We are entering the dark time of the year. For many people, consciously or not, this is an important event. It is time of self-reflection. Indeed, in my tradition, this is a time for closing down the iseum, or spiritual working group. It is a time for sinking into the darkness of ourselves, and in this stillness, emerging with a newfound sense of being. I regret to say that society and church life often forget this principle. In our culture people are expected to transcend the void that naturally comes with the dormition of the earth, to fill it up with addiction and plastic. In church life, and occasionally in coven life, the time before the Solstice is no time to pause to experience the dark of the year. Instead, people are busy preparing for the trans-cultural, trans-religious feast of the light.

This year has presented us with a new set of challenges, not the least of which is the inability to feel safe. The spirituality of darkness – the Via Negativa, as named by Mathew Fox – has leant me some insight into these challenges. To Fox, the spirituality of darkness is the ability to be receptive. As he notes in Original Blessing, "Sin against the Via Negativa would consist in the refusal to let go, the refusal to admit the need for receptivity in our lives and therefore the refusal to develop receptivity."

But it is nearly impossible to let go in our society. Telling Americans to let go is like telling a caterpillar to fly; it just ain't gonna happen. At least not right away. We are not equipped with the culture or ability to do so. In order to let go, to let things be the way they are, we need to be firmly rooted in ourselves and in our traditions of peace and justice.

I do not think that anything spoke so eloquently to this need than this year's Pagan Pride Day. Instead of hearing prayers to the immanent Goddess of Peace and Justice, we heard prayers to a distant Cosmic Christ Concept. Instead of hearing cries for a linking of all of the Goddess' children, we heard cries for nationalism and patriotism. In the face of disaster, people often revert to their childhood religious beliefs when they are not firmly grounded in themselves and in their newfound traditions of liberation and universal human dignity.

The second sin against the Via Negativa, the spirituality of the dark, is that of projection. As Fox writes, "Projection is the refusal to let be. To let others be different, be surprising, be themselves." This is a hard lesson in these times, and yet it is so critical. Projection, similar to holding on, stems from "[being] so not at home with our deepest self that we must always be projecting onto others our ways, our attitudes, our fears, our disappointments."

In Original Blessing, Fox quotes Barry Lopez who also warns against projection. Lopez writes on killing wild animals as theriophobia, the fear of the internal-made-external beast. "At the heart of theriophobia is the fear of one's own nature. In its headiest manifestations theriophobia is projected onto a single animal, the animal becomes a scapegoat, and it is annihilated."

As the government tries to whip us into an intense fear, scapegoat after scapegoat will be annihilated. Osama bin Laden, the Afghani people, Islam… who knows by the time our war ends. Mary Daly calls this necrophilia, which, she said, "is not so much a love of death as it is a hatred of life."

"Both Adrienne Rich and Mechtild of Magdeburg…along with Jesus Christ, speak eloquently to this truth: the need to love our enemies, embrace our fears, enter the darkest of the dark," says Fox. We need to enter this dark of winter headfirst, and then be prepared to keep falling. As Ghandi said, "To make any progress we must not make speeches and organize mass meetings but be prepared for mountains of suffering."

Then our way out will be through. Through the desolation and annihilation our Afghani neighbors are now seeing. Through the rage that will fuel our religious traditions to destroy destruction, kill killing, and make war on war. Experience this fully, for through the mystery of this paradox we shall embrace the dark, and dream it into a new image. Sink deep and let go.

Contact us with questions by e-mail at EarthSpirit@stjohnsuu.org.