Today's
Winter Solstice, the darkest day of the year, reminds us that
"enlightenment" is only one half of the spiritual journey. While
sunlight, which corresponds to our inner search for clarity and insight,
is often our dominant mode of functioning, a nighttime or "moonlight"
form of spiritual perception is just as important. Sunlight perception
enables us to see the CLEAR DIFFERENCES between things, a precursor to
the realization that we are meant to discover the unique ways in which
each and every thing fits together as a component part of a larger
whole. However, a form of perception based on night vision and
moonlight reveals the fact that, on the deepest level, all things
perpetually BLEND TOGETHER into an intimate Oneness. Moonlit nights
are special because it is then that the boundaries between all things
blur together in a silvery glow that softens and unites them all into
One.
But there is more. Spiritual nighttime provides a sense of intimacy in which our divine Source embraces, surrounds, and holds us rather than becoming an object of our own vision. Here the "vision of God" becomes less OUR vision of the Divine, and more a sense of being held and grasped in "GOD'S vision, a reality which we can experience during contemplative prayer on a regular basis. Here we find that a magnetic Presence - One whose other name is LOVE - draws us deeply into the very core of our being. Even John of the Cross' "Dark Night of the Soul," while initiating a sense of God's DISAPPEARANCE from the level of emotional or cognitive perception, occurs precisely because the Divine Presence then "moves" to become more CLOSELY INTIMATE with us. As the Quran says, "God is closer to us than our own jugular vein."
The only way to perceive this kind of intimacy is through the faculty of FAITH, which is less an assent to dogmatic propositions created by others, and more a trust in a truth which has once been revealed TO US, but which then "goes dark" as it moves more deeply and intimately into our core, where it becomes the wellspring of LIFE ITSELF. It is in spiritual darkness that the eye of the heart opens, a perception involving love rather than reason, imagination instead of proof, and intimate embrace rather than detached seeing. The mystics refer to this perception in darkness as a kind of "Rest" or spiritual "Sleep," one in which we are "hugged" so tightly by our Source that there is no chance of relying on the "clear and distinct ideas" we usually value so much.
In a book entitled "Let There Be Night: Testimony on Behalf of the Dark," Kathleen Dean Moore asks: "What are the gifts that darkness gives? I think first of the gift of mystery . . .Mystery opens the human spirit to what is beyond it. Encountering that mystery gives a person a sort of 'night vision' of the imagination. Night vision, the ability to see in the dark, is strengthened by darkness, and quickly destroyed by light. And isn't this true of imagination as well, nourished by mystery and diminished by the glare of certainty and human pride?"
This Winter Solstice, may we value more thoroughly the abundant gifts of the Night, both inwardly and outwardly. With St. John of the Cross, may we exclaim:
O guiding night!
O night more lovely than the dawn!
O night that has united the Lover with His beloved,
Transforming the beloved IN her Lover!
Photos: (Top) Sunset over the Henry Mountains, Canyonlands National Park, UT, November 30, 2014; (Middle) A Canyonlands sunset, Canyonlands National Park, UT, November 28, 2014; (Bottom) Moonlight in canyon country, Canyonlands National Park, UT, November 26, 2011
But there is more. Spiritual nighttime provides a sense of intimacy in which our divine Source embraces, surrounds, and holds us rather than becoming an object of our own vision. Here the "vision of God" becomes less OUR vision of the Divine, and more a sense of being held and grasped in "GOD'S vision, a reality which we can experience during contemplative prayer on a regular basis. Here we find that a magnetic Presence - One whose other name is LOVE - draws us deeply into the very core of our being. Even John of the Cross' "Dark Night of the Soul," while initiating a sense of God's DISAPPEARANCE from the level of emotional or cognitive perception, occurs precisely because the Divine Presence then "moves" to become more CLOSELY INTIMATE with us. As the Quran says, "God is closer to us than our own jugular vein."
The only way to perceive this kind of intimacy is through the faculty of FAITH, which is less an assent to dogmatic propositions created by others, and more a trust in a truth which has once been revealed TO US, but which then "goes dark" as it moves more deeply and intimately into our core, where it becomes the wellspring of LIFE ITSELF. It is in spiritual darkness that the eye of the heart opens, a perception involving love rather than reason, imagination instead of proof, and intimate embrace rather than detached seeing. The mystics refer to this perception in darkness as a kind of "Rest" or spiritual "Sleep," one in which we are "hugged" so tightly by our Source that there is no chance of relying on the "clear and distinct ideas" we usually value so much.
In a book entitled "Let There Be Night: Testimony on Behalf of the Dark," Kathleen Dean Moore asks: "What are the gifts that darkness gives? I think first of the gift of mystery . . .Mystery opens the human spirit to what is beyond it. Encountering that mystery gives a person a sort of 'night vision' of the imagination. Night vision, the ability to see in the dark, is strengthened by darkness, and quickly destroyed by light. And isn't this true of imagination as well, nourished by mystery and diminished by the glare of certainty and human pride?"
This Winter Solstice, may we value more thoroughly the abundant gifts of the Night, both inwardly and outwardly. With St. John of the Cross, may we exclaim:
O guiding night!
O night more lovely than the dawn!
O night that has united the Lover with His beloved,
Transforming the beloved IN her Lover!
Photos: (Top) Sunset over the Henry Mountains, Canyonlands National Park, UT, November 30, 2014; (Middle) A Canyonlands sunset, Canyonlands National Park, UT, November 28, 2014; (Bottom) Moonlight in canyon country, Canyonlands National Park, UT, November 26, 2011
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