Creativity and Spirituality: the Enduring Path

"Perhaps we could say that the soul joins the great Actors' Guild of the Human Race when it takes a physical body and is born on earth." ~ Vivian King

Most of us see ourselves as the accumulation of stories defined by our role in the outer world.
These stories can be ones of success and hold moments of joy, feelings of being alive, worthy, respected and loved. Paradoxically, even when the outer world stories are positive, what we mistakenly believer are the deeper truths invariably seep in. We think to ourselves things such as:
We put on a good face to overcompensate
We feel this to a greater or lesser extent, and there are ways that we “put on a good face” to over-compensate for our fears of being "found out." Inside, however, we fall victim again and again to the fraud and imposter syndrome that that convinces us we are terrible people, unworthy, shameful, stupid... whatever is your false version of self.

Most people never awaken to the fact that the self they secretly condemn is not the real Self. It is the small, ego self. Perhaps you are nodding as you read this, thinking, yes, yes, I know this about my ego. But there seems little I can do to affect change. 

You can’t force self-change.
You can’t even understand it. You can only have the experience and feel the embrace of True Self. 

1. Your True Self never condemns or hides. 
2. Your True Self is filled with compassion, joy and unconditional love. 
3. Your True Self doesn’t categorize what happens in life as good or bad. All is part of the adventure, part of your path and another opportunity for growth. 
4. Your True Self never hides. It is your ego self that can spend a lifetime hiding from True Self. 

"One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious." ~ Carl Jung

Everyone has a shadow, much of which was created in childhood when our need for love and protection caused us to reject parts of us deemed shameful, unworthy or dangerous by family, teachers, religious leaders, friends and even our enemies. These disowned parts of us were exiled to the darkest depth of our unconscious, hidden from the world and often from ourselves.

This is a huge problem, for the shadow is a powerful part of us. We cannot will it away or think that it remains subdued just because we have forgotten its existence.

There's an old story usually attributed to a Native American elder, that's meant to illuminate the power of attention.

A grandfather, imparting a life lesson to his grandson tells him, "I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is vengeful, fearful, envious, resentful, deceitful. The other wolf is loving, compassionate, generous, truthful and serene."

The grandson asks which wolf will win the fight. The grandfather answers, "The one I feed."

Which wolf do you feed?

From the August Retreat: Women, Creativity and the Journey of the Soul: Embracing the Gift of the Shadow.

She touched me in silence in the early morning dew.
She touched me at midnight in the moonlight glow.
She reached down to my core and found what was needed to make me whole once more.
She took me down the labyrinth path and made me whole once more.
                                           Irene Kessler