The Fullness of Who We Are
The shadow isn’t the enemy. The shadow in and of itself is not the problem. The real issue is our disconnection—from ourselves, from others, and from the Divine. The source of our disease and violence is separation from parts of ourselves, from each other, and from God. Mature spirituality exists to heal this separation, to reconnect us to the fundamental wholeness that underlies all of life. Mature religion is meant to re-ligio or re-ligament what our egos and survival instincts have put asunder, namely a fundamental wholeness at the heart of everything.
We're born whole, but along the way, we learn to divide our lives, separating good from bad, acceptable from unacceptable. This sorting is essential for societal function, but what we reject doesn't disappear; it hides in the shadow, often growing in strength and, at times, overwhelming us.
Surprisingly, the shadow isn’t just the dark parts of ourselves—it also contains the gold, the noble aspects of our being that we’ve sidelined because they don’t fit into cultural norms. These aspects are tied to our higher calling, which many resist because accepting them means embracing the fullness of who we are.
The journey of life, then, is about reclaiming this wholeness. The religious process consists of restoring the wholeness of the personality. The first half of life is often about conforming to societal expectations, while the second half is about restoring our true, conscious wholeness. This isn’t a pointless cycle; it’s a journey from unconscious innocence to conscious integration. Embrace the journey. Embrace the whole of who you are.
