It is well with my soul

On my recent visit to Florida I ran into an old friend who had some very wise thoughts to share with me

I think it's safe to say that most people who get involved in deep conversation in the middle of an Irish Pub are not talking about God. (Or are they?) But this was the topic between a friend and myself, this weekend. He brought up some interesting angles to many subjects that have been on my mind recently. Among the many gems he shared was an old story about The Taoist Farmer. 

There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. "Such bad luck," they said sympathetically. 

"Maybe," the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. "How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed.

"Maybe," replied the old man. The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. "Maybe," answered the farmer. The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. "Maybe," said the farmer.

The moral to this story is that many things may happen to us at any given moment, but they are neither bad nor good, they just simply are. It's not important to deem our situations or events 'good' or 'bad', the importance is in being present in the moment and experiencing them.The lessons to be learned are ones of acceptance and awareness. 
This reminds me on the Hymn written by Horatio Spafford, "It is well with my soul". 

When peace like a river attendeth my way. When sorrows like sea bellows roll. Whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say
It is well, It is well, with my soul. 

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Humans have a constant need to categorize everything good or evil, light or dark. But these two things come from the same source and can never be SEPARATE. 

by "BlueBlack" on Deviantart

I know I say this over and over but it's only because it is such a profound truth: God is the Source of all that is, therefore nothing can exist that is not of God. So if everything that exists comes from the Divine, both 'good' and 'bad', 'light' and 'dark' are creations of God. 
Older religious practices knew this to be true, and that is why we see the worship and reverence of Cthonic deities throughout history. But in modern times we relate fear and negativity to the 'darker' aspects of life, and subsequently find peace and hope in the 'lighter'. But we can see even in the Bible, God is the creator of all - and that includes 'evil'. 

I form the light, and I create darkness. I bring prosperity and create disaster. I the Lord do all these things. - Isaiah 45:7

Without darkness, we couldn't know light. Without evil, we wouldn't understand good. Both are necessary, and both are gifts from the Creator. God has a beautiful theme of duality and balance going on in this existence. Perhaps it is the main ingredient in existence itself. I think this is possibly the meaning of 'being created in God's image'. Even if we examine God we see both male and female aspects, the creation of prosperity and disaster, light and darkness. So it's a natural progression of the Divine scheme to experience good and bad, after all, in this existence we are the combination of the soul and the ego. They are both necessary and beneficial. To understand one is to know the other. 

I recently read a great analogy for this concept, that proposes the question "Does 'cold' exist?" and the likely answer would be "yes". But this is incorrect. 'Cold' is the absence of 'heat', and vise versa. 'Good' and 'evil' cannot exist on their own. 'Evil' is the absence of 'good', and 'good' the absence of 'evil'. They are not entities that exist on their own. And if you subscribe to the belief that we can create our own reality (we are in control of everything based on our perception of it) then fear, evil, and negativity can only come into existence when we ourselves 'create' them, or in other words remove love, good, and positivity - and in their absence we have the other.

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artwork by Jeff Wack

She is the mother of suffering, change and renewal and it is in her realm that the deep mysteries of healing and personal transformation are found.  Her names are Kali, Morrigan, Persephone, Hecate, Lilith, Ereshkigal, Mary Magdalene, Sekhmet and many others

It's necessary to understand the darkness so that we may prosper in the light

I absolutely LOVE Jane Merideth's book Journey To The Dark Goddess, and it's a perfect companion to this subject. In her book, Jane explains how it is necessary and pertinent to take regular visits into 'the darkness' and continue to strip away until all that remains is the basic level of our existence, our soul, so that we may learn, grow, and become One (yet again) with our Creator. 

We cannot visit the Dark Goddess while still keeping our place in the world, we cannot be in two places at once. This means we have to strip off - or more painfully, be stripped of - all our guises, props, and patterns that are so much a part of our lives we have almost come to think of them as ourselves. In stripping down to the core we find our intrinsic self, or our soul and that is where we meet with the Dark Goddess.

If we take the journey to the darkness - which is profoundly spiritual, and agonizingly unavoidable - as a time to strip away the ego and once again connect to that Divine spark that is within all of us, our soul, than we can learn and prosper (not only from the light, the good, the positive - but also) from the darkness.