Integrating the Shadow

Photo Credit: Catherine Pawasarat Sensei Cambodia Dharma Trip
Spiritual Awakening and Shadow Work
We believe that integrating the shadow is fundamental and one of the fastest ways to unfold spiritually, and reduce our suffering. What Freud called the subconscious and Jung called the shadow are the buried aspects of our psyche that became suppressed due to our family and societal conditioning. One aspect of spiritual awakening is making this unconscious aspect conscious.
Transforming the shadow into a fully integrated human being is what medieval alchemists referred to as turning lead into gold. We can consider it top-quality psychic composting.
It’s important that we are clear and honest: by its very nature, shadow work is not fun or pretty. It takes courage and fortitude to see parts of our being that are not like we wish them to be, and to dedicate one’s energy to transforming that.
Shadow work is also something that is exponentially easier when supported by experienced mentors and a spiritual community. (You might like to read our tips for building conscious community).

Integrating the Shadow: Doing Your Shadow Work
The shadow has a deceptive quality: whatever its nature, we tend to want nothing to do with it. The shadow often shows up as unconscious issues with money, sex and power. Somehow it’s all repulsive. Couldn’t it just go away?
Leaning into What Repels Us
However, beneath that repugnant exterior, when we have the courage to lean into the shadow, tremendous amounts of positive energy become available to us. That quality that bothered us in others becomes integrated into our own personality, in a much healthier way.
And once we decide to change, the shadow’s darkness moves towards greater and greater light. That is both beautiful and exciting. Then we get to understand the true purpose of spiritual practice – to discover what human consciousness is capable of.
Working with Money, Sex and Power
Three areas that tend to get pushed into the shadow are money (survival), sex (identity), and power (control over our lives). These can be very strong unconscious forces at work in our lives that affect our personalities.
Money, sex, and power are juicy areas of exploration for all of us, fraught as they can be with conditioned emotional baggage and ego insecurities, and often with hidden unconscious views.
It’s incumbent upon all of us who seek transformational change, greater awareness, and spiritual awakening to investigate these foundational realms of human experience with valor, intellectual rigor, and emotional integrity.
To read more about how we work with this, see Money, Sex and Power.
Video: What is the Shadow?
Four Approaches to Spiritual Awakening
Our mandate is supporting as many beings as possible to experience spiritual awakening in this lifetime. Read about our overall approach to the the spiritual path, and the important pillars of spiritual awakening here: Overview of the Path: First Time Here
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Awakening today.
We offer an ever-evolving modern spiritual path for committed, courageous seekers.
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