'ROTTING LEAVES' or . . .

      A friend told me last week that she dislikes Autumn because it means vegetation is dying and 'Winter's coming on'.  We were talking about my annual mountain vacation to admire the wide-pallette display of leaf colors.  Instead, she said, she sees 'rotting leaves', bespeaking the transitory nature of things. An imprecisely remembered snippet from a Shel Silverstein poem catches her sentiment: "Must we always have Winter; can't Springtime just last".

    Well, this season certainly evokes awareness of change.  "It seems like only yesterday" that we were in the mountains of Virginia watching the hills become green again.  And, actually, it was as  recently as April . . . only 6 months ago. 

  [ A side-bar of free association: Writing sometimes takes an unanticipated direction of its own . . . I began this musing with the intended theme of Change.  Then, having noted the contrast of Spring and Autumn in 'the hills', I began reflecting on how mountains seem to be a magnet, particularly at this time in my life.  Perhaps the thematic difference is not so great . . . to me, this terrain bespeaks Durability akin to near-permanence.  Aware that a move to another location is improbable, my wife and I have occasionally compared the allure of the beach or the mountains were we to relocate. (We currently live about equidistant to each.) We have concurred that while we enjoy occasional trips to the coast, the mountains are our preference.]

    The pace of life in  the Western world can leave us breathless and out of step with the latest ... news, fad, technological gadget, fashion, . . . just 'the latest'. Designed obsolescence someone called it. And, even these beloved mountains have not escaped "Development" and "Modernization".  

   'What, then, endures ?' seems a legitimate enquiry in the face of sic transit gloria mundi . . . "thus passes the glory of the world" ---  or, as my friend might express it, "Rotting leaves". The always changing world of external phenomena provokes cynicism for some persons . . . "Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you may die".  For others, there is a tugging toward an interior world . . . dare I call it a Spiritual Life . . .  that can broaden our horizon beyond the transitory events of 'now'.  Someone called this the "eternity factor", not as a form of Escape, but for a 'panoramic view of time' that can enhance both personal growth and a grateful giving back to future generations on Planet Earth.

    Accessing and living from this perspective can get us closer to the fundamental question of MEANING.  This week I read a book that has been on my shelf for several years.  While I found some of the visionary viewpoints utopian, there is much in From Age-ing to Sage-ing: A Profound New Vision of Growing Older that can point to deeper ways to live life. I anticipate re-reading with benefit several portions of the book.  But for now, there are beautiful leaves to admire !

    Satchel