Five years ago in the deep silence of a December night, I was awakened at 4 am by a call from my mom that my dad was dying and that I had better come immediately. Within three hours I was sitting on a Southwest flight at PDX bound for a hospital in Vegas.
I remember the odd, displaced feeling, after taking off under thick cloud cover and heavy rain, of the sun shining up above the clouds, as the jet I was on shot through the dawn of the cold winter sky. It was as if it were just any other day,
Here I was on a day like no other in my life prior or since; for never again would I be on my way to my father’s last breath. And instead of something really unique marking the once-in-a-lifetime occasion, it was marked by steady rays of sunshine streaming across the top of the cloud cover, into the window of the plane, and across my face. On nearly the darkest day of the year, it was the sun that anchored me into this world, this reality, as my father’s soul was negotiating his passage across the veil between worlds, preparing to leave this one behind.
The same sun in the same sky that had marked similar journeys of millions of people before me.
No matter what I am feeling inside or what is going on in my world, the light of each day always comes again. In and out is the rhythm of darkness and light. Round and round it is the never ceasing backdrop to our lives. Punctuated by major life events, but reliable as time itself.
Similar to the daily cycle of lightness and darkness, is the yearly cycle of seasonal light changes. From the glorious energetic long days of summer, to the quiet restful deep nights of winter, there is an expected pattern that we anticipate and rely on and that we build our life plans, food production, and holiday rituals on.
Our bodies are designed to respond to both the circadian and the annual rhythms, with the pineal gland being particularly receptive to fluctuations in light levels as perceived by our eyes. But all the other endocrine glands and the brain and nervous system itself are also attuned to these rhythms which have a profound effect on our health and sense of well-being.
I think it’s important to acknowledge how physical light affects us on these multiple levels. And what physical darkness brings up for us as well. From our bodily functions, to our vacation plans. From our growing seasons, to our holiday celebrations. From our sleep cycles, to our work schedules. From our meal times, to our energy levels. The way our society is run, to the way our households are run. All dependent on whether it’s dark or light out.
Even though we can fudge it with synthetic light sources and black out mechanisms, the prevailing backdrop is always always the natural movement of the earth allowing the sun to project its light on us from different angles and intensities or not.
I like to find patterns between seemingly unrelated things, big and small. I LOVE how the microcosm reflects the macrocosm and vice versa, because that offers evidence to me that there is wisdom and intention infused into the reality that surrounds us.
This is no different when it comes to light and dark – opposite states that complement each other. You can’t really have one without the other. Or rather you can’t define or KNOW one without the other. This is true whether the light and dark is physical or metaphysical (i.e. next to or beyond the physical). For on a metaphysical level light and dark are at play, impacting us as well.
I don’t claim to understand or know anything specific about whether or not light and dark (aka “good” and “evil”) rotate in a natural, predictable pattern spiritually as they do in our physical world. But it seems apparent that they are present, affecting us in a multitude of ways both seen and unseen.
Throughout the ages a constant theme of the human condition has been the juxtaposition, interplay, and battle between the light and the dark. From literature, to Hollywood movies, to religious texts, to children’s stories, the prepondering theme is the struggle to overcome evil so that good will prevail.
I think that at this darkest time of year, the sun’s long dormancy reminds us to reflect on what we do when the darkness descends and surrounds us: we light candles and string lights. We gather with loved ones. We sing. We decorate. We give gifts. We build fires. We emphasize generosity, kindness, and love. We wish peace unto others. We worship and pray more often. In other words, we really reach deep into ourselves and pull out all the good stuff. All the beauty, all the effort, all the selflessness, all the joy, and all the love. We access, expose and shine our inner LIGHT! This is what we do when times are dark.
So if the darkness that we are faced with is not a seasonal dimming, but a spiritual one being played out on the world’s stage and in the hearts of nefarious people, we need only recall what we do in December each year as an answer to evil encroaching upon us: i.e. access, engage with, utilize, reveal, encourage, prime, hone, and turn on our inner light!
It’s so handy to have the answers to the big problems laid out simply and plainly for us to call upon from our experiences in getting through the smaller challenges.
May you embrace the exuberance, energy and love that you are riding through the holiday season on and extend it into the days of “lightening” that are now upon us. The sun shows us resilience and strength, promise and warmth, positivity and sustenance. And it always returns. Each day. Each year. Each lifetime. Each epoch. For all existence.
Just like the sunrise over the wing of the airplane that I witnessed on the way to my dad’s deathbed, the sun provides a steady dependable backdrop to life on human earth. It is there quietly providing courage, resilience, and hope by its ever-present LIGHT.