We all have a spectrum of clarity. There are those areas in the light (conscious), those in the shadows (sub-conscious), and those in the dark (unconscious).
There is also a spectrum within each. For example, what is conscious can be very clear or not so clear. We can have shadows that are thin and shadows that are bordering on darkness.
Because our shadows are often suppressed, we ignore these distinctions. Yet what’s in those shadows has a major effect on our health and quality of life. Awareness brings light to our shadows.
Light
As consciousness is effulgent, those areas of life that are conscious are lit by our attention.
What’s not conscious is in shadow. I’m not suggesting we chase down our shadows. Only that when we notice blind spots, resisting, or grasping that we take a moment to feel into them and see if we can shed light and resolve what is arising. Very simple.
This way we heal what is arising and shift the trends of time. The balance of light grows.
Shadow
In the lightest shadows, we have those things we’ve forgotten about. They’re not conscious but are still present. Perhaps we have a cut on our finger that’s healing. We don’t have our attention on it most of the time, but it’s not hidden.
Deeper, we have those things we’re resisting. A lot of purification arises from this arena.
Darkness
This is the arena where our light doesn’t reach. The hard nuts and deeply repressed parts of ourselves. It can take more attention to reach into the dark and we often have to peel layers off to get at the core repression.
Yet these are the things that can have the largest effect on our health and quality of life.
Most curious, shadow and light are both in relationship to ourselves. Even though we may repress some parts of our experience, they’re still in consciousness itself and are thus sustained. Others are often conscious of our issues in ways we’re not. Shadow is what we’re not seeing.
Ultimately, it’s all consciousness. Even the deepest darkness is still lively presence.
Learning to be with our shadows and darkness takes practice. We can learn how to be with those darker feelings so they can be seen and completed. But we don’t want to fall into them or feed them.
As collective consciousness rises, our shadows become more conscious. If we don’t understand the simple principles of healing, we may get into a battle with our fears and other unresolved emotions. You see a lot of this being acted out these days.
The key is samadhi. This enlivens our inner awareness and gives the deep rest needed to release our shadows. Growing inner awareness allows us to take a step back and observe our unresolved experiences without being drawn into them. Then our awareness can flow into our shadows without being caught. Light dissolves shadow.
Everything becomes recognized as it is.
Davidya
Hi David.
I would like to ask you about your opinion. In the last few months I noticed that when I try to fall asleep I can see places or room looking like build from light halo’s. But most shocking to me is that many times I wake up at night in dark room. It doesn’t seems to be out of body experience but quite real experience. Many times I lay on bed in some paralysis. Most annoying is that my vision is in angle left and right and can’t stabilise it. Similar to squint syndrome. Many times I can see accompany of the cat as well and few times I felt like I wasn’t connected to anything ( spiritual meaning ) just me on my own alone.
I try to figure it out but still can’t grasp the meaning of it.
Hi Bart
Everything we experience in physical form is built out of subtle structure and energy. Sometimes, we can get glimpses of the energy which infuses and surrounds an object. There are multiple levels to this. Some will see light, some colors, some vibration, and so forth.
It sounds like the first is some value of that. Such experiences tend to come and go until eventually, they become accessible at any time. For some people, the world is never dark. But for most of us, we just get occasional glimpses.
Remember the way you see the world is based on your eyes and how the mind assembles that info. Many other animals see a different range of the spectrum. And we have devices that can photograph things like infrared. In the infrared range, much more is lit up.
So no, this isn’t out of body, just seeing on a different level.
The paralysis experience arises when there is some witness value (consciousness/ presence) alive during sleep. The body goes through periods when it suppresses movement. If we become a bit conscious during that and try to move, it doesn’t work. That can be scary if we don’t understand whats happening. But it’s actually quite normal for witnessing. We do it every night.
The senses also go largely off-line in deep sleep so if we’re experiencing content or thinking about the experience, the mind is still awake and it’s not really deep sleep. Deep sleep with a witness is like a deep samadhi with rare thoughts and no content. Like trying to move the body, its better not to try to sense things as that will interrupt sleep. Just allow it. Treat it like a meditation.
And yes, thats also experienced as being a separate detached observer, hence alone. Later, we discover consciousness is all there is, so never alone. Everything is mySelf.
Mind searches for what experiences mean but they’re usually just traffic, coming and going. Who you are is what remains, behind all the experiences.
I’ve written various article on this topic, such as:
https://davidya.ca/2017/04/04/witnessing-sleep/
https://davidya.ca/2017/07/18/more-on-stages-of-witnessing/