December 17, 2017
“Our Spirals” by Jesse Greist

This piece is meant to be read while this video plays

 

Time is a spiral, a synthesis of the circle and the straight line.

Each moment is new, each day unlike any other that has come before

Yet, we overlay the newness of experience on gently curving spiral patterns

That we’ve seen before and will see again

Each 7am is followed exactly 24 hours later by a new 7am

Each Thursday is followed 7 days later by a new Thursday

We fill 7am with 7am things, and we fill Thursday with Thursday things

Months and seasons bring monthly and seasonal things

A time to plant, a time to harvest

A time for sadness and a time for laughter

We spiral, we repeat, but all of us do it in our own way

The shape of our spiral is our own to make

For some, your spiral path through time may be precisely calculated geometric shapes

Well planned movements that follow a set pattern and end up right where you intended

For others, your spiral path may be flower petals looking outward from a single budding idea, each moment a growth spurt from the one that came before

For some, your spiral path may be made of stars, and your steps may be constellations

Points of light and warmth against a vast, cold backdrop.

Of course, there are those whose spirals are uneven, imbalanced even tornadic

Perhaps you are one of those whose path is not smooth or even

It is still a beautiful spiral, though it may not feel that way as you move along

Time can feel like a labyrinth, a confusing maze of decisions, options, paths not taken

But if we quiet our fears and see the spiral in our choices,

The history behind them and

The future they point to, paths become clearer and easier to follow

For me, I like to imagine the spiral of my life as a neat, tightly packed orderly spiral

It’s a beautiful image to hold onto, It’s an ideal

but then as life actually happens and things proves themselves imperfect and challenging

I realize that my spiral has many forms.

The quick leaps, the wavy uncertainties, the joys and sorrows

The world whirls around us, time whirls within us

May we whirl and spiral in endless ways through this solstice time and on through the next and on and on…..