My gardens are dying off, heading into winter slumber.
The autumnal equinox marks the arrival of the season of fall. Autumn is the period of change foretelling the dark of winter. Let’s take some time to think about what spiritual lessons and practices could be put to use with the coming of autumn. Here are three areas for your meditations.
1. Prepare to confront the coming darkness – The autumnal equinox is a day and night of equal length. Anytime we know that something is equal, we should use that as a reminder to find balance in our lives. The equinox signals our need to respect the balance of light and dark within us. The dark isn’t meant only to be a thing to fear. We should acknowledge how darkness can be a place of quiet beginnings, where life begins its slow, steady development, as a baby develops in the womb. Autumn is our reminder that winter is coming: a time for darker, longer nights, more time for study, centering, meditation, and rest.
2. Release – As leaves fall to the ground in the autumn, we’re reminded that our existence is mirrored by nature's cycles. Autumn is a time for letting go and releasing things that have been a burden or held too much of our ego-based focus. At this time of year we should practice releasing our need to cling-to or control, and let Spirit take charge of our lives. Generosity goes hand-in-hand with letting go. Being able to let go, to give up, to renounce, and to give generously — all come from the same source within us. When we practice generosity, we open ourselves to all of these liberating qualities at once. They bring profound understanding of freedom. Autumn, then, is the perfect season to give generously of your time and talents to others, and to clear out clutter. It is also the perfect time to let go of addictions, grudges, and negative thoughts and feelings. Fall is our reminder that winter is coming to bring us a time of nurturing darkness in which we can reflect on the new life coming to us in the spring.
3. Acknowledge impermanence – Autumn reminds us of the fleeting nature of everything. We have experienced in the last 12 months the dark and cold of winter giving way to burgeoning life in spring as leaves and flowers reappeared, and we experienced the heat of the sun and green grasses of summer. And now, at this time of year our leaves begin to change their colors and fall, and the bareness of branches will remind us of the fleeting nature of all things. Autumn brings home to our consciousness endings and the challenge to live every day to the fullest.
Certain spiritual masters in Tibet would set their teacups upside down before they went to bed each night as a reminder that all life was transient – much like the childhood prayer, "If I should die before I wake.” The turning of the cup before facing the dark night said, "I know I may never drink from this tea cup again.” And then, when they awoke each morning, they turned their teacups right side up again with the happy thought, 'I'm still here!' This simple gesture was a wonderful celebration of every moment of the day.
Every year the greenery of creation explodes into a multitude of colors highlighting the glory of God's artistry. 1957 Novel Prize winner, Albert Camus, wrote, "Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” In matching the colors that Our Universe paints with in autumn-time to our auras, the colors of our energy, we can celebrate autumn and our connectedness to nature and to God. Feel the excitement of change in autumn. Embrace it! For instance: When we see leaves of yellow, we should think on increasing our enjoyment of life, the lightness of our spirit, and experiencing our personal power, intellect, logic and creativity. Let the orange leaves stimulate productivity, pleasure, optimism, and enthusiasm for life, and increase your expressions of positive emotions. Allow autumn’s red leaves to enliven your spiritual passion. Feel your physical energy and vitality expand. Remind yourself to stay grounded and centered when your footsteps crunch through the fallen brown leaves. Think not so much of death as returning to that from which you came.
The colors in nature and its connectedness to our energy, is exactly why so many people who "never hike” suddenly have the urge to visit a park and shuffle around in the leaves. It’s a spiritual thing! We should enjoy it to the fullest while we can. Shortly after the peak of autumn’s stunning display, the bright and cheery leaves quickly fade to brown and fall onto chilled grounds of browning grass. The welcomed warmth of early fall days and cool nights shift into cold days and freezing nights. But, what can we learn from the seasonal artistry of God's creation? If we choose to ignore the change in God’s brush strokes, we do so at our own spiritual risk.
The author of Ecclesiastes showed great wisdom when he wrote the famous verses 3:1-7, There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak.
One of the losses we experience through modern living is our separation from of nature. While tragic and overwhelming to observe, the recent disasters around the world should awaken mankind to the fact that we are part of the universe, not separated from it by some privilege of intelligence and human superiority. Both the natural and the manmade disasters of the past year remind us that we can hide ourselves away in wood and concrete boxes from the changes of the seasons and the coming storms and our own willful self-destruction, but the world will turn, and the seasons will change, and life will end and begin anew according to a grander plan than our own – whether we like it or not.
We are BLESSED, through the changing of the seasons with a visible reminder of the constancy of creating and re-creating, of death and rebirth. If we disregard the turning of the leaves, we run the risk of believing that we can live without seasons in our lives. We risk not being spirituality prepared for the ups and downs that life will surely deliver.
Autumn BLESSES us with glorious beauty, sweet aromas, gentle air, and comforting sounds. It is a time when loved ones can gather around a fire and share stories and treats. It is a time of gathering together, knowing that the cold icy winter may make coming together more difficult.
So in autumn we are BLESSED with a reminder to plan out what we will do as we cubby ourselves away in winter. Will we work on our faith, our spirituality, our outlook on life – or will we sit miserably and complain of the cold while we watch mindless TV?
Enjoy the coming months. Revel in the beauty and the mild weather. Be with friends and family. Get out into nature. Then, as the animals store food away for winter – choose and prepare for projects and studies that will keep your mind spiritually focused. When spring arrives you will emerge from your retreat like a blossoming flower prepared to show the world your bright new aura.
