Touched by Light and Dark
Every bit of life is touched by good and bad, light and dark.
We are experiencing an unseasonably warm beginning to fall. I’m experiencing a nasty cold, so the email is delayed today.
The contrast of warm weather in fall and sickness instead of health brought to mind one of my favorite observations from Henri Nouwen.
This ‘aged’ picture seems the perfect visual metaphor for this reflection.
“Our life is a short time in expectation, a time in which sadness and joy kiss each other at every moment.
There is a quality of sadness that pervades all the moments of our lives. It seems that there is no such thing as a clear-cut pure joy, but that even in the most happy moments of our existence, we sense a tinge of sadness.
In every satisfaction, there is an awareness of limitations. In every success, there is the fear of jealousy. Behind every smile, there is a tear. In every embrace, there is loneliness. In every friendship, distance. And in all forms of light, there is the knowledge of surrounding darkness . . .
But this intimate experience in which every bit of life is touched by a bit of death can point us beyond the limits of our existence. It can do so by making us look forward in expectation to the day when our hearts will be filled with perfect joy, a joy that no one shall take away from us.”
Henri Nouwen
🌀 What are your thoughts as you read this?
🌱 What does it mean that sadness and joy kiss each moment in our lives?
🌱 What about the other paradoxes he lists?
🌱 How does this apply to the ‘harmony’ of Ikigai?
I’m feeling better. Depending on how today goes, I’ll be sharing something completely new tomorrow.
🌀Quest well
Go gently in the company of friends 🌿
However we're feeling, there's always a tiny nip of the opposite. It's like it's there to remind us that we need both so we appreciate and accept eveyrthing in our life. I love the Henri Nouwen quote, what a beautiful way to describe this feeling.