Surprise Lily

The garden this year has been bathed in cool Canadian air. It’s a lovely reprieve for us humans. Plant maturation, however, is a little behind schedule. The Surprise Lilies, usually blooming in July, have finally raised their exquisite heads. 

Let me explain first that these beauties are called by many names: Magic Lily, Naked Lady, Resurrection Lily and my favorite, Surprise! Their foliage, which looks a lot like the daffodil, appears in the early spring and then dies back. In July, as if by magic, up comes her naked stem, resurrected from its underground sepulcher. Her delicate pink or white bloom enjoys the sun for only a few days before she retreats back into her underground bulb, leaving witnesses stunned by a profound symbolism.

As one of these stunned witnesses, I’m left to contemplate once again, my relationship to the wonderful planet upon which I live. My mind wanders over old territory such as seasons and cycles, symbolism, fractal geometry and the Doctrine of Signatures. I always end up back at the conclusion that no science can fully explain the beauty and wonder of the innate intelligence that inhabits the plants and animals of Earth. Surely the designed must mimic the Designer.

The Surprise Lily reminds me that there is no such thing as death. Then why the appearance of something that is not “real”? Our world is jam-packed with façades superimposed upon true reality; some are created by man, some by “gods”. Could it be for the edification of those who witness such? How can one such as me discern the real from the mirage?

Can my physical senses alone distinguish truth from fiction?  I think not, although it is through these senses I am given tantalizing clues to the unseen, occult world. For example, I will always get stress head or tummy aches whenever I expose myself to others caught up in discordant circular reasoning, which I guess is not reasoning at all. These lost souls are trying very hard to understand their topic, but can never do so as long as they cling to their archaic belief systems. They are hopelessly trapped in an endless loop.

This begs the question: why do I occasionally still try to relate to lost souls? Why do I sometimes attempt fruitlessly to merge or harmonize with others who are still ensnared in popular lies? The answer is a mixed bag: I get the bright idea I can help them somehow--to find their way into the light or my ego tells me they need the truth and I have it to give or I want to “fit in,” to belong somewhere. The problem is I always end up grinding my teeth, for I can no longer relate to mechanical mind-slaves who are intent on preserving the status quo. Their cacophonous vibration is alien and exasperating.

What a rant! The bottom line is this: the Surprise Lily patiently awaits and within her naked beauty is the very simple answer. We must merely pause and allow her wisdom to enter the deepest recesses of our being. We must ask profound questions as we gently slip from the chains that bind us to old ideas and concepts. This, my friends, is the true meaning of resurrection.