February 26, 2025 • 21 mins
Can anger, ambition, or even selfishness be transformed into something positive? What if the "dark side" isn't something to fear but something to understand?
💡 Embracing the Dark Side: A Hidden Key to Growth
We’ve all been taught to suppress certain emotions—anger, ambition, even selfishness. But what if these so-called "dark" traits weren’t bad at all? In this episode, we explore the power of embracing our whole selves, challenging societal narratives, and finding strength in the shadows. Tune in to uncover how your hidden side might be the key to personal transformation. 🎧🔥
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Find my other podcast episodes and platforms here: https://rss.com/podcasts/stoicspirituality/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
The dark side is something that is talked a lot about in Star Wars, seen as good versus
(00:07):
evil, light versus dark.
But something important is that we all have our own dark side.
We all have lapses, we all have projections, and we can easily see it in others.
Hello and welcome back to Stoic Spirituality, a podcast where I look through, analyze, and
dissect various thoughts, words, and quotes that I've read over the last few years.
(00:30):
My name is Joggen and I'm a student of the human experience trying to spread some knowledge
out to the rest of the world.
So this topic that I want to talk about is a little on the controversial end.
It's not something that is seen societally as positive because it's a bunch of dark
side.
(00:51):
In our society, in our world, there's a lot of absolute in categorizations.
There's a lot of black or white, good or bad, darkness or light, positive or negative.
And we seek to categorize something as a success or failure as you discussed in the previous
(01:12):
episode.
But the truth of the matter is, there's a lot more gray area between all of this.
Because as human beings, for the most part, we do desire the goodness of ourselves and
potentially the benefit of others as well.
(01:33):
But we also all have a dark side.
And contrary to popular belief, it's not necessarily a bad thing.
Our dark side has its purpose.
We were all built in this world in the form of mastery to achieve a life's task, to fulfill
a specific purpose.
(01:54):
And what that means is that both light and dark are necessary for your purpose and for
your life's task.
If the yin or the yang was just present, it wouldn't make a complete circle.
You need to have the balance between the light and the dark in order to get to a place of
(02:16):
ultimate growth, creativity, and action.
However, in society, the word darkness, the word repression, the word depression, the
word anxiety, all have negative connotations.
Yes, these are conditions that affect our way of life, that affect our ability to interact
(02:37):
in society, that change our perception of the world around us, and affect our mood and
overall judgement.
However, this dark side does have a few positive characteristics.
Our dark side haunts our dreams and may leak out through depressive episodes, anxiety attacks,
(03:07):
and other kind of lapses in our overall quote unquote normal life that we consider off-brand,
not in character, or something that is unique or not as a part of a regular daily life.
And so, one issue that society has bought upon us is that this dark side, this part
(03:32):
of ourselves that isn't societally acceptable, is said to be repressed.
We're being asked to take this dark side, shove it in a box, and send it off deep into
our subconscious.
However, this is the exact way we don't really put away the dark side, but we rather bottle
(03:53):
it up until it explodes out or leaks through in different behaviors and ways.
All of us have a dark side.
All of us have a part of us that is considered by society's rules as not positive.
And instead of even putting it away, bringing awareness to our dark side will maybe smooth
(04:23):
out portions of it that you can then channel in.
It may be a way for you to channel parts of your creative genius or your creative energies
by leveraging qualities or ideas that may be seen as bad, but overall, this dark side
should not be something we have to put away, it should be something we should examine and
(04:45):
recognize.
Seeing parts of it lose their power that are just genuinely negative characteristics by
the standards of humanity, not by society, and then channel this other energy into more
productive activity, recognizing that you are human, you're not an angel, you're not
a divine being that has nothing negative in the side of them, and that you are not as
(05:10):
strong as you imagine.
In our ideal self, in our ideological world, we think ourselves as on top of the mountain,
the best of what we do, incredibly like down to earth and approachable or like powerful
or however we want to phrase positive qualities to have.
And with this kind of assertion of our grandiosity, we put away our dark side, the parts of ourselves
(05:37):
that we find are better left hidden, the parts of us that may not be as pleasant.
But by recognizing your weaknesses in the form of the dark side, not only can you work
to better them, but you can also channel them, converting them into strengths.
(05:59):
And you may or may not have seen this kind of darker side in your side of yourself, may
it be through the form of thoughts, judgments, or prejudices, but you can certainly find
yourself picking up on little pieces of the dark side that people may have as well.
And usually, why you'll be able to pick this up is that it'll come out of nowhere.
(06:25):
There's a reason why the dark side of your character is kind of called the shadow.
It's cast, it's a little bit dark, it's harder to see except in a very specific set
of light, and in certain situations, like certain times of day, it may be larger than
other ones.
It lies buried inside of us and becomes disturbed only when our insecurities or our deep wounds
(06:51):
tend to be triggered.
And in other people, we rarely see it, we only see the front end, the kind of illustration
or expression of other people's dark side as like the shadow.
And so from a kind of psychological, almost Freudian perspective, our shadow is created
(07:13):
from inner child wounds, it's created from the conflict between our ideal self and what
society imposed upon us, it kind of comes from the clashing of these forces of our own
individual creativity and the channeling of a path that was imposed upon us by other people
(07:34):
around us, sometimes our parents, sometimes people around us, cutting off our ways of
access or by putting our ideas and individual creativity down.
Certain things like not having too much confidence in your own self because it comes across as
(07:56):
being egoistic and trying super hard to fit in and not establish yourself as a unique
sense of self or a unique person, in this attempt to kind of amalgamate with the rest
of your tribe, we kind of in a sense generate this darker side of us.
We can become this social animal, this kind of two-dimensional figure that interacts well
(08:20):
with society, but the price is our ability to feel everything we can feel, to be creative
as much as we can, and kind of building up ourselves to the full potential that we can
be.
And to use that or to become that, you must snap together your regular self, your dark
(08:41):
side, and then de-repress all of which you have hidden inside simply because someone
told you it wasn't good to have.
Someone tried to repress it because it wasn't societally acceptable.
Obviously this does not extend into things that genuinely harm humanity, but it's kind
of taking qualities that may not have been acceptable in a social sense but are fine
(09:07):
in a human sense, or fine to distinguish your sense of self and your unique sense of person.
And that's why it's important to kind of find this balance between allowing for your
dark side, de-repressing it, bringing it out, and then boosting your own sense of self and
(09:27):
channeling this energy toward more productive pursuits.
To give you an example, personal life or other people as well, one emotion that is incredibly
frowned upon is anger in society, because anger is seen as someone who loses control,
someone who has no mental control of their emotions, and it has nasty effects, not only
(09:52):
for the person that is emitting the anger, but for those that receive it, mentally and
sometimes even physically.
So this is a clear example of a dark side kind of illustration.
And so there are ways we can channel this anger toward the right directions.
(10:13):
Not necessarily deleting it, but shifting it the right way.
Not repressing it, but addressing something we can.
And this may be in two shapes or forms.
There is kind of personal anger addressing, which can be through activities such as intense
physical activity, or by meditation, or by just addressing maybe a more irrational form
(10:38):
of anger that doesn't feel right.
Not repressing it, or not trying to battle with it, but allowing our energy to channel
in the right direction.
And there's a more kind of just form of anger, a societal based anger that things are not
right, things should not be happening the way they are.
Changing that toward social advocacy and justice as an overall virtue is some way we can channel
(11:03):
this dark side energy that comes to us in the form of anger in the right direction.
Marcus Rulius in Stoicism says we do have the opportunity to take a situation and make
out of it what we will.
Not being tossed around like a puppet on strings by situations around us, but by being the
(11:27):
one holding the strings, allowing ourselves to move in the right direction.
And so this kind of situational channeling of our dark side, the situational de-repressing
and shifting of our dark side in the right direction combines this idea of not only the
(11:49):
spiritual disentanglement and disidentification with the world around us and the interconnectedness
of the universe around us, it also combines with the idea of stoic philosophy, creating
a more meditative state inside of ourselves by not having all these inner subconscious
entanglements that kind of give us a sense of unease or anxiety or sadness and depression
(12:14):
from us repressing something that is natural to who we are.
And so this is kind of a discussion of how we can address it ourselves, or rather we
can address our own dark side.
Kind of looking outward, trying to find other people's dark side, there are a few lapses
we can look for as we try to encounter other people's dark side.
(12:40):
And it's not really about us trying to fix them, but it's just us being aware of it,
using their reaction or their lapses as reflections of what we can do better with our own selves,
and also an illustration that people have parts of their sense of self that they have
repressed and it's important for us to not only be empathetic to those around us, but
(13:03):
to reflect that back at our own selves and see the perspective from their shoes, see
the view of the mountain from their side.
And so let's go over some of the potential lapses.
And so some of the lapses you may see is just an outburst of emotion, anger being the primary
(13:24):
one.
Someone who is normally well mannered and very difficult to quote unquote throw off
balance has a major emotional outburst in front of you.
And what that will do is that'll throw you off, it'll make you wonder what kind of a
person is this, I thought they were someone who I was like very sure of, was a very calm,
(13:45):
well mannered, emotionally intelligent person that just had this random outburst.
It may be someone who kind of projects a lot.
Someone who takes a desire that is subconsciously repressed inside of them and shoves it in
your direction, making you feel like you have this issue.
(14:06):
And then maybe even something like accidental behavior where people say that, oh, this wasn't
me, I wasn't this person, this isn't reflective of who I am, but they were the person that
did the action.
So kind of looking at behaviors like this, you kind of see people's dark side, you kind
of see people's lapses in behavior, their inconsistencies, their emotional outbursts
(14:29):
that is indicative of the anger, the dark side, or what they have repressed inside of
them.
And so where I'm kind of going with all of this is not really to ask you to like, oh
my God, take in the dark side and like become someone stronger, but it's rather bring awareness
to it.
(14:49):
Allow yourself to see that as a loving portion of your overall self, understanding that some
parts of this are negative qualities that need to be addressed, but other parts can
be channeled in the right direction, can boost your own creativity and your own sense of
self on your own purpose.
(15:10):
Because that is who you are, whether or not you want to accept it or not, that is a portion
of who you are at this moment.
You don't have to be the person you will be for the rest of your life, but there is
a portion of you that has a more darker nature.
And the more we repress it, the more we push it down, the more we try to get rid of it,
(15:32):
the more it will come up in ways we don't expect, the more it will come up in unexpected
situations we're not ready for.
And the person that will pay the price will be none other than you.
So by taking accountability, realizing you have parts of yourself that you've locked
away, bringing awareness to them, opening yourself up to them, taking accountability
(15:53):
and responsibility for them, not only can you kind of decipher parts of yourself, identify
insecurities that have been maybe born from failures that you weren't able to address
in a more mature sense before, but it will also give you clear perspective on what parts
(16:14):
of yourself you can channel toward the greater good, what emotions that may be negative by
some society's strictest standards but are positive for your own self, like anger propelling
you to make a positive change in your life, a sense of disgust you feel about your current
state of living that forces you to take more accountability and build up a better sense
(16:40):
of self.
So these are all in the societal sense negative emotions, anger, disgust, sloth, or all of
these may be considered by society and it's hustle culture that how dare you get mad,
how dare you feel disgust, these are not societally acceptable emotions, but these consist and
(17:01):
make up your dark side and these create in you chain reactions that end up to a greater
good.
But if you continually block these negative emotions just because someone told you that
it was bad, you are denying yourself your highest potential, you are denying yourself
a key emotion that is meant for us to feel and you are denying yourself the possibility
(17:27):
to learn something from yourself, from those around you, and to become someone who is better
than the person that they were before.
Negativity sometimes is not something that we all want to feel, negativity is something
that is kind of thrust upon us by situations that happen around us and it is built upon
(17:49):
by the presence of something like your dark side all the time that constantly tells you
that you are not worthy, you are an imposter here, or you are too good for this and you
have too much like you don't have enough time to waste.
The idea of surrender, the idea of accepting everything for what it is, is not only accepting
(18:09):
the parts you find pleasant inside of yourself, it's not only accepting the events you want
to accept that happen to you, but it's a complete sense of surrender, surrender, surrendering
you to your own self, surrendering yourself and all of your flaws, your good qualities,
that you could improve what you are good at and taking it in completely, allowing yourself
(18:33):
to metaphorically bleed, but it also is involved with the situations that you find yourself
in.
Suffering and evil, failures, while they may seem bad on the surface or negative on the
surface, almost always, if not always, have a net positive effect, because if we set our
(18:58):
goals as something that is similar to the Bhagavad Gita or Christianity, which is kind
of removing sin, dealing with karma in the case of Hinduism, and disidentifying with
the mind and the body that takes us and joining the overall whole of the cosmos, all of these
failures, all of this addressing of your dark side, all of this accepting yourself for who
(19:21):
you are, will aid that process.
Robin Sharma, in his book The Everyday Hero Manifesto, has an important quote that I've
used to deal with harsher days.
A bad day for the ego is a great day for the soul.
A bad day where you have to address something you didn't want to address, talk to someone
(19:44):
you didn't want to talk to, force yourself to confront a reality you didn't want to,
is a good day for the soul.
It burns away your pride, your attachment to things you don't need to have, and allows
you to reach the ultimate goal of all humankind, which is disattachment and the idea of non-duality,
(20:05):
that everything is connected, everyone is living a very similar life, all connected
within the web of this cosmos, and to disidentify an object and a subject is useless because
it is all interconnected.
And so by tying yourself and putting away one percentage or portion of yourself, you
kind of deny yourself your entire sense of self, and you deny yourself the ability to
(20:31):
disidentify with things and channel energy that may be negative on the surface but is
positive in the end.
So that is why confronting your dark side, bringing awareness to it, relinquishing the
negativity inside of it, and channeling the positivity hidden deep inside your dark side
will be to your greater benefit toward the ultimate goal of all humankind, which is to
(20:54):
disidentify with our mind and our body, realizing we get the awareness behind the mind and that
our purpose in life is to serve others and seek moksha, liberation, or freedom from suffering,
regardless of your faith.
Thank you so much for listening.
(21:15):
If you'd like to hear more content, feel free to drop me a follow at Stoic Spirituality
on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, and see you guys next time.
The dark side is something that is talked a lot about in Star Wars, seen as good versus
(00:07):
evil, light versus dark.
But something important is that we all have our own dark side.
We all have lapses, we all have projections, and we can easily see it in others.
Hello and welcome back to Stoic Spirituality, a podcast where I look through, analyze, and
dissect various thoughts, words, and quotes that I've read over the last few years.
(00:30):
My name is Joggen and I'm a student of the human experience trying to spread some knowledge
out to the rest of the world.
So this topic that I want to talk about is a little on the controversial end.
It's not something that is seen societally as positive because it's a bunch of dark
side.
(00:51):
In our society, in our world, there's a lot of absolute in categorizations.
There's a lot of black or white, good or bad, darkness or light, positive or negative.
And we seek to categorize something as a success or failure as you discussed in the previous
(01:12):
episode.
But the truth of the matter is, there's a lot more gray area between all of this.
Because as human beings, for the most part, we do desire the goodness of ourselves and
potentially the benefit of others as well.
(01:33):
But we also all have a dark side.
And contrary to popular belief, it's not necessarily a bad thing.
Our dark side has its purpose.
We were all built in this world in the form of mastery to achieve a life's task, to fulfill
a specific purpose.
(01:54):
And what that means is that both light and dark are necessary for your purpose and for
your life's task.
If the yin or the yang was just present, it wouldn't make a complete circle.
You need to have the balance between the light and the dark in order to get to a place of
(02:16):
ultimate growth, creativity, and action.
However, in society, the word darkness, the word repression, the word depression, the
word anxiety, all have negative connotations.
Yes, these are conditions that affect our way of life, that affect our ability to interact
(02:37):
in society, that change our perception of the world around us, and affect our mood and
overall judgement.
However, this dark side does have a few positive characteristics.
Our dark side haunts our dreams and may leak out through depressive episodes, anxiety attacks,
(03:07):
and other kind of lapses in our overall quote unquote normal life that we consider off-brand,
not in character, or something that is unique or not as a part of a regular daily life.
And so, one issue that society has bought upon us is that this dark side, this part
(03:32):
of ourselves that isn't societally acceptable, is said to be repressed.
We're being asked to take this dark side, shove it in a box, and send it off deep into
our subconscious.
However, this is the exact way we don't really put away the dark side, but we rather bottle
(03:53):
it up until it explodes out or leaks through in different behaviors and ways.
All of us have a dark side.
All of us have a part of us that is considered by society's rules as not positive.
And instead of even putting it away, bringing awareness to our dark side will maybe smooth
(04:23):
out portions of it that you can then channel in.
It may be a way for you to channel parts of your creative genius or your creative energies
by leveraging qualities or ideas that may be seen as bad, but overall, this dark side
should not be something we have to put away, it should be something we should examine and
(04:45):
recognize.
Seeing parts of it lose their power that are just genuinely negative characteristics by
the standards of humanity, not by society, and then channel this other energy into more
productive activity, recognizing that you are human, you're not an angel, you're not
a divine being that has nothing negative in the side of them, and that you are not as
(05:10):
strong as you imagine.
In our ideal self, in our ideological world, we think ourselves as on top of the mountain,
the best of what we do, incredibly like down to earth and approachable or like powerful
or however we want to phrase positive qualities to have.
And with this kind of assertion of our grandiosity, we put away our dark side, the parts of ourselves
(05:37):
that we find are better left hidden, the parts of us that may not be as pleasant.
But by recognizing your weaknesses in the form of the dark side, not only can you work
to better them, but you can also channel them, converting them into strengths.
(05:59):
And you may or may not have seen this kind of darker side in your side of yourself, may
it be through the form of thoughts, judgments, or prejudices, but you can certainly find
yourself picking up on little pieces of the dark side that people may have as well.
And usually, why you'll be able to pick this up is that it'll come out of nowhere.
(06:25):
There's a reason why the dark side of your character is kind of called the shadow.
It's cast, it's a little bit dark, it's harder to see except in a very specific set
of light, and in certain situations, like certain times of day, it may be larger than
other ones.
It lies buried inside of us and becomes disturbed only when our insecurities or our deep wounds
(06:51):
tend to be triggered.
And in other people, we rarely see it, we only see the front end, the kind of illustration
or expression of other people's dark side as like the shadow.
And so from a kind of psychological, almost Freudian perspective, our shadow is created
(07:13):
from inner child wounds, it's created from the conflict between our ideal self and what
society imposed upon us, it kind of comes from the clashing of these forces of our own
individual creativity and the channeling of a path that was imposed upon us by other people
(07:34):
around us, sometimes our parents, sometimes people around us, cutting off our ways of
access or by putting our ideas and individual creativity down.
Certain things like not having too much confidence in your own self because it comes across as
(07:56):
being egoistic and trying super hard to fit in and not establish yourself as a unique
sense of self or a unique person, in this attempt to kind of amalgamate with the rest
of your tribe, we kind of in a sense generate this darker side of us.
We can become this social animal, this kind of two-dimensional figure that interacts well
(08:20):
with society, but the price is our ability to feel everything we can feel, to be creative
as much as we can, and kind of building up ourselves to the full potential that we can
be.
And to use that or to become that, you must snap together your regular self, your dark
(08:41):
side, and then de-repress all of which you have hidden inside simply because someone
told you it wasn't good to have.
Someone tried to repress it because it wasn't societally acceptable.
Obviously this does not extend into things that genuinely harm humanity, but it's kind
of taking qualities that may not have been acceptable in a social sense but are fine
(09:07):
in a human sense, or fine to distinguish your sense of self and your unique sense of person.
And that's why it's important to kind of find this balance between allowing for your
dark side, de-repressing it, bringing it out, and then boosting your own sense of self and
(09:27):
channeling this energy toward more productive pursuits.
To give you an example, personal life or other people as well, one emotion that is incredibly
frowned upon is anger in society, because anger is seen as someone who loses control,
someone who has no mental control of their emotions, and it has nasty effects, not only
(09:52):
for the person that is emitting the anger, but for those that receive it, mentally and
sometimes even physically.
So this is a clear example of a dark side kind of illustration.
And so there are ways we can channel this anger toward the right directions.
(10:13):
Not necessarily deleting it, but shifting it the right way.
Not repressing it, but addressing something we can.
And this may be in two shapes or forms.
There is kind of personal anger addressing, which can be through activities such as intense
physical activity, or by meditation, or by just addressing maybe a more irrational form
(10:38):
of anger that doesn't feel right.
Not repressing it, or not trying to battle with it, but allowing our energy to channel
in the right direction.
And there's a more kind of just form of anger, a societal based anger that things are not
right, things should not be happening the way they are.
Changing that toward social advocacy and justice as an overall virtue is some way we can channel
(11:03):
this dark side energy that comes to us in the form of anger in the right direction.
Marcus Rulius in Stoicism says we do have the opportunity to take a situation and make
out of it what we will.
Not being tossed around like a puppet on strings by situations around us, but by being the
(11:27):
one holding the strings, allowing ourselves to move in the right direction.
And so this kind of situational channeling of our dark side, the situational de-repressing
and shifting of our dark side in the right direction combines this idea of not only the
(11:49):
spiritual disentanglement and disidentification with the world around us and the interconnectedness
of the universe around us, it also combines with the idea of stoic philosophy, creating
a more meditative state inside of ourselves by not having all these inner subconscious
entanglements that kind of give us a sense of unease or anxiety or sadness and depression
(12:14):
from us repressing something that is natural to who we are.
And so this is kind of a discussion of how we can address it ourselves, or rather we
can address our own dark side.
Kind of looking outward, trying to find other people's dark side, there are a few lapses
we can look for as we try to encounter other people's dark side.
(12:40):
And it's not really about us trying to fix them, but it's just us being aware of it,
using their reaction or their lapses as reflections of what we can do better with our own selves,
and also an illustration that people have parts of their sense of self that they have
repressed and it's important for us to not only be empathetic to those around us, but
(13:03):
to reflect that back at our own selves and see the perspective from their shoes, see
the view of the mountain from their side.
And so let's go over some of the potential lapses.
And so some of the lapses you may see is just an outburst of emotion, anger being the primary
(13:24):
one.
Someone who is normally well mannered and very difficult to quote unquote throw off
balance has a major emotional outburst in front of you.
And what that will do is that'll throw you off, it'll make you wonder what kind of a
person is this, I thought they were someone who I was like very sure of, was a very calm,
(13:45):
well mannered, emotionally intelligent person that just had this random outburst.
It may be someone who kind of projects a lot.
Someone who takes a desire that is subconsciously repressed inside of them and shoves it in
your direction, making you feel like you have this issue.
(14:06):
And then maybe even something like accidental behavior where people say that, oh, this wasn't
me, I wasn't this person, this isn't reflective of who I am, but they were the person that
did the action.
So kind of looking at behaviors like this, you kind of see people's dark side, you kind
of see people's lapses in behavior, their inconsistencies, their emotional outbursts
(14:29):
that is indicative of the anger, the dark side, or what they have repressed inside of
them.
And so where I'm kind of going with all of this is not really to ask you to like, oh
my God, take in the dark side and like become someone stronger, but it's rather bring awareness
to it.
(14:49):
Allow yourself to see that as a loving portion of your overall self, understanding that some
parts of this are negative qualities that need to be addressed, but other parts can
be channeled in the right direction, can boost your own creativity and your own sense of
self on your own purpose.
(15:10):
Because that is who you are, whether or not you want to accept it or not, that is a portion
of who you are at this moment.
You don't have to be the person you will be for the rest of your life, but there is
a portion of you that has a more darker nature.
And the more we repress it, the more we push it down, the more we try to get rid of it,
(15:32):
the more it will come up in ways we don't expect, the more it will come up in unexpected
situations we're not ready for.
And the person that will pay the price will be none other than you.
So by taking accountability, realizing you have parts of yourself that you've locked
away, bringing awareness to them, opening yourself up to them, taking accountability
(15:53):
and responsibility for them, not only can you kind of decipher parts of yourself, identify
insecurities that have been maybe born from failures that you weren't able to address
in a more mature sense before, but it will also give you clear perspective on what parts
(16:14):
of yourself you can channel toward the greater good, what emotions that may be negative by
some society's strictest standards but are positive for your own self, like anger propelling
you to make a positive change in your life, a sense of disgust you feel about your current
state of living that forces you to take more accountability and build up a better sense
(16:40):
of self.
So these are all in the societal sense negative emotions, anger, disgust, sloth, or all of
these may be considered by society and it's hustle culture that how dare you get mad,
how dare you feel disgust, these are not societally acceptable emotions, but these consist and
(17:01):
make up your dark side and these create in you chain reactions that end up to a greater
good.
But if you continually block these negative emotions just because someone told you that
it was bad, you are denying yourself your highest potential, you are denying yourself
a key emotion that is meant for us to feel and you are denying yourself the possibility
(17:27):
to learn something from yourself, from those around you, and to become someone who is better
than the person that they were before.
Negativity sometimes is not something that we all want to feel, negativity is something
that is kind of thrust upon us by situations that happen around us and it is built upon
(17:49):
by the presence of something like your dark side all the time that constantly tells you
that you are not worthy, you are an imposter here, or you are too good for this and you
have too much like you don't have enough time to waste.
The idea of surrender, the idea of accepting everything for what it is, is not only accepting
(18:09):
the parts you find pleasant inside of yourself, it's not only accepting the events you want
to accept that happen to you, but it's a complete sense of surrender, surrender, surrendering
you to your own self, surrendering yourself and all of your flaws, your good qualities,
that you could improve what you are good at and taking it in completely, allowing yourself
(18:33):
to metaphorically bleed, but it also is involved with the situations that you find yourself
in.
Suffering and evil, failures, while they may seem bad on the surface or negative on the
surface, almost always, if not always, have a net positive effect, because if we set our
(18:58):
goals as something that is similar to the Bhagavad Gita or Christianity, which is kind
of removing sin, dealing with karma in the case of Hinduism, and disidentifying with
the mind and the body that takes us and joining the overall whole of the cosmos, all of these
failures, all of this addressing of your dark side, all of this accepting yourself for who
(19:21):
you are, will aid that process.
Robin Sharma, in his book The Everyday Hero Manifesto, has an important quote that I've
used to deal with harsher days.
A bad day for the ego is a great day for the soul.
A bad day where you have to address something you didn't want to address, talk to someone
(19:44):
you didn't want to talk to, force yourself to confront a reality you didn't want to,
is a good day for the soul.
It burns away your pride, your attachment to things you don't need to have, and allows
you to reach the ultimate goal of all humankind, which is disattachment and the idea of non-duality,
(20:05):
that everything is connected, everyone is living a very similar life, all connected
within the web of this cosmos, and to disidentify an object and a subject is useless because
it is all interconnected.
And so by tying yourself and putting away one percentage or portion of yourself, you
kind of deny yourself your entire sense of self, and you deny yourself the ability to
(20:31):
disidentify with things and channel energy that may be negative on the surface but is
positive in the end.
So that is why confronting your dark side, bringing awareness to it, relinquishing the
negativity inside of it, and channeling the positivity hidden deep inside your dark side
will be to your greater benefit toward the ultimate goal of all humankind, which is to
(20:54):
disidentify with our mind and our body, realizing we get the awareness behind the mind and that
our purpose in life is to serve others and seek moksha, liberation, or freedom from suffering,
regardless of your faith.
Thank you so much for listening.
(21:15):
If you'd like to hear more content, feel free to drop me a follow at Stoic Spirituality
on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, and see you guys next time.
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