The spring equinox and spring break
With a timing that makes you want to return to the animist practices of our distant forebears, the blossom on the tree outside ISA popped open yesterday, on Thursday 20th March, this year's spring equinox.
The equinox marks a perfect balance point between two opposites: the darkness of winter, and the warmth of summer (which is a relative term this far north!). The buds also popped open just as we headed towards the break. Chinese Taoism, in my limited reading and conversations with the Head of School Nick Little, suggests the world is not 'one thing' or 'another'. People are not either 'good' or 'bad'. It is not the case that either winter or summer is 'better'; or term time or holiday is 'better' than the other. It is just that they balance each other, and perhaps take their quality and depth as much from moving between them, as they do from some 'essence'.
This is much like term time and break. Much of their quality and strength comes from their interplay of intensity and rest; consistency and variation; focused learning and expansive thinking. So on that note I wish you a fantastic break, including those just returning from the basketball trip to Portugal and the musicians heading off to Frankfurt for the International AMIS festival. We look forward to seeing you all rested and renewed in two weeks' time. Until then, enjoy the peace and tranquility of the break.
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