Glad you clicked, friend, opening today’s newsletter—let’s dive into something many of us find uncomfortable.

When we desire heroes and search desperately for ultimate solutions to combat evil, it is time for a bit of self-reflection. We are divided more than ever by media, politics and by our own weaknesses. Trying to find our camp, we often put ourselves in dangerous positions. Ignorance and misjudgment can ruin us there.

In our times, when the illusion of perfection is on display everywhere, when the pursuit of “heaven on earth” seems to be the goal for every “pure”, “kind” and “selfless” soul, we end up denying a part of us that might be stronger than we ever imagined. With this self-created image of purity in mind, we strive to eliminate the bad, the wicked, and the evil around us, while ignoring and losing consciousness of the evil within us.

You see, friend, if only people were either good or evil, the line could be easily drawn. If only things were that easy. But the line separating good and evil cuts deep through the heart and soul of everyone, including yours. Denying this reality and ignoring the evil within you will only bring this darkness into your life. It will arrive as fate or destiny. It will create havoc in your world.

Keep in mind that if you are someone with substance, you will always cast a shadow. This is what makes you human, and as much as you would like to deny it, you are not perfect. No one is. Perhaps, in these uncertain times, your humanity lies in what you do not accept about yourself. Dare to look behind the curtains of your conscience. See who you fully are.

Hidden negative emotions and behaviours, such as rage, shame, greed, envy, lie concealed just beneath the thin surface of the self that you portray in your day-to-day life. This unexplored and uncontrolled part of you remains untamed, bursting into your reality every now and then, leaving you and the ones around you speechless.

Since you wish to be identified with ideal qualities reinforced also by your environment, in these uncontrolled moments, you excuse your behaviour by saying “I was not myself. I don’t know what got over me”, pushing this foul part of you even deeper, out of your field of vision and into the darkness until it becomes “forgotten”.

But “forgotten” doesn’t mean inexistent, friend. With time, this will be reflected in your reality more and more. The distasteful traits and actions of other people that trigger intense reactions from your side – like laziness, stupidity, envy, or rage – will represent your effort of attributing these qualities to others just to prevent yourself from seeing them in you.

Your darkness contains undeveloped, unexpressed and wild potentials and characteristics that you do not wish to acknowledge. The more you refuse to look into the dark, the more you will discover that the darkness comes looking for you. This will happen in uncomfortable confrontations with others, in dysfunctional “love” relationships or destructive addictions.

In these moments, friend, when you act, blinded by your own demons, possessed by shame and anger, frightened and shocked by your self-image, you will have two choices. You can reject this reality. You can deny your experience by forcing yourself to ignore. This ignorance of the hateful fantasy, the murderous thought, or the embarrassing envy will lead you to depression. You will remain paralysed by the fear of confronting your dark side. You will mask your feelings of despair with distractions and drugs. Working late hours and searching for excitement will become your routine. Anything that will remove you from facing your demons.

The second choice, the hard choice, friend, is to descend into the underworld of your soul and face the dark elements that consume you. The raw elements that you pushed away need your attention. Admit that the evil that you despise in the world around you, the wicked traits that disgust you in others, are also present in you.

To protect yourself from evil means to first realise that evil will always be part of you. As unpleasant as this might sound initially, evil will remain with you forever. It is your duty to develop a relationship with the darkness within you in the right way so that its dangers never erupt into your life unexpectedly.

Welcome this, friend, as a chance that leads you back to your buried potentials. Dare to achieve a more genuine acceptance of yourself. Learn to defuse the negative emotions that erupt involuntarily in your life. Feel free of guilt and shame when it comes to your negative actions. Face the demons within you and know yourself completely. Never be afraid of those disruptive elements of excess that you don’t want to be known.

Remember that only the one who knows his own capacity for greed, rage, gluttony, and other excessive actions, the one who has understood and accepted his own potential for improper excess, can choose to balance and refine himself.

Either by choice or by fate, you will have the chance to face your darkness. When this time comes, will you be able to face the monsters and demons within you? Will you be able to handle them? Or will you succumb to their domination and control?

Have the guts to take the first step into the darkness of your being. Tame your monsters so that the evils inside you serve you and your purpose and not the other way around.

I dare you to redeem your full self and reclaim the treasures that come from taming the beasts within you!

Welcome to the dark side!

Pause the next time you feel a strong negative reaction toward someone else. Whether it’s irritation at their laziness, anger at their arrogance, or disgust at their selfishness – pause. Quietly reflect and ask yourself:

Am I also acting lazy, arrogant or selfish? When? How?

Be brutally honest without trying to justify or explain anything. Just notice it.

Pull the projection back to you. This does not mean that the person in front of you is not lazy, arrogant or selfish. But your strong emotional reaction to all of these might give you some clues about yourself.

Moments like these can help you begin the process of taming what you have been pushing under the rug for a long time.

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