Evil is...

Awen found this awesome quote.  It fits our little pod perfectly.

“Evil (ignorance) is like a shadow–it has no real substance of its own, it is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stamp on it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional or physical resistance. In order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it.”  - Shakti Gawain

Thanks Awen

Re: Evil is...

I like that and it makes perfect sense.

Re: Evil is...

If only evil were that benign…

How do you account for what happens when evil sparks behaviors which intend to harm? Hitler's armies were no mere shadows and the only effective way to “shine light” on that situation was to send the efforts of much of the world to defeat them in violent warfare.

Guy

Re: Evil is...

True, however, that evil has not disappeared even after the war.  People still hate because of differences, still kill because of fear.  Light, not bombs, will expose the shadow for what it is, but nobody ever said light will destroy the shadow.  Nothing will ever do that - not to my knowledge anyway.

Re: Evil is... Simple! Where do we get the light???!

Sound's easy enough! Where do we get the light from???! :) 

Peace, Love & Vision

Sean 

P.S. I'm serious! I've read about, encountered, and experienced MANY spiritual practices, beliefs, ideas… I ask you all to share some thoughts, insights, into how you in YOUR everyday life 'shine the light'. Forget about the HUGE stuff like wars, what about YOUR everyday encounters with other human beings, the ones you love, and even more importantly the ones you 'think' you don't love! 

Re: Evil is... Simple! Where do we get the light???!

“The Light” IS Sentience/Consciousness

When people do “evil” things, it is energies other than the all encompassing lifestream that motivate them…. the minute we snap Awake, into Awareness… the lust's, rage, and shadow of division, ignorance, and decay, do indeed evaporate like dew before the Sun.

For me, Aikido is a good practice to be able to “dance/spin” the dense and agressive energies that come at us, untill they are nullified/tired out, leaveing nothing than the naked soul of the agressor, be it external or internal.

hehe, I am a Holy Hurricane:) 

Re: Evil is... Simple! Where do we get the light???!

I agree with Zona's response - the Light is consciousness. If we remain  “awake” every moment, we remain conscious of our emotions and thoughts. If we ask ourselves why we feel the way we do, or why we did what we did, we can begin to observe our egos and acknowledge and accept. I don't think we can ever get rid of the shadow, nor should we want to. It is being aware of it's presence that shines the Light on the shadow.

Peace - Wendy 

Re: Evil is... Simple! Where do we get the light???!

Look no further….WE ARE LIGHT…close your eyes and feel your breath, eventually you can become conscious of the spinning wheels that can always be opened further to shine out more light…our function is to shine the light brighter to make the shadow surrounding become smaller and smaller…this is how we evolve progressively

one way that i have found on a more practical level is to no engage in toxic thinking… i had an experience recently, this woman charged all her venomous anger at me and of course my first instinct was to react and send it all back….this is evil on a daily level. so realizing immediately what was happening, i stepped aside, breathed it away, and chose not to engage,LET GO, and instead, i sent her some love cause it seemed she really needed it. it meant that i wasn’t carrying her garbage (ironically this happened in a waste management place) with me all day.

Re: Evil is... Simple! Where do we get the light???!

Wow, NICE insights!

 Been working on some stuff recently where I become aware of what judgements I'm holding against people throughout  the day (My goodeness there are a LOT!) , first becoming conscious and present about who this person actually is, their power, their love, behind my judgement…

 Which I guess is very similar to the process of letting go and sending love that “sunshine” suggested…

 Peace, Love & Vision

Sean 

Re: Evil is...

I love this quote by Gawain.

I am involved in a socially enaged spirituality program, looking at numerous faith paths and how people have taken their spirituality, ethics, meaning out to the streets, to the community, to the workplace, etc. and made a difference.  One of the things that our group has been very interested in is the shadow side of groups. 

I will enjoy really being an active part of this blog.  It's a lot of information for me to share with my group.

I also liked where someone equated evil with ignorance.  Evil brings up old shadow “catholic school days” where I was told that gays would go to hell and I knew that was nonsense.  My brother was a pain in my tuckus, but to go to hell for loving and wanting to find someone to share a life with?????? Hardly a sin and hardly evil.  The evil was the ignorance of the people who couldn't see his light and squeezed every bit of light out of him.

Thanks for the re-frame of the word.

In peace and compassion, Jennifer

ALL!! Privacy & Secrecy is a form of shadow creation???

Your thoughts???!

Was out walking today and it struck me… 

Scenario: I'm currently putting up some very personal material on the net which only one other person has access to, nothing bad, in fact the very opposite, tis all ver LOVING!… BUT I was running through the idea of “what if somehow others started accessing this?” “If some newscaster gets it and a year or two down the road when I'm more publicly visible uses it in some documentrary or distorts it”

So I started releasing (sedona method) on different scenarios then it hit me!!!

Is ALL secrecy and privacy, and I mean the WHOLE lot of it, EVERYTHING!… IS it ALL a form of denial and ultimately shadow creation?

 would love to get your feedback…

 Love,

Sean 

Re: ALL!! Privacy & Secrecy is a form of shadow creation???

of good and evil …the mind or minds behind evil actions..do act with  deliberate intention at times.

Evil is more than ignorance when there is a deliberate intention to inflict and pain suffering  on others.

Light can illuminate the nature of evil..the evil doer and the doing. The mind  of the evil  doe rhowever is ultimately responsible for itself .I cant heal a sex offender although i can study them ,observe them treat them humanely with diginty and respect..but it is up to him or occasionally her to accept.forgive and heal themselves ,hopefully with the benefit if privacy and seclusion.

In the dark even the darkness has to face it's own devils.demons and suffering.

There is a saying…what does the devil do when he grows old….he goes to Church…

Public and private spaces are neccessary, seclusion is part of the Creative and  the creative process.and the Healing psyche.

In healing ones own shadow…bring it into whatever domain.or space  you choose gently..then you are comfortable in  your own mind, with yourself….and others around you

Sometimes we need to protect ourselves from ourselves and others.

that is

” just the way”

….. surrounding you and me  with love and light

catemurray 

Re: ALL!! Privacy & Secrecy is a form of shadow creation???

It's an interesting idea and I will definitely think about it!

It's seems though that the shadow would be material that is out of consciousness, something that you feel disidentified with.  If one knows about, it is not shadow - but I may be wrong.

Maybe we could say:

- there's a process that makes conscious material getting more and more secret, so much that one forgets it -> then it could become shadow.

- another process could be that we aknowledge shadowy materials little by litlle and then, it's not shadow anymore - even if we don't keep it secret.

But the freedom to talk about it seems to be an important fact - I think you're right. I would go for: internal freedom to talk about it or not, and no need to talk about it, which wouldn't be freedom anymore.

Re: ALL!! Privacy & Secrecy is a form of shadow creation???

hehe! :)

It's an interesting one isn't it!

I'm beggining to see 'shadow work' more and more in effective personal development work, usually not refered to as shadow though absolutley that is what they're dealing with whether they're conscious of it or not… It's such a powerful method of growth, I've gone through more transformations since reading about the shadow than I could even begin to mention, and that's really not doing any-THING in particular, just being present to the concept…

Re: ALL!! Privacy & Secrecy is a form of shadow creation???

I really struggled with the concept of “evil” just a short time ago and still have problems  understanding what my conclusion means.  I don't want to believe in an “evil” that a “light” cannot be shined upon.  So, I will share with you my version of human evil.  First, bad deeds to not equate with evil…not by a long shot.  Evil is enjoyed.  That's the difference.  People do bad things.  People feel guilty, sometimes repent, confess, whatever.  An evil person feels good hurting, abusing, taking advantage of other humans or animals.  Their very evil acts strengthen their resolve to create more of them.  They enjoy the suffering of others.  This is how I see the difference.  Not people who make bad decisions or did a really rotten, cruel thing…no, like I said, they like it and don't want to change.

Are these humans rehabilitative?  I would hope so, but I cannot say.  I try to believe that they must be, as we all belong to a higher light. 

As to my own experiences with being “evil”  …different discussion, but it wouldn't be about evil, it would be about bad behavior.

Re: ALL!! Privacy & Secrecy is a form of shadow creation???

Will the truth really set us free?  I wonder sometimes.  Take the story of adam and eve.  Eve sought knowlege of not only good, but evil as well.  Just as goodness is true, so is  evil.  Has knowing evil set us free? Or are we bound to it by simply knowing it exists, whether we encounter or interact with it personally or not.  I've been reading C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters.  Questioning every thought I have.  I'm dizzy with wondering the truth of things.  Had to step out of my head and see what others believe.

Re: ALL!! Privacy & Secrecy is a form of shadow creation???

Thanks for that post! 

I am going to look for a copy of Screwtape Letters right away!   I remember my Mom reading aloud from it when I was a child, but I had forgotten about that book until this moment.

I agree that privacy and secrecy can foster our darkness, but also that it is necessary, sometimes, to reflect and work in privacy before we feel comfortable bringing things out into the light.   Both are necessary for our heling.

Vicki