Flames consume and Flames illume,
Fire warms and Fire harms,
Fire transforms and Fire reforms.
Our own sun is a flaming cauldron of fire, burning at enormous temperatures, using atomic and nuclear fission to keep it going, seemingly forever. Already the sun has burned for millennia unknown and although our intellect tells us it will burn itself out eventually, to ordinary men and women it truly does seem as though it will shine eternally. It burns with fearsome intensity and telescopes enable us to see the huge explosions that from time to time send flames millions of miles out into space. Close up this sun, which appears to shine so benevolently upon us, is an expression of the awesome forces of nature. Were Earth situated just a little closer, life on our planet would be impossible. As it is, God has ordained it should maintain such a distance from earth that instead of making our planet a heartless desert, it creates, with the help of the rain, a verdant, beautiful home for humanity to enjoy. It provides those essential elements for physical life, warmth and light.
Wild fire, though less frightening in its power than the sun, is one of nature’s most fearsome and awe-inspiring phenomena, especially when it threatens homes and people that are in its path. Many a person has misjudged the speed with which such fires move and paid a terrible price, as Australians have recently learned only too tragically. Yet wild fires are an integral part of nature’s wonderful balance. In forests, each year many trees and shrubs die or are killed by storms and over time they become cluttered with this detritus. Some of it decays and provides food for the growing trees but it is also a serious fire hazard as it becomes as dry as tinder during hot, summer months. A flash of lightening, a piece of glass or metal that concentrates the sun’s rays in a clearing, a carelessly discarded match or cigarette end or worse still, a deliberate act by a pyromaniac is all that it takes to start a blaze.
Once the blaze takes hold and is fanned by winds, it consumes all in its path and generates so much heat that trees which would normally not catch fire become as matchwood and are destroyed in minutes. If homes and people are in its path, this fire becomes a disastrous menace and many courageous firemen brave the flames to save both, sometimes without success. However, nature needs wild fires to cleanse the areas they cover. Many trees die in the blaze and afterwards, the site looks barren and lifeless but within months all is transformed. For the first time in years rain reaches the ground in quantity and sunlight, another form of fire, combines with it to germinate the seeds of flowers and grasses that have lain dormant in the soil for years. All of a sudden the earth is a blaze of colour as these seeds seek to reproduce themselves in haste, lest the canopy of the forest returns to deny them life.
Where once there was nothing but silence and sombre shadow, now the song of birds is heard, butterflies float from blossom to blossom and the air is heavy with the scent of flowers innumerable. Trees will slowly grow again, tall, healthy and majestic but it will take years before the sunlight and rain are blocked out once more. Thus round and round the circle of nature runs and the fire that created fear in the hearts of men has been the agent of transformation and renewal.
The dancing flames in the fireplace seem a million miles from the blazing heart of the conflagration that destroys a huge building or a wild fire out of control. Yet they are one and the same. The contrast illustrates so many aspects of our own lives. Under control, many dangerous and frightening natural forces can be brought into the service of humanity. So it is with our emotions. Under control they can be of service to others; out of control they are a menace that can sometimes threaten life and limb. Sometimes however, like the action of the wild fire in cleansing and renewing huge areas of forest, a certain level of violent emotion is needed to clear the emotional detritus we have collected within us. The Greeks named this catharsis and many of their tragedies were written to illustrate the cleansing actions of such violent emotion.
Examining the transformation wrought by fire in the wild, leads me to consider the transforming effects on human beings caused by the fires of pain and suffering. Just as the ore which contains gold has to be subjected to immense temperatures in order to release the beauty of the metal within, so the beauty and strength that lie within all human beings are often only revealed after undergoing great suffering. Sometimes the suffering is physical, sometimes emotional and sometimes spiritual.
A writer can only uncover the true beauty of his prose by effort - practice and revision, over and over; so it is with all worthwhile human achievements. Nothing worthwhile can be achieved without great effort and application. Even when the ideas and words appear to flow with ease, it is only when they have been honed and honed again by thought, revision, more thought and more revision that they reveal their true beauty of form and line.
It is easy to strike a match and light the paper beneath a fire but unless the wood and coals above have been carefully selected and laid, the fire will not catch alight. Soon all the paper will be consumed by the flames and no further heat can be obtained. Equally, even when the fire is burning merrily in the grate, unless it is tended carefully and new fuel added from time to time, the fire will die and all warmth from it will vanish.
There is a lesson here that we should remember in our personal endeavours. Always try to prepare the materials properly, including your mind and your brain and never neglect to tend the project as it progresses. How often have you become so excited or carried away by the initial success of a new project, only to find that success is short-lived? On examination, you will often find, I think, that your excitement and perhaps even self-satisfaction, caused you to neglect adding further fuel to the fire of your project and so it just died!
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