Sunday Story...Angels andDevils

Sunday Story…Angels or Devils

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us.
Marianne Williamson, Return to Love, 1992


There is no shadow without light. Without evil good cannot be defined. The sky is met by the ground. We can’t have one without the other…masculine and feminine are two sides of the same coin. Life is often defined by death.


Yet when these things are in balance, there is no motion, only stasis and in stasis there is death. If we are not growing we are dying (which is a form of negative growth, I suppose). The key is not balance. Being even and “fair” can’t create anything new. Creation is a process of ripping and tearing apart of the status quo, the balance, the norm and the normal.


What I want to find is harmony; a harmony between my shadow and my light. We can think of this as an understanding, or an alliance, between two opposing forces that do not need to be at war with one another in order to move the mission forward.


Every one of us has our demons; those forces that seem to pop up and take over our lives at the most inopportune times. Drugs, alcohol, food, sex, work, and, yes, even exercise can be things that just seem to take over our lives. Sometimes it is like the creeping death that slowly pervades our existence until one day we look up and find our entire existence consumed by our demons. This is not harmonious because now I have to regain or wrest control back from the other side. Now the other side is in “control” and is not going to allow those other forces back out of the closet. Until one day, our guard is down and boom the demon is upon us and running the show with breakneck speed hurtling toward the inevitable crash and burn. Treating your demons in this way is like having a tiger for a pet. If you don’t watch out the tiger will eat you even though it will guarantee his demise. If you are going to keep a tiger as a pet you had better feed and care for him very well. This is the way of your demons…if you try to lock them up in a closet somewhere, you can bet they are trying to get out every second you ignore them.


Then there are the lesser demons…procrastination, tardiness, sloth, and the general malaise known as the excuses. In many ways these “lesser” demons are worse. You give them permission to run things. “Oh, I am always late.” “I have a hard time with names.” “I can’t miss the next episode of _______” “The game is on.” “It wasn’t my fault, really it wasn’t.” You empower them and allow them to be the ones in charge of things. Which really lets you off the hook. Sort of. Because you really can’t be off the hook when it comes to your own life.

You have to own all your demons and your angels. They belong to you and you alone. If you deny either the good or the bad you have lost a precious part of yourself and your life. Without winter the earth cannot rejuvenate itself. And if spring never came we would all die in hibernation. The sun has the power to destroy and create. It is in this harmony, this flow that we all must live. Fighting against this current is futile. Yet when things are in balance nothing can flow and move and create and begin or end.


Harmony between summer and winter creates the ebb and flow of life. Harmony between the forces creates the dynamic that moves us forward in our lives. Harmony makes the winter a time of renewal and summer the time of ease and enjoyment.


So how am I to harmonize the “negative forces” that seem to be able to ruin my life at a moment’s notice? How about we stop judging and labeling these forces as good or bad? Or even as angels or demons. After all a work ethic is good, yet we consider workaholism a bad thing. What if we try on that as a harmony…I sometimes need to burn the midnight oil to get things done. And that is a good thing. And I need to turn that oil off sometimes and just relax occasionally. I need to work out and train but my body cannot get stronger without rest. This is the paradox of life…there is no growth without both action and inaction. Neither one of them is good and neither one of them is bad. They just are. Just like light and dark…not good not bad just the harmony of the two of them creating the world we need to thrive in.


Maybe, just maybe if I stop looking as the light as good and the dark as bad I can move forward into a harmonious relationship with both of them, instead of constantly battling one or the other. Fighting the ebb and flow of the universe is like grasping water, almost impossible to do as a long term strategy but if I can channel the water in a direction, then I can harness the properties I so desire.


I may love the clay pot but it is the emptiness inside that is so useful. One without the other is nothing. Harmony.


Oh, and Happy Harmonious Holidays to you and yours.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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