Ya got light and ya got dark. You got black and you got white. The only difference is contrast, wouldn't you suppose? Between what is dark and light to that which is black and white?
So I've seen most of the Harry Potter movies. I will admit it. Yes, I have a sense of the supernatural, magical and extraordinary despite some of my beliefs that may contradict that, but I like to think of myself as an explorer, a pioneer, sorta integrating different ideas and philosophies about life and fashioning them into my own light or point of focus. Sort of like a fashion designer would be with articles of clothing, only I do it as an existential fashion designer of sorts. I design my own outlook towards life shedding light and both casting a shadow, making light of things and making dark of things; sorta my specialty for anyone who knows me best.
With that rationalization, I don't think any one thinking on life is right or wrong, good or bad, wise or unwise, up or down. I just think. 'Tis all. What can I say other than that I enjoy the "new". I like to be surprised and to surprise; but that's beyond the scope of the point I wish to illustrate; so, moving on...
What are the "dark arts" as some would coin it? In the movie I referenced above I interpret it as a practice towards a thinking and, therefore, an action that is serious but could also be humourous but, most times, just serious, however, most importantly, NOT NECESSARILY BAD or EVIL. That is how I interpret the dark arts but it is not the only way....
In all seriousness, stay with me, I digress only but a bit further and will return to my point...
—We immediately take something like an "unfriending" in the facebook world to mean that much. And, with the tremendous growth of social media we are placing new values on digital communication or the “disconnected-connected communication”. The facebook unfriend will probably be equal if not more weighted than what an unfriending in the “real” world may mean (I wrote this meditation a few years ago, so things might have changed)...
Moreover, and I'm getting closer to my point — we have our reasons for being spiteful. We also have our reasons for regretting our spite and our reasons for reveling in it. Hey, I like to be as spiteful as the next person, but I also gravely consider where that may be coming from. For me, I think, in the end — would I want someone to go to the grave with this? if the answer is yes, I say it and if no then I don't. But, in the serious end, being grave is a dark art. It shows an appreciation towards light and therefore casts some light on the dark thusly illuminating the subject and making it more understandable and appreciable. In short, practicing the "dark arts" can have "grave" consequences and rightly so, all our actions do.
—We are evolutionizing new standards of communication and placing new values on those methods. (Talk to me years ago and I may not have even seen this coming.)—
So, what is my point? Good question. I always seem to avoid those things. They hurt. I don’t like to get stuck on the sharp ones. In fact, I don't think anyone would like that…
The point is this: Practicing the dark arts doesn’t have to appear to be so dark. Making light of a dark matter is really a light hearted practice in-and-of itself. And so with contrast comes great responsibility ‘cause then things are neither right nor wrong—just interpretable, open to interpretation, just not final in meaning.
After all, there are only two ends of the spectrum to black and white thinking whereas there are many shades of gray, and, for some, there's 50...So why be black and white when there's always more to grey?
