January 14th, 2026

Shadow Work

The 15th Rule of Love 

Below

GOD IS Applauding 

God is applauding our every act, but He hides that reality from most, until we can understand more about real

    Love.    

Hafez

Owning Our Own Shadow©

Understanding the Dark Side of the Psyche

Robert A. Johnson

It was said that Dr. Jung’s favorite story went something like this: The water of life, wishing to make itself known on the face of the earth, bubbled up in an artesian well and flowed without effort or limit. People came to drink of the magic water and were nourished by it, since it was so clean and pure and invigorating. But humankind was not content to leave things in this Edenic state. Gradually they began to fence the well, charge admission, claim ownership of the property around it, make elaborate laws as to who could come to the well, put locks on the gates. Soon the well was the property of the powerful and the elite. The water was angry and offended; it stopped flowing and began to bubble

up in another place. The people who owned the property around the first well were so engrossed in their power systems and ownership that they did not notice that the water had vanished. They continued selling the nonexistent water, and few people noticed that the true power was gone. But some dissatisfied people searched with great courage and found the new artesian well. Soon that well was

under the control of the property owners, and the same fate overtook it. The spring took itself to yet another place—and this has been going on throughout recorded history.

This is a very sad story, and Jung was particularly touched by it, since he saw how a basic truth can be misused and subverted into an egocentric plaything.

Science, art, and particularly psychology have suffered from this dark process. But the wonder of the story is that the water is always flowing somewhere and is available to any intelligent person who has the courage to search out the living

water in its current form.

Water has often been used as a symbol for the deepest spiritual Nourishment. of humanity. It is flowing in our time in history, as always, for the well is faithful to its mission; but it flows in some odd places. It has often ceased to flow in the accustomed sites and turned up in some most surprising locations. But, thank God, the water is still there.

In this book we will examine some of the odd places in which the water of life is flowing these days. As always, it is free, and it is fresh, as much the living

water as ever before. The main difficulty is that it is to be found where one least expects it. This is the meaning of the biblical phrase “What good could come out. of Nazareth?” Nazareth is now holy to us, the birthplace of the Savior; but in biblical times it was the wrong side of the tracks and the least likely place to find an epiphany of the spirit. Many people fail to find their God-given living water because they are not prepared to search in unusual places. It is likely to turn up in Nazareth again—and be as ignored as before.

One such unexpected source is our own shadow, that dumping ground for all Those characteristics of our personality that we disown. As we will see later,

These disowned parts are extremely valuable and cannot be disregarded. As Promised of the living water, our shadow costs nothing and is immediately—and Embarrassingly—ever present. To honor and accept one’s own shadow is anProfound spiritual discipline. It is whole-making and thus holy and the most Important experience of a lifetime.

The 15th Rule of Love 

By Shams of Tabriz 

It’s easy to love a perfect God, unblemished and infallible that He is. What is far more difficult is to love fellow human beings with all their imperfections and defects. Remember, one can only know what one is capable of loving. There is no wisdom without love. Unless we learn to love God’s creation, we can neither truly love nor truly know God.

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