The Return of Light is upon us. People celebrate this season in many different ways yet universal themes prevail: good will to all, sharing abundance, the need for community, and a recognition of life’s evolving seasons.
Solstice, the darkest time of year, is known as a time of reflection and renewal. Some cultures celebrated for as many as fifteen days, coming together for communal strength to face the bleakness of winter. They came seeking warmth, for feasting, to share the stories of their becoming and to illuminate the possibilities and dreams of what may still be.
Winter is known as the oldest season. It’s a time of passing and of death. It reminds us of our finite nature – that as much as we are beings of spirit, we also live in temporal time, with a beginning and an end. We welcome the return of light, but also reckon with endings and the recycling of life. We come together to celebrate and also to mourn.
Winter, if we allow it, demands withdrawal from frenetic energies so that we may take solace in the quiet stillness that envelops us. And if we are fortunate and can give our attention to it, we’re gifted with stillness within us as well.
Winter draws us inward. It’s this inward pull and outward need for community that instructs us as human beings. It’s the recognition that light will come again and this is not merely a faint hope. It is our knowing. We know the light will come because we have witnessed it. In this way, knowing is a vital human trait that protects us from doubt. Now more than ever we need to wake up to our knowing and to the seeds of becoming that await us.
In many cultures time was marked by winter, and the questions were asked: “How many winters have you lived?” Or “How many winters have you been a human being?”
This question and recognition of our humanity may be the most important one we can ask ourselves and answer now. As the vestiges of uprightness are being mocked and stripped away, it is imperative for each of us to reclaim the better angels of our humanity. Because we can. Every winter carries seeds of spring. Nurture those seeds.
let kindness win 