All five are synonymous dynamics. They all hinge on denial, which creates a blind spot or shadow, which is eventually projected as toxic hurt.

Such a person also commits hypocrisy because they are unaware that they behave what they condemn, which is the confession they reveal in their accusal, which is their shadow they project as alleged light (lies), which is ironic because the opposite of who they think they are and how they behave, is true.

The folly!

This is the unexamined life, the lazy mind and even lazier heart, the default danger into which we devolve, when we don’t passionately engage to rise above the status quo by going below it to do the deeper work—to reverse degeneration and birth a favorable irony I call “beneficent paradox.”

Yin-Yang is the brilliant metaphor by which to understand, track, and integrate both the positive and negative manifestations of dark and light work. Ultimately, we must rescue the rest of light we want in the world from our personal and collective shadow.