The Triumph in Small, Daily Acts
A Full Moon Message
“Do not lose heart…” the letter begins, “we were made for these times.” In her 2001 "Letter to a Young Activist during Troubled Times," Clarissa Pinkola Estés instructs all the heartbroken how not to be pulled under by the sea of social degradation in which we daily swim.
She continues, “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.” Estés' encouragement rings as true today as when she wrote those words 24 years ago.
It is easy to be discouraged into thinking that since one single individual can’t solve the whole problem, why even try. But it is not a time for individual heroics anymore – it is a time for small, daily triumphs of Love, for regular people like you and me, which, taken together tip the scales toward a lasting Kindness. As Estés observes in her letter:
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.
It takes humility to focus on what is within our reach, and it takes wisdom to recognize triumph in our small, daily acts of kindness.
The Moon becomes full on Monday, May 12, at 12:55pm Eastern Time. Set against the background of fixed stars the ancient Seers of India called “Vishakha,” this Full Moon is triumphant. Long buried ancestral memories of overcoming the odds, of victory, of 'resurrection', resurface.
A lightning storm over a churning ocean is an apt elemental metaphor for the celestial geometry present at this lunation. Given the amount of Change we are undergoing, it is best not to focus on the battles seemingly being lost, but rather, to examine what “winning” actually means to us. We are not battling other people, or other political parties or their ideals – we are battling the darkness of separation, of disconnection. Darkness cannot win over darkness – only Light can extinguish the forces of darkness.
If a seeming “win” creates further disconnection between beings, it is not really a win. But even the smallest act of love is a triumph.
At this Full Moon we can look at what it means to “win.” We can be comforted by the fact that our evolution is inevitable. And knowing that, as Dr. King instructs, “the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice,” we can set our sights on the long game.
Interesting. It’s definitely been a challenging chapter, beyond the dizzying vicissitudes of this world of ours, as I *chose* to put a lot of challenge on my plate. A few nights ago, I dreamt I was driving, and simultaneously watching myself drive, up a nearly vertical hill, like San Francisco 5.0.
I was behind someone who made it up and I also remembered that I knew this particular hill. I had to gun the motor was the trick. I watched myself do this and as I hovered over the horizontal plane that was rising to greet me, I woke up knowing I could do it.
Thank you Marga.
Individual and collective acts of kindness and relatedness, occurring on a regular basis, can perhaps imbue us all with the experience of oneness from which a world that works for everyone can be built.