One of my favorite lessons has been reclaiming an appreciation for the Cycles of Life. Americans live by a linear notion of time – March follows February, ten a.m. comes before noon. None of that is real. Someone made that up so we can slice our days into tiny pieces and put them in little squares on a sheet of paper. While it is definitely a modern way of keeping track of where we’re supposed to be and what we should be doing there, it is a long way from how the natural world flows.
Our ancestors understood cycles of life and the relationships that ensue. They celebrated phases of life allowing babies to be babies and old people to be old while fully appreciating the contributions of each in community. They had rites of passage marking our movement from each phase into the next. They lived by seasons that brought them fully into relationship with Mother Earth. They also relied on the Earth’s relationship to the universe. The sun marked days of work and nights of rest while the moon marked both the tides of the ocean each day and the creative flow of animal energy over many days. Even now we are inexplicably drawn to full moons.
It helps to understand these cycles when disaster strikes or disappointment overwhelms. Moving with the cycles will bring hardship and pleasure, satisfaction and fulfillment. The cycles that we enter together with others as well as the cycles we are in by ourselves are all real. And whatever cycle we are in, we have to know it will pass. And another will come along soon.
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