'Shadow' Articles
Here is a crazy thought. There is no enemy anywhere. Insane huh? Nothing to exert our will against. Nothing to change. Nothing that is not us. Not one of us, no one who is not your family, no one who isn’t in your mind, your heart. What would life be like that if that was recognized as the truth?
Here is a crazy thing. You are your own worst enemy and wherever you go there you are. And since there is no enemy anywhere…where are you?
“From a certain point of view our real enemy, the true troublemaker, is inside.” Tenzin Gyatso, The 14th Dalai Lama
Life’s Roller Coaster
With any facet of life, in the light of awareness there is a mirror image. For every truth, an equal and opposite truth. We often revile the negative as destructive. We say that is the opposite of what we want, when in fact it’s a mirror image of the thing desired. This is why attachment is supposedly the source of suffering. You get no light without shadow and in hating one thing you hate the other. In loving one thing, you love the other. Extremes create life’s roller coaster. How can you avoid the roller coaster? Life has rhythms. We… Seek More
Embrace Light and Shadow
For any light you have a shadow. The truth of any spirit is found not in the object of the senses nor its opposite, but in between. But often we see only what we choose to. We declare one small facet of reality ‘truth’ and refuse to see it very deeply. People refuse to see the rejected side of reality. Perhaps they estimate that it would hurt or weaken them somehow. We are all of us inclined to a certain temperament even in our spiritual lives. The Brahminical tradition speaks of this. Even the teachings of tantra. Which is very… Seek More
Embrace Pleasure and Pain
Some would embrace their dreams, deny their nightmares, and say that they know what it is to dream. They will indulge in pleasure and shun pain, and say they know what it is to feel. But when confronted with the reflection of what they seek, its mirror image, they ask, “Why do I experience this?” They say I want pleasure, not pain. I want fantasy, not insight. Myself I love fantasy. In art. In peoples imaginations. I find surrealism often says deeper things about life than a realistic portrait ever can. The page ‘The Great Delusion’ illustrates this. Is this delusion… Seek More
Secret of Conflict
The secret of conflict is that there is no conflict. We perceive ourselves to be in opposition. But the one who opposes you, do they oppose “you”? Or has their way run afoul of yours? They seek something in opposition. Imagine an auto accident … It is nothing about opposition, just nature interacting with nature and adaptation is possible. One of the worlds most effective self defence disciplines, aikido, is based on this understanding of conflict. If someone comes to me and says I am totally upset with you. You are scum and unworthy. This person who confronts me… Do… Seek More
Still Your Mind
I contemplate grim things in my life. I admit this freely. And some others think that I do harm in these dark meditations but I see them in the “light” of the bigger picture. I just admit my natural inclination. Anyone ever practice scrying? When you affix your gaze in scrying, into ink or water or a mirror, you mirror that state. It stills the mind. Often times, considering the counter to your views stills your mind. Consider the shadow and you often times can see light more deeply because it stills your mind. The true light shows that there… Seek More
Many Minds in a Single Soul
In a sense, I am of two minds. It is even the focus of our MySpace comment. There are many minds in a single soul, but in truth reconciling I am of one mind. They say love is a law, the highest law. Inside of me there is a part that rages, is impassioned and detached at the same time. It takes joy at the destruction. The paradox is true. My rage isn’t about hate. I feel tension and pain in my being and in the world, and trying to find peace seems like a lost cause. I am leaning… Seek More
Equal Part Shadow
We all know the world of the light. It’s the world of the taught and the agreed upon. It’s the world of the approved and that which is publicly seen as virtuous. But there is another side to the world. A side that some people come to think applies mostly to them only, and a side that goes unspoken of but is very real. This sort of talk creeps people out more often than not, but everything “in the light” has an equal part of it cast in shadow. Every decent person has fears, embarrassments, and doubts. Yet as pervasive… Seek More
Ripples In The Shadow Realm
The realm of shadow is the realm of the subconscious. In fact, your subconscious itself is an artefact from your pre-incarnated existence. It arises as an impetus in the collective unconscious that leads two people to pair up. Each circumstance being in essence different, if not in practice, and this potential energy remains with you throughout your entire life. Taoists make what could be considered a reference to this with their concept of your “original chi”. This potential energy is what is called destiny? Perhaps, in a sense, it’s destiny. But in fact, it’s more like the ripples in a… Seek More
Shadow Hunting
I think I’m denying parts of my shadow and don’t even know it. How do I start to uncover those? Shall we discuss shadow hunting? Even those who aren’t creatures of shadow can learn from them. Ever notice how carrion eaters watch the healthy and unhurt? It isn’t threatening. They don’t intend to kill or even necessarily expect that the creature will die. What they do know is that all activity has it’s end. In the case of the crow, they know that even if you make it through their wasteland home, you will take rest breaks and will likely… Seek More
My Relationship To Shadow
A bit about my relationship to shadow. Having an ASD (autism spectrum disorder), as a developmental trait, has set me up to perceive much that remains hidden to others. In the strictly intellectual task, I don’t have habitual filtering for “pleasing” images, so I don’t select for those in embedded figure patterns. I am likely to see just about anything in an ink blot test, and can single out any one detail in a huge mass of features easily. I don’t have much trouble making decisions usually. But to get to the shadow part, as easily as I pick out… Seek More
