The process of coming to know oneself is to approve of every unique quality of self, whether it comes from the world of shadow or darkness or the one of beauty and light, with equal and simultaneous approval.
Through this long, steady work of relating with these qualities, three aspects of deeper self emerge.
- In meeting these unique qualities with unequivocal approval, they are converted to a beauty so rich and deep that everything we look upon is imbued with them.
- Almost as a byproduct of this process, a deep level of sympathetic compassion for all beings develops. For when we do the work of coming to love the unlovable in ourselves, we find we love the unlovable in all. In our capacity to deepen love in this way, it begins to grow and evolve into what it was always meant to be.
- We become firmly planted on a foundational rightness of being. A solid and unmovable ground that knows beyond any public opinion, beyond any threat, beyond any ostracism or casting out, that regardless of what happens externally, there is solace in the truth of being that can withstand any external force.
It is an incorruptible quality of self that confers meaning, and offers a sense of refuge in a world of shifting ideas and beliefs to those who are easily moved about by public opinion.
Our work is never (unless by choice and delight) to follow any set of rules, ideas, or dogma, but rather to firmly adhere to, defend the honor of, and integrate every aspect of ourselves imaginable.