Dark and Light Elements, Revisited

(Continued from Light and Dark Spirits)

Warning: This posting isn’t really a specific post talking about a specific thought. It is just my attempt to document what my thoughts are, as-is. The problem with trying to nail down something specific is that it’s not an isolated piece of information that exists in and of itself. It is a part of a huge web, which, when touched upon, fires up other nodes of information, which then must be explored to more clearly draw the complete picture. It all ties together beautifully.

I wasn’t asking for this information. In fact, I was really interested in seeing cool and unusual visual images and have been looking forward to going to sleep at night so I could get back into my dream mode and explore some more, the various strange areas of my dream-state. However, what I have been getting is a series of dreams on the subject of Light and Dark beings, spread out over a period of several nights.

Before I get into the gist of my dreams, please allow me to clarify what I mean in regards to this very hefty subject of Light and Dark Elements.

As Lao Tzu once said:

When the world knows beauty as beauty, ugliness arises
When it knows good as good, evil arises
Thus being and non-being produce each other
Difficult and easy bring about each other
Long and short reveal each other
High and low support each other
Music and voice harmonize each other
Front and back follow each other

This fits in perfectly with the information that I have been given. It all makes sense when viewed in this Taoist light. As I have mentioned in previous posts, my nights are packed solid of reams and reams of information, flooding my brain.

I don’t even try to make any sense of out it. I just sit back and let it ‘down-load’, hoping that it will make some sense in the future. Why I am getting all this streaming information, I haven’t a clue. Perhaps I am now more aware of it, whereas in my youth, I wasn’t quite ready for the information yet and didn’t recognize it for what it is.

I wonder if my biological brain can handle all that information or if it will overload and cause me some catatonic grief.

Well, there isn’t much I can do about it, and in any case, nobody ever died of having received too much information or being too educated. They mostly died of not having enough information, or not being educated enough
on an important need-to-know subject matter.

But I digress…in a dream just last night, I am told quite clearly by a disembodied voice that there is nothing but darkness and that light is but a figment of the imagination, a fleeting, short-lived reaction of various chemicals that produce, as a by-product of its interaction with each other, photons of light.

All of a sudden, mid-sentence, the voice is cut off dramatically, as if it has been caught, red-handedly, trying to sell me a red herring.

I was quite bemused, and laughed out loud in that lucid dreaming moment. It was as if a shepherd’s hook came out from nowhere and without warning, yanked the disembodied voice from center stage of my mind.

In that moment, I knew I was being watched and cared for; my nurturing, very meticulous—my training, very purposeful; my schooling, very dynamic. I was not thrown out there without a teacher and a textbook on how to go about learning what I needed to know. I was being guided every step of the way, and when some charlatan comes knocking and trying to waylay my advancement, it was given the heave-ho and yanked from the scene.

I was then guided towards images and written text about the nature of lightness and darkness.

Imagine, if you will, a sculpture suffused in light. Look at it closely. Do you see the exquisite curved features? If this had been nothing but light, there would be no features to see. It would all be a huge blob of light with nothing to define it, nothing to indicate its beauty.

The perfect definitions and the minute details are there only because there are small areas where there is no light. There is a perfect balance between the two, and the aspect ratio is different for each form, and also different for each function.

Let me explain the forms and functions aspect of this delicate balancing act to the best of my ability.

In the case of the form; too many dark details and the light is dimmed and unable to be seen. Too many light features and the details are lost, unable to be enjoyed. In a brightly lit room, the darker form is more easily seen. In a darkened room, the lighter form is easier to see.

When attempting to educate a very very darkened mind, it requires that the subject matter be dimmed considerably, so as not to blind the new pupil. When the pupil has had sufficient light emanating from within, the subject matter can then be more illuminating.

At any given point in time, when the subject matter has gotten so brightly lit that most of the details have been obscured by the excessive amount of light, the pupil must then wear ‘darkened sunglasses’ in order to view the details properly.

It is all tied up in perspective, and proportionate to how much advancement has been achieved by the pupil. It is also tied up in contextual point-of-view.

Functionally, sometimes, we need less light to be able to view more distant stars, and then sometimes, we need lots of light, to be able to read about those more distant stars from our textbooks.

Remember, Earth is a school. In fact, it is the perfect school, and given that it is here to develop our godhood, it needs to present us with the level of reality that we are able to handle at whatever stage of advancement we are currently living in.

Light and dark are introduced at various stages, forms, and experiences so that, when presented with each individuated construct, we are able to choose our action (or reaction), thereby experiencing the result of that action (or reaction).

Karma then, is the result of what our actions have caused. It is a positive feedback when we do the right things, but it is also a negative feedback when we do the wrong things. Some people may wish that the world be a completely positive environment where no bad things happen to people, and the righteous reigns in peace and harmony, but unfortunately, that is not a place where anyone can advance from their status quo.

It is only advisable to be in such an environment once a being has advanced to the point where there is no longer any need to continue the learning process, but I have to tell you, that person does not exist on this Earth because once they reach that level, they turn into a rainbow body (meaning they change into a light being and all we see are the colors of the rainbow as light is refracted back to our eyes) and they merge into another realm, to begin yet another process of learning.

But to get back to our Earthly realm, the truth is, there is no learning possible without the lessons There is no way to learn without this feedback, and there is no way to learn if all the negative and bad things were completely taken out of the learning experience.

Currently, the world views light as being good and dark as being evil. Everyone wants to be a part of the light side. No one (unless he or she was perverted and contrary in nature) would want to openly insist on being a part of the dark forces. This is why all the good guys wear white (or in some cases, blue body suits with red panties) and all the bad guys wear black (or ugly half-tones and crazy patterns that offend the senses).

I understand all that–and from a very human perspective too. But you see, the Tao is not about exclusivity. The Tao is simply an energy from which all things arise, both good and bad. You see the effect of the Tao through the effect of gravity (more on this later). The Tao presents everything in equal doses and asks that we work through all the exercises in the workbooks so that we can begin to formulate our own thoughts and choices, based upon an informed and intellectual standpoint.

Dark and Light Elements are not things to be feared or to be venerated. They are simply elements that exist unto themselves and have their own value, within their own space and time of existence.

They can actually be very valuable tools to be utilized for extreme good, by those who understand how to do so.

Remember, a tool is not evil or good. It is simply a tool. That good/bad judgement should only be conferred unto the wielder of the tool. It is ignorant and juvenile to say that if one uses a knife to make careful incisions to heal a body, then that knife is considered a good tool, but if one were to use it to kill a human being, then it is considered a bad tool.

It is likewise with light and dark spirits, because even dark spirits have their place in the grand scheme of the Universe. They were, after all, created by the very same forces that created you and me. Even they have the right to exist and do what they were designed to do, when viewed in the grand scope of the Universe.

To revile them and give them no compassion is to go against what Taoist Masters have, time and time again, tried to explain to us. Light and Dark support each other. They are equal and opposites of the same coin.

It is the same with Order and Chaos. Dr. Gerald Schueler stated this as the first line of his paper, The Order/Chaos Relationship in Complex Systems. “One of the important findings of modern chaos theory is that seeds of order seem to be embedded in chaos, while seeds of chaos are apparently embedded in order.” *  

Chaos, when looked at closely, looks like chaos. When we stand far enough away, chaos turns into part of the pattern. Look at the patterns of an art piece. It is the elements of the dark against the elements of the light that allow for the beauty of the art as a whole.

When we extend compassion and forgiveness, we need to extend it out, not only to the light beings, but also to the dark beings. This is the true nature of the Tao.

…

* http://www.schuelers.com/chaos/chaos1.htm