Your Right to
Rapture
“One way
or another, we all have to find what best fosters the flowering of
our humanity in this contemporary life, and dedicate ourselves to
that.”
Joseph
Campbell
There is a lot of
negativity going around these days, and with good reason. It's easy
to become cynical when the people that you should look up to and be
inspired by are themselves the cause of the cynicism. This is a
climate that brings out the worst in all of us. Which is why we
should be doubly aware of our own responses to everyone we meet. And,
most especially, we should monitor our inner life to see where it is
taking us. On a scale of one to ten, how negative are you, with one
being not at all, and ten being totally negative?
Pessimism is an
infectious disease; if you come in contact with it often enough, you
will become sick in mind and body. If you are immersed in it all day,
every day, there is no way to be healthy. It will wipe out all your
joy, and cause you to forget what Joseph Campbell called, “the
rapture that is associated with being alive.” It is times like
these that we must do the things that support our own humanity, and
acknowledge the humanity of others.
It's easier for me, and I
suspect for other older people, to keep the faith. We've seen a lot.
We've lived through wars and disruptions, through bad times and good.
We know that this too shall pass. Ground will be lost, bad things
will happen, but all the while, human beings will step up, and step
into the breech to help one another. Young people will protest, and
they should—this is their time for civil action, which happens in
every generation. The tectonic plates of culture and everyday life
will shift and change, and then find equilibrium—life will go on,
but it will be different.
To the extent possible,
do not let the difficulties of these times take away your joy. Don't
be so consumed by the challenges of outer life that you allow them to
separate you from your heart. Claim your right to rapture, grab any positive energy that comes your way, and send some out to others.
Simply living a human lifetime is a gift beyond measure. Cherish
every minute of it.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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