The darkness of diamonds

NO MATTER HOW DAZZLING it may appear, hidden deep within and between the flashing and flaring facets of a cut diamond, there are shadows. There are dark surfaces that turn away from and resist the light, that remain unknown, running like seams of darkness through the brilliance of the white stone. It has to be so, for without these shadowy obstructions, how is the light to fall in such delicately defined shapes within the diamond’s depths? So it is with all things in life – the darkness is not less valuable than the light, for without it, the light cannot be known and seen. 

Yet this cosmic darkness is not a force or an active presence. It has no power or substance of its own. It exists only where the power of the light is not. It is only ever a shadow, an absence.

But there is another darkness reflected in diamonds that is real enough – the worldly darkness of the greed that has swallowed up the lives and wellbeing of so many thousands of workers in the mines down the centuries. A greed that has led to vicious wars and fuelled countless dirty deeds done for the sake of these small pieces of stone. This type of darkness is a fitting focus for our opposition.