We have all heard the stories in school. Of how the ancient Greeks used to visit the Oracle in Delphi before making important decisions. How sometimes the fate of an entire nation could rest on the interpretation of a single cryptic sentence. And we know the stories of other cultures that had similar traditions.
To our modern ears, it can sound like absurdity, letting your fate depend on a superstition like that. Except… what if this wasn’t superstition at all? What if it is actually the other way round? Suppose that it would indeed be possible to appeal to one who is far wiser than us, and ask them for advice. Wouldn’t it be stupid to not take advantage of that offer?
It is a question I often wonder about. What is the best decision? Ask for that advice or depend on your own wits? For there is of course the other side of the equation to consider as well. What if it becomes too easy to let someone else make the difficult choices for you? What if that makes it so that you never really need to learn to depend on your own sense of judgement. Would that not be a bad situation as well?
I suspect that may be the reason why the ancient oracles have often been so cryptic, or clothed in images that one could only decipher after giving a good deal of effort to coming to a conclusion independently. A confirmation that becomes accessible once the personal conscience has been listened to as well.
And I wonder about our own time. We seem to be sorely missing a tradition like that, a place where we can go for a little pat on the back or an advance warning if we are about to screw things up.
But are we ready to receive such wisdom? Would we be able to appreciate it if it were available? Or would it simply become yet another thing that we take for granted, just like the myriad of other gifts we are already receiving from this planet?
I am not certain. I may never know. But the thing is that I more and more feel that one day the burden of being that oracle may well fall on me. For as regular readers of this blog know, I quite regularly include channeled messages. So somehow it seems that I have the ability to receive that oracular advice, should a deity at some point decide to use me in this way.
It is not a prospect that I relish. It is something that I will do if it is asked of me, but it is not something that I would ever do for fun. For it is a task that comes with an enormous load of responsibility, and I am far too aware of the fact that I am not infallible, and that I may well fail from time to time to correctly represent the words of the gods. What then? What if that message happened to be of enormous importance to someone, or accidentally rips open an old wound?
For an oracle is generally only consulted for important issues, not simply as a matter of entertainment (I rather doubt that the gods would be giving a serious response if the intent of the asker is not sufficiently apt.) And so the same would be expected from the oracle. To always give their utmost attention, and to do everything they can to be trustworthy. And even then I am not sure if it is even possible to avoid occasional failure.
Even the prospect of sharing a message on this blog sometimes scares me, even though what I write here are usually just motivational messages, and so it is harder to really get these wrong. But I do not want to come across as if I am more than I am, as if I have the right to claim some kind of special authority just because I am allowing them to use my voice as their own.
I am just tiny little me. Often dead scared of the world around me. Often wondering what on earth has caused the gods to pay attention to me, and to expect me to play a role in matters that go far beyond my level of understanding.
But then I suspect that that is how every oracle throughout history must have felt. Why on earth was I chosen for this?
I will let you know if ever I find out, but then I rather suspect I never will…
Wandering the woods 