darkness reigns in the external world

a darkness as much of the womb as the grave

 

Darkness reigns

in the external world now. 

Disengage from negative feelings

and maintain your inner

light.

This is a time when darkness and inferior energies surround you. The image is that of the sun completely swallowed by the earth. The only light left is that inside your own heart, and you are counseled to return to it, maintain it, and quietly nourish yourself with it.

It is in dark moments that a correct attitude is most important. If we fight against the darkness, we are swallowed by it and suffer great misfortune. If we react to the lack of visible progress with despair and negativity, we extinguish our own inner light and block the aid of the Creative. If we try to persuade others that they must return to the light, we exhaust ourselves in vain now.

In a time such as this is it wise to adopt a stance of outer disengagement and inner perseverance. Do not focus on or interact with the negative influences around you; this only strengthens their grip on you. Step aside, yield, let go, allow people and events to pass without attachment. Direct your attentions inside to your inner light, your devotion to what is right, your conversation with the Higher Power.

Progress may be slow, but there will indeed by progress. Remember that much of the work of the Higher Power is hidden from us, and that we enable and assist it by remaining detached, accepting, and reserved in the face of negative influences.
 

from The I Ching, or Book of Changes

Hexagram 36, Ming I / Darkening of the Light

 

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return to celestial design

return the mind to quietude

 
A sage said, “In learning, you increase daily; for the Way, you decrease daily.” This “decrease” means decreasing excess to attain centered balance, decreasing trivialities to return to basics, and reducing human desires to return to celestial design.

There may be a hundred human desires, but it is imperative to master oneself first. Mastering yourself is like overcoming an enemy; first you must know where the enemy is before you can send in your troops.

Self-government should be strict, like a farmer weeding, who must remove weeds by the roots before he can be free of concern that they will grow back.

Self-examination is like arresting a robber — you cannot relax at any time.

Self-government is like executing a rebel — you must cut through with one stroke of the sword. Attacking human desire must be like this before it can be successful.

Self-government is a matter of getting rid of what was originally not in us. We should realize this was originally not there by nature and does not become nonexistent only after being overcome.

Conscious development is a matter of preserving what is originally in us. We should realize it is originally there of necessity and does not come to be there by conscious development.

 

The Cultivator of Realization

taoist meditation

 

sing in the dark and try to forgive


 

In the dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will be singing.
About the dark times.

Bertolt Brecht

 

There will be prayer, too,
but to a different god,

and dread will lurk
in the songs we sing.

Doom in the timpani
no matter what the tune,

the tune a variation
on the theme of doom.

We will sing in the dark
and try to forgive

and try not to dwell
on the lives we lived.

The music we play
will be a funeral song,

the poetry we speak,
that ancient tool

we used to believe
was the vital spark,

or if not the spark,
will be the match we strike

again and again
in the darkest dark.

 

Andrea Hollander