They come at you without warning in the dead of night. When your sleep is the deepest, these Riders attack you with a vengeance. In a sense, it may be a form of vengeance; they come from your past words and deeds (maybe a form of 'self-vengeance' brought on by having a conscience). These Midnight Riders are nightmares, your deep personal regrets for willfully making the wrong decisions for all the wrong reasons. Like it or not, they are a part of you. Also, these Riders of Midnight are your " woulda, coulda, shoulda," deep personal regrets, plus your having to witness some very nasty business. These thoughts, these "Riders," are kept as memories in a deep part of your mind and can be lessened by honest introspection. Notice that I said lessened and not "gone."
These negative memories, these "Midnight Riders" are a part of you, like it or not. They are a part of what is known as your wyrd/orlog (life and experience over time ... a simplified explanation). As mentioned in the previous paragraph, they can be lessened, by using meditative introspection aided by solid virtues.
Personal honor is important; the lack of honor in personal life, if you have a true conscience, helps to create the "Riders." What can you do to keep your words and deeds honorable in the present and the future? Meditate on these things. It will help to you understand why your lack of honor in the past created your current "Rider" (if you like, call it your boogie-man/nightmare).
Vigor, courage, and the strength to support the first two are necessary, to keep your honor clean and focused. What must you do to summon your strength, vigor, and courage? Meditate on these things.
Is it better to have a joy-filled life or a life full of guilt? That guilt held captive in your head for things that happened that you could not avoid, things that you could not stop from happening (the woulda, coulda, shoulda stuff that will haunt you forever if you do not deal with it). Remorse is one thing, but harboring guilt for things that you could not control is rooted in a dogmatism that has you enslaved. Rid yourself of this dogmatism. Meditate on these things.
We are, you are, I am more complicated than the simple concept of body and soul. We created our individual Midnight Riders; they belong to us as long as we give them a place to exist. We can slay them like any dragon, boogie-man, that thing that goes bump in the night, or what comes charging out of the closet in the darkest of night. These Midnight Riders are ours, to slay. Have no mercy. Meditate on this.
Copyright @2014 Terry Unger
