Darkness & Light
We use knowledge and technology to try to control and mask the primal extremes of our world.
We create music and words to cover silence we find intimidating. We connect with people around the world when we are faced with our own solitude. We light our lives to help us be less afraid of the shadows.
Our lives are sustained and supported by a foundation of information and technology.
We have grown accustomed to our protections. It is challenging for us to remember, or even imagine, what life is like without the ways we attempt to control it. Few of us have opportunities to experience what life is like without the comforts we have developed.
Many of us live in a world without real darkness. There is hardly any time, even while we sleep, when there is no artificial light in our lives.
We experience our technology as beneficial, and technology allows us to do many things we could not accomplish without it.
The lights we make for ourselves can also block out the light of the stars.
Technology increases our potential. Will we use our potential, our new freedom, to make ourselves even more comfortable, or to explore beyond the edge of the light?
Some people use technology to distract themselves from the deepest aspects of their own lives. They may be bathed in artificial light, but the darkness beyond the light is darker because they are less likely to explore it.
We can try to protect ourselves from our unknown fears out there in the dark, or we can explore our hidden depths and dark truths. We can shine our light into the darkness, learning to see in new ways.
What does the light in your life help you see in new ways today?
When will you explore your own darkness?
[Image by jalalspages]
4 Comments
@AllisonSmiles
July 29, 2012I am intrigued by this article as it articulates my journey! My path was not enlightened until I prepared myself to accept my truths, my darkness, and my fears. I am enlightened by my path and my light . I am motivated by others truth, others light, and others journey. With this we share and enrich, collectively as a whole!
All the best,
@AllisonSmiles
Strategic Monk
July 29, 2012Thank you, Allison.
Yes, we are accustomed to seeing things in a certain way. It is not until our eyes adjust to the light, and the darkness, that we can perceive how things really are.
Some people are intimidated by the darkness, but we cannot really see the light without it.
Dan Forbes
July 29, 2012The other evening after we turned the lights out in the bedroom, we noticed all the tiny lights on the technology apparatuses. Tiny red, green and blue lights on the TV, Wi, Cable box, DVD player, etc.
It IS so difficult to find a totally dark place. I remember visiting Arizona and how brilliant the stars looked as looked in the sky above Sedona.
Thanks for reminding us of the importance of the darkness in order to see the light.
Strategic Monk
July 29, 2012Thank you, Dan.
There are so many more stars in the sky when I go up to the monastery in Big Sur than there are here in Pasadena!
There are so many things here that distract us from the darkness that makes the light so clear and bright.