image: cheekyangels at flicker.com

From birth to death, life is steeped in paradox. Like the diamond, we begin as fairly humble material. As human beings grow to physical maturity however, the depths to which one may be moved in acts of loving kindness is matched only by another’s capacity for venomous hatred. The creative expression of a Michelangelo and the destructive acts of a Hitler can melt our hearts with joy or sorrow in their turn, as we are ultimately confronted with our own proportionate creative and destructive potential. Most of us live somewhere in the muddy middle, though we all experience thoughts which constantly draw us to and fro, back and forth between right and wrong, good and bad, love and hate. Yet as surely as a lump of coal quietly strives to become the diamond, we are drawn to the refractive brilliance of the polished gem within. For the human soul, transformation holds that kind of allure.

We live in challenging times. Figures such as Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden personify our collective Shadow. The war on terrorism uses fear and aggression in an attempt to eradicate these undesirable elements and, in the process, becomes a representation of the Shadow, itself. Patriotism has become just another excuse for righteous anger, but there is no such thing as a holy war. War itself is the most unholy act on the planet – the taking of lives, many of them innocent, in the name of justice.

We might discover common ground with our enemies, but this cannot happen until enough of us face the harsh reality of our own inner foes. The Shadow is part of collective consciousness. We cannot eradicate it; we are dealing with a primal force. We can, however, face it in ourselves and work on accepting, loving and integrating our denied qualities. At this point in time, might we break the tension of extremes? War feeds Shadow elements of hatred, oppression, prejudice, racism and more. When we chase that Shadow outside ourselves, we collectively energize leaders to point fingers at.

How might we encourage transformation on a daily basis? Fear of our own quixotic nature may be the single biggest obstacle to the changes we so desperately seek. How might we unconsciously sabotage our own noble efforts? The process of disentangling threads of fear which intersect the fabric of our lives is onerous as it is rewarding, and there are few shortcuts. We can only face what comes to us and do our best. Like a lump of coal, we are imperfect. Remembering the potential of that coal however, we refine our character over time by meeting ourselves and others as honestly as we are able.

Goethe asserts that behavior is a mirror in which everyone shows his image. All human beings share common emotions. If someone’s behavior triggers us, our power lies in being able to sit with feelings that emerge, rather than blaming that individual for possessing elements denied within. Labeling another may ring true, but searching inside for these traits gifts us with the power to transform them. As we heal through acceptance and unconditional love for ourselves, we are able to witness character defects in another with greater compassion and unconditional reception. As we practice this skillfully, the most resistant among us opens to communication. We become examples for others to follow. We become what singer/songwriter Carole Isis terms diamonds in the heart of all life.

(The following link will lead you to Carole’s performance of You Are The Diamond):

watch?v=KKtA-h_MTnk&context=C36bef40ADOEgsToPDskJWZZjCNeTsBicms23OSDoc

image: richeast.org

Born into a world fraught with duality, none of us spring fully formed from the head of Zeus the parent. Instead we labor, step by step. We learn, the slowest alongside the fleet of mind; plod through our lessons from walking to speaking to writing. In a single day, an infant will gurgle with glee, howl with abandon. Blissful in repose one minute; tiny fists pummeling the air at what cannot immediately be satisfied, the next. Is duplicity our fundamental nature? Or simply an illusion brought about by living on a polarized planet?

Challenges increase with age. Again and again we reach for the warmth and comfort of the light, only to be cast back to earth like Icarus with melted wings. If defeated by darkness, we seethe in a self created Inferno, buried alive in our own mental excrement – awaiting renewal like a bear in its den. Invariably just as Spring follows Winter we resurface – rising like the phoenix from the ashes – only to discover the dance continues.

If we fail to grasp the inevitable facts of our existence – that we are here to learn and grow and that this growth most certainly will involve adversity, we remain poised over a widening gap in consciousness. If we wish to experience integration and a modicum of sanity, we learn to roll with the soft body of emotions. Becoming the observer of the mind while remaining grounded in the body physical gets us through the most challenging of times.

We know what it is to feel pulled beyond our limits. At times it seems as though we might spontaneously combust in a situation or condition whose duration seems without end. And even though I know by this stage in my life that this too shall pass, I am given to wonder with each fresh challenge if the duration increases with each subsequent travail, until I am food for worms – transforming me even then into something wholly rotten and at the same time wholly new!

In The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Sogyal Rinpoche speaks about the bardos, or in-between stages typically associated with a time when our eyes close on this world. And yet he reminds us that this life, too, is a bardo. What we learn, our practice in this life, prepares the ground for our death and what lies beyond.

image: jeffspirit.com

I don’t believe we are meant to be defeated by darkness, anymore than the creatures of the ocean are doomed by a life in the depths. Darkness exists in nature in far greater excess than does light: the endless expanse of the heavens, the shadows in the woods, caves and the human womb. From the depths derives our potential, bursting forth like stars, pinpoints of brilliance birthed from an inky matrix.