We all have problems. We all grapple with the unknown, about the Universe, sure, but more specifically about our own complicated life. We all want to solve our problems as quickly and painlessly as possible.
Sometimes it is only by questioning, or struggling, that we are driven to understand an otherwise hidden part of ourselves. Often, it's questions pleaded by a broken heart that open our minds and souls to seek for inspiration, to perform the necessary work for transformation, and more profoundly, to abandon our will to the grander wisdom of the Divine, whatever you believe that to be.
Along our journey of self-discovery, we must be willing to both seek and do and we must find mastery in the succinct resolve: "I don't know." In the Yoga Sutras, this principle is called Ishvarapranidhana, which means to lay it down at the feet of the Divine.
As humans, we want to control our environment, to control the way our lives play out. This control even extends into our yoga or meditation practice as many of us strive to either know everything there is to know about our discipline or try to perfect our poses or ability to focus our minds. But our problems often teach us that there is a larger practice, one that might, if we are pliable, mold us into the angels we hope to become, the transcendent practice of submitting to things as they are.
Let us learn from that wise teacher, Perplexity.
The following poem by David Whyte speaks directly to learning from our darkness, instead of running from it.
Sweet Darkness
When your eyes are tired
the world is tired also.
When your vision has gone
no part of the world can find you.
Time to go into the dark
where the night has eyes
to recognize its own.
There you can be sure
you are not beyond love.
The dark will be your womb
tonight.
The night will give you a horizon
further than you can see.
You must learn one thing:
the world was made to be free in.
Give up all the other worlds
except the one to which you belong.
Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn
anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive
is too small for you.
~ David Whyte ~