[from http://www.eden.com/~poke/kali/ ]

                                   Kali
                                     
   Kali's boon is won when man confronts or accepts her and the
   realities she dramatically conveys to him. The image of Kali, in
   a variety of ways, teaches man that pain, sorrow, decay, death,
   and destruction are not to be overcome or conquered by denying
   them or explaining them away. Pain and sorrow are woven into the
   texture of man's life so thoroughly that to deny them is
   ultimately futile and foolish. For man to realize the fullness of
   his being, for man to exploit his potential as a human being, he
   must finally accept his dimension of existence. Kali's boon is
   freedom, the freedom of the the child to revel in the moment, and
   it is won only after confrontation or acceptance of death.
   Ramakrishna's childlike nature does not stem from his ignorance
   of things as they are but from his realization of things as they
   really are. He is able to revel in the moment, for he knows that
   to live any other way is a denial of things as they are. To
   ignore death, to pretend that one is physically immortal, to
   pretend that one's ego is the center of things, is to provoke
   Kali's mocking laughter. To confront or accept death, on the
   contrary, is to realize a mode of being that can delight and
   revel in the play of the Gods. To accept one's mortality is to be
   able to act superfluously, to let go, to be able to sing, dance,
   and shout.
   
   The Sword and the Flute - David R. Kinsley
  
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