Many Spiritual teachers only teach the lighter side of awakening. The thought of rising above it all, wearing your crystals, meditating, saying your affirmations, and life will be wonderful and nice. However, the reality is something much more raw and real is needed from us. If we are to find the light, we have to work with our darkness.
Darkness is a part of us all. We may not want to believe it or look at it, but wherever there is light, there is also darkness. In psychology, this is thought of as our inner darkness, or the shadow self. And when we do the work necessary to address our shadow self, it is called shadow work.