Dear Spirit to Spirit friend,
For those of us who live in parts of the world that experience change of seasons, autumn is often called the most beautiful season of all and it is a favorite of so many people. The shift in temperature, in the quality of light, and the appearance of the brilliant reds, yellows and oranges that are hallmarks of this season. We love the crunching of leaves underfoot and we often travel miles to witness nature's magnificent display. Our hearts feel full and rich taking in the stunning beauty of this season.
And yet- we often forget that what we proclaim as the most beautiful time of the year, what we can't wait to experience... is a dying process. A dying off of outward manifestation as life energy turns inward, toward the root, toward stillness. It seems a bit ironic, doesn't it, especially here in Western culture. A culture in which what we are most afraid of, that which we try to fend of at all costs- dying and death- in autumn, bursts our hearts open in awe and wonder as we witness the outer dying process of trees, plants and grasses.
Perhaps our rather easy acceptance of the dying off in nature is a reflection of the faith that we have in nature and in her patterns. Faith in what we have experienced in the past and have come to know as nature's way. That nature will explode in majestic dying beauty in autumn and then be reborn into her living fullness in the spring.
When it comes to our lives with our animal family members, we find it extraordinarily difficult- sometimes almost impossible- to embrace and accept dying and death. Sometimes we can accept it more gently if our animal is very old. Or if s/he is suffering and needs to be released. Most of the time, we feel deep pain and heartache- wishing for more time, for something, anything other than this.
Perhaps we experience challenge in this because we cannot know- for certain- what the future is for our dying animal family member as we can so confidently know that nature will find her rebirth in spring. We are deeply attached to the body life, to the mind/emotions/personality) as "everything"- and we assume that if this disappears, all is lost... forever.
We forget that we- and all living beings- in our most essential nature- are energy and that so much of what and who we all are is not seen by our physical eyes or felt by our hands or known in our minds. We don't usually experience the deeper aspects of ourselves, of others, of life, even though this is what animates us and is as close as our own breathing.
What if- death as the end of everything- is not the truth about life. What if that which we truly are- that which is Eternal- is that which transcends this life, as so many sages of all traditions state. Maybe not in a way that our minds can fully grasp. As we open more to
our own deeper nature, we may begin to feel the glorious radiant Light that is us and is our animal beloved, and celebrate him/her as we do the turning of the leaves- even as s/he moves into transition from life in the body into fully being that which we all are.
Something to ponder as you observe your animal family member in life with you right now. Can you feel the radiant Light, the Eternal, that expresses as your animal beloved? And celebrate the exquisite beauty of Spirit as life, today and every day, no matter what part of the journey you and your beloved are on.
In Gratitude & Love, Joanna
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