the primacy and wonder of the dark

There is a touching innocence in the mystery of the human self.  

Even after thousands of years of experience and reflection, 

we still remain a mystery to ourselves...

there is something deeply unpredictable and unfathomable.

... Even when you approach your self tenderly 

with the candle of receptive and reverential seeing, 

all you achieve is a glimpse.  

There is something in the sacred darkness of the mind 

that does not trust the facility and quickness of light.

Darkness resists the name.  

Darkness knows the regions which the name 

can never reach or hold or dream.

  The dark must smile at the proud pretense of words 

to hold networks of identity and meaning, 

but the dark knows only too well the fragile surface on which words stand.  

Darkness keeps its secrets.

 

Light is diverse and plural: 

sunlight, moonlight, dusk, dawn, and twilight.  

The dark has only one name.  

There is something deep in us 

which implicitly recognizes the primacy and wonder of the dark.  

Perhaps this is why we instinctively insist on avoiding and ignoring its mysteries.

~ John O'Donohue

from Eternal Echoes

photo by Kathleen Connally