This is a piece by an anonymous student, written a few months ago. Since then she has noted the person involved apologized and owned he was projecting. And still, this whole piece is not about her righteousness - rather about the layers of shadows and light and projection we work with from an early age through any level of realization in adulthood.
When she shared this freshly-written piece in class, we all had a good guffaw after she described her son's interaction with his shadow. How powerful it is to laugh at a child, then to realize we are still doing the same struggle, even if more covertly, now, as adults.
Seeing what is in the shadows - seeing the shadows themselves - is crucial for, as she describes, "not producing harm in (their) wake."
Please enjoy these reflections.
Light & Shadow
It feels so much better to shine my light than reveal my shadow. My shadow moves with me always and yet my awareness of its presence is not so constant.
Sometimes when out walking in the sunshine my three-year-old son, he will see his shadow following behind and try to stomp on it, yelling, “GO AWAY, SHADOW!” He says it makes him uncomfortable that it is following him. Until this moment, I didn’t realize how profound that was. I didn’t see the connection between his reaction and the inner shadow – and how forcefully I sometimes wish for the very same thing. How I want to stomp with frustration and say: “You again? How could you still be there following me? Won’t you EVER go away and LEAVE ME ALONE?”
