The Porcupine Fable
Down the ages and with the help of legends and myths, fairy tales and fables the Divine, through many different human channels, has alwas tried to transmit its wisdom and truth into the collective consciousness of our race. Referring to the progress of its success on the Earth plane the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788-1860, wrote: ‘All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as self-evident.’
Schopenhauer was the author of a fable about porcupines that to this day conveys a vital message of how we all can and indeed have to learn to co-exist more harmoniously. Schopenhauer’s allegory tells of how during one of the coldest winters Mother Earth had ever experienced, many animals were dying from cold exposure. As this was happening all around them ever rapidly, it occurred to the porcupines that the only way their species would probably survive the bitter cold of the howling North and East winds would be by pooling their resources and gathering closely together. They realised that benefiting from each other’s body heat would be the only way of protecting themselves.
Alas, even though they were much warmer now, their quills were so sharp that they could not help wounding each other. This caused so much pain that after a while they reluctantly had to move apart again. Alas, when each one was on its own once more, ever more of them froze to death. That’s when the brilliant idea came to one of them that for their survival they would have to decide individually whether to accept the quills of their companions or die. Realising the danger of their whole species possibly disappearing from the Earth, enough of them were sufficiently wise to move closer together with the others.
So the fable goes. Yet, in truth it is the love and wisdom of the Great Father/Mother of all life, in whom all is one, that orchestrates and conducts the wondrous symphony of life. With the help of the Angelic hierarchy they are constantly guiding and protecting every one of Its creatures. No-one is ever forgotten or left out. Mother Earth is but one of the many physical manifestations of the Great Mother. Her wisdom and love express themselves through the instinctive and intuitive behaviour of all living things, plants and animals as much as human beings. This is where they have their origin. As a result nothing in the whole of Creation is ever without Divine guidance and protection.
The feminine love and wisdom aspect of the Divine trinity is the Goddess. She is the mother of all species and the living and breathing force behind phenomena like the clever formation flying of birds during migration. She is the source of the instinctive knowledge of the animal kingdom to protect one’s young against all threats, if need be at the expense of one’s own life. She is in charge of our own body clocks as well as that of all other members of the animal kingdom. She tells Her creatures when to mate and when to abstain from it, for example when not enough food is going to be available for the raising of young. She instructs hibernating animals when and where to begin theirs and when it is safe to come out of it again – and so on and so forth.
And it was the porcupines’ group soul, as part of the Great Mother, who is the soul of the whole of Creation, who instructed the individual animals through their instincts to move closer together and keep each other warm, so sufficient numbers of them would stay alive, to secure the survival of their species next spring. That’s how the porcupines during that terrible winter acquired the wisdom that sharing their own warmth with their companions was the most important ingredient for getting through the cold months. Putting up with the wounds the unusually close proximity with their companions inevitable inflicted upon each other was a small enough price to pay for their survival.
Human relationships can frequently be very similar to what the porcupines had to endure. The essence of every human being, without exception, is spirit and soul and we all contain everything, the very best and the worst. While our spirit is immortal and cannot die, the soul is our soft, sensitive and vulnerable feeling side, in which the memories of each of our spirit’s experiences on the Earth plane are stored for future reference. It usually does not take long until the earthly self, aware of its soft and defenceless underside, develops sharp inner spines that express themselves through its words and actions. For as long as young and inexperienced earthly selves remain unaware of the fact that whatever we send out into our world, in thoughts, words and deeds, inevitably has to return to us, they are unlikely to wish to restrain themselves in their human contacts.
To this day, there are a great many of these foolish young ones in our world, who take pride in their ability to employ their barbs in the most hurtful ways possible. Giving such people a wide birth is the best solution. Yet, whenever that is impossible, there is every reason why we should forgive them, for they know not what they are doing to themselves, i.e. what kind of Karma they are so vigorously creating for later in their present lifetime and future ones. The rigours, stresses and strains of Earth life are the winters of our lives. Here conditions all too easily turn arctic, for example when we become embroiled in some of those family feuds, in the course of which the attitudes of the participants may become ever more deeply entrenched. Until at least one of those involved at last turns for help to their spirit helpers, the Karmic pendulum may swing helplessly to and fro, one lifetime after another.
The world of spirit, our true home, is our summer land that knows no winters. During their next spell of recovering there, even spirits – or maybe especially they – who have lost their souls are offered opportunities for consulting with the wise ones in charge of our race. When asked, they can help us to work our way through any kind of conflict, until each one of them has finally been resolved.
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The above is a chapter from ‘Astrology As A Lifehelp In Relationship Healing’.
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‘Astrology As A Lifehelp In Relationship Healing’
