Even TV commercials can be segues to higher awareness if we are open to the metaphor.
I was watching a Florida orange juice commercial in which there is a time-lapse morphing from fragrant flower to bright orange fruit. Maybe you’ve seen it? As the fruit appears, the flower shrivels up and disappears. The trees know how to let go of what was to make room for what comes next. Quietly, without fanfare, the greenery goes through its various cycles in faithful non-attachment.
Many humans on the other hand want to stay flowers forever. I think I’ve mentioned driving up Bloomfield Avenue and seeing a huge billboard commanding “Freeze Your Fat.” It was Winter and my fat was freezing along with the rest of me. I think, however, the sign was advertising a procedure to make us middle aged types more lithe and lovely…more flower-like. The truth is that while the flower lives, there is no fruit. The culmination of existence is to create something meaningful and nourishing when all is said and done. The “fruit” of our being is consciousness and wisdom. That takes time…
Do you think that the flower, as beautiful as it is, is nourishing? I guess you can eat some flowers and the bees find them pretty cool, what with their pollen and all. But I for one am more attracted to the fruit, even though the flower is fragrant and colorful. The fruit contains the seeds for the next generation. It’s juicy and sweet, and its fragrance is more subtle. Whoever started Edible Arrangements had the right idea!
If the metaphor is lost on you so far, I’ll be more direct; There is beauty in every season and in every stage of life. We look sort of embarrassing trying to be eternal flowers. The only time that works is with silk flowers…and I’m not sure that really works. Not only is it out of synch to try to embody perennial youth, but the focus on doing so prevents the maturation and dignity of fruitage.
The process of planting the seed, nurturing it although it’s invisible, having it reach for the Sun and unfold into its particular identity, is a beautiful representation of what we can each do. There are parts of us yet to be manifested in the material world. As “flowers” our job is to cross-pollinate, but when it’s our time the harvest is welcome, leaving us with sweet memories of brightly colored petals and busy bees, and with succulent orbs of sweetness and expectation.
So if you see that commercial, celebrate the orange and the juice that comes from it… and know that your beauty runs very deep, well beyond your earth-suit.
With love,
Rosanne