Moonlore - Publisher's Essay

Prophecy's purpose: Sculpting the Future

"Vision — It reaches beyond the thing that is, into the conception of what can be. Imagination gives you the picture. Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own."
~ Robert Collier

"Isn't he gorgeous?"

I watched from behind dark glasses as he strolled across the park with the graceful, languorous stride of a bad boy, using his body as a come-hither lure for the young lass sitting beside me. Her heart would break. The question was not if but when. I turned toward my wondrous girl child/blossoming woman. Her radiant glow took me back through the years to the bad boys I once loved and did still. "He's exquisite."

Life flows, repeating itself as it wends through each generation, each learning anew what was learned before. Should I warn her of the flashing danger signs that surrounded him, like my mother warned me? Or should I remain silent, allowing her the high-flying rapture of youth before the inevitable fall? Isn't pain part of the deal? The moment for decision fled. She was in his arms.

Sometimes I hate knowing. The burden is too heavy. I long for the innocence of loving with abandon, experiencing the joy without a thought to tomorrow. Where did that girl go, the one who saw nothing but possibilities when he smiled? Is she better off predicting the future? Perhaps the trade-off is not worth it when it comes to love.

But for the rest of life? Oh, yes, knowing has a value as exquisite as the dark-haired lad who still haunts my dreams. I know I'll survive the current disaster because I learned to survive past disasters. No matter what currently dominates my life, I know "this too shall pass" because every prior event passed, carrying away the piece of time that created the emotion-laden me that existed within it. So when I pant from exhaustion, I know to rest and let the moment pass; my breath will once again bring me strength. I know to enjoy the hummingbird because in a moment she will be gone.

Life, properly observed, is predictable once we have trod any path. Hard work brings rewards that lolling in the sun does not. Lolling in the sun brings satisfaction different than the smell of a clean house. A clean house will be mussed up by a family far more precious. The loop of time is continuous, bringing us back to many of the same crossroads. The sameness of these well-worn paths prepares us to regain our footing after events force us onto the more dangerous, unfamiliar slopes.

Knowing goes deep, allowing us to discard the intense focus once needed to understand the situation. We can become casual as we tread the familiar, which in turn allows us to contemplate the unfamiliar. We can tap into the logic waiting to reason our way to an answer, or we can trust our intuition to see what our logic does not yet know. Experience allows that choice. It opens up the vistas of the future before the future arrives.

My wondrous, girl child/blossoming woman sees only in the moment. I see her future, watching the panorama unfold as she rushes into love, embracing life with fierce passion and soaring happiness, followed by devastating loss and a heart left bleeding. Watching her tender bliss, I pray: let me be wrong. Let her amorous wishes dominate and my weary predictions fail. Wouldn't life be better that way, just this once? I decide to remain silent except to cheer for that which we all desire.

By Loretta Kemsley
Publisher/President
Women Artists and Writers International
Writer, Editor and Editorial Coach

Loretta Kemsley's Personal Portfolio: Women's Writings
http://lores.lair.moondance.org/