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The Sun and Its Shadow...


My intention for this Spring is:


The sun and [its] shadow complete the work.


"Sol et eius umbra perficiunt opus."

- Michael Maier (alchemist), 1618.

From an English translation in the British Library (MS. Sloane 3645), transcribed by Peter Branwin.



Disclaimer: I hardly know anything about this stuff. I have no conclusions to draw. Just threads and inspirations.


Self

I recently came across Carl Jung's concept of individuation. In this theory, Jung says our ego is a type of social mask that we wear everyday for interaction and moving through the world. It is the center of our conscious life, and so it becomes our understanding of ourselves.


Jung says that the Self, on the other hand, is our true center—our awareness of ourselves without the ego/mask's interference. Jung says we develop this self-realization by knowing the unconscious parts of our mind and bringing them into harmony with our conscious mind. Jung calls this process "individuation," and it is meant to be deeply healing.


Shadows

This process includes "shadow work," which I've seen buzzing the past several years in circles that I consider more "New Age," which is not my thing. That said, my understanding of shadow work is that it is an active practice of acknowledging and interpreting the parts of our unconscious that we repress, are ashamed of, and/or feel threatened by. I got the impression from a couple short pieces by Jung that he believed this to be somewhat risky work, but quite transformative and liberating. It seems to me that discovering these elusive, shadowy parts of ourselves is a natural outcome of self-realization, just like the Shade is a natural result of the Sun. (Except of course Sun and Shade can never be fully integrated...hmm maybe the same is true of the Self and the Shadow? Anyway...)


Veils

As I continue to learn about Jung's philosophy and psychoanalytic approach, I notice myself looking for the ties to yoga. For example, in yoga philosophy, there is a concept of masks (aka veils, colorings) called kleshas. The first is ignorance, from which the remaining four stem: ego, attachment, aversion, and clinging to life/fear of death. This last one has been interpreted not just as literal death, but also fear of change, risk, embarrassment, and being ostracized or excluded from society. When we examine all the kleshas together, we learn, I think most importantly, that suffering comes from misidentifying our true self with the temporary physical body or world. To overcome this, according to the Yoga Sutras, one needs self-discipline, self-study, and devotion to the divine. I think of these principles as inner fire, reflection, and surrender to the whole, infinite unity of what is.


Tapas = Self-Discipline / Inner Fire

Svadhyaya = Self-Study / Reflection

Isvara Pranidhana = Devotion to the Divine / Surrender to the Whole


Discernment

The Sutras say the way out from the veil of ignorance is discernment (also translated as discrimination), and that this is the real goal of Kriya Yoga, the Yoga of Action, the yoga folks usually mean when they talk about the Eight Limbs.


Yoga Sutra 2.26: vivekakhyatiraviplava hanopayah "The means of destruction of ignorance is unbroken practice of [discernment]. "This is the real goal of practice — [discernment] between the real and unreal, knowing that the [Soul] is not nature, that it is neither matter nor mind, and that because it is not nature, it cannot possibly change. It is only nature which changes, combining, and recombining, dissolving continually. When through constant practice we begin to [discern], ignorance will vanish, and the [Soul] will begin to shine in its real nature, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent." – The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, translation and commentary by Swami Vivekananda


A Quick Step Back

Okay, this entreaty began after I read a series of excerpts, essays, and interviews from The Analog Sea Review, number 3. I'll list the titles here in the order they're published in this journal (and the order I read them):

  • "Confrontation with the Unconscious" by C. G. Jung

  • "The Disenchantment of the World" by Morris Berman

  • "Toward Individuation" by C. G. Jung

  • Interview with Wolfgang Giegerich by Jonathan Simons


Knowing Ourselves (Micro)

The final line from Berman's excerpted essay reads: "The creation of the self lies not in repressing the unconscious, but in reintroducing it to the conscious mind." As I read this I thought 'This is the practice of yoga.' 


Each and every time we practice (meditation, poses, breathwork, etc.) we shine a light on our inner selves, casting shadows to plainly observe. Yoga helps us learn the skills to notice these shadows without becoming disturbed, so that we feel more unified and whole. I don't know that I believe the light and shadows become entirely integrated, but that, with continued tending to our inner fire, honest reflection, and surrender, we find a little more freedom to appreciate, relate, and move between the Sun and Shade.


Knowing the Self (Macro)

I think a similar process takes place on a larger scale when we begin to recognize and come to terms with our role in the Collective Self. This is a call back to my Winter intention and most of Chapter 4 of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika.


I can imagine myself as a little branch of the Collective Self that wears a person-shaped mask for the purposes of moving through the world and interacting with other branches. And if together we learn to trace ourselves back to where we come from, we find we're actually part of the same Self. Some branches compete for sunlight, winding upwards and wringing other branches dry and gnarled on their way, casting shade on other branches and forcing them downward. Maybe they justify their efforts in the name of personal growth.


Alchemy

I tried to read the passage from Maier's 1618 work that is the source of the quote used in my intention. Whew...it's a doozy. But it comes with a great illustration:


Here are some less confusing excerpts from an English translation (from the original Latin) that exists in the British Library manuscript collection, as transcribed by Peter Branwin:


"Shade is that which cannot endure the aspect of the Sun, and therefore absconds itself, and avoids it... . But the Sun considering [Shade] as an Enemy to himself, always pursues her whilst she flys so that he can never weary her so as to overtake her... Now the Shade and the Sun do together make a day and night, which the Sun by itself alone could not do. ...For what is this Sun without a Shadow?"

This reminds me of the definition of Hatha:

"The word hatha is made up of two Sanskrit roots, ha and tha. Ha means ‘sun’ and tha means ‘moon.’ ...The two create the extremities of introversion and extroversion. It is the practice of hatha yoga which enables the fluctuations between these two energies to become harmonious and unified into one force."  – Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Chapter 1 Verse 1, Commentary by Swami Muktibodhananda

This translation of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika has some passages related to alchemy too (side note: which is not a coincidence as there was a concerted effort in bringing yoga to the West by way of Western concepts and interests like mysticism).


"According to alchemy, the correct combination or relation between mercury, sulphur and salt, i.e. bindu, body and mind, plus an energy additive called ‘azoth’ (which has the same characteristics as prana) will transform the base mundane consciousness into gold, which represents the illumined consciousness of [Soul]." 

– Hatha Yoga Pradipika (Muktibodhananda commentary), page 504


Empty Bottles

I see all of this sort of loosely coming together in a way that suggests: a practice of discernment, banishment of ignorance, destruction of ego, realization of Self, and realization of Collective leading to some meaningful and important space. Both the Sutras and the Pradipika outline versions of this path to enlightenment. But I think these "steps" happen over and over again, out of order, a continuous, spiralling journey, where we slightly empty ourselves of the not-useful stuff and fill up with some good stuff. We repeat the process over and over until what we've got in our bottles is mostly the good stuff.


"Unsupported mind is that state of mind which has no influencing samskaras or vrittis to disturb it. It becomes a perfect receptacle of the cosmic vibrations and consciousness. Just as you have a bottle and fill it with any liquid, and the more you fill it the less air it contains, so it is with the mind. The more you fill your mind with worldly thoughts, desires etc., the less pure or cosmic vibrations can penetrate it. Therefore, it is essential to empty the mind of the concept of ego, memory, thought/counterthought and intellect." – Hatha Yoga Pradipika (Muktibodhananda commentary), page 544

"When thy firm soul Hath shaken off those tangled oracles Which ignorantly guide, then shall it soar To high neglect of what's denied or said, This way or that way, in doctrinal writ. Troubled no longer by the priestly lore Safe shall it live, and sure; steadfastly bent On meditation. This is Yôg – and Peace!" – Bhagavad Gita, poetic interpretation and translation by Sir Edwin Arnold

The Hero's Journey

I don't think the 'journey of self-discovery' is nearly as compelling of a mythos if we don't encounter challenges. It is necessary to shine a light, to see the shadows, to learn the relationship between the two, to leverage each so that we gather a fuller, truer picture of reality. It's the classic Hero's Journey archetype.


Starting at the finish line would be too easy. Shortcuts would be too easy. The point is the work, the journey to overcome, and to realize.


And the myth is more relatable, realistic, and comforting in a way when it points to the inevitability of a struggle between opposing forces: that which searches, and that which evades discovery.


"Unpopular, ambiguous, and dangerous, [the path to the unconscious] is a voyage of discovery to the other pole of the world." – C. G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, and Reflections, from the chapter titled “Confrontations with the Unconscious”

Sources

 
 
 

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