On Darkness and Light, from AH

I was kept up later than usual recently, as I had a guest who got very caught up with me in the new season House opener, and was sharing for the first time that in his late teens, he was confined in a mental institution for nearly a year and the pain and anguish around that.  Apparently sad topics have been the theme for me in the last couple days!  The visit went longer than expected naturally.  His take on most of the people he observed (and himself) while in there was that severe abuse and pain was the cause of most of the problems the people there had, not a chemical imbalance.

 

I’ve some tapes of David Whyte and remembered him, it was my first exposure to Jerry Wennstrom, and I didn’t really pay attention to his story, I was looking for a glimpse of David Whyte to share.  His material is really rich in exploring the inner world.  I’ve done some Shadow work which I found to be very illuminating.  One quote I’ve carried with me from that work is:

 

"One thing that comes out in myths is that at the bottom of the abyss comes the voice of salvation. The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come. At the darkest moment comes the light."  Joseph Campbell

 

One of my friends in the Jewish faith has talked to me about the Kabala at times, and one of the interesting things I’ve taken away from that discussion is the recognition that there are some themes, some knowledge that is best approached when one has sufficient life experience and balance.  There is a book that is very thought provoking “Avalanche: Heretical Reflections on the Dark and the Light”, < http://www.amazon.com/Avalanche-Heretical-Reflections-Dark-Light/dp/0345367227> that feels to me like it would fit into that category of knowledge.  I don’t buy it all, but has a very interesting take on sadness.

 

“In his powerful bestselling book Joy's Way, Dr. W. Brugh Joy shared the story of the spiritual transformation that led him to abandon his medical practice and indeed his whole way of life. In the ten years since, Dr. Joy has experienced the dramatic second stage of his spiritual evolution and Avalanche is the result. In this iconoclastic book, Dr. Joy challenges the idealistic vision of spirituality as an experience of love, light, and harmony. He dares to appreciate the dark, shadow side of human nature that, if left unintegrated, can wreak havoc in our lives.

In fact, Dr. Joy sees shadow work as essential for the evolution of consciousness. He explores the dynamic of the shadow in such issues as multiple personalities as the basis of self, the collapse of exclusively masculine spiritual values, the emergence of the divine feminine and the counter forces that are set in motion in backlash against it, the power of destruction as a purging and healing force, and the battle of the individual with the collective. To access our hidden dark side, Dr. Joy offers as tools dreamwork, archetypes, rituals, and rites of passage, which can set the stage for transformation. Sure to generate controversy, Avalanche demands -- and rewards -- readers who are willing to experience their own deep psyche.”

 

I think one can be wise and innocent at the same time.  Innocence connotes to me a purity of soul and intention.

 

I find it interesting that our country’s early years had people putting happiness into the discourse of the country’s future – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  More recently another politician referenced it:

 

“Here we are the way politics ought to be in America ; the politics of happiness, the politics of purpose and the politics of joy.” Hubert H. Humphrey

 

Good ol’ Mark Twain is as funny as ever: “Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination.”

 

Another opinion - “A lifetime of happiness! No man alive could bear it: it would be hell on earth.” George Bernard Shaw