light and dark

Western thought compartmentalizes and separates

light from dark,

happiness from sadness,

dancing from mourning,

good from bad;

when in reality,

life’s gifts come wrapped in each of these.

When we too quickly disregard or throw away things wrapped in what we judge to be “the bad” or “the dark”, we miss that nugget of wisdom wrapped in every gift life presents to us.

When we deny our dark side, then we deny our own authenticity

and light becomes meaningless.

Life is a tricky balance of
darkness and light
sadness and happiness
melancholy and exuberance

If we deny one, we lose the other.

“There is in all things … a hidden wholeness.” (Thomas Merton)

This wholeness is a life-time journey…

Sometimes I feel quite alone when I dance with the darkness.

But the dance connects me with the source or common ground we have with all creatures.

Maybe this is because the Dance is

not a Dance of Happiness

but a Dance of Authenticity

not a Dance of Grasping for satisfaction

but a Dance of Embracing the ground of being

the common ground that seeks not escape from the human condition

but identification and fellowship with the human condition.

At this level, grounded and pressed to the ground,

we are better than nobody,

and there is nobody better.

For me, this has become home,

where we truly are all equal and all one.