The festival of Diwali is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and some Buddhists, for each representing something slightly different. What unites is that it is a celebration of bounty, coinciding with the season of the harvest festival in other traditions, and celebrating the monsoon and its bounty. Diwali celebrates light, with the motif of light overcoming darkness, good overcoming evil, and/or knowledge overcoming ignorance.
An opportunity to celebrate what is good and nurturing is too good to pass up, I warmly wish you a Happy Diwali. I find the use of lights and lanterns to illuminate darkness inspiring. Without the darkness the lights would not really be that spectacular, they go together, we experience them as a whole.
I sense as people it is the same. We are not all light, or all darkness. We are a multiplicity of shades and tones, and they all interact and give contrast and meaning to each other.
Diwali for me is a chance to reflect on the goodness in the world, to give thanks for all that I am grateful for. It’s also a time to turn inwards and reflect on the lights I wish to shine in the year ahead. After all, we are each unique, and if we do not offer the world our talents and strengths, then it is a poorer and darker place.
