Darkness

WED., OCT. 27, 1982, 5:46 AM
FARM, STUDY

You sit and wait overlong for a title, and you become overconcerned about “getting on with it.” Relax and take whatever time is necessary, o son. I am here and am perfectly willing to teach you as the darkness of the morning recedes and dawn comes. Your fires are bringing comfort. All is in order for a good teaching… including a title that does not seem to have much promise.

You sit in a small sphere of light, and around you is darkness. At least in contrast to the light on your desk the outside looks black. Yet you know that by the time this first page has been completed the light will be overcoming that darkness. Light overcomes dark, but only for a “season”. Then, just as surely, dark overcomes light, and the rhythm is maintained.

To the extent that light is valued highly, then darkness, its apparent opposite, would be negatively valued. That sort of thinking has some merit, but most of the time it shall not be as useful as that which prizes both/and. Consider your children. You prize, value, and love Michael. Bob is not Michael. Does that mean you shall not prize, value, and love Bob? Even as they are almost opposites in some respects, each has value which is not diminished by valuing the other.

So it is with darkness. It has its value despite its difference from light… almost because of this difference. (Well, the light has not become apparent as you commence this second page… but, in time it shall, of course. I was just a bit premature.)

Darkness is associated most often with rest, with cessation of productive activity. And without the tremendous amount of artificial lighting that your culture provides (and frequently overuses) this ancient rhythm would still prevail. Without this single light on your desk (go ahead, test) you could not be doing this form of meditation. Your experience in Phoenix was an interesting one, in that you elected to wait for the natural light… till the darkness had faded sufficiently for you to see the lines on this paper, on which the written words should rest.

In a spiritual sense, what is darkness? If light is relationship with Me and a rather clear awareness of the spiritual path along which you move, then darkness should be undesirable, a condition to be permanently left behind. Not completely true. Darkness is the time before light, the time of waiting in expectation. And this has merit, even if it is something to “overcome.” There also will be times of darkness, even in relationship with Me. This title was slow in coming and had none of the promise that some other titles have had. Yet it is developing, and relationship is being reaffirmed. That which comes out of darkness may have, finally, more value than that which is a product of bright light. Times of darkness are times of doubt and lack of commitment. These have value as a part of the rhythm of spiritual growth. Appreciate these times of relative darkness.