Spiritual Endarkenment

[Chaz]

Can anyone share their input on the term Spiritual Endarkenment and its meaning? It was quite a while ago I first heard of the term, I believe I was reading about the role of the Divine Feminine and it said something about the Goddess being important to our Spiritual Endarkenment. I was rather confused by this, wasn’t really sure if it meant the opposite of Spiritual Enlightenment or not, but I didn’t give it much thought. Anyways, today I felt a lot of Love and devotion for Divine Mother and I remembered reading that. Just curious here so I thought I would run it by you wise souls and see what you have to share.

[cosmic]

What does that even mean?

@Chaz

it said something about the Goddess being important to our Spiritual Endarkenment.

This reminds me of one of the roles of the Divine Mother as being the one who puts the illusion (maya) over us but also gives liberation. In other words she clothes us in ignorance and ego so we can experience life as a human in the world.
Dunno if that’s what is meant tho. Hope you find answers or the peace of not having answers
Namaste

[Chaz]

I actually found a very insightful article into what the term possibly means, It’s actually very relevant to me at this point so I’d like to share.
Here’s a quote, the article can be found here http://odewire.com/48884/the-age-of...nment-2.html

Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung clearly spelled out the dangers of leaving the shadow behind in the pursuit of enlightenment. He was also the first to use the word “shadow” to refer to the disavowed parts of the personality. The Jungian shadow consists of the aspects of the self that we condemn, reject, deny, suppress and project onto others. We avoid looking at our own dark, unconscious side because it makes us ashamed. Our shame leads us to push it down into the crypts of the soul. Thus banished, it becomes our shadow.
Jung understood that just because these disavowed parts were unconscious didn’t mean they were harmless. Aside from the fact that it takes vast amounts of energy to keep the shadow under control, it’s precisely those things we suppress that increase in power. When we bring the shadow up to the conscious level, not only do we regain our lost energy, but our rejected parts become functional again. Instead of sabotaging us, these inner personalities and voices become our allies. Ultimately, we can learn to integrate the two aspects of the self—light and dark—and make them one.
In The Hero With a Thousand Faces and The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell talks about the spiritual journey each of us makes in his or her own way. That journey ends, he says, when we become “master of two worlds.” The hero needs to find a balance between the spiritual and the material. “Freedom to pass back and forth across the world division,” he writes, “from the perspective of the apparitions of time to that of the causal deep and back—not contaminating the principles of the one with those of the other, yet permitting the mind to know the one by virtue of the other—is the talent of the master. The Cosmic Dancer, declares Nietzsche, does not rest heavily in a single spot, but gaily, lightly, turns and leaps from one position to another.”
It takes more than a crash course in enlightenment to become master of two worlds. The trip upward is inextricably linked to a trip downward. We need a crash course in the dark side, too.

It makes a lot of sense to me, embracing all we are, light and shadow, and seeing the divinity in it all. I can say at least for myself denial and suppression are huge traps along the path. Like you said Cosmic, it is Divine Mother who traps us in the illusion and it is She who gives us freedom, so it’s all part of the One. Even the mundane is spiritual and Divine. I think that too often spirituality has a reputation of being something for the lofty, and that it be necessary to completely reject the material world and natural human flaws. I’m finding that it’s very important not to see spirituality as a form of escapism, though in the past I had the tendency to.
Spiritual Endarkenment is the flip side of the coin to Spiritual Enlightenment. Enlightenment is about transcendance, Endarkenment is about embrace. Reminds me of this quote, I can’t remember who said it but it was something like; “Enlightenment is not about freedom from being human, it’s about freedom to be fully human.” In theory both are the same whole. It’s a necessary balance, embracing all that God brings you, and yet not being attached to any of it. I feel this was Divine Mother telling me to unconditionally embrace All as Her and have full trust in Her. I’m grateful for the lesson.

[JosephUK]

hey,
this is an interesting post, the first thought that came to mind after reading is that “hell hath no wrath like the fury of a mother scorned”
in this sense if we don’t trust our inherently human side which as has been said must be embraced with all the transcendent love at our disposal then when we sit to do our spinal breathing the fire it creates will burn and the illusion of the ego will b energised to a great extent.
it seems that our bhakti could have a profound effect on how we experience our shadow and how it manifests.
Joe

[cosmic]

Hi Chaz,
Thanks for the clarification. I can relate to that a lot. In recent months I’ve been dealing with my shadow side. It is liberating to embrace things like anger and grief, and to be honest about the difficulties and pain you’re going through. Yoga definitely works, but there is a lot of baggage that comes with it, like beliefs that you must be peaceful and saintly and such. Those ideas aren’t inherent in Yoga but it’s easy for spiritual seekers to take them on. Embracing your humanity, and your dark side, are steps towards progress IMO.
Namaste
cosmic

[Bodhi_Tree (Cody)]

@cosmic

Embracing your humanity, and your dark side, are steps towards progress IMO.

Amen, cosmic.
Befriend and become acquainted with the shadow, and invite the shadow to participate in the pursuit of divinity, and I have found…the shadow will join the quest.