646. But the cycle continues. After the culminating display of summer comes the autumn. After "maturity" comes "old age". From the "autumnal equinox" to the "winter solstice" in the symbol we find the brown colours of autumn.* And in the living being's terrestrial life cycle this principle also makes its entry. Autumn is the harvesting of ripened fruit. "Parental joy" is now replaced by the "joys of harvest time". The children have grown up and can now continue their lives independently like new fruit and seeds on the parents' bodily family tree. They can take over the hard work from their parents and continue further with the physical traditions of the lineage. The parents, being relieved of duties, can now spend their time enjoying what they have accomplished in the course of their lives.
      But as it is with the "joys of parenthood", so is it also with the "joys of creation". Those who do not particularly have the fruits or results of the "joys of parenthood" to relish can usually look back on the results of their "joys of creation". This could be a series of brilliant artistic creations, whether in the field of literature, science or engineering, or the manifestations of pure design, sculpture or painting produced during the person's adult working life, the results and harvest of which can now be enjoyed in comfort by the beings in question.
      The life of harmony, the beautifully unfolded but now completed summer, has a festive streak. The white hair, the fixed laughter lines, the shaky hand are the fading leaves of autumn. It is the pale crowns of the beech trees that are now falling with the onset of night frosts. It is the white hoar frost of the morning dew. It is the atmosphere of the "kingdom of bliss" as it begins to approach. Something of the same purity of innocence on the faces of children now falls across the aging faces. And in the brightness of the tired old eyes we meet the light from a higher world. And with the same urge to protect that we feel towards a child or all frail creatures in life, we now follow the "withering" being on the last stretch of the road towards the gate of heaven. And the cycle is brought to a close. The I has "run its full course". The I has become dust, and the dust becomes the I, and the I is transfigured and becomes one with the glory of the Father. And only in the noblest purity of their thoughts can the bereaved reach the being they love in its bright heaven, in its celestial, transfigured state.
 
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* The slanting stripes are described as red in "The Eternal World Picture", book 2.