“How does a part of the world leave the world?

How does wetness leave water? Don’t try to

put out fire by throwing on more fire! Don’t

wash a wound with blood. No matter how fast

 

you run, your shadow keeps up. Sometimes it’s

in front! Only full overhead sun diminishes

 

your shadow. But that shadow has been serving 

you. What hurts you, blesses you. Darkness is

 your candle. Your boundaries are your quest.

I could explain this, but it will break the

 

glass cover on your heart, and there’s no

fixing that. You must have shadow and light

 source both. Listen, and lay your head under

the tree of awe. When from that tree feathers

 

and wings sprout on you, be quieter than

a dove. Don’t even open your mouth for even a coo.”

From Soul of Rumi by Coleman Barks

 

Deep within the hidden reaches of your unconscious mind and in the place between your thoughts there lays a stillness that when embraced opens the door to your true nature.

Carl Jung believed that we all have aspects of both light and shadow within us and that the process, some would say goal, of life is to integrate the two into one whole thus reconciling both good and evil. The shadow or dark sides of ourselves cannot be merely hidden, shoved down into the caves of our unconscious mind for they don’t disappear just because they are no longer seen. They will have their say in everything that we do and if repressed long enough they will rise to the surface causing chaos in our dreams and in our waking lives. The energy of the shadow is always there and can be used for good or evil.

As Rumi said “But that shadow has been serving 

you. What hurts you, blesses you. Darkness is

your candle… You must have shadow and light

source both.