These days when I even think of reading or watching the news, the muscles in my solar plexus clench in fear. It doesn’t make me turn away in avoidance, but it is clearly a marker regarding my discomfort with the world as it is. And as I’ve been sitting with this over the last few weeks, one thing comes to mind over and over: in times of darkness there is a feast of opportunities for humans to manifest and act from the light within.
And as is frequently the case, I’ve stumbled on this idea popping up in other places. While reading a travel memoir it appeared after the author was helped by one person after another tried to steal her wallet:
Darkness cast by some gives others the chance to let their light shine.~Holly C Corbett
Then I ran across this article in the Washington Post about Notre Dame professors requesting their names be added to the Professor Watch List. It is a wonderful example of the type of activism that arises not from anger but something grounded much more deeply, a beautiful and skillful response rather than mindless angry reaction.
So tonight, after the housekeeping text, we have a guest writer, in a manner of speaking. Below the grey line, and with his gracious permission, I am sharing some of spiritual teacher Francis Bennett’s thoughts about darkness and light.
Good evening and welcome to Monday Group Meditation. We will be sitting from 8:00 to 10:30 PM Eastern Time. It is not necessary to sit for the entire extended time, which is set up to make it convenient for people in four North American Time Zones; sit for as long as you like and when it is most convenient for you. Monday Group Meditation is open to everyone, believers and non-believers, who are interested in gathering in silence. If you are new to meditation and would like to try it for yourself, Mindful Nature gave a good description of one way to meditate in an earlier diary, copied and pasted below:
"It is a matter of focusing attention mostly. In many traditions, the idea is to sit and focus on the rising and falling of the breath. Not controlling it, but sitting in a relaxed fashion and merely observing experiences of breathing, sounds, etc. Be aware of your thoughts, but don't engage in them. When your mind wanders (it will, often), then return to focus on breath and repeat."
Note: You are also welcome to join us on Sunday mornings at 10:00AM for the Dkos Sangha Open Threads which are hosted by davehouck.
THE DANCE OF DARKNESS AND LIGHT......
When ever some form of darkness comes into our world, some form of hatred or fear or ignorance.....We are going to find ourselves at a moment of truth.....we are going to find ourselves at a very important crossroad. One response (or maybe we should say, one reaction) toward darkness, is to fight with reality and say to ourselves, "THIS should NOT be happening right now!" And then we can rant and whine and kvetch about how we do not approve of reality as it is! But whether we approve of it or not, what is, is what is...It is here...It is where we find ourselves right now. No use going into denial about that fact...
But a beautiful response to the darkness is to surrender to the fact that darkness is here right now, and its purpose is to call out the light in our hearts. Rather than seeing the presence of darkness as a curse and a tragedy, we can see it as an opportunity...We certainly do not need to be passive in the face of the darkness.We can do something about the darkness. We are not powerless, We are not defeated by darkness. We can actually rejoice in the light of a thousand skillful means that the darkness brings out by necessity. The most unawakened and fearful consciousness that we can imagine being manifest in society is actually filled with exciting possibilities because it will inevitably call out of awakened folks, the most beautiful, awake, skillful responses to the darkness.
What a great opportunity the darkness creates for the light to shine and illuminate the darkness! What wondrous love is beckoned by hatred and fear!~Francis Bennett