impermanence
“The beauty of nature insists on taking its time. Everything is prepared. The rhythm of emergence is a gradual slow beat always inching its way forward; change remains faithful to itself until the new unfolds in the full confidence of true arrival.”
It’s not a new concept to look to nature as a guide on how to manage change in our lives. One of my favourite writers Ralph Waldo Emerson made it part of his life work titling one of his essays ‘Nature’. Poets and song writers use nature as metaphors for describing their inner worlds and outer observations. Vivaldi wrote The Four Seasons and I was blown away the first time I heard it as to how the seasons could be expressed so perfectly through musical composition. John O’ Donohue describes poetically in his books the flux in nature that he observed in the wilds of the Burren and Connemara and relates it beautifully to human experiences. One of the common themes in Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations (161-180 AD) was his acceptance of change and using it to better himself.
With advancements in technology we are at risk of forgetting to look to nature to guide us. I am not anti technology. I believe that everything we humans create has a purpose and positive potential but could be used to create harmony or chaos depending on how we collectively choose to release and use it. Everything has its shadow side and we cant avoid the shadow in technology advancement either. My own experience with the advancements in technology has been that the noise of others voices and opinions are drowning out our inner voice and intuition. I turn to silence and nature to find that voice when I can’t hear it.
Looking at how fast technology has advanced in the last ten years is a living example of change and impermanence. A new technology seems to quickly replace another. Heraclitus is said to have said that change is the only constant back in 540 BC. Buddhism refers to the constant change in life as impermanence or Anitya. If we resist change we cause suffering to ourselves as individuals and to the relationships we interact with in life.
How can nature guide us? Firstly we need to accept that change is the only constant. We have example of it all around us in the moon, the seasons, animal life cycles, in birth and in death. Women have menstrual cycles. Skin cells or replaced every few weeks and other cells in the body regenerate every 7-10 years. We are a living, breathing example of physical change in an ever changing world but we live a large part of our lives resisting change and thus suffering.
Lets look to the seasons:
Spring brings new ideas, intentions or concepts. We plant the seeds. A large amount of energy is required in spring to nurture the new creation that hasn’t quite yet emerged or is just showing signs of emerging. Think of a seedling pushing its way through soil.
Summer lets us bask in the awe of creation. Summer provides more energy for us in the sun with longer days and heat. So we don’t need to exert too much energy here. We can watch our creations and enjoy.
Autumn is the season of shedding. Beautiful and fiery. It reminds me of the yoga concept of tapas which can mean to use discipline to burn away what no longer serves us. A form of purification which leads to spiritual advancement. In early autumn we begin to harvest the outcomes of what was created through the hard work of spring and the letting be/expressiveness of summer. We store what we have learned to feed future creativity and to survive the barrenness of winter.
Winter is like the shadow side of summer. We need to be introspective. To pause. To let go. To accept and embrace the death of all things just like we accepted an embraced the life of all things in summer. To conserve energy for the next intentions which will start again in spring.
I like to remember that the seasons are fluid and overlap. Even though we may be dealing with a grief which metaphorically could be a winter, the spring seeds of something new, under the surface, are warming and being nurtured, sometimes even unknown to us.
These seasonal cycles can be seen in aging, in the menstrual cycle, in the phases of the moon, in the psychological, spiritual and developmental growth phases of our lives and in the projects we embark on. Collectively they can be seen if we look to history in the empires that once existed on this earth.
Even a 24 hour period has its season. Mornings could be seen as an early spring, afternoons a summer and evenings moving into night time as an autumn/winter. Ayurveda describes this through Doshas and can guide us how best to work with the day instead of against it. If you are interested in learning more about this concept click the link here: https://www.webmd.com/balance/ayurvedic-treatments
Nothing is ever black and white or linear. We could be in different seasons in different aspects of our lives. For example it is the northern hemisphere season of summer right now but you could be experiencing a winter season in a relationship and a spring season in a work project. Learn to be fluid and let nature guide.
I like to use the tree as my guide. The roots mirror the branches, telling us that the deep dark inner world that no one sees is just as alive and important as what is expressed above the earth. Watching the stark barren branches in winter turning to buds again in spring, then flourishing in summer and looking like flames falling in autumn, give me some grounding in the importance and benefits of change in life. The stillness and strength of the trunk in contrast to the flailing branches during a windy period remind me that we can hold ourselves whilst accepting and flowing with, rather than resisting what is coming at us in life. Finally the tree is a creator. Ralph Waldo Emerson said ‘ The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.’
Vipassana practice teaches balance of emotion (equanimity) by accepting that change is happening, first teaching us in the breath then in the body sensations. Once the mind and body have accepted this then we can go onto accept this is in our emotions, in the emotions of others, in the span of our lives. Acceptance of change through equanimity ends suffering.
When I am Amongst The Trees by Mary Oliver
When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, “It's simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”
