The Light in the Shadows
This is the Third steppingstone of the Third pathway in our journey towards awareness as we continue to learn how to unravel the depths of our dreams and discover their impactful nature.
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14 MINUTE READ
When considering the entities of shadow and light, the images we conjure do not possess any true form, distinct borders, visible boundaries, or demarcated lines. We often consider things that fall under this canopy limitless. I think that sometimes we like limitations a lot more than we are willing to admit. In an uncertain, overstimulating, confusing, judgment-filled, and generally hasty world they provide structure, organization, rules to follow, expectations, and a clear path to travel. This is a much easier scenario for us to handle. However, the harder something is, the more worthwhile and to reap the benefits of anything ‘great’ you have to do the work.
Darkness and its contrasting illumination, or shadow and its contrasting light, can be examined in regard to night and day, subconscious and consciousness, secrets and truth, dreams and certainty, the manifestation of negative feelings and positive thought, etc. Looking in depth at all of these partners, we come to understand that one would be nothing without the other. The power they give to one another within people and the world is immeasurable. The union of light and shadow sparks an ‘awakening’.
When considered and accepted together in all their complexities, as opposed to being held separately on a simpler plane, they can be an expression of possibility and potential within each of us and our lives. The idea of their interconnectedness threatens us at times because it puts upon us a path to healing and/or change. Reconstruction is always so much harder than deconstruction no matter the circumstances.
What if we could embrace the light and dark within ourselves and learn to become better for it?
Engaging in such a practice allows for the provocation of a superior state of mind and unleashes greater opportunities to approach those that come into our lives from a standpoint of healing as opposed to hurting. Healing is very difficult as it requires constant practice, failure, and awareness, while hurting takes far, far less thought, effort, and will. To do harm is so easy that too many times we do not even recognize we are doing it to ourselves or others in ways big and small.
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The balance between shadow and light is a journey that has to start from within because we have to experience something to be able to resonate with it and then manifest it as something tangible in the external world. Depending on our nature and nurture, some of us will struggle more with this partnership than others because more baggage means more complexity.
The harder we have to work and the more we have to overcome makes way for very unique and interesting thoughts and ideas, as well as several advantages resulting from more available choices brought to light. Abuse or neglect directed towards oneself leaves a trail of denial and despair. This is an action that opens the doors to regression rather than evolution. Metamorphosis is an enduring change born in the shadows. Without this process transformation would be impossible. Transformation is the creation of an everlasting bloom that thrives in the light.
The marriage between light and dark is difficult because it involves reaching a state of being where you have worked hard enough, discovered enough answers, and taken enough action to be able to, more often than not, catch experiences and communications at just that right moment in time to be able to forge something ‘more’ instead of unfortunately arriving at a careless and wasteful destination that had the hope and ambition to have been something greater, something worthier.
This sentiment reminds me of one of my favorite quotes by the holocaust survivor, Victor Frankl. He stated, “between stimulus and response there is a space and in that space is the power we have to choose our response and, in that response, lies our growth and our freedom”. How free we truly are in our conscious state of being depends very much on how much growth we nurtured within our subconsciousness. Those ‘parts’ of us that we have dismissed or discarded hunt us with abandon like ghosts seeking retribution or wild animals seeking their prey.
Acknowledgement is in our best interests because it allows us to discover the understanding and insight needed to change said parts of us so that they may seek redemption and release instead. Our level of success in this arena depends upon our ability to develop and nurture unique identities. This is a subject examined at length by Carl Jung. Jung was a psychiatrist who theorized that images exist in the collective unconscious of every human being, and they connect us all. Jung gives these images a face in the form of archetypes.
For brief moments or, depending on our lives lived, longer spans of time, we all have resonated with or interacted with those that meld with the innocent, the orphan, the hero, the caregiver, the explorer, the rebel, the lover, the creator, the jester, the sage, the magician, and the ruler. Archetypes tell an overall story of connection, wisdom, and self-acceptance amongst all human beings. Nevertheless, when it comes to the individual, archetypes are our own chosen/fated costumes that we are comfortable or uncomfortable wearing as we forever search to root ourselves in our own authenticity.
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Bridging our shadow and light is the key to individuation as expressed by Jung. This process allows us to come face to face with our own underdeveloped psychological expansion and vulnerabilities. Such is the foundation needed for rebirth and fulfillment. Our traumas and subsequent wounds reside in our shadowlands, but illumination and subsequent reflection are often born from less than desirable things. These circumstances can inspire the unrestrained fight within because it can be worth risking everything to discover an end to the suffering.
Our struggles make us brave, and our bravery gives us power. That power we wield is capable of bringing us to places we never would have found if not for first being saddled with the hardships. The restrictions of stagnancy and surrender prevent us from achieving spiritual advancement and the completion of our ‘great work’, whatever that happens to be for each of us. Until we are able to overcome and finally unearth resolution from within, roadblocks will continue to encroach on our journeys of self-discovery.
This concept might encourage us to spend more time learning and experimenting with compassion in regard to our sense of self, rather than walking away and leaving things behind with either hostility or apathy. We first descend into the shadows to be recreated and then ascend towards the light. Precious gems and sparkling diamonds are only found when we search the bowels of the earth with determination. The richness of luminosity becomes when we commit ourselves to tilling the darkness.
We need to immerse ourselves in the darkness to understand all of the ways through so as to be gifted with the light at the end of the tunnel. Should we decide to let the darkness wander aimlessly through us, then, in essence, almost anything in our lives can be viewed as a prison. Prisons are perilous, filled with punishment, and they evoke fear. Fear is the very essence of the unexplored darkness, it is the harbinger of loss, resentment, self-doubt, depression, confusion, loneliness, and hate.
If we can admit to our ‘cracks’, our imperfections, then light can be given a way through them and light is the harbinger of hope, possibility, newness, innocence, love, wisdom, and faith. The melding of light and dark offers us a bridge. Anger can lead us below but perhaps in taking us there it offers opportunities for us to plant the seeds needed to then be able to set things right and finally grow both upward and outward.
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It is human nature for when others upset us, irritate us, disturb us, hurt us, or inconvenience us to see and feel the ill affects only from our own perspectives. Would we want that to be the case when we inflict the same on another? We are a fallible species, meaning nobody is exempt from mistakes and bad behavior. Yes, depending on our commitment to inner work some will falter more than others. The important thing here is to learn lessons and stop the repetition, not to be overly hard on ourselves.
We would do well to see more clearly, no matter our position, that it can be very hard in the spur of the moment to get things ‘right’ in such a fast paced, overwhelming, quick to jump world. Inquiring into the possibilities of why can help guide us towards a more consistent state of tolerance, patience, understanding, and forgiveness that can be reflected both internally and externally. Sometimes people are less observant that they are creating problems for others when they are so lost in their own.
Examining the ambiguity and quiet belonging to the gray that is made from the melding of black and white can teach us a great deal about ourselves and how we present to the world in different scenarios. Gray is representative of the in between, obscurity, and an eerie silence that has a lot to say. Gray speaks to the difficulties of duality.
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Whether people choose to work on moving past their poor choices and communication or to make it a way of life is entirely their business and their problem whether they are the doer or the one on the receiving end.
reasons, NOT excuses, to ponder in regard to bad or thoughtless behavior:
(because let’s face it, imperfect human beings that are having a hard time end up doing things that are less than ideal)
1) The person lost their job
2) The person lost a loved one
3) The person is dealing with PTSD
4) The person is in a state of depression
5) The person is dealing with dementia or other cognitive obstacles
6) The person is encountering a string of bad luck leaving them in a state of exhaustion
7) The person is feeling overworked or underappreciated in their personal and/or professional life
8) The person is dealing with physical ailments or addictions, or are themselves responsible for the care of a loved one with such problems
9) The person is struggling with family dynamics like divorce, abuse, constant quarrels, etc.
10) The person is overwhelmed by financial burdens and afraid of the uncertainties they are faced with
11) The person is stressed by a lack of time for all their responsibilities and no room for self-care or consideration
12) The person is suffering from sleep deprivation
Think about your own experiences and the things you have encountered. Do you have anything to add to this list? I would love to know what you come up with.
We never know what somebody else is having to deal with as we are presented with our own trials that life puts upon us so many times when we are ‘down to the wire’, making it difficult to remember the other person and to find a moment of stillness to consider all the possibilities so as to reach a state of empathy and inclusion.
I believe that most people are inherently good and have the desire to be so. I also believe it is the circumstances we find ourselves in that can deeply affect our ability to actually be able to express our inherent nature. Under these conditions, we have to start asking ourselves, ‘am I stuck in less than accommodating circumstances far too often?’ If so, ‘how can I change this to work for me and who I want to present to the world on a more consistent basis?’ Or, if this is not plausible, ‘do I need to leave where I am behind and find something that works better for me in terms of being able to feel comfort in and respect for the responses and actions I manifest within and without?’
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Another interesting obstacle caught in the web of human instinct is the issue of unconscious biases. Make no mistake, we all have them, explored or unexplored. There are certain people that exist in our lives that we are simply harder on, less patient with, commonly unwilling to acknowledge the positives in or provide any praise or understanding towards, and for no above board or credible reasons from an ethical standpoint. Self-reflection is vital here because of our abhorrent lack of awareness in these cases. Assuming we can notice them, we can find the means to understand why they exist and change them because those people do not deserve that behavior any more than we would being put in that same position.
How somebody chooses to treat you is a reflection of them, not of you.
Do better by being better. There is always another perspective, two sides to every story. Nobody understands until they have walked a mile in somebody else’s shoes. Nobody knows how somebody else is feeling during any given experience. Nobody can wrap their heads around the extent of the scars another person might bear.
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A wonderful bridge for pulling apart and bringing back together the aspects of shadow and light is Tarot. It is a tool used for seeking spiritual knowledge, as well as encouraging intuition and gut instinct. Such things will take you a long way in life not only in regard to survival but also in respect to reaching unexpected heights. Tarot is a holistic experience and resonating with this ‘big picture’ mentality can help us in finding our way.
When we embrace tarot with a sense of clarity, we come to see that it is not about interpreting one card at a time, it is about how the cards interconnect. How they relate to one another and work together towards a meaningful end result. Tarot strengthens our self-awareness, opens doors to new perspectives, and encourages creative thought.
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Dreamwork –
Entering The dreamworld is equivalent to entering the underworld. It involves passage to ‘the other side’. Our ‘darkness’ can be personified in the intricacies and energies held within our dreams.
Interpreting our dreams is a valuable source by which we hone inner progress and open up doors to resolution. Dreams are a momentary meeting meant and able to unveil something lost to our consciousness, call attention to something worthwhile, or to prod us closer to our neglected ‘Wild blue yonder’.
Do you notice the duality in everyone and everything?
Do you recognize that an experience has more than one perspective?
Have you pondered how dark and light, good and bad, love and hate cannot exist, nor would they be what they are, without one another?
The brightest of lights are always seen in the blackest of black.
Dreams take us into the expansive darkness to then show us the ways in which we may escape.
Dreams are like an abstract work of art. They may at first seem muddled or disorganized, but there is meaning and purpose to be found below the surface when we are willing to do the work towards discovery.
Within the rubble is a unified source of knowledge waiting for us to tap into it.
Dreams meet people where they are but then expect them to find their own answers. They bring things together that at first may have seemed impossible or at least like an unlikely pairing. They are mediators between our worlds above and below.
Dreams are symbolic of freedom and open our minds while our eyes are closed.
The power to wield our dreams so as to better understand and except ourselves is a freedom that nobody else can give to us, but it is also a freedom that nobody else can ever take away.
Poetry is often dream-like, indirectly bringing things to the surface for acceptance and subsequent healing under an obscure canopy. Keeping with this sentiment, Mary Oliver’s poem, White Owl Flies into and Out of the Field, is an intriguing supplemental read to re-enforce the ideas presented in this article using a different language, so to speak. Sometimes simply saying something in a different way opens the flood gates in ways not yet realized or in ways that we never dreamed possible.
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The final steppingstone in the Courageous Choice Pathway is Experiencing your Hard-Won inner truths, and it will become available on my blog, Dawning Descent, in due course.
If you were moved by anything that I had to contribute here please contact me regarding your experience. I am excited to travel this path and learn along with you. I look forward to our communications.
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