Ecclesiastes 3: 1-15, Cycling--Opposites of Creation and Destruction

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-15, Cycling—Opposites of Creation and Destruction
v. 11, “He has made everything to suit its time; moreover he has given men a sense of time past and future, but no comprehension of God’s work from beginning to end.”

Today’s scripture is a familiar passage that’s often quoted flippantly when things are in upheaval or changing. We tend to overlook the powerful spiritual truth that everything exists with its opposite; everything cycles from creative to destructive. We see this principle at work in nature in the seasons. Spring brings new growth—beautiful flowers and leaves. Summer hosts the fullness of the new life. In the fall, flowers and leaves die; the (seeming) barrenness of winter then comes. We do not question why it is this way. We accept it as a given, and we live within the cycles and do what is appropriate for that time.

The cycles of creation and destruction, as seen in the seasons of nature, are at work within our bodymind. Consider the processes of metabolism with the tearing down of tissues (catabolism) and the building up of tissues (anabolism). Psychic (or soul) energies within us exist as pairs of opposites. They are bipolar; they have a light, creative, expansive side and a dark, destructive, constrictive side. Reading the passage noted above gives us several examples of these opposites: birthing and dying, planting and uprooting, killing and healing, pulling down and building up, weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing, scattering and gathering, embracing and refraining, seeking and losing, keeping and throwing away, tearing and mending, being silent and speaking, loving and hating, warring and keeping peace.

Our culture and institutions have demonized the dark and destructive forces; anything that is not light and sustaining has been labeled as wrong or an illness. Such an attitude prevents us from effectively living within the seasons of our own (psychic) nature. Instead of aligning with our energy cycles, we move with learned attitudes and beliefs, asserting our ego while ignoring the inner knowing of the Self/God Within.

When we begin new projects or relationships where we lack desire and energy, it is like planting new seeds in the winter instead of the spring. When we hold on to the forms (relationships, jobs, interests, ways of experiencing, attitudes about ourselves, habit patterns) that are dying and destructive to us, we miss the work of fall which includes raking up the old, dying leaves and clearing the ground for new growth. Often the suffering we experience is created by our ego’s choices to hold onto learned expectations and values instead of aligning with the seasons of psyche/soul and the heart. We forget or deny the truth “for everything its season.”

Take a few minutes to review the opposites listed above from the scripture passage. Ask the Inner Divine Spirit to show you where these energies are at work in you. Consider all four planes—physical (health, eating, exercise, environment), emotional (feelings, relationships, needs and wants, automatic response patterns), mental (relationships to self and others, beliefs and values), and spiritual (openness to the Mystery and the Inner Divine Spirit). Be courageous and begin to live according to the cycles of your own psyche/soul.