Not that it matters to anyone else, but at this time of year, when the veil thins most completely between the living and the dead, I annually relinquish my preoccupation with the living, trying to create more and better conditions for them and working for the betterment of friends, family and neighbors and get down to the brass tacks of honoring those whose spirits, now released from physical limitations, still guide my actions, inform my understandings and inform my decision-making process.
In honor of their coming before, setting the stage for my performance, and their eternal being, I still my own desires, thoughts and feelings and listen intently to what they still say to me, even though it is on the wisps of wind, the rustle of falling leaves and the steel black skies punctuated with portals of blue. I presume that when they look down at me from their unbounded realm, they are amused by my routine scurrying across the days, seeking resources to share, loving, living in essence like a mouse who only sees the adjacent few inches around them, only feeling what my whiskers touch and they must feel a form of pity.
I loosen my ties with the physical world each year around these times, feeling my body heat escaping, shutting down and relinquishing ties to things that often bind me to this world and letting go of moorings that keep me in the "safe" harbor of physicality. This process often comes to a crescendo under the full moon closest to the annual rites at the end of October. For many years, I took on the character of Jacob Marley's Ghost. His few lines to Ebeneezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol are, for me, some of the most poignant in all of literature. "I forged these chains in life" each link an opportunity squandered. Keeping this sentiment in out hearts through all of our days can serve us well.
Actions truly speak louder than words, so for now I must part company with you, reader, I have to affect changer in the world. I only hope that you will choose to do the same, leaving in your wake a bit more happiness, a bit more camaraderie, a measure of comfort that could not have flourished without your passing across the face of the Earth in this time. The love we feel for one another is only constrained by time and space while we inhabit our fragile personages. At some point, in the not too distant future, we will merge once again with the eternal and pass the veil ourselves. If we live thoughtfully and committed to doing our best for the good of all, perhaps people of future generations will appreciate our gifts enough to revere us during the autumn of their time. what we each bring to the miracle of life is completely and utterly up to us. Making the best of it is easier when we stand on the shoulders of giants.
On the autumn nights air, if you listen, the soft murmurings of loving spirits who invested their all in our potential can be heard, punctuated by the calls of owls and informed by the frosty fingers of death, reaching out, feeling for us all. Responding to them with the honor and respect they are entitled to costs nothing but our juvenile belief that "we" are immortal. A recognition that our bodies are but transients in this space and inspiration to renew our vows to make what we can of the short time we are here. Experiencing the season has always been a powerful birthday gift. May the powerful spirits that have come before, guide you through all of your days.
In honor of their coming before, setting the stage for my performance, and their eternal being, I still my own desires, thoughts and feelings and listen intently to what they still say to me, even though it is on the wisps of wind, the rustle of falling leaves and the steel black skies punctuated with portals of blue. I presume that when they look down at me from their unbounded realm, they are amused by my routine scurrying across the days, seeking resources to share, loving, living in essence like a mouse who only sees the adjacent few inches around them, only feeling what my whiskers touch and they must feel a form of pity.
I loosen my ties with the physical world each year around these times, feeling my body heat escaping, shutting down and relinquishing ties to things that often bind me to this world and letting go of moorings that keep me in the "safe" harbor of physicality. This process often comes to a crescendo under the full moon closest to the annual rites at the end of October. For many years, I took on the character of Jacob Marley's Ghost. His few lines to Ebeneezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol are, for me, some of the most poignant in all of literature. "I forged these chains in life" each link an opportunity squandered. Keeping this sentiment in out hearts through all of our days can serve us well.
Actions truly speak louder than words, so for now I must part company with you, reader, I have to affect changer in the world. I only hope that you will choose to do the same, leaving in your wake a bit more happiness, a bit more camaraderie, a measure of comfort that could not have flourished without your passing across the face of the Earth in this time. The love we feel for one another is only constrained by time and space while we inhabit our fragile personages. At some point, in the not too distant future, we will merge once again with the eternal and pass the veil ourselves. If we live thoughtfully and committed to doing our best for the good of all, perhaps people of future generations will appreciate our gifts enough to revere us during the autumn of their time. what we each bring to the miracle of life is completely and utterly up to us. Making the best of it is easier when we stand on the shoulders of giants.
On the autumn nights air, if you listen, the soft murmurings of loving spirits who invested their all in our potential can be heard, punctuated by the calls of owls and informed by the frosty fingers of death, reaching out, feeling for us all. Responding to them with the honor and respect they are entitled to costs nothing but our juvenile belief that "we" are immortal. A recognition that our bodies are but transients in this space and inspiration to renew our vows to make what we can of the short time we are here. Experiencing the season has always been a powerful birthday gift. May the powerful spirits that have come before, guide you through all of your days.
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