Alright, Mr. Light Warrior,
what about this, then?
Have you ever stopped to listen
to your own dismissive
and reductive rhetoric?
Ever taken a second
to contemplate what exactly it is
you are “warring for”
as a self-proclaimed “light warrior?”
If you truly
took inventory,
you’d find
you’ve unwittingly aligned
with the wrongful right
you purport to despise:
same vehicle, new paint job—
the difference is slight.
This “light good, darkness bad”
stance can’t pass the smell test,
hell, it can’t even pass muster:
Under scrutiny,
the truth’ll be
discovered.
Your argument
crumbles
like a house of cards
under the slightest pressure.
Mr. Light Warrior,
tell me,
all things being equal,
would you rather find yourself
in an FBI interrogation room or
a vibey after-hours jazz bar?
Under the harsh glare
of DMV industrial lighting
or lounging in a shadowy boudoir?
A fluorescent-lit
department-store dressing room,
or the forest at midnight
under a black sky dotted with stars?
A dentist’s office
or the desert at dusk?
I rest my case.
I mean, sure,
you’re a “warrior,”
right up until you’re blinded
by the highway patrol flashlight
thrust in your face
as you roll down your
driver’s side window.
Anything that feels good,
that brings pleasure,
that fosters transcendence,
any of the rad things
that makes life worth living—
those holy moments
where we can let go,
lose ourselves in bliss—
are invariably better
in dim settings:
Everybody wants to
experience ecstasy,
but I’ve yet to meet anyone
who wants to get it done
under a floodlight.
Praise be to the darkness,
to the mystery,
to the unknown,
to the whisper of infinite possibility
that lies in wait there.
Either way,
say goodbye to the
limitations inherent in
false binaries—
they’re so last millennium.
We’re entering the 4th
and then
5th dimension,
whether we’re ready or not.
And this deceptive illusion
of “darkness bad, light good”
grew inevitably from
imbalanced valuations,
which are, in fact, patently racist,
and downright misogynistic.
They are rooted in
warmongering white supremacy
and patriarchy—
and the archeology
backs this up.
A fish is afforded the privilege
of being oblivious
to the very water he is swimming in
by virtue of the life-giving power
in which he is immersed.
Mr. Light Warrior, you too have been
“hashtag-blessed” with the luxury
of never noticing
the way racism and sexism
are enfolded in the colonial
brogue of your native tongue.
English is spilling
with none-to-subtle
passive-aggressive
oppression.
Stop being “blinded by the light.”
It is narrow-minded and shortsighted to
bow to the artificial father-based concept
that light is inherently better than
darkness.
Darkness is the is-ness;
the dark matter
that this universe is made of.
Darkness asks nothing of anything,
while light is dependent on darkness
for the counterpoint to its very existence.
If ever you are ready,
drop the titles
and the names and the labels—
all the ways your ego tries to
identify.
Seek
the inspiration
that made
the making.
You were born of this darkness,
of this tzumtzum,
of the sacred womb.
You were born of the drumbeat-thud
of your mother’s throbbing heart,
pulsing blood.
Darkness is your home.
From darkness we originate
and to darkness we will return,
merging as one
with the most ubiquitous
substance in existence,
humble in its unending
grace and limitless patience.
If ever you are ready—
the cave’s mouth
awaits you;
the sacred awaits you.
Come
to the awe,
to potential,
to the bedrock,
the foundation,
the backdrop,
the liminal,
the primacy.
Go even deeper,
enter the sweetness,
go even deeper.
Only from well within
this cavernous midnight
can you see
how the darkness
just gleams.
***
Photo: “Dark Forest” by Joanna Sienkiewicz
