A Time For Everything Under Heaven

I recall taking a class at my undergraduate alma mater, Niagara University, called Life, Death and Rebirth. Interestingly enough, it was taught by a Vincentian Priest, and a Ph D who ran our Theater Department. This may seem like an unlikely pair, but for the course it actually made perfect sense. Although this class explained the rebirth of theater through the rituals of Catholicism, it also focused on many far deeper concepts centering around the human condition and our evolution through life, death and rebirth.

Life, death, and rebirth!

As young people, living our lives with much promise for the future, we understand that there is pain and suffering, but much like death, it seems like it’s going to happen to someone else. We tend to believe there is a sense of permanence in life, and we are simply making our way along the road to get there.

Finding that perfect career.
… that lifelong mate.
…the beautiful home.
…building that stable family.
…traveling…and so much more.

However, the older we grow, we begin to comprehend that nothing is permanent. We live a life of constant little deaths. The death of ideas, the death of friendships, the death of ideologies, and painfully even the death of people we love. Many of these “little deaths” are beyond our control, and all we can do is accept the outcome. Others may be things we learn no longer serve our best interest, and we need to let them go. Often these “little deaths” cause a death within ourselves, for we are no longer the same person that we were before we began this quest called Life. Thus, many of us plummet into the dark night of the soul. The total death of self, where nothing seems to make sense anymore. We can fight these changes, but it’s only through acceptance that we begin to rebuild again, forming a beautiful rebirth.

So as we enter into the spring of 2023, let us consider the rebirth in our own lives. The things that we have let go of, and not always willingly. And of course, the different people we become because of this process, with new habits, concepts, goals and philosophies. If we are living this life correctly; we are not the same people we were 10 years ago.

Spring reminds us that even after the long harsh winter, nature’s own dark night of the soul, that there is still hope for a brighter day. We see the sun move in a different way, making longer hours light, and warmer days, illuminating us toward our future. In place of the barren terrain and cooler temperatures, we begin to see fresh signs of life; from the fawns and bunnies in the woods, to the stunning display of foliage and flowers from Mother Nature. Yet, these beautiful new signs for a hopeful future could not have come about without the dark death of winter. Through the realization of life, death, and rebirth, we as humans are left with the idea that we have weathered the storm of the seasons of change and are stronger and wiser from the challenges we have faced. It is a new day, and we are reborn again. Happy Spring!