What It is Like to Go to War

by Karl Marlantes

Mystical or religious experiences have four common components: constant awareness of one’s own inevitable death, total focus on the present moment, the valuing of other people’s lives above one’s own, and being part of a larger religious community such as the Sangha, ummah, or church.

The big difference is that the mystic sees heaven and the warrior sees hell.

Boot camp doesn’t turn young men into killers. It removes the societal restraints on the savage part of us that has made us the top animal in the food chain.

Death becomes an abstraction, except for those at the receiving end. We must come to grips with consciously trying to set straight this imbalance of modern warfare.

Today, those who engage in killing through high technology take no personal risk, so the initiatory experience is basically nullified. It’s a job.

The ideal response to killing in war should be one similar to a mercy killing, sadness mingled with respect.

You can’t be a warrior and not be deeply involved with suffering and responsibility. You’re causing a lot of it. You ought to know why you’re doing it. Warriors must touch their souls because their job involves killing people. Warriors deal with eternity.

It is critical for young people who return from combat that someone is there to help them, before they turn to drugs, alcohol, and suicide. We cannot expect normal eighteen-year-olds to kill someone and contain it in a healthy way. They must be helped to sort out what will be healthy grief about taking a life because it is part of the sorrow of war. The drugs, alcohol, and suicides are ways of avoiding guilt and fear of grief. Grief itself is a healthy response.

“the eternal soul is imperishable. No one can comprehend it... You do not kill and your victim is not killed... Weapons cannot hurt the soul; fire cannot burn it; water cannot wet it. It is eternal and it is the same forever. Once you realize this truth there is no need for you to grieve.”

existence and we must make choices. That is, when we are confronted by the very real existence of forces for good or for evil, we must choose sides. Krishna states in the Mahabharata, “It is not right to stand by and watch an injustice being done. There are times when active interference is necessary.”

Turning warfare into crusades only invites clouded judgment and fierce self-righteous opposition that may otherwise have crumbled. It also evokes crusades on the other side and vengeful