# Owning Your Own Shadow
Author:: Robert A. Johnson
## Highlights
> We all are born whole and, let us hope, will die whole. But somewhere early on our way, we eat one of the wonderful fruits of the tree of knowledge, things separate into good and evil, and we begin the shadow-making process; we divide our lives. In the cultural process we sort out our God-given characteristics into those that are acceptable to our society and those that have to be put away. This is wonderful and necessary, and there would be no civilized behavior without this sorting out of good and evil. But the refused and unacceptable characteristics do not go away; they only collect in the dark corners of our personality. When they have been hidden long enough, they take on a life of their own—the shadow life. The shadow is that which has not entered adequately into consciousness. It is the despised quarter of our being. It often has an energy potential nearly as great as that of our ego. If it accumulates more energy than our ego, it erupts as an overpowering rage or some indiscretion that slips past us; or we have a depression or an accident that seems to have its own purpose. The shadow gone autonomous is a terrible monster in our psychic house. ([Location 45](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=45))
> The civilizing process, which is the brightest achievement of humankind, consists of culling out those characteristics that are dangerous to the smooth functioning of our ideals. Anyone who does not go through this process remains a “primitive” and can have no place in a cultivated society. ([Location 53](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=53))
> One can make a forceful argument that children should not be subjected to this division too soon or they will be robbed of childhood; they should be allowed to remain in the Garden of Eden until they are strong enough to stand the cultural process without being broken by it. This strength comes at different ages for different individuals and it requires a keen eye to know when children are ready to adapt to the collective life of a society. ([Location 58](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=58))
> Curiously, people resist the noble aspects of their shadow more strenuously than they hide the dark sides. To draw the skeletons out of the closet is relatively easy, but to own the gold in the shadow is terrifying. ([Location 74](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=74))
> The religious process consists of restoring the wholeness of the personality. The word religion means to re-relate, to put back together again, to heal the wounds of separation. It is absolutely necessary to engage in the cultural process to redeem ourselves from our animal state; it is equally necessary to accomplish the spiritual task of putting our fractured, alienated world back together again. ([Location 84](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=84))
> Thus it is clear that we must make a shadow, or there would be no culture; then we must restore the wholeness of the personality that was lost in the cultural ideals, or we will live in a state of dividedness that grows more and more painful throughout our evolution. Generally, the first half of life is devoted to the cultural process—gaining one’s skills, raising a family, disciplining one’s self in a hundred different ways; the second half of life is devoted to restoring the wholeness (making holy) of life. ([Location 87](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=87))
> the seesaw must be balanced if one is to remain in equilibrium. If one indulges characteristics on the right side, they must be balanced by an equal weight on the left side. The reverse is equally true. If this law is broken, then the seesaw flips and we lose our balance. ([Location 100](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=100))
> The seesaw may also break at the fulcrum point if it is too heavily loaded. This is a psychosis or breakdown. ([Location 104](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=104))
> Whenever we pluck the fruit of creativity from the golden tree our other hand plucks the fruit of destruction. Our resistance to this insight is very high! We would love to have creativity without destruction, but that is not possible. ([Location 112](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=112))
> The more refined our conscious personality, the more shadow we have built up on the other side. ([Location 146](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=146))
> This is one of Jung’s greatest insights: that the ego and the shadow come from the same source and exactly balance each other. To make light is to make shadow; one cannot exist without the other. ([Location 146](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=146))
> If we act from the extreme right, we will knowingly or unknowingly have to balance this with some act from the left side. We do not even have to turn our head around to know that we have created an equally dark content. This is why so many artists are often so difficult in their private lives. ([Location 154](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=154))
> While those with the largest talent seems to suffer most, we all must be aware of how we use our creativity—and of the dark side that accompanies our gifts. To make a work of art, to say something kind, to help others, to beautify the house, to protect the family—all these acts will have an equal weight on the opposite side of the scale and can lead us into sin. ([Location 161](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=161))
> The unconscious cannot tell the difference between a “real” act and a symbolic one. This means that we can aspire to beauty and goodness—and pay out that darkness in a symbolic way. ([Location 183](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=183))
> Does this mean that I have to be as destructive as I am creative, as dark as I am light? Yes, but I have some control over how or where I will pay the dark price. ([Location 195](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=195))
> Dr. Jung has pointed out that it requires a sophisticated and disciplined society to fight a war as long and complicated as World Wars I and II. He said that primitive people would have tired of their war in a few weeks and gone home. ([Location 254](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=254))
> Unless we do conscious work on it, the shadow is almost always projected; that is, it is neatly laid on someone or something else so we do not have to take responsibility for it. ([Location 261](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=261))
> Two things go wrong if we project our shadow: First, we do damage to another by burdening him with our darkness—or light, for it is as heavy a burden to make someone play hero for us. Second, we sterilize ourselves by casting off our shadow. We then lose a chance to change and miss the fulcrum point, the ecstatic dimension of our own lives. ([Location 386](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=386))
> In middle age one gets tired of the involuntary round trips between the two ends of the see-saw. It slowly dawns on us, if we are alert, that the middle ground is the best. To our surprise, that middle ground is not the gray compromise that we feared but the place of ecstasy and joy. ([Location 397](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=397))
> The early part of adulthood is devoted almost entirely to discipline. One prepares for a profession, learns the social graces, cultivates a marriage, and improves one’s earning capacity—and all of these activities invariably create a large shadow. ([Location 406](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=406))
> In this ritual you must find one of the left-hand contents of your personality and give it expression in some way that satisfies it but does not do damage to anything in the right-hand personality. You can draw it, sculpt it, write a vivid story about it, dance it, burn something, or bury it—anything that gives expression to that material without doing damage. ([Location 431](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=431))
### 2 Romantic Love as Shadow
> It comes as a great surprise to discover that the most powerful and valuable projection one ever makes is in falling in love. This too is a shadow projection and probably the most profound religious experience one is ever likely to have. Please remember that the shadow, in Jung’s early usage, was anything that lay in the unconscious part of one’s personality. Also remember that this discussion is about falling in love, not the act of loving. To fall in love is to project the most noble and infinitely valuable part of one’s being onto another human being, though sometimes under rare circumstances it may be projected onto something other than a human. ([Location 478](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=478))
> Romantic love, or falling in love, is different from loving, which is always a quieter and more humanly proportioned experience. There is always something overblown and bigger-than-life about falling in love. ([Location 488](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=488))
> Though no one notices at the time, in-loveness obliterates the humanity of the beloved. One does a curious kind of insult to another by falling in love with him, for we are really looking at our own projection of God, not at the other person. ([Location 496](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=496))
> I recently heard about a couple who had the good sense to call upon the shadow in a prewedding ceremony. The night before their marriage, they held a ritual where they made their “shadow vows.” The groom said, “I will give you an identity and make the world see you as an extension of myself.” The bride replied, “I will be compliant and sweet, but underneath I will have the real control. If anything goes wrong, I will take your money and your house.” They then drank champagne and laughed heartily at their foibles, knowing that in the course of the marriage, these shadow figures would inevitably come out. They were ahead of the game because they had recognized the shadow and unmasked it. ([Location 507](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=507))
> At some point—usually in midlife—the tension becomes too great and these two opposing points of view demand a new and different treatment. We can no longer allow ourselves to be torn between the two. The pressure becomes so great that something has to give. ([Location 606](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=606))
> To transfer our energy from opposition to paradox is a very large leap in evolution. To engage in opposition is to be ground to bits by the insolubility of life’s problems and events. Most people spend their life energy supporting this warfare within themselves. ([Location 682](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=682))
> To transform opposition into paradox is to allow both sides of an issue, both pairs of opposites, to exist in equal dignity and worth. Example: I should be working at my project this morning but I don’t feel like it and want to do something else. These two opposing wishes will cancel each other if I let them remain in opposition. But if I sit with them awhile they will fashion a solution that is agreeable to both; or even better, a situation that is superior to either one. Sometimes a compromise may present itself that is better than opposition but is still not a good solution. I may take the dog for a walk and then settle down to some work, trying to accommodate both my need for industry and my need for play. But this is not true paradox. If I can stay with my conflicting impulses long enough, the two opposing forces will teach each other something and produce an insight that serves them both. This is not compromise but a depth of understanding that puts my life in perspective and allows me to know with certainty what I should do. That certainty is one of the most precious qualities known to humankind. ([Location 686](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=686))
> To consent to paradox is to consent to suffering that which is greater than the ego. The religious experience lies exactly at that point of insolubility where we feel we can proceed no further. This is an invitation to that which is greater than one’s self. ([Location 761](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=761))
### 3 The Mandorla
> A mandala is a holy circle or bounded place that is a representation of wholeness. We often find this image in the Tibetan tanka, a picture, generally of the Buddha with his many attributes, that hangs on the wall of a prayer room or temple as a reminder of the wholeness of life. Mandalas are devices that remind us of our unity with God and with all living things. ([Location 771](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=771))
> The mandorla also has a healing effect, but its form is somewhat different. A mandorla is that almond-shaped segment that is made when two circles partly overlap. It is not by chance that mandorla is also the Italian word for almond. This symbol signifies nothing less than the overlap of the opposites that we have been investigating. Generally, the mandorla is described as the overlap of heaven and earth. There is not one of us who is not torn by the competing demands of heaven and earth; the mandorla instructs us how to engage in reconciliation. ([Location 778](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=778))
> The mandorla begins the healing of the split. The overlap generally is very tiny at first, only a sliver of a new moon; but it is a beginning. As time passes, the greater the overlap, the greater and more complete is the healing. The mandorla binds together that which was torn apart and made unwhole—unholy. It is the most profound religious experience we can have in life. ([Location 798](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=798))
#### Language as Mandorla
> All language is a mandorla; a well-structured sentence is of this nature. That is probably why we like to talk so much; good talk restores unity to a fragmented world. ([Location 802](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=802))
> Our principal verb to be is the great unifier. A sentence with the verb to be is a statement of identity and heals the split between two elements. ([Location 804](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=804))
> Languages rich in verbs are more powerful than those relying mostly on nouns. Chinese and Hebrew are the former. Human speech is more effective if it relies mainly on verbs. If you build mainly on nouns it will be weak; if you rely on adjectives and adverbs you have lost your way. The verb is holy ground, the place of the mandorla. ([Location 813](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=813))
> It is not that the light element alone does the healing; the place where light and dark begin to touch is where miracles arise. This middle place is a mandorla.* ([Location 868](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=868))
> Guilt creates nothing; conscious work constructs a mandorla and is healing. The mandorla has no place for remorse. It asks conscious work of us, not self-indulgence. Guilt is also a cheap substitute for paradox. The energy consumed by guilt would be far better invested in the courageous act of looking at two sets of truths that have collided in our personality. Guilt is also arrogant because it means we have taken sides in an issue and are sure that we are right. While this one-sidedness may be part of the cultural process, it is severely detrimental to the religious life. To lose the power of confrontation is to lose one’s chance at unity—and to miss the healing power of the mandorla. ([Location 887](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=887))
> Every glance between a man and a woman is also a mandorla, a place where the great opposites of masculinity and femininity meet and honor one another. The mandorla is the divine container in which a new creation begins to form and germinate. ([Location 904](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=904))
---
Title: Owning Your Own Shadow
Author: Robert A. Johnson
Tags: readwise, books
date: 2024-01-30
---
# Owning Your Own Shadow
Author:: Robert A. Johnson
## AI-Generated Summary
None
## Highlights
> We all are born whole and, let us hope, will die whole. But somewhere early on our way, we eat one of the wonderful fruits of the tree of knowledge, things separate into good and evil, and we begin the shadow-making process; we divide our lives. In the cultural process we sort out our God-given characteristics into those that are acceptable to our society and those that have to be put away. This is wonderful and necessary, and there would be no civilized behavior without this sorting out of good and evil. But the refused and unacceptable characteristics do not go away; they only collect in the dark corners of our personality. When they have been hidden long enough, they take on a life of their own—the shadow life. The shadow is that which has not entered adequately into consciousness. It is the despised quarter of our being. It often has an energy potential nearly as great as that of our ego. If it accumulates more energy than our ego, it erupts as an overpowering rage or some indiscretion that slips past us; or we have a depression or an accident that seems to have its own purpose. The shadow gone autonomous is a terrible monster in our psychic house. ([Location 45](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=45))
> The civilizing process, which is the brightest achievement of humankind, consists of culling out those characteristics that are dangerous to the smooth functioning of our ideals. Anyone who does not go through this process remains a “primitive” and can have no place in a cultivated society. ([Location 53](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=53))
> One can make a forceful argument that children should not be subjected to this division too soon or they will be robbed of childhood; they should be allowed to remain in the Garden of Eden until they are strong enough to stand the cultural process without being broken by it. This strength comes at different ages for different individuals and it requires a keen eye to know when children are ready to adapt to the collective life of a society. ([Location 58](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=58))
> Curiously, people resist the noble aspects of their shadow more strenuously than they hide the dark sides. To draw the skeletons out of the closet is relatively easy, but to own the gold in the shadow is terrifying. ([Location 74](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=74))
> The religious process consists of restoring the wholeness of the personality. The word religion means to re-relate, to put back together again, to heal the wounds of separation. It is absolutely necessary to engage in the cultural process to redeem ourselves from our animal state; it is equally necessary to accomplish the spiritual task of putting our fractured, alienated world back together again. ([Location 84](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=84))
> Thus it is clear that we must make a shadow, or there would be no culture; then we must restore the wholeness of the personality that was lost in the cultural ideals, or we will live in a state of dividedness that grows more and more painful throughout our evolution. Generally, the first half of life is devoted to the cultural process—gaining one’s skills, raising a family, disciplining one’s self in a hundred different ways; the second half of life is devoted to restoring the wholeness (making holy) of life. ([Location 87](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=87))
> the seesaw must be balanced if one is to remain in equilibrium. If one indulges characteristics on the right side, they must be balanced by an equal weight on the left side. The reverse is equally true. If this law is broken, then the seesaw flips and we lose our balance. ([Location 100](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=100))
> The seesaw may also break at the fulcrum point if it is too heavily loaded. This is a psychosis or breakdown. ([Location 104](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=104))
> Whenever we pluck the fruit of creativity from the golden tree our other hand plucks the fruit of destruction. Our resistance to this insight is very high! We would love to have creativity without destruction, but that is not possible. ([Location 112](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=112))
> The more refined our conscious personality, the more shadow we have built up on the other side. ([Location 146](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=146))
> This is one of Jung’s greatest insights: that the ego and the shadow come from the same source and exactly balance each other. To make light is to make shadow; one cannot exist without the other. ([Location 146](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=146))
> If we act from the extreme right, we will knowingly or unknowingly have to balance this with some act from the left side. We do not even have to turn our head around to know that we have created an equally dark content. This is why so many artists are often so difficult in their private lives. ([Location 154](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=154))
> While those with the largest talent seems to suffer most, we all must be aware of how we use our creativity—and of the dark side that accompanies our gifts. To make a work of art, to say something kind, to help others, to beautify the house, to protect the family—all these acts will have an equal weight on the opposite side of the scale and can lead us into sin. ([Location 161](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=161))
> The unconscious cannot tell the difference between a “real” act and a symbolic one. This means that we can aspire to beauty and goodness—and pay out that darkness in a symbolic way. ([Location 183](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=183))
> Does this mean that I have to be as destructive as I am creative, as dark as I am light? Yes, but I have some control over how or where I will pay the dark price. ([Location 195](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=195))
> Dr. Jung has pointed out that it requires a sophisticated and disciplined society to fight a war as long and complicated as World Wars I and II. He said that primitive people would have tired of their war in a few weeks and gone home. ([Location 254](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=254))
> Unless we do conscious work on it, the shadow is almost always projected; that is, it is neatly laid on someone or something else so we do not have to take responsibility for it. ([Location 261](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=261))
> Two things go wrong if we project our shadow: First, we do damage to another by burdening him with our darkness—or light, for it is as heavy a burden to make someone play hero for us. Second, we sterilize ourselves by casting off our shadow. We then lose a chance to change and miss the fulcrum point, the ecstatic dimension of our own lives. ([Location 386](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=386))
> In middle age one gets tired of the involuntary round trips between the two ends of the see-saw. It slowly dawns on us, if we are alert, that the middle ground is the best. To our surprise, that middle ground is not the gray compromise that we feared but the place of ecstasy and joy. ([Location 397](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=397))
> The early part of adulthood is devoted almost entirely to discipline. One prepares for a profession, learns the social graces, cultivates a marriage, and improves one’s earning capacity—and all of these activities invariably create a large shadow. ([Location 406](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=406))
> In this ritual you must find one of the left-hand contents of your personality and give it expression in some way that satisfies it but does not do damage to anything in the right-hand personality. You can draw it, sculpt it, write a vivid story about it, dance it, burn something, or bury it—anything that gives expression to that material without doing damage. ([Location 431](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=431))
### 2 Romantic Love as Shadow
> It comes as a great surprise to discover that the most powerful and valuable projection one ever makes is in falling in love. This too is a shadow projection and probably the most profound religious experience one is ever likely to have. Please remember that the shadow, in Jung’s early usage, was anything that lay in the unconscious part of one’s personality. Also remember that this discussion is about falling in love, not the act of loving. To fall in love is to project the most noble and infinitely valuable part of one’s being onto another human being, though sometimes under rare circumstances it may be projected onto something other than a human. ([Location 478](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=478))
> Romantic love, or falling in love, is different from loving, which is always a quieter and more humanly proportioned experience. There is always something overblown and bigger-than-life about falling in love. ([Location 488](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=488))
> Though no one notices at the time, in-loveness obliterates the humanity of the beloved. One does a curious kind of insult to another by falling in love with him, for we are really looking at our own projection of God, not at the other person. ([Location 496](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=496))
> I recently heard about a couple who had the good sense to call upon the shadow in a prewedding ceremony. The night before their marriage, they held a ritual where they made their “shadow vows.” The groom said, “I will give you an identity and make the world see you as an extension of myself.” The bride replied, “I will be compliant and sweet, but underneath I will have the real control. If anything goes wrong, I will take your money and your house.” They then drank champagne and laughed heartily at their foibles, knowing that in the course of the marriage, these shadow figures would inevitably come out. They were ahead of the game because they had recognized the shadow and unmasked it. ([Location 507](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=507))
> At some point—usually in midlife—the tension becomes too great and these two opposing points of view demand a new and different treatment. We can no longer allow ourselves to be torn between the two. The pressure becomes so great that something has to give. ([Location 606](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=606))
> To transfer our energy from opposition to paradox is a very large leap in evolution. To engage in opposition is to be ground to bits by the insolubility of life’s problems and events. Most people spend their life energy supporting this warfare within themselves. ([Location 682](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=682))
> To transform opposition into paradox is to allow both sides of an issue, both pairs of opposites, to exist in equal dignity and worth. Example: I should be working at my project this morning but I don’t feel like it and want to do something else. These two opposing wishes will cancel each other if I let them remain in opposition. But if I sit with them awhile they will fashion a solution that is agreeable to both; or even better, a situation that is superior to either one. Sometimes a compromise may present itself that is better than opposition but is still not a good solution. I may take the dog for a walk and then settle down to some work, trying to accommodate both my need for industry and my need for play. But this is not true paradox. If I can stay with my conflicting impulses long enough, the two opposing forces will teach each other something and produce an insight that serves them both. This is not compromise but a depth of understanding that puts my life in perspective and allows me to know with certainty what I should do. That certainty is one of the most precious qualities known to humankind. ([Location 686](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=686))
> To consent to paradox is to consent to suffering that which is greater than the ego. The religious experience lies exactly at that point of insolubility where we feel we can proceed no further. This is an invitation to that which is greater than one’s self. ([Location 761](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=761))
### 3 The Mandorla
> A mandala is a holy circle or bounded place that is a representation of wholeness. We often find this image in the Tibetan tanka, a picture, generally of the Buddha with his many attributes, that hangs on the wall of a prayer room or temple as a reminder of the wholeness of life. Mandalas are devices that remind us of our unity with God and with all living things. ([Location 771](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=771))
> The mandorla also has a healing effect, but its form is somewhat different. A mandorla is that almond-shaped segment that is made when two circles partly overlap. It is not by chance that mandorla is also the Italian word for almond. This symbol signifies nothing less than the overlap of the opposites that we have been investigating. Generally, the mandorla is described as the overlap of heaven and earth. There is not one of us who is not torn by the competing demands of heaven and earth; the mandorla instructs us how to engage in reconciliation. ([Location 778](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=778))
> The mandorla begins the healing of the split. The overlap generally is very tiny at first, only a sliver of a new moon; but it is a beginning. As time passes, the greater the overlap, the greater and more complete is the healing. The mandorla binds together that which was torn apart and made unwhole—unholy. It is the most profound religious experience we can have in life. ([Location 798](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=798))
#### Language as Mandorla
> All language is a mandorla; a well-structured sentence is of this nature. That is probably why we like to talk so much; good talk restores unity to a fragmented world. ([Location 802](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=802))
> Our principal verb to be is the great unifier. A sentence with the verb to be is a statement of identity and heals the split between two elements. ([Location 804](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=804))
> Languages rich in verbs are more powerful than those relying mostly on nouns. Chinese and Hebrew are the former. Human speech is more effective if it relies mainly on verbs. If you build mainly on nouns it will be weak; if you rely on adjectives and adverbs you have lost your way. The verb is holy ground, the place of the mandorla. ([Location 813](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=813))
> It is not that the light element alone does the healing; the place where light and dark begin to touch is where miracles arise. This middle place is a mandorla.* ([Location 868](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=868))
> Guilt creates nothing; conscious work constructs a mandorla and is healing. The mandorla has no place for remorse. It asks conscious work of us, not self-indulgence. Guilt is also a cheap substitute for paradox. The energy consumed by guilt would be far better invested in the courageous act of looking at two sets of truths that have collided in our personality. Guilt is also arrogant because it means we have taken sides in an issue and are sure that we are right. While this one-sidedness may be part of the cultural process, it is severely detrimental to the religious life. To lose the power of confrontation is to lose one’s chance at unity—and to miss the healing power of the mandorla. ([Location 887](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=887))
> Every glance between a man and a woman is also a mandorla, a place where the great opposites of masculinity and femininity meet and honor one another. The mandorla is the divine container in which a new creation begins to form and germinate. ([Location 904](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00B72CFQW&location=904))