The shells of our existence will crack throughout our lifetimes. For some it will be only hairline fractures, while others will sustain deep, gaping wounds. An egg is beautiful in its elliptical perfection, but eventually it will be cracked open so that the life within it may emerge. A seed must be softened by moisture and warmth before the plant within it can break free from the hardened coating surrounding it; but crack it must, if it is to experience life. The life lives in darkness until its shell is cracked and then the light can come in.
Over the course of our lives we move from darkness to light, from darkness to light. With each leap in awareness we are broken open to reveal more light. Our mistake is in believing that the light can last forever. We create the shell around ourselves, believing we are safe, but we have pulled the shades of misperception down around us. Suddenly, a crack appears in our perfect lives. We may turn away from the light, try to remain hidden in the imagined security that was only temporary, but like Humpty Dumpty we can never be put back together again. We must grow – or die. We may close our eyes to the light, to the brightness that exposes our vulnerability. We may squeeze our eyes closed and cover our ears to what we do not wish to see or hear or know; but eventually the light of greater understanding washes over us. Each time that our crystalized beliefs that we have created about ourselves and others, begin to shatter like shards of broken glass, we have an opportunity to grow.
Have you seen the plastic eggs which when opened, reveal another egg; and inside of that egg is another and then another? Those eggs are like our lives. We are continually broken apart and brought to our knees to bring us greater understanding, greater wisdom, and greater life. When we think we have it figured out, a new crack appears, and another opportunity to emerge from darkness and to allow the light to enter stands before us. Eggs may be broken from inside, or out. The baby chick will peck away until it finds its own way into the light. Sometimes, something unforeseen will crush it from without. Whichever way you are brought to the light, you must understand that like the earth, the darkness will descend again – and then the light. Darkness. Light. It is the eternal dance of life.
