The examined life
People who lead the examined life and look at themselves in any depth realise that they're not actually just good people, that they have a shadow. That they have problems, patterns and tensions that are destructive to them and others. That they are multifaceted and that there is a richness and beauty delivered when we meet, heal, befriend and ultimately integrate our shadow self.
I remember watching a talk from a spiritual teacher who posed that angels and demons are the same, just beings playing different roles. He had done healing work with energies in the land, simply by approaching them not from a place of love, not fear. Asking them what they needed, holding them safe.
