dark of the year, and the dark night of the soul
I'm off on a philosopical bent today.
There've been a cluster of posts on my friends list lately about the dark of the year, Samhain, the dark night of the soul, and so on. And they happen to line up with the same sorts of thoughts in my own head.
It's a good time for thinking about this sort of thing, really - the time of year when the approach of winter becomes obvious. And in other respects, it's a good time for me to think about these sorts of things - other portions of life are a little bumpy from time to time, and it's a good time to stop and look around, and figure out where I am, what direction I'm going, and whether or not that direction will get me where I want to go.
A couple years back, religion was, for me, form without function. I felt nothing when I did anything involving ritual, prayer, or meditation. It was a lonely time for me.
But there's a couple of important points here, that I don't think I understood when I last faced the endless abyss that my own dark night of the soul felt like.
First, the dark night is important. It's part of the cycle, just like the sun rising in the morning and setting in the evening. We all need to rest from time to time - lifting weights doesn't build our muscles, it destroys them. But our bodies build them anew, stronger than before, while we sleep.
Second, during these dark points, like small children, we close our eyes tight to protect us from the monsters that hide in wait to attack us...without realizing that the monsters are in our own heads. All we have to do is open our eyes, to see the stars above. They don't give much light to the scene around us, but they remind us that there's an end to the darkness ahead.
Things are very different now, and I find it somewhat ironic that I am shown the path to light and peace and understanding by a dark goddess. But I had my rest, and now it's time to work - and the work that I need most is to understand the darkness in myself, and the strength within me. I need to claim what is mine - namely, that I am, whole unto myself, and do not need approval from anyone to be me (although the affirmations from others are sometimes nice). Because without that, I cannot live the life I want. I cannot dream and love and write and create and become. I can't do any of those things living in fear of the darkness...I have to claim it as part of me, and as a part of the cycle that life travels, so that I can carry my own torch the next time things get dark.
So, as we enter this time of darkness, think about the other cycles of darkness in your life, without which it'd be difficult to appreciate the light, and then check the batteries in your flashlights. :-)
There've been a cluster of posts on my friends list lately about the dark of the year, Samhain, the dark night of the soul, and so on. And they happen to line up with the same sorts of thoughts in my own head.
It's a good time for thinking about this sort of thing, really - the time of year when the approach of winter becomes obvious. And in other respects, it's a good time for me to think about these sorts of things - other portions of life are a little bumpy from time to time, and it's a good time to stop and look around, and figure out where I am, what direction I'm going, and whether or not that direction will get me where I want to go.
A couple years back, religion was, for me, form without function. I felt nothing when I did anything involving ritual, prayer, or meditation. It was a lonely time for me.
But there's a couple of important points here, that I don't think I understood when I last faced the endless abyss that my own dark night of the soul felt like.
First, the dark night is important. It's part of the cycle, just like the sun rising in the morning and setting in the evening. We all need to rest from time to time - lifting weights doesn't build our muscles, it destroys them. But our bodies build them anew, stronger than before, while we sleep.
Second, during these dark points, like small children, we close our eyes tight to protect us from the monsters that hide in wait to attack us...without realizing that the monsters are in our own heads. All we have to do is open our eyes, to see the stars above. They don't give much light to the scene around us, but they remind us that there's an end to the darkness ahead.
Things are very different now, and I find it somewhat ironic that I am shown the path to light and peace and understanding by a dark goddess. But I had my rest, and now it's time to work - and the work that I need most is to understand the darkness in myself, and the strength within me. I need to claim what is mine - namely, that I am, whole unto myself, and do not need approval from anyone to be me (although the affirmations from others are sometimes nice). Because without that, I cannot live the life I want. I cannot dream and love and write and create and become. I can't do any of those things living in fear of the darkness...I have to claim it as part of me, and as a part of the cycle that life travels, so that I can carry my own torch the next time things get dark.
So, as we enter this time of darkness, think about the other cycles of darkness in your life, without which it'd be difficult to appreciate the light, and then check the batteries in your flashlights. :-)