Dharma Glimpse by Beth Hickey
Today I sneezed three times in a row and I knew it had began!
I had not long returned from a walk in the woods with the dasies, kicking fallen leaves, examining strange and bizarre fungi and generally feeling the wildlife and landscape slowly closing down. More leaves below than up above, acorn shells free of their nuts, squirrelled away somewhere secret and the smell of decaying matter being laid down ready in preparation for next year’s beginnings.
I sneezed three more times and my eyes smarted with the coming of the spore release. The twitching of the nose, the itching of the ears and feeling of tiny particles of damp migrating furry things on my body. Uck it all feels unpleasant.
But, this is life at its most incredible and most bizarre! Some truly magnificent creatures and plants are playing out their wondrous acts. Ugly, bizarre, stinky and pretty incredulously complicated sights to behold.
Why is it that spring is seen as the bearing of beautiful things while autumn delivers hideous unforsaken sights?
Autumn is amazing and so enriching and enticing, a perfect example of bewitching and beguiling. Tricking us, scarring us and propelling us into the path of death and decay.
Autumn is about preparing, looking ahead and closing down. For some dying.
So, I am experiencing an Autumn cleanse and I should be used to it by now. I kind of embrace the thought of a general cleansing of the body, riding itself of all the pollen and summer clutter accumulated through the warmer seasons, but actually I could face this unpleasant reality far better, if I too could snuggle down into a fern lined hideyhole, with sphagnum moss pillows to rest my head upon, with hazelnuts and chestnuts to munch on until springs release arrives again.
Namo Amida Bu.
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