If you see a whole thing — it seems that it’s always beautiful. Planets, lives… But up close a world’s all dirt and rocks. And day to day, life’s a hard job, you get tired, you lose the pattern. ~ Ursula K. Le Guin
Just a cursory scan of the news can easily make one think that violence and darkness are overrunning the world – Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel/Palestine, Ukraine, and Ferguson, Missouri to name a few.
That’s what is happening in the outer world, but what about what’s happening in your personal world? Many of my clients are reporting huge changes and upheavals that are challenging their ability to stay positive and balanced.
At this New Moon of Virgo, we observe how easy it is to notice what isn’t working, how we have fallen short or failed, and what needs to be fixed. Those with strong Virgo in their chart often struggle with a sincere drive for perfection despite living in a flawed world, which can leave them in deep despair. They see the diseased trees, but not the rest of the lush forest.
The Ursula Le Guin quote, above, struck me as an apt description of the Virgo/Pisces polarity. While Virgos are looking at the “dirt and rocks,” but failing to see the beauty of the whole, people with strong Pisces are keenly aware of the beauty of the whole and find it difficult to address the nitty-gritty issues that arise.
There is nothing more beautiful that a picture of our blue planet as seen from space (first seen in 1959). And yet, there are wars, epidemics, environmental degradation and other “ugly” aspects of life on earth. How do we reconcile this?
The quote provides a clue: it is important that we not “lose the pattern.” You might ask, what is meant by the pattern?
To me, the pattern refers to the Divine Plan. Though it is difficult to wrap our “little pea brains” around the concept of a Divine Plan that could have lovingly created a world of conflicts the likes of what we are experiencing, in my opinion, it is a belief in a Greater Power that softens the edges of life.
I remember a time in my late 20s, when I was struggling with depression. I made an important decision. I reasoned that either the world is full of turmoil and that is all there is, or I could choose to live as if life has meaning and offers an opportunity to learn and grow through the challenges.
You can guess what I chose, of course. When a difficult challenge presents itself, I have learned to “trust” that underneath it all, life is always flowing toward more love, more joy and more wisdom. That choice has never failed me.
If you are struggling with the imperfections in your life, rather than focus on the “dirt and rocks,” why not focus on the truth that there is a “pattern” and it is beautifully created for you. If you choose to change your attitude and expect a positive outcome, you will discover how Grace can touch even the challenging circumstance in your life.