One of the hardest moments in any awakening is the instant you are confronted with your shadow. It not only feels as if your heart is breaking, but it also feels as if the ground underneath you is crumbling.
Your heart is breaking because you can no longer deny that you have darkness within where you had told yourself only light resides.
The ground crumbles beneath you because you now know that your foundation was built on a false belief that you were somehow better than others because you were not like them.
The confronting of one's shadow is difficult. However, it only happens when one is in the process of awakening. It is a necessary step in one's personal evolution toward self-love and wholeness. Looking your own shadow "in the eye" enables you to know yourself on a deeper level. Then through the practice of love and compassionate understanding, you can take responsibility for your shadow, which automatically brings it into the light thus weakening it and releasing you from its stranglehold.
We cannot ignore the rampant violence and cruelty happening every day. We can look at it as a sign that we are falling apart and sinking into the abyss of darkness. We can blame factions or the "others" for what is happening, or we can see it from a higher perspective that we what is happening is we are being confronted with our shadow as a society.
Just as it is true for the individual, it also holds true for the society that we only are confronted with our shadow when we are in the process of awakening. It is vital during this period of society's shadow being brought into the light that we all practice love and compassionate understanding both with ourselves (since we too are part of society) as well as with those sharing our world. And it is essential that we hold onto faith and hope and trust that the light will prevail no matter how hard the shadow fights to stay in the dark.
As our collective shadow shouts and flails and rages against the light, remember that this is one of the essential steps of awakening and becoming all that we are meant to be. So instead of being afraid or angry, which only prolongs the struggle, be grateful that you have the opportunity to participate in humanity's awakening and do your part by bringing your shadow lovingly into the light and by choosing to be "light-hearted" wherever you go. www.joffremcclung.com
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