It is not natural for a human being to take the life of another human being. It goes against the core of who we are as moral beings.
unknown retired military chaplain
I was sitting in a class room at the old Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary on top of the Berkeley Hills, enjoying the most amazing view over the San Francisco Bay, when these words were spoken. This was many years ago and I was listening to a retired military chaplain who gave a weekend workshop about pastoral care to veterans. Unfortunately, I forgot the presenter’s name, but I never forgot his presentation. Here is what I remember him saying: Because it is not natural for human beings to kill other human beings, it is natural for soldiers who kill in the course of their duty to experience guilt. Yes, the killing is sanctioned by the government, performed on behalf of the nation, and meant to protect land and people, but nevertheless, the individual soldier is prone to experience personal guilt and shame and fear and shock. Because the soldier has overstepped a boundary which, during peace, is sacrosanct. That is part of the big sacrifice soldiers make for their communities: Not only do they risk their lives and their bodily health; they also risk their soul health. – But do we acknowledge this as a society? We have ceremonies, procedures and honors recognizing the death of a soldier. We have medical procedures, skilled nursing facilities, physical therapy and other services available for soldiers who lose a limb. But when soldiers come home with a wounded soul, we do not name that as such and we do not give them the attention and the respect they deserve. It is not a disorder to feel bad about yourself after killing people, and witnessing people die in war. It is the most normal reaction possible.
In the parable of the 10 bride maids, Jesus tells us about two different types of women: The wise and the foolish ones. The wise bride maids come prepared. They take their lamps and extra oil when they go out to meet the bride groom. The foolish ones just grab their half empty lamps and hurry along. When the arrival is delayed, the foolish women run out of oil. They need to go back to get more, and consequently they miss the arrival of the groom. The wise women, however, are united with the groom at the wedding feast.
Shouldn’t we, as society, be as prepared as the wise bride maids, when we await the homecoming of our soldiers? Shouldn’t we have our best resources ready to welcome our wounded soldiers back? And, yes, some of these are mental health resources, bodily health resources. But much more attention should be paid to the restoration of our soldiers’ souls. Edward Tick, PhD, is known for his groundbreaking work in the spiritual, holistic, and community-based healing of veterans and other survivors of severe violence who suffer Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and moral injury. On his webpage we can read:
Ed’s deepest devotion is to the unfolding and restoration of soul as a meaningful and living concept in our personal and collective lives. Only by healing the sacred core of life can we transform our wounded world and ourselves.
EdwardTick.com
Have we, as society, stopped to pay attention to our souls? How did that happen? When did that happen?
Post war rituals welcoming soldiers back into peaceful society are a longstanding practice all over history, all over the world. We can read of such in the Old Testament:
Camp outside the camp seven days; whoever of you has killed any person or touched a corpse, purify yourselves and your captives on the third and on the seventh day. You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, everything made of goats’ hair, and every article of wood.
Numbers 31:19-20
This passage describes a time of isolation and purification before returning home. Other rituals include times of symbolic rebirth, communal lament and individual forgiveness, of storytelling and of incorporation of those individual soldier stories into the community’s collection of stories.
“Healing the Warriors Heart” is a public television documentary from 2014 which examines the emotional trauma of war from the viewpoint of Native American teachings. Here is how the National Endowment for the Humanities describe it on their webpage:
Native Americans have long understood that helping warriors heal emotionally and spiritually is key to maintaining a healthy society. Within many tribal communities, tradition bearers continue to use ceremonies, prayers, and sacred objects to help returning warriors reintegrate into society, reconnect with the natural world, and cope with the guilt, shame, and fears they bring home with them.
National Endowment for the Humanities
The movie describes the use of Native American sweat lodge ceremonies as post-war reintegration practices. For centuries, Native American ceremonies had been forbidden by church and law, but today they are resurging. A handful of VA offices, and VA stands for Department of Veterans Affairs, a handful of those all over the country offer sweat lodge healing ceremonies. They are open to all veterans and used with success. But the path to acceptance was difficult, as Edward Tick witnessed:
When I taught our chaplains about purification and cleansing as one of the necessary steps of return, and referenced Native American Sweat Lodges or African Warrior Burial ceremonies, there was for a lot of them, our chaplains from traditional Judeo-Christian backgrounds, they didn’t buy it. That’s paganism or those are the old religions or whatever type of rejection. When I added the biblical teachings about purification of warriors that is in the Old Testament and teach that this is a universal practice; our Hebraic ancestors taught it 3000 years ago and wanted us to treat warriors this way, they open up. They open their hearts and their minds, by and large, to embrace the universal teachings.
Interview with Edward Tick in “Healing the Warrior’s Heart”, starting at 41 min 20 sec.
Rev. Brad E. Kelle, PhD., researches sources from the early and medieval Christian church indicate that soldier rituals of purification, penance, expiation, and forgiveness were among the usual practices then. It is common sense that a nation which sends soldiers out to fight and kill and be killed in war, needs to welcome back the surviving soldiers in ways which are helpful and healing for them, their families and communities. This is a communal responsibility. We cannot outsource this task to health professionals alone and we cannot reduce the magnitude of the task to the medical treatment of conditions which just happen to befall veterans in higher-than-average numbers. We don’t want to be like the foolish bride maids, who come unprepared, don’t know what’s going on and miss the moment to be helpful. But, of course, in a secular society, how do you address soul care? Edward Tick defines the soul as the sacred core of life. How will the VA, a federal department, approach the healing of that sacred core of life? How will we, all of us, approach it?
I don’t have a clear answer to this question of how to better provide spiritual healthcare to veterans, but I do know that stripping the art of medicine of all that holds meaning, and pretending that healing is solely based on natural science, is not sufficient. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. We need to seek holistic ways.
As I understand, Native American medicine is based on a holistic, spiritual view of life. The concept of illness and health cannot be separated from ideas of religion and spirituality. That is true as well for the ancient biblical understandings of healing. My favorite biblical healing story is from the Old Testament, the Hebrew bible. It is the story of Naaman. Naaman is a rich military officer. When he falls seriously sick, he expects the healing to be very expensive and very complicated. But a simple rite is needed for Naaman to heal: He washes seven times in the river Jordan and is restored. Much later, Jesus is born into the Roman Empire. But the world he belongs to is the local, indigenous culture of the Jordan river shed. Jesus is an indigenous teacher and healer.
But today, we don’t look at Jesus that way. For many centuries, we melted Christianity with Western culture, the scientific mindset and White supremacy. We claimed that that combination was superior to anything else. In truth, it led to death-dealing and money-making barbarism. That is not easy to admit. That is not easy to repent for. And it is not easy to forgive. But it is more than necessary for many of us to step down from our high horse and join the rank of equals which make up our nation. We can all learn from each other. And we have important tasks to fulfill. Edward Tick reminds us:
Sitting Bull said, as did George Washington, two leaders of their nations, that if our warriors are well, our nation will be well. If our warriors fall, the entire social fabric will disintegrate. We have the greatest responsibility to tend to our warriors and bring them safely, fully home and back to health and well-being and that will keep the nation and the people together
Interview with Edward Tick in “Healing the Warriors Heart” starting at 50 min 07 sec.
May God bless our veterans and keep them safe. Amen.