Shadow Work

Shadow work:

and Jung called it the shadow, all our darkness as well as light not owned, nor even recognized and then projected to the world. It's living by reaction, triggered by our own fear of being truly whole. For wholeness to exist means there is no human quality that doesn't belong to us in some degree. To embrace our shadow is to find ourselves whole, complete. 

exactly as we are. 

this seems the opposite of the Vedic Neti Neti inquiry, to negate all we believe ourselves to be by process of eliminating common identifications as "not this, not this" and finding the inherent emptiness of our nature. Yet it's not so different than owning our shadow, it's similar work really, as finding ourselves empty of projections leaves us free to embrace all that arises through the capacity of our hold. It's at once not this, not this as well as full acceptance of all we are. We are free to find and accept ourselves as simply human, both shadow and light. 

emptiness, and completely full. 

whole. 

shadow work is simply seeing, and owning what appears - in someway, everything is a projection of the mind. To observe a tree is to instantly tell ourselves a story of every tree we've seen before. We largely ignore the newness of this particular tree, it's fresh appearance to our view. In reality everything is always first sight, as if never seen before. Each tree arrives to us with and without story, a paradox, and completely true. It's same with who we are, free of story, and yet a history of all we've long believed ourselves to be. The only real work is to no longer deny any quality that appears. It doesn't have to be true, again it's a paradox of being - if it appears it belongs to us, existing even if an illusion. But this ownership frees us, as if by claiming any quality, darkness or light, there is no need for it to gain any lasting purchase. It's recognizing a quality as an appearance, no real substance, yet perhaps useful in how we navigate through the world. 

ours in service. 

  with this we recognize and reclaim our projections - freeing ourselves from long held stories. We're whole, even as we're healing from beliefs of being broken. 

~

Peace, Eric