TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON

     The thermometer says it's 95 degrees outside, and I'm sweating up a storm, but the calendar says it's the first day of autumn. Right on cue, the leaves on all our hackberry trees have started falling today, creating slow-motion showers of pale yellow each time a breeze blows, intermingled with the fluttering brown wings of those vast waves of migrating snub-nose butterflies passing through San Antonio this week. And as I write these words, a flock of ducks flies overhead in V-formation, heading south. No Hollywood director could have created a more picture-perfect illustration of the turning of the seasons, as if to telegraph the audience that something portentous is about to occur.

A TIME TO DIE

     Meanwhile, in the background I hear the NPR newscaster describing the disasters du jour: the latest terrorist bomb blast in New York; another grisly onslaught in Syria; another senseless killing of an unarmed African American by a heavily armed cop, followed by another night of senseless rioting in response to the senseless killing. And then come the strident voices of Donald and Hillary, each claiming to be able to put an end to all this chaos, if only the voters will entrust them with the power to do some vague, indefinable Something Presidential.

     Frankly, I don't trust either one of them, and as the polls clearly show, neither does the vast majority of my fellow Americans. To be clear, I'll still vote on Election Day, and I'll make some campaign contributions, but I simply don't have much faith in the ability of our over-heated, under-handed and small-minded electoral process to deal with the large-scale shifts that are underway in our social and environmental landscape.

A TIME TO BE BORN 

     But I do trust the falling leaves and the migrating creatures, the seasonal rhythms of death and decay that are unfolding before my eyes, making the cycles of birth and new growth possible. And I have faith in the ever-evolving, collective consciousness of Homo sapiens sapiens, guided by an Infinite Intelligence that I certainly don't claim to understand, but still trust fully, nonetheless. And that, in turn, lets me trust in the periodic feelings of struggle and chaos that touch our society, and me, personally, from time to time, knowing that they, too, are an integral part of this open-ended process of Life. All reminding me that there is no final result, no winning score awaiting us. No one point at which everything will be finished, fixed and secure, once and for all.

A TIME FOR GRATITUDE

     There is just this warm afternoon, with this one spider weaving an astonishingly intricate web suspended between two limbs, inviting me to slow down, pay attention and trust in the vast, interwoven web of patterns of our lives, our community, our planet. Reminding me to trust, and release my need to fix or change anything, just long enough to rest in the Peace that passes all understanding. Now. And now. And now...And for this, I am deeply grateful. 

In the spirit of awe and gratitude,

     Rudi

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