Egregoros

The things that exist in your shadow may very well be filled with death and decay. But they exist whether you look at them or not. That's why if you want to pay close attention to them for a time, so that you can deal with them.

If you have a misbehaving child, if you just ignore what they're doing because it makes you uncomfortable, then eventually they're going to go off and do something completely reprehensible carrying your family name. You have to look fully at that child, and with a full understanding of exactly what they are doing, administer the corrective actions.

If you're trying to purify something in chemistry, often the first step is to integrate that which is your product and that which is your byproduct, and then you can do different filtering or freezing or pH modifying or solvent steps, then you separate what is wanted from what is unwanted and you recrystallize the final product at the highest purity.