Like it or not not, our culture here in America is borrowed! When I say "borrowed", I don't necessarily mean that as a bad thing. "It is what it is": however we choose to look at it. In some sense, one could almost say that our culture is a not too-unpleasant mixture of Western & Eastern culture, with the "Eastern" referring not to Far Eastern, as in Chinese, Japanese, etc., but to the Ancient Near Eastern culture, in particular the Hebrew culture. I was tempted here to say "patriarchal" in regards to the Ancient Near Eastern culture, but I have a sneaking suspicion that wouldn't be quite fair! The Bible, or our Western translation of the Hebrew & Greek Scriptures, leans rather heavily toward patriachalism, but one might well wonder if this leaning can largely be blamed, if blame there be, on the shoulders of good ole' English Puritanism. Anyhow, as the case may be, all this is to set the groundwork for what I write today, so; "on with the Show!"
Having written all that, which is by no means all that could, or even maybe should be written, most people in this great nation, excepting maybe those who are called 'Native Americans', have been taught to fear & even demonize the Darkness! Native Americans, as well as other Ancient peoples, including, I would surmise, those of the Ancient Near East, were far more familiar, even comfortable with the concept of 'Yin & Yang', the notion that we all have two sides ( for lack of a better term ) to our human nature. Even in our modern culture, this concept is recognized, even almost honored, thanks to influence from the Far East, but for the most part, the Darkness is usually seen as something that must be overcome, rather than accepted & embraced. As a former Christian, I am fairly familiar with this concept, for without even quoting from the Bible, it is fairly evident that our culture has been heavily influenced by Puritanical ideas on this Subject!
Maybe the greatest & saddest outworking of this Puritanical, not to mention 'patriarchal' influence was the Salem Witch Trials of the mid to late 17th century! Here again, the biblical notion that the Darkness was evil & something to be feared outweighed what should have been common sense. For the most part ( as I understand it ) these women, as well as some men, I believe, who were accused of being 'Witches' in league with 'Satan', were simply those who knew how to work with & honor Nature, rather than to work against & dishonor Her innate Power. Some did practice what was most often called 'the Dark Art', though it should be noted that their Craft, as it is popularly known, was, for a time anyway, veiled in secrecy to avoid persecution. To this day, in fact, much of 'the Craft' is held in Secrecy, in the Dark, if you will, for this very reason, if this reason alone.
In the biblical story of 'Adam & Eve in the Garden', the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil was forbidden to the representative couple 'lest', as the text says, "they become ( Gods ) like Us". For whatever reason & to whatever extent, the knowledge that these 'Witches' had garnered was forbidden as well. In fact, one could safely say that this 'Fruit' ( of the Tree in question ) was simply the Knowledge that these Witches employed, whether in healing or what. Though there were doubtless those who learned to use this innate Power for their own selfish purposes, hence earning their fate, in a sense; for the most part, it was simply a way of life which was very natural to those who practiced it. For that reason, some might simply call it, 'The Old Ways'!
In our modern-day culture, a practice that is in its ascendancy is 'Shadow Work'; basically, a deep exploration of ones 'Dark' side in order to balance our energetic body ( 'Light Body', or 'Body Electric' ). The idea then, is not to overcome the Darkness in our human nature, but rather, as the Star Wars movie franchise made popular, to "bring balance to the Force"; to realize that our 'Dark' & our 'Light' are two sides of the same coin, so to speak, both necessary ( as necessary as male & female, in fact ) to the well-being of humanity. There is a sense in which we must overcome our 'Dark' side, although it might be more correctly called 'programming' or 'conditioning'. You might be thinking, "necessary?" Just think about it for a minute; "why would Darkness be necessary?"
"Okay, okay, I'll dish!" First though, let me ask you another question: "is it easier to sleep/rest when it's dark out or when it's light?" That's kind of a rhetorical question, right?! However, that's not quite where I was going with this. The 'Dark' side of our human nature isn't of necessity what we usually think of when we hear the word 'Dark' ( that's another cultural reference, by the way )! In modern times, when we use the term 'Dark', it's almost natural for our mind to immediately think, "Goth", or some such moniker associated with the 5 senses ( think 'color' ), but really, we should look at it in the sense of polar opposites, as in, say, a magnet. Even our Mother Earth, as indeed all the planets, has two opposite poles. I make no claims on being a great scientist, but I'm pretty sure this has something to do with Her ability to simply 'hang' out in Space, in a manner of speaking. So, it just makes sense then, to bring this ruling principle down to Earth, so to speak & apply it to humanity. Without these two poles in balanced cooperation, "how long do you think Life would persevere?"
On a more personal note; as some of my readers are probably aware, my 'vehicle' is afflicted with a disease ( dis-ease ) called 'Freidrich's Ataxia'. I have not done much research on the intricacies of the affliction for quite some time now ( Google it if you're interested ), but basically, it is a degenerative neuro-muscular condition which greatly inhibits the transmission of electrical signals between the brain & the muscles. Hence, one of the more noticeable symptoms is a lack of balance. "Go figure", right? One might well wonder if the root cause of this disease is not somehow related to the polar regions of the 'vehicle' in which I currently reside. I DO experience a bit of neuropathy in my feet & lower legs, if that gives any bit of a clue!
Getting to the point though; you might be asking the burning question, "how are we supposed to find joy in our darkness?" Well, we've established, more or less, that "Yes", while in the greatest sense you could rightly say that 'Dark' does not necessarily mean 'evil', or even 'bad', there are instances in which one might be accused of using his or her Darkness to 'evil' intent. Like Witchcraft; it is neither Light nor Dark by nature; "It is what It is": it depends on the individual practitioner as to whether It can be described as 'dark' or 'light'. Even so, in such a case, it still hinges largely on personal ( individual ) perspective.
Our Darkness, like the Ego, is therefore a constituent element to our humanity. Yes, while in the greatest sense you could rightly say then that there is no dark & light, as these are relative perceptions, for the sake of argument, we'll continue to look at this dualistically. As we saw earlier, the temptation, thanks to organized religion, is to hide the 'dark' side of our nature, while emphasizing the 'light' side. Indeed, we are taught to feel guilty for even HAVING a 'dark' side! Depending, of course, on what this supposed 'dark' side makes us want to do, it might not be a bad idea to 'rein it in', to exercise tact, etc. However, our Darkness is not something to be feared, much less squelched entirely! Rather, as a constituent element, if for no other reason, we should instead embrace It! It is not, as our modern society tends to view It, something to overcome, or even bring under control. For one thing, controlling It, or endeavoring to, anyway, brings us back to the realm of 'programming' or 'conditioning'. A good rule of thumb here is that part of the Wiccan Rede that I love to quote; "An ye harm none, do what ye will". No 'dark', no 'light'; just don't intentionally cause anyone harm & you're all good!
Some might raise the objection that sometimes it becomes necessary to 'fight fire with fire' & to merely human understanding, this is very arguable, but this might be an argument for another time. For now; we will suffice to remind us that we are More than our humanity & therefore must not of necessity return 'evil for evil' ( as the saying goes ). Even if no one goes with us, as another saying goes, we must do as our 'heart' directs, whether it be perceived as 'Dark' or 'Light'!
By following our 'Heart' ( call it 'gut feeling' or whatever ), we naturally feel more at ease, for rather than battling within ourselves, feeling one way, but acting another because Society ( again 'conditioning/programming' ) says we should or shouldn't. This is not to say, again, that there aren't certain things that are better left unsaid or undone, just that we must judge for ourselves what we know to be good, just & true, rather than allowing society to set these boundaries for us.
To find Joy in your Darkness, like most things relating to soul-searching, may sound easier than it is. Again, It IS that simple, but saying that is by no means to say It's easy! Overcoming the programming & conditioning that most of us have suffered through for the overwhelming majority of our relatively short lives is the first step towards experiencing this Joy. Once we have gotten past the notion that somehow the imbalance that we have experienced up to this point is due to something called 'Original Sin', it will become plain that the imbalance is simply a manifestation of the fact that we have been taught that a necessary part of our humanity needs to be squelched, if not stifled completely. By embracing both sides, again, 'dualistically', we bring back our body's natural balance & a body in balance not only feels better, it acts better, which in turn brings Joy to our Spirit!
In conclusion then & to reiterate; embracing our 'Darkness' not only "brings balance to the Force", in a manner of speaking, it helps us to realize that we don't don't have to battle ourselves in order to be a decent human being! Yes, there will probably still be those who try to take us to task ( judge us, try to make us feel guilty ) for doing this, but this is where choice comes in; you can listen to their judgments & continue to war with yourself ( with all that entails ), or you can tactfully & kindly say "Fuck you"; go about your business & causing no harm, do what you will!
Namaste' & Blessed Be!
Sage Charles
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