb,” where “the leopard lies down with the kid goat, and the calf and the young lion browse together, with a little child to guide them.” We are being invited, “Come and let us go up to the Lord’s mountain,” let’s “beat” our “swords into plowshares,” our “spears into pruning hooks,” and let’s “learn war no more.”
I’m thinking too of the satyagrahis (meaning “those insisting on the truth”) led by Mohandas Gandhi during the Salt March of the 1930s. The satyagrahis faced horrific violence, many died, and over 80,000 were imprisoned. They made siege non-violently by marching together to the sea and making salt. In doing so, they revealed the scope of Great Britain’s injustice on the Indian sub-continent. They convinced the world of the rightness, and with great patience and further non-violent efforts gained their freedom from Great Britain.
I’m thinking of all of us too, not as overburdened laborers faced with new tasks, but as dancers waking up in this wondrous moment in history and becoming exuberant, joyful, energized, enthused – even healed – and in the near future gratefully dancing in streets for the collective victory of the whole Human Family!
Thanks be to God!
People dancing on the beach with Matt – see bottom video – Miami, Florida during 2008.
This incredible video about Mayan culture, calendars, and prophesies is representative of people around the world who are currently experiencing terrible crashes while maintaining a strong hope in the future. This video is particularly important to those of us who are living a relatively comfortable life in this world. We may not agree with everything in the video, but it can give us a growing appreciation of those who are suffering much but still living nobly.
A wild poem about real dance:
Jewish-Arab song of vibrant peace:
Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round Praise Dance:
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech was the last speech delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr. This is a speech about his moment and our moment in history. He gave this speech on April 3, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, where the next day, he was assassinated. In this speech, King calls for reconciliation between all people, communal actions for progress, and nonviolent resistance. He also calls on all of us today to straighten our backs, to follow our ideals, and to not accept injustice. He concludes with a reflection on the possibility of his upcoming death.
Our ancestors, from all continents and cultures, handed down stories of our prehistory to wake us up to live courageously for the benefit of all. These stories remind us of what Humanity has lost: our original companionship with the Universe and God, the first songs and winds that engendered life and caressed Creation, the gift of living in wondrously lush gardens, unity between woman and man, friendship between humanity and the animals, universal harmony, and love. These stories tell also of our great early crashes: the first jealousies, the first power-grabs, the first crimes, the first upheavals, the separation between Earth and Heaven, our divisions, our battles, and our hate. In these stories, we are the main actors striving to overcome our pain, guilt, and shame and striving to re-attain our collective Humanity, Conscience, and Oneness.
“In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.” – Luke 1:78-79, photograph of a dawn along the Kunene River in Africa by Hans Hillewaert in June 2007.
Hurting from all we’ve lost, we should collectively and courageously have immense compassion for one another. Instead, however, hurting from all we’ve lost, we, as individuals in denial, tend hardly to think of the great sufferings around us. Hurting from all we’ve lost, we, as individuals in fear, run from suffering and run from people who are suffering. Hurting from all we’ve lost, we, as individuals lured by the pursuits of personal prosperity and status, give up on what Humanity has lost.
Still, no matter how hard, fast, or far we run, there’s no escape from great suffering. Yet, as individuals we try to live like this isn’t so. When great suffering comes, in shock we try to hold on to our denial, but sooner or later our illusions are shattered, we can’t ignore what we have lost, and the emptiness of our lives reveals itself.
Crashed and emptied, we may harden our hearts in anger and die inside, we may disengage even more from others, or we may just sweep what has been lost under some rug in some forgotten room and lock the door shut. If so, we’re just moving on as an individual and seeing our crash as an isolated exception to our otherwise “fine” and “normal” lives.
Or, alternatively, crashed and emptied, we can courageously open our hearts in compassion, see the suffering that is all around us, join our tears with the tears of God, and engage our pains and sorrows with all our energy and effort. Being now awake, we can work collectively to create a wholly renewed world where nothing is wasted, every gift is shared, and every need filled – a wholly renewed world on the course of infinite joy, generosity, hope, understanding, creativity, openness, forgiveness, and love (see prayer). We CAN save all that each of us and all Humanity has lost!
Great suffering has come to me too. My daughter, Gina, at 9 months old, was killed in an automobile accident on May 9, 1986. I’m shaking right now as I write about this crash. It still hurts and I’m still struggling for wholeness. About an hour ago, I reread some words from my journal, “Gina died for me. Gina died that my life and its mission might continue. Remember Gina, remember our canoe trip [a moment of incredible unity shared between Gina and I just a few weeks before she died], remember the people of the Bay Minette and Atmore areas [where we lived at that time] and all the people that shared our life then! Remember and live!”
Courage is neither about being perfect nor being a lone hero. Courage is much more about being connected to one another and showing up for one another. I have seen astounding courage and enduring love in others, and these people have inspired me to pray with Gina and pray for Gina every night. I’m still struggling to live and to be the things that I’m writing about here. I hope my simple courage to share my thoughts, experiences, and stories will also speak to you. Moreover, I am gaining the courage and love to be in union with everyone and to join the great collective endeavor to regain, not only all that has been lost, but with God’s healing to live for much more as well, much that is beyond our wildest dreams.
Carl Jung, a renowned psychologist, who wrote much about Humanity’s stories and how they embody our collective nature, also spoke of suffering, “I am not what has happened to me. I am what I choose to become.” Similarly, Brené Brown, a vulnerability researcher, says, “Own your story! Don’t bury it … If you own this story you get to write the ending.” Part of the Good News is that we can all start writing the rest of Humanity’s story!
I must share about another crash too, a particular crash that occurred 38 years ago, today, December 1, 1974. Real people, 92 people who will never be forgotten … children, parents, students, soldiers, runners, artists … all fellow passengers … died in that crash on that day, TWA Flight 514. It is a great sorrow whenever people die tragically, but even in such crashes, like when my daughter, Gina, died, or when my mother died suddenly, their light can shine for us in new ways. The light of TWA Flight 514 and the light of all crashes can lead us toward our great benefit, toward our great hope, and even ultimately toward our great thanksgiving.
As we, fellow human beings, continue on our journey in this life, we grow together step by step, and we seek to support one another as best we can. So today, on this 38th anniversary of this crash, I would like to make the following dedication to all those who died and to all their love ones:
We are never alone!
The Great Compassionate One hears each of our cries and holds us in all our hurt!
Be compassionate!
Shed tears!
Let go of all that holds us back!
Receive compassion and forgiveness!
Our sorrow will turn to joy!
We will rejoice!
We are never without help!
The Great Courageous One hears our cries and raises up all who crash!
Be courageous!
Awaken, the long night is ending!
The past, present, and future are being united!
A new dawn is breaking!
Live and work for the benefit of all!
We are never without hope!
The Great Healing One shares our tears and brings us together!
Together we’ll become as children!
Together we’ll put away our divisions and find our way forward!
Together we’ll live and work for the benefit of all!
Together we’ll recover all that was lost and much, much more!
Together we’ll give thanks without end!
