The Shadow Box

 The Shadow Box

 

“Good does not become better by being exaggerated, but worse, and a small evil becomes a big one through being disregarded and repressed.  The shadow is very much a part of human nature, and it is only at night that no shadows exist.”        Carl Jung

Once a deed or thought is justified with the blessings of goodness we feel we are in the right.  If we follow a creed or dogma of an excepted belief to the core we may find ourselves in the midst of doing just the opposite of what the original faith or institution was designed to embrace.  To stand at the  side of leader whether religious or secular we must always understand that there is a tipping point as with everything reversing the course of the intended journey.  

To keep life in balance we must always evaluate both sides of our nature and the nature of the creeds and values we hold as truth.  To stand back from the crowd, to view our place in the larger picture is vital to keeping the scale of life level.   To follow any group or individual that claims to have all the answers blindly with out question or introspection is stepping into the territory of the shadow; keeping in mind that the individual who claims to have all the answers may be oneself.

Right Mindfulness

In Buddhism one aspect of the Fourth Noble Truth (MAGGA “The Path”) that encompasses the Eighth Fold Path.  One of the eight paths to enlightenment is RIGHT MINDFULNESS.

 

Right Mindfulness is being diligently aware of our thoughts, feelings and the activities of our mind.   The mind being the center that sets the stage of all our relationships human and non-human in the world.   When we are in control of our actions and thoughts we are Right Minded, when we allow our emotions to control our lives and what we do we are not walking the path towards a higher consciousness.  

 

Let us imagine a path in front of us made of stones with each stone representing a day in our life.  When we walk the path of stones (The Eightfold Path) we are walking towards enlightenment, when we deviate off the path we step into the realms of self or ego.  Here the ego often time leads us to the mental state of self importance and destructive behavior.  When we walk the stones on the Eightfold Path our daily life’s activities lead us to self discipline, self control.and self fullfillment.

 

As with anything in our life the choice is ours as to which path to walk. It is easy to justify our actions, our gossiping, our, our , our everything our to the world.   The Eightfold Path is eternal it will remain whether we choose to walk it or not.  Our mindfulness will continue as long as we breathe on this earth, whether it is Right Mindfulness is of no real importance to universe’s existence-  for it will continue with or without us.  Right Mindfulness becomes important if we choose to live our life well - with self respect and respecting all life around us as being as sacred as our own.

 

One may conquer in battle a thousand times a thousand men, yet he is the best of conquerors who conquers himself.

The DHAMMAPADA (The Words Of Truth) - #103

 

Brave’s New World

                

Brave’s New World

 

The history has past from calling you brother

Today you look beyond the time of the setting rays

And walk much closer to the window of the newest century

 

Not always so - willing to look so forward

There were only the memories of winters behind

The smell of spring in the first thaw

 

Time’s meaning had greater meaning then

You watched the herds for signs of movement

You  listened closer to the wind’s words

 

Voices today all melt together carrying no song

The sun still sets in the western horizon

The wolf once more finds shelter beneath the snow

 

In your face I read the turmoil of worlds

You glance at the window hungry to pass

This gap of era’s linked only by Wikipedia’s portal

 

Your youth still favored in resumes 

The choice of destiny stands impatiently bookmarked

You must let the call die quickly –

 

Or accept communion with the Greater Spirits

 

bkmackenzie

 

Creating Life’s Tapestry

 

The Reverse Side of the Tapestry

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All goes well when God is, so speak, both the author and the object of our faith, the one complementing and augmenting the other.  In is like the right side of a beautiful tapestry being worked stitch by stitch on the reverse side.   Neither the stitches nor the needle are visible, but, one by one, those stitches make a magnificent pattern that only becomes apparent when the work is completed and the right side exposed to the light of day; although while it is in progress there is no sign of its beauty and wonder.

————Jean-Pierre de Caussade  1675-1751

From: The Sacrament of the Present Moment

 

 

 

Many spiritual writers speak to us about our life as being a work in progress, analogies from the clay on potters wheel molded by the hand of God, to the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into the butterfly ready to take flight.   Jean-Pierre de Caussade’s ,a Jesuit priest in the 1700’s, compares life to a tapestry in the making as another way of viewing  life as the handwork of God’s love. 

Tapestries though today  mass-produced by machine, in de Caussade’s time were framed and stitched one stitch at a time.   He notes that neither stitch nor needle is visible until the pattern is complete and the reverse side exposed to the light of day.   Jean-Pierre speaks to the reader poignantly that we as the tapestries in the process of creation can only truly be completed to perfection through self-surrender to the will of the creator.   It is the hand of our creator that knows and holds the pattern of our soul’s intention.   Should we choose to fervently clutch to our own version of the pattern we often stumble and lose site of what the true finished picture on the reverse side of life’s tapestry is meant to picture and represent.   It is only through the surrendering of self  to that universal artist of life - that the masterpiece of our life will be completed to its intended beauty.   Each years threads stitched exactly where they were designed to be; the colors and magnificence once finished is exposed to the light of day revealing the handwork of a life lived to its fullest and finest potential. 

It is much easier said then done this - surrendering to the hands we can not see.  For myself it is a daily reminder that my life carries not the importance of my self-importance but the ultimate significance that my completed tapestry will represent in the universal good of all.