Ripeness Is All

I had my first Shakespearean moment back as a junior in high school when I was struggling my way through King Lear and came upon the words of Edgar:

“Men must endure / Their going hence, even as their coming hither; / Ripeness is all.”

These lines have been interpreted in a stoic way, emphasizing the drudgery of existence, the need for ‘resignation, fortitude, suppression of emotion.”

It’s funny how the alchemical power within the image grabbed hold of my young imagination. Instead of stoic fortitude which seems to stress waiting for the storm to pass, these line has always held out a powerful message of hope for me.  Within our struggles to find ourselves and/or meaning, the need to persist against and endure would be meaningless if it were not for the ripening that is occurring.

Like fruit, the soul thrown into the storms of life gradually matures until that exquisite moment of ripeness occurs.

Have you bitten into a perfectly ripe pear recently?