“Darkness
and light are both part of our journey. Darkness is the depth of spiritual
potential hidden in the void of infinite possibility. Light is the
manifestation of that potential in the external dimension of time and space”
(Beckwith, Spiritual Liberation 240).
Winter has
already brought us the hard freezes that obliterate whatever may have been left
of last year’s growth, and February is bringing us even deeper into the shivery
days of days of winter. For many of us, it seems like it has been ages since we
have had a true growing season or a time of harvest. Our human nature is to
wish away the dim light of winter and long for the first signs of spring.
However, to do
so is to throw away a precious prize that cannot be won without journeying
through the Dark Night of the Soul, the dark wintry landscape of deep soul
work.
What happens to
a plant during the fall and winter is as important as the spring rains and
summer sun. Likewise, as we find ourselves in the midst of troubled times, it
is an invitation to open our hearts and minds to the nourishing opportunities
being provided by the journey downward and inward. Though such times feel like
trial and punishment, Michael Bernard Beckwith says “It is a gift to the soul
that provides the teaching which becomes the cosmic doorway through which we
take a closer step to spiritual awakening” (Spiritual Liberation 241)
