We have a tendency to demonize, shun, fear, and tune out the things we don't understand. The unknown and the uncomfortable horrify us. What is the unknown? It's something we aren't yet conscious of—some concept or truth that's temporarily veiled or concealed from our awareness. Hidden, secret, mysterious, and * gasp * occult.
I couldn't tell you how many times I've used the word occult and been immediately shut down or ridiculed for it. I can say that whenever that word has come up in conversation, words like evil (live) and the devil (lived) soon follow. First of all, what does occult actually mean? I've already given you the definition. Occult means secret, hidden, covered over, or concealed. It's a veil or a blind. In other words: It's that loathsome, uncomfortable unknown. But is it really so sinister?
Secondly, what is the opposite of evil? The common response: Good. What is the opposite of life? The common response: Death. The majority would categorize life as benevolent and death as malevolent.
It all goes back to what I wrote about in my last article about polarity or duality. If life is heads, then death is tails—the two faces of the same coin. Without death, nothing new could come into being. Let that sink in for a minute while you recall things that you used to enjoy doing in contrast to the things you now enjoy doing. As a child, you may have loved playing with your dolls or building blocks. As you mature, so, too, do your interests. You see, gratefully, that some were passing fads while others evolved into a more sophisticated version of their predecessor.
Fear of the unknown is really the fear of death and dissolution, which is really the fear of change. And what is change? Change is movement, or the graduation to the next level. So what really passes away? Ideas. Form being the e-motional embodiment of thought.
Two Kinds of Darkness
There's the darkness of ignorance, and then there's the Radiant Darkness. If you firmly believe that there are those"out there" trying to withhold knowledge or truth from you, you're right. There are those, of course, that seek power over others. But it's only because you allow yourself to be glamoured by your own lack of self-trust that makes it possible. Notice, in that last sentence, where the blame, the responsibility, and the solution are placed?
This Radiant Darkness is nonsensical or senseless. This means that it can't be perceived through the physical senses, but through the metaphysical (beyond the physical) senses. When those faculties come online, all undresses and the Underworld is illuminated. Please take note the references to sight and to blindness used throughout this article.
Your lack of knowledge, your ignorance, is your own doing. That being said, it's also within your power to untie the blind that binds. It's been said that truth is hidden in plain sight, which is another way of saying that the truth isn't hidden at all. This is both true and untrue, which is the essence of truth itself.
The Hero and The Villain are One; a Two-Faced, Double-Edged Trickster
Image courtesy of Tim Green
"All manifested things have two sides, two aspects, or two poles. Everything "is" and "isn't" at the same time, all truths are but half truths and every truth is half false, there are two sides to everything, opposites are identical in nature yet different in degree, extremes meet, and all paradoxes may be reconciled." - They Kybalion by The Three Initiates
All villains really represent are those uncomfortable aspects of our personalities. They're also aspects of life/death/change that are out of our control—or that we believe to be out of our control. They're the unconscious elements that we refuse to, or are seemingly unable to, acknowledge. Because we don't acknowledge (not make known) or accept them, they remain unknown and misunderstood. That is, until they rear their "ugly" head just begging for our attention.
This concludes today's article on 30 Days, 30 Posts challenge. Tomorrow's post will feature the topic of Laundry. Yes, you read that correctly. The previous article featured Sex.