Walking in darkness

So hiking in a cave brings a whole new meaning to the word "darkness" They took away all the lights to let us experience total darkness, you can't see a thing. Total absence of light. As we hike through a cave for 3 hours, we are totally dependent on a hand full of lanterns to be able to find our way. We had a ranger in front leading us, and a ranger in back following us. We were completely in their care. Had something happened to them, we'd be hosed. Even with the lights, it would be a challenge for us to find our way out of a 350 mile long cave system. If we had lost the lights, our only option would be to sit and wait for help to come.

I think most of us, especially myself, lives in ignorance of the darkness we exist in. Our world is full of countless variables that we must navigate. We have some semblence of control over some things. I can choose to eat lunch or not. There are things that we have no control over, such as someone running a red light and crashing into us.

We do have a bit of light. I have some level of trust that at 5 am tomorrow my alarm will go off, I will get up, go to work, and in another week I will get a paycheck that I will use to pay my bills and buy food. Those are things that I have a reasonable level of confidence in. It's worked that way for the past 7 years, so there's a good chance it will work like that for at least the next week. But maybe it won't, maybe an accident will put me in the hospital. Maybe I'll lose my job. Maybe someone in my company will take off with all the money and there will be no pay check. There's no way that I can know or control those things. What I know about tomorrow is not 100% certain.

Even with some light, that doesn't mean that we know where we are going. I could spend the rest of my life working my current job and doing what I've done for the last 7 years, but maybe I might miss the opportunity of a lifetime. Maybe at one point the right thing to do is to change jobs, and my life will be much better. Maybe by taking a different path to work I'll avoid an accident that would leave me paralyzed for life. Maybe my next paycheck will have a bonus and that will enable me to do something life changing. Those are things that my light can't show me. I have to trust a guide as to where to go. I have to follow where he leads, because, even though I have my own light, I may choose the wrong path. I have to trust someone who knows the right path.

As I walked through the cave I considered all the different possibilities that could happen. An earthquake, the lamps going out, losing the group, falling into a pit. In the end, the only thing that I could do is follow the guide and use the light I had, and trust that those would lead to a place of safety.