“Oh, Autumn! Autumn!–What is the Spring to me?” – Edna St. Vincent MillayThe first official week of autumn has arrived, and the bittersweet beauty of change is everywhere. While true that ALL is always in flux, autumn makes that energy evident in a way that resonates with a maturity forecasted but never matched by spring or summer.
Here at LCE we have had many multi-week classes begin as well as two wonderful events in the last two weeks. Stephen Collins brought the person and poetry of Robert Frost to life for us at the Depot. Frost is always a great read in autumn in New England and Steven brought Frost’s large vision to life, reciting a harvest of poetry from memory – always to my amazement. They say that poetry recited “by heart” goes straight to the heart. And so it does, and so it was at the Depot last week.
Last night at the Follen, a long-time and cherished friend of LCE, John Bell, presented a sane approach to save the world with a talk based on his book, Unbroken Wholeness: Six Pathways to the Beloved Community (Integrating Social Justice, Emotional Healing, and Spiritual Practice). The title sounds hopeful, and it is, but the prescription is for the hard work of acceptance and change, of wisdom and compassion, of (as physicist David Bohm wrote) “Unbroken wholeness in flowing movement.” The book, like its author, is honest and wise, offering the highest of principals set out by Thich Nhat Hanh and Martin Luther King with dignity and care…in a way that is hopeful yet sober and without naivety. John’s work is full of the maturity of a heart and mind devoted to the idea that something must be done, and done differently, and done now if we are to become wise ancestors with anything left to pass to future generations. Thank you, John Bell and Steven Collins!
We have much more in store for October including honoring Dr. Michael Fiveash through his Legacy Lecture on Platonism and Hellenic Tantra with Gregory Shaw, honoring and celebrating the new posthumous book of poetry Into the Ether from Kate Banks, a not-to-be missed poetry reading with Li-Young Lee, and a book talk with Marjan Kamali…and that’s only a sample of what’s on tap for October. An Octoberfest of learning!
I remember many years ago driving my poet hero to the airport after a reading to 700 + people the night before. I was younger and so excited to be hanging around with a hero, and so happy at how the reading went. I was about 30 and he was about 75 at the time, so I felt a bit like a newborn sitting beside a wise old dragon. Despite my bubbling happiness and all the success of the event, he seemed sad somehow, in a way that was unusual to me as it wasn’t a feeling of depression. His sadness had a different and somehow life-affirming energy. I asked him about it and if there was something that I could do to lift his mood. Kindly, he responded by saying “My grief is my gift.” I was surprised and silenced as I felt the truth of what was spoken.
Grief as a path, as a grounding, as a connecting force, connecting to working toward making things better…connecting to the joy of that work. Musician Nick Cave has also said a lot about this recently as well. While it goes against my natural inclination still, working with the thought of honoring grief as a gift feels important to do…especially in autumn.
I was walking along my sidewalk in rush to the car and took the picture here. I found that the half-eaten berries dropped by squirrels from my dogwood tree looked beautiful against the wet gray cement. I was about to keep walking but stopped to admire the color. After attending the John Bell talk last night I’m going to try to slow down and notice, listen and learn more this autumn. There is beauty everywhere!
I hope to see you at an LCE event or in the hallway at Lexington High on the way to class.
Craig Hall
Director, Lexington Community Education
