Things only have being when God creates them. 4:11, “For you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being” (emphasis mine). This would mean that this shadow-self is non-being because it was NOT the creation of God. It was not a self that God imagined or approved-nor did he recognize it. The anti-God, serpent’s voice claimed that this “new you” would be “like God.” But it was not. I think the presence of the shadow-me in all of us is the result of Original Sin, which in the Genesis narrative appears when human beings imagine a NEW BEING that wasn’t God’s design-one that claimed it didn’t need God. This shadow-self loves to pretend it is the REAL us and loves to try and control the events of our lives along with the people we encounter. One of the great truths that has emerged through the contemplatives and mystics of the ages is that we humans often prop up a false or “shadow” self into our daily lives. Well…I was busted again today by the Holy Spirit.
