[saymaListserv] Words from Clarissa Pinkola Estes

[Kit Potter]

Words from Clarissa Pinkola Estes
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.
Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D

FYI: "Dr. Estes is a senior Jungian analyst who has practiced and taught 
for well over twenty years. She is the former executive director of the 
C.G. Jung Center in Denver and has a doctorate in multicultural studies and 
clinical psychology from the Union Institute." She has written many books, 
including the well-known Women Who Run With The Wolves.  - Kit