Easter wish

Vine maple canopy

If it is possible that phylogeny recapitulates ontogeny, as Ernst Haeckel proposed, might also the eternal cadence of the seasons of the year recapitulate the emotional life of a human being?

We all recognize the tragedy of summer which, like glorious youth, is a pinnacle from which one must inevitably fall.  Autumn resembles the solace of middle age, when we learn that glory diminished is still heart-breaking and worthwhile.  And winter, of course, is the ultimate peace that awaits us all; the Triumph (as the Christians call it) that we will all come to know.  It is resignation and acceptance.

If these are true, then spring is hope and aspiration.  Spring symbolizes not only birth, but rebirth and, perhaps even more, the human penchant to have faith in what is to come.

Saint Philip-Neri, early Mass

Well, after all, comparing human emotional development to the cyclic patterns of the year is rather trite, is it not?  Poets have been making such comparisons for as long as there have been poets.  The Wiccans have always seen things that way, and the Catholics, opportunistic though they may have been, chose springtime to mark the occasion of their Resurrection.

So, begging your pardon, I hope this springtime, this rebirth, might give life to those hopes and aspirations you have for your own future and for our collective future.  And since I did attend early Mass this morning, I'll go ahead and say it the Catholic way:

Happy Easter!