Short story: Is darkness still a part of light?
By emptychair
@innertalks (23061)
Australia
July 25, 2025 9:28pm CST
The old Zen master was found once in his room, seated on a cushion, on the floor, in the dark, in the middle of the night.
The student checking up on him, asked him:
“Why are you not sleeping at this late hour, oh, master?”
The master looked at his student, and replied:
“Darkness needs to be met with darkness for it to be seen as light, remember that, and do not think otherwise, as when you meet darkness with light, it is no longer darkness, but, nevertheless, darkness should be explored too, for its own merits too, as if, afterall, darkness had no merits, why would there be darkness.”
"Darkness could be said to be our inner shadow, but in truth, it is God's shadow in us, that exists in us, because we have turned our back on his light of love. Turn back to love, and darkness is no longer then a shadow, but a part of the light too."
"Darkness is always with you, as you can never be the source of all light, God."
"Let that darkness in you stay connected to God too, and you will not notice it as darkness, but see it as light, in the light of God."
Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com
The old Zen master was sitting in the dark, and yet, he was looking into the light of God.
4 people like this
5 responses
@arunima25 (91985)
• Bangalore, India
26 Jul
Beautiful! Darkness must have some merit to have existed. And it's so important to connect to the darkness within and acknowledge it. Only then one can work on it and move towards the lighted path.
In our faith, darkness is seen as the absence of light. Once you illuminate things with light of knowledge, darkness goes away.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23061)
• Australia
26 Jul
Darkness could be the other side of light, or light's nemesis, or light's shadow.
We can be fooled into thinking that the light of knowledge removes the darkness of dimness, or lack of knowledge, but is that really so, as even with knowledge, darkness must remain to keep us honest, so to speak, as knowledge is not set in light, but is more a subset of it, and not, or never the full light itself.
So, knowledge must be continually tested, or even that knowledge, too strongly held onto, will lead us back to darkness again too.
@innertalks (23061)
• Australia
29 Jul
@arunima25 Wisdom is certainly needed to apply knowledge correctly, and some type of a conscience, or compassion too, as knowledge used destructively against someone else, or even against another nation, is not good either.
@arunima25 (91985)
• Bangalore, India
29 Jul
@innertalks Yes, knowledge too strongly held on to can take us back to darkness. Wisdom is what makes us flexible. The morals don't stay same in all the situations. There is a bigger picture to be seen.
1 person likes this
@yanzalong (19074)
• Indonesia
26 Jul
All areas will be dark when the sunlight is blocked. The earth is lit when it faces the sun, while the other side of the earth shall be darkened.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23061)
• Australia
26 Jul
Well, mankind has developed their own sources of light to use while the Sunlight is gone, but when referring to spiritual light, when God is gone from our lives, we always remain in darkness then, despite any attempt to create our own artificial sources of light too, as there is only one real source of spiritual light, and that is God.
@Vikingswest1 (7369)
• United States
26 Jul
One could argue that there is no such thing as darkness, just an absence of light.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23061)
• Australia
26 Jul
One could argue many things, but is light absolutely everywhere?
The scientists claim that light moves across space, and sort of fills that space with itself, but does a vacuum have light in it still too?
Was darkness there before the big bang lightened things up?
But, I am talking more here about spiritual light, and spiritual darkness, and when we are not total light like God is, some darkness remains in us, and probably will always be there, until we make it into Heaven, or in the other worlds.
Only God can be total light, and within the world, light has degrees of intensity to it too, and lesser degrees of light, can be referred to as darkness.
@Shiva49 (27473)
• Singapore
26 Jul
Darkness cannot rule our souls.
The soul is always resplendent but with the right attitude.
In a way it is like - one can be alone but need not feel lonely.
We have our creator with us all the time - the soul stays connected more when we have time to reflect and ponder.
1 person likes this
@innertalks (23061)
• Australia
26 Jul
Our soul is constructed from the same love, and light, as which God is, but, then our mind, and emotions, can pull down a blind over our soul, and our heart, and so we live then unnecessarily in our self-made darkness.
Yes, we need to stay connected to our soul, and to God, via our soul too, to live from the same light, and love, as which God does.
@innertalks (23061)
• Australia
27 Jul
@Shiva49 Yes, surely most people would agree that there must be a greater purpose for all of this than meets the eye, and whenever we place our eye on a greater purpose, we live a greater life.
@Shiva49 (27473)
• Singapore
27 Jul
@innertalks We need to carry on with an awareness that we are here at the bidding of our creator.
There are sights and sounds here to distract us, but the underlying purpose should not be forgotten. After all, we have to return home one day and so each day is precious.
Staying connected soothes our soul that it is not drifting but firmly anchored to a greater purpose.
1 person likes this
@innertalks (23061)
• Australia
29 Jul
Yes, both light, and darkness, play their roles in creation, and for creation to work seamlessly, we need to see that they supplement each other, and are not antagonistic, towards each other.
The great psychologist, Carl Jung once said this about light and darkness.
"One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious."
And yet, the imagined figures of light should not be ignored either, as we need both light, and dark, in our life.
