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There is a touching innocence in the mystery of the human self.
Even after thousands of years of experience and reflection,
we still remain a mystery to ourselves...
there is something deeply unpredictable and unfathomable.
... Even when you approach your self tenderly
with the candle of receptive and reverential seeing,
all you achieve is a glimpse.
There is something in the sacred darkness of the mind
that does not trust the facility and quickness of light.
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Darkness resists the name.
Darkness knows the regions which the name
can never reach or hold or dream.
The dark must smile at the proud pretense of words
to hold networks of identity and meaning,
but the dark knows only too well the fragile surface on which words stand.
Darkness keeps its secrets.
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Light is diverse and plural:
sunlight, moonlight, dusk, dawn, and twilight.
The dark has only one name.
There is something deep in us
which implicitly recognizes the primacy and wonder of the dark.
Perhaps this is why we instinctively insist on avoiding and ignoring its mysteries.
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~ John O'Donohue
from Eternal Echoes
photo by Kathleen Connally
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