Light and Shadow Are One Coin
La luz y la sombra son una misma moneda
A question about the relationship between light and shadow, and why moving toward what is dark seems to be the very thing that brings illumination.
Light and Shadow Are One Coin
A question about the relationship between light and shadow, and why moving toward what is dark seems to be the very thing that brings illumination.
This is something that's been on my mind a lot: the connection between the light and the shadow. It's so easy to see how we need the light, but it's not as easy to see how the shadow is what gives the light its light. They seem like two sides of one coin, and I can't quite put it into words, but it feels like one is the door to the other. Maybe one reason it's hard to articulate is because I feel resistance to the shadow. Sometimes I think it's better not to ask, better to just experience it. But I felt like asking you.
There's something really simple about it. You only need light where there is no light, and that is in the shadow. So we need to journey into the shadow to bring light. We don't really need to go toward the light, because we are the light. To move toward the shadow brings light to what doesn't have light. Just being aware of what is present, and going deeper into it, brings light to that.
Conditioning and rediscovery
I guess that's where the miracle is. The mind will tell me, "Don't go there, it's dark." But every time I go to the shadow, the light comes. The conditioning says otherwise, but then...
Because you are the light.
Right. I experience light, is what I mean. But there's so much conditioning. It's like a child rediscovering a new toy. Every single time: "Oh, yes." Maybe it's helpful to talk about it just to reinforce it, because conditioning is so powerful, seemingly.
The shadow as the unconscious
(from another student) To me, the shadow is simply what's unconscious. As you bring it to consciousness, that is the light, the light of consciousness. When you first start to look at the shadow, it can be really scary or off-putting to see what was in you. But it's a great process, actually, much better than having it be there but unconscious to you.