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" The songs of our ancestors

are also the songs of our children "

The Druid Way

We Were Made For These Times

December 10th, 2015

marble mountain cave shafts

Thank you to Sarah Fuhro for sending in this beautiful and inspiring call to hope from Clarissa Pinkola Estes

We Were Made For These Times

My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times. I have heard from so many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered. They are concerned about the state of affairs in our world now. Ours is a time of almost daily astonishment and often righteous rage over the latest degradations of what matters most to civilized, visionary people.

You are right in your assessments. The lustre and hubris some have aspired to while endorsing acts so heinous against children, elders, everyday people, the poor, the unguarded, the helpless, is breathtaking. Yet, I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit dry by bewailing these difficult times. Especially do not lose hope. Most particularly because, the fact is that we were made for these times. Yes. For years, we have been learning, practicing, been in training for and just waiting to meet on this exact plain of engagement.

I grew up on the Great Lakes and recognize a seaworthy vessel when I see one. Regarding awakened souls, there have never been more able vessels in the waters than there are right now across the world. And they are fully provisioned and able to signal one another as never before in the history of humankind.

Look out over the prow; there are millions of boats of righteous souls on the waters with you. Even though your veneers may shiver from every wave in this stormy roil, I assure you that the long timbers composing your prow and rudder come from a greater forest. That long-grained lumber is known to withstand storms, to hold together, to hold its own, and to advance, regardless.

In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward fainting over how much is wrong or unmended in the world. Do not focus on that. There is a tendency, too, to fall into being weakened by dwelling on what is outside your reach, by what cannot yet be. Do not focus there. That is spending the wind without raising the sails.

We are needed, that is all we can know. And though we meet resistance, we more so will meet great souls who will hail us, love us and guide us, and we will know them when they appear. Didn’t you say you were a believer? Didn’t you say you pledged to listen to a voice greater? Didn’t you ask for grace? Don’t you remember that to be in grace means to submit to the voice greater?

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 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.

The reason is this: In my uttermost bones I know something, as do you. It is that there can be no despair when you remember why you came to Earth, who you serve, and who sent you here. The good words we say and the good deeds we do are not ours. They are the words and deeds of the One who brought us here. 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.

By Clarissa Pinkola Estes

American poet, post-trauma specialist and Jungian psychoanalyst, author of Women Who Run With the Wolves.

 

14 Responses to “We Were Made For These Times”

  1. This amazing piece had me weeping within seconds of reading it. It soothed my soul. Through my tears I felt a piece of my heart healed, held and loved. Thank you.

  2. This may be the best piece I’ve read this year…or perhaps most years. Surely resonates with me. Just what I needed to persevere. We are engaged in helping a person who has great need and establishing a sanctuary for her animals by the end of next week besides the personal requirements of life, and our national and world traumas. I was feeling like a bug on the windshield of the universe and about as energetic and functional! Many thanks for posting this

  3. Wonderful reminder that we need to bloom where we are planted and not feel compelled or helpless in our ability to make a beautiful contribution to the world amid the chaos. Remember you are a vessel that shines forth from an all powerful source of strength and you may bend but you will not break… Always stand with that knowledge and have no fear. Extend your hand in mercy and gratitude always and goodness will prevail.

    Thank you for that reminder.

  4. I love Dr E, and I really admired Sarah’s beautiful writing in the 50th anniversary book. It is nice serendipity for me that both show up on your blog, CC. 🙂

  5. Thank you, Philip Carr Gomm for sharing this inspirational message. I was feeling blue and full of despair and this post made me remember. Remember why I’m here and who sent me and that I am strong to withstand the slings and arrows of misfortune and help others to get to the shore of love.

  6. Bless you for this, I desperately needed to hear this and take it to heart. I did not believe there were any words that could bring comfort during these crazy times, but your words did just that. I cannot thank you enough

  7. Thankyou Philip

    Perfect timing, I needed this today.

    Seasons Greetings

    May the wisdom of the dark,
    and the joy of the light always be with you

    xxx Lisa

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