October 6, 2022

• Understanding and enduring the shadow

The God, the Spirit Center, that is the center of all life, yours and ours, fills the space that you and we occupy together with a light that ultimately overcomes all shadows. Human life, as we have spoken of, is that balance, the balance of light and shadow, joy and sorrow, comfort and pain, but we would like to turn your spirits in a direction that explores what shadow means. Often we speak of light, the warmth of God’s presence, light as a kind of energy, the light that illuminates the pathway, but it is also helpful to understand more about what the shadow is, and even more important, what the shadow isn’t.

It is natural to rejoice in the light, but the greatest difficulty that you experience, of course, is enduring and understanding the shadow. As was observed at this gathering, the shadow is never pure darkness. The shadow is not characterized by a lack of form. We could say that shadow is not characterized by a lack of purpose. Indeed, the shadow has shape. It has texture. It has recognizable aspects that are also found in the light. If you see a tree in the shadows, you recognize it is a tree, for the tree exists whether or not it is in the light or the shadow.

Your lives, just like shadows, are not formless. When you experience darker events, they are not just existing. Your lives, even in the darkest moments, contain within them elements, components, that you can recognize, because you have seen them in the light. Each of you has experienced the goodness of friends and family when you have lived in periods of light. But when you are experiencing the shadows, the goodness of those around you does not simply disappear. What keeps them in view, in part is your memory, your recognition that people are essentially good, and the goodness, the generosity of spirit, offered by others still can be present when you are in the shadows.

Being in those shadows is not analogous to experiencing full darkness where, in effect, nothing exists but the darkness. That is not the human condition. When you feel overwhelmed by burdens, by illness, by loss, you are not alone. In your darkness there is evidence of love, there is evidence of goodness offered by others. There is evidence of goodness and love offered by God, by and through your guides. It is always present. We say so often that you are never separated from the light that is God. That means you never exist in absolute, featureless darkness. There is always within that darkness the shapes of love.

Of course, that tree in the darkness is not as brilliantly apparent to you, but it is still there, and in the dim light, when you look carefully, you see it. When you are not aware of the tree, and you think only of the darkness, that tree is still present. It does not disappear because you cannot see it.

If we carry the analogy of the shadows further, if you move from a room that is well lit to a room that is dark, what do you see initially? You often and most likely see nothing, and yet where you are is not empty. In time, your eyes become accustomed to the darkness, and you begin to recognize what is in the shadow. But even when it seemed totally dark, it was not so. It was merely your perception that had to change.

When you experience darkness, shadows, in your life, of course you are initially aware of the contrast of being on a path where all is well lit to being surrounded by what appears to be total darkness. The vision of your heart is akin to the vision of the eyes, and as you continue in the shadow, you gradually see clear evidence of the presence of something else—other people, other objects. You are then aware that the darkness was not complete. It was merely your perceptions that were limited.

You all encounter the shadows, and you all may feel initially that all seems lost, all is dark, but allow your heart vision to begin to clarify what is truly there. How does this heart vision open up? We return to the reality of memory. When you remember what brings affirmation, what brings love, what brings strength, you will begin to recognize that those forces continue, for God’s light continues.

As you grow in your heart vision, you will become more intensely aware of the expression and embodiment of God through others that together penetrates the darkness. That is opening up your heart vision. You are acknowledging the reality of what is there and rejecting the totality of what seems absent. This darkness of life, therefore, is not the absence of light, for light continues, and it is for you to dig deep into the heart and open the vision and embrace what is truly there.

Yes, it is always easy to acknowledge light when it is bright. The challenge is faced when initially you see no evidence of that light. The light is still there, and it is through the help of your guides that your night vision, your vision of the heart in the presence of the shadows, becomes ever stronger.

When you experience a recognition of God’s presence through the actions of others when you are in the shadow, you cannot possibly reject the reality of that presence when you are in the light, for you will see evidence of it all around you. After experiencing the shadows and being brought into the light, you become part of the energy of that light, and as a presence that reflects that light, you can provide an energy that serves to illuminate the shadows experienced by others. You will have been given much, and in response, you give much.

Being a believer in God when all goes well does not necessarily mean that one will be equally strengthened in that belief when in the shadows. Each of you has the ability to bring what you know in the light to the experience that you find yourselves in when surrounded by the shadow. The shadow takes on character because of your experience of light. You learn to love through the act of being loved. You become light through the experience of being given light when it was seen to be so remote. It is living and experiencing those shadows in life that enable you to more fully become a light to others who experience the shadows. It’s your bringing of your own experience that is that golden thread, that golden cord, that serves to connect life to life, that connects light to shadow, that connects joy to sorrow, that connects affirmation to loss.

It sounds strange to you when we say embrace the darkness, for no one likes to suffer. No one likes to experience loss, but by embracing those moments in your life when you are surrounded by those shadows, the significance of light becomes ever clearer, and you are strengthened in your ability to reflect the reality of that light through your own experiences.

Yes, of course, embrace the light, but equally find reasons to embrace the shadows, and you will be embracing the health of spirit, the balance of spirit. You will be strengthening your own capacity to be loving because you remember what it felt to be loved.

You are blessed in the light, and you are equally blessed in the shadows. Seek meaning in those shadows. Avoid being consumed by that initial belief that such darkness is the absence of light, for that is never the case. Those shadows only point to the need for you to open the vision of heart, to experience again what it means to be loved, and in so doing, you find yourselves being drawn ever more close to becoming all that love is.

You are blessed in the light. You are blessed in the shadows. You are strengthened in the light, and you are strengthened in the shadows. The spirit, your spirit, draws that strength from the balance, the presence of all that you encounter. Know that the light is always present. Know that your guides are always present. Know that you are always loved, and know that you are in all ways becoming more loving.

Amen.