Oppression creates strength in the long run.
Ann: Ruth, I am so glad to see/hear from you!
Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Yes, Ann, I have felt the need for my presence rather keenly in recent times. So many who have come so far have found themselves worn down by circumstance and the apparently always uphill nature of the struggle for equal rights in particular and humanity in general.
It is always easy to step on the weak and apparently society has not yet learned the folly of this activity.
For oppression creates strength in the long run. Never forget this. Both racial and sexual oppression have created an expanding commitment to a more open society, though it does seem a shame that darkness is apparently a necessary motivator. We are not to be allowed to rest on our laurels, such as they may be, because to do allows those negative forces to regroup.
My dears, this struggle is not just social and political. It is personal and spiritual. Each life has its own arc, its own rhythm, its beginning, its exposition and ending. It behooves each of us to follow the pattern, understand where we are on its trajectory and where our spirits can offer and receive nourishment according where we are at any given time.
“To everything there is a season.”* When we fade in earthly energy, we increase in spiritual power and that is the time when passing the baton to those coming after us is at its most effective as we ourselves return to Source.
So if you feel your energy flagging, if you are sometimes swamped with melancholy or lassitude, look to that arc, find your place on the spectrum, and see if you can discover where your energy can next find fertile soil. It maybe the simple caring for one who is ill or receiving such care from others with the understanding that, as givers and receivers, you move as equals in the eyes of god. Or it may be the joyful giving of yourself to the next iteration of your journey wherever it may take you.
There is light in every season. So if it seems to fade, take yourself out of yourself and look for the larger context where you light will shine even as its intensity and direction may change. And always, always revel in the comfort of the love of Spirit who welcomes its children home at every phase in this life and the next.
August 28, 2023
*Ecclesiastes 3.
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