Our growth in wisdom requires working on our unconscious and the development of healthy self-critical thinking. These allow us to see beyond our shadow and disguise and to find who we are “chosen in Christ from the beginning of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). The Zen masters say the same thing when they speak of “the face you had before you were born.” This “beyond the physical” self cannot die and always lives in God; it is our True Self, our soul.
All physical shadows are created by a mixture of darkness and light, and this is the entire and limited spectrum of human vision. We cannot see inside of total light or total darkness. However, as we begin to see and understand the shadow of things, we lose interest in idealizing or judging others.
This does not mean we stop loving other people; in fact, it means we actually begin to truly love others. It does not mean self-hatred or self-doubt, but finally accepting both our gifts and our weaknesses as fully our own. We can eventually do the same for others too, and we do not let other people’s faults destroy our relationship with them.
With this, we begin to understand the importance of contemplative (non-dualistic) thinking as necessary for us to flourish. It is the change that changes everything else. It makes love, forgiveness, and patience possible. Without it, we remain trapped inside our judgments.
Romans 12:2 “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
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