Alright. Let’s talk about that for a moment. This is something that has always bothered me because it can do so much harm. You get a lot (and I do mean a LOT) of spiritual sugar coating from the members of the gallery who self-identify as “Light Workers.” Now, please do not get me wrong. I do not think that there is anything wrong with being a light worker. I also do not think that all light workers do this. However, having said that, it is pretty rampant in that section of spirituality. These are the folks who focus, overly so, on things like “only love and light,” and “forgiveness heals all,” and “anything that is not completely of the light is evil.” So let’s take a look at each of these.
Only Love and Light
I like both love and light. What I do not appreciate is the dogma that this is all that exists within the universe. Take a look around. There are a LOT of mean spirited, evil doing, aggressive a-holes in the world. And trying to align yourself with only love and light will cause you to be blind sided by someone with questionable designs. It basically puts blinders on your eyes so that you cannot see what is right there all around you. “But I believe that there is goodness in everyone.” Yes. I agree. But there is also some really dark stuff in everyone, and denying that does not help to heal it. So take the blinders off, and the rose colored glasses along with them, sit down and observe what is actually happening. See things for what they are, not for what you hope they will be.
Forgiveness Heals All
This is garbage thinking. Sure, it might make you feel good to forgive someone. But did they actually earn it? Or are you simply letting them off the hook? Have they acknowledged what they did? Have they apologized for what they did? Have they made amends for what they did? If the answer is “no” to any one of these, then no, they have not earned it. Forgiveness is something that is EARNED. It helps to rehabilitate the offender. It has nothing to do with how you, the “victim” have risen above the offense. It is not about you at all. It is about making sure that the offender becomes a better person. You may think that you can sleep better at night knowing that you are so righteous that you have been able to forgive the grievance. But that is pure ego speaking. You have failed the task of forgiveness. You may think that you can have more inner peace by forgiving or that you will heal faster if you do. But then you are missing some essential parts of what healing is about. You are forgetting to acknowledge the damage that was done, therefore you are setting yourself up to be kicked in the teeth by this person again, or by someone else who is like this person. When we do not make the person EARN the forgiveness, then the forgiveness is actually empty. It is simply a trick of the mind to make you feel superior.
Anything That is Not of the Light is Evil
First off, the Light cannot exist without the Shadow. And the Shadow cannot exist without the Light. Each are equally important. To try to deny the existence of either one of those within each and every one of us is to be spiritually immature. Either way, whichever you consider yourself a team member to, get off your high horse and put your big person undies on. You are not doing yourself or anyone else any favors just dwelling within one concept or the other. Life is not that simple. Spirit is not that simple. And neither the Shadow nor the Light are instantly evil or instantly good. What is evil is how people put these things to use. There is nothing more evil than a self-righteous practitioner who thinks that their way is the one and only way. They do so much damage along the way and then blame the victims of their self-righteous actions. And their actions are based on nothing more than warped human ego.
When we spiritually sugar coat things to make them more palatable we deny those around us the opportunity to discover for themselves what they do and do not prefer on a spiritual level. It is the most insidious form of slavery. All this is used for is crowd control. And guess who’s in power? Not you. Who is in power are all those who profit from your disempowerment. So don’t let them take your power away.
Doing work on and for the Light is admirable. But it also becomes completely out of balance if one does not do their shadow work as well. What is shadow work? It is the ability to go deep within and find those dark crevices where the more twisted part of your ego resides. But it is NOT about banishing the shadow or the ego. It is about aligning it with better, more balanced intentions. It is about making it your ally instead of your enemy. The ego is our personal sense of self, which is highly important. When it goes out of control is when you get it muddied. But it is not evil in and of itself. So think about your response when someone asks you about who you are. It is not about what you do for a living. It is not about how others see you. It is about what makes up your conscious connection to your fundamental character.
Sugar coating things that are unpleasant is not limited to just spiritual practices. It is a common theme in our lives and in our society. Take, for example, when someone dies. Many won’t say that, “So-and-so died.” Most are trained and programmed to say, “So-and-so passed away.” It is more palatable because death is an uncomfortable topic. After all, death challenges us to recognize our own mortality. But that is exactly why death and death practices are so incredibly important. If nothing else, it reminds us that life is precious and that we are only here for so long and then we are gone, so we better make the most of it and hopefully enjoy ourselves along the way.
Another form of sugar coating is when someone says that if not for the abuse they experienced in the past they would never have become the strong and resilient person that they are now. How dare you give the abuser credit for something that existed within you all along?! They did not give that to you. It was not a gift. That existed within you from the very start. They simply gave you ample opportunities to put it to good use. That does not change one iota of the harm that they inflicted upon you! So stop sugar coating the experience. It serves no one to do so. And when someone says something like this what they are actually doing is trying to put an attitude of gratitude spin onto something for which no one in their right mind would or should ever be grateful. It is a complete misuse of the very concept of gratitude.
So take a good hard look at the things you and others around you say when it comes to things like this. And do remind yourself and those around you that we can all do better if we just stop sugar coating it all. We can taste the bitter. There is nothing wrong with doing so. We can grow beyond the bitter. But we cannot do that if the bitter is constantly sugar coated.