Last night, reflecting on the 1st of October, I recalled an unusual October morning when I was an undergraduate, walking across campus at the University of Houston--unusual in the sense that it was an incredibly vibrant day, a day of crisp cool air and vast, rich blue sky. All around, life was filled with energy, students rushing to classes or sprawled on grassy fields; the lovely oaks, and hedges surrounding the buildings, the buildings themselves, seemed to vibrate with a new quickening. Something popped into my head that simply said, "This is Fall"! It was as though I had never understood what the shift of seasons meant. ( In sub-tropic Houston, seasons were subtle.) For those few moments, the full impact of a seasonal shift hit me. For the first time, I understood the seasons as part of a larger mechanism of life that continually self-renews. I was renewed. My life was changing. And change it did--that fall brought powerful shifts in my relationships, my studies and my spiritual life.
With the extreme heat this September, the days have not given much hint of fall, but they have shortened and just now there is a hint of that golden light that the changing angle of the sun provides as we move into October. Erratic climate patterns and weather emergencies, have disrupted our intuitive sense of shifting seasons--not necessarily by the weather itself, but by the internal alarm that frequent alerts, urgent warnings and catastrophic news (even if far from home) trigger in the culture. Yet, we have within us our own awareness of the movements of nature; we are part of the way life is renewed again and again through the cycles of seasons. This week is a good time to feel the stirrings of that renewal. To do that, we need to quiet the alarm enough to truly feel the quickening. It seems to me a vital part of the environmental changes we will collectively make.
At the same time we can stay open to the spiritual level that turns the wheel of life's cycles and seasons. Each awakening to nature is a spiritual awakening. Each awakening to our personal interior response to the cycles and seasons is a spiritual awakening. That October day in Houston, I didn't just discover the power of the seasons; I discovered joy. (Susan Nettleton)
For a poetic nudge in contemplation of fall, follow the links:
https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/.../AutumnMoon/index.html
https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/.../Autumnchrysa/index.htm
https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/.../SecondPoemth/index.html