the shadow side of the light
i'm pretty sure everyone has a shadow. i could more confidently say that nearly everyone or almost everyone has a shadow. that i can say with high confidence. but, everyone? even like jesus or buddah? is it possible to be totally and completely aware at all waking hours? let's say one can. shiv said, as long as something is in the light of awareness, then something else is in it's shadow. something about that feels true, but i can't quite articulate why yet so let's explore it.
let's take a personal scenario. say i totally realize that i don't identify who is tied to me based on blood or genetics. like advaitins and buddhists do with the process of "neti neti" to determine what they are by cutting out what they are not. i am not the body just like i'm not some piece of rock on the road or some chicken in a farm or some other human body i see. and if i'm not the body, my son who is another human body partly descended from my body certainly also isn't me. and if it's true for me, it's true for him too. his body also isn't him. and that alone would allow me to see and treat my son like i would see or treat other human children. he would at least not be meaningful like the term son or family carried before. i wouldn't be so attached to him. that would free me from the emotional and psychological attachments that relating to a son or family would, but what's the catch? it might also make it tempting for me to not feel like i need responsibility for him. and that would be the shadow side of the light.
so indeed, shiv was totally right when he said truth realization or awareness has a shadow. it's not all flowers and butterflies. like in engineering, there are always tradeoffs. awareness is not a panacea. it's no wonder so many humans don't want to open their eyes. it's not only painful, it can totally destroy relationships and lives.