Autumn

The theme for today is AUTUMN.

We live in a world of form and energy, of cycles of many sizes and durations.
A day is one cycle, as is a year, as is the life span of an individual.  

Nature, of which we are an expression, has different ways of being depending on the time.

The different parts of the cycle have different qualities.
Wisdom traditions, the Book of Ecclesiastes as well as the Book of Tao, contain meditations on natural cycles, their qualities, and how we can harmonize with them.

Culture values things that rise, that are big and fast, that are obvious.
The season of Autumn carries different values.
And preserves them.

Another name for this season is Fall.
In the beginning of the year, things spring up, and after their peak they fall back or down.  They drop.
What comes of this?  Is this a failure or a success?  Or in a larger way, both and neither?

Perhaps we can learn, by observing the strategies of nature.
In the peak of growth, many things are created and raised up for light and attention.
Later they drop.  They fall to ground.  We could even say they seek the ground.
Levels of light drop.
Temperatures drop.
Leaves drop, that are no longer needed.

Fruits drop.
They've been up in the light with the leaves that gave them energy, protected from hungry mouths.
Now they fall to the ground.
This is part of a clever plan.  The fruits have two different parts, the flesh and the seeds.
The the flesh is offered to animals, and decays, and fertilizes and protects the inner part, the seed.

Nature produce an abundance of seeds, many more than are needed right away.
Some of them we eat now.
Some of them we accumulate and store away.
Some get lost from us, fall into the ground, and lie dormant in the dark until the right conditions.

In the cycle of a human life span, Autumn corresponds to full adulthood.
What are the powers and abilities of this time?  The potentials and responsibilities?

What is your personal experience of this time?

What is getting sorted, separated, hidden, or planted?
What is the ground of it?  The part that's good to eat now?  The seeds?

What is your own natural "way" with this season?