Introduction

    

      It starts in darkness; it always does.  The second creation can only ever start with darkness.  For it is in the darkness that the genuine need for hope is realized.  Before that, hope is simply an impression that, when the synthetic light we manufactured in the first creation begins to dim, causes us to momentarily ponder what we might do if the light is extinguished.  That dimming causes us to search out things to grasp on to.  We look for something that might help us maintain our bearings if the darkness should come.  We assume that darkness, in general, is not necessarily something to be concerned about, much less feared.  But the truth of it is, darkness in creation is the most dreadful of things.  Darkness in creation reveals void, exposes the created to emptiness and ultimately ends with the death of all that was intended to be good in the first creation.  Creation was not meant to function in darkness.

      All created is eventually consumed by darkness.  Truth be told, darkness has already enveloped the whole of the first creation.  If this were not true, there would have no need for hope and seeking something like peace in this world would be nothing more than a frivolous pursuit.  There would also be no need for the second creation.  But we do desire to hope and we do seek the peaceful way.  The second creation is necessary.  The desire of The Creator is that the created will release its tight-fisted grip on the first creation and welcome the dying that darkness brings, ultimately surrendering to the work of His second creation.  It is only in this second creation that hope can be truly experienced and peace, which until now has only ever been spoken of around treaty tables as some fanciful and utopian idea, becomes a reality.  It is only in the second creation that we realize the wholeness and peace, we have long hoped to experience in the world, must first occur in us.  Then and only then can it work its way outward.

      Because the outpouring of peace must start in each individual, there is no other way except that the first creation ends in darkness.  This must occur in order for the second creation to take place.  There has to be void and emptiness in order for filling and fullness to occur.  If we are filled with the trappings of the first creation, what room is there for the second creation?  The work of the second creation requires the first to end in darkness; only then can hope take hold and peace become tangible.  So it is that the second creation must start in darkness.