A Kingdom Worthy of Thee

 

At this close of the year I conclude, again, at my desk, writing my litany of gratitude for the year that has passed.  While this year has included unimaginable success and the deepest sorrow that I’ve known in this life, it has also been abundant with the evidence of Nietzsche’s observation that, “the most massive characters are seared with scars.”  Given the inevitable, persistent, and generative commitment to the conduct of my life to which I pledge each day, my abiding gratitude is extended to both those who dealt the blows and applied balm to the scars.  Without both, the character cannot fully emerge.  And for this, I give thanks.

 

As we watched the year unfold, the polarization of the dark forces that are set on division and schism were amplified.  Wars between gender, political ideology, religion, and ethnicity; the cult of self-help experts activating enmity between people and relationships; and the aggressive attack on anyone or anything that did not conform to social memes rose to a cacophony in which the voice of reason, understanding, and reconciliation was unwelcome or overwhelmed.  Yet, against this raging storm, people of character and calm integrity held their ground, in the face of brutal derision and opposition, shielding the light from the calamitous winds.  And while we could argue that the dark is still raging, the constellation of light persists and, tho darkened, is not extinguished.  For this, I give thanks.

 

Uncertainty is the only certainty.  Or as Peter Crone so eloquently summarizes about the perception of the future, “I DON’T KNOW” is the ultimate wisdom.  While there are those who find uncertainty a paralytic, there are others who have, against seeming insurmountable odds, pressed forward.  Whether the commitment was to author texts to unveil new understanding, to speak truth into a maelstrom of falsehoods, to defend the vulnerable against exploitation, or to quietly persist in the face of constant accusation and diminishment, there were hosts of great souls who demonstrated the tenacity and indomitable nature of the unfettered human spirit.  For this, I give thanks.

 

I was recently gifted an insight by a woman who is a dreamer and seer.  She relayed to me an insight about my life and in it used the metaphor of a white horse to describe my youth and early adult life.  In her dream, “Free the White Horse” was written across the sky with a celestial voice reciting the same message.  As the horse was running in terror from a fearful creature, she stated that I didn’t come to the horses aid as quickly as she would have liked but, in the final moment, I allowed the horse to run to safety.  Time passed.  And in her dream, she said a dark horse, “fit for a king” returned – beautiful, confident, bold and unshakeable. 

 

As I heard this dream, I was reminded of Alexander’s Bucephalus – the most heroic horse in antiquity.  After King Philip rejected the horse as unbreakable, Alexander took on the challenge, not of breaking the horse, but becoming one with the horse’s spirit.  After seeing Alexander and Bucephalus in their grandeur, the king said to his son, “O my son, look thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy of thyself, for Macedonia is too little for thee.”  I found, in both the dream and the reflection on Alexander a beautiful benediction for this year.  Anything or anyone that uses fear of rejection, isolation, or loss as its currency is the fleeting white horse (including any chivalrous narrative of knights and white horses which infer conquest disguised as romance and love) and needs to be allowed to run away.  The only thing left standing is the Dark Horse Fit for a King.  For honoring the white horse for its service and for welcoming the Dark Horse, I give thanks.

 

The last joys and sorrows of 2024 have come and gone.  It is ours to determine whether they will become for us wisdom or suffering.  For the choice we have for either of these outcomes, I give thanks.  Happy New Year!

 

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