The edge of Darkness | Where we meet shooting stars

When was the last time you saw a shooting star? Or have you ever?

When was the last time you stood alone in nature, completely still, long enough to let your eyes adjust to the dark? To hear the quiet sounds of the night, and let the fear of the edge of darkness meet you?

Reconnecting to the outdoors isn't an abstract philosophy. It is a primal, visceral necessity for every man.

Standing under a cosmic landscape forces a powerful paradox: it is the ultimate ego eradicator. It reminds you of how small you are, and how insignificant your daily stresses actually are against infinity. Yet, in the exact same moment, it reminds you that you are cosmically connected to all of it.

For some, the silence is met with instant relief—a nervous system reset, and a deep connection to something greater than themselves.

For others, finding the space and time to meet nature presents as a luxury, for others it’s simply terrifying.

I’ve felt the hostile threat that awaited me in the woods, physically and metaphorically.  The monsters that lurked in the dark and the silence consumed with the thoughts and emotions I’ve avoided.  Despite the fear, I’ve literally crawled on my hands and knees through the brush to find my way. 

When the noise of modern technological media driven life, finally stops, the stillness often opens a floodgate of what we’ve been actively avoiding: the exhaustion, the buried emotions, the isolation, and the sheer weight of the armor many of us carry every single day.

But when you choose to enter the darkness, you are invited into a deeper place of feeling, nourishment, and connection. The endless burden to do more and be more begin to dissolve, replaced by a grounded patience and existence to just be.

In that space, we don’t have to do anything.  Our insignificance in the galaxy is confronting yet paradoxically it illuminates how we are connected to all things, as wide as the earth and the galaxy itself. This is the invitation see and feel what actually matters. 

If you allow yourself enough patience to meet the darkness, settle in the silence, you just might witness the magic of a shooting star. It is no different than the magic that unfolds in our lives every single day—if only we slow down enough to allow it to present itself.