Autumn’s Mirror: Darkness, Ego, and the Path to Freedom
Here in the Netherlands, autumn’s beauty and unpredictability are in full swing. One moment, golden sunlight filters through crisp fallen leaves; the next, the skies darken, and the damp chill sets in. It’s easy to resist this shift, wishing for something else—warmer days, clearer skies. But nature, as always, mirrors what we often try to avoid within ourselves.
The extreme weather—howling winds, sudden storms that pause "life as usual"—is a reminder to live more consciously. To recognize how our choices shape both the world around us and the world within. To take full responsibility, not only for what we do, but also for what we choose not to do.
As the days grow darker, nature invites us inward. It calls us to slow down, to turn our gaze toward the shadowy corners of our being—where unprocessed emotions lie buried deep in our bones. This is a season to confront our beliefs: Who is steering the course of our lives—our inner truth, or our ambitious ego?
The Ego’s Game
The ego thrives on tension. It craves drama, gossip, and control. Think of the times you've tried to convince someone to see the world from your perspective or to change their actions. Or when another person’s way of being triggered frustration in you. Sometimes, we fight to be right at all costs—even when it strips away our own peace. And often, it steals peace from those around us, too.
The tensions we experience within ourselves are but a small reflection of what plays out on the world stage.
Politics, after all, is driven by politicians—human beings with their own egos, ambitions, and fears. When ego is in control, the hunger for more—more land, more profit, more resources—never ends. Division thrives: we against them. Control tightens its grip. But if true peace is our goal, then raising human consciousness is the most radical and necessary act of change.
Freedom Begins Within
Exploring these depths within ourselves can be uncomfortable. But it is the only path to true freedom—freedom from fear, from conditioning, from the narratives that keep us small and disconnected. Just as trees shed their leaves in autumn, we, too, must release what no longer serves us. Only by acknowledging our own darkness—the same darkness we see in others—can we begin to heal.
When we stop forcing ourselves into rigid boxes of societal expectations and outdated traditions, we also stop putting others into them. No longer do we judge based on appearance, movement, voice, love, or beliefs. Instead, we grant others the same freedom we inherently crave.
Because the truth is this: until we are all free, there is no real freedom.
It starts with each of us.
♡
#FreePalestine