Those who deny the shadow are in a very insecure and precarious position. To be exclusively in a deva realm and not to recognize its precarious nature is a form of gross self-delusion. I remember a very nice lady from California who was a yoga teacher and a masseuse. . . . She came to Nepal and was always talking about joy, love and light. One lama used to call her the Bliss Cloud. Then she got sick. Everybody gets sick in Nepal. That brought her down from her cloud. Then she began to develop genuine compassion. It is hard to develop true compassion when you are continually blocking out all suffering from your own life.
— Tenzin Palmo, Reflections on a Mountain Lake