Life By The Spirit: " So I say, live by the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." [Galatians 5: 16-23].
During the period between the Ascension of Christ and Pentecost, Christians are called to pray for the fruits of the Spirit. What a different world it would be if it were ruled by Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Faith, Self-Control. But humankind more often falls into the trap of the opposite: Hate, Strife, Anger, Mean Spiritedness, Evil, Violence, and Arrogance.
Humans are born with an innate spirit; and this spirit is intricately entwined with the soul. I know this firsthand because, in my childhood, I was in such a deprivation environment, that I was in danger of losing my soul.
In that house, no one ever hugged me or told me they loved me. I had no Love. Emotions were dangerous and forbidden. I was punished for being angry, I was scolded for being exhilarated. I learned to adopt an impenetrable gaze. I discovered in 9th grade that I had a gift for art. I begged to pursue further art classes. I was told flatly, 'Absolutely not.' I learned to draw in secret at friends' houses, and leave my drawings behind. Faith was not allowed either. I was told, 'We do not go to church.'
Love, gifts, emotions, faith: all of these together puts you terribly close to a working definition of the Soul. I am now working on reclaiming my soul. I can give love copiously, but cannot receive it. If I feel any emotions, they always seem too "loud". When I sit down to draw again, I feel anxious. When I make my faith evident, such as by going up the aisle to receive Communion, I feel overwhelmed with fear.
This constitutes murder of the soul. It happened to me as an individual. But through history, it has been perpetrated against entire countries. We can learn a lot from history, if only we dare to face it. I think especially of "The Killing Fields" in Cambodia. In the 1970's, Cambodia was overrun by the Kmer Rouge. Young boys about my son's age were kidnapped and forced to join the Kmer Rouge Army.
Entire villages were rounded up and marched into the countryside. The Kmer Rouge targeted the country's educated and cultured class. Over 90% of this class was wiped out. It was a holocaust. In a cruel strategy, the Kmer Rouge sought to execute especially the artists of Cambodia. In Cambodian culture and religion, art is not merely part of the spirit; art IS the Soul and the Soul is art. In other words, the Kmer Rouge successfully conquered the country, and their chief method aimed to kill the citizens' souls.
This month [May 2012], a new book has been published about the life of Arn Chorn-Pond, a Cambodian who was forced into the Kmer Rouge army at age 9. [Never Fall Down, by Patricia McCormick, Balzer & Bray/HarperCollins Publishers.] In Cambodia, an entire generation has never heard the full story of the Kmer Rouge. The history was suppressed because of the pain, hurt, shame, and denial of a nation.
My regular readers know that when I was age ten, because of trauma and despair, I stopped speaking. I applaud Arn Chorn-Pond for the courage to tell his story, to speak the Truth. As humans, we long especially to be understood, to use our language for self-definition. Never Fall Down is an essential step in the journey of healing, both for him and for his country.
Ironically, it was art that saved Arn from execution, starvation, or a violent death. You see, he was a musician, drafted by the Kmer Rouge to play in a military band. This band was ordered to play loudly, in order to drown out the violence that the Kmer Rouge was inflicting on civilians. Although Arn was spared, he lost his mother and sister to the Kmer Rouge's killing sprees.
Those who had been rounded up by the Kmer Rouge and sent to refugee camps knew full well that the music would die, and that an essential part of the country's soul would perish. Arn remembers a little girl who told the soldiers, "I WILL play one last song, before you kill me!"
I had the privilege of meeting Arn Chorn-Pond in person recently. He is lean and wiry, with intense eyes that readily well up with tears. He spent years suppressing all of his memories of trauma and violence. He fell into a deep depression. His father was the one who advised him, "Tell your story or you will die!"
I spoke briefly with Arn about some of my own past traumas. Arn is a man who used to be wary, depressed, distrustful. Now he hugs everyone. Impulsively, he hugged me. It was a moving moment. We are kindred spirits, trying to reclaim our souls.
Arn spoke of Art. He said, "Art is for Love. Art is for peace, for reconciliation. It knows no boundaries." He began an organization in Cambodia called Cambodian Living Arts [cambodianlivingarts.org], to revive art and music in Cambodia. On behalf of this organization, Arn reconnects with old Masters of music and the arts, some of whom he finds homeless in the streets. He wants the Masters to teach the young Cambodians, before the art and music are lost forever.
To resurrect the arts is to resurrect the spirit, is to heal the nation. He says that he "gets back" at the Kmer Rouge by giving Cambodian children musical instruments, not guns! He wants his country to be remembered, not for The Killing Fields, but for the Arts.
Like me, Arn is grateful to be alive. He is grateful that he escaped the Kmer Rouge and did not "become them." Like me, Arn is facing his memories, and reclaiming his feelings. All over the world, he is sharing his story of war and violence and lost souls; and he is hearing similar stories across many cultures. By hearing other painful stories, he is releasing his own pain. Arn says, "The Kmer Rouge spared me, a boy. I came back [to Cambodia] a man."
Before I said goodbye, I promised Arn that I would tell the world his story. His parting words to me were, "Tell them about the book!" You have spoken, Arn and the world is listening.
The Truth will set you free! In all cultures, Art is the medium of the soul. Art is Peace, Love, Healing, Gentleness, Spirit, and Faith. Art is boundless.
Resources: ** cambodianlivingarts.org
** New York Times Book Review, May 13, 2012
(c) The Spiritual Devotional 2012. All Rights Reserved.
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