Signs of Land:
Lessons from Columbus

On August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail with three ships and 90 crewmen to discover the New World.

The celebration of his arrival in the Americas is actually very controversial for many reasons. In fact, many do not believe he deserves a federal holiday at all.

Can someone “discover” an already-inhabited land? The settlement of the Europeans led to the deaths and slavery of the natives of the Americas, and a large part of their history and culture. Columbus never did reach mainland America. Most educated people in the 15th century already knew that the earth was round. Also, the Vikings explored the North American coast 500 years before Columbus.

So although Columbus Day is not celebrated in all areas of the United States, many countries do commemorate his arrival in the Americas on that date. Columbus’s voyage did prove that the earth was not only round, but that the planet was much larger than anticipated. And his expedition resulted in the first permanent European colonies in the New World.

But what interests me most is Columbus’s inner voyage.

It was a long difficult journey in which these normally rough seamen were overcome with fear, even cried like children, and wanted to turn back. Signs of land that appeared turned out to be hallucinations. The men thought they were sailing an ocean that had no end. After two months, the crew thought that Columbus had gone mad and they even conspired to throw him overboard if he didn’t turn back. But Columbus told them he would not give up the voyage and ordered them to their work.

Columbus must have had an undaunting spirit to keep from ending up overboard!

The very next day they sighted flocks of birds, floating branches with berries and a walking stick. Soon after, on October 12th, the captains of the ships and part of the crew fell on their knees, kissed the ground for joy, and gave thanks to God as they landed a boat on the first island. Columbus named the island San Salvador and took possession of it, by right of discovery, for the king and queen of Spain.

I cannot help but relate that difficult voyage to our journey to grow in life.

We often decide to “tough it out” but then we are overcome with fear. We may even cry, inwardly or outwardly, like children. And how many times have we just given up and felt it was better to turn back to something safe and familiar and mediocre than to forge fearlessly ahead to new horizons — to our dreams of fulfillment and prosperity? I’ve been there.

Consider instead that each of us has our own “Columbus” — a universal captain that pushes us forward to grow and expand and to reach our dream. There is work to be done to get there — we must work on our mind, our spirit, our consciousness. We may become disheartened at times when it seems like we are stuck on a path that has no end. But if we do our ‘homework’ and stay the course, that glorious moment will come when we will clearly see the signs of land and arrive at our destiny.