Can We Keep Everyone in the Light and Help Others Come Out of the Dark?
The age-old battle between light and darkness isn’t just religious metaphor – it’s deeply rooted in our DNA and shaped by our environment. As someone who is spending time studying both ancient wisdom and modern science, I’ve come to realize that our capacity for darkness is neither purely inherited nor entirely learned. It’s a complex dance between our genes and our experiences.
Think about death. Our ancestors knew something we often forget: how we treat death reveals everything about how we value life. Ancient cultures didn’t just acknowledge darkness – they developed intricate rituals to process it, understand it, and ultimately transcend it.
But here’s what keeps me up at night: if darkness lurks in both nature and nurture, can we ever truly help someone step into the light? Science suggests yes. Our genes aren’t our destiny, and our environment isn’t our fate. Modern research shows that the same genetic variants that can make someone vulnerable to darkness can also make them more responsive to light.
The real question isn’t whether we can help others find the light – it’s whether we’re willing to understand the darkness first. Every faith tradition that survived since ancient times has grappled with this challenge. They didn’t just condemn the darkness; they sought to understand it, contain it, and sometimes even transform it.
So maybe that’s our path forward. Not denying the darkness exists, but recognizing it as part of our shared human experience – one that we can help each other navigate through understanding, compassion, and deliberate action.
Because in the end, light doesn’t eliminate shadows. It helps us see them clearly enough to find our way through.
What are your thoughts on helping others find their way from darkness to light? Share your experiences in the comments below.
Hi there,
Very interesting post. Came across it on Google. Touches on a lot of things I can personally relate to.
From my experience, which I will share, it certainly is possible to help others find their way from the dark and into the light. I hope you don’t mind, it’s a bit of a long story!
I myself grew up as an adopted child on a small farm, quite some way from where I was born. I had a fairly normal, boring childhood, but there were mutterings from those around me that my father was not a good person and had hurt a lot of people. I was led to believe that the death of my mother around the time of my birth had had a really bad effect on him, and this had only been exacerbated after he had an unfortunate near death experience in a fire (I only found out a lot of this in the 90s, after his passing).
With the help of a kindly, elderly neighbor, I managed to track him down and we had a few encounters towards the end of the 1970’s and early 1980’s, but these often got quite tense. I learnt of his past crimes, but could see deep down that he regretted harming those children.
As I got to know my father and learn about some of the bad things he’d done, I learnt about my other siblings, ones I didn’t know I had. My bonding with them, along with some time spent alone with a very experienced therapist, helped me see the light in my Dad, and eventually we reunited before his death in 1983. Our final discussion took place after he’d helped me out of a very sticky situation and I could see that he’d redeemed himself.
The lessons I’ve learnt from my own experiences really forced me to think about how it’s absolutely possible for someone to move out of the darkness and into the light.
Thank you for reading.