Sunday
As children we learn which behaviors cause approval and disapproval from our families, teachers, and friends. We tend to develop those things which are acceptable and repress those things which are not. Those things we repress or deny about ourselves become our shadow.
—Richard Rohr
Monday
The persona cannot bear to see evil in itself, so it always disguises it as good. The shadow self invariably presents itself as something like prudence, common sense, and justice.
—Richard Rohr
Tuesday
Oftentimes it is the fear of being found out or the actual experience of being found out that alerts us to what lies beneath. It actually places us on the path of self-discovery.
—Ruth Haley Barton
Wednesday
We suggest that you relate to the shadow as a mystery, rather than as a problem to be solved or an illness to be cured. You may discover that shadow-work is, indeed, soul work.
—Connie Zweig and Steve Wolf
Thursday
Just because ego and greed and hatred are doing cosplay as religion, I don’t want us to give it that much credit. I want us to insist that no, there is real religion! There’s real faith, and it’s humble and it carries the scent of love and concern, not just for our own kind, but for all of us.
—Omid Safi
Friday
Shadow work is what I call “falling upward.” God hid holiness quite well: the proud will never recognize it, and the humble will fall into it every day—not even realizing it is holiness.
—Richard Rohr
Week Twenty-Two Practice
Facing Our Collective Shadow
Indigenous author Sherri Mitchell describes how we can heal our collective human shadow through compassion and spiritual maturity:
In the reflected images that surround us, we see aspects of ourselves that we admire, and we see aspects of ourselves that we’d like to deny. We see the bright light and the deep darkness. When we experience harmful or destructive actions, we aren’t engaging some dangerous outside force; we are meeting the shadow of our own humanity. Often these experiences inspire us to bring more light to the shadow that is being presented, so that we can heal and balance the wounds that the shadow is revealing. However, there are other times when we meet our shadows with darkness. When this happens, we will simply expand the shadow and create more space for harm to occur. So how do we face the shadows that we see, and make the choice to bring light instead of darkness? How do we get to the place where we are willing to stop blindly lashing out, and end the illusion of war within ourselves and with others?
We do so by facing ourselves, in every reflection, in every moment, with some degree of compassionate awareness and spiritual maturity. This is the real challenge of our lives….
The question is not why we are here, but how we show up most powerfully to meet the times that we are part of. The work that we are required to do is to reconcile the external world that we have created with the inner wisdom that we have acquired. Can we see how we, collectively, have played a role in the reality that is unfolding around us? Can we look at the world that we’ve created and identify our fingerprint in the design?…
Are we willing to recognize the patterns of harm that we have been involved in, and consciously choose to heal the reverberations of that harm that are unfolding all around us? Will we as a species finally find a way to create a reality of peaceful coexistence, now that we know that failing to do so would be a complete destruction of ourselves?
Reference:
Sherri Mitchell, Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change (North Atlantic Books, 2018), 38, 39.
Image credit and inspiration: Flavie Martin, untitled (detail), 2022, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. With cautious breath and glimmers of light, we step into the shadow—drawn by the gifts it holds—seeking the clarity and courage to name what hides.
