Holding Darkness in Light — Global Purification
Today, we are witnesses to things that seem unexplainable to the heart or conscience — the violence and widespread chaos and death in Iraq being among the most central. We see things being done to human beings through the agency of other human beings that create shock and disbelief. The knowledge of purification at work brings some sense to the picture, but can’t entirely ease the heart’s pain or the suffering brought about by human decisions in which another way could have been taken.
Of the range of emotions that are common today, evoked by the process of purification, depression perhaps leads the rest. Depression has become widespread in this country, with many people feeling its symptoms to varying degrees and many seeking a way of getting help.
Yet, the understanding of global purification helps us realize that what has lain buried must be exposed, and the darkness that men have kept partly hidden from each other and from themselves must finally be brought to awareness in order to be set free. This doesn’t mean that all such motives have to be acted upon. It means that in the presence of feelings that emanate from the energies that are purifying, there is a choice to make. The choice could be for God and for the sacredness of life. The choice could be for love.
These choices come before us today, not only on the world stage, but also within our own everyday lives and within our own individual psyches. They ask us to hold in the perspective of light, the heightened intensity of emotional experience that is often part of this time — our anger, despair, or hopelessness that everything will turn out alright. Indeed, there are many sources of sorrow present today, and one doesn’t have to look far to find them.
When such feelings arise, and no matter what their particular quality, we need to remember that these feelings, no matter how legitimate they may seem in relation to external causes, are fueled by energies of darkness as they separate from light. These energies separate us from God and from our own deeper self, often becoming the familiar feelings of depression that many suffer from. The purification of the individual psyche brings these energies out of dormancy, creating within us a need to find a way of dealing with them. If we do not know that there is a spiritual event happening of huge proportions and that the answer to such an event is to anchor ourselves ever more deeply in truth, it will be much easier to get lost in the difficulty or to believe that how we feel is related to some particular external event. This is most often not the case. No external event causes the purification process. It is a process activated by light that stirs up feelings, attitudes, and motivations that are in need of healing, and these feelings and attitudes can attach themselves to any event.
Of the range of emotions that are common today, evoked by the process of purification, depression perhaps leads the rest. Depression has become widespread in this country, with many people feeling its symptoms to varying degrees and many seeking a way of getting help. Because of its increased presence in our collective consciousness, it seemed important to offer some thoughts on this phenomenon. These thoughts are contained in a series of articles called “A Spiritual View of Depression.” This series creates a context in which to view Depression — one that can help anchor the experience in a place of hope and trust. Such hope affirms that while the time we are in is difficult, the spiritual questioning and often of crisis that underlies depression can be helped greatly through spiritual understanding, and through seeking to learn the lessons that are being taught at a higher level.
The five articles on Depression may be of support and can be viewed as a series below:
A Spiritual View of Depression, Part I: The Teacher
A Spiritual View of Depression, Part II: The Hunger for Spiritual Light
A Spiritual View of Depression, Part III: The Boundary of Self
The Wisdom of Depression, Part IV: A Spiritual View
A Spiritual View of Depression, Part V: The Light That Shines in the Darkness
While the arrival into awareness of heightened feelings of distress or difficulty is one consequence of the global purification now taking place, it is also and simultaneously true that as purification continues, one can feel the light more strongly than before and experience new opportunities for spiritual awakening. Whether an individual soul will experience more of the difficulty or more of the awakening initially depends very much on the individual psyche, and is in keeping with the following principle:
Light amplifies light and activates darkness.
Today, no matter what experience you may be having of the purification presently taking place on the earth, know that you are intimately involved in the process, for no one is exempt and all are benefiting and will benefit from God’s grace as the light continues to do its work and as the earth moves forward into greater light.