Rainbows, and fairy tales, bright sunlight on water, we humans are drawn to the light. Where thoughts are clear and edges (read limits) are clearly defined. “Hard” reality comforts us, even when it is as harsh as the light that reveals it…
And when the sun sets, threatening those certainties, we reach for switches and plugs to prop up our beliefs. Neon, fluorescent or LED, our artificial lights carry us steadily through the morass of other possibilities…
But there is beauty in the dappled light of a forest path, as well, where shadows soften the edges and soothe the soul. Whole communities exist in the dark beneath the soil. And life “under a rock” is more vital and vibrant than we light-chasers have been led to believe…
Why, then, do we villify the Shadow, and avoid it at all cost?
I will suggest one possibility, and that is purely personal…
Responsibility.
Yep. That simple. And yet far-reaching are the implications…
For how easy it is to point at someone, something, anything else and say, “that isn’t how it should be.” But so long as we stand firmly in the light, “that” is exactly how it will likely remain. Because what we see so clearly in the light, those sharp edges and strongly defined boundaries, are reinforced by our witnessing. There is little room for change, unless you can physically manipulate those boundaries. Think about that for a minute, and consider what that means…
Are you prepared to stand against a consensus-based reality?
But in the shadowed places, more flexibility exists, to create whatever you choose to witness…
“Wait! What is that over there, hiding behind that tree? Is that a [fill in the blank]?”
“No, I don’t think so,” an’Other responds. “It kinda looks like a [blank] to me.”
Ahhh… The possibilities are endless, the potential for true creativity. The darker the shadows, the greater the opportunity to create our own, unique reality. But with that power comes true responsibility.
You cannot truthfully blame another if your fears come alive in the dark. You might claim they planted the seed, but only you can breathe life into what haunts you. Your thoughts, your feelings, your needs will shape the shadows into whatever your imagination sees. So who then is ultimately responsible?
Responsibility requires discipline, and only I can provide what I need. These last few days of free-form living have shown me that; stray thoughts are just as likely (maybe even more so) to manifest, as those I focus on. Maybe because it is the “stray” nature of them that allows me to let them go. Whatever the reasoning, I have discovered a need to discipline my self while traversing this place of potentiality…
And there is no-one, no-thing, out here to blame for what I am witnessing. For everyone out here must take credit (and blame) for what they choose to create. Empowering…
And sometimes terrifying…
Ahh… The sun is risen now in full, the light returns to chase away the shadows of dawn. Time to go live among the truths I only imagined a few moments ago. I wonder where they will lead today…?
The only certainty this dawn brings me, is that wherever I wind up today, I must claim responsibility. And dusk will bring relief, and the chance to dream anew, creating new truths to chase in an’Other brightly lit day…
the otherhood of one 
When responsibility hits the lights will always dim. That will be its own reality. In light of that though we take its shades and balance it along the way. Then we can see its rainbow in due time.
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If you are saying that responsibility is its own burden and reward, then I’d have to agree with you. It is incredibly empowering to know we are resonsible for the lives we create, and terrifying to do it as well. Without someone else to lean on or blame, we both lose and gain simultaneously…
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yes milady, you said it best. When i saw my daughter for the first time in that light of day near 4 am. I was the first one to hold her, and took that responsibility ever since.
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That is a serious, and wonderful responsibility, and you wear it well, my friend! 😀
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More food for thought here. Thanks, Lisa – saving this for further “consideration”…
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Well, I was feeling hungry myself, and thought it only “right” to share… ;D
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Good perspective Lisa
Doubt, Uncertainty, Fear of Disapproval they all cloud us.
If we embrace these as constants we can survive them and strive on.
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“If we embrace these as constants we can survive them and strive on.”
Interesting… very, very interesting. (Or, in layman’s terms, “I’m not sure where you’re going with this, but I’m very, very curious.” Lol!)
Now look, Roger. You’ve gone and got me thinking again… 😀
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I’ll elaborate; just a bit.
As I see Creation:
We have the Inanimate which moves and acts in accordance with the many laws of physics (broadly speaking) and does this without, naturally any ‘thought’
We have Life, motivated by factors as yet only barely understood, but looking always to grow and survive. Naturally Life will find that although The Inanimate provides the environment for these it also will bring in an environment which destroys Life.
Thus at the very basis of Life is a conflict factor.
For many of our fellow living beings this is an event, they do have reflect upon it (simply react), they may adapt but do not ponder. They die or survive. Some folk get very huffy about this and try to prove there can be no Supreme Being because of a perceived cruelty. This is limited thinking. There is Life and Life dies, then is reborn.
We has Humans have a capacity to think on the nature of mechanics of this, but as we are still far from any true perceptions tend to get tangled up by placing one code of Ethics or another on Creation and get ‘huffy’ or troubled it doesn’t do as we as ask. We are upset by the Unknown, and thus We tend to try and stay in or create Comfort Zones which are predictable and suit our outlook. But We don’t understand We are but part of Creation and do not have the final say. So when something ‘bad’ happens we retreat.
Thus as you have argued in your post. To look beyond our tendency to stay safe, is a popular reaction and this stifles our own advancement.
If we embrace the Unknown, The Unpredictable and The Uncontrollable as factors in our Life and try to plan constructively to mitigate their effects upon us, then we can keep on going forward.
OK, it’s 9:43in the morning, and that’s me done for the day……
Best wishes Lisa and keep on soaring.
Roger
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I like your approach here, Roger. My understanding of it follows a similar path, but instead of “supreme being” (whatever that could be) there is “Life” or to use a religious term, “Spirit” from which, from our limited perspective, everything flows out. We can reason that such energy would flow in a strictly free-will cosmic stream in order to mean anything at all. That means endless possibilities impossible to control except in tiny little enclaves, such as this universe for example, and even that isn’t so easy. This universe is ruled (OK, this is “Altarian” cosmology now) by self-styled “supreme beings” we dub “Time Lords” and all our known “laws” (natural or not) come from them. These are the gods, and their ruling CEO could be understood to be “God” in the religious sense, but neither omniscient nor omnipotent. You could call Him the Emperor and the universe is his empire. These are the mighty entities who eons ago decided they could, and would, control creation.
As below, so above, reiterated the “Teachers” – so what we observe of earth is basically how the entire universe operates: the same values; the same morality, or lack thereof, with some parts worse (from our thinking and sensing) than others – and if we traveled this universe unseen and unimpeded, we would encounter every kind of world, from dystopian to utopian, but none representative of the seat of the empire, only so shaped by their unique local conditions. Thus the accuracy of your statement, and quote: “If we embrace the Unknown, The Unpredictable and The Uncontrollable as factors in our Life and try to plan constructively to mitigate their effects upon us, then we can keep on going forward.” I can see it as an eleventh commandment: “Embrace the Unknown, the Unpredictable and the Uncontrollable as factors in your life and plan constructively to mitigate their effects upon you. Then will you keep moving forward into the Light.”
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Thank you, Sha’Tara, for adding your insight to this discussion. Again, I sense an opening here, a door, a threshhold I wish to cross, but my “thinking” faculties are currently inept. I hope to follow up, in time, preferably before it becomes irrelevant…
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Thank you Sha’ Tara.
Your words are evidence of a factor I can’t quite fully put into words, but is best summed up as:
The Universe allows two people to start from quite different perspectives and end up with very similar conclusions.
This is why I never subscribed to the Multiverse concept- this Universe, naturally defies our complete analysis, there is no need to invent others to fill in the gaps (apart from in Graphic Novels of course)
Keep on thinking.
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I want to respond to this, Roger. I need to. But I’m having “uniquely Lisa” issues in doing so…
I’ve been out “time travelling” today, and it has left me extremely disoriented. (A topic for an entirely separate post, that likely will never make this board. Lol!) But the result is obvious. I have read your response multiple times in the last 24 hours (and now with Sha’Tara’s reply), and while I KNOW there is something here for me to “get,” my brain refuses to comply. It’s like the receptors in my brain for this info are obscured, or otherwise engaged, and the data simply won’t “stick,” much less process…
But I need to acknowledge your reply, and thank you for it. The words are clear, but my brain is foggy. Hopefully, I will be able to give it its due when my mind returns in full…
Peace, my friend, and much gratitude for guiding me deeper into things the way you do… 🙂
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Thank you Lisa.
I believe we all have foggy brains when we try to embrace the enormity of these concepts.
My reply to your post was something which originated from a time spent of a religious ‘discussion’ (shout and polemic) forum. I concluded most of the atheistic folk (the few interesting ones eventually left the group) who objected to my beliefs were very limited in their thinking and concepts of the Universe and were rather Earth-centric.
When I re-read all my replies they sort of distilled into this, so it’s not new to me.
I do understand your reaction, I have similar interludes and episodes many times a year.
Take Care
Roger
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