https://dev.marthasmuse.com/2015/05/22/in-the-light-of-the-shadow/ Creative Coach, Editor, Instructor, Mentor & Muse Sat, 08 May 2021 21:30:07 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.5 https://dev.marthasmuse.com/2015/05/22/in-the-light-of-the-shadow/#comment-1201 Wed, 27 May 2015 22:34:52 +0000 https://dev.marthasmuse.com/2015/05/22/in-the-light-of-the-shadow/#comment-1201 This reminds me of the Trickster mentioned in Joseph Campbell’s writings. I’m quick to assume it’s the shadows that embody the Trickster but the Sun can just as easily cloak the truth in white hot light, blinding me to truth’s location.

]]> https://dev.marthasmuse.com/2015/05/22/in-the-light-of-the-shadow/#comment-1200 Wed, 27 May 2015 05:56:46 +0000 https://dev.marthasmuse.com/2015/05/22/in-the-light-of-the-shadow/#comment-1200 Art in any form is a mystery and an affirmation of life!

]]> https://dev.marthasmuse.com/2015/05/22/in-the-light-of-the-shadow/#comment-1199 Tue, 26 May 2015 23:56:00 +0000 https://dev.marthasmuse.com/2015/05/22/in-the-light-of-the-shadow/#comment-1199 Shadows follow you everywhere, it doesn’t matter if you want them to or not. Everything has a “shadow” or a dark side to it, where there is light there is also darkness, literally and figueratively. I like how you say you shrink, stretch or hide a shadow, because shadows can appear in many different forms. Everyone has their own view on darkness, but whether you want them or not shadows will always follow you.

]]> https://dev.marthasmuse.com/2015/05/22/in-the-light-of-the-shadow/#comment-1198 Sun, 24 May 2015 19:21:13 +0000 https://dev.marthasmuse.com/2015/05/22/in-the-light-of-the-shadow/#comment-1198 Shadows really do make things realistic. Nothing is 100% bright and sunny. There is always at least a sliver of darkness to everything. This can be taken literally and metaphorically. I love your references to the late masters who used chiaroscuro. Like you said, they really understood how to play with strong light sources and strategically convey certain emotional responses from their viewers by displaying their subjects in specific lightings, never being apprehensive to use that darkness. I believe that-just like the masters- if we lose that apprehension to tap into the scarier, darker sides of things, we can create revelations of our own.

]]> https://dev.marthasmuse.com/2015/05/22/in-the-light-of-the-shadow/#comment-1197 Sat, 23 May 2015 11:20:43 +0000 https://dev.marthasmuse.com/2015/05/22/in-the-light-of-the-shadow/#comment-1197 I am currently working in a hospital and we are training a new worker – it's called "shadowing" – the act of following around a trained worker until the new person learns the ropes. So in this sense a "shadow" is a worker in training. In this sense, it is a potential value learning to be valuable. Following someone in the light until they, too can be "in the light" as well. A not-fully-realized entity that follows the fully formed entity. I liked that analogy a lot. Striving for fruition and manifestation. The dark/light contrast. To be in the light, there has to be a portion "in the dark"…There is just no other way around it. People have wonderful qualities – and yet we also all have defects. Yin/Yang…..there must be the existence of opposites – to truly be balanced.

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