During high school at TEC retreats, we received a stern warning: boys are blue, and girls are red—don’t make purple! While definitely a clear message from our leaders about social-sexual expectations, this binary warning also reveals the cultural undercurrents about our caution, concern, and even fear about what might happen when we mix up things that seem different—even opposite—from one another. Unfortunately, such worry and fear stifle the potentially transformative Power of Three.
Standing at Thresholds, There is Nothing to Attain
Over the last few years, the deaths of more than a few loved ones have gotten my heart and mind to turn over longstanding notions of life and death. I sit with a renewed sense of how thick, or thin, the veil between the living and the dead really is.
Topics:
Contemplative Practice
Waiting for Perfection, I Miss Out on Transformation
Within the religious canons of salvation theologies, our notions of salvation can be overly focused on ego-centered notions of perfection. “If I just say enough Hail Marys,” we might tell ourselves, or “If I do enough prostrations, then I will earn my way into heaven.” These ego-driven modalities emphasize perfection of our own effort, rather than the transformative efforts of the Holy One.
Expectant Abundance, Perfect Contentment
While all opposites “work on” all of us at all times, it is likely that a particular pair will end up being especially relevant—either throughout our lives, or in certain seasons.
The Work of the Shadow
Shadow work is hard work—not necessarily because the shadow itself is so onerous, but because of what it asks of us. We must be willing to see in ourselves what is causing the shadow, and willing to face what the shadow reveals to us.
Shadow and Light
In order for a shadow to exist, something must come between the light and the surface against which the shadow can then appear. In psychological and spiritual circles, it can be common to denigrate the shadow as something negative, bad, or even evil. But in truth, the problem is not the shadow itself. The shadow is actually a friend: it helps us to see that something has come in between us and the Light.