It’s interesting how the quotes I send out in my newsletter sometimes impact people. The following two sentences written by Carl Jung reminded my friend, Isabel Osth, of a time just before the death of a dear family member:
“We should not pretend to understand the world only by the intellect. The judgment of the intellect is only part of the truth.”
This is a poem Isabel wrote at time, echoing Jung’s words:
The winds of change will blow
And unknown ways will open
For us to wander on
Leaving behind so much
We’d love to take with us,
But won’t.
For blowing winds will challenge
Our hearts and minds alike
As we discover knowing
Less as we go
Along.
With open eyes, awakened
By life as it unfolds
We keep going, going
On the long, mysterious road
To that
Not to be named,
Or touched,
Or owned.
Beautiful, Isabel. Thank you so much for sharing that.
Sometimes in life the purpose for our existence is thrust upon us instead of being a matter of true choice.
My grandfather on my mother’s side, Fred Coords, found his reason for being in the form a family tragedy.
When my brother Wally was born severely retarded, both he and my grandmother took him to live with them. My dad was in the military and moving around the country and the world with such a profoundly disabled child would have been impossible.
On holidays and during my dad’s annual leave we would all be together. It was always a bittersweet time. Only as an adult did I fully recognize what a tremendous selfless and compassionate task my grandparents took upon themselves back so long ago. God bless them both.
During those years, my grandfather told my mother that without doubt, his very existence on earth was for a single purpose–to care for my brother.
All of those people are gone now but the story about my grandfather has always stood out in my mind. In this age of “what’s in it for me?” thinking, I wonder how many of us would take on such a task?
Me, I’ve got a very long way to go to match my grandfather but it becomes increasingly clear that I couldn’t have had a better role model.
How about you? What’s your purpose?
