Autumn is the “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,” wrote English poet John Keats. You may be enjoying cool nights and crisp apples, roasting chilis, and the colors of falling leaves, while here in the Sonoran Desert, afflicted by climate change, temperatures once again soar as high as 108 degrees, and the weather service repeats its heat warnings.

But I still fill my new apartment with ears of dried corn and orange pumpkins, remembering those autumn days when I lived in more temperate climates and spent this season raking leaves and stacking wood for winter fires.

Autumn Feast Days

October is so rich in feast days: “little” St. Thérèse of Lisieux on the first, “big” Teresa of Avila on the fifteenth, and Francis of Assisi October 4. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins at sundown on October 2, which is also the Christian feast of the Guardian Angels. Yom Kippur, the solemn Jewish Day of Atonement, falls on October 11.

And of course there’s Halloween. Do you consider it a feast day like me or merely childish folly? Perhaps something more sinister? Take a deeper look at why I celebrate Halloween, seeing  resurrection in the smiling Jack-o’-Lantern.

And meditate on the connection between All Hallows’ Eve, All Saints’ Day, and All Souls’ Day, which Dave Denny and I discuss in our podcast, “Humor and Halloween,” Episode Number 10 in our Fire and Light series. You may also want to read  “Day of the Dead and the Marigold Path” as you prepare for your celebration of Dia de los Muertos on November 2.

Seasons of the Soul

If you’re in Colorado, I hope you’ll join me October 25-27 at Naropa University in Boulder where I have the honor of spending a week as “World Wisdom Teacher-in-Residence.” After several days with students on campus, I dialogue with Dr. Judith Simmer-Brown on Friday, October 25, as we share our experiences of Naropa’s historic Buddhist-Christian Dialogues, which changed my life.

A young Mother Tessa Bielecki with Eido Roshi at one of Naropa’s first Buddhist-Christian Dialogues at Naropa University.

All day Saturday and Sunday, October 26-27, in “Seasons of the Soul,” I’ll share the most vital teachings I’ve found in my favorite streams from the Christian mystical tradition: the counter-cultural witness of the desert, the earthy rhythms of the monastic tradition, and the intimacy and “holy ordinary” of Carmelite and Celtic spirituality.

I’ll also explore the challenges of creating the “lively human atmosphere” conducive to everyday contemplative experience, including “crisis contemplation” and joy as “resistance.” These events are open to the public. You’ll find more information and registration details here. The event is sponsored by the Keating-Schachter Center for Interspirituality and scholarships may be available.

Dignity and Human Rights

As troubles continue in the so-called “holy land,” where over 1200 Israelis and 40,000 Palestinians have died, you may wonder how you can help. Dave Denny’s article, “Sabeel: A Spring of Hope,” gives you some suggestions.

My article, “View from the Rooftop: Farewell to Jerusalem,” was originally written after our fact-finding trip to Israel-Palestine years ago. It shows that not much has changed since then, true. And yet, valiant efforts towards peace and human rights for everyone continue courageously among both Israelis and Palestinians who resist the occupation and dare to collaborate with one another with dignity and respect.

The Dignity Index

And speaking of dignity, as Election Day approaches and a lack of civility continues in our country, check out the good work of Tim Schriver at the Dignity Index Project. “It’s not our disagreements that cause our division,” he says, but “treating each other with contempt when we disagree. When contempt tears us apart, dignity can bring us together.”

See where you fall on the Dignity Index, an eight-point scale that scores our speech along a continuum from contempt to dignity. The index is designed to “prevent violence, ease divisions, and solve problems.” It makes me hopeful, teaching us how we can learn and change and grow.

Become an Autumn Leaf…

As we usher in the month of October, may we become as light as autumn leaves scurrying after the winds that toss them through the sky. In the poetic words of an old Carmelite nun, “I, too, a pilgrim caught by the Spirit’s breath, want to fly heavenwards in glory – an autumn leaf, swirling in the mighty Wind of God.”