The Shadow
The inner enemy
Not a person and not a demon. The Shadow is the part of him that does not want to become wise: pride, fear, envy, greed, the need to be validated, the fear of not mattering.
It is not defeated by denial. Denial is what feeds it. It is defeated by exposure.
Two sentences govern this one. What is hidden grows in darkness. What is brought into the light can be transformed.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. — John 3:20
Where it honestly comes from
The Shadow as a figure is mine — Scripture has no character by that name. What it describes is not mine at all: the preference for darkness over light is John 3:20, and the divided man who does what he does not want to do is Romans 7.
The rule that never bends
A cast shadow only — no body, no cape, no fangs, no eyes, and the light always off-frame. Its size and direction are the dial: small and behind him is health, his own size beside him is honest self-knowledge, larger and ahead means it is leading.
Why this one
Not written yet. This one is mine to tell and it stays empty until I do — a borrowed reason would defeat the point of the page.