Shadows of London

Each country, city, nation, and particular person has its/his/her shadows, backsides. It’s not bad or good, it is as it is, and this is called life. I love the United Kingdom in general and London in particular, but I do not wear pink glasses and don’t live in the illusion that London is ideal. Yes, for me it’s ideal and there are many reasons why, but there is also a huge “BUT” that is called backsides, or shadows as I prefer this word more in explaining the negative sides.

The very first and the most well-known shadow is expensiveness. The UK is expensive, and London is extremely expensive. During my five days in London, I spent more money than during one month in Germany. Here I count rent (it was a tiny room in the apartment with two other rooms with shared kitchen and bathroom), tickets for buses and trains (I used very rear), food in the supermarket (fruits, vegetables, cheese, meat/fish), coffee with desserts at cafes or coffee shops. I did not eat at restaurants or pizzerias. I don’t have an idea what salary a person should have in London to survive, I am not even talking about living a glamorous life somewhere in Kensington. No, I mean what I wrote - to survive.

The second shadow I revealed for myself only during this trip and that is the number of people. People literally are everywhere all the time. In rush hour in a tube, in buses, on central streets (and the city center is gigantic) you will feel like in the first row at the rock concert of a famous superstar.

And last but not least one I realized that the rhythm of a big and very active city is not for everyone, not everyone’s psyche is ready for such high speed in everything. During these 5 days in London my activities, emotions, and feelings count to my 5 last years of life.

All these did not change my mind or did not force me either to love London less or to hate it. All these obvious facts helped me to accept good and bad, advantages and disadvantages, light and shadows. This process is called integration. When we are ready to see the truth and life as it is and accept it, we are ready to transform shadows into wisdom.

This small example of the shadows of London could be applied to everything. Everything has shadows and light. Light can’t exist without shadow and vice verse. The energy of Light illuminates and transforms shadows into wisdom, our wisdom. The question is “Are we ready for the integration?”

March 22, 2024.