Paradox in a moment of perfect balance

“Be refreshed in the darkness.

Doesn’t a moment of silence

restore beauty to the voice?

Opposites manifest through opposites:

in the black core of the heart

God created the eternal light of love.”

Rumi

A scientific journal recently reported that there are bacteria that can live for thousands of millions of years. For a long time they stayed exactly the way they started, single-celled bacteria. They didn’t die, but they didn’t change, didn’t adapt, learn or grow. Life had to create a way to die in order to live more fully. Life created death.

This strange and intriguing bit of information seems entirely relevant as we once again celebrate the autumn equinox and face the central paradox of this time of year. The autumn equinox is a moment of perfect balance in the natural world. Once again, night is equally as long as day; darkness and light balance one against the other. We reach out to enjoy the perfect sunlight, fresh air and brilliant colors of the season. At the same time we know that the light is waning, the air has a bite that will turn to bitter cold, and those brilliant leaves are dying and will soon fall from the trees. Autumn has arrived, with her wild child energy, dry, sweet scent and rustling corn-husk robes. She will change everything.

In the prevailing culture in which we live words like dark, night, and death have less than positive connotations. Fall and winter often take on these negative connotations as slippery roads, weeks of cloudy skies, and the mixed blessings of cultural holidays such as Halloween and Christmas take their toll. This is not so in other cultural and religious worldviews. The autumn equinox, also called “Mabon” or “Harvest Home,” is a wonderful opportunity for us to view the coming season through lenses that value light and dark equally, as a perfectly balanced, turning wheel of birth, death and regeneration. It is possible to value autumn and winter, whether they are literal seasons in the natural world, or significant moments in our inner lives, as a time to travel inward and rest at the dark core of our existence.

There are many ancient symbols and myths used to explore the gifts and challenges of this holiday. One of them is the story of Persephone, who is captured by Hades and taken to the underworld. She returns to the world of her mother, Demeter, to sunlight, warmth and active growth, but not until her time in the underworld has allowed for inner transformation.

There are the harvest festival myths of a God who reigns as the King of Light, is vanquished by the King of Dark, only to be born again in a continual cycle of death and renewal. At the same time a Goddess is the deity through which this continuation of time and the seasons is possible. She moves from grieving crone to mother, to maiden and back again, interacting with the God at each cycle. Thus there is a balance of female and male energies, a balance of light and dark, seasonal growth, harvest and rest.

When we reclaim these sacred mythologies as our own, we can change our view of losing the light, and prepare, not for the difficulties of the winter ahead, but for the rewards that come with slowing down and turning inward. We can stop striving for the impossible goal of remaining exactly as we are, and move into a time of intuitive knowing and inner change with confidence and even anticipation. We can let go of our cultural perceptions of dark and death, and see each as a continuation of life and light rather than as an end. The seeds have formed, so the plants are dying, but those seeds remain throughout the cold and the dark and will deliver their promise come spring.

One definition of religion is “reconnection.” That begs the question – what has been severed? Where is the disconnect? Let us retain our connection to these natural, earth-centered rhythms. Take a myth, any myth about harvest, death and the fullness they bring to life, and take it to heart this season. Myths are those deeply human truths we tell through story. Keep one with you as the light fades and the cold sets in. Enjoy the dark months ahead. Blessed be, and amen.

Jennifer Emrich-Shanks is intern minister of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Bangor. She may be reached via bdnreligion@bangordailynews.net. Voices is a group of Maine columnists who write about spirituality and religion.