Every Soul is Engaged in a Great Work
“Every soul is engaged in a great work-the labor of personal liberation from the state of ignorance. The world is a great prison; its bars are the Unknown. And each is a prisoner until, at last, he earns the right to tear these bars from their moldering sockets, and pass, illuminated and inspired into the darkness, which becomes lighted by that presence”― Manly P Hall, The Lost Keys of Freemasonry: or The Secret of Hiram Abiff
"I have to constantly re-identify myself to myself, reactivate my own standards, my own convictions about what I’m doing and why."—Nina Simone
One great way to “know yourself” is to revisit key periods in your life. What taught you the most? What drives you? What makes you angry enough to fight for what you want? The Dark Night of the Soul can be like a giant squid wrapping around you and dragging you into an abyss, but we can unravel ourselves from that grip and find a light in the darkest of places. Even if we can’t find it on the outside, we can remember that we also carry it within. But sometimes we have to get past all the hurt blocking the way.
Like Jim Morrison said, “People are afraid of themselves, of their own reality; their feelings most of all. People talk about how great love is, but that’s bullshit. Love hurts. Feelings are disturbing. People are taught that pain is evil and dangerous. How can they deal with love if they’re afraid to feel? Pain is meant to wake us up. People try to hide their pain. But they’re wrong. Pain is something to carry, like a radio. You feel your strength in the experience of pain. It’s all in how you carry it. That’s what matters. Pain is a feeling. Your feelings are a part of you. Your own reality. If you feel ashamed of them, and hide them, you’re letting society destroy your reality. You should stand up for your right to feel your pain.”
To deal with your pain is a great strength and powerful motivator. Getting through it or past it provides a sense of freedom. Everyone has their own way of dealing with it. Just realize that we all will face great pain in our lives. Hopefully, we will all face great joy as well. We just need to create places where it can be found.
"See enough and write it down, I tell myself. And then some morning, when the world seems drained of wonder, some day when I’m going through the motions of doing what I am supposed to do… On that bankrupt morning, I will simply open my notebook and there it will all be, a forgotten account with accumulated interest. Paid passage back to the world out there. It all comes back. Remember what it is to be me."—Joan Didion
“When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else...”—Georgia O’Keeffe
A book or a journal is your giving a world to someone else to experience for a little while. Even listening to the music of a favorite singer. You are engaging in something they created out of great love or great pain. It can then help us when navigating our own. Even if you feel alone, these things keep us in a space where we can get a step closer to finding both our freedom and our deepest connections.