In November the night comes sooner, the pace slows further, and we are more inclined to retreat into ourselves. Despite that inclination, however, we’ve been conditioned to fight against it. In the last journal entry, I wrote about the importance of rest, making it a priority, and how darker days mean more stillness. It’s a time for reflection and you can’t reflect unless you sit with the dark.
Are you afraid of the dark? Strange, considering such great things happen in that space. We spend 9 months in our mother’s murky womb preparing for our entrance into the bright world. A butterfly goes through metamorphosis obscured in a chrysalis in order to reach its final stage. A seed gestates in the soil, transforming, fighting its way out in the form of flowers. Nature shows us that darkness shapes light and how to harmonize our polarities.
“Life isn’t just about darkness or light, rather it’s about finding light within the darkness.” – Landon Parham
"Jardin de Flores" bloomed in the Spring of 2006 during a group modeling session in my life drawing class. The instructor encouraged the use of imaginative elements, so inspired by the dynamic of the models and the skull mask one of them wore, a garden of life, death, and rebirth emerged. The garden has been my greatest teacher. It’s taught me that there’s no need to struggle if I allow space for darkness and light to be expressed equally. Each polarity existing simultaneously, one shaping the other like the overlapping models that shape the flowers, blooming and wilting in the same plane. New seeds being planted on the bottom as death hangs at the top. Colorful yet washed in black ink all at once. Each element allowed to simply be, creating a different note. Yet when you step back and look at the entire picture, you see a harmonious song. Like a garden, we too can allow space for darkness and light to co-exist. You never know what beauty you will find there. Look out your window and you’ll see the trees losing their leaves. What you're actually witnessing is the life, once held by the leaves, being taken back into the earth.
In Part II, we’ll explore how to embrace the darkness in ourselves. Til next time!