Václav Havel, October 5, 1936 to December 11, 2011. Photo courtesy of Brittanica.
Václav Havel, October 5, 1936 to December 11, 2011. Photo courtesy of Brittanica.

Real wisdom, the voice of the human spirit, is timeless, no matter the language or ‘parlance of the times’ it expresses in, or through whom it flows.

And those who invoke it — those who walk the Underworld or Hero’s Journey in which the timeless wisdom is remembered — and who then embody and in whatever way is true-to-purpose express it, are the transformative leaders of every age, whether publicly visible or quietly sowing the seeds of their purpose and alchemical ‘medicine’ in the world.

Here’s just one example, and a very timely one as you’ll see and sense. Read on …

Václav Havel was a Czech writer, playwright, philosopher, dissident, “moral visionary” and statesman during an epically transformative time.

In 1989, he became the first democratically elected president of Czechoslovakia in 41 years. After the split of Czechoslovakia, he was elected as the first president of the Czech Republic until 2003.

In December 2011, VoxEurop, in one of many heartful eulogies, shared this very telling description of Havel:

“Václav Havel lived in truth against ubiquitous conformism and hypocrisy.”

Václav Havel remembered. Photo courtesy of VoxEuorp.eu.
Václav Havel remembered. Photo courtesy of VoxEuorp.eu.

Havel’s writings, including the essay “The Power of the Powerless,“ are examples of how “words are a form of action, capable of influencing great change,” as Ingrid Bengis wrote.

Again and again, he emphasized that at the root of so much violence, dysfunction, and societal challenge was “a crisis of the human spirit,” and he called for “a radical renewal of human responsibility” that was anchored in a higher ideal (and morality) and revitalized human spirit.

Havel’s inspiration and wisdom is very much in sync with the “energies (and astro) of now,” in fact.

He was born October 5, 1936 — with Sun and Mercury in Libra (where both are as I write this post), Saturn in Pisces, Aquarius Rising, Moon in Gemini, Mars and Neptune in Virgo, and Venus and Midheaven in Sagittarius.

Václav Havel at Prague’s National Gallery in 1992. Photo by Pavel Štecha, as featured in "Havel: An Authentic Life," VoxEurop.eu (link below).
Václav Havel at Prague’s National Gallery in 1992. Photo by Pavel Štecha, as featured in “Havel: An Authentic Life,” by Jan Vihan, In the Fray (link below).

In 1979, he said this about his own journey, though he would continue on for another 32 years:

“…we never decided to become dissidents. We have been transformed into them, without quite knowing how…

We simply went ahead and did certain things that we felt we ought to do, and that seemed to us decent to do, nothing more nor less.” (Wikipedia)

Here are several other bits of inspiration from this truly inspired, and inspiring, transformational leader:

“The kind of hope that I often think about … I understand above all as a state of mind, not a state of the world.

Either we have hope within us, or we don’t. It is a dimension of the soul. It’s not essentially dependent upon some particular observation of the world or estimate of the situation.

Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”

“There is only one thing I will not concede: that it might be meaningless to strive in the good cause.”

“Isn’t it the moment of the most profound doubt that gives birth to new certainties? Perhaps hopelessness is the very soil that nourishes human hope; perhaps one could never find sense in life without first experiencing absurdity.”

Václav Havel, November 2009, at the Freedom and Its Adversaries conference, Prague. Photo by Ondřej Sláma, shared in the public domain via Wikimedia.
Václav Havel, November 2009, at the Freedom and Its Adversaries conference, Prague. Photo by Ondřej Sláma, shared in the public domain via Wikimedia.

“In any case, ideals are something we strive for; they are somewhere on the horizon of our efforts. They provide meaning and direction. They are not, however, static quotas that we either fulfill or not.”

“I feel that the dormant goodwill in people needs to be stirred. People need to hear that it makes sense to behave decently or to help others, to place common interests above their own, to respect the elementary rules of human coexistence.” ~ Above quotations, Václav Havel

Timeless wisdom is always timely, eh?

May we let it stir us alive, to call up what has heart and joy and passionate purpose for us, and to invoke the illuminated Way to grounding and expressing it in the world, in the unique way that is our own.

Big Love,

Jamie

Thanks to VoxEurope, and to Jan Vihan via In the Fray, for inspired reflections on the wisdom embodied by Vaclav Havel.

In the Orchard (1912) by Franz Dvorak. Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia.
In the Orchard (1912) by Franz Dvorak. Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia.

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