Autumn is all too quickly disappearing . It is very swift of foot, promising so much lustrous colour and then moments later, just as the wash of colour is intensifying, hey presto the canvas of tawny tones is whipped away with a flutter of leaves in a draught of wind. There they lie, these leaves now muddied and dried out, the bane of the gardener or street sweeper.
Where is their glory now? Nevertheless, the trees stand noble and stark somehow beautiful as they arabesque their outline against the sky; changed but not chastened.
I have been touched by a human death and I look at this transformation of nature around me and I wonder.
I wonder about human change. Are we able to change and transform throughout our lives as unerringly as nature?
Are we able to release when it is time…from a relationship that isn’t working… from a job that isn’t right… from an emotion that is blocking us?
Ahh, now it gets tricky. Oh but…
That moment when a person stops breathing… you can’t escape into the usual mind drift … you feel LOSS.
DEATH STOPS US IN OUR TRACKS.
Death is the most powerful thing that life can throw at us … to make us pay attention, at least for a brief time. We can allow its tutelage as we gasp in that first moment’s comprehension of its hand; we are powerless, in front of this force that bears us no ill will.
This is Death’s gift.
To show us that when we open our hearts, even if it is through feeling the pain of loss, there is something bigger to open up to. There is a greater perspective for each of us to discover.
I suppose what I am saying is that we can learn from the trees.
Beautifully expressed,so true.
Thank you Judith. It’s interesting that you also think along these lines.