One of my favorite images in several beloved children’s books involved adventures that led to secret openings hidden behind waterfalls and then took us deep into secret passages and wonderful caves inside a mountain. There we’d discover a world of darkness and treasure in equal measure. So many of use the term lightworker now, and sign our names with a flourishing ‘love and light’ – but where does that leave the wonder of the dark? Why do we shy away from the dark? Over the years, I have come to see it not as ‘shadow’ but as wholeness. Darkness creates completeness. In Taoism, it’s described as yin-yang: a supreme balance of creativity and receptivity, of dynamic and magnetic, of movement and stasis. Darkness allows the energetic and delicate intertwining and oneness of all life forces that are at the foundation of life. Darkness is not a void, nor something negative or scary. No, dark is as much a part of our world as is light. Our hearts are dark with experience, passion, and longings … these are all treasure, if seen that way, instead of with regret or despair. To live fully, we need to trust the outer and the inner, to explore the pool and the cave, to live in a profound balance of dark and light.
