Light does not come from light, but from darkness – Mircea Eliade
It’s the season of liminality — as we transition between one stage and the next…. The days are darkening… and the nights are long. The first snowfall arrived this morning, quietly announcing nature’s descent into wintertime… the coming of hibernation, gestation, and incubation…. It is the invitation for us to rest, slow down, and surrender.
Today the autumn leaves brilliantly display their colors, like a peacock showing off her vibrancy. These colors represent the full spectrum of life… light, dark, birth, death, and every in between shade of our earthly experience.
We live in a world where there is an assumed preference towards light… and a historical rejection and fear of darkness. We assume that darkness within ourselves and one other is negative, a failure. We assume the darkness in our world is an unfortunate burden to bear. The dominant paradigm prefers summer’s activity and productivity to winter’s stillness.
In teaching meditation, I often witness people trying to get to the light… forgetting that meditation is a practice of surrender… forgetting that darkness is the field from which light arises.
The significance of darkness in a world captivated by bright lights, distraction, speed, and productivity cannot be underacknowledged. Nature is our greatest teacher. Darkness has something powerful to teach us now… and that is Wholeness. Recognition of the sacred in everything. No part left out.
I recently completed writing my third book, Luminous Darkness (subtitle TBA). Through the arrival of the global pandemic, as the world around us darkened, I heard the commanding call of the spirit of darkness beckoning me to be still and listen. In the Introduction I share:
Darkness has been my greatest teacher. Mine has been a path, not of seeking illumination or transcendence, but finding wholeness through surrendering to the fertile and dark emptiness from which revelation arises. Mine has been a dharma path of Endarkenment and of helping myself and others to re-awaken to the teachings of darkness. As a female dharma teacher, one who has navigated chronic and debilitating illness, one who has been engaged in the heartbreak of environmental and social justice work for many years, and who has experienced the liminal space between the worlds throughout my lifetime, darkness has offered medicine, serenity, strength, and healing. It has taken me time, however, to realize the value of Endarkenment alongside Enlightenment, in a world where there is a preference towards light over dark, in a world where illumination is not only celebrated but the “goal” of spiritual practice. Darkness has been my guide in embodying relational intelligence, partnership with nature, and a joie de vivre that cannot be accessed when we look only towards the light.
As I emerged from the cocoon of concentrated writing, dreaming, and channeling the teachings of Darkness, I found myself squinting beneath the bright abrasive lights of the world. Having given birth to a project I had quietly held in the womb for 2 years…and much longer energetically… I felt my attention, for the first week, being drawn outwardly, seeking external approval, instead of anchored within. In the process of sharing the completed book with my publisher, receiving feedback, having conversations about edits, and gathering opinions about titles, I felt disconnected, even though my work was being celebrated. I missed the protective cocoon of stillness that had held my writing process.
I took a day to unplug from the computer and remembered with relief that there is no need to leave the refuge of darkness, the twilight temple within, in order to engage in our world. All that is required is to hold the inner gaze… as we engage with one another. I remembered that external approval means nothing compared to my ability to see myself clearly. Seeing ourselves clearly informs our ability to see the world we inhabit more clearly.
Collectively, as we continue to navigate uncertainty and the perpetual unknown, I encourage you to consider the value of the slow quiet processes of nature and consciousness. I encourage you to celebrate the transition of fall moving into winter, by reflecting within:
What slow, dark invisible processes of spiritual growth and healing are you in the midst of? What creative process or relationship forming—which requires incubation—are you engaged in? How is your relationship with yourself calling for gestation and restoration?
Collectively what is the value of welcoming the dark (and slow) as our teacher? What is the value of slowing down and exchanging our urgency and panic for our world for immediacy, deep listening, and the subtle attunement required to navigate the unknown?
Subtle attunement—within and out—can only be remembered by being willing to journey through the dark. This is how inner vision is revealed and strengthened. May we not fear, but learn to celebrate darkness and the primordial invisible processes which make up life? Please join me, now and in 2022, for an embodied exploration of Endarkenment… to remember our place in—and partnership with—the visible and invisible realms.
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Luminous Darkness will be coming out with Shambhala in 2022.
Click here to view recent teachings on Endarkenment… or join me this Friday, November 12th at the Bioneers virtual conference for an interactive on “Embracing Endarkenment: The Power of Receptivity in Nature and Consciousness.”
