Remembrance - A World Without Walls

On Sunday 9^th November—Remembrance Day—many people commemorated the centenary of the start of the first World War and here in London millions of people came to the Tower of London to see the ‘field’ of commemorative poppies laid in memory of all those who died in this particularly tragic war.

What has the world learned from this tragedy? What are the new generations learning we may ask? Last summer, as did so many other school children, my 15 year old granddaughter Daisy visited the battlefields. Afterwards she wrote ‘Thoughts from the Somme’ which was printed in our White Eagle magazine Stella Polaris. I quote a little here:

‘However , one experience that stands out in my memory of events is when we went to a graveyard in Flanders. It was huge; if you stood at the edge of it, the graves were reduced to cobblestones, a grey mass strewn with parties of schoolchildren holding clipboards amongst them. But amongst the grey mass were individuals, differences reconciled in death. German graves stood beside English, French, Canadian, Chinese and American. It was a joyous reminder that even though we may fight in life over petty differences, when the final note is played we all recognise ourselves in one another. This realisation is also shown in Michael Morpurgo’s novel ‘War Horses’. The horse, when trapped in wire, is freed by both German and English sides in a show that humanity is the same all over the world. Indeed, the stage production of that novel has its own cast and show in Germany. If we can learn anything from the First World War it is the importance of remembrance. Each new generation must be reminded that the terrible cost of human life anywhere is not worth small political gains or losses. This is particularly relevant now as angry words fly over the Ukraine crisis in a way that has been remarked upon by several to be reminiscent of the First World War. Once remembrance is learned, ingrained into the collective human mind, we will see the rose bloom on the cross. History may be filled with the taint of sorrow, but that is past. As a race we are adaptable; we can change the future.

A wonderful thought. We are adaptable. We can change. I believe our world is changing. 9^th November was also the 25^th Anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down. This happened not as a result of another war, but through peaceful revolution. To quote a media report:

‘On November 9^th 1989, the world watched in amazement as jubilant crowds gathered on both sides of the Berlin Wall around midnight to celebrate the opening of the border crossings between the eastern and western parts of the city. A peaceful revolution in East Germany had finally cracked this grim symbol of Cold War and political oppression. It signalled the beginning of the end of Germany’s post war division and national unity came less than a year later on October 3^rd 1990.

Just after reading this I opened a letter containing some inspirational writing. My correspondent wrote: ‘Build me a church without walls. There is no division in the mind of God.’ I love this statement: ‘There is no division in the mind of God.’ We human beings have created so many divisions—different countries, religions, feelings about right and wrong, etc. However, as Daisy wrote… when the final note is played, we all recognise ourselves in one another.

And finally, some words of White Eagle’s which I read at our Remembrance Service at the New Lands Temple, I quoted these words from White Eagle’s teaching:

‘These conditions of war that come to the earth plane, although they are brought about by ignorance and stupidity, are turned to good effect. No-one is sacrificed in vain, and with war there comes a corresponding push forward in the evolution of humanity. All the time spiritual growth continues in you, and not only spiritual growth but mental growth. Better conditions of life are the result of past suffering. There is a little light inside you, a voice, an urge to unity and brotherhood. Follow it. It will lead you to a place of great beauty where your view is expanded.’