a valuable and practical lesson on ‘surrender and acceptance’

Given the uncivil, and many times, dangerous, state of the world, with the diminishment of personal freedoms, and the rise of totalitarianism in our midst, plus the economic crisis, I have noticed, in myself and in others, a growing tendency to want to escape the stress of it all.

I’d been thinking about this, what I could do in my own life to remain sane and productive, when I happened to view a segment from the movie, “Band Of Brothers.” On youtube you can find a short clip entitled “Speirs’ Hopeless War speech.”

It features an incident between Pvt. Blithe and Lt. Speirs. Blithe had suffered psychological trauma in battle, such that, he found himself, at times, frozen in terror, unable to move, and even blind.

Speirs offered some advice that helped him:

“We're all afraid, Blithe. But you hid in that ditch because you think there’s still hope – but the only hope you have is to accept the fact that you’re already dead. And the sooner you accept that, the sooner you’ll be able to function the way a soldier is supposed to function.” In other words, "If you spend your time terrorized by death, then you’re already defeated, and you have no hope of getting through this.”

I thought about Speirs’ words. They're very jarring. It’s not what we want to hear. But, then I realized, he’s actually right.

Our situation, at least for the moment, is not one of enduring the horrors of living in a war-zone, the kind Bob Feland spoke of. Given the lawlessness of the world, this could change, but, even so, the counsel “you need to accept that you’re already dead” is not all wrong.

In many of the WG writings, I have argued that “this world cannot be fixed, only forsaken; cannot be saved, only transcended.” In view of this precariousness, and if Lt. Speirs were addressing us, he might say:

“Yes, we’re all afraid or feel ill at ease living in this world. There’s so much violence and injustice, so much corruption, unfairness, and people taking advantage of others; and, of course, this gets us down. But, the real reason we get angry or depressed is because we think there’s still hope. We become frantic or despairing because we still believe that we might find our perfect life here, our perfect career opportunity, our perfect mate – our perfect health and happiness – in this world. But, for virtually everyone, this isn’t going to happen. We didn’t come to this world to receive these things. There’s a larger purpose in play, more important lessons to learn, while on planet Earth, and our personal comfort is not always part of that plan. And so, the sooner we realize and accept the fact that “we’re already dead” – dead to our most cherished hopes and dreams – the sooner we’ll be able to function as an enlightened person is meant to do while living on the Earth. Summerland is our home-world, and that’s where we’re assured to find our total happiness – not here.”

soldiers, the armor of God

A metaphor from the Bible, one most apt, can help us. In this godless and hostile world, those who would live to promote righteousness and truth are like soldiers, far from home; further, each day, we are to put on the “armor of God” to protect our minds from anger and despair. I recall just now from one of the afterlife testimonies, a Spirit Guide commenting that living on the dysfunctional Earth is like living in a war-zone. Whatever else the “soldier” metaphor might mean, it surely means that we must adopt Lt. Speirs’ advice.

Footnote: Major Dick Winters commented on Pvt. Blithe. He said the movie was very unfair to him and also quite inaccurate. Yes, Blithe did experience a melt-down for a time, but he recovered himself. And he did not die, said Winters, of a later wound to the throat, which the final credits of the movie asserted.

Moreover, Blithe not only survived WWII, but volunteered for, and also survived, the Korean War! where he distinguished himself with uncommon bravery! earning not just a Purple Heart, but a Bronze Star and even a Silver Star for valor under fire! Not bad for a young man who once fell into frozen terror - we get as many chances as we need, as a friend once encouraged me, to right ourselves. Obviously, soldier Blithe had gained from Speirs’ counsel. And we can survive our own ordeal with today’s Dear Leaders, too; but, if we don’t, that’s acceptable, too, as our “home world” is just one missed heartbeat away. Fear leaves us, can no longer torture us, when we acknowledge “There’s nothing you can take from me as I’m already free in my spirit and have 'enough' within myself.”