My Shadow Is My Teacher
The ultimate antidote to mental illness and human suffering
My mother represents a big part of my shadow — the stem from which a lot of my capability for evil grows, my desire to destroy and revenge.
Being aware of my shadow helps me stay mindful and intentional with my evils. Being aware means that I finally can recognize them when they surface in my consciousness, so I can catch my emotions and thoughts associated with them. Catching them allows me to pause. That pause allows me to get a chance to decide what I want to do with these emotions and thoughts.
It is this entire chain of effects that provides the most powerful antidote to true evil — how one acts on harmful emotions and thoughts to himself or herself and to others. The inner self — the part that we want to “punish” due to the “voices” in our heads — is very much the same as an “other” to one’s “self-consciousness”.
Our ability to differentiate ourselves from others can be a gift or a curse, depending on whether we can properly discern what’s truly “good” or not. Just like many wise men have reminded humanity again and again throughout history.
Be conscious and intentional with our shadows.
I often wondered what made something a “truth” for me. As I read the description by Jordan Peterson in his iconic book “12 Rules For Life”, my description started to crystallize:
To me, truth is an interpretation that, if denied, the one who denies it will feel a sense of self-betrayal.
The sensation might be so deeply buried that this person can brush it off and push it down whenever it surfaces. It’s there nonetheless.
