07 Ep#500 Acknowledging the Darkness

All of our spiritual and emotional issues stem from an unconscious unwillingness to acknowledge the darkness in ourselves. In order to resist conscious "seeing" and acknowledging and doing something about the ugly truths in ourselves, we project them onto others, we distract ourselves, and in doing so, we disown parts of ourselves and those parts begin their tyranny. When enough of us do this, our world becomes as disordered as we are inside.

It's through conflicts and suffering that enough emotion can break through, consciously, to alert us of what we are not seeing. Eden shows us that if we see and acknowledge it - whatever the darkness is - we can take it to the Holy Spirit to help us heal and order it properly. If Adam and Eve had done this, rather than allowing themselves to be distracted by what was easier and more attractive in the moment, they would have had the knowledge of good and evil without the suffering, because the evil was with them in the Garden the whole time; they just didn't notice or acknowledge it as such.

Matthew 18, the Beatitudes, and Old Testament Jacob as a case study, help us with proper healing and ordering: working through pop quizzes, "turning back" to acknowledge and rescue the inner child, setting good boundaries for ourselves and others, and forgiveness for all.