What Needs Resurrection in You
As a long time student of Jungian theory, I tend to look at everything that crosses my path in terms of what it symbolizes for me personally, as well as what it may symbolize in the culture. On this Easter Sunday, symbolizing the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, I couldn’t help but think of the life/death/life cycle that I have studied for so long. Whenever there is a death of some kind, there will also be dormancy, a dark period, so to speak, and then new life. Whether you believe in Christianity or not, you may see that the time between Good Friday, and Easter Sunday can be seen as the dormancy period, with the rising of Jesus from the dead bringing forth the new life. In order for new life to arrive, a death of some kind must occur.
This is an unprecedented time for most of us. We are isolated from friends, family, and life as we used to know it. We are uncertain as to when it will end, and we are uncertain as to what life might look like when it does end. Life will most likely not return to normal any time soon. This may make you sad, fearful, and maybe even angry. Since there has been a death of sorts, we must grieve the life we used to have, tending to the grief, but also hanging on to hope. Hope for something new, something better.
Perhaps this time is the dormancy period, that space between death and new life. Death of our old way of being, uncertain with not much seeming to happen, but new life awaiting after the dormancy. We will all suffer in life to some degree. In fact, the first rule in Buddhism is “Life is suffering.” We lose loved ones, we lose dreams, and maybe our hopes are dashed in some way. Often the person that we lose is ourselves. Life in some way beats us down, or we feel weighted down by old emotional wounds that we have not fully tended to. Perhaps our marriage has failed, or we look in the mirror and don’t recognize who we have become.
Do not lose heart; for this does not mean that all is lost. This may be your dormant period before new life. So, on this most symbolic of days in the Christian world, I ask you – what in you needs resurrection? What in you needs to be allowed to die? Where is there the opportunity for new life? What can be planted now in order to bring new life to you in the future? Take advantage of this period of dormancy to plant the seeds for a new way of being, a new way of living. The most important thing that you can do in this period of dormancy is start putting seeds in the ground.