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Commentary of the Day
Letter to a Young Activist During Troubled Times,
by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D.
Mis estimados:
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 right 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; 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 crafts
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.
We have been in training for a dark time such as this, since the day we
assented to come to Earth. For many decades, worldwide, souls just like
us have been felled and left for dead in so many ways over and over
brought down by naivete, by lack of love, by being ambushed and
assaulted by various cultural and personal shocks in the extreme. We
have a history of being gutted, and yet remember this especially; we
have also, of necessity, perfected the knack of resurrection. Over and
over again we have been the living proof that that which has been
exiled, lost, or foundered can be restored to life again.
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 perseverating 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?...
Understand the paradox: If you study the physics of a waterspout, you
will see that the outer vortex whirls far more quickly than the inner
one. To calm the storm means to quiet the outer layer, to cause it to
swirl much less, to more evenly match the velocity of the inner core;
till whatever has been lifted into such a vicious funnel falls back to
Earth, lays down, is peaceable again. One of the most important steps
you can take to help calm the storm is to not allow yourself to be taken
in a flurry of overwrought emotion or desperation thereby accidentally
contributing to the swale and the swirl.
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.
This comes with much love and prayer that you remember who you came
from, and why you came to this beautiful, needful Earth.
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