Finding Light in the Darkness

At this darkest time of the year, both Jews and Christians celebrate holidays of light. Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, commemorates one of God's miracles: the long–burning oil that allowed the Jews to rededicate their holy temple in victory over foreign oppressors. Hanukkah celebrates the light of religious freedom after dark oppression.

Christmas also celebrates the triumph of light over darkness: God's entering the world in Jesus, and the light of Christ overcoming the darkness in the world.  Both religions exhort the faithful to remember that the night is darkest just before the dawn, that we must not lose hope but that we must trust the God who has the power to deliver from even the darkest night.

Great spiritual teachers throughout the millennia have taught that any spiritual journey consists of ups and downs, and that sojourners on the spiritual path can experience a personal dark night of the soul. If the faithful persevere, they will discover that the personal dark night, like the historical darkness commemorated by Christianity and Judaism, is darkest just before the dawn, and the breakthrough to the other side is worth the walk through the darkness.

In institutions, as in personal life, the deepest darkness comes just before the dawn. If an institution perseveres, it can experience the great power and light that come with breaking through to the dawn.

For example, Tom’s of Maine, manufacturer of personal care products, hit a wall in 1986.  While the business had been growing steadily since its founding in 1970, co-founder Tom Chappell found himself miserable.  The marketing and finance experts Tom had hired to take the company to the next level had advised him to abandon the values on which he had founded the company: natural ingredients, recyclable packaging, respect for the environment, respect for customers and employees. 

Tom and his wife Kate, with whom he had co-founded the company, discovered that their old way of running the business wasn’t working anymore.  They wondered if they indeed did need to give up on their values to achieve business success.  Perhaps their principles had served a small entrepreneurial company well but hindered growth to the next level. Perhaps they needed to get out of business altogether. 

This crisis constituted a dark night of the soul for Tom and Kate and the company.  While they were tempted to give up, fortunately they chose another way.  Realizing they couldn’t figure out all the answers on their own, they sought a trusted spiritual advisor, who walked with them and helped them know that dark times are a normal part of any spiritual journey.  Tom discerned a call to divinity school, where he attended two days a week while still leading the company.  To his surprise, he learned how to articulate and develop Tom’s of Maine’s soul while studying theology: “Studying theology turned out to be the best business decision I’d ever made.”

Through articulating the soul of the company, Tom and Kate renewed their commitment to the values upon which the company had been founded.  They realized that the marketing and finance experts needed to serve the company’s values, not the other way around.  Once they got the company back on track, though there were some bumps along the way, the company flourished and they were fulfilled.  They had moved through their dark night to dawn.

In this season of darkness, let us remember, both personally and institutionally, what all great spiritual traditions teach. Both personal dark nights and institutional dark nights can function, if we allow them to, as opportunities for transformation. Tom and Kate Chappell, through their personal experience of transformation and through their company’s transformation, serve as an example of how light can emerge from the darkness.

This article is drawn from The Soul of a Leader (Crossroad, 2008).  Used with permission of the publisher.

If you enjoyed this article, see also:

“It’s Only a Money Problem”

Strengthening your organization in tough economic times

Soulful leadership among "the least of these"

For more info: Margaret Benefiel, Ph.D., author of Soul at Work, The Soul of a Leader, and co-editor of The Soul of Supervision works with leaders in healthcare, business, churches, government and non-profits to help them stay true to their souls.  Visit her website.