In the field I’m involved with, namely spirituality and healing, the terms light and darkness are often used. “I work in the light,” “Lightworker,” “May you find your way to the light.”
And then there’s… “He’s surrounded by darkness,” “She is lost to the light,” “They work in the shadow.”
I used to use these terms. It made me feel good since I consider myself working in the light, thus I’m one of the good guys.
Recently I realized how much ego and arrogance this terminology includes on my part. I’m now shifting my lingu somewhat.
What is the reason for this change in perspective?
I realized that I’m yet to meet a person without shadows, or one without a spark of light. We tend to paint the world in black and white. Yet, in fact, reality is a large spectrum of grays and various colors. Why do we do this? Why do we feel a need to label, take sides? Likely because it gives us an excuse not to look at our blind-spots. It gives us a sense of superiority.
When we look at the Yin-Yang symbol, we notice that when the Yin, dark side of the circle, reaches it peak, it already has the seed of Yang, white, and vs verse. And while Yin, represented in black, is nothing negative but a metaphor for a certain force, one aimed inwards, it illustrates well also the work of light and darkness. We constantly shift, change, hour to hour, day to day, year to year. When we paint others with darkness, it may be our own darkness that clouds our eyes to see what we need to investigate. This is not to say there is no darkness. Theft, murder, abuse, are all forms of darkness. But rather than labeling, I realize that good and evil are relative and very subjective.
This post is just a reminder for myself to watch out. Watch out for people, including myself, calling others to follow them onto the light. They may be blind to their own shadows as I occasionally have been.
Open Heart Energy 