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Psalms 139:11 · World English Bible

Psalms 139:11 Meaning If I Say

If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me. The light around me will be night,”

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What does Psalms 139:11 mean?

There are times when you long to disappear into the dark, to numb yourself, to hide from what is happening within you. You imagine that unconsciousness will cover you like a blanket and grant you relief from the pain you carry.

From the Ego v. Being reading below.

Psalms 139:11 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

EGO & BEING

Ego v. Being

There are times when you long to disappear into the dark, to numb yourself, to hide from what is happening within you. You imagine that unconsciousness will cover you like a blanket and grant you relief from the pain you carry.

But awareness does not abandon you in your darkest hour. The same consciousness that is present in your joy is present in your despair, quietly illuminating it. This is why even your deepest night is not truly dark: the light you are searching for is the very awareness that notices the darkness, and it is always already here.

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Ego v. Being lens

Live Psalms 139:11 today

  1. Tonight, when you feel the pull to numb out with one more episode or an hour of scrolling, sit with the heaviness for five minutes first. You are not fixing it, just staying with it and seeing that you can.
  2. Tell one person something true about how you are doing instead of "fine." One sentence is enough, and you do not need them to solve it.
  3. When a wave of dread hits during the workday, name it quietly to yourself: this is sadness, this is fear. Then keep doing the small next thing with it there beside you.

What would change if the dark hours were being watched over rather than unwatched?

The same truth in other traditions

Buddhism

The mind is bright by nature. Clouds pass across it, sometimes for a long time, and the light they are passing across is never put out.

Sufism · Rumi

The wound is where the light reaches you. Do not rush to cover the dark place, it is the opening.

Stoicism · Seneca

Numbing yourself does not end the trouble, it only postpones it with interest. What you face steadily loses most of its weight.

Mid-century illustration of Jesus teaching the crowd on a hillside above the sea

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