PLEASED TO MEET YOU…

“From my contradictions

like dew I emerge,

a string of pearls” 

(Sara Bini, from “Cristalli”, an alchemical haiku)

When, a few years ago, Rodolfo Carone and Francesca Tuzzi published their splendid essay on personal and spiritual growth, "Tu sei leggenda" (*You Are a Legend*), they asked various friends, writers and speakers to pen a brief reflection to conclude each chapter. I was assigned – not by chance, I might add – the chapter entitled *Le ombre* (*The Shadows*). I reproduce below my contribution on this theme:

"Between the idea/And the reality/Between the motion/And the act/Falls the Shadow; Between the potency/And the existence/Between the essence/And the descent/Falls the Shadow" So writes T.S.Eliot in his touching poem "The Hollow Men - The Hollow Man," a text that sings of the emotional barrenness and spiritual sterility of contemporary man, devoted to an automatic life, devoid of interiority and aspirations. The quoted verses, in my opinion, are particularly intriguing because they illustrate well the relationship that exists between our yearning for fulfillment, when it is present, and its actual realization in the material world. The Shadow is what gets in the way of this process, sabotaging the full manifestation of our ideal and the complete embodiment of our vision. 

We can identify various valences for this antagonistic instance, one of which is condensed in the refrain of the Rolling Stones' famous "Sympathy For The Devil" : “Pleased to meet you/Hope you'll guess my name/But what confuses you/Is the nature of my game." The message conveyed here refers us to another very famous text, Goethe's 'Faust,' echoing Mephistopheles' definition of himself: "I am part of that force that eternally wills evil and eternally works good”

From these words, we already observe how the Shadow, in its meaning of 'evil,' has its own positive function in the overall economy of life, since it represents the necessary friction to the manifestation of light and, specifically, to the forging of ourselves according to ever higher and more harmonious ideals. Dualism is thus inescapable in the manifestation of our universe, if only because it makes explicit the opposite poles of a given force or quality.  Quoting the Stones again, we realize that our bright side is often nothing more than the rectification or moderation of the dark one: "Just as every cop is a criminal/And all sinners are saints/As heads is tails/Just call me Lucifer/Because I’m in need of some restraint." 

In the human realm, the Shadow takes on particularly powerful meanings. First of all, in it are synthesized those aspects of creation that are still in-conscious of itself and that are composed of mineral gravity, plant sentience and animal impulses. Moreover, as Rodolfo and Francesca rightly point out, the human being houses, in his consciousness, all the removed or distorted memories and energy charges of his personal and collective history. 

The classical religious view tends to use the concept of 'sin,' while the psychological view, which is closer to the esoteric perspective, refers to the Shadow as the negativity and destructiveness still present in us and which, unfortunately, also contain a devious element of attraction and pleasure. This is why St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, writes "...For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, good does not dwell; there is in me a desire for good, but not the ability to carry it out; for I do not do the good that I want, but the evil that I do not want."

Fortunately, there comes, for both the individual and the human community, that crucial moment when, as writer and esotericist Massimo Rodolfi puts it, one finally realizes that "evil hurts”. Thus begins the interesting soul-searching work that leads to the recognition and transformation of the Shadow within us and, consequently, to the gradual purification and integration of the collective Shadow.

Per informazioni sul mio counseling poetico e sui prossimi corsi in partenza, potete contattarmi attraverso il mio sito La Via della Poesia o per email binisara@gmail.com