Harbinger: Joy and Grief

witness to pain and champion of possibility

Image by WA9SP

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HARBINGER: JOY AND GRIEF

In 2005, I published the first edition of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.

Four years later came the expanded 400-page version, with 55% additional new material. Translated editions bloomed across continents: Spanish, Italian, Greek, Turkish. I became the unlikely prophet of pronoia.

The term itself was born in the 1970s from the mind of John Perry Barlow, who envisioned it as paranoia's luminous twin—"the suspicion that the universe is a conspiracy on your behalf." Later, Scottish psychologist Fraser Clark revived the word, describing pronoia as "the sneaking hunch that others are conspiring behind your back to help you."

But neither Barlow nor Clark developed the notion beyond their brief definitions. That project became my calling, and I pursued it with the fervor of an archaeologist uncovering a lost civilization. I resolved to be relentless in naming and celebrating all that is beautiful and luminous in our bewildering world.

My philosophy rests on three radical propositions: that the universe is a prodigious miracle created for our amusement and illumination; that all of creation conspires to liberate us from suffering while teaching us to love with precision, intelligence, and courage; and that life delivers exactly what we need—not what we want, but what our souls require—to fulfill our deepest purpose.

CORE TENETS:

• Evil is boring, sterile, and stupid.

• Cynicism is intellectual laziness masquerading as sophistication.

• Fear is a bad habit we can unlearn.

• Despair is an impotent luxury with no redemptive power.

• Joy is fascinating, revelatory, and necessary.

• Love is an act of heroic genius, requiring bold perseverance and cultivated skill.

• Pleasure is not an indulgence but our birthright—and a potential spiritual asset.

• Receptivity is a superpower.

But here's where the plot thickens: I have never been a saccharine optimist who ignores life's brutal realities. At the core of my perspective on pronoia lies an intimate, unflinching relationship with darkness. I don’t transcend shadows; I engage and negotiate with them.

Here’s a central element of my formulation: Life orchestrates a vast conspiracy to keep us supplied with blessings. But what constitutes a blessing? Ten million dollars? A flawless body? The perfect relationship? A mansion home filled with lavish accessories?

Maybe. But more often, the blessings arrive as plot twists we didn’t anticipate—as dizzying adventures that remake us, gifts so unexpected we hardly know what to do with them, challenges that invite us to grow smarter and wilder and kinder, and conundrums that dare us to grow luminous and numinous.

THE GRIEF

Among the conundrums that dare me to grow more luminous and numinous is a tragicomic irony about my soul’s assignment. My role as an incorrigible optimist who chronicles wonder and beauty? That's only half my vocation.

One of my main additional jobs is to acknowledge and feel the world’s grief. Not just my own, my family’s, and my allies’. All of it. The entire ceaseless torrent of suffering and anguish that pours from every living creature on this planet.

How can that possibly be true? How could a person assigned to document beauty, truth, and love also be tasked with serving as a clearing house for collective heartbreak?

Why would life choose to give me such a preposterously paradoxical assignment: to exult in the Earth’s triumphs while metabolizing its bereavements?

The mystery clarifies through this understanding: When I notice and celebrate the world's miracles, my intention is amplification—to make beauty more visible, more undeniable. When I absorb and honor the world's despair, my intention is transformation—to find redemption within the seemingly irredeemable.

Herein lies the wildest truth: My compulsion to gather the world's grief springs from love: profound, unreasonable adoration for this broken, magnificent world. To earn the right to ameliorate suffering, I must first feel it as deeply as it goes. To speak authentically about bliss and pleasure, I must be intimately familiar with sorrow.

This is the harbinger's burden and privilege: to research and engage with both ends of the World Riddle simultaneously; to be a bridge between what breaks us and what makes us whole. To be interwoven with this perplexity means that I am not numbed by contradiction but buoyed by completion. I embody the peculiar healing that requires both the courage to grieve and the audacity to celebrate.

The world needs witnesses to its pain and champions of its possibility. In me, these roles converge in a single heart. The same person who teaches others to notice blessings also carries the weight of universal sorrow.

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

For the Week of June 5

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): It’s time for your Uncle Rob to offer you some fundamental advice for living. These tips are always worthy of your contemplation, but especially now. Ready? Being poised amidst uncertainty is a superpower. You may attract wonders and blessings if you can function well while dealing with contradictory feelings, unclear situations, and incomplete answers. Don’t rush to artificial closure when patience with the unfinished state will serve you better. Be willing to address just part of a problem rather than trying to insist on total resolution. There’s no need to be worried or frustrated if some enigmas cannot yet be explained and resolved. Enjoy the mystery!

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Acclaimed Cancerian poet Lucille Clifton published 14 books and mothered six children. That heroism seems almost impossible. Having helped raise one child myself, I know how consuming it is to be a parent. Where did she find the time and energy to generate so much great literature? Judging from the astrological omens, I suspect you now have access to high levels of productivity comparable to Clifton’s. Like her, you will also be able to gracefully juggle competing demands and navigate adeptly through different domains. Here’s my favorite part: Your stellar efficiency will stem not from stressfully trying too hard but rather from good timing and a nimble touch.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): One of the seven wonders of the ancient world was the Colossus of Rhodes, located on a Greek island. Symbolizing power and triumph, it was a towering statue dedicated to the sun god Helios. The immediate motivation for its construction was the local people's defeat of an invading army. I hereby authorize you to acquire or create your own personal version of an inspiring icon like the Colossus, Leo. It will symbolize the fact that the coming months will stimulate lavish expressions of your leonine power. It will help inspire you to showcase your talents and make bold moves. PS: Be alert for chances to mobilize others with your leadership. Your natural brilliance will be a beacon.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s biggest structure built by living things. Lying beneath the Coral Sea off the east coast of Australia, it’s made by billions of small organisms, coral polyps, all working together to create a magnificent home for a vast diversity of life forms. Let’s make the Great Barrier Reed your symbol of power for the next 10 months, Virgo. I hope it inspires you to manage and harness the many details that together will generate a robust source of vitality for your tribe, family, and community.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): One of my favorite poets, Arthur Rimbaud, wrote all of his brilliant work before he became an adult. I suspect that no matter what your age is, many of you Libras are now in an ultra-precocious phase with some resemblances to Rimbaud from age 16 to 21. The downside of this situation is that you may be too advanced for people to thoroughly understand you. You could be ahead of your time and too cool for even the trendsetters. I urge you to trust your farseeing visions and forward-looking intuitions even if others can’t appreciate them yet. What you bring to us from the future will benefit us all.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Blacksmiths still exist. They were more common in the past, but there are many 21^st-century practitioners. It’s a demanding art, requiring intense heat to soften hard slabs of metal so they can be forged into intricate new shapes. The process requires both fire and finesse. I think you are currently in a phase when blacksmithing is an apt metaphor. You will need to artfully interweave passion and precision. Fiery ambition or intense feelings may arise, offering you raw energy for transformation. To harness it effectively, you must temper your approach with patience, restraint, and detail-oriented focus.

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Art by Yayoi Kusama

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Jean-Paul Sartre and Simon de Beauvoir were two feisty, independent, strong-minded French writers. Beauvoir was a trailblazing feminist, and Sartre was a Nobel Laureate. Though they never officially married, they were a couple for 51 years. Aside from their great solo accomplishments, they also gave us this gift: They proved that romantic love and intellectual equality could coexist, even thrive together, with the help of creative negotiation. I propose we make them your inspirational role models for now. The coming months will be a favorable time to deepen and refine your devotion to crafting satisfying, interesting intimate relationships.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Over 2600 years ago, ancient Babylonian astronomers figured out the highly complex cycle that governs the recurrence of lunar and solar eclipses. It unfolds over a period of 18 years and 11 days. To analyze its full scope required many generations of researchers to carry out meticulous record-keeping with extreme patience. Let’s make those Babylonian researchers your role models, Capricorn. In the coming months, I hope they inspire you to engage in careful observation and persistent investigation as you discover meaningful patterns. May they excite your quest to discern deep cycles and hidden rhythms.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): I invite you to try this visualization exercise, Aquarius: Picture a rosebud inside your body. It’s located in your solar plexus. Imagine it’s steadily and gently opening, filling your body with a sweet, blissful warmth, like a slow-motion orgasm that lasts and lasts. Feel the velvet red petals unfolding; inhale the soft radiance of succulent fragrance. As the rose fully blooms, you become aware of a gold ring at its center. Imagine yourself reaching inside and taking the ring with your right hand. Slip the ring onto your left ring finger and tell yourself, "I pledge to devote all my passionate intelligence to my own well-being. I promise to forever treat myself with tender loving respect. I vow to seek out high-quality beauty and truth as I fulfill my life’s mission.”

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I foresee the arrival of a living fossil, Pisces. An influence you thought was gone may soon reappear. Aspects of your past could prove relevant to your current situation. These might be neglected skills, seemingly defunct connections, or dormant dreams. I hope you have fun integrating rediscovered resources and earmarking them for use in the future. PS: Here’s a lesson worth treasuring: While the world has changed, a certain fundamental truth remains true and valuable to you.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): You have had resemblances to cactuses in recent days. It hasn’t always been pleasant and cheerful, but you have become pretty skilled at surviving, even thriving, despite an insufficiency of juicy experiences. Fortunately, the emotional fuel you had previously stored up has sustained you, keeping you resilient and reasonably fluid. However, this situation will soon change. More succulence is on its way. Scarcity will end, and you will be blessed with an enhanced flow of lush feelings.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I foresee abundance emerging from modest sources. I predict breakthroughs arising out of your loving attention to the details of the routine. So please don’t get distracted by poignant meditations on what you feel is missing from your life. Don’t fantasize about what you wish you could be doing instead of what you are actually doing. Your real wealth lies in the small tasks that are right in front of you—even though they may not yet have revealed their full meaning or richness. I invite you and encourage you to be alert for grandeur in seemingly mundane intimate moments.

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Words by Marianne Williamson

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