Bearing Witness to Auschwitz
This Saturday I leave for a week-long meditation retreat with the Zen Peacemakers on the grounds of Auschwitz-Birkaneau. Just writing those words slows my breath down, and gives me the chills at the same time. Am I really doing this?
I’ve read about this retreat for years and have wondered what it would be like to go. Could I do it? Am I strong enough? Would it be bearable? I held the wish to be able to answer those questions affirmatively, and waited for the right time. Now is the time. And no time could be more poignant that this, to bear witness to what happens when xenophobia goes unchecked.
Strangely, I have had a connection to this place, Auschwitz, for as long as I can remember. I’m not sure why. I’ve read books, seen movies, and studied about what went on there, in an effort to understand why and how something like the holocaust could happen.
I have often put myself there, in the shoes of my gay brothers who were forced to wear the Pink Triangle simply for loving another man. I love a man. What would it be like to die for it? I remember when I saw the play, Bent, I wept uncontrollably. The main character was a nurse, gay. It was so close to home and too much to bear.
I leave in 3 days and I’m nervous, anxious, and a frankly a little afraid. But I’m going to visit the camp, not to be a prisoner there. So, my fears- about the uncertainty of what the experience will be like, how uncomfortable it might be sitting outside all day on the railroad tracks, meditating in the rain, snow, sleet, cold, or perhaps sunshine-are all so insignificant when I think about what it must have been like to have no clothes, no food, no warmth and no shelter. All while facing an inevitable death. I can’t imagine, but I can bear witness. Bear witness and not look away.
The 3 tenets of the Zen Peacemakers are:
1. Not knowing, letting go of fixed ideas about yourself, others, and the universe.
2. Bearing Witness to the joy and suffering of the world.
3. Taking action from what arises from Not Knowing and Bearing witness.
The following in an editor's note on the article, Do Not Look Away: A reflection by Sensie Robert Jin Gen Ertman on visiting Auschwitz-Birkaneau. You can read the entire article by clicking on the title.
I will have my own article to share soon.
Namaste, Tim
"Now more than ever it is crucial to bear witness to the results of xenophobia. The 2018 retreat at Auschwitz-Birkenau will not only bear witness to the events of the last century, but will testify to the growing intolerance taking place today. It will testify to the manipulation of media and information. It will testify to the more than 65 million people now fleeing wars and environmental disasters, seeking urgently for food and a roof over their heads. It will testify to the many more people who will soon face new walls.
How we define ourselves, and how others discriminate against us, is not confined to one single word. Today we witness the intersectionality of discrimination – individuals and groups are marginalized for being of a certain color, and of a certain sexual orientation, and of a certain class, and of a certain religion, in complex and overlapping ways. Today requires us to bear witness with curiosity, sensitivity and openness to a detailed landscape of the many layers of discrimination, and what makes us, and others, uniquely human. Can we then see this complexity as a common ground, where across seeming differences collaboration and solidarity can arise? " by Anthony Saracino