This reflection, written almost exactly 4 yrs ago, talks about why we were about to elect President Death and why, seemingly paradoxically, this may have been necessary for our societal and individual growth and transformation. https://link.medium.com/Kx5V4okJa7 

The shadow’s lessons, particularly if we persistently ignore and/or deny its existence, are always painful and difficult. But we must experience them in order to learn — just talking about them does not work.

And those experiences are by necessity dark — conflicts, crises, and disintegration of a varying depth and scope. They teach us invaluable lessons about ourselves and life in general:

on the deadly toxicity of our primitive strivings (for power and self-aggrandizement, for example); on the destructive nature of our hubris and self love;

on the futility of our frantic efforts to keep darkness and death at bay; and, overwhelmingly, on the tragedy inherent in our existence.

These are the lessons that America has been avoiding with all its might, which is one reason why it has persisted in its destructive politics at home and abroad.

That difficult learning process is potentially positive, since it's one of purification & clarification. As we are forced to examine & dismantle (not necessarily in this order) the wrong ways in which we lived our lives, we learn to see more clearly what remains and what matters.