This is a special photograph in my collection, because of the ring shadow the curved branch above the bird casts around the neck of this small Barbet bird. I almost missed the cause of this ring shadow till I wondered what it might be. It was an early morning photo when the sun was rising!
Yes, shadows come upon us from all around us. A shadow metaphorically in depth psychology represents a lesser truth than the original. Those who work in interpreting dreams usually help us to identify the meaning of some dreams we encounter, where a distortion of facts or reality might be the nidus of the details around a dream. Truth can exist within us in diffusion without its full clarity or preciseness.
It is the bright sun that casts the shadow because the branch comes in between the Barbet and the sun. A shadow obliterates the whole truth. A shadow is opaque.
Some of us live under shadow which might be created by the opaqueness in our thought, act and pursuit. Only when thoughts, acts or pursuits are transparent they no longer cast a shadow upon our lives.
The unfortunate part of a shadow is that it co-exists with truth and transparency. Each of us carries larger or smaller shadows created by lack of transparency, honesty and integrity.
The human tendency is to hide shadows even after we we consciously recognise that it is not right to do so. When we prepare to move towards owning and confessing our shadows, the voice within might caution us about the loss of 'image' we might suffer publicly.
I remember early in my professional career, I prescribed a medicine beyond the pharmacological dose to a child and the child returned to the hospital after two days in a drowsy state. I recognised my error in prescription and was heavy of heart. My colleagues advised me to hush it up. which is what I did till the child was better and went home. I felt disturbed by it and went to confess about to the professor under whom I was working. He was magnanimous and ordered tea and snacks to appreciate my willingness to confess. He advised me that it is a good practice to write the dose in milligrams and its equivalent measure in milliliters to be safe while prescribing, which I follow even now. The professor mentioned to me, 'it is good to keep your conscience free of shadows of guilt, which can disturb your peace'!
The danger is that we have to cover the shadows within, lest the opaqueness responsible for the shadow is found out by others. We then end up living in fear and apprehension.
A little later the bird appeared directly under the sun! No shadow existed over its body. That was when I was moved to see the other dimension of shadow. Live in light and your are lit by the light.
To live publicly in openness is a virtue, which upholds the human heritage as those created in the image of God. God revealed Himself to humankind in multiple ways and He also revealed Himself in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. The invitation of Jesus of Nazareth to those who came seeking after Him was, 'come and see'!
It is when we live in the light we truly can make disclosure of our lives to others, with the truth and shadows we carry within us.
This is the calling for a pilgrim- seek after God of truth, while God awaits to receive us like how the father in the parable of the prodigal son waited!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
Photoblog: childdevelopmentashirvad.blogspot.com
