Sweet Darkness, Episode 226
We’re taught that what’s most of value in life is what we can explain, that which can be illuminated by the daylight, and which we can see and know. But the shadows and darkness have gifts too - gifts of belonging, and gifts of freedom, and a way of teaching us what to give up in order to take up the one life that is our own.
What if we approached the non-obvious not as something to run from, but as a doorway into a life beyond? Can we honour the underneath and the behind and the dark and what cannot be put into words?
This week's Turning Towards Life is a conversation about all of this, hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.
You can find out more about our Professional Coaching Course, which we talk a little about in this episode, on the Thirdspace website here.
Sweet Darkness
by David Whyte (davidwhyte.com)
When your eyes are tired
the world is tired also.
When your vision has gone,
no part of the world can find you.
Time to go into the dark
where the night has eyes
to recognise its own.
There you can be sure
you are not beyond love.
The dark will be your home
tonight.
The night will give you a horizon
further than you can see.
You must learn one thing.
The world was made to be free in.
Give up all the other worlds
except the one to which you belong.
Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn
anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive
is too small for you.
Photo by David Gabrić on Unsplash