Birth, Life, Death and Rebirth

I've been thinking a lot recently about what it might mean to stop chasing happiness... but rather, how to pursue meaning in my life - which is much more everlasting than happiness.

You and I have heard it time and time again, people find God in the little things - a sprout in the sidewalk, a newborn baby's cry, a powerful storm...

It sounds so cliché, too good to be true... to find true meaning in such a simple manner. How then, can meaning be derived from this crazy, ballistic, autocratic, seemingly-insane-and-getting-worse world?

I ask myself this question a lot, and especially being a parent, it hits close to home. Not only do I concern myself with how I can apply meaning to my life but also how can I produce a meaningful lifestyle as an example to my children? Of whom will grow up in a world and era very different than ever before? How can I help them transform and blossom into something beautiful in a world that could fall to ashes?

I always find that mother nature has a lot to teach in that regard. It seems everywhere you look she is showing you how you can withstand the fires of life and still maintain a meaningful ecosystem. Which is something that directly aligns with Parallel Society.

A few years ago I had no concept of a prescribed burn - but it is actually a very necessary part of the grassland ecosystem. Over time, dead leaves, grass and trees accumulate on top of the prairie. A prescribed burn allows that dead matter to decompose and allows new growth to have access to sunlight. Doing a prescribed burn can actually help prevent a more destructive wildfire. Fires are a normal occurrence in nature and often a necessary thing in order to preserve the ecosystem of a natural area.

"In addition, fire can be rejuvenating. It returns nutrients to the soil in the ashes of vegetation that could otherwise take years to decompose. And after a fire, the additional sunlight and open space in a forest can help young trees and other plants start to grow."

- National Geographic, Controlled Burning

As I've learned about prescribed burns along with the so many other things I've already learned from owning this land - I find it easy to connect this real world example of birth, life, death, and rebirth to my previous knowledge of these concepts and also how it applies to the bigger picture too.

The growth of a tree: seed, sprout, tree, death, decomposition. Then, just when it seems like that's the end, the decomposed materials return to the earth as nutrients for other plants, and suddenly the tree has been reborn into a thousand other plants. The seasons, the formation of storms, history, life, media, plants, movies, moods, generations, eras, trends, technologies, everything - it all has this combination of: being created, living and thriving, reaching the end, and being reborn into something new.

Could there be a connection between the cycles of life and our relationship with the divine, nature, God, or whatever that is out there that's bigger than us? What if honing in and having a relationship with those cycles - recognizing them in nature and in our lives and focusing on them and their cyclical occurrence could connect us with what it means to be alive?

It's really getting deep in here!

I believe theses cycles can become more than just a memory in our minds. I believe they can become an opportunity to connect with something bigger than ourselves. There has to be an understanding of the cycles of life and their necessity. That includes accepting that there are more uncomfortable stages of that cycle - and not running away from them. Rather, it's possible to see them as an opportunity to connect with one another and share in our collective experiences of these cycles and also to build a connection between yourself and something truly divine.

Birth, Life, Death, and Rebirth - It's a welcome sign of spring :)

"it becomes a direct link between them and us, a tangible reminder of intangible things, a symbol that's not only between worlds, but that serves as a bridge."

- Scott Cunningham