Western culture has vilified the darkness. We place all our fears of the unknown there and try to avoid it by leaving the lights on. That is not how we were born as we came from a small dark place that was quite cozy. Yet this modern world is one of polarities - light and dark; good and bad; right and wrong. We shudder to think of the darkness within or outside. Transcending polarity requires that we explore and make friends with the darkness and know it to be a different form of the light.

Not all cultures feel frightened of the darkness, especially those that honor the cycles of nature. At this time of year the leaves fall from the trees and the petals fall from the roses. As nature moves into the darkness and death appears to reign, all is not as it seems. The energy of the tree and the rose is drawn down into the roots where it rests and waits until spring and the light returns. If we were in balance with the Earth, we too would drop down into our roots and rest more. I am sure that the people who lived here without artificial lights did just that, telling stories, sleeping and dreaming. Is it any wonder that our bodies that are of the Earth wish to sleep more and feel less like running about?

Eastern traditions see the light and darkness in balance, as in the yin-yang symbol. Others see the dark as the destroyer of form that must occur for new growth or birth to take place, as in the goddess Kali. Form is always arising out of the void or darkness and then dissolves back into it again. Change is the ongoing force of the universe as form is impermanent, a Buddhist teaching.

As we make friends with the darkness, we learn to appreciate the ways that the dark comes to us. Sometimes it is a cloud of unknowing that envelopes our lives and we live in uncertainty for awhile. Other times it is physical exhaustion that forces us to rest and come back into balance with our bodies and nature. It can even appear as great loss that pulls us down into the depths of the ocean of despair. Darkness can also be a gentle quieting that leads us into contemplation. However it comes, welcome it as the friend that it is. Only a good friend would go to such lengths to bring us back to our senses, to our wholeness, to balance!

Light and dark are both
Part of a natural cycle
Welcome their teachings!

If you have comments on this newsletter or ideas for future topics, call Linda Heron Wind at (585) 924-5620 or send e-mail to LHWind@aol.com.

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