@jeanne-mayell If I may, I'd like to briefly address @enkasongwriter 's question. Darkness never goes away. It can't because it's the default condition. It can only be diminished and controlled, and even then only with great vigilance and effort. Attempting to banish darkness completely would result in the destruction of the light because light cannot be recognized or utilized without the presence of its counterpart. Whether we like it or not, the light needs at least some darkness in order to exist, but darkness has no such requirement.
@tgraf66 Well put. Famously expressed by John Steinbeck on New Year's Day, 1941:
"Speaking of the happy new year, I wonder if any year ever had less chance of being happy. It’s as though the whole race were indulging in a kind of species introversion — as though we looked inward on our neuroses. And the thing we see isn’t very pretty… So we go into this happy new year, knowing that our species has learned nothing, can, as a race, learn nothing — that the experience of ten thousand years has made no impression on the instincts of the million years that preceded.
Not that I have lost any hope. All the goodness and the heroisms will rise up again, then be cut down again and rise up. It isn’t that the evil thing wins — it never will — but that it doesn’t die. I don’t know why we should expect it to. It seems fairly obvious that two sides of a mirror are required before one has a mirror, that two forces are necessary in man before he is man. I asked [the influential microbiologist] Paul de Kruif once if he would like to cure all disease and he said yes. Then I suggested that the man he loved and wanted to cure was a product of all his filth and disease and meanness, his hunger and cruelty. Cure those and you would have not man but an entirely new species you wouldn’t recognize and probably wouldn’t like." --
@jeanne-mayell Steinbeck! :)
...why is there some residual darkness?
"Attempting to banish darkness would result in the destruction of the light because light cannot be recognized or utilized without the presence of its counterpart. Whether we like it or not the light needs at least some darkness in order to exist but darkness has no such requirement.
1-To me, this is backwards. For me, Light is the default and darkness is a choice. Light NEVER "needs" darkness, but darkness can be obliterated by one tiny starlight, one smile, one choice to love rather than fear. One hope instead of despair.
Putting on my English Lit hat, it seems to me that Steinbeck did not say that light "needed" darkness, he said humanity doesn't seem to learn. Take this thought Jeanne quoted, "It's as though the whole race were indulging in a kind of species introversion... It isn't that the evil thing wins—it never will – but it doesn't die." I totally agree with that thought because evil doesn't die, that is true—but not because it has a life and power beyond the Light, no, evil doesn't die because humanity CHOOSES the dark side of self. Yes there are both sides of the mirror—but the default not only in us, but in the Universe Itself, is LIGHT.
Think of it this way, darkness cannot obliterate the Light it can only dim it. The merest pinprick of light (a star in the sky) will lighten the darkness of the evening sky. That of course is the easy part for that is the Universe itself. Whereas people, humanity, well yeah, boy was Steinbeck on point when he said, "Then I suggested that the man he loved and wanted to cure was a product of all his filth and disease and meanness, his hunger and cruelty. Cure those and you would have not man but an entirely new species." Yes. Yes indeed. And THAT is exactly why humanity is here. To CHOOSE to face our own darknesses. To CHOOSE the default— LIGHT—and to face that which is dark in our species. We are the stars, we just don't realize it. (part 2 to follow)
Part 2-Spirit said it better than I can & this but a tiny portion of what I received in a channeling in March 1990:
...It is not enough to merely eliminate the negative; one must first comprehend its part in the Wholeness, acknowledge it, heal it and then allow it to go to its individual and joyous place in the Wholeness of All...
...Yes My Children, there is darkness. And yes, it seeks to destroy the Light. Ah, but Children of My Heart, the darkness is in truth nothing more than pieces of creation that reject the integration of self or have been rejected BY self. Darkness is but the DIS-integration and the denial of the Wholeness. It is the implosion of the creative force continuing to create while distending the parts of creation rather than coordinating and unifying them. Darkness is but the hurt of the severed creation screaming in the silence of exclusion. To heal the dark, one must integrate all singularities of oneself.
I believe each soul has to learn the lesson of Light vs darkwrongess internally, individually, for themselves. Because there are always an infinity of souls in process and the balance is constantly trembling, our ongoing lesson is how to use our free will...gift of the Creator...to CHOOSE that Light. The battle is one we must each win individually and then, and only then, can we learn it as a species.
It seems to me that Jeanne's vision in 2014 indicated maybe, just maybe, humanity was going to let the lesson stick this time and Steinbeck's thought of a "new species" might even occur. I like to focus on that, not on those who are stuck in the dark, covering their own eyes so they are unable to see starlight in the dark or the dawn in which every day rises ...as a default...as Light.
LibraLink resonance. My thoughts /perceptions on this and some of my most profound experiences on this Journey lead me to the conclusion: We are the Light and the Dark is drawn to us to be integrated/loved in to the Light. That "the bad behaviors/Evil that we deem The Dark is hurt/fear/anger at not loving/accepting Self and believing Self is lovable. God IS Love. Too many "Christians" are raised to believe that God is a limited and vengeful Being filled with Wrath waiting to send us in to Eternal Oblivion. Religion has taught us thus." a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs." While religion and spirituality intersect? "
“Spirituality is recognizing and celebrating that we are all inextricably connected to one another by a power greater than all of us, and that our connection to that powered to one another is grounded in love and belonging. Practicing spirituality brings a sense of perspective, meaning, and purpose to our lives.”~Brene Brown, Rising Strong
"Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we will ever do"
Religion? is used to control the masses Spirituality is used to lift the masses. In my mind anyway. In my mind we are on a Journey to "re-member" who we are. We are no where we are now here. We are everywhere, every where.
"Spirituality does not come from religion. It comes from our soul. No one is born with religion. Everyone is born with spirituality.” Anthony Douglas Williams-Inside the Divine Pattern"
"Kelley Kitley
Spirituality:
- Where do I find Meaning?
- How do I feel Connected?
- How do I want to Live?
Spirituality is the process of personal transformation and exploration. Prayer is talking. Meditation is listening.
There can be an overlap of religion and spirituality, one does not need to exist without the other they can be separate. Some people identify as spiritual, some religious, some both."
@tesseract We will need to agree to disagree on this point, I think. ;-) Light, by definition, requires energy to generate. Darkness needs nothing - no input, no energy, no effort - only patience. When light goes away or runs out of energy, what happens? We return to the default low-energy situation - darkness - because that is what we have: the absence of light. Darkness cannot run out of energy because it has no energy and requires none to exist. Light, on the other hand must have constant energy input to remain viable and useful. Therefore, it needs to be said that darkness does not "seek to destroy light"; it's far too lazy to put forth the effort. ;-)
In addition, while darkness defines light by its contrast, light defines darkness in the same way, so each requires the other to exist. If all we had was darkness, how could you explain light? If all we had was light, again, how would you define it?
One last point: darkness is not in and of itself bad or negative. Those are concepts that our minds have attached to it because (I think I've said this before somewhere on here) we are visual creatures. The majority of the information our brains process is visual, and that cannot be done in darkness. Without sight, our minds conjure things that "might be out there" that could harm us, creating and stoking our fears and then associating those fears with darkness. The darkness cannot harm us; on its own, it is comforting and soothing in its own way. It is our own visually-dependent brains that hold onto the fears that they themselves create.
Some of those fears may be justified based on experience, but while danger can hide in the cover of darkness, it can be just as easily hidden in broad daylight. Our last President hid his evil in plain sight, and far too many refused to see it, even as plainly visible as it was.
When we are in times of distress, whether mental, physical, emotion, or spiritual, we say that we are in a "dark place", and we are happy when it's over. However, most people would agree that those "dark places" teach us the most and are a necessary and formative aspect of who we become when when we come out of it. Do not fear the darkness; it has much to teach us, but also do not worship the light because your eyes can deceive you far more easily.
Is not the Light and Dark part of the same Whole? And thus must embrace to achieve said Wholeness in its entirety?
1 because 2000 characters is just not enough!
I SOOO love a great discussion! Of course we can agree to disagree, especially since you appear to be writing from the literal/scientific frame of reference while I am writing from a metaphysical/mystic frame of reference. Western culture wants those to be opposite sides—they aren't. As a Libra, I do listen to other views. I am not often swayed... ? but I am always intrigued.
I am a word person. I frickin' LOVE words, how they flow together, and how language & linguistics move, change, evolve, and represent what humans try to communicate. Language is a living thing, and one of my dearest friends. Writing is my comfort zone. Speaking, not so much, as I tend to ramble (more) ? without my keyboard.
I suspect our actual discussion topic is the question, "What does humanity default to, good or evil?"
The short version of my view is that humans default to goodness (aka Light-with-a-cap-L) yet too often choose negativity/error/evil (darkwrongness) when they are incarnate on the planet.
I don't disagree at all with your facts about energy, light (no cap) and dark. And OF COURSE the word "dark" has become impaled with nasty connotations because language is that living, changing, evolving reality—mea culpa, I have done some of that impaling.
You write that light requires energy and dark does not. OK. I certainly am not going to argue what is out of my knowledge base. If that is a scientific fact, I certainly accept it.
Here's a thought from the mystic view tho: Life is our "energy" and when Life goes away, we take our "energy" and explore whatever we find at the end of that ubiquitous white (light) tunnel. We are souls first, and humans second. The Creator—in my lexicon—is referenced by the word Light (cap L) and IS all Energy, including dark "energy." I shared what Spirit told me about "dark energy" earlier, so I'll just let that stand. One does not try to outwrite Spirit.
2-When I write that humanity defaults to Light (capped) I am saying that we default to our Creator's Goodness. Some people lose that Goodness over lifetimes. The former guy is like that, but even he did not start out that way, as a soul. Somewhere along the soul line he made some pretty horrific choices & blocked that goodness until it dried up and floated away. He has dire consequences coming, if not on earth, then most certainly beyond it. Clearly, I believe in reincarnation, altho I totally want him to get his consequences here and now!
I do believe evil exists, I just do not believe humanity—souls—default to negativity/evil. It was that word "default" that set me thinking on this topic. We (humanity) learn evil, souls choose it with free will and embrace it, but it is NOT our origination default. It is, however, "why" we are down here, and each life is a course list for that soul journey. Sometimes we flunk out.
Neither "darkness" nor "power" are intrinsically good or bad. Agree! I've even taught that very thing for years. It is how we use power and how we respond to darkness that gives definition to those words.
As to learning in times of distress? I have no disagreement with you there either. "Dark places" are vital. It was through the birth and moments later, the death of my daughter that I came to truly understand a wholeness beyond-self and even more, of birth beyond life.
Just for the record, I do not fear the dark—although I am sensibly wary of those like the former guy and his cohorts—who misuse power and harm others. Nor do I "worship" light. I do give heartfelt thanks to my Creator, whom I often call "The Light."
As for "your eyes can deceive you" of course they can. Are we not right now living through a plethora of people doing just that? For my own sight, I refer you Antoine de Saint-Exupery:
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.
Got another topic? Wanna revisit anything on this one? I'm in the zone!
I love this discussion. Thanking all for your perspectives. We can agree to disagree but I think really we are just looking at something from different perspectives and it takes all viewpoints to understand something, like the parable of the three blind people and the elephant.
Here is another viewpoint: the default of the human psyche is fear.
Being in fear is the easiest way for us to be. (I am using the term "fear" instead of darkness, because fear is the underlying response we have that begets hate, and darkness is a metaphor that might be too vague in any discussion where we are trying to get at the nub of the nub. Evil is another metaphor I don't want to use here).
In cave days, we needed fear to survive so much danger in the wild. We would not have survived as a species without this default setting in our brains.
But fast forward to 2021. We live in a safe world. You could argue that point, but it is very safe compared to cave days.
Fear is the underlying feeling that sparks hate, suspicion, negativity towards others.
So should we all live in fear and hate in order to survive? Of course not! We have created a safe society. Danger is not lurking all around us any more. But we read about danger and we think we are in constant danger. That causes unnecessary stress, and stress is actually dangerous to our health. So unnecessary fear is dangerous.
So what we need now is self care, self love, and factual information with perspective, and we need to get away from media-created stress by creating a buffer in our brains that helps us to sense the world directly, rather than rely on information designed to scare us. Meditation does that. Loving kindness meditation really helps with that. Laughter and being in nature also does that. Trees, earth, mountains, streams and oceans help.
We also need wisdom and heart strength, empathy, courage, and love, as well as caution and discernment in order to thrive. When we feel truly strong and whole, we rise up and can face those who might harm us with empowerment and compassion, but not foolhardiness or co-dependency.
So bottom line, we need fear but not fear induced by stuff in our heads that we get from outside sources. We know that the media knows that they sell clicks with fear. We know that politicians, especially authoritarians have gained power using fear. We need to be awake, senses open and when fear comes to an awake person, then it comes in the form of a gift, not a harmful illusion.
Okay, getting off my soapbox. LOL.
This? So needs to happen!! While we still have a USPS ( Guardian US)
Unfortunately, it seems to be a revolving exit.
Lawrence, I was trying to find your recent post about March being indictment time. Seems spot on now that the taxes have finally been turned over to the DA. Fingers crossed.
I read on CNN that T will run again in 2024, so you see this happening or will something happen (jail) before then? I’ve read in the predictions about Harris winning and no Rep was predicted to win, so I was curious as to what you guys and girls see happening with T.
It's unusual for one to receive a high number of gaming-related predictions on the read the future night. All of them are related to Capcom. What can it mean? Are the readings related to my interests?
Here is another viewpoint: the default of the human psyche is fear......Fear is the underlying feeling that sparks hate, suspicion, negativity towards others.
YES. I totally agree with you on this. I think that ONE BEST THING we can do to elevate humanity is to slow the propagation of fear. I keep coming back to this in my own life-- Jeanne asked in another thread "What has the last year taught you"? And I said that I am an anchor for people around me. By that, I mean I damp down fear. I am a Libra and a scientist (besides my "weird" aspects). I see all sides of every situation. I am logical as well as intuitive. I "freak out" less and less and less as I grow. I am slowly realizing that using logic and Zen to neutralize fear is a BIG DEAL (fundamental). And I am coming to believe that working to expose the illusions behind fear may be the best service we can render to humanity.
Here is another viewpoint: the default of the human psyche is fear......Fear is the underlying feeling that sparks hate, suspicion, negativity towards others. --Jeanne Mayell
I am coming to believe that working to expose the illusions behind fear may be the best service we can render to humanity. --@Iridium
@Iradium, I think you are on to something in a way I have not thought of before. If we can help to spread hope, understanding, and self love, and well, love, then we can do a great service. So many of you who post here have helped us all calm down, feel grounded. I so appreciate that. Then the rest of us who post, feel more able to help others calm down and stay grounded. There are also thousands of people who don't post but who read the forum, some of whom write to me privately and tell me how much your posts have helped them stay calm and in turn how it helps them calm others.
It's a multiplier effect!
The loving kindness meditation I do with people on Wednesday night's Circle of Light, also spreads calm and grounding -- a meditation to spread love, peace, safety, and calm. I hadn't consciously thought of it that way, but that is what it does.
The loving kindness meditation I do with people on Wednesday night's Circle of Light, also spreads calm and grounding -- a meditation to spread love, peace, safety, and calm. I hadn't consciously thought of it that way, but that is what it does.
Yes, I have only been to one of your meditation sessions, but it surely does do that and it is a great service! And thank you for the validation-- it means a lot coming from you.
Weren't there several predictions that a 3rd party would form in the wake of the previous administration being voted out? I read this am that Corey Lewandowski is going to be the head of a newly created PAC for the purpose of supporting the nomination and run for the fka Impotusx2?
I wanted to weigh in on the light vs dark conversation - and while I don't have a lot new to add, I want to reinforce that we bring about what we focus on - and that's part of why the Trump years were so dark. It seemed hopeless and it's thanks to a lot of people (both here and elsewhere) that we were able to envision that darkness being fought back.
If we continue to focus on the positive, we'll bring it about. Consider the Stimulus. It sounds as if the House is going to pass it with the minimum wage piece intact. It'll go to the Senate, and because the parliamentarian has already ruled it unusable, we've probably added another week to the bill being passed by this. This will be frustrating overall. But the House is doing this intentionally - just like impeachment, they want everyone on record. As the debate about what to do with that portion of it takes place we'll continue to shine a light on the bad apples in Congress. Ultimately, the stimulus will pass (not an intuition, just - politics) without it, we'll move on to the next fights, and we'll continue to showcase where the darkness lies. If we continue to focus on that light, 2022 and 2024 might provide some very tangible outcomes that make that minimum wage increase likely to pass - just not for awhile.
And ultimately, the best news on this is that while Congressional Republicans are stalled on this bill, it enjoys bipartisan support in both the American people and across the country at the local and state levels. This is all part of the process - both political and "light vs dark"
-Dave