Human beings are magnificent, amazingly made imperfect perfections. Homo sapiens is the bright stroke of evolutionary brush that run the trial and error experiment so many times it built something that can try to understand oneself and go beyond just the physical world. Our big brains and humongous hearts, infinite planes of the soul and mind can conjure up and create unimaginable beauty. Don’t be blind to the human capacity for the extraordinary, to the ability to surpass oneself and one’s circumstances, to sacrifice and elevate, to grow, connect and build bridges over the (almost) untamable rivers, to adapt and do the best they can in an unpredictable surroundings, to do good when evil is so many times and easier choice with a faster selfish ROI. Consciously look for the pockets of beauty, resilience, and personal heroism all around you. Acknowledge the hungry hungry fighting wolves within each of us and celebrate the ones that made it to the light with their center enacted. See the unbound love and compassion, but don’t be naive.

See the beauty and hold on to it as if your life and sanity depended on it (because it does) but be aware of the capacity for evil of the monstrosities that come from pathologies personal and communal. Be awake enough not to deny the existence of the shadow as well. The shadow will always be there. If ignored it grows by your naiveté and unwillingness to fight. How do you fight and prepare to keep at bay the thing you don’t even acknowledge as real? Malice and degeneration is just as real as the capacity for unlimited good. No matter how good you are you are vulnerable if you don’t accept the shadow as real – your shadow, that of others and of the species and its products. Two wolves are howling here all the time, simultaneously and in unison and it can sometimes be hard to distinguish the howls masked as one another but you’ll figure it out as you go along. You feed your own wolf of good but don’t starve the other one out of existence, you might need him to protect you at times because there is no saying what you’ll encounter on this journey, and there is no real self-respect without knowing you’re able o show some teeth as well (even if you choose not to).

This does not mean to do evil and let your darkest urges and impulses overflow. It means to understand they are there, inside and outside, they are real and that everything exists as dipoles. The closer an object gets to the source of the light itself the larger the shadow it casts. Keep your eyes on the light but don’t be naive.