In the Shadow

[Villain - IV]

The villain is an archetype with consistent characteristics, motivations, and orientation. (See Monday’s reflection for a description of this.)

There is a necessary villainous distraction. Good, as in the Common Good, but also as in the counter-balance to bad, evil, injustice, abuse, and the like, can have center stage. The villain prefers the shadow. The villain gives up center stage because we don’t take notice of what’s happening just off the stage and out of direct light.

The villain is elusive and brilliant. He or she is often not in plain sight . . . but slightly beyond it. There’s a world of villainous possibility just beyond the light and yet not totally in the dark.

A shadow is never fully dark. And yet it’s also not fully illuminated. It’s the periphery, where little attention and a lack of focus make room for evil to proliferate. We’re more blind in the shadow than in the dark because we don’t consider investigating.

Where are the shadows in your organization? Your church? Your ideology? Your religious beliefs? The most pernicious, nasty, hurtful “villains” are not deeply buried, but often just off stage, lurking where you often won’t even look.

People like us that are unwilling to continue with the way things are will begin investigating around the edges of what’s comfortable (and comforting).