Autumn and permanence

Perhaps the most prominent lesson of autumn comes in what many human philosophies have adopted, especially Buddhist philosophy, which states in its most prominent teachings that reconciliation with fate and reality is the savior from human suffering, and that liberation from the illusion of control and resistance to inevitable change is the true gateway to liberation and inner peace thereafter. The peaceful and submissive fall of autumn leaves does not mean surrender to death and annihilation here, but rather it is a message to humans to learn the skill of life and living, without being besieged by the fear of loss, or of the winds blowing in the opposite direction.

Humans live their lives as if life continues at a constant pace, and their sense of security becomes dependent on ensuring that continuity. From here arises the attachment that doubles the pain of loss. Humans realize that they are going to leave in the end, but they live with the obsession of death from the beginning of life, and the anxieties of the pain of losing loved ones and things that surround them throughout the journey of life. Herein lies the wisdom of autumn, whose leaves do not fear the pain of annihilation when they fall, but rather realize that this is a condition of survival, and that loving things and being attached to them does not mean possessing them, but rather the opposite: liberation from them and acceptance of their passing. Youth departs, health declines, money diminishes, and loved ones pass away, and what remains is the story of life that is immortal. Therefore, it is wise here to stop being attached to things, people, and places, and to learn how to love them and enjoy their existence before they disappear.

There are many sermons and stories in philosophy about the issue of attachment, which we learn from nature with every autumn when its leaves fall quietly, peacefully, and in surrender. In Buddhist tradition, it is said that a woman lost her only child, and she was asked to bring a mustard seed from a house that had never known death. The woman went around to the houses, but she found mustard seeds in every house, as there was not a single house that had not lost one of its loved ones. Later, she realized that death was not her tragedy alone, and that it was wise not to stop loving her child, but to free herself from the idea that it was impossible to lose him.

There is a strong philosophical relationship between teachings that have passed through human history, stories, wisdom, and sermons, and the scene of falling leaves in every autumn season that passes us by. In both cases, there is one existential truth that says that everything in life is fleeting one day, and that the suffering of humans is not in the end of things and their passing, but rather in the constant attempt of humans, contrary to nature, to give all those things, loved ones, events, and places the quality of permanence and eternity. While nature does not resist the changes that occur to it, man goes on, throughout his life, to resist what he cannot change in the first place. Nature’s surrender to the conditions of transformation and change does not mean indifference in the course of life, nor do philosophical stories favor that. Rather, autumn teaches us, and philosophy teaches us, the safe conditions for enjoying a life without fear, and that enjoyment does not mean owning things, and that a beautiful and happy life does not need to be permanent and endless in order to be meaningful.