Go Inside & Make Positive Choices Now
More than a week after the UK’s choice to leave the EU, and some of the emotional upheaval has died down, while the nation and Europe await to see how the tangible results of this choice manifest into our reality. However, the chaos that runs through Britain’s main political parties continues unabated and a huge amount of uncertainty hangs over the political and economic arenas in the UK.
What played out before the vote was a very obvious exploitation of the ‘shadow’ within the national collective consciousness with aspects of that shadow being heavily manipulated for the main campaigning tools of the pre-referendum of both sides. This “playing” of people’s fears was rife, and I think it’s safe to comment that many of us have never seen something quite so toxic in operation as this pre-referendum scenario. In hindsight, it is perhaps no surprise that such high levels of toxicity have resulted in the implosion and fall of several of those who had previously held power and craved it so much prior to the referendum. What happens next is of course still the unanswered question, and it’s likely to remain an answer in progress for some time.
If there’s anything that politicians of the last few decades have continually taught much of the general public, it’s that they don’t always honour their promises once they are voted in (polite understatement) and this behaviour has manifested in apathy (often a non-voting apathy) and a lack of trust towards politics, politicians, votes et al. This collective apathy, lack of trust and general frustration/resentment towards politics is understandable, however the situation that the UK finds itself in now is undoubtedly a manifestation of that negative energy i.e. resulting confusion and uncertainty. And so it is important for us all to start making different internal choices and to make them positive ones wherever possible.
The reality is that choices bring change which can be a very good thing, but the initial stages of it are often turbulent. Most people are scared of change because their fears (aka the shadow) surface and thus a climate of uncertainty develops. A collective climate of uncertainty and unhappiness is fertile ground for opportunists to stake their claim for power in the political arena (read a history book to see a more extreme version of this scenario taking place in 1930’s Germany).
It is, though, also an opportunity for most of us individuals to re-assert our moral and ethical values and to start to look more closely at our own role in what we have created here. As part of the collective consciousness, we all have a role in creating the reality that we all live in, and we can do that for better or for worse.
We all have a shadow aspect within our character as well as light parts, and as JK Rowling said “it is the part we choose to act upon that makes us who we are”. And it is our own shadows that have manifested the situation we are in now.
For how we act it is not always a conscious choice for most people. Sometimes we act from these shadow aspects of our self without even realizing what we are doing – sometimes we call it unconscious behaviour. One way of defining the shadow is those parts of ourselves that we do not want to look at.
That shadow can manifest in a lot of different ways. Perhaps with drunken, loutish behaviour late on a Saturday night in a typical UK town or we see it in the criticism and judgement so prevalent on our reality and competitive talent TV shows. And we see it being projected in Social media a lot. Sometimes it is obvious, and sometimes it is more subtle and discretely controlling.
A lot of the manipulation that was in evidence pre-referendum filtered down on to social media. We have free will in this country and many exercised that to express their own preferences through Facebook and the like, and that’s fine to a point. However, some folks saw fit to use social media to try and convince others of the “rightness” of their own point of view, and as self-aggrandizement opportunities for themselves!!
Sure signs that the shadow is in play are when someone is trying to control others (or their points of view), an inflation of the ego (often manifests as spiritual elitism or superiority) and of course propagating fear. If you spot someone like this on social media, just bear in mind that it’s unlikely they spot it in themselves, so have a little bit of sympathy for them, and avoid getting annoyed with them as they will likely project that back on to you within an instant.
The only real choice that we all have now to help the collective situation is to acknowledge the shadow within all of us, for acceptance is the first key to healing. Then start doing internal work with those parts of us that want to control, spread fear et al. And to start making more positive choices from a genuinely reflective place within.
I’d say that the collective journey of humanity is evolutionary empowerment, by which I mean first the understanding that we create our own reality, and then the ability to be in a place where we live that reality, rather than just talk about it. It’s highly unlikely that the current batch of “leaders” are going to be the ones to show us how to do that. More likely is that more of us having to start living that evolutionary empowerment in order to attract a public figure who will then embody it on larger scale. If we stay in the shadow, then we will continue to attract the same old leaders who radiate the shadow energy. It is different choices that we need know and it as simple as that.
Times of chaos as we have now are wonderfull opportunities, however there is no one coming to save us or do it for us until we make the decision to save ourselves and act upon with within ongoing honest introspection.
As I am fond of saying, that is a process rather than an event, however the event that starts the process can happen now!
Love & blessings
Doug
