All sailors
Apr 8th, 2008 by richard
I read the newspaper and the headlines disturbed me; men, women, the old and the young, boys and girls, every age, sex, denomination, colour and creed all suffering, all in pain. People lost, people broken, people killed, people suffering and people in turmoil.
It appeared to me as though the universe out there was an ocean of pain and the whole world was drowning.
As I said, it upset me at first, because the very thought of people suffering is always cause for great sadness. Then I pondered on my angst and I thought back to my own periods of pain, uncertainty, jealousy, anger and greed – all places that found me neck deep in waves of discomfort – and I smiled. I realised that it was often only whilst completely submerged in my distress that I reached out for and found Invisible Support. All of my major epiphanies had come from a place of darkness, my faith had found gestation in the very centre of the difficult life situations that I had been through, because it was then, at my weakest, that I was able (or in fact that I even wanted) to access God. It was only at that point of compete submergence, when the ego had abandoned ship, when all outside help had been exhausted or spent or was not forthcoming and I felt drowning was an imminent certainty that I opened up to Other means of support. It was only in my darkest hour that I was able to reach God.
Then I heard the song Susanne, written and performed by Leonard Cohen. The lyrics deeply moved me, in fact they offered me great solace because they paralleled and validated my own experience; the words suggested that salvation came (as Milton said) ‘neither from the cushion nor the bed’ rather they were delivered from the crucifix of difficulty. Wisdom does not come from a Christmas cracker; rather sapience was born from hard experience. The words of the song said “And Jesus was a sailor, when he walked upon the water, and he spent a long time watching from his lonely wooden tower and when he knew for certain only drowning men could see him He said “All men will be sailors then Until the sea shall free them.”
The lyrics were balm because they allowed me to see purpose behind my pain, and a purpose behind other people’s pain. I realised that whilst I have massive compassion for the suffering (of my self and others), I am also filled with hope because I have faith that in their (your, my) darkest hour the drowning man can see God. We are all sailors and we all suffer the inclemency of the ocean, not because the sea in cruel, rather because the sea can save us, but not until we are drowning.
So if you are drowning right now my prayers go out to you and my love, but they are juxtaposed by massive faith that all will be well, so hold on in there, it will not last forever, nothing does, nothing can. I also offer and attach to that prayer my congratulations, because even though you might think that your suffering is needles torture, I know that the drowning is the very beginning of your salvation.
Reach out and ask for help and know that it will come
Be well.
Geoff Thompson.