The Shadow of Shame

Guilt is the sense that I have done something wrong. Shame is the sense that there is fundamentally something wrong with me.

Ask yourself: Where is shame showing up in my life right now?

Shame almost always holds us back from our destiny and purpose.

Felt —> Sensed —> Imaged —> Thought

It is hard to find the root of our shame

Shame causes chaos.

Shame is an antithetical force, it attempts to reverse creation’s momentum

Shame always requires outside help for healing Curt Thompson, “Shining Light on Shame”

Shame requires light and exposure

But the very nature of shame makes us desire darkness.

Read C.S. Louis’s The Great Divorce

We hide parts of ourselves — often in the name of masculinity.

Moments of sharing are when you tend to find mending and healing.

The path to healing is:

Self-discovery illuminated by God’s voice over the deepest and darkest parts of my heart.

Eating our shadow is a very slow process. It doesn’t happen once, but hundreds of times Robert Bly, A Little Book on the Human Shadow

It takes a lot more strength to eat that shadow, day after day, than it does to hide behind a mask of invulnerability.

Temptation of distraction - numbing ourselves. Good things, used as a distraction, cause harm.

When you bring those things into his presence, with no facade of perfection, and lay them down at his feet, all you will find is love.

Takeaways

Shame causes us to spiral in isolation and lies. It’s also hard to identify the root cause of shame. The path of healing is twofold:

Seeking God’s truths about my life, inviting him to illuminate the shame and heal me