in praise of darkness
Apr. 1st, 2006 01:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelidonI don't remember where I got this link from, so if it's you, thanks ;> -- In Praise of Darkness
Everything contains its opposite, and needs its opposite and complements to provide contrast, to create difference and boundaries, to highlight and separate what is, from what is not. Having passed through a season of darkness, on a number of levels, I have a deeper appreciation and gratitude for it, even as I welcome the light and warmth and burgeoning growth ahead.
I'll attach some recent words from an old chaote friend, who was himself including some of my long-ago words, having to do with work I was doing at the time with an underworld deity, and applying it towards some very recent work. The negative, the dark, the shadow, are as valuable, and as necessary, as the light. My pain, turmoil, fear, uncertainty, exhaustion, discouragement, disappointment, and so on, are such incredibly valuable teachers. Given the respect and the space they deserve, they can...well, enlighten. ;> Dishonored, unappreciated, shunned, ignored, they only gain strength and take on inappropriate levels of power and control in our lives. That which we do not look at, we give power to. And the negative, in art (negative space, highlighting what is there), music (silence, the space between the notes and beats) as well as in life (cutting away, highlighting and strengthening what is left), makes possible all of the life and light we cherish. As in a garden, or a forest -- clearings, weeding, culling, thinning, all make life stronger, more fruitful, and lead to a bountiful harvest. May the darkness, and the light, be in balance in my own life, and in the world around me.
Lux et umbra vicissim, sed semper amor.
-------
I bring intent (in a way it was never intended) from the past, a quote
from an old Z-List email of Chelidon's. Read this thinking of Claudia
and the cleaning of her systems. I ask that all integrate this into
their workings:
"... it seems the more ballast you cut, the faster the balloon
rises...;? Or perhaps it's just coincidence, but ever since I started
listening to Arawn..."snip, snip, snip, cut root, cut away everything
that isn't useful or beautiful in your life, everything that's weak,
everything that's dead, that doesn't bring you joy, everything that
drags you down, that weakens you, that drains the spirit, that binds
you or makes the soul heavier rather than lighter with joy." I shudder
to contemplate thoroughly cleaning the house, but it seems
inevitable."
This house is the shell of Claudia's spirit. These words are Chel's.
This housecleaning is our own. Each of us should cut away something
that drags us down and sacrifice it on her behalf. We shall be doing
so here...
Everything contains its opposite, and needs its opposite and complements to provide contrast, to create difference and boundaries, to highlight and separate what is, from what is not. Having passed through a season of darkness, on a number of levels, I have a deeper appreciation and gratitude for it, even as I welcome the light and warmth and burgeoning growth ahead.
I'll attach some recent words from an old chaote friend, who was himself including some of my long-ago words, having to do with work I was doing at the time with an underworld deity, and applying it towards some very recent work. The negative, the dark, the shadow, are as valuable, and as necessary, as the light. My pain, turmoil, fear, uncertainty, exhaustion, discouragement, disappointment, and so on, are such incredibly valuable teachers. Given the respect and the space they deserve, they can...well, enlighten. ;> Dishonored, unappreciated, shunned, ignored, they only gain strength and take on inappropriate levels of power and control in our lives. That which we do not look at, we give power to. And the negative, in art (negative space, highlighting what is there), music (silence, the space between the notes and beats) as well as in life (cutting away, highlighting and strengthening what is left), makes possible all of the life and light we cherish. As in a garden, or a forest -- clearings, weeding, culling, thinning, all make life stronger, more fruitful, and lead to a bountiful harvest. May the darkness, and the light, be in balance in my own life, and in the world around me.
Lux et umbra vicissim, sed semper amor.
-------
I bring intent (in a way it was never intended) from the past, a quote
from an old Z-List email of Chelidon's. Read this thinking of Claudia
and the cleaning of her systems. I ask that all integrate this into
their workings:
"... it seems the more ballast you cut, the faster the balloon
rises...;? Or perhaps it's just coincidence, but ever since I started
listening to Arawn..."snip, snip, snip, cut root, cut away everything
that isn't useful or beautiful in your life, everything that's weak,
everything that's dead, that doesn't bring you joy, everything that
drags you down, that weakens you, that drains the spirit, that binds
you or makes the soul heavier rather than lighter with joy." I shudder
to contemplate thoroughly cleaning the house, but it seems
inevitable."
This house is the shell of Claudia's spirit. These words are Chel's.
This housecleaning is our own. Each of us should cut away something
that drags us down and sacrifice it on her behalf. We shall be doing
so here...
