‘After the fire ends,
And the smoke clears.
There is stillness,
New growth begins.
A fresh start.
Nothing is ever the same.’
“Fire is an important process that affects ecological systems around the globe. The positive effects of fire include stimulating growth and maintaining various ecological systems. The negative effects of fire include hazard to life and property, atmospheric pollution, and water contamination.”
In Ayurveda, Fire is one of the five elements. All elements are essential. Summer is representative of fire. So is our digestive system, our metabolism or you could call it our AGNI. Fire represents transformation.
In Hindu Shiva represents the transformation of destruction, and “tearing things down” to rebuild.
I remember many years ago when I was in a self destructive period. This was a difficult time for the people that loved me to watch. I was destroying so many structures around me. A marraige, relationships, my own self. And I was full of RAGE. It seemed that so much had risen to the surface. Childhood traumas. Suppression. Women around me that had been beaten and covered the bruises with makeup and sewed their own lips shut. People in my childhood all walking in fear of angry white men all in the name of allowing things to be different than they should be. Violence, pure violence. I will never understand the changes that happened during my own time of self destruction but when the smoke cleared, I began to rebuild myself. From the ground up. I let go of all of the traumas and the experiences of the past and I became stronger, more courageous. My anger, resentment, rages, were all gone with the smoke. And this is when my life changed. Lets hope that when we look around, instead of feeling fear, that we can see something at work that, even if we don’t understand, we can at least accept that THIS IS TRANSFORMATIVE. Walk in kindness and not fear during this time, and lets love each other. We are brothers and sisters of this earth. Every last one of us.
I leave us with this out of the Bhagavad Gita:
"Weapons are the tools of fear;
a decent man will avoid them
except in the direst necessity
and, if compelled, will use them
only with the utmost restraint. Peace is his highest value.
If the peace has been shattered,
how can he be content?
His enemies are not demons, but human beings like himself.
He doesn't wish them personal harm.
Nor does he rejoice in victory.
How could he rejoice in victory
and delight in the slaughter of men?
He enters a battle gravely,
with sorrow and with great compassion,
as if he were attending a funeral."