Autumn - A life lesson in the beauty of death

A season of transition

As we are in the season of transition, thoughts turn to the change in the colour of the leaves, how they carelessly, without thought, detach from their Spring and Summer home, and drift weightlessly to the ground.  Some people in our neighbourhood quickly reach for the rake, to gather up the leaves into piles, placing them in compost bags for the city to clear them away in due time.  However, I have come to appreciate the chaotic scattering of the leaves on the lawn, the sidewalk, in the garden, knowing that the natural cycle will do its thing, spreading the composted nutrients into the soil, and steering new life into other living organisms.  How is it that our culture has become one of efficiency, eager to clear away any signs of the beauty and decay of the dying leaves, preventing them from completing their intended purpose of continued nourishment for what remains?

The wisdom of nature

Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia and writer, Suzanne Simard, discusses her research findings in “Finding the Mother Tree:  Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest.”  Simard discovered that trees are able to exchange resources, sharing nutrients with younger saplings, while releasing chemicals to warn each other of distress.  She also uncovered that salmon nitrogen is found in trees and organisms around the rivers where salmon spawn and die.  The forests are ecosystems that rely on each other, in life and in death.

Death promotes life

With death very prevalent in nature, and learning the insurmountable ways we rely on death to keep healthy forests, plants, organisms, soil and animals flourishing, I wonder why death is a topic that is not normalized in human interactions?  Why should dying be news to anyone when we are surrounded by death every day and, in fact, rely on it for the continuation of our planet?

What is the colour of death?

When you ask the question “Am I really going to die?” what has been your answer?  Is death something that happens to others?  Why is death so natural in nature, that we accept it every Autumn and embrace its beauty in the colours that death reveals?  What might the colours of our own personal death look like?  How may you envision those colours and why?

A flower also has an end

Stephen Jenkinson believes that “the ability to see a flower needs to be rooted in the fact that it won’t always be there, and neither will you.”  What is it like to see ourselves as having an ending, just like a garden planted or a tree in bloom?  I wonder if the true beauty in life is that it ends?

The beauty and sacredness of death

The next time you witness the Fall leaves on the ground, ready to be raked or taken away, think about the beauty of death and the sacred nature of its colours, gently letting us know that death has a purpose for all living things.

Karen Mittet, Narrative Therapist