From Darkness to Light Along the Tao

Shadow work is complicated. You have a dark spot somewhere hidden inside of you that society frowns on and you of course could do what religions have advocated for millennia, just don't look there. That is a perfectly appealing spiritual path, but may not be yours to take. The Tao will tell you what it is in store for you instead. Shadow work implies that you do look; you look out for the gems in the basement, ready to be claimed by you.

Let life - the Tao - decide your every step. If Tao leads you to a dark alley there is little else you can do but go along. Experience everything with total awareness. Find out for yourself that the shadow is just an illusion. A demon doesn't go away if you wrestle with him, a demon quietly fades in the background if you devote your energy towards a goal that makes you whole. You cannot say no to your ego, because the ego is you, but you can take the underlying drives and desires and channel it in purposeful direction. You love sex, the Tao will show you the way to true love through the bedroom. You love power, the Tao will show you the way to be passionate about the people who work for you after you have been promoted. You love wealth, the Tao will show you a way to give it away. 

Don't be afraid of your desires, run with them instead. And if you or the society frowns on some of them, find the creative outlet that transforms them into something "proper". Hard work might be involved, but where there is a will there will be a way. Let the Tao show you the way how to manifest all your desires. In Tao’s kingdom, every desire and every experience is accepted as is.

The shadow comes because you are running after the light. You want to be nice, you want to help people, yet if it is your mind that is speaking and not your heart, so you will disown part of your personality in the process and this frustrated energy will be stored deep below the surface and one day will pop up to the surface. So, avoiding the bad things our society has taught us or trying to do only good deeds our society has encouraged us to do, will only build up the shadow inside us. Accept life as it is. Accept your drives, accept your notion of God and let life - the Tao - make the two things compatible.

Whenever anything is limited it becomes even more intriguing. Surely you must have experienced this fact. The ego is where you think something is missing. So go out tiger and get what you lust after. The Tao is here to show you what you truly want. Experience everything that comes your way with an open mind. Don't say "good" or "bad", say useful or not so useful for my path. Let your spiritual path make you the spiritual giant you were born to be and not another "wanna be Christ or Buddha". Learn for yourself what to avoid and what to do in different situations. When you learn everything yourself, there will never again come a situation you fear. You also have so much more compassion for those you made wrong turns like you once did. You accept and forgive and you understand that we are all Children of God.

This is the beauty of walking on the Tao. You experience everything as it is. There are no labels and no differentiation. You follow the Tao and learn for yourself who you truly are and who your brothers and sisters are. The "bad" decisions show who you are not, the "good" experiences remind you of who you truly are. Along the Tao there is no good nor bad, there only is. So what is there to fear? Go out and lead your life! Do whatever you aspire to do. The Tao will give you feedback right away. Don’t be afraid to get your hands a little dirty, you will find out the truth for yourself! Enjoy your time walking the Tao!

By Su Zhen and Christian