For many weeks now, we have been exploring ideas of darkness, of the shadow, the shadow-self. We’ve delved deep into how our shadow “shadows” us as we walk this human experience.
Literally and figuratively, light – the idea of light – stands in contrast with darkness in this world of duality. Light to dispel the darkness.
In the English language, light metaphors abound:
People talk about the “light of reason,” “the light in your eyes,” “the light of my life.” They say a person “lights up a room.”
“I saw the light,” “That shed some light on a subject,” or “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” just a few examples out of many.
In Western Europe, the period known as “the Dark Ages” ended in “The Age of Enlightenment” when new ideas sprang forth in science, medicine, art, culture and especially in philosophy and politics: new radical ideas that stirred a desire for people to be free, to have governance over their own lives, to have dignity.
Light and dark. Yin and Yang. Positive and negative.
In this world of duality both light and dark are necessary. As we saw last week in the T’ai Chi symbolof the Tao Te Ching, how both dark and light arise, emerge, come out from the other.
When darkness is deepest, the seeds of light have already begun to develop. When the light is brightest, already darkness has sprouted up and begun to grow.
In the natural world, the ancients saw the movement of the Tao in the movements of the heavens:
When the sun is highest in the sky, imperceptibly it begins to sink and dim.
When the moon is full, already its dark phase has begun.
“It’s always darkest before the dawn,” reminds us that the light grows faintly, even though it is still night.
The Taoists saw this in earthly phenomena all around them:
When winter was deep upon the land, the buds on the trees stood ready to burst forth.
When the air was heavy and a thunderstorm threatened, soon after followed clear air, charged with fresh energy.
They saw the ebb and flow of the Tao in the affairs of human beings:
When dictators ruled, the seeds of rebellion soon brought forth a new freedom for the people.
When a person became impossibly proud and arrogant, soon after came their downfall.
The nature of the Tao is paradoxical:
The heavy is the root of the light.
Stillness is the root of movement.
Frugality is the root of generosity.
True power appears weak.
True clarity seems opaque.
Great wisdom seems child-like.
To become full, you must first become empty.
To become great, you must first become low (humble).
To become profound, you must first be simple.
In other words, when we begin to explore our shadow-self and really connect with the heavy, dysfunctional, traumatic, difficult parts of our lives, we paradoxically uncover seeds of light that will grow.
The light is always there. We have to go down deep in order to emerge triumphant, with new energy, new life!
Psalm 30:5 is all about the turning of the darkness to light,
“Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning...
You turned my mourning into dancing.”
So far, we have been looking at the phenomena of light and dark through the lens of our earthly, human experiences. Living as we do in a world of duality, of opposites, we can learn to navigate “the turning of the seasons” with the help of the Tao Te Ching, the I Ching, the Bible and other spiritual texts.
But there is a higher understanding, which the Tao and other spiritual paths say is the ultimate realization: the Oneness out of which the world of duality emerges.
Tao Te Ching Verse 42 says:
The Tao gives birth to the One. One gives birth to Two. Two gives birth to Three. Three gives birth to all things.
The One is the Oneness of God, the Universe (Uni = one), Ultimate Reality.
In our Yin-Yang symbol, the circle that surrounds light and dark in its shifting never-ending movement, is the Oneness of the Universe, from which the duality springs.
James 1:17 says:
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
This Oneness has no darkness in it. Only light, which is Love.
Lesson 91 of A Course in Miracles tells us that, “Miracles are seen in light.”
It suggests we ask this question:
Miracles are seen in light. The body’s eyes do not perceive the light. But I am not a body.
What am I?
What am I? If I am not a body, what am I?
The turning of our “eyes” away from the darkness toward the light means moving beyond ideas of good and bad, up and down, positive and negative, and seeing the “Capital T” Truth: that we are all one, that All Is One.
In this higher, truer way of “seeing” we are no longer seeing with the eyes of our body. We are seeing past all duality, all illusion, all of the paradoxical shape-shifting that makes up our human experience.
Amos Ferguson, the Bahamian folk artist once said, “I paint not by sight but by faith. Faith gives you sight.”
We are seeing with “eyes of faith.”
We are looking to see the Unity, the Oneness in the kaleidoscope of images that is our physical world of opposites.
So, what of these “miracles” that are only seen in light?
After all, we all want miracles; we all ask for a miracle to be granted whenever someone is sick, or there's trouble in the family. People talk about miracles as if they were rare phenomena only granted whenever God feels like it.
This is common, and wrong. Miracles are around us all of the time! The Course says,
Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love.
It also says,
Miracles are natural.
When they do not occur something has gone wrong.
To get in the flow of Oneness, to see beyond the eyes of the body requires a practiced focus. To see beyond the opposites is possible! We can see what the body’s eyes will never show us: the inherent beauty, love, innocence, spiritual wholeness that is in everyone, everywhere, all of the time.
One of the definitions A Course in Miracles has for “a miracle” is that a miracle is a change in our perspective, in our way of seeing things.
Miracles rearrange perception and place all levels in true perspective.
This is healing because sickness comes from confusing the levels.
Health is the result of relinquishing all attempts to use the body lovelessly.
Health is the beginning of the proper perspective on life under the guidance of the one Teacher Who knows what life is, being the Voice for Life Itself.
In other words, when we see – everything! – from a perspective that doesn’t depend on the vagaries of the world, we are beginning to see with eyes of faith. We are moving off of the Wheel of Fortune that governs most people’s lives and into a place of power, of miracles, of certainty and of Truth.
We can see miracles.
We can offer miracles.
We can receive miracles.
We ARE miracles.
Each and every one of us.
When we start seeing past the darkness – out of the shadows – and into the light.
Happy Sunday!
John
I am available to do Prosperity Now! individual or group sessions or general life-coaching, I Ching readings, dream interpretation or join us for our weekly Wednesday Course in Miracles group.
Please contact me at prosperitynowlifeofdreams@yahoo.com or sign up on my website: http://www.johnafrederick.com
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