The Questions That Come at Dusk

I will love the light for it shows me the way; yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars.
—Og Mandino, The Greatest Secret in the World  

Sister Joan Chittister describes darkness as a fertile place for our questions with no easy answers: 

There is a part of the soul that stirs at night, in the dark and soundless times of day, when our defenses are down and our daylight distractions no longer serve to protect us from ourselves. What we suppress in the light emerges clearly in the dusk. It’s then, in the still of life, when we least expect it, that questions emerge from the damp murkiness of our inner underworld…. These questions do not call for the discovery of data; they call for the contemplation of possibility.   

Unable to answer the questions life asks of us, we come to humble clarity and service to others.  

There is a light in us that only darkness itself can illuminate. It is the glowing calm that comes over us when we finally surrender to the ultimate truth of creation: that there is a God and we are not it…. The clarity of it all is startling. Life is not about us; we are about the project of finding Life. At that moment, spiritual vision illuminates all the rest of life. And it is that light that shines in darkness. 

Only the experience of our own darkness gives us the light we need to be of help to others whose journey into the dark spots of life is only just beginning. It’s then that our own taste of darkness qualifies us to be an illuminating part of the human expedition. Without that, we are only words, only false witnesses to the truth of what it means to be pressed to the ground and rise again. Darkness is a mentor of what it means to carry the light we ourselves have brought to blaze into the unknown parts of life so that others may also see and take hope….  

The light we gain in darkness is the awareness that, however bleak the place of darkness was for us, we did not die there. We know now that life begins again on the other side of the darkness. Another life. A new life. After the death, the loss, the rejection, the failure, life does go on. Differently, but on. Having been sunk into the cold night of black despair—and having survived it—we rise to new light, calm and clear and confident that what will be, will be enough for us. 

Growth is the boundary between the darkness of unknowing and the light of new wisdom, new insight, new vision of who and what we ourselves have become. After darkness we are never the same again. We are only stronger, simpler, surer than ever before that there is nothing in life we cannot survive, because though life is bigger than we are, we are meant to grow to our fullest dimensions in it.  

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Learning from the Mystics: Thomas Merton Quote of the Week:  “We make ourselves real by telling the truth.  Man can hardly forget that he needs to know the truth, for the instinct to know is too strong in us to be destroyed.  But he can forget how badly he also needs to tell the truth.  We cannot know truth unless we ourselves are conformed to it.” – from No Man is an Island, p.198. Reflection  There is no freedom where there is no truth. The spiritual traditions of the world, both East and West, value the importance of truth.  Why?  Because deceit, half-truths, and lies are things that block our ability to live within reality. Within Christianity, there is Christ, the singular person around whom all Christian thought and practice center.  It is right there in the title. Christ-ianity. This Christ of faith is spoken of as “the Truth” in the Gospel of John.  “Jesus answered them, ‘I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)   Now, there is more than one way to interpret this verse, but for now let us focus on the radical claim that Jesus is “the Truth” in light of Merton’s words. Note the difference, though, that John’s Gospel often capitalizes “Truth” but here Merton does not… Merton reminds us, We are made real by the truth.We need to know the truth.We instinctually need the truth.We can forget that we need to tell the truth.We must conform to the truth to know it.  Now, why is the capitalization important?  Because all little truths help us to recognize the Truth. As we are made unreal by untruths, seek to know untruths, work against our wiring and pursue untruths, desire to tell untruths, and conform ourselves to untruths… the more and more we insulate ourselves from the Christ.  Christ is the Logos, the logic, the reason, the blueprint for everything and everyone everywhere, and even the small truths that appear to be unspiritual or non-religious find their ground of being in the Divine Truth.  So all this goes to say, as we acclimate ourselves to small truths, the more and more able we are to be free to live within and to be liberated on a larger scale by the Truth, who is Jesus of Nazareth. Prayer  Heavenly Father, we confess that we are addicted to untruths.  We ground and find our being in deceit and we can recognize the slavery that results from it.  By your Truth, set us free to become the Children of God.  Allow us the ability to notice truth, to value it, to know it, to speak it, and to cherish it, that we might, through those smaller truths, come to know You as our Truth.  Amen and amen.

Life Overview:  Who is He: Thomas Merton, OCSO (Order of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance)  When and Where: Born in Prades, France on January 31, 1915.  Died in Samut Prakan, Thailand on December 10, 1968.  Why He is Important: Merton is one of the clearest examples of action and contemplation of the 20th century.  Most Known For: Merton was a prolific writer and commentator on the contemplative life and global issues.  He was good friends with the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, and Thich Nhat Hahn, all while living as a Trappist monk in the cloistered monastery of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Trappist, Kentucky. Notable Works to Check Out: Merton’s Palace of Nowhere The Contemplative HeartChristian Meditation: Experiencing the Presence of God Turning to the Mystics Podcast

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