With Pluto still bridging the gap between Capricorn and Aquarius throughout the year, we are in the doorway to a new global experience. I love this piece by Clarissa Pinkola Estes and have made it my bible when I am overcome with the fact that I am such a small piece in the disasters of today, with no idea how to save the world. I hope you will find it helpful too.
We should note the fact that this book was not written for today’s times. It was published in 1989, 35 years ago. Human disaster is not new; it goes back through the millennia of time and history. Perhaps it is the very purpose of life to learn to play a role in the “rising up” of humanity as best we can. So let us not keep a chair for despair, as Ms Estes has written, but instead do the small things that we can to repair our own hearts and help to heal the world where we are able. 💖
“Ours is not the task of fixing the
entire world all at once, but of
stretching out to mend the part
of the world that is within our
reach.
Any small, calm thing that one
soul can do to help another soul,
to assist some portion of this
poor suffering world, will help
immensely.
It is not given to us to know
which acts or by whom, will cause
the critical mass to tip toward an
enduring good.
What is needed for dramatic
change is an accumulation of
acts, adding, adding to,
adding more,
continuing.
We know that it does not take
everyone on Earth to bring
justice and peace, but only a
small, determined group who will
not give up during the first, second,
or hundredth gale.
One of the most calming and
powerful actions you can do
to intervene in a stormy world
is to stand up and show your soul.
Soul on deck shines like gold
in dark times.
The light of the soul
throws sparks, can send up flares,
builds signal fires,
causes proper matters to catch fire.
To display the lantern of the soul
in shadowy times like these,
to be fierce and to show mercy
toward others;
both are acts of immense bravery
and greatest necessity.
Struggling souls catch light
from other souls who are fully lit
and willing to show it.
If you would help to calm the tumult,
this is one of the strongest things
you can do.
There will always be times when
you feel discouraged. I too have
felt despair many times in my life,
but I do not keep a chair for it.
I will not entertain it. It is not
allowed to eat from my plate.
In that spirit, I hope you will
write this on your wall:
“When a great ship is in
harbor and moored,
it is safe,
there can be no doubt.
But that is not what
great ships are built for.”
—Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run With the Wolves
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