Light creates images we can register. Light is the energy that reveals the world in front of us. Whether it is street lighting, store lighting or bathroom lighting, we depend on it to find see what is around us. In order to Progress lighting, is used to illuminate the way along the journey. What often gets forgotten are the dark areas. Without shadows, without contrast, the view becomes flat and depth perception becomes difficult. The same truth governs our internal lives, the dark patches are part of what make up a personality. It is often what lurks in the shadows that forms our lives and influences many of the choices we make.

In film the director of photography creates beautiful images using light as the brush. He or she is concerned with light ratios, the relationship of dark to light. A night time scene would have greater ratios then a day time scene creating near black areas of the screen. Daylight scenes would still have areas of contrast, but the shadows would still hold visible objects. It is an interesting question when applied to our internal lives, what is the light ratio? Are we unaware of the details in the shadows of our soul or can we see enough details to be aware of our inner nature? If our internal world was nothing but bright light, would we be able to understand the difference between the light and dark in another person? Should we even aspire to driving out all of the dark?

Any good film or story will be filled with conflict. A story about happy people doing happy things in a happy world is not going to be a box office smash. We are interested in stories about people struggling to overcome obstacles. In most good stories about heros, the hero has a character defect, an Achilles heel, or kryptonite. Many of the greatest films had imperfect heros and villains with redeeming qualities. From The Godfather to Avatar, we want to watch characters that grow and change, discovering their limits in thinking or feeling and rooting for them. The general attraction is based on our own struggles to overcome the obstacles that every life faces.

Not a single soul has walked the earth that hasn’t been challenged by obstacles, either internal or external. The majority of people will say that confronting these challenges has brought them character and compassion. Whether the shadow we confront is created by grief, fear or insecurity, it is often these shadows that bring depth to our lives and make us wise and hopefully happier.

When the shadows are embraced and we can walk through our lives without hiding our perceived flaws or vulnerability, then we are free to be fully who we are. By confronting our shadows, we often discover the very source of the light that brings us joy.

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