Keep Seeking The Light Beyond The Darkness

I do a trivia quiz almost every day to keep my mind stimulated and strong. This morning the question was: What is achluophobia? Well, it is the fear of the dark, which is a somewhat reasonable phobia since we instinctively want to be able to see what is going on around us in order to survive. However, as I thought about it more, I realized that we also have the same need to ‘see the light’ on a spiritual level.

The darkness of evil, hatred and despair is always out there, lurking in the background, trying to sneak into our hearts and minds and take over. There is a spiritual war going on in our hearts and minds every day.

As we are increasingly drawn into the darkness, we are also increasingly hit with setbacks, hurdles, heartaches, and hardships. Then, in our entitlement and arrogance, we wonder why God, Source, Spirit, the Divine, is not doing anything to help us? Why have we been abandoned? Is there even a higher, divine power that can come to our aid?

It is amazing how many people at one time or another indulge in the thought, the notion that the very God, Source, Spirit, Divine, Universe that guides, protects and provides for us, actually takes the time to also hate, punish or destroy us.

All we have to do is observe the miracle of nature to know that this is not true. Every little miracle of nature, every tree and plant, every stone, every living being has a reason and a purpose to exist in the wonderful mechanics of our planet.

The more the darkness seeps in, the more we examine the little cracks in our lives, such as our inadequate finances, past mistakes, the injustices we believe we have suffered, and how much more privileged others are compared to us. Then our hopes, wishes, dreams, and desires become points of attack. We increasingly believe that we will never achieve any of our goals. Eventually, the darkness overwhelms us and swallows us whole.

It’s not what you have on the outside that glitters in light, it’s what you have on the inside that shines in the dark ~ Anthony Liccione

The darkness always tries to overcome the light, but we must keep in our thoughts the faith that the light always returns in the morning. During the struggle, the sometimes daily battle, we will learn many hard lessons: spiritual, personal, and practical. Each lesson will equip us for the next battle. A little ‘spiritual achluophobia’ is a good thing, because what we fear, we will fight.

Yes, life is sometimes hard. Yes, love is often fragile. No one’s path is easy or simple. But the only way out of the darkness of suffering is to realize that we must stand up, fight the good fight, and return to the light. We must strengthen our hearts and minds through our daily spiritual practice to banish those dark thoughts and feelings. Never stop bringing the divine light into your day. Get rid of the darkness.

We are each given our own unique gift we bring to this world. This fragile gift is like a precious, expensive glass vase or sculpture. We can’t neglect or carelessly throw it around. We have to carry it gently, carefully in our hands. Never take this gift for granted, it must be cherished and shared for the greater good.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us ~ Marianne Williamson

Our karmic duty is to be different. When we are different, everyone around us behaves differently. When we wake up and honor our spiritual path with meditation, with prayer, with honoring the universe, we glow with divine love and peace, which causes us to smile from within. That smile is contagious because we do things differently and people respond with their own soul smiles.

Sometimes there seems to be no reason why our path is longer or more challenging, but I guarantee there is always plan. There are unique lessons for each of us to learn. But one lessons we must all learn and that is to never give up, and to keep seeking the light.