Continued

Dear Editor:

What a wonderful experience to find such a spiritually enriching and healthful place on the Web. Perhaps one day I will attempt to contribute something. In any case--great work! And thank you.

—The Rev. Mark Glidden
   New York City

Dear Editor:

Carl Jung said, "One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious." We all have many dark terrible aspects of ourselves which we keep hidden from the light. We were taught or learned as a child to hide these undesirable aspects of ourselves in order to be accepted.

These are our negative feelings, our dark side, our personal shadow. As much as we try to hide this part of ourselves it keeps showing up. Whenever something or someone shows up that gives rise to resentment, anger, rage, jealousy, blaming, greed, hate, fear, being a victim, then we have come face to face with our terrible shadow. The terrible trait long buried within us rises to the surface and reminds us of how unacceptable we are.

Our worldly rational self fails to accept responsibility for our dark side preferring instead to blame others and make them the cause of our upset. Thereby we give away our power and essentially invite more abuse. Jung again: "The shadow side is not all darkness -- its essence is pure gold." Dear one, stop beating yourself up. You are not bad. You are not inadequate. You are not wrong regardless of what anyone has told you. Treat yourself with compassion. There is a part of you that is suffering and needs your compassion, your love and your understanding.

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