I am knowledge and ignorance. I am shame and boldness. I am shameless; I am ashamed. I am strength and I am fear. I am war and peace. I am control and the uncontrollable. I am the union and the dissolution. I am the one whom they call Life, and you have called Death. – Fragments of text from ancient gnostic manuscript “The Thunder, Perfect Mind” found at Nag Hammadi, Egypt
Over the past few years, there has been a lot of talk surrounding “lightworkers.” Many articles – often on spiritual development and new age sites – have been published with titles such as, “Are You a Lightworker?” “How Do I Become a Lightworker?” and “8 Signs That You’re a Lightworker,” and so forth. While these articles and the concept of being a lightworker in general can be beneficial for the initial stages of our spiritual growth, the notion of being a lightworker is essentially a destructive form of identification that hinders our expansion in the long term.
This might sound outrageous. “How can identifying with the light, with goodness, possibly be destructive?!” We’ll explore why in depth in this article, and the main reason is tied in with the reality of non-duality.
What is Non-Duality?
Our thoughts, memories, judgments, perceptions, beliefs, dogmas and mental conditionings rule our entire lives. We are built by thought, and we are destroyed by thought. We are elevated by thought, and we are disgraced by thought. We are organized by thought, and we are disorganized by thought. We live by thought, and we die by thought.
Thought is everywhere. Just turn away from the screen on which you’re reading this article – look straight ahead. What do you see? A wall? Curtains? Traffic? People? These are all forms of thought. Yes, they might actually exist, but our ability to understand what they are, separate them, and label them, is all a product of thought. In fact, this entire article is … what? A product of thought manifested in a physical form.
It’s no wonder that we get so wound up in thought! In fact, we get so obsessed with thought that our entire moral and religious systems are a product of separating people, feelings, things, and situations into “good or bad,” “righteous or evil,” “light or dark,” “positive or negative.” We do this so that life is easy to understand, and so that we can prolong our survival by processing what will help us live, versus die.
But thought has shifted from an evolutionary function, to the axis on which our entire lives rotate. We identify with thought so closely that it is the basis on which we build our entire illusionary identities that are composed of feelings, thoughts, beliefs, memories, tastes, and sensations that are all subject to growth, change and decay. We identify with thought so closely that it is the basis for every form of war, terror, abuse and unhappiness, and every fleeting form of pleasure, obsession, egomania, success and ambition.
Thought is what blocks out our connection with Soul, which is pure, radiant presence, or Being. And thought is also what creates duality, which is essentially our tendency to fragment existence, rather than seeing it as one great Whole.
Good/bad, right/wrong, light/dark, positive/negative, hero/villain, saint/sinner – these concepts are all products of duality. And so is being a “lightworker” or “darkworker.”
In reality, there is no such thing as a lightworker or darkworker: there is just a worker, a person. When we understand the futility of identifying with something that doesn’t exist (only in dualistic thought), we can experience life with immense wholeness and clarity.
Like the yin and yang, there is always light in darkness, and darkness in light. So can anything truly be said to be solely one thing? Without one, there can’t be the appreciation or understanding of the other. This is the essence of non-duality. Nothing is separate, everything is One.
Shadow Work Journal:
Go on a journey through the deepest and darkest corners of your psyche. Embrace your inner demons, uncover your hidden gifts, and reach the next level of your spiritual growth. This is deep and powerful work!
Why I’m Not a Lightworker
I’ve had many people refer to me as a “lightworker” and also ask me whether I am a lightworker. I am not. I also don’t believe that identifying as a lightworker is “wrong” or bad: it just has more disadvantages than advantages. So if you are interested in spiritual maturity, read why I don’t identify as one:
1. Because we need light AND darkness to experience wholeness.
This is the entire premise of shadow work; without plunging to the depths of your inner hell and exploring your demons, you can’t scale the heights of your inner heaven. In other words, focusing only on self-love without doing the real dirty work is just another form of spiritual bypassing. (You can read more about the dark side of self-love and spiritual bypassing.)
2. Because identifying as a lightworker instantly creates a rift of separation between people.
The philosophy of lightworkers is noble (wanting to serve the world, helps others, support spiritual progression), however, ironically the very act of identifying as a lightworker perpetuates the myth that we are divided: that there are “good people” and “bad people,” that there are “heroes” and “villains.” Life is not that simple, and to refer to people as “lightworkers” or “darkworkers” is to play the same destructive game as religion has (i.e. that there are righteous people and unrighteous people).
3. Because the label is hard to shake (the ego loves it).
Old Souls, empaths, introverts, extroverts, star seeds, free spirits – all are forms of identification that are extremely beneficial for self-understanding up until a certain point. But all labels must eventually be shed to experience true Being. Identifying as a “Lightworker” is yet another label out there which needs to be shed, but is particularly hard to shake off. Why? If you think about it, how nice is it to feel as though you are righteous; a hero of humanity; a diamond of spirituality; a herald of greatness; an elevated being? Pretty damn nice. But the truth is that you aren’t just light, you are also dark. And to deny the darkness within you is to deny the truth of reality.
What about you?
What is your opinion of lightworkers/darkworkers? What has your experience been with duality and non-duality? Please share below and join the discussion!
couldn’t agree more.
I enjoyed this article!! Thank you for a refreshing view. :)
I’m glad to hear that. Thank you Marsha!
Hello Aletheia, thanks for the article, it has good insight on duality. Towards the beggining of your article you mention how everything we perceive is because of thought. This reminds me of a theory I have recently read up on: consciousness only theory. Are you familair with it? How did you come across this idea and do you have any book recommendations? I am highly interested in it!
I’m not familiar with the precise phrase “consciousness only theory” but I came to these conclusions through my own direct experience. If you would like to experience non-duality firsthand I highly recommend plant medicine. :)
Getting out of the head and into the heart is key for me. We need language, in all its woahful inadequacy; we need the brain and ego as manifold to help us navigate this reality, but our culture spends way to much time there parsing over minutia that distracts us from really diving into the deep of what life has to offer. Balance, balance, balance. Let the mind inform you, let the heart guide you.
Yes!
I believe there are just lost and found souls but we are all still the same in a way. And balance is most certainly the key!!
The predicament is that the whole is multi-faceted and multi-dimensional and no matter what you think, there is nothing wrong with what seems to be occurring. Even the notion of being non-dual so to speak is essentially misleading. The term “non-dual” unfortunately is fast becoming a buzzword in the same way the term “authentic self” became a fashionable term many years ago. Once a term becomes part of the lexicon of currently accepted memes it loses much of it’s usefulness as a teaching tool. The same holds true for such labels as “Shaman”. The current group of self proclaimed izod wearing, circuit speaking , pay per view shamans has marginalised the term shaman so much that it has very little meaning anymore. The key to unlocking the mystery of the illusion that is no illusion is letting go of the habitual thought program – in the form of the inner dialog – that constantly seeks to define what is seen from the standpoint of “how does that effect me? How do I feel about that. I like this. I don’t like that” etc. While there is nothing wrong with that type of thinking, it is not very helpful when you are seeking to clearly see what is as it is. The thing you think of as human consciousness is simply a wall behind which the universe plays the game of self and other, and the universe loves to play games! In this case it’s the game of hide and go seek in which this thing hides from itself in order to find itself in the form of you! Tag! You’re it!
Non-duality in itself is a dualistic word because it makes a division between the divided and the undivided (ironic isn’t it?). But that is the nature of language. As long as we are aware of this, and aware of the underlying truth of existence, all is well.
The relativistic nature of perception and reality is pointing to “something”. The question is do we want to see what it is saying? Do you ever feel that great current running below everything?
I had a dream when I was child, and staying at camp in the mountains, and it will always stay with me. I found myself looking at a man and woman, they were in the form of my aunt and uncle, and initially I felt very comfortable about them. They stood at the entrance to their house just inside the doorway, somewhat glued to the spot it seemed. The air seemed different around them though, as if it was sharper and yet there was a type of unreality about them. They asked me if I would go with them, I hesitated, there was something peculiar about them and their smiles and eyes and yet I could not place it and the thought became confused in my mind after a moment, mind you i was around 10 at this time. So they asked me again and I said “yes”.
With no break in the continuity I found myself in a cartoonishly strange version of a hot air balloon, we were rising, rising into thinner and thinner air. I felt every moment that as we rose higher the world became more unreal. I became absolutely terrified, frozen really, I believed the balloon would never stop rising, that we would end up in space, or that I would disappear into unreality…Now the visages of my aunt and uncle changed, they became absolutely sinister, I realized in a moment of terrible recognition that they were “not” my aunt and uncle, but something else entirely. Their eyes looked hungry and they laughed in a way that still gives me chills to think about. They appeared stuck in time, but glowed and effervesced “POWER”. I told them I was scared, to please stop it and let me go home, but they simply stared at me and smiled. I had the sense that they spoke to me in my mind and told me “Little boy this balloon will never land”.
At this point I had a strange vision of a heaven like place, and people were concerned I was leaving, they told me how easy it is too get lost where I wanted to go, that it would change everything, that it would be HARD, and I might never find my way back, I smiled and said goodbye and leaped.
I was back in the balloon (Rather I never left, as in a dream, I had the sense that although time passed, some of the events occurred occupying seemingly the same time-space. Sometimes time seemed to stop, not just stop, but as if there was no before and would be no after, time itself was the dream, the memory of it dim and only with effort recalled;
Other times it was charged with speed/intensity, a shattering compaction of time and thought cycles into something thoroughly alien, very humbling. Dual States.) I thought of my family, friends, and the world itself, and how much I would miss them and how worried they would be about me, and how much I would miss the feeling of being in the world. In a moment i had a dual feeling, the world, my very perception became diffuse, cloud like, and I felt as if I had a monolith of incalculable size resting on my head. I saw a elephant balancing on a pin on my finger and felt his weight. Everything began to go extremely fast and I screamed a scream that started out a sound but became a visceral sensation of my body exploding, and then there was nothing. It seemed my perception simply shut off and I felt a dual sensation, totally separate but occupying the same space and moment. Absolute love and warmth and security, the sense that I was immortal, but always changing, a never ending fountain of being of no size, no time, and no distinction. It simply WAS. The other sensation I had, and i could look at both sensations simultaneously but separately, like 2 boxes side by side but yet joined, of absolute TERROR, like a animal being chased by a predator, whose object is not to catch you, but simply to pursue you into “something”? Not evil, but not good, only powerful and my experience of that power.
Finally I felt as if something began to regurgitate from the inside, much bigger than the cavity it was contained within, it hurt, like throwing up an avocado pit. I awoke, drenched in sweat, and screaming with the kids in the cabin all out of their beds around me, some crying, some looking scared, some in the corner just staring, and the counselors trying to rouse me awake. I screamed for a good 5 mins hysterically before they brought me to the nurse and let me call my parents, to whom I babbled incoherently about hot air balloons disappearing into nothing and sinister uncle impostors. And no in this instance I did not have a fever or sickness, although these states can also trigger experiences, in this case no.
Whatever they are ( I suppose they simply are what they are, any name we can call them is incidental, I have some guesses but in the end, its not what matters, what matters is how they affect me), and since then I have encountered them in various forms and guises a few times (at least that I can remember, I also have intuitions of experiences that are not readily accessible to my memory). It leaves a powerful impression on me, it is quite terrifying actually, the bad moments are akin to finding yourself in a horror movie, stark-naked (not literally), hopeless-terror. Terror, alarm and all-encompassing fear, there is no room for anything else. There is however the deep allure of witnessing something remarkable and incredibly powerful. The good moments, as described, the breaking through of duality and the clear non-distinct bliss of that. Nothing however since then has had the same impression as that one did, perhaps because I was so young. Just to clarify, they are not some aspect of me, or human I think, they are fully strange and outside myself and my mundane experience, even the very strange mundane. They are startling to the point of suspending your ability to act or think clearly, they are very much real.
Finally after a bit I became extremely tired and they put me to bed in the infirmary were I slept a black deep sleep. I had many other experiences in the mountains (others place as well from groves to my house), I was both attracted to them and repelled.
What does all this have to do with the topic of non-duality? I could state a bunch of philosophical and metaphysical analysis of relativity, subjectivity, perception, the chain of cause and effect, the inability for us as humans to understand the context, meaning and “Absolute” nature of our existence, and these things are interesting and helpful as well as a trap (like all things, they are facets of our totality and the parts are more than their sum, much more).
I am in the stage now, of trying to learn to reconcile my sensitivity to such things with leading a life which is in tune with my spiritual understanding (especially in being concerned with the well being of those around me and how I affect them. Not that I must change my inherent self, but that I must change the way I interact with them, to some extent sensitive to their understanding and fears). To discard the slightly selfish, indulgent, decadent adventurer for the immaculateness of the warrior.
-Z
This is a lot to process! Thanks Zu!
Hi, Aletheia Luna
My pleasure, thank you.
THis is a very complicated subject. But in my experience, duality is a construct to keep people divided and always worshipping outside themselves (Ascended masters, God, Archangels, etc.). In reality we all stem from the same source and there is no higher or lower. We are all the same on this path toward enlightenment. We are just in different places on the path. But in these very dark times, I understand the desire to be a lightworker as the darkness has taken over to such a drastic point that a need exists to push back and reclaim our light, our freedom, and our divinity. I see the value in both sides. Strip away the false duality and we will have won! But there is a fight to be had in stripping the false duality away and the dark ones do not want to relinquish this control mechanism, even though it is inevitable. They will fight to the end. So there is a need for lightworkers at this time to fight them and help to raise the frequency of the planet. We were never meant to be in the 3rd dimension. We were manipulated down and it is time to rise up to where we belong.
There is and there isn’t a need for lightworkers; it all depends on the perspective. :) In my experience, what you say about duality is very true.
“But in these very dark times” “We were never meant to be in the 3rd dimension”
Hello,
I’m not so sure such matters are quantifiable or comprehensible in any meaningful way, our view finders are simply too narrow (Normally, and when my perception is widened I do not find such considerations to ever be applicable to the experience). Just something to reflect on, and certainly not meant in any authoritative way, just my opinion.
For myself, I have found the world and the way we perceive it is a highly personal and subjective experience. It follows that the conclusions we draw (if any) would also be such.
Not to say there is not a uniform cohesive aspect to it, and also that different times may entail differing and varying levels of the general unhappiness/suffering/ignorance of people, but that’s about as far as I can go. I can draw no absolute conclusions from such data.
Finally, our woeful understanding of the nature of time and its implications further obscure any true insight into such topicalities. But I take everything I think and perceive with a grain of salt, even those things I feel confident about. In a practical sense it is very useful for keeping a sense of balance and proportion, and also leaves me open to receiving further knowledge should it present itself.
Warm Regards,
-Z
Perhaps, murderers, rapists, etc, were blind-sided by their dark side-not to excuse their behavior. To use an old cliché, “the devil you know is better than the one you don’t.” One can’t rectify what is not recognized. In our society, who could I trust to help me, if I had those kinds of thoughts and feelings? We are taught to “eshew the very presence of evil.”. Meanwhile, the world and its people never change or heal.
Many forms of violence are a product of the deeply repressed and hidden shadow taking back vengeance and “snapping” in the moment. Not every crime is planned — yes.
Labels are training wheels. We use them while they serve a purpose, and we need to be able/willing to let them go as we move on in life.
There a a lot said about lightworkers–I’m happily oblivious of most of it. :)
If we go to basics, a lightworker is someone who works with light. And light for me is that energy that flows from heart chakra and connects to Source, anything else is recycled energy.
So a lightworker is just someone who keeps the hose to Source clean enough for IT to use it as IT see fits. Can we, as mere mortals, keep that hose clean at all times? Nah. We can try though. :)
The thing that concerns me is the paragraph where you write about experiencing darkness and how it will help us appreciate the other. After so many years of living through the darkness, experiencing and acting out on my dark thoughts, I don’t want to go through that again, but maybe, just maybe because I did experience that dark period of my life, it has helped me appreciate my life now, just as long as I don’t have to relive that time of my life again. That period has made me realize how wonderful just sitting outside in my yard with the warmth of the sun on my skin and nature surrounding me can bring me peace and happiness. Of course, there are many more periods of my life that feel that great, but wanted to give an example. I do also like labels. It helps those who don’t know us to have an idea of what we’re about. Thank you for the wonderfully written article.
I agree……I stopped using labels awhile ago. How about the fact that we are all just human? We are in war after war because of labels, skin color, gender, money, blah,blah, blah, I cannot listen anymore!!!!! Labels are connotative of judgement, and by all means, we as humans do that, but I try to live by the code of “Until you walk a mile in someone’s shoes”, you truly have no concept, or right, to judge what is there. I am all for shedding the ego; however, we are in the physical, you have to have a certain amount to exist here, it comes down to balance, doesn’t it? The light/dark dynamic has always been, WE created it! To learn. You cannot have one without the other,what fun would that be??!!! Spiritual elitism is old at this point…..no man is greater than another…….
I disagree with #3. As I have said often, all labels are nouns and all nouns are labels. We MUST use labels to communicate effectively to one another. Against labels? Stop using all nouns.
Also, the whole, you need bad experiences to appreciate the good is just an opinion. Many faiths believe we will one day experience all good when we reach a nirvana state.
Of course there is a division between good and evil, but I guess you are one of those people who don’t believe murderers, rapists are bad people.
Most of those agreeing with every word you say are probably your fans….
The entire human language is composed of labels and generalizations Lorrie, so we might as well stop speaking altogether. ;) I never stated that I am against labels, as that is once again a reflection of the dualistic mind. To me, labels have their purpose. I believe in murderers, rapists, pedophiles, etc. but I don’t simplify them as “bad people” — they are people who have made monstrous decisions. You could call my father beating me as a child “evil,” and although the impact on my body was terrible, in the long run a lot of good came out of his violent behavior; namely my self-growth, my empathy for other physically abused children, my ability to forgive, my dark night of the soul which allowed me to spiritually mature. Can it really be said then, that he is a “bad person”? That is the same kind of reasoning people like Hitler, the Spanish inquisition (and countless other people and movements) used, i.e. you are “bad” or “evil,” therefore that justifies my mistreatment of you. This doesn’t feel like an intelligent approach to life.
So called “darkness” has been my greatest teacher. I’ve learned more lessons in life from it than most anything.
I think that once you understand labels for what they are, ironically, you aren’t bothered by them much anymore. :-)
Brilliant post, Aletheia! I love the quote from the gnostic manual of Nag Hammadi.It is timeless. Thanks for this.
Yes. I got shivers when I first read it; so powerful and deep. Thanks Lauren!
To me, it’s like a door that leads me to a wider, and deeper understanding. I learned it through paradoxes in life, my life. Then I started to see it everywhere. It’s so beautiful, like the nature, the life, revealing itself.
Not a lightworker? Exploring your demon? Yes, this can be surprising for some people :) But, it is what it is, and you put it out firmly and beautifully, Luna. Thank you :)
And thanks everyone, for sharing your thoughts and experiences, this really makes my day :D
Thank you Ika <3
Oooh girl! I feel what you are saying but I wonder how Doreen Virtue and a host of other folks would feel about your article. So with what you have discussed/divulged would it be safe to say that our counterparts such as Doreen are spiritually immature or worst, a fraud?
Haha, probably not very good — or perhaps very good (I can’t be the one to say). Generalizing is never safe, so the best thing to do is to go with your own gut instinct: are these people serving people in a beneficial way, or serving their own need for power, presence, and money? It’s up to you to decide.
Good question…I’ve thought about that myself.
To me, she has her place in teaching life’s mysteries as any spiritual teacher does.
There are people who need to hear, and learn what she teaches. And I feel she truly believes in what she’s teaching.
I’m not a fan/student of hers. But just from what little bit of her works I’ve read, I don’t sense any malice in it, or in her. I feel that she’s being sincere, and teaches what she has learned in life.
I see her teachings as having a place in the body of the whole. :-)
So isn’t this trying to put labels on others? I think that is worse than labelling ourselves, To me all of the words, Old soul, empath, lightworkers etc. are descriptions for all the same type of soul, but labels are just made up human words to give our differences to each other meaning, because I for one have always known I was different and felt I did not fit in or belong anywhere, because I always saw how different other people were to me. I didn’t think I was better than them, just different, in fact for a long time I thought there was something wrong with me because I was so different to everybody I had ever met in person. I spent my teens pretending to be like them in order to fit in and have friends, so I hid my sensitive side as much as possible. It hit me hard when I reached my early 20’s however, after the birth of my first child, I was so exhausted and could no longer go on pretending I was not the emotional sponge that I have always been since I can remember. I don’t believe every human soul is the same, as I believe we all have different missions to complete and lessons to learn, depending on how many lessons we have already learnt or missions we have successfully completed, since I don’t believe that we always complete them successfully in one lifetime. I really think it can take a few lives to learn 1 lesson, and we will fail lessons numerous times duiring a lifetime. As for Introverts and extroverts, that is a completely different thing since they are different types of personality, based on how much or little social interaction somebody needs to stay emotionally and psychologically fit. However I do believe that will depend on the lessons and missions we are here to complete, as some missions will need more interaction with people than others. So to finish, I believe we are all different, but all equally important in the world…Whatever we label ourselves to understand who we are is irrevelant, it is the traits we relate to that are important,but without these labels, those of us who are in the 15-20% minority of humans who are so sensitive and intuitive that we can feel the emotions of others at such a deep level, we would never have found like minded people who understand us enough to offload the weight of emotions we carry around.
Amen!!! There gets to be all these labels. They can create grandiose highs leading to lows, or depression leading to highs. As you say – they separate and they become things; that we feel obligated to either fulfill or overcome. I’ve spent a lot of energy in my life overcoming label or my own or other’s making. We are all built of the same components. Granted we have different abilities which are often quite obvious. But I know for me… As a Loner…. I have to look for as many commonalities with the human race as I am able – or i can’t accomplish what is needed.
True Deb (including the label “loner”!). Even in my bio above you’ll see a selection of labels, and they’re necessary to communicate to others what you are about, but they are not who we truly are which is always important to keep in mind.
I guess these labels helped me at some point, because it’s through them that I finally found a sense of belonging after having felt lost and lonely for all this time. Now I don’t need them. I’d rather not call myself anything, and just be. But maybe they can be of some use at some point, until you go beyond that.
Hi Anne, I really like that you mentioned about a sense of belonging through the labels. You said, “I’d rather not call myself anything, and just be” —> I do feel the same. Just be, what a simple yet powerful words. Thanks Anne :)
Definitely Anne. Labels are completely necessary (up until a certain point in your spiritual growth).
Good work!!…I’m just a person who for the most part – is centered on freeing myself – from negative thoughts – against others and myself – in doing so – I begin to find the “one” – and the blessings from this is I’m becoming clearer and clearer – and stay with god as I understand him more and more. and that’s what I do…
I love the article, Luna. :D It has been increasingly tiring for me to see people online claiming to be ‘old souls’, ‘light workers’ and whatnot. Mostly because these labels seem to have lost the essence in which they were supposed to represent. A lost of authenticity, to put it bluntly. There’s been an awful lot of clinging to labels, it’s rather sad, to be honest.
I can relate to that feeling John.