Enlightenment is not a matter of imagining figures of light, but of making the darkness conscious. – C. G. Jung

How do we know when we have fallen asleep and forgotten the most important aspect of becoming more present? It is when we are not attending to the darkness that is within our consciousness. Darkness results in suffering. To catch our darkness is to pay attention to our reactivity. This is simple. When we are reacting, we are caught in the darkness of our subconscious mind. In the process of “awareness” (one of the stages of Integrative Consciousness), we can see we are reacting, we can understand why we are reacting, and we continue to react. For example, your partner may prepare mashed potatoes for dinner when he or she knows you like scallop potatoes. You react by feeling slighted or not loved. You feel angry and may snap at your partner, while at the same time observing that you are reacting from your abandoned aspect and that this is not a correct perception of the situation, but you react angry anyway. (Some of you reading this may say this is a situation that is so small but you will not believe how many students and clients I have that would experience this.)
When you begin to drop the awareness in the heart at the moment of reactivity or later during a meditation on abandonment, you will experience an opening of the heart. Soon, compassion appears and moves you into the second stage of Integrative Consciousness of acceptance. You are on your way of transforming your self and your relationships.
This is not about avoiding the darkness and “being in light and love” but this is about embracing the darkness into light. This is practice.

Image from National Geographic