October in the Porcupine Mountains, Upper Peninsula Michigan
Standing at the top of the hill, Ranger Josephine flips her blond hair, trips over a stump, and says:
”in the fall a tree sucks back all its energy into itself away from the leaves, triggering them to release their radiant pigments”: that awaited resplendence
“this gradual weakening of the leaf from the tree is a process called abscission which gives the leaves a readiness to let go”: hence, it releases down, down, down
A natural death.
Radiance also begets clarity.
Meister Eckhardt says: “the reason we are not able to see God is because of our faintness of desire.” This is the challenge of choice and choosing. To decide is to choose and exclude and thus experience a small death.
Oh for the art of distinguishing between life giving desires and destructive desires!
Once the desire becomes known, let go of what does not coincide and cohere.
This is the heart of discernment.
