Struggle Against the Darkness?

I overheard a conversation recently between two people who were discussing all the darkness in the world, and how it was necessary to struggle against the darkness unceasingly.

I spent some time thinking about what I overheard, and concluded that they were mistaken in their basic assumptions.

First of all, it seems they are focused on the darkness in the world, so they see it everywhere. And, they see it as something wrong with the world.

I believe that light and darkness are not two separate things, but two sides of the same coin. There is a saying, from Buddhism, I think: nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so. Which means we put our labels on things, and call them good and bad, or light and dark; what we label something is based on what we can see, not on any absolute truth. It is impossible for any of us to see the whole truth about anything, so our understanding is necessarily limited.

Please understand I am not offering a defense to justify wrong actions, I believe we all have an innate sense of right and wrong, and should strive to live up to our own highest ideals of right action. I am suggesting that we should not be too quick to judge light and dark, or good and evil. I am also suggesting that there is a cycle of light and dark, and that cycle is larger than humanity.

That cycle will continue progressing from light to dark and back again, no matter how we might struggle against it.

I am also not suggesting that we do nothing, and simply stand back and allow things we see as wrong to happen and make no effort to stop them. (This may sound like I am contradicting myself, but keep reading, it will be clearer.)

What I believe is that there is no reason to "struggle against the darkness." If you think about light and dark, there is no struggle. Darkness does not pass because anyone struggled against it. Darkness passes when someone brings a light into the darkness, no struggle is needed. (Better to light one candle than curse the darkness.)

So, I think the people I overheard were wrong because they were focused on the "darkness" and they wanted to struggle against it. A better approach would be to look for ways to bring more light into the world; everyone has a light, maybe now is the time to let it shine.

Here are some lines from an old Incredible String Band song:

"One light, light that is one
though the lamps be many..."