image credit: Soumen
Carl Jung said, “Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism.” This is definitely a conversation where, “angels fear to tread.” It takes great courage to go against our society’s norm and question how idealism plays out in our lives. In truth, to realize wholeness, we have to let go of idealism of what we judge to be good, and open to the possibility that light and dark are two aspects of who we are. Favoring only the light and pushing the darkness into the “closet’ will in fact create more woundedness and attract more darkness. When we reject our dark aspect, it rears its ugly head elsewhere, sometimes in our own lives or in our external environment which, we then rationalize, has nothing to do with us. More importantly, because of our humanness, we can misjudge what we consider to be bad and demonize people and situations. We then shun what is bad with its ensuing dire consequence. We only have to look at our history to see how we subject those whom we judge to be less than good, to destruction, to cruelty and suffering.
Most religions encourage idealism of the good and to transform the darkness into light. This is where the literal understanding of such an imperative can be harmful. Moralists quote the certitude of the injunctions of their religions as the moral code and claim to know absolutely, what is good and what is bad. These ideals are the standards that people must live up to, even though those who preach them, themselves have a difficult time upholding these standards. I question the value of trying to mold ourselves to a directive that dismisses our human nature as bad, creating a split in our psyche. Would it not be more healing to hold all aspects of us as emanations of creation, light and shadow? When we embrace our unconscious impulses as parts of who we are, we do not have to enact them to the extreme, in the form of perversion.
Recognizing that we carry both light and shadow within our psyches, not denying the shadow side, not acting out on it, but acknowledging it, we can be gentle and forgiving with ourselves and consequently with others. I am reminded of a nursery rhyme, “when she was good, she was very, very good; when she was bad, she was horrid.” There is a lot of tension in being very, very good and so when the pendulum swings, the result can be horrid. Thomas Merton, the Catholic monk of the Trappist Order, wrote in Volume Six of his journals, “Solitary life and struggle with illusion: not with objectified exterior devils but with the devils which are illusion about self. Pattern of thought -the expectation of something happening: basically an habitual attitude of mind is an orientation toward “something good happening to me, in me, as a result of my disposing my life in view of such a happening.” … To be fixated in this pattern means that when it is not simply and rapidly brought into effect, one becomes anxious and the “pattern” works itself out in illusory and unpleasant ways. These are good. They show how, and to what extent, the pattern itself is illusory, arbitrary, even self-willed.”
Meditation is important to get clarity and retain a balance in our consciousness. In Shambala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior, Chogyam Trungpa wrote, “It doesn’t really matter what thoughts you have. In the sitting practice of meditation, whether you have monstrous thoughts or benevolent thoughts, all of them are regarded purely as thinking. They are neither virtuous nor sinful. You might have a thought of assassinating your father or you might want to make lemonade and eat cookies. Please don’t be shocked by your thoughts: any thought is just thinking. No thought deserves a gold medal or a reprimand. Just label your thoughts “thinking,” then go back to your breath.”
A model that embraces all aspects of our light and dark is the myth of the Hindu Goddess Kali: She is depicted as enraged, with red eyes, wearing a garland of human skulls. Kali’s most common four armed image shows her carrying a sword, a severed head and a skull-cup catching the blood of the severed head. The Sword represents divine knowledge and the human head represents the ego which must be slain by divine knowledge in order to attain freedom. Two hands are in the gestures of granting blessings and fearlessness. In spite of her seemingly terrible form, Kali is often considered the kindest and most loving of all the Hindu goddesses, as she is regarded by her devotees as the Mother of the whole Universe. And, because of her terrible form she is also often seen as a great protector.
The path to wholeness asks that we acknowledge all that we are, for within each of us, we carry the archetypes of the mass consciousness. All of creation exists as the form of the consciousness of God. The manifestations of Consciousness simply are. It is we who judge them to be good or bad, and in so doing embrace what we label as good and reject what we label as bad. To heal on all levels we have to come to realize what Thomas Merton wrote in his journals, ” One thing has suddenly hit me—that nothing counts except love and that a solitude that is not simply the wide-openness of love and freedom is nothing. Love and solitude are the one ground of true maturity and freedom…True solitude embraces everything, for it is the fullness of love that rejects nothing and no one, is open to All in All.”
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
You speak directly to my heart dear sister….
Amen! A thousand times Amen…
To move away from the garish neon light of simple answers and walk towards the candlelight of human truth… Is where i find myself moving in my own life…
Thank you for all the love you pour like sweet water into this world,
Maithri
I enjoyed reading your post! I know it’s a little bit of a cliche to say ” thinking outside the box” but as we learned to be open, to not judge to accept a realm of life wider than the world we live in, we learn the posibilities are endless.
Hello Maithri,
“To move away from the garish neon light of simple answers and walk towards the candlelight of human truth…”
Your words portray so well what we are all called to do on the spiritual path, to live deeply our own truths.
Thanks for your beautiful heartfelt presence here my friend.
May your path be guided by the soft glow of love and compassion!
Hello Rachel
A warm welcome to you, thanks for stopping by!
Indeed, on the spiritual healing journey we are asked to “think outside the box” to find new ways to address what is not working in our lives. If we are courageous to do so, we are graced with a magnificent vista of perspectives and opportunities; like you say, “the possibilities are endless.”
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
May you walk in endless beauty along the path with ease.
Some people would also suggest addiction is an illusion meant to distract the mind from something begging for attention.
Hi Miruh,
Any addiction tells us that we are oversaturating ourselves with whatever it is – be it alcohol, idealism, food, etc. I look at idealism as another aspect to optimism. Perhaps a person who is idealistic sees the spark and tries to make it into fire.
I agree with Merton, “…nothing counts except love…”
Great post.
Hi Miruh – Another excellent post. We have to start understanding this. It’s like we’ve been labeling large parts of world as ‘bad’ and shoving them under the rug where they can’t be seen because they’re so ‘terrible’. Now, all over the world, this stuff can’t be hidden any more. So much of this ‘darkness’ is coming to light. We have to deal with it. But as you suggest, a part of that process is to recognize that this ‘darkness’ is part of ourselves.
As you know from my blog, I am currently taking a good look under my own rug! (Thanks for recommending TAT by the way – I have downloaded the instructions.) On one particular occasion, I was really able to see that the fear I was feeling came from a frightened child that was part of me. As soon as I acknowledged the right of that child to be afraid, there was a wonderful feeling of energy flowing and the fear was gone. It is indeed our reluctance to acknowledge our shadow side which is causing it to grow.
Wow! You have articulated this so very well! I love your thoughts on this. We should all read this. Good and bad are precepts which we create and in doing so we also create much unhappiness and stress as we sequester that which we perceive as bad or negative. Thank-you for sharing your wisdom and being a teacher to us all.
Hello Liara,
Yes this is true what you say about addictions, then there are those who say that they have an addictive personality; it’s in their genes. Perhaps “the begging for attention” you speak of, is in our collective gene pool, the search for the Self that is our highest destiny.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
May you walk the path of freedom from illusion.
Hello Alexys,
I believe that the awareness of addiction is the first step to healing; the acknowledging of oversaturation. The addiction to idealism is less apparent to many.
“Perhaps a person who is idealistic sees the spark and tries to make it into fire.” This would be the truest and highest form of idealism and still embracing all aspects of who we are, not negating our less than sparkling side is the path to wholeness. Even Jesus had his moments e.g. when he cursed the fig tree.
It is wise to keep a balance with focusing of the “spark” remembering what Nietzsche said,”And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. ”
Thanks for sharing your wisdom.
May you bask in the rays of the light of your truth, my friend!
Hello Simon,
Thanks for your kind comment!
I agree that we have come to a place where all is being exposed on the world’s stage. It is so apparent that no one can fix it, but that each one of us has to take responsibility to do our part to heal ourselves and consequently the world. It is an exciting time of great opportunity really!
I like what you shared, “As soon as I acknowledged the right of that child to be afraid, there was a wonderful feeling of energy flowing and the fear was gone.” This seems so simple yet in reality it is hard because we have to look at all the programs that we have that tells us otherwise.
Thanks for sharing your healing story, it is encouraging for all of us. It inspired me to write my next post!
May you build strength and courage to unfold your true self, the heart!
Hello Mark,
You are too kind! Thanks for your beautiful words.
We are all each others teachers and students, we all have a unique part to contribute, only we can deliver it in the way that we do. We must all say what comes through us, for no matter how basic the truth, we have to hear it over and again in as many forms as our personalities. It is all about LOVE.
I get so much from visiting your site, you express these truths with so much simplicity and straight from the heart.
May the heart’s wisdom shower its rays upon you and all your relations.
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