Episode 141: The Power of Remembrance | Unity Spiritual Center Denver | 5.26.24

Unity Spiritual Center Denver

The Memorial Day holiday that we are about to celebrate began as a way of honoring the 620,000 men who lost lives in the Civil War. That number does not account for the loss of civilain life. “Decoration Day” as it was originally known could also be seen as an attempt to collectively process the profound experience of grief and trauma among the people who had lived through the reality of war in their country; between their own people; over the enslavement of other people forcibly brought to this country. It is hard for most us to really fathom the depth of pain and conflict held in this experience. There is still a level of resistance to even speaking about this history, let alone feeling the weight that it holds. Yet, it remains within our shared collective consciousness. If we can actually tune in, we can feel it. How might our world change if we could actually, and honestly express our grief and trauma instead of avoiding, numbing and projecting it? It begins by courageously meeting our own personal experiences of loss with love and compassion rather than stoicism, denial and avoidance. Otherwise we are tempted to seek revenge, or a heightened sense of righteousness when faced with our own feelings of betrayal, confusion and grief that are part of our human experience. War can be seen as the ultimate act of revenge and dominance and it comes with a heavy cost for us all. In Truth, there are no borders or boundaries to our Oneness. What we do to another we ultimately do to ourselves. May our deepening realization of this Truth result in a widening of our shared solidarity with all of humanity. Only together can we bare the collective loss of the millions of sons and daughters lost in the act of war throughout history. There are currently over 110 active armed conflicts in our world. As we courageously hold the depth of this grief together, we are also supported in envisioning a future where the depth of our connectedness boldly leads us through our perceived differences and ensuing conflicts without the devastating loss of life that humanity continues to endure. This is what it means to realize a spiritually awakened world living Oneness. This is the vision we hold together in community at Unity of Denver.