Spiritual Advancement

Unlocking the Shadow

Something not spoken about often is that the spiritual path of life being something of a painful process. When you commit to exploring the deepest parts of yourself, you eventually get to the areas that aren't so pleasant. These unpleasant parts of yourself aren't to be feared or ignored, and ignoring them can cause some serious issues within. 

You are both light and dark, good and evil, being and non-being. To focus your energies in a lopsided fashion can cause lopsided issues in the psyche. In truth, neither light nor dark exist, nor does good or evil, rather all is one in the end, duality being only an expression of physical existence, not the nature of existence itself. It is this stumbling block that many ignore in their advancement, myself being one of them in the past.

The things I write about are the things that have been experienced in some degree, aside from the historical perspectives that add to the explanation of things. Keeping in line with that thought, this side of spirituality has been at the forefront of my own growth. I was always afraid of facing my shadow because of what it might show me, and by ignoring this side, I was causing more pain than was necessary. The shadow isn't something to be feared, but rather understood for what it is. By doing so, you unlock a deepened understanding of who you are and where you're going in your life, or that has been my experience at least.

To do this you must not pass judgement onto yourself in the process. It is merely an expression of the desires fueled by the world around you coupled with some karmic aspects as well. We are here to experience this thing we call life in order to learn/experience what we call existence. This is why you will hear many say that we are the universe experiencing itself through us. This is also where we get the saying that "God is working through you". Knowing this, the negative experiences are not negative, but learning experiences instead, at least when the student looks at the issues rather than the person lost in their ego. When you can shine light on your shadow and give understanding and comfort, you begin to integrate the whole being into alignment, not just the side your ego deems appropriate in the moment. 

For all intents and purposes, we know that manifested life is dual in nature, meaning that the physical world that we experience in our waking consciousness is dual in expression. Up/down, left/right, good/bad; all these are easily understood by many. What isn't understood by many is that neither exist in actuality, as they are merely assigned meanings to ideas and concepts that are imparted by the individual experiencing the thing/event, not the Truth of the matter which transcends that world of duality. Again, all is one in being, dual in expression, but even dual is too confined as the concept of morality isn't confine to such black and white terms, and it is usually morality that we use to assign the meaning of good and bad to. This is why I use a prism effect as a form of expression to explain the infinite idea of expressions from singularity being infinite as well.

That being said, we will simply use the dual nature to explain this point. Say that you only focus on the light side of your being. Oftentimes these people can be seen as naive to some, simply ignoring the negative in the world whilst assuming a position of permanent positivity. The opposite can make a person self-centered in the extreme. However, once an equilibrium is reached, meaning the light and dark are in harmony, the person is a more integrated being, at one with his/her Self, which is in essence existence itself. This Self is beyond the ideas of duality, as it knows only eternity, but it is guarded by the shadow and cannot be met until the shadow is at peace in the person. This, in my experience, is why it is so important to give yourself time to look at the dark side of your existence and come to terms with that side of your being. This is done with forgiveness and compassion, as it would be unhealthy to attack a side of yourself that you don't fully understand. 

Hopefully this helps to explain the importance of working on the whole of your being and not just focusing on either left or right. It can be scary, but a lesson learned from the shadow is a lesson carried for all of eternity, as even death cannot take it away from you.

 Om Namah Shivaya