As another new year rolls in, our thoughts turn to the concept of renewal.

Its not only about the new but ‘re’ new, the transition of leaving behind the old - ‘out with the old and in with the new’.

This is a continual process in nature, as one thing recedes and declines another comes to take its place.

Whilst exploring nature’s processes I have become interested in the concept of ‘unity of opposites’ in nature, found in creation and destruction occurring simultaneously.

I find this concept most poignantly expressed in a plant’s seedhead.
As the whole plant recedes and shrivels, the tiny seeds of new life are
being formed. Each plant has evolved different ways of dispersing them,
and I’m particularly interested in the moment the seeds are poised to
leave or are actually leaving.

This transition can also be seen at the base of the stem of dying leaves, the new buds swelling as the old leaves shrivel and the tension at that point. Finally these old leaves drop to the ground, their cells decomposing in the soil and feeding the plant, helping to create the new cells being made.

‘Nature is a perfect balance of evolution and destruction, renewing life effortlessly out of the death and decomposition of former matter. Life feeds upon life, and without paradox and the play of opposite, there would be no creation at all’ Deepak Chopra

The entire universe is a play of opposites and reincarnation is happening all around us, all the time. As with all things, life is interconnected and interdependent.

Something went wrong.

Musings

Posts tagged with death

Renewal