Monday, May 10, 2010

Eskimos and Suffering

In the introduction to The Power of Myth, by Joseph Campbell, there is mention of Igjugarjuk, a shaman of a Caribou Eskimo tribe in northern Canada, who said that the only true wisdom “lives far from mankind, out in the great loneliness, and can be reached only through suffering. Privation and suffering alone open the mind to all that is hidden to others.”


It is quotes like this one by Igjugaruk that remind me that all these years of my being denied the thing I want most in the world: to be married and to have a child of my own, is a suffering, yes, but it is not without its opposite, which is a blessing.


The blessing of gaining an understanding of the depth of my strength, the blessing of having conviction in my dreams, and the blessing of realizing the creative energy that exists in me, the power to create the world of my desire, is the same creative energy that has created everything, everywhere, always.


Why is that important? It’s importance lies in the knowledge that now I will always know of my strength. I will always have the convictions of my dreams to follow, and I will always know that the Creator created me to create anew. Whenever I am faced with uncertainties, doubts, fears, hurts and heartaches, I will have the blessing of my suffering to thank for overcoming them. I serve the world more having had my privations than I serve it not having had them.


No comments:

Post a Comment