What does personal transformation really mean? Transformation refers to a thorough or dramatic change in our view of ourselves, the world, and how we experience the world. This often happens when we break out of a darkness that has enclosed us. The darkness comes in many forms – a loss, depression, tragedy, or simply an attack on our personhood, professional image, or livelihood. In modern times, we have demonized the darkness, often experiencing it as a terrible thing in the lives of those affected. We fear the pain it brings.
However, when we are stripped of all our ego-feeding symbols, there is an opportunity to connect more deeply with ourselves and our deeper resources. The darkness, then, is fertile with potential for new growth that can only be incubated in the absence of light, akin to a seed underground. This is by no means an easy process. It requires a full embrace of our suffering without becoming the suffering.
The risk is always to identify with our suffering and be consumed by it. Like the Ouroboros swallowing its own tail, we are eaten by the dragon. We become trapped in never-ending mental loops of self-limiting stories that imprison us in a worldview that matches our suffering, mirroring our pain. So, we know where we are and who we are. But what if we could let go of knowing who or what we are? What if we could surrender to the unknown?
The dragon isn’t to be fought like in the hero stories of old but to be befriended. After all, we are the dragon. When you have chewed on yourself long enough, you realize it is all you. ‘We are One’ doesn’t refer to the wider collective (although it does apply on some higher level) but to the multiplicity inside. An inner cohesion leading to wholeness heals the fragmented splits of the psyche.
As we approach the longest night of the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, I welcome the darkness as an opportunity for introspection. It is a time to enter the silence, allowing me to connect deeply with my inner multiverse and find clarity amidst the shadows. In this profound darkness, seeds of new beginnings and transformations can be nurtured, preparing for the eventual return of light and renewal.
Image credit: Serpiente_alquimica (1478) in Theodoros Pelecanos's manuscript of an alchemical tract attributed to Synesius, in Codex Parisinus graecus 2327 in the Bibliothèque Nationale, France,
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