A shadow passed over them. An eclipse shadow of the soul, but I didn’t want them to be alone, so I sat and listened to the darkness. 

The light slowly changed.

What was the middle of the day seemed more like dusk, but I looked at my watch, and sure enough, it was midday.

The time when it was supposed to be full sunlight. Something beyond my control had moved between myself and my source of light.

I was living in the shadow of an eclipse.

Every analogy and metaphor breaks down somewhere, but the shadow of an eclipse has often helped me understand the interconnected relationship with my body and soul.

We want clean-cut precise connections. We like concentric circles drawn with accuracy and perfection.

This affects this, and that affects that.

If I do this, then that will happen.

We want to chess play our lives to manage out a particular outcome, but there is always the unpredictability of an eclipse that could shadow our effect.

What is an eclipse?

Lets get our definitions and understandings correct.

For a technical definition here is what Wikipedia has to say.

An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured by passing into the shadow of another body or having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three celestial objects is known as a syzygy. Apart from syzygy, the term eclipse is also used when a spacecraft reaches a position where it can observe two celestial bodies so aligned. An eclipse is the result of either an occultation (completely hidden) or a transit (partially hidden). Eclipse Wikipedia

It sounds very techincal, but simply put, it is when an object, typically the moon, comes between the Sun and the Earth, and so a shadow is cast over the Earth.

A total lunar eclipse is when we can see the outline of the moon against the backdrop of the Sun, and we are sitting in the shadow.

A simple image may help. Source – simple.Wikipedia

It’s a wierd feeling when you are in the shadow of an eclipse.

Things have changed. It’s shadowy and slightly dark. it’s so eerie that animals act differently. Birds stop singing and puzzlment grips the lands.

I want you to hold in your thinking that picture and the feelings of living in an eclipse.

An eclipse generally doesnt last long. Everything is moving. The Earth rotates, the Moon as a satelite spins around us and shadows flee.

But what if the eclipse lasted longer than expected. What if it took up a kind of permanent residence over us. A shadow falling on us seemngly forever.

Then answer these questions.

What is it like living with a physical illness?

What is it like living with a mental illness?

Whats it like to be living in the shadow of anothers illness, particulary someone you love?

What is it like to be living in the shadow of past trauma – large or small?

Three kinds of problems

Larry Crabb considers that we face three kinds of problems when people come to us for deep conversation.

These three problems are related to the brain and the soul.

Brain/ Soul problems

Soul/ Brain problems

Mostly Soul problems

Let’s unpack these further

Brain/ Soul problemsThe problem is primarily related to the brain. It is chiefly a physiological issue and, secondly, a soul-related issue.There is something wrong with the physical functioning of the brain.It might be a chemical imbalance, a physical injury, or other physical brain-related condition.Other bodily organs, especially hormonal glands, might affect a person’s ability to think and process information.But this person also has a soul, an inner world that needs some degree of soul care, nurturing, guidance, and hope.Many times, I have sat with people in states of confusion. They see things, hear things, and feel things that no one else can perceive.The stresses of various events around them have cracked the fragile balance of the brain, and now they are subject to forces seemingly beyond their control.With its human fragility, the brain is casting i