Shadow work

~Darkness and Bliss~ Today I woke up in a pure state of bliss. I had meditated on death and mortality right before going to bed – a practice that usually leads my mind towards an enhanced appreciation for life and existence itself, and oftentimes it is followed by a deep feeling of joy and peace. It’s a state in which I just can’t help but feel such a deep gratitude for being alive, for being conscious and aware in this very moment. It’s a feeling that transcends space and time, while still being present in the here and now. In this state, I seem to be completely incapable of experiencing suffering, no matter what’s going on around me, or how much pain my body is in. I just feel this sense of wonder and all this overflowing emotions of gratitude, joy, bliss, peace… oneness with existence itself, a dissolution of the boundaries of where „I“ end and everything else begins. Looking back on similar experiences, I can’t help but notice that without exception, those states always seem to occur after daring myself to dive deep into darkness, pain, death and everything else one usually tries to avoid. This kind of experiences don’t come from imagining figures of love and light, but from facing the darkness within me, within existence itself. It comes from accepting pain and death, from not shying away from fear, horror and suffering, but embracing all of it.