We Are But Men
By Richard Wiener
When I was young, I searched for gods – men without fear of death, men imbued with the unassailable power I so sorely lacked. At times I thought I had found such gods, but in the end all proved to be fallible like myself. Much later I learned that godliness resides not on a sacred Mount Olympus, but right here, right now, within ourselves.
By our rituals, we create sacred space, but in that space we are men, not gods. What ennobles us is our willingness to strive, within the confines of our mortality, to accept our human limitations, yes, but also to transcend them.
What makes a man a Warrior is his struggle, first, to conquer his shame and fear, and then, on the wings of that conquest, to carry his mission out into the world. As Michelangelo set free his Prisoners by chiseling away the marble that confined them, so the Warrior unlocks the prison of his past and emerges a living, noble work of art.
That past made possible our glory, so let us revel in it. The abuse, the isolation, the wounds inflicted on our innocence – these are what propel us forward on the path of self-recognition and of spiritual growth that we will follow to the ends of our lives. Sweet indeed are the uses of adversity.
We are but men, assailed by doubts and fears, paddling furiously through the white water of our lives into an unknown, perilous future, hearing always the faint roar of the waterfall in the distance. But oh, the joy of that manhood, of being fully alive every moment, of seeing all about us our Warrior brothers, facing the same odds with courage and honor.
Richard Wiener, born 1927 in Germany . . . lived under Nazi regime 1933-39 . . . published poetry collection “Sense of Time” last January . . . completing autobiography . . . present “Power of Forgiveness” workshop . . . public speaking on reconciliation . . . MKP ritual elder . . . Hering awardee . . . founded MKP Diversity Fund
– is a deeply personal issue that everyone decides for himself. Sometimes the price is high, sometimes low. But this is not very important for life. Life is an interesting thing. And the price on Viagra – too.
