Value the Darkness

 Ask most children...they are afraid of the dark. Talk with many adults...they associate darkness with bad things. Both adults and children believe the dark is something to be feared, filled with horrors and troubles. None of these beliefs about the dark are true. These thoughts come from years of conditioning, starting from childhood. When a mind is conditioned, it becomes what it was told to do and think. It can begin to add it's own conditioning objects to reinforce what was set in place in childhood because the brain uses what is available to it and will multiply such information unless you consciously input different material.

Conditioning is like grafting. Grafting is a horticultural process of getting more than one bud of other types of plants to grow feeding  from one plant as if it was all one. For example, you may have seen one rose bush producing two or three different types of roses. Just imagine that with your fear of darkness you are a grafted plant.  Some branches are not your true self.

The fear and negative views of the dark are constructed pretty much like that, conditioned into our minds over time. But what if the world fell into trauma so that there was no night? What if seeds that are the source of the food we eat and the beauty we see in nature were unable to find there way into the darkness beneath the earth? And, what if we had not been conditioned to look at darkness as a bad thing? 


Darkness and light are mutually exclusive yet have a great dependence upon each other for full effect. 

When we deny and hate and fear the dark are we weakening our effects in life? Are we making it difficult for our light to come through at its best? Is that how we practise from childhood to dim our lights?And when we become adults how do we begin to create different shades of darkness by building labels to reinforce our childhood fears in more meaningful and "sensible" ways? Like, hating people because we fear them. And we fear them because we were conditioned to fear that which we do not understand/cannot see into. 

It is said that knowledge is power, power makes you fear less. We don't fear when we know how to solve a problem. Do you see how it automatically begins to multiply itself based on basic information received in childhood? And do you see how it can set us back significantly because we cause our fear to dim our light/knowledge/power?

When we deny and hate and fear the "dark" are we weakening our effects in life? 

One of the things we fear is being seen as stupid/foolish. That's a man-made dark spot. Nobody likes it. So what's wrong with not knowing some things? As long as we are willing to pack the light against the dark by learning and developing our understanding. Why create darkness where none was intended?

Out of darkness came forth light. We were born from a womb where there were no lights for nine months. How then can we fear the dark? That is where our life began. That is where we were fed, nourished and protected. It is from that dark place of safety that we were expected to arrive to a world of light which also was born out of a void of darkness. The only other dark place on this planet that people look forward to receiving something from, with great expectations, is the earth as it sends forth vegetation for our survival. We come from a unique and wonderful place of darkness. Yet, we fear and even hate the dark. 

It's our sanctuary. 

When the body is unable to bear certain situations like shock, hypoglycemia or low blood pressure, it tries to save the individual by allowing that person to have a "black out".  When your friend betrays you, the way you feel is hypothetically causing you to have a black out, saving the mind from having to bear too much of the pain. This is an invitation into the darknesses of your life...to find your light and recreate the balance of your life. Darkness holds truth and solutions just as much as light does. 

When we have outgrown situations and sometimes people, the balance will shift and the darkness will become stronger than the light. Similar to when a diabetic takes in too much sugar and throws off the blood sugar balance. At these times do not be afraid, it's just you growing, becoming better. That is, if you go into the dark place to recreate your balance. 

To regain our balance, to revive our connection to life, we should begin to consider how to value the darkness. Until we can value the darkness, we will not be able to fully receive the beauty and wisdom of the light. Ponder the many forms in which the darkness presents to us a way into the light...unhappy family life, unfaithful friends, low income, cheating spouses, unemployment, poverty, vexatious persons, troublemakers, physical illness...add your experience to the list.

Value these things as important experiences rather than try to dismiss them or deny that they exist. Look into this darkness with gratitude. It's your guide into the light. People dislike the dark because they aren't able to see the power of the light within it. They don't know they have to take time within to search for that light and let it shine. It takes time, but it's there in everyone and everyone has their own light which only they can put out or allow to shine. 

Let the darkness be your way to the light. Value the dark.