In this episode I talk about The Shadow Self, and how it relates to Tantra and our samskaras.
Tantra is essentially about embracing every aspect of what it means to be human. The Tantric path gives us a means of utilising the body, the feelings, the mind, and all of the subtle energies in order to awaken a deeper, more expansive awareness within us.
I was originally drawn to Tantra because it offers us the possibility of bringing together spirituality and sexuality, something which I had always intuitively felt was meant to be. However, I have come to realise that so much more is involved on this path.
Tantra calls upon us to fully integrate all the parts of ourselves… not only your sexual desires and urges, but also your wounds and your conditioning from the past… even those parts which we have repressed or hidden away, and which we are appalled by, disgusted by, or afraid of.
Many traditional spiritual paths teach that you should disconnect from your negative parts, that you should reject them, disown them, and try to rise above and transcend all impure things within us.
But Tantra understands that we cannot escape from the dark side of our nature. We cannot run away from the things we don’t like about ourselves. They are deeply embedded in our psyche, and have been with us all our life. Trying to pretend they aren’t there is like trying to run away from the shadow that is cast on the ground by the bright sun. That’s why it’s called the Shadow, because it is inseperable from you.
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Sources
Firestone, L. (2013, November 20th). 8 Reasons You Might Still Be Single. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/compassion-matters/201311/8-reasons-you-might-still-be-single
Jung, C. G. (1959). The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. (The collected works of C.G. Jung, Volume 9, part 1) Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Wallis, C. (2015, October 5th). Embodied Liberation: the goal of Tantrik Yoga. Hareesh.org. https://hareesh.org/blog/2017/5/13/embodied-liberation-the-goal-of-tantrik-yoga?rq=Kshemar%C4%81ja
Wallis, C. (2015, October 5th). The Power of Subtle Impressions (Samskaara Theory). Hareesh.org. https://hareesh.org/blog/2015/9/21/impressions-of-past-lives.
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