Friday, February 19, 2010

The Thread of the Fates


“A man's character is his fate.” -- Heraclitus

The white-robed personifications of destiny in Greek mythology were the Moirae or Moerae, often called the Fates. The number of Fates was fixed at three and were said to control the thread of life for every mortal born—from birth till death—metaphorically. Clotho, the “spinner” was the Fate of birth. Lachesis, the “drawer of lots” measured the thread of life, or time that a person was allotted. The final Moirae, Atropos was the “cutter” of that life-thread, the decider of a person’s moment of death or release from the mortal plane.

How interesting to have a life measured with the metaphor of thread. But think of a thread as not a single, thin fiber. Thread is made up of multiple fibers that are spun together, similar to the slenderest of rope. Along the course of that length of thread, there are many individual beginning and endings of individual fibers, where new bits are woven in and sputter out along the slender threads path.

Isn’t our life, our time here on Earth,  similar to that act of weaving? Or more appropriately, isn’t living a life a form of weaving a thread of consciousness and purpose?

Just as when I was born, when Clotho started to spin me into existence and weave me, I became part of a new life in my family. An added layer of strength (or weakness depending on who you ask) for that moment. And then for a moment in time, that thread of time ran until another fiber was added to strengthen the thread. Think brothers, sisters, cousins and even people added through marriages. All entering to stregthen the thread.

I did not know it at the time, the time that I was living from birth till now, that Lachesis was measuring my life. Then re-measuring again and again depending on what I was doing and how I was acting. Smoking. Drinking. Not exercising or exercising. Surrounding myself with love--or toxic people and attitudes. All of those life decisions effecting when the final measure would take place and the third fate would step up to do her duty.

Clip.

Now enter Atropos and her shears, and somewhere along the same thread, fibers ended with a snip and lives were abruptly ripped from the cables. We have all felt how this weakens the thread, how our families lose strengths that the dead added to our lives-- the many gifts that they brought to the time they dwelled with us. Even divorce, family conflicts or sudden illnesses can cause the same weakening of the thread.

Our only hope, is to teach the strengths that bond people together and show that our strength as a community of man is the only way that we can span difficult times and trying circumstances. We need to adapt and to embrace that which is the only thing that truly endures…and that is change. Even the enduring changes along our own, carefully measured thread of time.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Who Are You?

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.”--Dr. Seuss


In the opening part of the novel "Sophie's World" by Jostein Gaarder the unknown and mysterious philosopher asks his young pupil, Sophie, a simple yet startling question.  That question was, "Who are you?"

Who are you indeed?  Try to answer this and see how difficult it is to honestly come up with an answer.  We can easily come up with the simple physical characteristics. Height. Weight. Eye and hair color. That can be accessed by looking into a mirror, stepping on a scale or using a tape measure. We know our names, addresses and phone numbers. But do any of those things really speak to "Who are you?" 

My wife asked me a similiar question. "At your 80th birthday party, what do you hope your friends and family say about you?" It seems to be asking the same question, only framing it differently. One wants you to step outside of yourself and look at your life as others would see it. Sophie's question begs her to dive deeply into soul work to determine who she is. No looking glass to reflect back who she is. She, as Alice in "Through the Looking Glass" needs to take a daring leap into the truth that is often difficult to face.


I will share who I am.

I seek to give more than take. To consume less of the universe's resources then I restore. To be "a truth" and not fall for the flim-flam of "Mankind."  I have grown sure (or perhaps it is disenchanted) that there is truly little kind in mankind. I am a lone voyager, lost yet surrounded by many who love me and that I love. I am unique and there will never be another like me. Bits and pieces of me, either by DNA or memories that others will carry with them, will fly forward into time.  Eventually that will be diluted to small dust--pieces of stardust, and "Who I am" will be so small I will appear to be gone.  But for a short time who I was will be remembered.

Take some time and share with yourself "Who are you?"


Looking Glass - A Nez Perce Indian, in 1877, who still exists in pieces of the universe's collective soul.