Wildfires and Life Cycles

Wildfires rage through foothills forests. Homes are destroyed. Lives are lost. The sky turns charcoal gray.

I empathize with the focus on our homes lost, our favorite forest gone, our air difficult to breathe. I do not deny the suffering of these realities. But I think it is also significant to step back and attempt to view - if dimly - the larger whole. For, a wildfire - while destructive - is equally creative. A wildfire is part of the natural life cycle of a forest. Perhaps we struggle to see this since the life cycle of a forest is much longer than our own life cycle. Perhaps we struggle to see the myriad relationships between our life cycle and the forest’s life cycle because our own survival keeps us busy enough. Perhaps we struggle to see how destruction could possibly lead to creation since our consciousness - it seems - is bookended by our individual birth and death. But I believe that our finite life, just like the finite life of a tree in the forest, is part of the greater life cycle: the interconnectedness, transformation, and wholeness of all things.

As humans, we possess the capacity and desire to celebrate each spark - fleeting as it is - in the consuming fire. This is love, which happens to be a prerequisite for loss and sadness. This is to be human, and is divine. But in the suffering of the individual, we are held in the embrace of the whole. This embrace does not belittle our sadness, but it holds us in the awareness that our existence, while finite, is connected to something greater. And in this awareness, we come to find transformation, and healing.