When One side is Illuminated, the Other is Dark

     The way most of us tend to perceive things, including ourselves & the world around us, prevents us from seeing things as they actually are. Naturally, this puts us at odds with those who have very different perspectives on pretty much everything. A proportion of us will gradually mature to gain a more balanced & thus changed way of perceiving and therefore way of being in what now appears as a brand new world.

     “… we must come to understand two distinct kinds of meaning. One is quantitative (external and seen); the other is qualitative (internal and sensed). Both meanings give our lives significance and substance if they are equally valued, integrated, & embodied…
     We are most familiar and comfortable with the quantitative – the outer meaning of life and our outer experiences: meaningful memories, important historical events, significant opportunities, or important turning points. We may return to school, retire, get divorced or remarried, have children and grandchildren, lose friends and family to illness or death, survive accidents or trauma, excel in a field, travel, or move to new location.
     The qualitative life experience is often more subtle, less familiar, more internal, and representative of our soul urges – those numinous, mystical, and transpersonal experiences that occur synchronistically in spontaneous unbidden ways. These subjective experiences often appear as inner stirrings or disturbances that provoke insight, dreams, precognitions, breakthroughs, and unexpected glimpses of the mysterious aspects of who we authentically are.
     Quantitative and qualitative life experiences converge in the second half of life to be meaningfully integrated. Our nature is then rewoven into a more expansive and textured fabric. Carl Jung tells us of the dangers of over-identifying with either the outer, quantitative or inner, qualitative world rather than integrating them:

     ‘Mastery of the inner world, with a relative contempt for the outer, must inevitably lead to great catastrophe. 
      Mastery of the outer world, to the exclusion of the inner, delivers us over to the demonic forces of the latter, and keeps us barbaric despite all outward forms of culture.’

     An extreme example of a delusionary ‘mastery of the inner world’ combined with ‘contempt for the outer’ was the mass suicide at Jonestown, in which hundreds of people followed their spiritual leader, Jim Jones, to their communal death. 
     Over-identification with outer-world mastery to the exclusion of inner is found in contemporary examples of corporate crime, where greedy, well-educated people are driven to misuse their talents in ruthless ways to get richer at the expense of their own ethics and integrity. 
     In contrast, when both worlds are accessed and attended to equally, in non-extreme ways, the human spirit exemplifies unimagined courage and commitment to alleviate human suffering, restore justice, and uplift the quality of life for many. The Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks etc are all examples of individuals committed to both internal and external development. The integration of the quantitative and qualitative enables them to touch lives for the better. 
     Without balance in our lives, we become lopsided or incomplete. We must be vigilant in maintaining balance and access to both the inner and outer worlds. We can no longer flirt with the blind faith or lack of discernment that closes the door to outer mastery, nor can we indulge in the chronic cynicism or hopelessness that cuts us off from inner mastery. In our later years, rather than choosing one world over the other, we need to become adept at living in both.”
       Angeles Arrien. “The Second Half of Life. Opening the Eight Gates of Wisdom.” Sounds True, 2007.

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