We hear much talk of the Light these days in spiritual and metaphysical circles. Many have benefited greatly from the practice of surrounding themselves with the Light, and other spiritual methods of enlightenment and protection. The light has long represented illumination, and rightly so, even as the light of the sun or the light of electricity enables us to physically perceive our physical reality. Without the light and warmth of the sun, we could not survive in this physical reality. Plants would not grow, animals could not thrive, the earth would die.

Neither could life on this earth exist, however, without darkness, which Daniel Webster describes as the absence of light. All physical life requires a rest from the light. The nature of life is duality. We could not survive without darkness.

There is validity in the concept of the darkness of ignorance as opposed to the light of knowledge. But all of existence depends upon the duality of positive and negative. But it is only our arbitrarily accepted beliefs which say that darkness is evil, that negative is synonymous with bad. According to Mr. Webster, evil means something which causes pain or difficulty. There are many good things which cause pain and difficulty, however. The slaying of an animal by man or by another animal surely causes pain, yet ensures the continuance of life. The birth of a child is quite often painful and difficult, yet results in the beauty of a new life. Many life saving medical cures and surgical procedures are quite painful and difficult. But none of these things are considered evil.

The concept of evil is the result of a belief in the idea of artificial guilt, better known as the doctrine of original sin, which is a device for controlling the actions of others. Natural guilt is merely the ability to recall the undesirable results of previous experience, and has nothing to do with punishment, which is a product of artificial guilt. The only way the dark can be evil is if we make it so in our own minds.

There is nothing with trying to avoid ignorance, or greed, or any other vices, but let’s not throw out the baby with the bath water. By recognizing the benefits of the dark, we can gain much.

In traditional metaphysical literature, the dark is associated with the intuition, introspection and gestation. It is through the darkness of the womb that we are born into the light of the physical world. It is through the experience of the "dark night of the soul" that the mystic attains the brilliance of ecstasy. Consider also the accounts of the "life after death" experiences documented by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and others wherein those who had experienced death, certainly the "darkest" concept that man has, find themselves drawn to the "white light" afterwards.

It is only through the experience of darkness that we find the light. Those who dwell only in the darkness cannot know the light, its illumination, its warmth or any of its benefits. Those who dwell only in the light cannot know the darkness and will fear what they do not know. "Fear", to quote Frank Herbert, "is the little death, the mind killer". And as F.D.R. tells us, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself".

Let us embrace the light and all its benefits, but let us also learn to appreciate the benefits of the dark. For it is by lashing out in ignorance at the dark that we blind ourselves to the light. How can we gain, the light of knowledge unless we first admit the darkness of our own ignorance?

There is a place for darkness in your life. In Ecclesiasticus 3:1 we read that "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heavens." By accepting the goodness of the darkness, you will no longer fear it, and thereby come to know a greater light - the light of love for All That Is.