Darkness Shining

In Western thought light and darkness are seen as polarities—light as good, darkness bad.

But I am learning to look at light differently.

Neil Douglas-Klotz introduced me to the idea of “darkness shining” in The Hidden Gospel. He says that the Aramaic word “Shem,” for light, includes all vibration from the slowest to the fastest—”It [shem] includes what we normally call darkness, and what physicists now call ‘dark matter,’ the stuff that makes up most of what we know as the universe.”

This idea resonates with me as a photographer.

Many of my photographs shine with light. I tend to be drawn to light bright images more than dark. But once in a while I notice the darkness shining.

I realize that light and darkness are not polarities, they are a continuum.

Both have beauty.

Both are necessary.

One cannot exist without the other.

There is a natural flow between light and dark even in our daily life as the sun rises and sets and the seasons turn.

Like yin and yang, darkness and light are not opposites of one another. Each contains the seed of the other.

November is often the cloudiest and darkest month of the year. Leaves mostly fallen to the ground, no new green growth showing, many overcast days, daylight length shortening, and no snow cover to brighten the brown and gray landscapes.

In November I often feel as downcast as the cloudy November skies.

During this darkest part of the year I remind myself of the darkness shining. It brings me comfort in an otherwise bleak time.

And I remember to look for the “shem” in life — energy and matter in all it’s forms from darkest to light.

Today’s photographs celebrate the darkness shining.

May you walk in beauty.