Tuesday, August 19, 2014

:: LIFE :: Soldier of the Spirit

Last week brought us heartbreaking news and spurred numerous conversations on a very delicate subject. Of course I shared the same anguish that swept across the world when I heard the unsettling news of Robin Williams’ death, but I didn’t think to write about it until I came across a link to an article that I found to be rather serendipitously timed. The more I thought on it, the more the combination of the two events compelled me to put my thoughts into writing. My goal in doing so is not to try to explain away a death. I simply want to celebrate a man who was larger than life, and use this time to incite some much needed self reflection for the rest of us.


We lost a great man who, despite his own battles, brought an unquantifiable richness into the lives of others. If you haven’t been on the internet in the last week, first of all I commend you, but more so, I realize that you then may not yet understand the impact that this man has had on so many lives. And so, I want to take a moment to remember Robin Williams and honor his life and achievements as an entertainer with an uncanny talent for liberating laughs of pure, absolute joy from the bellies of even the most rigid human. And yet behind the impressions and the laughter, it’s clear from the memories that have been shared in a visceral reaction to the alarming news, that Williams’ heart was much bigger than his personality.

From his numerous charitable contributions to the individual stories I’ve read, Williams was a man of tremendous empathy who, it seems, had a way of letting you know that your experience was, in every way, as much of an impact on his life as it was on your own. He knew when others felt pain and did everything in his power to make them forget it, if only for a moment of complete exaltation. He also had a tender, quiet side that he sometimes shared with us on the screen where his walls were down and he shone in front of us not as an entertainer but as a man, as deep and complex as his bag of tricks. I never had the pleasure of meeting the local legend, but I can just imagine his expressive face softly relaxing as he speaks gently in his deep, unadulterated voice, his steel blue eyes telling you that, at that very moment in time, you’re the most important person in the world to him.

Taking such an honest investment in others is a quality of character that I think is a rare commodity these days. I suspect that it’s a casualty of trying to keep up in this ever-advancing, ever-challenging rat race. A race that has a tendency to turn out the worst in people. Then there’s the rare few who, despite all the malign influence around them, are hell bent on preserving the best qualities of the human spirit. I like to think of them as soldiers of the spirit, fighting for the pure moments that make life worth living. It’s a tough battle; maybe the toughest of all. And as a result, their spirit takes blow after irreparable blow, fighting against an ailing microcosm that doesn’t seem to want to get better. They take on the weight that many others refuse to carry; an inconceivably heavy weight that most would avoid if they could, in favor of a less rocky, more “normal” existence. Yet these soldiers persist, because even the smallest victory — a smile cracked, or a helping hand received — results in momentary bliss so intense that it rivals any pleasure brought from temporal joys. And that moment alone is enough to continue the fight, until occasionally the spirit has to acquiesce.

Whether struggling ourselves, or knowing someone who's going through something you can see and feel but don't quite understand, we can never forget that we’re in this together. We all struggle with things like how to fit in, how to succeed, and how to make sense of this world that seems to propelling us towards the unknown. But we forget that we’re solely responsible for the these things and the direction that we’re heading. By shaping our own lives, we shape the lives of those around us and, henceforth, we shape the world. Of course, there will always be things that are out of our control — illness, natural disasters, etc. — but for every moment in between, when we do have the power be a positive impact and to fight for the goodness of humanity, shouldn’t we?

I definitely don’t want to give the anyone the wrong impression or make it seem like I’m suggesting that adopting a rosy outlook on life is a cure for depression, because I know first hand what a sensitive topic this can be. I know that things like depression and anxiety are medically classified as mental disorders or illnesses. And yes, they are basically the result of a biological function that isn’t technically considered normal. And yes, I know all too well that they are scary, and dangerous and should be treated. But I don’t think nature, in this case, is necessarily so stalwart an opponent that nurture doesn’t have a fighting chance in the ring.

It feels like a lot of people hear the words “mental disorder” and immediately place those people into a bucket labeled “sick” or “broken,” as if to say they don’t have control over their lives or actions because they were dealt this particular “fate." But I don’t think it’s necessarily a flaw to feel emotions with the power of a thousand suns. Inconvenient sometimes? Yes, terribly so. But defective? Quite the opposite. So I wonder what would happen if, instead of attributing everything to a medical diagnosis and assuming no responsibility, we turned back around and looked at ourselves, questioning if the lives we lead are in support of and nurturing to the human spirit. If we all carried a little more weight, is it possible to ease the heaviness of the world we’ve shaped that encumbers those who are already slated to take the brunt it?

We live in a complex, evolving world that can be hard on even the most biologically stable limbic systems. But in the same way that the mindful practice of combat breathing stops the stress response in a real soldier, being more mindful about our own emotions and spirits could have a positive impact on those of others. Rather than continuing to propagate a cycle of illness and defeat with things like ignorance and pride, we could all apply a few simple, mindful rules to our lives that, I believe, would have a tremendous impact on the human spirit. Ironically, it’s as simple as the basic rule of physics: for every action, there is a reaction, because health and happiness are contagious. By investing in myself, I am investing you. And vise versa.


This article from Psychology Today seems very simple and obvious on the surface, because it is. It explains the most basic functions of life that our ancestors lived by, before the world was littered with so much excessive, external stimuli that we’ve allowed to clog up our spiritual arteries and muddle the goodness inside us. Before we were entrepreneurs and celebrities, we were and are humans first. Why behave any other way?

For a really beautiful tribute to Robin Williams, check out my friend Chris' post. And grab a box of tissues... The Travel Journo: What Robin Williams meant to a kid born in the 80’s 

*c