After Darkness...Light

    Among Friedrich Nietzche's many famous phrases and philosophical or psychological ideas and theories, is the idea that all wisdom is negative wisdom. Whether it's his idea that there is no God, or the fact that many, if not most of our memories are negative ones. I mean, we remember happy memories, but Nietzche (following Shakespeare) reminds us that it's the negative memories, like the negative wisdom that comes to us with the most clarity and stays with us the longest. 
    I was thinking about that today as I made my way over to the Garden of Reflection here in Bucks County. The 'Garden' was created after the attacks of September 11, 2001 to honor all of those who were murdered that day, and especially the 18 victims who were from Bucks County. The photograph that I took today and that you see above is part of the memorial that was dedicated in 2006, which includes two rings of plaques that surround this pool and its fountains. The outer ring memorializes each and every victim, while the inner ring repeats that remembrance for each resident of Bucks County. I have already written about that day and the memories of being in New York City two days before the attacks. It was an angry piece that I do not, for one minute, apologize for. That said, it probably wasn't one of my finer writing moments. If you are so moved, feel free to click on the link above and judge for yourself. What I think I'd like to do is, very briefly talk about today...after the darkness.

    When you drive in to the Garden of Reflection you are immediately engulfed in a sense of time...as opposed to place. To be honest, it's not that big. Turning in off the main road that brings you past a couple of developments with well-manicured lawns and swimming pools, you immediately find yourself (after you've parked your car) surrounded by trees with low-hanging branches that accompany you from the first reminder of that day; a large, twisted and rusted steel girder that was part of one of the Twin Towers in Manhattan. The hallway of trees and overhanging branches guides you to the aforementioned pool and fountains. You are then guided by the walkways to walk along the outer ring followed by the inner ring. All the while you are well aware of the fountains representing the Twin Towers as they serenade you with a constant falling of water that no doubt, means different things to different people. 

    You are then invited, by the sheer weight of the moment, to sit on any number of benches that surround the fountain and the names. You sit and take a deep breath and stare at the fountain and you remember where you were the day it all happened. That memory is pretty easy, isn't it? That's what Nietzche meant when he talked about negative wisdom and negative memories being at the forefront of our minds. As for me, I can see that whole morning in my mind's eye as if it were yesterday. 

    And then you think you notice something else. Yes, you notice laughing. Laughing? Yes; kids laughing and playing and even yelling...as kids do! I mean, it's not happening next to you or up at the fountain with the names of the fallen because then you'd lose your mind at the disrespectfulness of it all! No, it's coming from the tennis courts, the soccer and softball fields, and finally, the volleyball court (all sand, of course). Where did they come from? These courts and fields surround the Garden at a little distance, but close enough to remind you that they are all part of the Garden, as it were. And then you think about it and realize it was done on purpose; it was all part of the plan. 

    You see, the phrase "After Darkness...Light" is etched in one of the stones that are also part of the Garden. There are a number of these etchings into stones and granite throughout the park, but this one is, for me anyway, the most memorable. And the most important. It comes from the Latin phrase Post Tenebras Lux. 

    Originally, it was the unofficial motto of the Protestant Revolution in the 1500s. It refers to the rediscovery of biblical truth during a time of spiritual darkness. And no, I'm not going down that rabbit hole. What I will tell you, dear reader, is that as I sat there and thought about all those names etched into the plaques surrounding the fountain, I thought of the ancient blessing the Yahwist wrote and has been mistranslated ever since. I don't think the Blessing is "Be fruitful and multiply," but rather More Life Into a Time Without Boundaries. The act of preserving one's name. That's what the Garden has done here in Bucks County. It has recorded the names and hallowed them, as it were, so that they will not be forgotten. In death, they have been given "more life."

    I then looked over again at the stone with the etched phrase After Darkness...Light. "How appropriate," I thought. "Even with the act of preserving one's name, we still acknowledge (contra the Protestants of the 1500s) that life goes on." As I walked back to the car, past the twisted steel caused by the hatred of anti-Western, religious fanatics, I paused to watch the kids play, and laugh, and fist-bump, and yell...just a stone's throw away from the solemn act of remembering. And I let myself smile for just a brief moment in these crazy times...and hope.

    

write to Peter: magtour@icloud.com