"Not without my shadow" , by Erik Pevernagie, oil on canvas, (100 x 80 cm)

The shadow sometimes hesitates on the fault line between dream and reality, on the intersection of past and present.

We can feel its incidence physically or mentally. Still, if we stand incessantly in the limelight, we can quickly fail to be aware of its presence.

When we retreat from the madding crowd, our shadow brings us back to reality.

If the glare of the public eye has become unbearable, our inner child may claim its rights, and our real shadow might turn into our mental second self, become our anchor, make us stay grounded, and grant us deepness and intensity. By retreating from the blaze of the display into our substantial self, we gain rootedness, insight, and new worldly wisdom.

If our splintered attention has led us to oblivion and blindness, and if the shell has replaced the substance, it may be enlightening to deep-dive into the roots of our negative qualities to discover a surprising guideline for the creation of new horizons.

A new horizon may mean hope, understanding, and insight.

If we can convey ‘meaning’ to things and actions, we may dominate part of the complex world of ignorance. When we try to give sense to our life, we can come to ‘awareness’ and fill many of the numerous black holes of witlessness in our thinking. We may, then, defy and dam the existential void, down the stretch.

Phenomenon: Identity

Factual starting point: Man and his shadow