As we sit in collective despair following yesterday’s tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary please consider these words to ponder about the state of humanity and of yourself at this present Dark Night of the Soul:
“Place no hope in the feeling of assurance, in spiritual comfort. You may well have to get along without this. Place no hope in the inspirational preachers of Christian sunshine, who are able to pick you up and set you back on your feet and make you feel good for three or four days–until you fold up and collapse into despair. Self-confidence is a precious natural gift, a sign of health. But it is not the same thing as faith. Faith is much deeper, and it must be deep enough to subsist when we are weak, when we are sick, when our self-confidence is gone, when our self-respect is gone.” –Thomas Merton
Faith is what will pull us through the last part of 2012. So be resilient, find your balance, seek comfort in friends, family, poetry, books and nature. Take the time to feel your pain; do not sedate it. And let the rest fall away as it will.
– Blessings, Samantha
(picture – Gentian flower – Use this flower essence for perseverance, confidence; faith to continue despite all hope being lost.)
Gentian flower essence