Truth and meaning can be enemies—but they can also be partners. At their best, they function like a heartbeat: systolic and diastolic, contraction and release. One grounds us in reality; the other animates that reality with purpose. They are like a married couple on a dance floor. Sometimes truth leads, sometimes meaning does. Harmony doesn’t require sameness—only coordination. When the rhythm holds, movement feels alive rather than forced. Carl Jung called this process individuation : the integration of what is known with what is felt, of fact with value, of the conscious self with what lies beneath it. But like a shadow that doesn’t always move in perfect unison with the body, truth and meaning can fall out of sync. When they do, illusion begins to grow—quietly, like mold in a dark basement. Jung called this the shadow : not evil, but unacknowledged reality. Transcendence is not escape from the shadow, but its integration—where truth and meaning converge rather than compete. Diss...
what is love? there are two kinds: conditional and unconditional. in unconditional love, you can share with someone your darkest secrets and doubts, and know they will never use them against you. How do you know they won't? Because those darkest secrets and doubts only make the person love you all the more. By doing so, those secrets and doubts become a playground for reinventing yourself. in conditional love, sharing your darkest fears and doubts means living in fear they may one day use them against you. How do you know? Because those darkest secrets and doubts are what you hide, even from yourself. They are what you are ashamed of, and steer clear of. the former grant you the freedom to be whoever you want to be. the latter forces you to be who and what someone else wants you to be One is the only possible way of exercising free will, and the other is a necessary exercise of faith.