Even me… Even you…
Because all that’s really needed for shadows to be present are:
1) A light source
2) Something blocking that light
3) Some surface for the shadow to be cast onto (a wall, the ground)
We are used to seeing this phenomenon when we are out on a sunny day. ☀
The sun is the source of light, our bodies are the something blocking that light, and the ground is where we can see that shadow cast.
Your Shadow psyche works in a similar way:
1) The light of your conscious awareness. This is self-awareness and inward attention towards the web of underlying stories and beliefs that create the reality of “you.”
2) The blocks and old traumas. The places where you have experienced the seeds of a story and then promptly forgotten about it. Sweeping the original source under a metaphorical rug so you could feel safer and interact in the world. Or, aspects of yourself that you are afraid of, don’t approve of, or wish away.
3) Your life! You project out that blockage onto your view of your world, causing you to see shadow shapes rather than the clear, bright version of you and others that exists under the blocks.
Just like the men in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” we see the shadows and think that they are real. We can’t (or won’t) see ourselves clearly, so we think that our shadow projections are us. We see the shadows of others… and sometimes, we are unable to discern which shadows are ours or are theirs. So we turn our pain and anger outwards, because it is far easier, and see evil and enemies everywhere. Discounting others’ stories because they don’t align with our own. Shadow stories then appear as absolutes, because that feels more satisfying and understandable.
But they are, at best, shades of gray.
And, in truth, they are simply the effect of the blocks that keep us from seeing our own light, and by believing in the projections, the light of others.
So, now… in 2024… what will you choose? Will you focus only on the world of shadows or look more closely to the source of the light? That may sound a very simplistic question, considering the very messy and painful state of the world today. And, it is perhaps a tricky question, because to become whole, we need to see and integrate all of who we are, being courageous enough to understand how the shadows were created in the first place and then seeing through them to what’s really true.
But this question is an inward one. And only YOU can answer it best for you. Are you willing to look within and face your own shadows, so that you can own them and integrate them, and illuminate one small piece of the shadows of the world?
It’s 2024. It’s time. ⏰
Minding the Story 