Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D

An excerpt from an article by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D

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.

My friends, 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 …
the fact is that 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
vessels 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... 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?

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.

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 a prayer that you remember who you came
from, and why you came to this beautiful, needful Earth.

-Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D