Today the world passes through an astronomical moment–the equator will align with the sun in what we call the equinox. Since the beginning of human consciousness, events in nature have pointed the way toward spiritual understanding, and our present lack of contact with natural life is certainly connected with the regrettable spiritual poverty that we are passing through today. In the Vadan, Alankaras, we find, Nature is a bridge to cross to Thy dwelling-place, but at the moment the bridge appears to be in danger of collapse. In the Gayan, Boulas, we also find this : The lover of nature is the true worshipper of God. And yet, although we romanticise nature, especially on Instagram, it is not clear that we really love it, for love means the willingness to sacrifice. If we were truly lovers of the natural, we and the world would surely be in a very different condition.

There are two equinoxes in the course of the year, linked (by cultures in the northern hemisphere) with the Spring and Autumn, because they are gateways through which we pass as we move toward the light of summer or the darkness of winter. The further one lives from the equator, the greater that change becomes; the day of winter may be many hours shorter than the day of summer, and if one goes far enough toward the pole, the darkness of night may last for weeks or months. No doubt these rhythms can teach us much about the inner life, if we are open to them, and it is not surprising that some of our earliest structures combined the sacred and the astronomical.

There is, however, one aspect of the equinox that is sometimes overlooked, and that is that on this day, day and night are equal all over the world. Wherever we live, in the north, the south, or the middle, today we are all united in experiencing the balance of light and darkness. If we are seeking to cross the bridge of nature to the home of the Beloved, we could take this moment as a brief, astronomical reminder that we are already, in the words of the prayer, “one single brotherhood in the Fatherhood of God.”