Are you Afraid of the Dark?

Often in new age propaganda we hear phrases such as “stay positive,” or “focus on the light.” Some of this ties in with last week’s post Spiritual Bypassing, as statements of this nature devalue our experiences and prevent us from getting to know the wealth of knowledge and wisdom that comes from working to understand darkness. Our religions have taught us to fear anything that comes from the devil, and in turn has left psychological scars on those who were demonized out of ignorance. We fear what we don’t understand, yet ironically, for those who truly walk with God, or spirit, or whatever you might refer to your source as, we learn beyond a doubt we have no need to fear for the light is always inside of us.

Darkness is something that historically we have been taught to fear. We have outcasted (let’s be honest… we have done and continue to do absolute HORRORS) to those whom bring out our fear, those we have cried “witch!” and burned at the stake, those who have been judged, hated, abused, beaten, dismembered, hung, decapitated and more in the name of our belief systems, in the name of God. Instead of working to understand what it is we’re seeing, where it comes from and what is inside of us that leads to our discomfort, we sweep our history and current behaviors under the rug. We disassociate our teachings from how we treat ALL people, associating with political beliefs that cause harm on all levels because we’re too afraid of whoever might be out there that might take away whatever it is we think we deserve. In our schools, much of our history has been removed, because we’re too ashamed to truly look at the crimes against humanity that have been perpetrated with “God” as our guide. 

Unnecessary fear exists when there is no understanding. We can look at concepts of trust and faith, but if we make any decision out of fear and control, we are directly speaking to our inability to embody that level of devotion. Does that make sense? If it’s a lifestyle decision not truly based in love, then we’re not living in trust and faith. What we have is a perversion of the teaching. We might fall back on the old concepts of being “sinners,” or “no one is perfect,” or whatever excuse we have that we are imperfect, but we don’t have to keep living in those inconsistencies. Yes, we will always have new lessons, and sometimes we might wish we could have done it differently, but as we heal our own internal darkness we learn to walk always in the world of loving spirit. We will be tested, but we can choose to make sure love is the path we are sincerely committed to.

We don’t have to do this work alone, as there are many different types of healers in this world who can help us navigate these dimensions. When we think of healer, we might think of a doctor. Of course, the physical is absolutely important to the whole human, for what we ingest and subject our physical vessels to is paramount. If we’re looking at food specifically, it’s not only what goes in, but where it comes from and the collective burden of that consumption that is also vital for us to consider. This is why educated consumption is really important, because our bodies and our communities can benefit from our lifestyle choices. Holistic doctors in particular do wonderful work in helping people to live happy and fulfilling lives within their physical vessels, because they help people to identify a bigger perspective on their health. In this day and age, we now know our health goes much deeper though than just the physical.

As I mentioned, there are many types of healers. I personally work in the realm of spirit, and work in the underlying currents of the intangible, a place that has many layers, is specific to each individual and simultaneously connected to the whole. Each of us are part of this big collective entity, a cog in the system, or more like an important aspect to our bio-diverse ecosystem. There are many levels of energy that move through this consciousness, aspects that appear in each individual. In looking at someone’s energy field, I can tap into their personal history as it is imprinted there, as well as patterns reflecting the illnesses of our whole. When we learn to see these patterns within the human being, as well as the outputs from such programs (individual and collective words and actions), we are able to identify them and aid in removing them. In doing so it frees the individual to express greater levels of productivity, creativity, personal expression, introspection, compassion and other healthy attributes, allowing the individual to return to the collective, no longer displaying the old patterning. They are able to consciously create new ones and therefore subtly begin to change the energy of the whole.

Looking inside ourselves sometimes means having to look at our darkness, but we must look inside of ourselves if we are to grow and become better people. As a healer, I only have the ability to effectively help other people to do their healing work if I am continuing to do this big healing work within myself. Right now, I’m learning more than ever how profound and intense transforming our pain back into love is. Not all healing is hard, and often when I work with people it happens quite easily. For other wounds, such as the case of a deeply broken heart, we are confronted with particular challenges along the path of healing. These moments are necessary, as they provide us with the trials to test our learning. Can we remain in love? Can we choose compassion? Can we trust in the process even if we’re experiencing debilitating pain and sadness? These are the moments where we see how far we’ve come.

It’s easier to take our hurts and turn them into hate, distrust and fear. Many people on our planet stuff it down, pretending like it doesn’t exist as it then resurfaces in other toxic patterns in the body, mind and spirit. To transmute our pain back into love means for it to consume us. We dive head first, straight into the pit of darkness where we must confront our longest shadows and feel our deepest fears and insecurities. We burn in our pain, and instead of throwing the fire outwards and bringing others down with us, it means being strong enough to hold it inside as it burns all of us away. We allow ourselves to die unto self, making sure no one else has to also burn for our personal suffering. In these moments, we suspend our self in the greatest faith of all, knowing that we are seen. Even though we walk through darkness, we are not alone.