The Light in Darkness

Meister Eckhart wrote, “Truly, it is in darkness that one finds the light,” in the Tao Te Ching we find

“The path into the light seems dark The path forward seems to go back, the direct path seems long,” To ascend there is a need for descent, and to go down into the darkness of oneself is an integral part of the journey. In applying the principles of the Alexander Technique, sooner or later there will be an encountering of the darkness within one self, and in this there are levels. So often poor training does not prepare the pupil for this journey; indeed what often occurs is quite the opposite of what is needed. There is, for instance, an induction of a misleading lightness into the system, a form self-calming, or a guise of happiness akin to that borne out of one-sided affirmations. For those seeking change these can in turn lead to one of the great and universal dangers that of accidie - dejection or premature despair. John Cassian referred to this condition as the “midday demon”, and it is spoken of in Psalm 91 as the “destruction that wasteth at noonday”. In The Alexander Technique AS I See It Mr MacDonald set down five fundamental principles which taken together “are the life-blood of the Alexander Technique”. They are: Recognition of the Force of Habit Inhibition and Non-Doing Recognition of Faulty Sensory Awareness Sending Directions The Primary Control He placed his words with care, thus we find Force of Habit at the beginning. It is to be noted that he uses the word “force”. In order to see something of this force that drives habit, there is the necessity for the cultivation of an attention, a specific form and quality of attention that can only be gained through alignment with seeing. Seeing what I am and what is driving me at deeper and deeper levels. This practice of seeing calls for coming inside oneself and is a long first step towards freedom. The coming inside is not introspection, neither is it analysing; it is in part to bear witness to the seeing. What then is the darkness? St Gregory refers to a certain kind of darkness as “being the hidden degrees of God”. The Corpus Hermeticum< speaks of “This evil of ignorance …” In the Aurora Consurgens certain elements of the nigredo are called the ‘horrible darknesses of the mind”. Jung speaks of the darkness of the unconsciousness, and in his Psychology and Alchemy relates “the dread and resistance which every natural human being experiences when it comes to delving too deep into himself, is at the bottom, the fear of the journey to Hades.” In the symbolic language of alchemical literature Nigredoor or Melanosis: the work of blackening is considered to be extremely subtle and dangerous, involving a descent into hell and death, a death to the world of illusion. Molly Tuby wrote, “… discovering one’s shadow is always pioneer work. There is no general rule … Accepting uncertainty is the best policy, living with constant doubt and questioning. To accept the shadow is to be crucified between one’s light and one’s dark sides, never sure which one has to be lived, because only after one has suffered utmost conflict can a third be born, which is neither one or the other, but something which comes closer to the totality of one’s nature. Experience confirms that the conscious realisation of the shadow and the integration of its qualities is always therapeutic because it is an important step towards wholeness … “ (The Guild of Pastoral Psychology Lecture No 216). If one is not properly guided in working it out for oneself then the Alexander Technique, a technique that is meant to lead the seeker into the unknown, leads in the opposite direction away from the unknown, from the facing of one’s Nothingness. The Nada the Nothing, as Mr Macdonald reminded his pupils, is not nothing. Thus it is as said in The Little Prince: “… The land of tears is so mysterious.” For along the path(s) to the Way there are many tears, for a considerable period tears for oneself, but it may so become that one receives the “gift of tears”, so frequently spoken of in Orthodox spiritual texts such as the Philokalia, and is enabled to weep for others.

Comments

[George]

Something to confirm this from one of the Indian successors of Buddha Ashvagosa,
"Just as a fruit may have flesh that is bitter to the taste and yet is sweet when eaten ripe, So heroic effort, through the struggle it involves, is bitter and yet, in accomplishment of the aim, its mature fruit is sweet." Saundarananda 16.93, translation by Mike Cross