4. Adulteration: The Loss of Inner Sense and The Shadow | Kissing Consciousness Conscious Living Movement

Page Screens of Module Four.

In the first Module we began the exercise of identifying and defining all of the areas and dimensions of ourselves that we have, and in this fourth Module we largely finish that particular process, but not so much by defining what we are or where we’re going, but by looking at where we started and where we’ve been; what has caused us to be where and how we are at this stage in our lives, both as an individual, and even within the human race and history. How did self-sense fear take hold? What is it that caused us to forget our Authentic Self, or stopped us living entirely as our best, fearless, loving selves, knowing exactly what we want and how we want to be?

This investigation really allows us to consciously make sense of everything, perhaps for the first time, and to put it all into some kind of overall context, and this Module will expand and explain all of this as we address the notion of adulteration, and introduce the hugely important concept of The Shadow.

“From the moment we were born, each of us has had this effect of human Fear chipping away at our psyche; from the media, the cultural expectations of our societies, the subtle Fears and wounds of our friends and families, teachers, and so on. There was (ultimately) no bad intent behind this cultural conditioning, it was just the way it was – simply the best each person, each society, was doing, and was capable of doing. In some instances this influence may have been pretty dire – but even then it was always a derivative of Fear passed on from previous generations – somewhere along the line. But nonetheless these effects have been real. And are real.” – James Blacker, taken from Wisdom The Course

Adulteration is about conditioning, often much of it negative, unhealthy and undesirable. Our natural, genuine, fully confident and often passionate self that we start with can get inhibited, discouraged, forgotten and buried, and this will almost certainly leave us feeling somewhat unfulfilled. This conditioning or adulteration creates The False Self, to greater or lesser degrees from person to person, but when we can recognise this phenomenon because we know what we are looking for, we can use the signs of dissatisfaction and lack of fulfillment to inform us that we may wish to reclaim a part of ourselves. We may wish to regain something about ourselves within our personality that we have previously denied. This may be easier said than done, but at least we start with an understanding or idea of what’s going on – or what may be going on. The Shadow ‘bag’ or ‘baggage’ is that part of us where we keep those dissociated parts; in our subconscious mind, but still affecting us nonetheless, both physically and mentally.

Investigations into the nature of The Shadow can lead us to see things in a quite remarkably unexpected new way, as we realise that often we may not actually be entirely living our own lives, particularly in certain moments or circumstances. Of course, physically it is us, but is the original consciousness or motivation ours? Are we even consciously aware of our true selves, entirely? Beginning to understand the existence and effects of The Shadow opens up a whole new way of seeing things, particularly oneself. New – or rather lost worlds – open up again.

“…if we are interacting with someone and we are influenced by Shadow, we may effectively not be talking with them at all, but with the representation of what they trigger in us. We are physically speaking to the person in front of us, but we are not really seeing or speaking to them, we are interacting with the effects and representations of our Shadow beliefs – and using this third person as a ‘dummy’ to do so. Not that they’ll thank us for it.

So the Consciousness is distorted; adulterated with deep seated judgmentalism. Way back when, there was originally some form of Judgement, or Judgmentalism, which is still now having it’s effects on the current moment’s thinking.” – James Blacker, taken from Wisdom The Course

The Main Subject Headings of Module Four…

The following are the main subject headings of Module Four: Adulteration: The Loss of Inner Sense and The Shadow.

How it All Began…
The Adulteration of The Child
The Model of Appeasement – False Self
The Model of Self
The Shadow
Individuation
Shadow as an Inhibitor to Love Consciousness
The Loss of Inner Sense
Loneliness and Aloneness

Written and Observational Exercises
Test Yourself Questions

Smaller, subject sub-headings in this Module include; The Effects of Adulteration, From Adulterated Adult to Healed Grown Up, Childlike as distinct from Childish, Fear of Success, Freedom to Give, The benchmark of inner security…, What is The Shadow?, Turn the tap off!, The search for meaning and fulfillment, and Connection.