Darkness

The darkness was encumbering only because 

I relied upon my sight for everything I did, 

not knowing that another way 

was to let power be the guide.

Carlos Castaneda

Moving Through Darkness

In life, most of us want things to go to the places we have envisioned ourselves going.
We have plans and visions, some of them divinely inspired, that we want to see through to completion.
We want to be happy, successful, and healthy, all of which are perfectly natural and perfectly human.
So when life takes us to places we didn’t consciously want to go, we often feel as if something has gone wrong, or we must have made a mistake somewhere along the line, or any number of other disheartening possibilities.
This is just life’s way of taking us to a place we need to go for reasons that go deeper than our own ability to reason.
These hard knocks and trials are designed to shed light on our unconscious workings and deepen our experience of reality.

Often it takes something major to wake us up, to shake us loose from our ego’s grip as it struggles to maintain an illusion of control.
It is loss of control more than anything else that humbles us and enables us to see the big picture.
It reminds us that the key to the universe lies in what we do not know, and what we do know is a small fraction of the great mystery in which we live.
This awareness softens and lightens us, as we release our resistance to what is.
Another gift gleaned from going to these seemingly undesirable places is that, in our response to difficulty, we can see all the patterns and unresolved emotional baggage that stand in the way of our unconditional joyfulness.
Joy exists within us independently of whether things go our way or not.
And when we don’t feel it, we can trust that we will find it if we are willing to surrender to the situation, moving through it as we move through our difficult feelings.

We can take our inspiration from any fairy tale that finds its central character lost in a dark wood, frightened and alone.
We know that the journey through the wood provides its own kind of beauty and richness.
On the other side, we will emerge transformed, lighter and brighter, braver and more confident for having moved through that darkness.

DailyOM

Don't Curse The Darkness

It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
-- Chinese Proverb

With all the negativity that surrounds us, it is easy to become overwhelmed.
It is also tempting to fight against the negative or to declare war on it.
Yet a master teacher offered a better way: "Resist not evil, but overcome evil with good."
Imagine you are in a dark room.
Wanting the darkness to leave, you curse and fight against it.
But no matter how much effort you make, the darkness remains.
Turn on the light switch, however, and the night vanishes in an instant.
In a similar manner, when the light of truth is shed on a situation, fear and disharmony dissolve.
When you send out a positive thought to another person or take a constructive action, an enormous amount of good is accomplished.
Each good act begets another until a network of love and light is created.
The purpose of life is to reflect this light into places that are dark.
Let your light shine and stay focused on the power of love.
When enough of us have turned on our spiritual light switches, the earth will become as bright as a shining star.
Where, then, could darkness dwell?

Listening to Your Inner Voice by Douglas Bloch

Small Steps of Love

How can we choose love when we have experienced so little of it?
We choose love by taking small steps of love every time there is an opportunity.
A smile, a handshake, a word of encouragement, a phone call, a card, an embrace, a kind greeting, a gesture of support, a moment of attention, a helping hand, a present, a financial contribution, a visit . . . all these are little steps toward love.
Each step is like a candle burning in the night.
It does not take the darkness away, but it guides us through the darkness.
When we look back after many small steps of love, we will discover that we have made a long and beautiful journey.