Self

Within and Without There Is No Doubt

Perfection is not the goal — life is light and shadow

Our soul mission is not to reach a state of flawlessness but to become whole.

God loves us no matter who we are or what we do or say. Our spiritual growth cannot begin if we don’t look deep inside before venturing out.

We cannot project Light and Love if we do not first behold those aspects of our inner nature we unconsciously prefer to deny or bury.

Not to forget there could be treasures hiding there — gifts we have yet to discover!

If we do not bring the unconscious into our conscious awareness and integrate those traits in our outer life, whatever we project in our daily thoughts, words, deeds and interaction with others is not our complete Self.

Marianne Williamson says:

“Not looking at what’s going on in the world is NOT transcendence — that’s denial. It’s a perverted idea of spirituality as a justification for disengagement.”

The same holds true for not looking at what’s going on in our inner realm.

We may be judgmental, possess low self-esteem, or delude ourselves that someone or something “out there” is to blame for whatever isn’t right in our life.

We are often not aware of those forces in the shadow world of our psyches we are projecting.

Shadow work is the process of diving into the unconscious mind and uncovering its tendencies and fixations to integrate them further into conscious awareness.

Without that integration, the seeds we send out will not germinate — they are empty husks.

“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”- Carl Jung.

Shadow

Proof of sun and moon Giving life to Light and dark In eternal embrace Hearts beat together

Concealed in dark corners Of my mind Parts of me I did not wish to find

Until one day I turned the torch Decided to Light up the shadows Where my fears resided

I set them free To rise into the Light While my shadow Danced in pure delight

Shadow

Proof of me and you Giving life to Light and dark With open hearts

We seek together The power of Love Within us

The power of God

“Embracing our shadows is the ultimate act of self-love. There is no greater love than the one that allows us to shine a light on the aspects of ourselves that we have judged and made wrong. Embracing our dark side gives us a new found freedom to be with the darkness in others. For when I can love all of me, I will love all of you.” — Debbie Ford.

This story is a reflection on my experience along the road of recovery from depression during the 90's, part of which included the therapy of shadow work.

A tough journey, but well worth it.

Because I’m still here. Imperfect but whole.

Allow me to share one of my favorite songs released by Cat Stevens in 1970. He converted to the Muslim faith in 1977 and adopted the name Yusuf Islam.

Here he is performing Moonshadow at the 2015 Radio 2 Folk Awards:

Spiritual Tree Prompt — Shadow