It seems that everybody to a greater or lesser degree, goes through either an internal dark night of the soul or great struggle, challenge. Or it may come from outside. Disaster, a death, deaths around you, your life falling apart, loss of work, physical problems, illness, disabilities. Most people have to deal with some kind of darkness, whether it's internal or external or both.
And I think there's a great secret and teaching in that it's only by - first of all, I guess - avoiding the avoidance. Don't try to avoid the dark night. And secondly don't just try to... don't think that you're a good person because you've dealt with it all and you've got it behind you. Maybe the thing to do is never deal completely with it but to realize that you are becoming a deeper individual because of the presence of all this darkness in your life.
I know when I meet people who have gone through a really incredibly challenging experience in their own lives, or if they're working with people who are going through these things and are very closely acquainted with them, that these are people who really know what matters. And they know how to live. And they live with a great deal of fullness.
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