10. A Letter from the Earth about the Darkness in the Winter

January 11th, 2016

 

Dear Nancy

You walk through the darkness at this time of year. The longest day has past now, and yet the dark lingers in the morning. You wake to pitch black skies and by the time you come home from work, darkness once again descends upon my landscape.

In your houses now, you have lights and barely experience that darkness. Take some time to go outside at night, Nancy. Let the darkness permeate your consciousness. Let that fecund reality settle into your psyche.

In many of your spiritual traditions, you worship the light. And light is obviously very important, but much of creation happens in total darkness. Think of the beginning of human life. The encounter of the sperm and egg? Total darkness. That darkness is the incubator for all of life. The fetus exists in darkness for months, slowly evolving into a functioning body.

Not only the darkness, but also the coldness that settles into earth at this season is important for nature. The animals, the trees, the ground all get a break. Harmful insects die, the trees go within, your annuals disappear, but your perennials hold life carefully within their roots and little stems, waiting for spring to wake them up again.

And you, too, need this break. As much as you humans complain about the cold, you also like the excuse to spend more time indoors, cuddling up with a book and a blanket, or watching TV. You enjoy your comfortable beds. You enjoy lighting candles and hibernating a bit yourselves at winter.

I created life out of this darkness. And now your scientists realize that 95% of all life is dark space and dark matter, of which they really know very little. Ah, Nancy, that is the mystery which I continue to unravel.

I hope a day never goes by when you forget to marvel at this created world. The place of earth is one of my crowning glories among the galaxies of life. Take time to notice the darkness.

The Christmas cactus as you call it can only bloom when it has those long days. Much of life requires this darkness in other ways. Humans, need the darkness of sleep for rejuvenation.

So Nancy, when you consider this winter time, celebrate the darkness and be grateful for the long nights that are important to life on your planet.

So I encourage you to go out into the night and early morning darkness and experience it more fully.

With much love,
Your designing, ever creating, Gaia God