Shadows of random beliefs and identities…

• arrogance > inferiority, stupidity, not knowing (even in a relative sense)
• knowing > not knowing (in an absolute sense, seeing all stories as only having a relative truth, and a relative sense, knowing that our relative knowledge is always limited)
• skilled > unskilled
• human > not human (leaving out the rest of the seamless field of form, and also awakeness and emptiness)
• separate self > no separation, and also absence of a separate self
• good > bad, evil (seeing both out there, in the wider world, and also in here)
• in control > out of control, and also absence of control
• masculine > feminine (and the other way around)
• awake > asleep (in any sense of the words, for instance seeing how the field of awakeness and form - absent of a separate self - naturally arises as both)
• deserving > not deserving (canceling each other out, as all of the other polarities do)
• civilized > uncivilized and also noncivilized (independent of civilization)
• good taste > bad taste (canceling each other out)
• healthy > disease, unhealthy, and also nonhealthy (being that which is independent of health and disease)
• thing > no thing (void, emptiness)

All of these beliefs and identities split the field, creating a sense of a separate self here and Other out there. When the shadow is seen simultaneously with the belief and identity, we notice the inherent seamlessness of the field… in a relative sense, finding both out there and also in here, and in a more absolute sense the one field, inherently neutral, and always and already containing both.

For a while, it takes work to discover this, and it may sometimes feel like more of an intellectual exercise, seeing it more than it is deeply felt and sensed. Then, it may become more and more alive and immediate… alive in immediate awareness even without much prompting, at least most of the time. Still requiring a more thorough exploration of remaining areas.

Initially, it may all feel like a big drama. We cling onto beliefs and identities, and experience what is outside of these as scary and undesirable (even as demonic, sometimes.)

Then, as we become more familiar with this landscape, the gifts of what was left out becomes more clear. What appeared as undesirable and even demonic is now revealed as pure gold. And then, as we get even more familiar with it, the inherent neutrality in all of it becomes more and more visible.

The beliefs and their shadows cancel each other out, as identities and their shadows do, revealing the inherent neutrality of all of it… the beliefs, identities, shadows, effects, and the ground it all arises within and as.