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There is a Season

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There is a season

The life of an individual is characterized by different events which impact on him either positively or negatively. Different metaphors have been used to name our experiences in life. Examples include; “Life is like a game-some win, some lose”, and “Life is like a battlefield-you get the enemy or the enemy gets you” (Palmer, 1999). These metaphors bring out the two opposite views of life, the positive and negative. The two can be compared using light and darkness. Humans need light and when natural light is not available, efforts are put in place to light different areas using artificial light. The positive side of the coin is what is preferred by humans and they will try using any possible means to remain successful and avoid failure. The negative is avoided at all costs. In the article, “There is a season”, Parker Palmer brings out clearly the two sides by comparing them and how people view them.

One day you can get swept away on an updraft of hope telling yourself that things are getting better and better and on the next day you get swept under by a tidal wave of despair. In the former situation, things are moving the way you want them to be and you seem very comfortable whereas in the latter, you can grow weary of the state when you are trapped in it for a long time and start looking for ways to escape (Palmer, 1999).

The same is seen with how we view our daily life occurrences. We feel as if we are in control of everything not considering that nature has its own course. There are two things here, man and nature. We assume that we are in control of any situation and occurrence. We believe that we can make time, make friends, make meaning, make money, make a living, make love. On the other hand, there is nature. There are powers that we can conspire with but never control. You might want to make money from your agricultural produce, but in absence of favorable conditions such as reliable rainfall and appropriate temperature, all will be in vain. This helps us to look at life from a different angle. We are not alone in the universe, we are participants in the vast communication of being, and if we open ourselves to its guidance, we can learn how to live in this gracious community of truth (Palmer, 1999). The different metaphors that have been developed to describe life are different in one way or another. “Life is like a battlefield, you get your enemy or your enemy gets you”, and “Life is a game, you either win or lose”, view life from only two sides. Win or lose, light or darkness. In this case, negative situation depict trouble and one’s plans might be doomed if he remains in the same state. “Life is like seasons” is a metaphor that views life in a totally different way. It suggests that life in neither a game nor a battlefield of chance but, but something infinitely richer, more promising, more real. In this context, life is viewed as an eternal cycle of seasons, autumn, spring, summer and winter. This illustrates life as a mixture of struggle or joy, loss or gain, darkness or light and encourages us to embrace it all and find opportunity for growth. Sometimes we get a deeper look into the world’s heart and our own, when we stand not on the shifting sand of society and ego but on the bedrock realities of natural and spiritual world (Palmer, 1999).

The four seasons occur in a continuous cycle (Chadsey, 2012). It is like a system with the seasons occurring interchangeably and each season has its own characteristics some of which make life worth living and others so severe that makes life to be a struggle. This is what life is all about. Understanding the ups and downs at different times and seeing challenges as opportunities as depicted in the different seasons.

Autumn

It is a season of both beauty and decline. Has shorter days, the light is suffused and summer’s abundance decays towards winter death. During this season, seeds are scattered. This brings new growth during spring. Even though the vegetation starts to brown and die, there is hope for new life from the scattered seeds in spring. This is what life is all about. You might face a difficult situation now, not knowing that there are prospects of better things to come. Whereas on the surface it seemed as if life was lessening, silently and lavishly, seeds of new hope were being sown. In this case, opposites work in close association and need to be embraced together. This is not the case with many individuals who don’t want to put opposites together.

Winter

This is a demanding season and death of organisms is always high. Few creatures stir and plants do not visibly grow due to ice covering the surface. Despite the harsh conditions, the season is accompanied by many gifts. It is during this season that many living organisms experience dormancy and rest which is essential for their growth. Winter comes when the sky is clear with brilliant sun. Before the snow comes, the trees are bare, and this is a gift of clarity. During winter, one can walk into the woods that had been opaque with summer growth and see the trees clearly, singly and see the ground they are rooted in. This illustrates how difficulty moments in can turn out to be a life changer when viewed positively. When winter comes, we learn to cope with the conditions. We miss what summer used to provide and we need to survive without it. The best thing is that we get the real picture of living without some things and we see things that were concealed from us and convert the challenges to opportunities.

Spring

Spring is characterized with mud and muck. These conditions make one yearn for the return of ice but in real sense they create favorable grounds for rebirth. Shoots are seen emerging from the ground, the days get longer, the winds get warmer and the world grows green again. This depicts that we should get a clear insight from the green stems of possibility (Palmer, 1999), for the native idea that may turn into a larger insight, for the glance or touch that may thaw a frozen relationship and for the strangers’ act of kindness that makes the world seem hospitable again. Late spring accompanied by blooming, what had been withdrawn during winter is given away without holding back.

Summer

In summer, forests fill with undergrowth, trees with fruits and meadows with wildflowers and grasses. Compared to spring, summer is a steady state of plenty. Some summers are however characterized with flood or drought although nature will try to balance periods of abundance and scarcity. As opposed to nature, humans will always fear for scarcity and will strive to get abundance not knowing that in doing so they create the scarcity. Abundance is created communally by passing what we have to those in need and receiving whenever we are in need. This is what makes humans different from nature.

References

Chadsey, T. (2012). Words of encouragement #18 spring 2012 | center for courage & renewal. Retrieved from http://www.couragerenewal.org/newsletter-spring2012/

Palmer, P. J. (1999). Let your life speak: Listening for the voice of vocation. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.