Darker Matters

This is a very dark time. We are surrounded by stories of death, violence, threats and deeply felt sadness and anger. Racism abounds in so many forms – cultural, societal, personal.  It is a deeply disturbing time. And it has been throughout our history! It doesn’t take much for any of us to look and see that racism has existed and has been among us for a long, long time.

I feel pushed from inside to talk with you about this today. 

We can certainly see lots of evidence about the best in humanity. Regular people cleaning up after stores have been looted and property damaged. Neighbours helping each other cope with tragedy and fear. Peaceful protests in the thousands around the world. There are countless examples of the best of us.

There are also obvious examples of the worst of our nature. We don’t have to look far. It seems to me that whenever judgement raises its head instead of discernment,..that’s when hatred and ugliness begins. Our discernment can show us difference; we can observe that our world is full of variety in all its guises….colour, gender, race, religion, animal, mineral, etc. We live in a richly diverse world. But when we judge someone because they look different or have a different belief or way of thinking and feeling…that’s when the train goes off the tracks. 

We may recognize that we have done this. We may not. Our bias may be unconscious.

In any case, I’m here to say…we MUST take responsibility for how we judge others. We MUST  see our shadow…because folks…it’s there!

We are 97% Dark Matter…there is a serious weight to that dark matter …and it’s in us. Unless and until we accept that and become comfortable with our own shadow, then we will continue to be in a state of denial…about who we truly are!. 

As we say in Ireland, we have to take responsibility for our own crap!!

If we can do that…if we can truly own our own shadow, then perhaps it won’t spew out and land on other people. Right now it’s landing on black people and we must acknowledge this and look deeply into our own part in this. 

Look at Nature. Earth is dark matter. It produces all the beauties of nature we see around us. Night is dark…we go into that darkness when we sleep…that darkness is part of us. Day and Night work together…they form the cycle of life. Day doesn’t look down on Night and proclaim itself better! We are dark and we are light. We are both…it’s who we are. 

If we are to be full Human Beings, we must accept our own darkness. If we push it down and pretend it doesn’t exist, it will emerge in ways we can’t control …it will come out in judgement, in refusal to see that other ways of living are not a threat to us. It will come out as a bias towards the people who share this earth. 

Our darkness is a doorway. An entrance to a deeper understanding of what it means to be human. Can we see the doorway and can we step through as the full beings we are—-beings with shadows, beings with light and dark and if we try…can we embrace that in ourselves? Then and only then, can we accept that in others. 

We have a lot of work to do. There is a loud insistent pounding on the door. Can we commit today to hear that call, to open the door and step through into greater awareness, greater tolerance, greater empathy, greater compassion. 

Can we give birth to our most beautiful Being?

Let’s do this together.