To put that in context, here is a little more (warning, long digression, feel free to skip)

"...The old clairvoyant consciousness would have been replaced by an object-consciousness, such, however, as would have also been alive to the spirit. As it was, the Luciferic spirits led man earlier to a hardened body; man beheld the physical world earlier than would otherwise have been possible for him. As a result he entered upon the third and last phase of the Atlantean period in a totally different condition than would have been the case had the divine spiritual powers help undisputed sway. Instead of a world aglow with the spirit of higher beings, he now saw only a physical world. The divine world had withdrawn from him. The Luciferic beings had interfered with his astral body. Man having now united himself with the sensible world, other beings – the Ahrimanic spirits of Zarathustra (also called Mephistophelian) now interfered with his external perception and with the relation of his Ego to the outer world. Man's physical, etheric, and astral bodies are not so constituted as they would have been had the higher Gods alone worked upon them. The beings known as Luciferic gained admittance into man's astral body and caused his premature fall from Paradise. The consequence of this Luciferic influence was the perversion of man's perception of the outer world by the Ahrimanic or Mephistophelian (Satanic) spirits. The latter now showed the outer world merely in its physical form, and not as it truly is. Hence the Hebrew name for these spirits who deluded man with a vain show: `Mephiz-Topel'; `Mephiz' the vitiator and `Topel' the liar. That is the derivation of the name Mephistopheles. He is the same spirit as Ahriman. Now what was the effect of Ahriman's influence as distinguished from Lucifer's?

Lucifer caused the undue deterioration of the forces of the astral body, and the premature densification of man's physical substance. To be sure, man attained thereby the freedom which would otherwise have been denied him. The Mephistophelian spirits case a veil over the spiritual foundation of the world and mocked man with a world that is an illusion. Mephistopheles infused into man the belief that the world is merely a material existence, and that there is nothing spiritual in and behind all matter. The scene which Goethe depicts so wonderfully in his Faust is continually being enacted in humanity as a whole. We see Faust, on the one hand, seeking the way to the spiritual world; on the other hand, Mephistopheles who describes the spiritual world as `nothing', because it is in his interest to represent the world of sense as everything. Faust retorts in words which every spiritual investigator would have used in a similar case: `In thy Nothing I hope to find my All!'

Only when we are aware that in every particle of matter there is spirit, and that the idea of matter is a lie; only when we recognize in Mephistopheles the spirit who vitiates thought in the world, then only can we conceive the outer world in its true form. Now what was necessary for humanity, to help it onward and prevent it being overwhelmed by the fate prepared for it by Lucifer and Ahriman?.."

Life requires introspection, Yes!

Life requires extroversion, Yes!

Illumination is contracsted against darkness,  Yes!

Romancing the Shadow

Life is a dance of opposites. This is the unifying principle of the universe. Likes attract and create water properties; accordingly, through differences and the intensity of contrasting energy, is created a fire dance of dynamic Quality. A cycle is perpetuated."
~~carefulcarpenter

The dance excites contrasting and complimentary energies: negative/positive; electromagnetic/gravity; potential/kinetic; dynamic/static; psychic/physical; creativity/stabllity; feminine/masculine; dark/light; visible/invisible; active/passive; infinitely large/infinitely small; inner self/outer persona; etc.

Viva la difference!! Meet your partner and dance up a storm!!

Are our repressed negativity mostly from our early childhood experiences - mainly creating something which may have been rejected by those around us, thus rejecting that part of ourselves?  Then all healing that can be done must come from the integration of our own shadow self, leading to the transmutation of light onto created darkness.

Also, look at how much conversation is obtained by having negative influences around.  In a sense, this thread is a triple negative.  You have 'negativity'.  Then you have 'ignoring negativity'.  And we are 'against ignoring negativity'.  {just a way of looking at it, used as an example to agree with the premise}

Embrace the negative.  Embrace the positive.  Become the balance.

Promoting in others the total ignorance of negativity may also be a way for "People of the Lie" to cover their individual and collective asses. If anyone calls them out on it, they can blame others for being obsessed with seeing the negative, for not accepting karma, for being in denial and projecting their own shadows upon others, for believing in polarity and duality, for lacking loyalty or not being obedient to the Lord, for going on the attack despite all the great things they have been given, and so on.

Of course each of these things are real possibilities, and the psychopath counts on using real possible excuses under totally illegitimate contexts.

Yet the above phenomenon can also be used as ammunition by people who prefer denial, who then react irrationally by "calling out others" for using using psychopathic mind tricks when others are merely giving constructive criticism.

But then psychopaths can exploit even that phenomenon by saying those who call them out are merely in denial of their own problems and acting irrationally, when those people are the rational ones objecting to covert hostility. The personal attacks and vicious needling may be cloaked under the guise of constructive criticism and sincerity.

And on and on...

Good points here!

"Image" and "passion" are the keys. Who "controls" the emotion and the pretense?  The psychopath depends on the repressed emotions of guilt, denial, fear, and insecurity, to exploit and "control" their victims.  Questioning authority is a habit directed towards the root of the "pretense". The psychopath will not willingly place themselves in the position to be questioned directly; using a surrogate to face any situation that could reveal the covertly hidden "OP".  This may be a structure as well as an "other"; whatever gives cover and non-accountability. Malignant narcissists often have a partner --"co-narcissist" --who is expected to perform certain duties to protect the image of the psychopath. This is why I believe that doctors (people of status and importance) often attract "trophy wives"; the "Doctor" maintains the image of propiety and the wife receives "the image" of desired social stature.  Later, from my experience, when the wife discovers the root insecurity of the husband, she in turn exploits her "victim", and many others. I have seen this again and again. Who is the more manipulative psychopath?  Often the "co-"

I use the analogy offered in the classic "Peter Pan".  We can obviously hate the character of Captain Hook, but in the end we see the pitifulness of his life's predicament. The covert "evil" is Mr. Smee. His image captures us and we feel sympathy for his station in life--second fiddle to a tyrant. In reality Mr. Smee is a master at the game. He receives the "mana" from serving the needs of the Captain, who he knows is helplessly incompetant to manage his own affairs.  This correlates to the "trophy wife" syndrome that so commonly exists in the world of professionals and celebrities. 

Who sells the pretense? Who convinces the servants that the "boss" is a person to fear? Who gains the control, and with it the power, all hidden behind image; image of victim; image of superiority; image of coolness? Who has no mud on their hands? In this case the duty of the "co-dependent narcissist" is to act as the "bad cop"; but in many cases this endows the psychopath with authority and the control they seek.

In a democratic system we all become mudslingers in the name of justice, freedom, and the pursuit of ideals.  The real "evil" plays behind the scenes and avoids any chance to be questioned or discovered. Those fighting in the trenches all have mud on their hands... and if not the OPs make sure they do--one way or another.   Perfection is for those who avoid entering the arena where real truth subtly shows itself through excited, and passionate, expression of self.

"Passion" and "image". Who controls these attributes of human expression? Ignoring negativity is often an artifact in the process of avoiding the awareness of the personal and collective shadow.  Confronting those feelings of uncomfortability is part of self discovery and the journey to wholeness (unus mundus in Jungian terms). The ego is protecting itself by repressing uncomfortable content. When a person feels irritated it is usually felt in the subconscious; this is a reaction related to the ego, and therefore the hidden shadow material. Controlling one's emotions, as well as one's passion, is a conscious deception of the Divine self. This is the "evil" of psychopathy; controlling the spirit, and in most cases "killing the spirit".  Who but "evil" would kill human spirit? Many wounds are self-inflicted, so "loving your true self" is an act of healing. Only in the act of healing ourselves can we heal the world.

I refuse to lie for anyone, or to anyone. This can be construed as mudslinging, but for what purpose? I know I heal myself by refusing to lie unless extreme cases warrant it. Let's not fool ourselves into believing that total honesty is rewarded, or even healthy to the growth and revealing of our spirit; but the "pursuit of truth" is a healing path to freedom of the human spirit.

"It's the mudslingers who have the dirty hands"
~~carefulcarpenter

Of course each of these things are real possibilities, and the psychopath counts on using real possible excuses under totally illegitimate contexts.

Yet the above phenomenon can also be used as ammunition by people who prefer denial, who then react irrationally by "calling out others" for using using psychopathic mind tricks when others are merely giving constructive criticism.

But then psychopaths can exploit even that phenomenon by saying those who call them out are merely in denial of their own problems and acting irrationally, when those people are the rational ones objecting to covert hostility. The personal attacks and vicious needling may be cloaked under the guise of constructive criticism and sincerity.

And on and on...

Negativity to one person may be the pursuit of  truth to another. It now becomes more clear to me why new-age spirituality often rejects or ignores negativity. This is a subjective way of closing one's ears/eyes to the negative aspects to one's being. This would be an ego-driven side effect of denying one's nature.

Is it possible that new-age ignoring is a way for "People of the Lie" to deal with that part of themselves which they still keep burried in the unconscious mind ie. the shadow (ignored material that displeases the ego)?

What I see a lot of in the metaphysical community is an admirable but naive desire to adhere to the "harm no one" edict.  However, you should include yourself at the top of that list, and subjecting yourself to being fed off of is not noble.

Exactly!  In fact I originally included a bit about that in my previous post, but cut it out and decided to keep the post short.   It's been mentioned here at NR before, but it can't be said enough times, but part of being "STS" involves being predator....AND prey.   Those who prey on others as well as those who allow themselves to be preyed upon, giving food for the feeders.  It's equally as bad to be a doormat prey victim who allows themselves to be bullied and fed upon as it is to be the bully.   IMO.   The kicker is that SO often the abusive feeder situation involves predator/bully parents.....yet, we live in a society that advocates the idea of standing by family, especially your parents....no matter what they do to you, or how badly they treat you.  And I can't abide by that.  Society's moral "logic" being that because they birthed us/raised us, therefore, we "owe" them, and therefore HAVE to stand by them and take their abusive crap.  It's "disrespectful" to do otherwise.  It goes against one of the 10 Commandments. !

X!

Sometimes it's a greater service to both sides to walk away and abandon the relationship.   The victim is no longer allowing themselves to be preyed upon, and maybe, just maybe, the bully parent will learn a much needed lesson about what happens when you abuse those you're supposed to love and take care of.

ANYway, my 2 cents of agreement...

Yeah, she was a classic "feeder" though, that's what her tactics centered around.  By ignoring her and refusing to feel or even show an emotional response she was not getting her "food."  Duck and run for cover when crossing paths with a feeder who is being starved out!!!     It can get very ugly.  They get desparate and will resort to some crazy things in order to get that reaction/food.   .

And this brings us back full circle as to why we can't ignore negativity.  There are feeders out there in the world, and if you ignore what they are, you'll get sucked dry.  Trying to see the best in people is good up to a certain point, but you do have to use discernment in order to protect yourself.  What I see a lot of in the metaphysical community is an admirable but naive desire to adhere to the "harm no one" edict.  However, you should include yourself at the top of that list, and subjecting yourself to being fed off of is not noble.

If life is a balance, a dance of opposites, then embracing your partner (essentialy yourself), is an effort towards balancing, and swinging in circles. Ignoring the dark side of humanity leads to imbalance. Many new agers appear to me to be burrying undesirable human traits into their personal, and the collective human shadow.

I like to express my deeper self with aphorisms, because this structure of personal expression, which comes from the mystery, lends itself to subjective interpretation and borders on paradoxical thinking. I decern much more wisdom through this method than any other I have found. The reason I believe has to do with Gnostic concepts that have entered into my life at this point in time.

The Divine is a paradox, and we are best served by viewing both sides to a duality-- in harmony-- and with love and understanding.

"On the train of life.... Perfection is the final stop....although, one must go through Hell to get there"
~~carefulcarpenter

"Bullies sometimes wear red dresses"
~~carefulcarpenter

But funny how it works, isn't it?  The abuser can't stand to be ignored, because it's causing them to lose their power, but when you flip the script and flip out, it shifts the balance of power without them even fighting for it.

Yeah, she was a classic "feeder" though, that's what her tactics centered around.  By ignoring her and refusing to feel or even show an emotional response she was not getting her "food."  Duck and run for cover when crossing paths with a feeder who is being starved out!!!     It can get very ugly.  They get desparate and will resort to some crazy things in order to get that reaction/food.   

BUT ANYWAY, so how about those New Agers?!?!    haha    Hope this didn't sidetrack things too much onto ignoring feeders/bullies/predators/Neg entities vs. squaring off with them, but it's a related concept, and one that most people have encountered in some form or another in their lives....

ANYway, so I'd gone through so much crap in life that by that point i was just numb, and stood there, refusing to show any emotion, kept glancing at my fingernails, bored.  That infuriated her and she kept hitting me in the head/face every time I did it.  So yeah, during this particular encounter, I finally snapped.  18 years of her total madness, and I went from apathetic/numb to crazy like a flip had been switched.  Zero to crazy in like 2 seconds.   It was so sudden she never saw it coming.  I let out "the yell", turned and ripped one of the carving knifes from the knife holder that was on the counter behind me, and just went after her.  Chased her around the kitchen table trying to stab her, screaming the whole time.

Wow, that's quite a dramatic "flipping out" story.  But funny how it works, isn't it?  The abuser can't stand to be ignored, because it's causing them to lose their power, but when you flip the script and flip out, it shifts the balance of power without them even fighting for it.

Kind of like what either you or Montalk said about ignoring negs making them get worse and worse... but when you stand up to them they back down.  There's something to that.

Lyra, something similar happened between me and my abusive father.  He'd been domineering all my life, and I had been terrified of him.  One day when I was 15 he was on a beating/ yelling tirade, when I just "flipped out," as you say.  I let out that same yell, and began saying "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you," over and over again, and attacked him with wild, flailing fists.  Ineffective as my flailings were, you should have seen the shock in his eyes.  He backed down real quick.  Later my mother said she'd been waiting for me to finally stand up for myself.

I like that term, "flipped out, " BTW, because it's like that.  Something inside you just snaps, and you can't take any more.

  Sorry to hear about that, that sort of thing sucks, BIG time, when it involves parents.  That's sort of messed up that your mother wasn't doing anything to stop it and would even say something about "waiting for you to finally stand up for yourself."   Jeez louise!!   How horrible.  It's the same situation here, only substitute abusive dad with abusive mom.   When I was 18 she was pulling her usual abusive crap and had me literally backed into the kitchen counter corner, so I couldn't move, while she was screaming at me.   Her face is just evil, that's all I can say, and it's the last thing anybody would want right up in their own face, screaming.   Glad I don't look anything like her.  ANYway, so I'd gone through so much crap in life that by that point i was just numb, and stood there, refusing to show any emotion, kept glancing at my fingernails, bored.  That infuriated her and she kept hitting me in the head/face every time I did it.  So yeah, during this particular encounter, I finally snapped.  18 years of her total madness, and I went from apathetic/numb to crazy like a flip had been switched.  Zero to crazy in like 2 seconds.   It was so sudden she never saw it coming.  I let out "the yell", turned and ripped one of the carving knifes from the knife holder that was on the counter behind me, and just went after her.  Chased her around the kitchen table trying to stab her, screaming the whole time.

Even crazier is that I blocked it out of my mind within probably two days?  Just gone, poof, like it never happened.   The memory was triggered several years later when I was listening to my friend Gary recount a story about his mom backing him into the bathroom, screaming and going bonkers on him for the millionth time, and him flipping out and losing it and letting out the yell and ripping the towel rack off the wall then chasing her down the hall trying to attack her, screaming at her the whole time.   As he was telling me this story over  the phone my own experience began resurfacing.  It surged up, hazy at first, but gaining clarity, and I was like, Wait a minute.......this sounds familiar........I think I had that happen too.............with my mom..........I think..........I pulled a knife on her.........did I??  Did that really happen?........I think it did.......but I'm not sure..........I think I chased her around the kitchen with it and wanted to stab her...........but I'm not sure....... 

And this is me, the person who forgets NOTHING.   !   My mind just blocked it out though.  I had to actually call up my dad in Connecticut to ask him and verify once and for all whether this really happened!!!   I was like Dad......do you remember ever hearing anything about me grabbing a knife and chasing mom around the kitchen with it?

Immediately he was like, "Oh yeah, yeah, you did, I got the phone call after that happened...."

!!!!!!   It was real!  It actually happened!  Holy shit!  I thought.

I will say this though.........Pulling the knife on her stopped the abuse, overnight.  Never touched me again, but I was out within two months anyway.

I like that term, "flipped out, " BTW, because it's like that.  Something inside you just snaps, and you can't take any more.

Yes.  Unfortunately, confronting the bullies can be more painful than what we have anticipated.  The bullies in the playgorund will make a punching bag out of you and the only thing that may stop them is their knuckles are so sore they cannot stand the pain.  Very painful confrontation if you are in the receiving end, but as they say "No pain, no gain!".

Well, from what I've seen it's been quite different.  I'm thinking of several situations I witnessed as a kid where kids flipped out and finally fought back against some bully types that were always needling them, and it stopped the problem, right then and there.  It was not a situation of the bully who kept punching repeatedly until his knuckles were sore, resulting in a painful confrontation for the target.  I haven't seen that, although certainly, it may happen.   In one of the cases it was this kid named Raymond who was just always getting picked on for being fat and nerdy.  This went on until 8th grade, and then one day, in the middle of an assembly in the gymnasium, everybody heard this wild, almost primitive, animalistic "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"  then a bunch of scuffling and the sounds of hitting and bodies being thumped.  It was Raymond.  Flipping out!   Some guys sitting behind Raymond in the bleachers were tormenting him, yet again, and he just LOST it.  He let out that primitive yell, lurched around, and just started WAILING on them.  The cheerleaders stopped in mid cheer, teachers began scrambling, the entire gymnasium got silent, watching, riveted! 

Nobody ever bothered Raymond again! 

Let's see...then there was Derek in 6th grade. He wasn't a nerd, but for some reason this bully named Dustin liked to torment him, because Derek was nice, which equated to "easy target."  Til Derek flipped out one day too, losing it.   Let out the animalistic yell, grabbed a chair, and smashed Dustin in the face with it.  Blood everywhere. 

Nobody ever bothered Derek again! 

I could go on!   But from what I've seen, confronting bullies goes differently from what you described here.  ANYway, don't mean to sidetrack things, just wanted to mention that....