Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Strategic Monk

Home
Contemplative
Practices From the Inside Out: As Our Days Grow Darker

Practices From the Inside Out: As Our Days Grow Darker

Last updated on: September 22, 2018 at 8:19 pm by Greg Richardson

Practices From the Inside Out: As Our Days Grow Darker 2018-09-22T20:19:42-08:00 Greg Richardson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

As Our Days Grow Darker

It is easy for most of us to fool ourselves into forgetting our days grow darker each year.

We use electricity and machines to brighten our days with artificial light. Rarely do we take time to pause and remember, to take a breath and realize our days are changing.

Today is the day this year when darkness catches up with light. Our days have been brighter and longer in our hemisphere for six months, since March. Even where I live, in the land of endless summer, the rhythms of the seasons change each year.

The transformation from summer to autumn to winter happens in tiny increments here.

Many of us are reluctant to find summer passing into autumn today. We may feel the sands of this year spilling through our fingers and wish we could hold onto them. As our days grow darker we wish we had done all the things we set out to do last January or last June.

Some of us feel a weight of each passing day and each changing season. What happened to all those things we set out with such confidence to accomplish? Why are we no closer to meeting our expectations?

As our days grow darker we see our mistakes and weaknesses and failures with stark clarity. We thought we would be further along, further ahead by now.

It feels like we are running out of time.

If only we had two or three weeks more of summer. The year feels like a blanket which is too short to cover us, not enough to keep us warm.

Summer is over. It is autumn, and our days are growing darker. Where will we find the light to continue?

Finding Light As Our Days Grow Darker

People in our society use knowledge and technology to control and mask the primal extremes of our world.

Some of us create music and words to cover silence we find intimidating. We connect with people around the world when we are faced with our own solitude. Our lives are lit to help us be less afraid of the shadows.

Our lives are sustained and supported by a foundation of information and technology as our days grow darker.

We have grown accustomed to our protections. It is challenging for us to remember, or even imagine, what life is like without the ways we try to control it. Few of us experience what life is like without the comforts we have developed.

Many of us live in a world without real darkness. There is hardly any time, even while we sleep, when there is no artificial light in our lives.

We experience our technology as beneficial. Technology does allow us to do many things we could not do without it.

The lights we make for ourselves can also block out the light of the stars.

Our technology increases our potential. Will we use our potential, our new freedom, to make ourselves even more comfortable, or to explore beyond the edge of the light?

Some people use technology to distract themselves from the deepest aspects of their own lives. They are bathed in artificial light. The darkness beyond the light is darker because they are reluctant to explore it.

We can try to protect ourselves from our unknown fears out there in the dark, or we can explore hidden depths and dark truths. Will we shine our light into the darkness, learning to see in new ways?

Shining Brighter As Our Days Grow Darker

Sometimes I get up during the night and sit in the dark.

I wonder what it must have been like before we learned about electricity. Our only light was from the sun or from flame. Now we are surrounded by bright light which overwhelms the light of the stars in the dark sky. We obliterate darkness with lamps, headlights, the glow from so many screens, even our phones light up. It is hard to imagine what life was like when lighting our lives took more effort than flipping a switch or pushing a button.

We need stillness to pay attention to our deepest selves, to hear ourselves. Do we need darkness to appreciate our deepest selves, to see our true selves? How can we become enlightened if we do not spend any time in the dark? Do we recognize light if we are not acquainted with the dark? What is the relationship, the rhythm, which balances darkness and light?

Do we see ourselves more clearly as our days grow darker?

Darkness is where I think my deepest thoughts, and also where I rest and sleep. Maybe our deep thoughts are like the stars; always there but usually washed out by the lights we build to drive away the darkness. Maybe that rest is always available to us, whenever we tap into the depths of peaceful darkness within us.

Flashes of Color As Our Days Grow Darker

It is not a coincidence the trees around us burst into flashes of color as our days grow darker.

I am confident there are scientific reasons for the beautiful displays of autumn. One of the things I miss the most, here in the land of endless summer, is the foliage of autumn.

It is as if these trees are reminding us to shine more brightly as our days grow darker. Their transformation inspires us to shine our own light into the growing darkness.

Autumn tells us, even as our days grow darker, we still have time. Our year is not yet over. There is more we can accomplish. We have more time to prepare. The days may be getting shorter, but there is still time.

Our first step is looking the growing darkness in the eye. We will not gain anything by forgetting as our days grow darker.

What will we see more clearly as our days grow darker?

How will we shine our light into the darkness as our days grow darker this week?

[Image by Sarah McDevitt]

Greg Richardson is a spiritual life mentor and leadership coach in Southern California. He is a recovering attorney and university professor, and a lay Oblate with New Camaldoli Hermitage near Big Sur, California. Greg’s website is StrategicMonk.com, and his email address is [email protected].

Blog

Spiritual Practices

Previous Post

September 20, 2018

Practices From the Inside Out: Stepping Into Walking Prayer

Next Post

September 25, 2018 Listening to Sacred Stillness: Finding Our Path Into Stillness

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Blog Book Reviews Everything Else Guest Posts Leadership Monastic Strategies Neighborhood Pilgrimages Sacred Stillness Spiritual Direction Spiritual Practices Work

Select a Month May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was turned into a pillar of salt?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Sarah Rachel Lot’s wife Lot