So much of what we experience is bound up with defeat – coping with it, admitting it, staving it off, fearing it, dreading it, etc. Consequently, much of our thoughts and contemplations are bound up in it as well. It’s natural and rational. It’s easy to feel defeated (or on the verge thereof) because we so often are. There are times in which even our best and most good-hearted inclinations towards mercy and nonviolence are themselves the cause of our defeat. There days and even months in which it seems positively impossible to avoid some big or small betrayal, often and most tragically at the hands of those closest to us.
Even in the midst of facts and history and daunting odds, however, the conclusion that we are never in a position of strength, clarity, influence, and power is as self-defeating as it is false. Our stars rise and fall just the same as those of the mighty, even if their shine may command less attention.
Any possibility of our prosperity, in fact, depends upon our avoidance of the assumption of our own impotence – along with its poisonous and seductive corollary, the notion we may never employ force or offensive action. The truth is, fundamental factors ranging from justice itself to petty self-interest all demand our participation – when the time is right – in the good fight.
Don’t let even the worst of past defeats or the worst of present betrayals make you forget it. We’ve got to be defiant, fists in the air, ready to go.
Take a deep breath, though. Don’t just dart off willy-nilly into the breach ready to blow stuff up. What’s incumbent upon us is the need to conduct our forward marches in the right fashion. We must be able to assess the proper time and go about them in such a way that we aren’t relying solely on our own individual powers or acting solely out of selfish impulses. Our struggle must be a struggle for what is right, conducted openly in the light of day, conducted cooperatively alongside one another as well as on behalf of one another.
The powers of both the moon goddess and the feminine undercurrent to the universe both remain strong this week. Underneath and within their influences, let us take a few more breaths to contemplate, beyond our sorrows and difficulties, our strength and spiritual purity. Let’s prepare ourselves to fight not merely for ourselves or our families, but on behalf of our neighbors, coworkers, countrymen.
Above all that, let’s make sure we see exactly what’s beautiful about all of this, for few notions can be considered more completely divine. There’s a current to this universe and the best of our moments are the ones during which we’re ever-so-briefly able to surf along with them.
Salaam.
Christopher J. DiLoreto 