The Wisdom of Mother Earth

Mother Earth has great wisdom, and all things come from her womb. Something is always growing in the darkness of her womb. You may not be able to see with your mind’s eye, but this is where greatness happens.

Once upon a time there was a man who was afraid of the dark, his fear was so great that he couldn’t sleep without the light on. He would not walk in the woods once the sun had set. He didn’t know why he was afraid of the dark, but the calls of the owl or the screeching of night animals would send chills up his spine.

One day when he got home from work, he felt a huge tremor as he closed the door, and shakened, he began to panic. He raced around his house like a mad man trying to escape something, not knowing what he was trying to escape. What was going on? Could this be an earthquake? But we don’t have earthquakes in this area, he thought. Just then the earth opened under him and he fell down in between the cracks, trapped in a hole.

The first thing he realised was that the sun was setting and it would be dark soon. He felt his heart racing, like it was going to burst at the thought of the approaching evening. He shouted for help until his voice was hoarse but no one came, he heard noises but no one heard him. When he couldn’t scream anymore, he started to imagine worst-case scenarios. What will happen to me? What if no one finds me and I have to spend the night here in the dirt, with who knows what creatures are crawling around here? I have no food and no water, but it is the darkness that I fear the most. What if I die here in the dark? In his despair he started to pray to God: Dear God please don’t let me die like this, please save me from this darkness, I will not be able to survive the night, my fear is too great. Please, please God send someone to rescue me.

He sat waiting impatiently and when no one came, he felt completely abandoned. He was alone with his nightmarish thoughts until, completely exhausted, he drifted off to sleep. It was a good sleep and he woke with the first warm rays of the sun shining on him. He was surprised to find he was still alive and wondered how he had survived the night in the dark hole.  He spent the day alternating between screaming for help and praying to God, but by night fall no-one came for him.  He began to feel angry at God asking: Why are you doing this to me? Why do you abandon me in my darkest hours, to deal with my deepest most haunting fear?

In spite of his anger, he noticed that his heart was not beating as quickly as before, and he was a little less afraid of the dark after surviving the previous night. He still had his fears and anxieties but when the thoughts became overwhelming, he would look up and see the stars shining bright above him. While gazing at the stars, he drifted off to sleep.

He woke up very thirsty and hungry, and again started screaming for help. This didn’t last long as his voice became hoarse and he was too weak to shout for long.  He just lay there pondering his situation and again no one came for him. By the third night he had given up on God, who had not heard his desperate prayers, who had not sent anyone to help him, who had abandoned him to die in this ditch.

In his tormented state, he had forgotten to dwell on his fear of the darkness. He had survived two nights in utter darkness and had slept well. The hole he was in didn’t feel so dark anymore, he noticed the shimmering of the stars and moonlight shining on him and for the first time in his life he was not afraid of the dark.  He was now only afraid of not being found and dying alone.

As he drifted off to sleep, he realised that being plunged into the deepest darkness, had allowed him to overcome his fear. He realised a fundamental truth: that fear cannot always be overcome with light, often it needs the dark. That night as he slept, he felt a warm light cross his face, he thought it was the sun shining but then the light flashed and he heard voices: Hello is anyone there? He shouted, YES! YES! and then he whispered: Thank you, God.