Joy and Light

Into my heart's night
Along a narrow way
I groped; and lo! the light,
An infinite land of day.
~Rumi

I have found a myriad of quotes about light and darkness from many cultures and philosophical traditions, so I’m guessing you’ve heard them too. Our dependence on light, the fact that we are drawn to it, miserable without it, and seek to generate it is fascinating when you consider the time we spend in literal and figurative darkness. Light is often used as a metaphor for knowledge, understanding, wisdom, kindness, service, goodness, inspiration, happiness, etc. while darkness tends to be used as a metaphor for ignorance, malice, anger, sadness, etc. Yet, both exist in every human heart. Understanding and ignorance, kindness and anger, joy and sadness, all are a part of the self. This week we will explore the relationship between light and darkness, specifically focusing on thoughts.  

Which thoughts do you associate with light? With darkness?

What purpose (if any) do the dark thoughts serve?

How do we gain control of our thoughts and turn them to useful purposes?

Food for Thought:

Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.  ~Chinese Proverb

Lethargics are to be laid in the light, and exposed to the rays of the sun for the disease is gloom.  ~Aretaeus

People are like stained-glass windows.  They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.  ~Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.  ~Maori Proverb

A sensible man will remember that the eyes may be confused in two ways - by a change from light to darkness or from darkness to light; and he will recognize that the same thing happens to the soul.  ~Plato

The windows of my soul I throw
Wide open to the sun.
~John Greenleaf Whittier

A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson