Stagnation
My Dear One,
No life. No living. Decay, decline, and disintegration. What some of us fear when things seem to stop around us, when ambition and motivation is lost, and despair overtakes us. We can’t see the way forward, the way which leads to growth. All has stopped, and we wonder how long we will dwell in this uncomfortable land in which we find ourselves.
Stagnant water. Nothing is moving, all is still. What causes stagnation? Confinement. There is no place for the water to go and the longer the water is trapped, the more it deteriorates. A foul odor arises and what was once a healthy reservoir of water becomes a place of slime, mosquitoes, bacteria and parasites. A dangerous place at times, where disease originates and then departs to run rampant. An environmental danger, if left unchecked and given license to destroy.
This seems to be our life at times. When we stagnate, we can become dull and stupid. Stupid as in slow of mind, where there is a sluggishness to our thinking, or perhaps even a dispassionate attitude in the way we view our situation. There may be a strong desire to disengage and spend time alone. We don’t want the water to flow; we want to sit in the muck. Current circumstances usually lead us there, but it’s our own thoughts which ultimately confine us, or the thoughts of others, when we allow them free reign in our minds.
The thing to remember is this – there is no danger in stagnation. The danger lies in what comes out of it.
Stagnation breeds corruption of the mind, and disease of the mind is a very damaging thing to a human being. When one stops growing, disease sets in. One of the first symptoms is usually a complete lack of compassion for others. A cold detachment, where the plight of others is no longer a concern, where one even loses all empathy for loved ones. This in turn may lead to a spiral into deep depression, because when you cut yourself off from others, you lose your way. Life is not meant to be lived alone, and when this path is chosen, one becomes a danger to themselves as darker thoughts breed even darker thoughts, until there seems to be only one way out. Some choose this way, and for reasons most of us will never truly know.
Stagnation, however, does not have to lead to such a tragic end. There is beauty in stagnation, if one has eyes to see it. As with most things in life, it all depends on perspective, doesn’t it? There is growth and life in stagnation – beautiful life, in fact. In nature, flying creatures such as dragonflies feed on the mosquitoes, thereby controlling the spread of disease. The presence of the dragonfly is one of hope, knowing something is at work to protect us from impending evil. The dragonfly itself symbolizes change in self-awareness, the kind of change which leads to a deeper understanding of the meaning of life.
And perhaps most beautiful of all, the lotus flower. Truly inspirational, a flower which has the exceptional ability to restore itself to life after a period of inactivity. How could something so breathtaking come from such offensiveness? Yet it does … thriving even, in conditions which would destroy an ordinary flower. The flower arises from beneath the murky water, yielding to the call of the sun, and does not spread its luscious petals until it has freed itself of the muddy depths. But we must not forget that the lotus needs the muck to become beautiful.
Like the lotus, we need to spend time in the muck so that we too can become beautiful. Like the dragonfly, we need to control the threat of disease, so it doesn’t overtake us.
My dear one, come out of the stagnant pond with a deeper meaning to life. Live a life with peaks and valleys, time for growth and reflection. There should be balance as to how much time you visit each place … when you soar and when you stagnate.
When you think about it, a wonderful way to live – the best way to live.
All my love,
Your Never Sleeping Beauty
“Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation … even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.” ~Leonardo da Vinci
Photo credits: stagnant pond
