These Douglas-fir trees were burned in the High Park Fire this past summer, leaving the needles singed and the bark blackened. Now, the needles of the dying trees are turning a bright red, contrasting beautifully with the blackened trees. For me, these stunning needles illustrate a process that occurs each and every moment of our lives. Here, the appearance of each event and each creature within our experience is like a fireworks display, exploding into vibrant appearance in the very moment when it is simultaneously dissipating and dying away, only to reappear out of the pregnant spaciousness of divine love in the very next moment, and then dying away again in the next. This process of simultaneous rebirth and death appears all through our lives, embodying the vibrant and paradoxical magic of life. When we consciously embrace this process, we are following the injunction of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas: "Come into being as you pass away." May all of us realize and practice this insight with increasing depth.
Photo: High Park Burn, Young Gulch, Poudre Canyon, CO; January 7, 2012
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