Summary: Depending on who you ask, the word light invites associations with all things good: happy accidents, serendipity, prosperity, fame, and divine timing, while darkness on the other hand, tends to evoke the opposite: illness, aggression, danger, misery, fear, violence, strife, and worse. It's important to make the observation about these opposites because today's theme of illumination includes many aspects of light—and isn't afraid of the dark either. Perhaps you've heard me express my frustration with the super spiritual set who view confrontation, upheaval, anger, and discord as lower or dark energies to be avoided at best, and released to the light in case you simply can't avoid getting your hands dirty. It's the height of a hands-off approach to life. I once wrote a post about how beneficial it is to acknowledge all of our feelings as they arise, rather than reject them or self-select what's most comfortable. It's a difficult yet worthwhile practice in becoming present to each moment. I included a passage about taking in the texture, tone, and color of everything—from the sheets that dress our beds, to songs that might otherwise go unnoticed, to the skin we're in. Within an hour of posting, I received a sharply written email from a reader who professed not to see skin color because it was a distraction, and that heart-to-heart connection was all that mattered. Like that reader, I also prize the experience of deeply connecting with people. I also find it a dangerous practice to declare, I am consciously choosing not to see certain aspects of you because it comes as a huge inconvenience to my sense of world order. Besides, I've already got my ideas about humanity and oneness all worked out, thanks. How about this bit of wisdom, courtesy of the playwright James Thurber—I've been ruminating on it for days: There are two kinds of light—the glow that illumines, and the glare that obscures. Illumination brings us eventual clarity in chaos; it educates the ignorant; it recognizes our opposites and makes room for them at the table. Illumination invites us into the ring to do our best with our demons and idols; it humbles and opens us, if we're lucky, to an expanded view of the world and what we're doing in it.
