Eggshell Palace
High up, on the highest elevations of the Moral High Ground, rises Eggshell Palace. It lies majestically above the treeline where there are no shady places that block the Sun of Righteousness. As a consequence the residents of Eggshell Palace experience the most refined and elegant moral purity possible.
For, you see, they have no Shadows; which is miraculous since the sun shines so brightly on the rocky prominence they inhabit. They have no Shadows because such things are simply not allowed in Eggshell Palace. Those seeking residence therein are required to abandon their Shadows in the dark forested valleys below the Moral High Ground. For Shadows are Harmful and cannot be allowed in Eggshell Palace.
This abandonment is a challenging process because a Shadow cannot exist independently; it must be attached to someone. But some have such an overwhelming desire to reside in Eggshell Palace that they are willing to undertake the travail of separating from their Shadow. They must tear it from themselves and attach it to an Other; an Other who is Evil.
In Eggshell Palace, no one is ever harmed, for the Palace floor is covered with the most refined and elegant carpet of eggshells. The people tiptoe carefully through the passages and halls and are always smiling and happy. And while they maneuver through the eggshells, they look down from the Moral High Ground upon the dark places where the Shadows dwell and frown upon the Evil Others who bear them.
Sometimes at night, though, the residents of Eggshell Palace are troubled and find themselves wakeful and sweaty, entangled in their bed sheets. They lie awake worrying if they have been willing to accept something or to claim something that wasn’t true. They wonder if they have been paranoid about offending people, sensitive to being offended, and too aggressive in repelling Harm. And their feet hurt, because the eggshells are sharp and cut them often.
And, sometimes, on particularly terrible nights, their Shadows pay them a visit. They visit because it is really not possible to completely tear one’s Shadow from oneself. It is a grim night of struggle because they are not willing to bear the shame and humiliation of appearing in the morning attached to their Shadow. This would lead immediately to banishment; a fate they fear deeply because it would cast them down into the valleys where the Shadows dwell.
So, after a night of violent struggle they manage to banish their Shadow back to the dark valleys and appear smiling and pleasant in the morning as they tiptoe by the other residents of Eggshell Palace. Sometimes, disturbingly, they notice that their fellows also have dark circles under their eyes and a certain brittle panic about their smiles. Did they struggle with their Shadow as well? Can it be?!
Perhaps not all is as it should be in Eggshell Palace. The residents smile and talk to each other in love and empathy about their pure moral values and how blessed they are to dwell in such an elevated and exceptional home. Everyone agrees that everything is pleasant and rejoice that all unpleasantness has been banished from Eggshell Palace. They hope to remain like this forever.
