A quote via my son…

“Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it.” –Terry Pratchett

I am a strong believer in the dance between light and dark. I think clinging too tightly to one or the other results in a deformation of character, the psyche, and a twisting of logic.

Some cling so tightly to light that they not only alienate all darkness, but that which they perceive (or have labelled) as darkness. And they cut themselves off from things that could bring them great joy.

They are so blinded by the light that they are unaware darkness is inherent in their inevitable psychological stumbling and mistake making throughout life. How can you possibly escape that?

They are so blinded by the light that they alienate and separate themselves from not only others, but from their own humanity and become the very antithesis of compassion and brotherly love.

I recently watched the Dalai Lama in a video posted by A Million Smiles and was moved by this particular bit, which addresses separating ourselves from others

I never consider myself as something special.

If I consider myself as something different from you, like ‘I am Buddhist‘, or even more, ‘I am His Holiness The Dalai Lama‘ or even if I consider ‘I am Nobel Laureate‘ then actually you create yourself as a prisoner.

I forget these things.

I simply consider I am one of the seven billion human beings. We are mentally, emotionally, intellectually… we are the same.

Light and darkness are in a dance, one that has been, is, and will be forever taking place. They are not opposites. They are partners and compliments. Our perception of them is what makes them opposites, distorts, and separates them from one another.

The sin is not in darkness. The sin is in not respecting both the light and the dark as their role in our (and others’) personal evolution. The sin is in judgment, in pride and in separation. -Amy Larson

The acknowledgement of what light and darkness contributes as a whole and the acceptance of their mutual importance stirs a deep gratitude in the soul for life, for love, for the beauty of contrast. After all, darkness is the womb of light.