Perhaps we need a bit of a heavy heart to carry the importance of our questions about life, such as: What will become of our children after we are gone? Who will they fall in love with and who will love and cherish them? Will they find their way to a good and meaningful life and to the destiny awaiting them? And will our grandchildren find a welcoming world to greet them anew each day with a promise that life will be good and that they can find the way into their future? Will they be strong enough to weather those threatening storms which can all too easily take them far from home, and far from their soul? Did we provide enough for them to enable them take on all that life has to offer?
So too, in the silence of the night, we find a silhouetted reflection of our own life. Chiaroscuro – a contrast of light and dark – comes with the night, with reflections, and is a way of life for all of us trying to understand something of our life’s journey.
We all want to catch a glimpse of that elusive destiny shaping our life. From Plato’s image of destiny written in the heavens, to our mercurial encounters with the Grail, and to Hillman’s “Acorn Theory“, we find how our talents, disabilities, hopes and broken dreams all represent the tapestry of our life and of our destiny.
If only we could speak about the joys of discovering our destiny, but we are not allowed such frivolities. Because life happens and often holds our destiny as a captive foe. Trauma, weakness, and fatigue also cause us to turn away from the life we are meant to live. While Seneca, the Roman philosopher, reminds us that: “the fates will lead him who will and will drag him who won’t”. And as we approach the later years of our life Psyche reminds us with ever greater urgency of “Amor Fati,” to have a love of one’s fate.
The day will come when we find answers to our questions, and in a private moment, we wipe away the tears of joy and disappointment – and in knowing that our time has come to an end – hope and pray that we have lived a meaningful life.