Hello traveler! Hello friend!
From the looks of your weathered state you have come a long distance to be with us, here, in the place where a new life awaits you. So come, sit, take off your muddy boots and your rain-sodden cloak. Breathe in deeply and open yourself to the comforts of warmth and happiness.
I know that you have no come here to this place, to us, without good reason. I know that you are not just some wearied traveler seeking refuge from the storm.
And what a storm it is that has come on your heels!
The wind screams and shakes the very foundation of our home! The rain comes in sheets and pounds the ground with fury!
Lightning strikes and illuminates the clouded sky! Thunder growls and claps and tears across the mountainside!
And within that all, you, my dear friend, have come to seek us out. For, although that storm lives and wreaks havoc upon us all, it is also a reflection of your inner self.
Yes. I can see it as plain as a summer’s day.
I can see that you have already sought guidance from the others. And rightfully so as many have done before you and come up equally short and left confused, alone, and still seeking.
You first went to the lighter side. The arbiters of peace, compassion and love. You wanted to be a savior of man, a paladin of justice, a righter of wrongs and a commander of truth. But you soon found that many rules and codes and binding elements went along with these warriors of the light. They are followers of a rigid framework that provides little flexibility and room for error. You learned that such eternal bindings would not hold you and the turmoil that could only be humbled with the light would haunt you always, just under the veil, the façade of compassion. You felt that some should not wait for something to occur and then react. Sometimes it was necessary to take action.
So, you fled and ran and sought out the binary opposites, the keepers of the dark. The wolves, the hunters, the seekers of power and control.
And it was they who found you in such a weakened state. Disillusioned by the light and the storm within beginning to take its toll upon you. And they took you in and held you close and told you that you could become an alpha leader, a warrior of the pack, a predator. If you wanted something than all you had to do was take it, whether by force or some other means. You were in control and you had the power and you must yearn to seek more and more until they all bowed to you.
Yet it was all too much for you. This was not the road you sought. You did not seek all this power, you did not feel the urge for such control, and the storm within you would only intensify with rage and hatred as you stepped on heads to climb to the top. You saw many benefits of the darker side but, ultimately, the cost was far too great and you knew that you would be torn apart by their ways. For strength is not defined by how many call you master.
So, once more, you fled. You did not run, you were beginning to temper your inner storm but you could not do it alone. The world is not this black and while, you felt. You knew.
There is more!
There is so much more. And you were right, my friend.
Before we go on there is something you must know.
Both of those factions are much more than what you had initially experienced. But your fears would remain regardless of what they could say to you because, as we have clearly established, you are searching for something more.
Something beyond the scope of such binary oppositions. You want to believe, believe with all your heart, that there is either this, or that, or both, or neither, all, or none. And then look beyond such divisions and perpetuate in a world without lines or boundaries.
It is time to see the world through a clear lens.
Let us take a moment to relax and settle ourselves, my friend.
Have some hot tea and relieve yourself of the burdens you have been carrying on your weary shoulders. You don’t have to carry them anymore.
Close your eyes.
I will not be telling you to empty your mind for it would help you none at this point and, to be quite realistic, it is very difficult to accomplish.
It is like me asking you to not think about tigers. What do you think would happen? Tigers would fill your thoughts to no end!
No, I want you to accept any and all thoughts that come to pass. Regard the happy memories with a fondness and do not dwell on the sad.
Let them all approach you as they may and let them flow on as you continue to breathe in and out.
In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.
Now, how do you feel?
Better? Good.
Then take leave and rest, my friend. For tomorrow I will tell you about us, about the Shadow.