052 For decades people have been leaving traditional religious institutions in droves to pursuit a more direct path to enlightenment through eastern practices like meditation and yoga. In this lonely world it can be intoxicating to find a community that feels like home and provides a sense of safety and support to explore your spiritual longing in depth. If you are fortunate enough to connect with a teacher or mentor it might even feel like destiny calling.
In many traditions the teacher/student relationship is considered sacred because unlike other worldly relationships an authentic spiritual teacher can see through our BS and offer a glimpse into the ultimate view, our true nature beyond dualistic thought and ego clinging. However, the highest bliss of devotion also contains the possibility of a poison pill that neither student or teacher are prepared to swallow.
Great realization doesn’t necessarily mean great emotional intelligence or the absence of the shadow. The shadow is a Jungian term for the unconscious mind where we store our deepest family secrets, repressed emotions, unmet desires, and also our unexpressed potential. We only become aware of the shadow when it is activated in intimate relationships that involve power, sex and money.
What is a spiritual path for if not to bring to the light the most hidden aspects of ourselves? Yet so many spiritual communities are blindsided when allegations of clergy abuse surface. In this episode of Awake In Relationship I speak with Dr. Connie Zweig, author of Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path: The dance of darkness and light in our search for awakening, about the archetypal quest for transcendence and the inevitable disillusionment that results when divinity mixes with human fallibility. We also discuss some of the lessons learned from patterns of misconduct in the west and how recover trust in the teacher student dynamic and joy on the path of awakening through shadow work.
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