The Dark Side of the Light Chasers

Poet and author Robert Bly describes the shadow as an invisible bag that each of us carries around on our backs.

Love and Awakening, John Welwood

Each of us must be willing to continually explore and expose this aspect of self. Whether you like it or not, if you’re human, you have a shadow.

Many of us have spent too much time chasing the light only to find more darkness. “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light,” said Jung, “but by making the darkness conscious.”

Our shadow is here to point out where we are incomplete. It is here to teach us love, compassion, and forgiveness, not just for others but also for ourselves.

I’ve heard it said that shadow work is the path of the heart warrior. It takes us to a new place in our consciousness where we have to open our hearts to all of ourselves, and to all of humanity.

We have to uncover, own, and embrace all of who we are, the good and bad, dark and light, strong and weak, and honest and dishonest.

To be divine is to be whole and to be whole is to be everything: the positive and the negative, the

Our society nurtures the illusion that all the rewards go to the people who are perfect. But many of us are finding out that trying to be perfect is costly. The consequences of emulating the “perfect person” can eat away at us, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.