Living in Contrast

Light in Darkness, Stillness in Chaos

May 07, 2025

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I’ve been away for the last six days—four days on retreat at Chautauqua in western New York, and two long days of travel. The days before and during the retreat seemed to be filled with contrasts—often opposites. There was the contrast of weather—damp and dreary and sometimes stormy contrasted with moments of gorgeous golden early-morning and late-day light. Frequently, there was barely a transition from one to the other. It was almost as if they were both inhabiting the same moment, the same landscape.

On my first morning at Chautauqua, the early morning light and sunrise over the lake became a portal back to the blessed emptiness I felt and wrote about when I was there last summer. In contrast to the unsettledness of our world, that portal—that emptiness—was such a gift. I couldn’t stop smiling. And it was like my heart was singing ever so gently about being home again. (Chautauqua has been my spiritual home for most of my life.)

Light Overcoming Darkness—Chautauqua Lake May 2025 (Photo: Alan Seale)

Even in the days before my retreat, I had been finding deeper solace within—touching deeper rest in the heart of my being. I had been sensing glimmers of light in the darkness, stillness even amidst non-stillness. I’d been finding little glimpses of clarity within the chaos. And sweetness in some connections, and tenderness in touch, even when the world felt rough, disconnected, or even cruel.

Returning home, I’m reminded that life is never only one thing. The full spectrum of possibilities is always present—the spectrum of dark to light, chaos to stillness, pungent to sweet. Nothing can exist without its opposite somehow also being available. It may not be obvious at first or easy to find, but the possibility is there. Life is never just one thing.