The fall equinox, Michaelmas, Rosh Hashana, Eid al-Adha, and Yom Yippur, each in their own tradition, honours the stopping, the stasis, the standing still, the reflecting, the remembering, the reckoning, the renouncing and the rejoicing. I love those betwixt and between passages of time. We have one foot in the past, one in the future and for a moment we live in a state of grace when timelessness and infinity stand juxtaposed. It is like holding your breath, but never breathing deeper.
The weather in Ontario is glorious. So, are the fall colours. It feels like summer, but there are Christmas decorations popping up in stores. I was at Canadian Tire yesterday. There were grumblings from shoppers feeling rushed by this pre-temporal placement on the shelves. In my cart I had all the seasons- how odd to think of. Bird seed, a rake for leaves, some tree ornaments on sale and tulips bulbs were my selections. Part of me was planning ahead; part of me was holding on to the carefree summer days watching the birds nibble.
When, I think about it- isn’t that life in a nutshell? We are either worrying about the future or at least anticipating it and we are placing instant replays of the past on pedestals that the present never has a chance to live up to. What if we tried for a day to just live in the infinite present of timelessness. I bet once we did, it would be hard to look back ( or forward) in the same way again.
sacred stones for the soul 