I enjoy pondering this concept of harvest in the sense of the spiritual. It has inspired me to think about how the world of nature is a reflection of the world of the spirit; how existence itself is always the Whole, even when we neglect to consider anything beyond what we can see and touch.
The harvest is the culmination of and the most labor-intensive aspect of the growing season. After our efforts are invested in planting and cultivating the crops, we then have the opportunity to reap a bountiful harvest that will serve to nourish us through a winter that may be frozen and harsh. So too with a spiritual harvest – what we have given our energy to determines the outcome that manifests itself in our experience, and whether it is enough to fortify us through dark, cold periods that we may encounter. In this I see a connection between the workings of the tangible and the intangible. The invisible is a reflection of the visible.
I know that the “interdependent web of all existence” that our Unitarian Universalist principles reference is a way of looking at the Earth and how all life upon it is connected, each benefiting from the others thriving; but I think we can extend that to apply to all existence, and not merely the physical plane. And when we do – when we consciously consider the Whole – we approach that direct experience of the transcending mystery and wonder that we each seek.
~ Christiana
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This is such a powerful message, Christiana. Thank you for sharing it. It speaks very directly into my own experience of life and the Cosmos, the Whole, as you call it. A wonderful reminder as I begin this new day.
I find it interesting that it is our connectedness that sometimes sustains us and yet is also sometimes the very source of conflict and sludge that we must walk through tonfind peace. That connectedness is always there.
This is true for me as well. I find that, though the connection is ever present, the times that I neglect to acknowledge it are the times when the “sludge” is the thickest. Navigating the mire serves as a reminder for me to return to awareness of the connection.
~ C.