The Gift Of Dark Times

Me and a Soul Sister experiencing a powerful Soul rebirth 

in Asheville, NC 2017

          Many of us know what light looks like, feels like, sounds like, and even tastes like …. But it’s only because we have known the darkness as intimately as we've known the light. It is when we are found in total despair, utter pain and full-on challenging times, do we truly seek and search for that calm and peace that only light brings forth. We have no need or pull towards the light if we did not taste deep and profound darkness.

        Many live in a perpetual cycle of dim light and are, one can argue, content. They find solace in their limited ability to see objectively and decipher reflections with the partially hidden sights due to the dimness of the light in which they live. These souls have not had the opportunity to taste true and full darkness, they have not opened their eyes when the light was out and either missed the opportunity to embrace the lessons taught in these moments of lightless hour, or were never, perhaps, given the gift of pain. 

       In pain, indeed, there is a gift. The greatest gift of all, if we are alert and aware. Only when we allow our Self (with the capital S) to receive and face these hardships, are we then able to turn trauma into spiritual triumph. Bravery is a prerequisite, courage is a requirement, and love is the essence to get through the storms of life and turmoil of self.

       One cannot fathom joy if they have not experienced sadness, cannot understand caring if they have not seen abandonment, cannot imagine “out” if they have not lived “in” … and accordingly cannot know light without truly seeing darkness. 

        In darkness I have seen perfection. I have been blinded by potential and hope. I have been slapped and shaken only to realize I was fainting in a land of despair and loss. In the moments of silence when you are drowning in sheer solitude and aching for restoration, do you then believe that there is another way, another side and another option. 

        Locked in a dark room my options are many. I can find a way to break and hammer against the wall until it cracks open enough to see light. I can slowly dig a tunnel in the ground to find my way out the other side … and I can simply feel my way around the walls until I come across a switch that turns on a well installed light bulb in the ceiling. Sometimes we are stuck in rooms without a switch and light, and the tunnel digging takes longer, other times it takes a little more strength to forcefully break though the walls and find light and freedom - but to our oblivious surprise, it is usually as simple as feeling our way patiently, intuitively and calmly around the walls until we find that switch. 

        I have personally experienced blinding light, as well as maddening darkness. In those alienating places of soul dimming energy, I sometimes reflected and wisely awakened, other times I bravely stood and marched forth fearlessly, and more often than not, I curled up in agony, comforted by my own breath and tears, until I was ready to rise like a Phoenix from the ashes of butt kicking life lessons. 

       We are all equipped with that compass of soul orientation, we all have intellectual weapons of mass production and we all posses the gift of eternal life beyond the planetary human level.

       This law applies to our individual Self as well as our collective experience. We can see the personal darkness as a solitary place of confinement, but at times, the darkness strikes in a communal force, with a vast imposition on a societal model or in the common established order.

        Next time you find yourself lost in a dark room unable to see a beam of light, ray of sun, or candle flame, know that you are given an opportunity to awaken the strongest force within you. Open your arms and your heart to the loving gift of the divine. Remind yourself that NOTHING comes easy, but it is nonetheless, so beautiful and worthwhile. To become an expert in life and a productive member of the soul collective, you have to endure the lessons, the tests and the hands-on internship of life. Once you learn that and truly get it, every moment of darkness will seem less threatening, but what’s more, every moment of light will shine so brightly within you, and as a consequence, through you, as you journey on your human and spiritual adventure of eternal enlightenment.