I get it. I really do. People are tired of the “love and light” shallowness of what is commonly known as the new age movement. It can seem false and misguided; the Pollyanna sunshine mentality that seems to have no room for the harsh realities of a powerful spiritual journey.
I used to call them bliss bunnies. You know, those people who flit around like butterflies, completely out of their bodies and ungrounded, seemingly clueless to any negativity or reality of the world around them. Those folks who apparently have no interest in living with depth, and no willingness to dive into their shadow and see what lies beneath the façade. The love and light parade.
The Antennae Galaxies are undergoing a collision that will result in their eventual merger. We come from stardust, regardless of our shadow. (Image, Wikipedia)
Lately I’ve seen articles floating around the internet blasting those that I once called bliss bunnies, and calling out anyone who is perceived as not willing to dive deep into shadow awareness within themselves. I get it. I am a big fan of diving in to our shadows and taking full responsibility for our own stuff, our constant projections. This is important to me as someone who works with clients sharing healing work and seeking clarity daily.
But ya know what? I’m not a fan of verbally attacking others for not doing it the way you do. The irony is palpable when I read these blogs and articles that blatantly judge those who aren’t up to snuff with their version of how to walk the journey. The projections are rampant, and projections are red flag #1 for personal shadow that is not being acknowledged.
This judgement is the same mentality as politicians and others that spiritual communities claim to not want to emulate. If those in conscious communities that are seeking to empower the world to shift into a more healed and aware place are blasting each other for how they each choose to go about that, then the duality, disharmony and imbalance we seek to shift is simply magnified. It does not support any of us to demean each other and it does not support anyone to change by verbally vomiting at them about how they are not doing it the “right” way because they’re not like you.
Just because you are willing to be negative does not mean you are clear with your shadow.
Just because you are comfortable with your aggression does not mean you’ve done your shadow work.
Just because you are willing to call out all that feels to you to be an injustice does not mean you have risen above your own shadow energies.
Just because you cuss like a fucking sailor does not mean you are in integrity with your shadow.
Just because you don’t flit around like a bliss bunny does not mean you have a greater intellect or capacity for understanding what is “truth” in this world.
Just because you have had an intense life, suffered through your own fair share of initiations, and risen above the challenges of deep pain, still does not mean you have done your own shadow healing.
Years ago, when I was much younger and first being intentional about my spiritual journey, I welcomed all the intense initiations, the shamanic death, the deep wisdom that I thought only came from suffering and “reality”, and the pain that I believed must precede my perception of true wisdom. I wanted nothing to do with the floaty-McFloatersons, the angel and fairy people, the cosmic groovy new age enlightenment positivity that felt so fluffy and one-sided.
And I was unhappy because I was not being inclusive and embracing of all of my shadow, which included being afraid to come across to others as ungrounded and flakey so I dismissed anyone who came across that way to me. In the process I missed out on a lot of beauty and lessons that could have possibly made my journey much more graceful and easeful.
Initiations are powerful. Shadow work can be intense and deeply healing. I’m grateful for all of it, even the parts I barely survived and never want to walk through again. Every single day I am offered the opportunity to look at my own shadow and do my internal work to walk in integrity.
One of the things I have learned on this journey is that the only integrity I can truly judge is my own. Whether I am bawling my eyes out in the most intense shadow experiences I could even conceive of, or puking my face off in plant medicine ceremonies, or getting my ass kicked by my own shadow mess, or if I’m calling in the support of angels and fairies, or working with crystals and Reiki, the only integrity I can judge is my own.
The only journey I can walk is my own.
The only perceptions and projections and shadow I can bring into alignment are my own.
You do your thing.
I’ll do mine.
If you want to focus on the darkness, go for it.
If you want to focus on the bliss, go for it.
If you are bubbly, awesome.
If you are angry, awesome.
When we judge others from a “spiritual” place of knowing-better-than, or with the idea that the new-agers are full of love and light nonsense and all need to get their act together and suffer like the rest of us . . . that might possibly be the biggest reflection of a lack of truly diving deep into the shadow of judgment, projection, insecurity and fear.
For me, ultimately, it really is all love and light and shadow and all a story we write. We will each see in the world what we focus on and what we choose to see. But if that doesn’t resonate for you, that’s cool too.
I walk the earth, I walk the stars, I hold my arms open wide and pray that I will remain compassionate to all beings, including myself. If that sounds new-age airy-fairy not in touch with my shadow… then you have no idea what fun you are missing.
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“To cut through the charades of this world, to despise it, may be the aim of great thinkers. My only goal in life is to be able to love this world, to see it and myself and all beings with the eyes of love and admiration and reverence.” ~ Hermann Hesse
