When we dare to tread the darkness that uncertainties fear, we realize the beauty, power, and perfection of our true selves.
When days grow short, or life gets tough, we seek ways to dispel the darkness with light. We equate light with the positive – hope, growth, abundance, life. And conversely, dark is attributed to the negative – despair, vice, scarcity, death. Light good, dark bad. Because of these broad-stroke judgments, we can miss the miracles the Universe provides with its perfectly-timed gifts found only in darkness.
“Every moment of light and dark is a miracle.” — Walt Whitman
Whether our days of darkness are the literal 24 hours without sunlight or metaphorical periods of spiritual inquiry, we can reap tremendous benefit from looking past initial appearance and change, and embracing the gift hidden in the shadows. Consider these associations with darkness and the spiritual gifts they offer:
The dark night of the soul – The spiritual crisis essential to a seeker’s journey toward God (by any name) or enlightenment. Worldly attachments bound by the ego are forced free, and the spirit plummets into soulful isolation to rise again, strengthened, authentic, and renewed, like a phoenix out of the ashes.
“In the dark night of the soul, bright flows the river of God.” – John of the Cross
Shadow self – The lesser-known or misunderstood aspects of oneself from the conscious mind or ego often undiscovered or repressed out of fear and judgment. Only when we embrace all of who we are can we become fully-actualized.
“Enlightenment is not imagining figures of light, but making the darkness conscious.”
~ Carl Jung
Like all of life, we are created in darkness as part of a cosmos balanced by contrast. When we dare to tread the darkness that uncertainties fear, we realize the beauty, power, and perfection of our true selves. Not all forms of darkness are daunting, but all paths through darkness lead us closer to the Divine. The origin of darkness, thereby the hidden treasure(s) within determines its purpose in our journey.
Knowing the difference
When the darkness appears in complement to the light, like a magnificent night sky. This form of darkness forms more gently to help us reflect, rest, and restore (think sleep, lowering the lights for yoga and meditation).
When darkness supersedes a light, like a cloud blocking the sun. We cast our own shadows when we hide or hinder our true nature. Yet, in doing so, we come to appreciate our own divinity all the more (absence makes the heart grow fonder).
When darkness consumes the fire of life, like the gravitational pull of a black hole. When things fall apart, we suffer immeasurable loss, or we can no longer deny the truth of who we are; solitude swallows us whole until we can emerge transformed (sojourn, turning point, crisis of faith, metamorphosis).
The conscious choice to live a spiritual life is an agreement to experience what we need to evolve, including the times of isolation, confusion, and suffering. Developing appreciation for all the goodness of darkness can transform all of our experiences into one, whole, blessed life.
© Nancy Noack and Mighty Oak Ministries International, 2019. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.