Summer Solstice is primarily about fulfilment of purpose – as Sun reaches Her peak in the annual cycle, as the fruit ripens, as the rose/flower comes to full blossom: what has been born and come into being, finds its fulfilment … that is the idea – a good one if it may be achieved. Thomas Berry has said that there are three rights of every being:

the right to be

the right to habitat

the right to fulfil one’s role in existence[1]

 Summer Solstice ceremony and celebration may be a call to the right to fulfill one’s role in existence, and the act of it.

The fulfilling of one’s role in existence may even be a responsibility, an obligation. Yet most humans around the globe live in cultures that support the opposite impulse: that is, self abnegation  … the small self is to be regarded as unworthy. Indeed in the Catholic Mass these words are required to be spoken by each communicant: “… I am unworthy …”, just in case one doesn’t get it. But in general most other global religions support this sense, and indeed dogma of unworthiness – especially if you are female or not quite “what the doctor ordered” … perhaps the wrong sexual orientation, or not willing to pursue what others want. So, quite often we/each one internalizes this sense, and we hold back from being fully who we may desire to be.

Perhaps also what holds us back, why we may stay away from fulfilment, is that it involves pouring one’s self forth, giving away this fulfilled self, dissolving … it involves a view of the passing of this beauty, the passing of all. Why become as beautiful as one can be, just to see it pass? If the rose asked that question, and faltered in its becoming, then what kind of a world would we be living in? So it is for the human. And the encouraging fact is, that most can feel the desire to be fulfilled … the Desire, the “infinite striving of the sentient being”[2] can be felt, and indeed witnessed: often interpreted as “selfish” – by ourselves and by others, but it may be more complex than that, have deeper dimensions.

What is it that the Universe seeks to/may express in your particularities, which are totally unique; as all being is? Many know this sense of urgency to be, the desire to be enjoyed in their unique beauty/gifts … and ultimately it is a desire to be a Feast[3]: that is, a sacred nourishment of the world, the bread of life, to be consumed appreciatively – with recognition of the sacredness of what is given … the real self received. We are all consumed whether we like it or not, sometimes by the machine of the culture … why not set a priority on the fulfilled self being consumed, being “interesting food”.[4]

This is sacred work. It is the dissolving of the Lover, whom we all are, into the Beloved whom we seek tirelessly: the tireless seeking is evident in the hunger that drives each … it is not just physical hunger, though that may take precedence at times and in our body minds. This tireless and deep hunger may be co-opted, harnessed for the purposes of others: we may be vulnerable in this place … indeed most have been encouraged to be vulnerable in this way. By reclaiming one’s desire to be, one’s right to be, and one’s right to habitat and to a place in the scheme of things, one may reclaim one’s power to radiate the depths of one’s soul, enhance the beauty of the world for all: to be the bread of life. That is what Summer Solstice Poetry may encourage … the shining forth of each being.

For a PaGaian Summer Solstice/Litha
Meditation:
$2.80  

 (Track 1 and 2, CD 3 of PaGaian Cosmology Meditations)

NOTES:

[1] And it is my perception that these three rights are each resonant with three qualities of Cosmogenesis which Thomas Berry also identified (The Universe Story p. 71-77), and also resonant with Triple Goddess poetry as outlined in my book PaGaian Cosmology, particularly described in Chapter 4, and all are expressed in a meditation on p.261 (towards the end of Chapter 8).

[2] Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry The Universe Story, p.55.

[3] I acknowledge the inspiration of Brian Swimme The Canticle of the Cosmos video 5 for this understanding.

[4] another Brian Swimme expression in the Canticle to the Cosmos video 5.