Semester… And… Season

FRI., MAR. 22, 1996, 6:20 AM
FARM, STUDY

You, o son, are in the midst of a semester, a way of organizing the academic year. There are two of these, of about the same length, each year, and you have had the privilege (and We both can call it that) of teaching, in a more concentrated format in the summer months. Semesters are “artificially seasonal”. The fall semester commences in the summer, when it is hot and muggy and continues through the autumn or fall season, with the loss of leaves and flowers and the cooling of temperatures. Though it is over before winter officially arrives, it can be cold and dark as the last classes are held.

Spring semester commences in the winter, with barren trees and some cold, miserable conditions. But before it is over the green will have returned to the trees, grass, and fields, flowers will be blooming and vegetables and fruit forming.

Part of your academic life, including your first years here, embraced the quarter system, wherein the terms coincided with the seasons. Fall quarter was wholly in the fall, followed by winter and spring quarters, and then a summer term, only slightly shorter than the other quarters.

Yesterday was, officially, the first day of Spring, with daylight and darkness being as equal as is possible. Now the daylight hours increase in length until June 21, when there is the most daylight and the shortest dark of night. You are noticing this morning that the sun appears to be “moving north”, the light comes earlier and stays longer. Hence, the seasons are designated by the days getting longer, even, then even longer, followed by nights increasing toward equality, and then the dominance of dark.

Then there is the way I’ve encouraged you to organize your Ruminations year – January 1 through March 31; April 1 through June 30, July 1 through September 30, and October 1 through December 31. This approximates the seasons, but organizes them by months rather than days and lengths thereof.

Why all of this? I just want to remind you that time is a very artificial and relative feature of earth life. It simply isn’t necessary in other realms, and it isn’t as important as the driving force of your culture considers it to be. As you have realized, with My help, most of time is circular, even as you folks often overemphasize the linear aspects. You see the semester as linear, with each class moving, with various activities, from beginning to end. Yet as you prepare for next Fall’s classes you will consult this last Fall’s syllabus and, with a few exceptions you’ll “go round again”. For the students the class is linear. For you each one has become more circular.

You also recognize that the Christian Church also has seasons, but mostly in preparation for and celebration of Christmas, My birth as Jesus, and Easter, My death and resurrection, a total celebratory year of about 5 months. Christmas has Me being born in the early part of winter, but there is little in the Scriptural story to indicate winter conditions. And Easter is dependent upon the moon, and there must be some symbolism there, but…