By Illaria Dana, Education Major

The other day I was thinking about how people always talk about the weather. I used to see this as small talk. I did not connect my feelings of peace in nature, of feeling whole when I am outside, holding onto nothing, looking at everything, with this social convention of talking about the weather. We are beings of nature, and the peace that I feel outside is similar to the peace I feel when the disparate parts of my consciousness are integrated, that is, when I grow and feel whole. In this prolonged transition into winter, I have been reading Man and His Symbols edited, and with an introduction, by Carl Jung.

Jung asserts that a kind of spiritual death is necessary for a person to outgrow who she was and become who she must be. In this process it is important to be connected to one’s society and nature. It is important to be connected to a power greater than oneself.

Milkweeds release their seeds into the air so that new plants can blossom. In Winter we meditate on what we were, and in Spring we stretch our renewed bodies. We examine what we have become.