Gift of Darkness
Just as it is obviously easier to find something we dropped in the yard in the light of day, most of us look for our answers in the light – in what we already know, what we can understand, where we’re comfortable. You know, that place that’s always familiar to us. But the real answers, the ones that really matter, usually aren’t there … in the light. Those answers, the ones that allow us to see or be something that we couldn’t see or be before, are somewhere else – in the place where there is no light, no familiarity, no comfort … it’s in the dark.
Even the things that disrupt our emotional, physical, and spiritual lives are hidden away in our dark unconscious mind. Something we cannot consciously reach. In Truth, since all of our sensory centers are inside our head - which never sees the light of day - our entire life’s experiences are perceived and stored in the dark recesses of our closed skull. Now back to the subject …
Transformational challenges don’t necessarily have to be particularly intense. They can be small and trivial - like a frustrating conversation, or hurt feelings, a disappointment at work, or an unexpected bill. These things can certainly be used as a force of energy for us to grow and expand … to learn new things and try new ways of being in life.
Sometimes, the darkness can be at times as vast as outer-space itself. But whichever the case may be, if you search for answers only where there’s light – in the places you know, in the habits that make you comfortable, in the paradigms you already have – it’s almost certain that you will never move very far from where you are right now. You’ll be sitting in A cradle rocker, swinging away but going nowhere.
But if you become willing, instead, to deal with the discomfort of the unknown, to reach, even for an occasional moment, into the vast mystery of the darkness, you may discover there an entirely new potential, a new understanding, a new level of light. And this light, the light that comes from the darkness, does not shine from the outside in. It shines within the depths of your heart, your mind and your soul – from the inside out. The entire universe comes from within. Remember, darkness serves a purpose in offering contrast between light and dark. Given the speed that light travels, no matter what … the darkness is always there waiting for it - before it even got there.
Just a thought …
~Justin Taylor, ORDM., OCP., DM.
My thanks to Shifra.
