The Shadow Effect Excerpt: Only Light Can Cast Out Darkness

We live in a world of constant juxtaposition between joy that's possible and pain that's all too common. We hope for love and success and abundance, but we never quite forget that there is always lurking the possibility of disaster. We know there is good in the world, but we know that there is something else as well. And we are living at a time when a contest between the two is both intense and intensifying. Whatever it is that leads human beings to hate, to destroy, and to kill has taken on a collective force like never before, as technology and globalization now give it the capacity to not just strike, but to strike us all, together, as one. Never has there been such an urgent need to dismantle this force, whatever it is, that is so contemptuous of love and intent on destroying us all. This is not just a force that seeks to inconvenience us. It is a force that wishes to see us dead.

Yet this force is in fact an antiforce. It does not so much do anything, as it gets us to do its bidding. It is a place where we have forgotten who we are, and thus act as we are not. It is a darkness that, like all darkness, is not an actual presence, but is rather the absence of light. It is a black hole in psychic space that exists when light is unseen for even a moment. And the only true light is love.

The problem of what to do with this darkness—called by many names but here termed the "shadow"—is a question that has plagued humanity since its earliest beginnings.

More Excerpts from The Shadow Effect
Introduction by Debbie Ford
The Shadow by Deepak Chopra
Making Peace with Ourselves, Others and the World by Debbie Ford

The Shadow Effect: A 6-Week Breakthrough Plan

Debbie Ford will guide you through a six-week breakthrough plan to help you understand your mysterious shadow, how it affects the key areas of your life and what it has to teach you about yourself so that you can finally create the life you've always wanted.

Marianne Williamson is an internationally acclaimed author and lecturer who has published several books, including New York Times best-sellers A Return to Love and Everyday Grace. A popular guest on numerous television programs such as The Oprah Winfrey Show and ABC's Good Morning America, Marianne has lectured professionally since 1983. For more information, visit her official website.

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