I've Set No Limits to Your Power

The Aeneid as a Motivational Text

Written just over two thousand years ago, Virgil's Aeneid is a wonderful book to turn to when life hits you hard, everything seems lost, and you can't see a way forward.

Aeneas, Prince of Troy, fights like fury to save his city, but despite his best efforts, there's nothing he can do to stem the conquering Greek tide. Troy's towers topple around him and Aeneas finds himself on the point of committing a vindictive, pointless murder. Then his mother, the goddess Venus, appears and convinces him that this night which feels like the end of all things is in fact the starting point for a new and greater adventure - the foundation of Rome and a bigger, better future than all the past glories of Troy.

Aeneas escapes from the flames with his family and a few loyal friends. They build their ships and set sail, and through a series of trials, temptations, and distractions, they eventually arrive at where they're meant to be.

Nothing is easy in The Aeneid. Aeneas, at many points, has to pray to the gods and ask for help and guidance. But he gets there in the end. Why? Because he has faith - faith in the Divine and the human - faith in the gods, himself, and his companions - a deep-down confidence that life doesn't just 'go on' after trauma and disaster but that the potential for a deeper, richer experience of living is always there.

All this is straightforward enough to say. Not so easy to feel or act upon. But we have to believe. It's the belief that gets us there - from the ruins of Troy to the glory of Rome. Belief and trust. That our lives matter. That you matter. That the world is working for us rather than against us. That there is a pattern and purpose to things and that you are an essential thread in this wider tapestry of meaning. Without you, it would all fall apart! Without you, nothing good could happen!

So look up and look beyond. Don't let the bad times you're passing through trick you into thinking that things will be like this forever. They won't be. You're stronger than this. Stronger than the circumstances lined up against you. Spring follows winter and summer follows spring. From tiny sparks come mighty conflagrations.

'I've set no limits to their power,' says Jupiter of the coming Roman Empire. There are likewise no limits to what you or I or any of us can achieve. This is what The Aeneid shows us. Believe and trust. Even in the darkest of times. Especially in the darkest of times.