The term “dark” immediately creates the image of “negative” in the mind, and thus there is a judgment towards it, which closes down any receptivity to want to understand it at a deeper level. Hence I would not have wanted to use this particular term, in this post, to discuss the two “natures” of physical beings, but I am using this term because it’s the most accurate metaphor for one of the “natures”. It’s important that you don’t judge this term “dark nature” in a negative way because I am not using it here in any negative sense.
The nature of dark & light, in physical beings, are like yin & yang, and to consider dark as negative is like considering yin as negative compared to yang. I would like to be clear that I am presently referring to the terms “dark” and “light” with respect to “physical beings” – the non-physical energy always remains pure positive while manifesting in physical forms as dark and light nature, from this perspective “light nature” is not more positive or less positive than “dark nature”, and “dark nature” is not negative, they are just two expressions, in physicality, of the same “positive” energy. “Hating” the dark natured humans, or hating the light natured humans, is the root cause of negativity – it’s the “hate” that’s negative. The natures by themselves are pure, and required for a balance in physical experience.
Dark natured and light natured Humans
Instead of talking about the whole range of physical beings (like animals, birds, insects etc), I would like to stick our species – the humans. There are two types of humans with respect to the “nature” of their mind – humans with dark nature and humans with light nature. A human with dark nature can never become light natured, and a human with light nature can never become dark natured, no matter how hard he/she tries, no matter how strongly one “pretends” – this nature in the mind/body is “hard wired” and cannot be changed after birth. I would like to specify again the way I am using the term “dark” here is totally unique to this post, I’ve used the term “dark” in many other posts under a different context where dark pointed to the negative. In this post, I am using the term “dark nature” to point to one of the two types of natures in physical being and in this context I am not using the term “dark” in any negative sense – it’s just being used to point to one of the natures.
The reason I keep reiterating that I am not using the term “dark nature” in any negative sense is because it’s important to stay open and non-judgmental about this nature, or else there is an immediate tendency in the mind to feel a “hatred” towards the term “dark”, by associating it with “badness” or “evil”. The truth however is that a light natured person can become “evil” when he/she spews anger/hatred towards the dark natured person, and vice versa – the evilness exists in the “hatred” created through judgment, it does not exist in the natures by itself, both these natures are equally pure and positive. The dark natured human has as much capacity for love/joy as a light natured human. As long as you keep this understanding within you, it would be easier for you to follow the perspectives given in this post without coming to misplaced judgments.
Humans with dark nature
Some of the most confused and conflicted humans are usually the ones who were born with a “dark natured” mind. The reason they feel so conflicted is because the society as a whole seems to approve of “light natured” beings more than it approves of dark natured ones. Most dark natured humans are immediately subject to judgment, ridicule, hatred and animosity from the society at large as soon as they try to be themselves – and this the only reason why most rebels, or villains of the society, end up being “dark natured” humans, it’s really not their fault because most are almost driven to rebellion by the constant hatred that’s dished out to them from the society.
The light natured humans are easily accepted in the society, they fit in with ease because of certain characteristics in their nature, one of the main characteristics being that they are very “sociable” (I will discuss the other characteristics below when I talk about humans with light nature). Most dark natured humans are not “sociable” and prefer being introverted, in fact a very strong characteristic present in a dark natured human is to not be too “friendly” with everyone – you can imagine how the society can immediately judge and spew hatred towards a dark natured person because of this characteristic present in him/her.
A light natured human might say that being “friendly” is a positive thing while being “distant”/unfriendly is a negative thing, but that’s just a perspective of their mind – from a simple absolute perspective both these are just “traits” or natures, to consider one as more positive than the other is purely a judgment in the human mind. It’s like saying that everyone “should” be extroverted and social, that people who are introverted are “negative” – if you hold such a perspective it would just indicate that you would need to broaden your mindset and understand that inherent natures cannot be changed – it’s not anyone’s fault that they have an inherent nature that does not allow them to be extroverted.
Just so you are more clear about what the “dark natured” humans are like, I would like to give some generic characteristics that are present in most dark natured humans.
– They prefer keeping to themselves a lot more than being “out there” in the society. One main reason being that their very nature is to be self-centered rather than being society-centered. (Again, if you judge this trait as being negative, it’s purely a narrow judgment in your mind)
– They are naturally “dominant” and prefer the company of people who are allowing of their dominance. A lot of what we call “alpha male” characteristics are present in males with dark nature. Females with dark nature are dominant, may even come across as being “cold”, and not typically social or friendly in their nature. (they don’t do any of this our of “hatred”, but purely out of their nature)
– They are less prone to having a “smiling” exterior, may not come across as being “warm”, are less likely to give you “hug” when you meet them and prefer to keep an aloof exterior.
– Most dark natured males attract light natured females, while most dark nature females attract light natured males. This is purely out of their “physical nature’s” desire to compliment itself in its opposite – this allows for an external harmony in their life. It’s very difficult for two dark natured humans to have a harmonious relationship together (in their unawakened state); sooner or later they are bound to “repel” each other. However, two light natured humans can easily establish a harmonious relationship together.
– Dark natured humans are naturally prone to be create a reality where they can have a dominant leadership – be it in their relationship, career or social circle.
– Dark natured humans are quite prone to expressing their opinion in a more aggressive/blunt manner which comes off as being mean or rude in some cases. There are a lot of dark natured humans who spend a life time feeling guilty about their “directness” because they are constantly judged and reprimanded for it by others, and thus made to feel bad about themselves. (the truth is that it’s not possible for a dark natured human to ever become a mellow person, no matter how hard he/she tries – but in most cases there is really no venom in their directness, it’s just their way of expressing themselves).
– They have as much capacity towards love, and joy, as their light natured counterparts. A lot of dark natured males/females are extremely loving/protective towards their families and friends (they are mostly focused on their inner circle). As individuals they are as prone towards enjoying the pleasure of physical living just as the light natured humans in every sense.
– Dark natured humans usually avoid reaching out for help from the outside and usually keep their problems to themselves. They are more emotionally “closed” than light natured beings, who usually talk out their emotions.
You might start to get a sense of what a dark natured human is like based on the pointers above. As you can see, it’s a “trait” or nature, it’s not negative but it can be perceived as negative by many light natured humans. It’s so common for light natured humans to make dark natured humans feel guilt, or shame, for their attitude, and thus make them feel that there is something wrong within them, where in truth it’s just a clash of natures.
If you are a dark natured human being, you might have been trying to “disconnect” with your nature all these years under the influence of some “judgments” given by people outside you (mostly the light natured ones). Hopefully, the pointers in this post would help you re-connect with yourself and thus cause you to let go of a lot of conflicts/hang-ups within you.
Humans with light nature
The advantage light natured humans have, over the dark natured ones, is that they are highly social and hence “accepted” as easily in the society. Light natured humans don’t have as hard a time as dark natured humans in a bid to fit into the society. They are friendly, smiling, extroverted and social, thus creating a “perception” in the mind that they are more “positive” than the dark natured humans – but that’s not the case at all, because there are can be as much “negativity” (mostly fear/lack based thinking) in the minds of light natured humans as the dark natured humans. The only advantage is that since they are socially more accepted it’s easy for them to have a “positive self image” within them and thus attract a more positive reality. Whereas the dark natured humans end up carrying a “negative self image” about themselves, owning to external judgments which they take “internally”, thus attracting a negative reality owing to this mis-alignment.
Some of the characterstics of light natured humans are as below
– They love working in groups and are naturally inclined towards jobs that involve team work.
– They are usually very “huggy” people who love giving and receiving hugs, and have a smiling exterior.
– Light natured humans are extroverted in nature and love the aspect of communicating with other people. Most of them are highly talkative.
– By their nature, they prefer “sugar coating” their words instead of being blunt, or in the face. They usually come across as being more compassionate, but the dark natured humans are just as capable of compassion, it’s just that they have a more “reserved” way of expressing it.
– They usually take up a lot of social causes and are more “community oriented” than dark natured people.
In one sense the energy of light natured people is more focused on the outside while the energy of dark nature people is more focused in their inner-circle.
Aligning with your nature and accepting the opposite nature
Both, dark natured and light natured physical beings are essential to maintain a balance in physicality. It’s true that along the history, it’s mostly been the dark natured humans who ended up instigating violence – it’s mostly because a dark natured mind can easily get pulled into hatred or anger. In the absence of a “conscious wisdom”, it’s very likely that a dark natured mind to gets pulled into hatred, whereas a light natured mind usually gets pulled into lack based thinking and can develop “victim mindsets”.
Negativity of all forms arise out of a lack of consciousness, be it in a dark natured human or light natured human. In the presence of consciousness, a light natured person is able to bring a wisdom to their “service oriented” compassion. And in the presence of consciousness, a dark nature human stays in alignment with his/her positive expression rather than be sucked into self-hatred or other forms of hate-based thinking. Most importantly a dark natured human needs to understand that they don’t have to “change” themselves to fit in, they just need to align with themselves, which will cause the attraction of a congruent reality, and thus allow their natural expression to flower through.
Yes this certainly resonates. I’m naturally of a dark nature and resented being so for a number of years. During my late teens and early twenties, whilst at college, when socialising and having a good time seemed imperative I was often unhappy with myself. Because I wasnt naturally gregarious, and wasnt particularly sociable I thought there was something wrong with me. I thought I had to change in order to be accepted, and forced myself to ‘perform’ in a more acceptable way i.e being smily, sounding enthused etc.
Ive managed to become more accepting of myself of late.
But yes I do believe its harder to be of a ‘dark’ nature and I still often feel left out.
What do you think is the ratio of dark to light natured people? I certainly think theres more light natured people in the world which is makes it all the easier to feel weird when youre not naturally sociable.
I would definitely think that the number of light natured humans is much higher than the number of dark natured humans at any point. In many cases, dark natured humans have a tough time finding their place mostly because they feel confused by the make-up of the society where certain light natured behaviors are considered to be normal and some dark natured behaviors are deemed as “wierd”. A lot of dark natured humans try to “conform” to the society standards, by trying to change themselves, which only causes them to live in frustration – this suppression of their natural make-up creates a vibration of “hatred” within them, this hatred can easily get targetted towards the outside. It’s quite a challenge to align with a “dark natured mind” when the whole external conditioning goes against it. However, once an awareness is brought within, to all the patterns of suppression and conflict, they are burnt through to allow an alignment with the natural make up of the mind which causes the natural expression of such a human to unfold.
I experience myself as both …. feeling confused about the labels, i mean are they any …
can you please go deeper with this ..
Don’t take this too deeply, the post was not meant to give you a label to live with. It’s more for people who find it hard to accept themselves as they are because they are focused on an opposite nature of being, believing it to be the right way of being. If you experience yourself as both, it just means you might need to go a little deeper in your mind’s natural make-up to find out what its true inclination is. Like I mentioned in the post, most dark natured humans try to fit into the society by taking up light natured behaviors but deep down their mind is rooted in its natural make up of being dark natured.
A simple indication of whether you are a light natured being or a dark natured being is based on whether you are oriented towards “society” or towards your “inner circle”. If you find yourself “Naturally” (out of your natural movement) participating in a lot of community service oriented projects, voluntary participation in society welfare projects, a team player who enjoys working in a social groups, active participation in social festivities and functions – it’s an indication that you are society oriented which is always a strong characterstic of a “light natured being”. On the other hand, if you are more focused on your inner circle and don’t feel a “natural pull” towards social orientation, it’s an indication that you are dark natured being.
Do understand that a light natured being is not superior or more elevated than a dark natured being, or vice versa. They are just two “natures” in physical beings per se which allows for a balanced expression of physicality. If you are not able to really figure out your nature, just let go of it – you don’t need to associate labels, that was not the point of this post. What’s important is to stop judging or condemning yourself for who you are and bring an unconditional acceptance to the natural make-up of your mind.
Haha – I experience myself as both too. When Sen explained the main characteristics – I def. am more inner circle oriented. Prefer alone time, don’t really enjoy too much “socializing”. But – I am also a warm, naturally smiley person. My husband, enjoys socializing and being out – and is also warm. But can be very blunt (aka harsh) with his words sometimes. It’s like we both have both characteristics haha! Very interesting….
Great post Sen. I think it might be helpful to add, in addition to the comment of not needing a label, that dark-natured people do have some need to engage in light activities and vice-versa. If you look at a Yin Yang (which you referenced), within the white there is black and within the black there is white.
I also found as a light-natured person, it is the recognition of that 10-15% of one’s darkness that is hard. For example, it is OK to be “selfish” (in the strict sense, not in the pejorative sense) and decide to be alone at times!
That’s very true, as I mentioned in the post that dark natured people tend to get attracted to light natured people as their spouse or close friends, this is one way in which they “compliment” their energy – which allows for a balance in their external reality. A lot of dark natured people also enter into some voluntary social activities now and then, or free service oriented projects and charity etc as there is a drive within to experience the “light” activities as a movement of balance. A lot of dark natured humans get loopsided when they don’t allow for this balance within themselves. On the other hand, a lot of light natured beings can get loopsided when they don’t bring a balance into their life by orienting with themselves and their interests by being positively selfish in some ways (as you mentioned) – we’ve all heard of life stories of extremely compassionate light natured beings who lead miserable personal lives because they were not able to orient, at least in some way, with their own personal interests/well-being.
This is a very enlightening post. I however do have the following questions:
1. If we take dark and light natures to be extreme ends of the spectrum of expression of human nature, is there a possibility of a say a “gray” nature in human beings. By gray, I mean human nature that draws elements of its characteristics from both dark and light natures. This is coz I feel most people fall in this category. For example, I have known many people who prefer keeping to themselves and at the same time are not very blunt in expressing their opinion (which is a combination of dark and light characteristics) and this seems a very natural trait in them. To draw an illustration from personal experience, I feel after reading this post that I am a light natured human – I am friendly and like interacting with people, I do think and feel much about the larger cause of humanity (but I don’t take much concrete action in terms of participating in social causes by actually providing my time. I prefer to contribute in some monetary way to the extent I can whenever I feel like doing so. But I am quite often thinking about how humans can collectively live in peace and alleviate the conditions of their less fortunate brethren). But at the same time I prefer to work by myself as far as my work is concerned. To clarify on this point, I have to interact with people coz of the nature of my work but since there are a lot of hassles in getting people to agree upon issues and their resolution, I prefer not to engage with people much. Also, I guess I am of an analytical bent of mind, which is ideally suited to an environment where one can work alone.
2. Also what do you think of what science classifies as the left and right brain characteristics, which are hard-wired in an individual? Left brain as they say is more about things like logical reasoning, rational thinking and about looking at parts while the right brain is about things like random thinking, intuitiveness and about looking at wholes. The reason I ask this is that it seems to me if people could identify the part of their brain that plays a dominant role in their thinking then that along with their knowledge of their nature (be it dark or light) could be important decision makers for them to accept their mental make-up as such and choose a lifestyle/vocation in alignment with it.
Of course nothing in life is black and white, it’s always a “mix” of different flavors or gray areas as you put it. The question is what’s your “dominant” nature – you can only have one dominant nature – either the dark nature is dominant in you, or the light nature is dominant in you. As you allow awareness to look through the natural make-up of your mind (in a non-judgmental and unconditional manner) you will easily realize if the dark nature is dominant in you or the light nature is dominant – it just becomes very obvious.
Most people believe that being “light natured” is the positive way of being – but that’s not the case at all, because dark nature is just as positive – and light natured people have the same tendency to get negative as a dark natured person when one is “unconscious” or totally identified with the mind. Identification with fear, hatred and lack-based thinking patterns of the mind is what I refer to as negativity – it has nothing to do with whether you are a light natured person or a dark natured person. The point of this post is not give labels to the mind but to help the mind become more “accepting” of its natural make-up, by becoming more “aware” of itself, instead of trying to fight it under the influence of some standards or expectations placed on it by outside people.
Some people are “quantitative” in the make-up (who are most comfortable in technical endeavors, good at maths and numerical subjects) while some are “non technical” in their make-up (who are more into arts) – scientifically, I believe “right brained” people are quantitative and “left brained” people are art inclined. This is just one of the aspects of the “natural make-up” of one’s mind, and when one aligns with their mind’s natural make-up they are able to attract realities that are congruent with their aptitude and preferences (as you mentioned, the right lifestyle and vocation for example). Bringing a space of awareness to the mind is the only way one can truly know the natural make-up of one’s mind while cutting through all the layers of externally conditioned thinking. Some insights on allowing your natural expression are on this post – allowing your natural expression
Thank You Sen!
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but i must say .. that i might be light, i mingle with joy !
To enjoy mingling socially is a strong characteristic of a light natured being, so your mind obviously is light natured. It’s also quite evident in the vibe in your words that you are light natured.
didn´t even know it was sending that post, got interrupted .. the other thing i was going to write was that i do have dark natured traits like keeping to myself, being very dominant under pressure, felt like i´d supressed alot of dominant traits to fit in even thou i can´t really supress anything it will just pop up even stronger even if its not in that accurate moment, creating a lack for not being true to my nature in that moment therefor i was kind of wondering if i was dark natured to get an understanding of that bec this aint something i can change and its making me both alone in a lacking way feeling if i can´t allow myself to be completly free around others in my triats im better off by myself and an indepentent free spirit way i do prefer to function in .. so i might try to supress some very strong dark nature traits in my wire even if im light natured and that is whats creating the experience of lack within.. i do feel at home in my dark nature aswell even if i am a very social light being .. antoher thing i wanna discuss is drugs, they can rewire your brain on a physical level and they make u go deep into the darkness ! even if ur light natured u can be totally absorbed in the dark nature parts of your mind, whats your comment on that bec ur talking alot of the make-up of the brain yet drugs can rearrange the whole system completly ..
The bottom-line is to bring awareness to your mind’s movements on a constant basis till you can really understand its natural wiring, behavior and attitude, and then bringing an acceptance to it. The only reason why I am categorizing minds as dark-natured or light-natured is to allow an awareness of these nature in you more specifically. It’s important to understand that no human is 100% dark-natured or 100% light-natured, rather there is one dominant nature with shades of the other nature also present (like 70% dark-nature 30% light-nature in the same mind, or a mind which is 90% dark-natured 10% light-natured, or 70% light natured 30% dark-natured). So every mind has both these natures present in it in varying percentages, and the more dominant nature is what I categorize the mind as – so if a mind has more percentage of dark-nature than light-nature, I categorize it as a dark-natured mind. The only reason I am categorizing the natures is for an easier explanation, the bottom-line always is to align with the mind’s nature, in a space of awareness, rather than fight it. It’s not possible to change the natural make-up of a mind, but the space of awareness allows a “wisdom” to operate while allowing the mind its freedom of movement. When you accept/align with yourself fully, you will attract people into your reality who are fully accepting of you as you are – as long as you are trying to suppress your mind’s natural way of being, you will keep attracting realities that have traces of conflict in them where you attract people who not accepting of you as you are (they are just reflecting your own “non-acceptance” of yourself). When you are rooted in awareness, you can allow freedom to your mind to be its natural self without judgment or suppression, while also having an element of wisdom in your movements through the intelligence of your awareness.
Drugs cannot rewire your natural make-up, they can only relax your resistance by depressing your nervous system (thus reducing the “control” of the brain). If you have been suppressing a lot of anger or resentment, taking drugs or alcohol can cause you to suddenly express these suppressed emotions due to the sudden removal of “control” of the brain. So it’s not the drug or alcohol that “creates” negative behaviors in you, they just release the control of the brain and if you’ve been suppressing a lot of emotions or anger, they can flood out in this state. A person who does not have “suppressed” energies with him/her would not get into violent behaviors under the influence of alcohol or drugs, rather he/she would just feel a “laziness” in their body, or amplification in their senses or some hallucinations (enjoyable ones, rather than violent ones) in their mind, depending on the drug/chemical taken – their nature is just as predictable under the influence of drugs as it is without drugs, they are not volatile. Violent/negative/dysfunctional/volatile behaviors are induced only in a person who has been suppressing himself/herself in some way.
It’s also important that you don’t interpret “dark nature” as a “negative”. There are as many positive dark natured people as there are positive light natured people. And there are as many negative “light natured” people as there are negative dark natured people. Negativity stems from our lack of wisdom, unconsciousness and lack of understanding of life. A light natured person can become negative when he/she finds it difficult to take care of his/her personal interests, allowing the outside to exploit them – a lot of unconscious light natured people have tendencies of getting victimized. On the other hand dark natured people can become negative when they unconsciously identify with their selfishness or irritation in manner that causes them to get greedy or resentful. It’s the lack of wisdom, created through a lack of depth in awareness, that leads to “negativity” – a conscious human mind is always rooted in positivity whether its dark-natured or light-natured.
I always embraced my darker nature but recently I’ve been struggling against it due to the fact that I am engaged to a woman who possesses a light nature and doesn’t understand that darkness isn’t necessarily “evil” or wrong. She was raised Catholic and I guess she equates it with evil because of this.
I’ve long been involved with the occult due to my nature. I’m drawn to dark things and things involving darkness like death, and the goth subculture, industrial music, etc. It absolutely intoxicates me when I feel that dark “vibe” growing, it’s also damn near impossible to explain to anyone who doesn’t feel it. How do you clearly explain a feeling?
Matthew, all of us have dark and light nature in our mind in varying degrees, but it’s very common to be unconsciously lost in a particular nature of the mind with ignoring/denying the other. Some light natured humans (who have a dominant dimension of love and joy), due to lack of awareness, can become unconsciously afraid of facing the dark natures in their mind (like the dimensions of hatred, fear and boredom) and thus become imbalanced in their physical expression, and also lack the tolerance/acceptance of different minds with different natures – that same is applicable to unconscious dark natured people who disconnect from their light nature dimensions. Such an imbalance can only be rectified by deepening in awareness and bringing this awareness to touch up all the dimensions in our own mind, so that we can relate/understand various different minds which possess variations of these dimensions.
You can enjoy the company of your partner without requiring them to fully understand your mind, and your emotional base. You can attract other friends, who are compatible and who have a similar vibe as yours, with whom you can share the expression/experience of certain dimensions in your mind. It’s not possible for a person who does not have a deep level of awareness to really understand the various dimensions of mind that they may be ignoring/denying in themselves, or which they are not fully cognizant of. If you feel that you need your partner to be someone who can fully relate to your mind’s natural expression, in that case you would need to make a call on whether you should attract a different relationship.
“The reason they feel so conflicted is because the society as a whole seems to approve of “light natured” beings more than it approves of dark natured ones. Most dark natured humans are immediately subject to judgment, ridicule, hatred and animosity from the society at large as soon as they try to be themselves”
What I’m generally confused about, and this has highlighted, is the difference between attracting realities as a reflection of how you feel/your own energy patterns within, and experiencing “negativity” because of wider/societal patterns of misunderstanding/fear/judgement/prejudice as you mention above?
nvibes, focus on your alignment and you will see that you attract a reality that’s aligned with you. As long as you keep thinking that the outside is controlling your reality, it just means that you’ve not realized your potential to attract the reality of your choice by working on your mind.
Of course the society, or culture, can have certain outlooks and perceptions, and when you are unconscious, you are highly influenced by the societal conditioning and judgments, you keep trying to “conform” to the outside and you may also develop many patterns of negativity about yourself based on these judgments – but all this is part of “unconscious living”.
However, when you start becoming conscious, you can consciously align with yourself, and attract a circle that conforms to you, a circle/community/relationship that’s congruent with who you are, and you don’t attract elements that are not congruent with your natural expression. The very fact that you are influenced by your outside negativity shows that you are giving “belief” to them, you are looking at them as being “valid” instead of seeing through them and focusing on aligning with yourself, and attracting your own reality free of (or reduced of) in-congruent elements.