The first book to examine the spiritual and therapeutic practice of retreat in physical darkness to explore inner light
• Shows how experiencing complete darkness over prolonged periods helps in developing mental clarity and creativity
• Draws upon many indigenous and spiritual traditions that use this technique
The use of ceremonial darkness is a classic and cross-cultural method for exploring hidden aspects of unconscious and super-conscious states, accessing invisible landscapes, and embracing the deeper recesses of the self. In Darkness Visible Heaven and Buxton examine the spiritual and therapeutic practice of taking retreat in physical darkness.
For millennia mystics and sages have used darkness as a spiritual tool for breaking with their pasts, prior conditioning, and the limited reality of their societies. Spiritual seekers from many traditions--Celtic, Eastern, indigenous North and South American, Tibetan, and African--have used darkness as a tool for spiritual enlightenment. Heaven and Buxton show how experiencing complete darkness, even for only a period of hours, brings about a remarkable clarity and mental stillness and thus provides a springboard for creativity, intuition, and spiritual development. They include exercises that explore lucid levels of dream consciousness, drawing both from their experience as teachers of this method and from the many cultures that include this practice in their spiritual traditions. Darkness Visible shows how deprivation of sight can truly teach us to see.
“. . . we learn about ourselves and the powers of the ‘other world’ by surrendering to the beauty and opportunity for greater vision afforded us in darkness. . . . Ross Heaven and Simon Buxton have nurtured the most fertile ground for the development of true spiritual sightedness.”
“A shaman is a man or woman who sees in the dark. Gifted storytellers Ross Heaven and Simon Buxton blend cross-cultural stories of initiations in darkness to bring a powerful initiation to our modern world . . . inspiring us to open up to new perceptions made possible by using our other senses.”
“Darkness Visible soars. A colossal book!”
"A valuable asset to personal and public libraries, this work opens the door to the wondrous dark chamber we enter every time we close our eyes to pray, meditate, chant or dream."
