November has long been associated with remembering. There is something about the change of seasons that happens in the northern hemisphere that calls us to pause and reflect as nature starts to go into hibernation. The once-green and lush leaves turn to brown and eventually fall from their tree-homes and carpet the ground beneath with they varied hues. To walk on them is to feel the crunch of former life and then the mulch of potential new life as they break down, decompose and return their goodness to the soil beneath. At the same time the days are getting shorter and the light is low in the sky. There is something about the light and the air at this time of the year that writers over the generations have described as very ‘thin’. This ‘thin light’ is evocative of the circle of life when we contemplate our own human mortality and the reality that we too will die. It will happen for us all. It is a time of thin space.
We feel a certain sense of earthy connectedness with life and death at this time of the year. Regardless of our faith or religious perspective, there is an innate human connection that is somewhat mystical and fused where life, death, present and future somehow seem intertwined in a very particular way as we face into the winter. Perhaps it is the visual shedding of the old to lay us bare for the emergence of the new in spring? Perhaps it is the annual cycle of living and dying that evokes something of a connection with those who have gone before us? What is it for you?
As we remember, we re-member our past, present and future in the inevitable circle of life…
Clinical Pastoral Supervision & Education 