'Night-time is womb time’ (John O’Donohue)
(29.01.24)
Dear companions,
As I write this latest fruitful muse two of my five-year-old grandsons have just completed their very first day of school. It strikes me that the step from early home life to the first year of education and the intense peer environment is somewhat like leaving the womb. Of course, the two boys in my mind and heart today get to come back home again at 3pm. And don’t we all need such respite from the public gaze and social expectation. Perhaps the cycle of life is just that, heading out into the world for a daily adventure and returning home again for rest, recuperation, and a chance to recover and tend to the nurture of the heart. In this life we need both adventure and nurture, risk and retreat, achievement and rest, public exposure, and private respite.
Two dynamics, two phenomena, learning to live in a reciprocal relationship within the context of our very personal and unique situations and circumstances. In my fruitful muse for this month, I mainly want to quote from an exquisite passage of the late John O’Donohue’s Anam Cara in which he speaks of such a relationship. May it read to you as an invitation and blessing.
The following passage awakens us to the enchantment of the gifts of light and darkness, may it assist us to breathe with our planet and to attend to its natural graces:
If you have ever had occasion to be out early in the morning before dawn breaks, you will have noticed that the darkest time of night is immediately before dawn. The darkness deepens and becomes more anonymous. If you had never been to the world and never known what a day was, you couldn’t possibly imagine how the darkness breaks, how the mystery and colour of a new day arrives. Light is incredibly generous, but also gentle. When you attend to the way the dawn comes, you learn how light can coax the dark. The first fingers of light appear on the horizon; ever so deftly and gradually, they pull the mantle of darkness away from the world. Quietly before you is the mystery of a new dawn, the new day. Emmerson said: ‘No-one suspects the days to be gods’ …
The world rests in the night. Trees, mountains, fields, and faces are released from the prison of shape and the burden of exposure. Each thing creeps back into its own nature within the shelter of dark. Darkness is the ancient womb. Night-time is womb-time. Our souls come out to play. The darkness absolves everything; the struggle for identity and impression fall away. We rest in the night.
The dawn is a refreshing time, a time of possibility and promise. All the elements of nature: stones, fields, rivers, and animals are suddenly there anew in the fresh dawn light. Just as darkness brings rest and release, so the dawn brings awakening and renewal. In our mediocrity and distraction, we forget that we live in a wondrous universe. Each day, the dawn unveils the mystery of this universe. Dawn is the ultimate surprise; it awakens us to the immense ‘thereness’ of nature. The wonderful subtle colour of the universe arises to clothe everything. (John O’Donohue, Anam Cara – Spiritual Wisdom from the Celtic World, pp. 21-23).
As you reflect on the text above, preferably in a quiet space, reading slowly, more than once, allow its essence to rise within your heart and bring relief to your mind. It’s okay, grace is with us, God is with us, creation supports us, you are absolved by love, go in peace.
A message from the Author
