The Light

Illustration by Flash Rosenberg 

© 2020 Flash Rosenberg

flashrosenberg.com

Imagine that you are in a room in your home
A room that has a door
And the door is closed
Your favorite room
The room you feel safest in
A room where nothing changes
And nothing challenges
And you sit in this room
And look around you
And you see that the room is dark
Very dark
That the safety of the room has taken all the color out of this room
Where the darkness becomes darker
And the days grow short
And you do not see what you do not want to see
And you are safe
And warm
But you are ignorant.
Sit in this ignorant safety for a moment.

Now in this safe dark room, you look towards the closed door
And you see a sliver of light coming from underneath
Imagine that you rise up and walk to the door
And you open it
And you see that outside this safe room
It is winter
Everything is covered in snow
But you are in the dark room,
This narrow place
So you leave the room
You are outside in a beautiful winter meadow
Covered in snow
And you have your winter clothes on now
So you are warm
But the ground is covered with whiteness
And the light is bright
And the trees surrounding the meadow have no leaves
But the light is magnificent
It’s still cold
You can’t pretend it’s spring
You must see things as they are
You must wear warm clothes
But the days are growing longer
When the world seems most devoid of life
You can see the future.
Someday there will be spring.

You see the beauty and the cold
You see the truth
You see the possibilities
You are one with the One-ness
In the beautiful winter light.

And in this light, you see Light.

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Trisha

Tilt: A Prayer for the Winter Solstice

This is the time of year when
The earth tilts away from the sun

And the days are muted and short. 

Still,

After twelve months of rising up and sinking down, 

Of illness and recovery,

Victory and disappointment,

Justice and injustice,

War and ceasefire,

Science and superstition,

A shorter day is sounding kinda good. 

But

Soon we will tilt in the other direction

Towards the green days of growth,

So perhaps this is a good moment

To choose what we will do next:
   Shall we be quiet and reflective
   Or make noise and good trouble?
   Shall we honor history and wisdom 

   Or create new solutions?
   Do we explore the mysteries of 

    existence

   Or insist on objective truth?

How about 

All of the above?

There is enough time   

In the longer days ahead. 

So

HaShleimut, Holy Completion,

May we all be blessed with light in the long night, 

Warmth in the cold, 
Glitter in the snow,

Peace in the discord,

And a few good parties. 

And then

Let’s chase that tilt towards the sun.

May we all have a joyful winter solstice!

Amen. 

Lean Forward

The earth tilts away from the light

So we must lean forward

And light candles.

After a year of change

that is both welcome and unwelcome,

And a year of rising up and sinking down,

of community and solitude,

of creation and bureaucracy:

I’m tired.

All very interesting

And really, a little too interesting.  

Onward!

May you be blessed with light in the darkness, warmth in the cold, glitter in the snow and a joyful winter solstice.