I have long observed the resistance in spiritual people to the integration, rather than splitting off, of darkness. I learned early that dark emotions have an inner core of something that is trying to inform and protect us. And light emotions have an inner core of something dark also. I think the yin/yang symbol, 50% of reality is dark with a core of light; 50% of reality is light with a core of darkness, tells the whole story. There are many who honor this symbol as a perfect mirror of the Way, of enlightenment as to the nature of reality.

I observe many who think that a dark thought creates more darkness, and many others who think all of this “positive thinking” is a way to put your head in the sand and ignore nature’s truth. I am inclined consciously toward the first part of this statement, but my dreams are showing me that unconsciously there is a powerful cynic in me who is unconsciously possibly much stronger than the positive thinking side.

I love the yin/yang symbol, and would love to meditate upon it every day. The conscious part of me that believes so passionately in the good at the core of human nature, even as Anne Frank wrote of it in her diary in spite of everything she was experiencing, and the unconscious part that is operating upon suspicion of every motive in human nature, need to come into real balance.

Balance is the key. Cynics are losing the game of balance, and so are those who only want to see the positive. Balance, to see the exquisite harmony of the opposites with respect for every aspect of reality is the Way; one way of imaging and articulating the multifarious Way.