Darkness vs. Darkness

I think that what the human mind commonly places inside the "darkness" bracket are two distinctly different energies or elements which deserve more differentiation and examination. On the one hand, we have the darkness of the Black Iron Prison -- occlusion, perceived alienation from God, the "bad" end of the emotional spectrum, "evil," et cetera. On the other hand we have something that's a bit more difficult to wrap the mind around, and that is what I will for purposes of convenience term "cosmic darkness," a creative force unto itself. I want to dwell on how these two ideas are different. When you get into this kind of theoretical demarcation I think it's important to remember that ultimately there is unity, ultimately there is no this vs. that or here vs. there, but for the time being we will permit those boundaries to exist.

Let's talk about "worldly darkness." I believe that this is the energy of the devil archetype, an energy which runs rampant on our little blue planet. It is the blindness of the demiurge and the lies of the archon -- indeed it is the very anima of the archon -- the false life and the counterfeit spirit which so many mistake for truth. I think the concept of the organic portal is a personification of this occluding complex. The concept of a soulless human is certainly an evil one -- without souls, what are we but appetite? This archonic energy, the Black Iron Prison itself must in fact be self-limiting. In that it is entirely uncreative and mechanistic its only mode of expansion is viral, lateral, self-corrupting. It seems that while the divine is able to pierce the veil between worlds and dip down into our prison, the demiurge, lacking creativity, is unable to lift itself out of itself -- out of occlusion or 'worldly darkness'. It is confined to an eternal mechanistic rearranging-of-already-existing pieces -- it is incapable of creating anything new, and thus it cannot build bridges to other worlds. It is one-sided, lacking dual awareness.

The other side of the darkness coin is something which I find to be infinitely more exciting. It is the cosmic darkness, a luminous, true Darkness. This is the outward-turned Ajna-eye of Shiva, the vision which obliterates falsehood. The dark and terrible aspect of Shiva is the light which destroys the archon. It is Rudra, the howling one -- Rudra-Shiva, frightener of gods. This cosmic darkness is a dual awareness, entirely versatile. As it manifests as active destruction, it is also the yin energy, the darkened womb of new life. This is the shaman who stalks her own death. This is Christ who is warrior, protector, healer, and truth.

I have found that the most inspiring archetypes and philosophies and mysteries are the ones that seek not to cast out darkness but to integrate it fully. I'm not interested in locking myself away forever inside a bubble of white light. That's equivalent to running away from your own shadow -- it won't work, anyway. The shadow is part of the human capacity for divine sight -- it's our little piece of the Ajna-eye, and a far cry from the walls of the Black Iron Prison.

Comments

[slomo]

I light of this post, if you're looking for fiction and have not already read her stuff, Ursula LeGuin is a great place to investigate. I hold her in as high regard as most of the participants of this little gnostic enclave regard PKD, but I'm more of a Jungian.

Re: integrating the shadow, you might be interested in Wizard of Earthsea. It's a quick read, deep (although not particularly intense emotionally.)

[rev max]

a friend of mine often makes a similar point - light doesn't necessarily mean good, dark doesn't necessarily mean bad

great reading btw, i am diggin on yer blog

[laura jane]

thanks max ! i like your blog too.

yes, that is exactly it -- more of this binary compartmentalizing.. like why should darkness always have to be bad? it's a really simplistic attitude.

slomo, i started reading the wizard of earthsea once, but then i stopped about a third of the way through.. NOT because i didn't like it -- i did. but i put it down because i had to start studying for finals, and i never picked it up again after the end of the semester. i think it's probably time for me to finish it.

[McCrvaey]

Yes, I have found the same thing. Lots of mysteries to be discovered in dark places. Without them we would be undeveloped and incomplete.