Owning Your Own Shadow: The Dark Side of the Psyche

Summary

The script explores the concept of the 'shadow' in Jungian psychology, as articulated by Robert A. Johnson. It emphasizes embracing one's darker, unconscious aspects to achieve wholeness and spiritual growth. Johnson's personal experiences, including a near-death experience and transformative travels, underscore the narrative. The script delves into the balance between good and evil within us, the cultural suppression of our true nature, and the importance of integrating the shadow to access inner wisdom and energy. It concludes with the idea that acknowledging and integrating the shadow leads to a more fulfilling and paradoxically harmonious life.

Takeaways

• 🌟 Embracing one's shadow is a spiritual practice that leads to wholeness and is considered a transformative life experience.
• 🛤️ Robert A. Johnson's near-death experience as a child introduced him to a profound inner world that he later explored through Jungian analysis.
• 🏠 Jung advised Johnson to focus on inner work, emphasizing that the unconscious would guide and protect him, contributing to the collective unconscious's evolution.
• 🧳 At 54, Johnson's trip to India reconnected him with the 'golden world' of his childhood visions, symbolizing a second chance at embracing life's deeper meaning.
• 🌈 The 'golden world' represents a state of consciousness accessible to anyone, highlighting the idea that the divine or 'Kingdom of Heaven' exists within each individual.
• 📚 Johnson's works, such as 'Owning Your Own Shadow,' focus on the importance of integrating the shadow, the unconscious aspects of the psyche, into one's conscious personality.
• 🔍 The shadow is not evil but represents unacknowledged parts of oneself, offering a compensatory role to achieve personality wholeness.
• 💡 Ignoring the shadow can lead to it manifesting in negative ways, such as rage or neurotic behavior, while acknowledging and integrating it can lead to personal growth and vitality.
• 🤝 The union of good and evil within oneself is a path to transcendence, suggesting that it is the balance of both that leads to a holy or enlightened state.
• 🌿 The cultural demand to repress certain traits leads to the formation of the shadow, and Johnson suggests that acknowledging and integrating these traits is crucial for personal and societal health.
• 🌐 The mandorla, an almond-shaped symbol of overlapping circles, represents the reconciliation of opposites and is a guide to achieving wholeness and spiritual understanding.

Q & A

What is the significance of embracing one's shadow according to Robert A. Johnson?

Embracing one's shadow is a profound spiritual discipline that leads to wholeness and is considered the most important experience of a lifetime. It is not evil but a part of oneself that should be integrated for personal growth and evolution of the collective unconscious.

What was Robert A. Johnson's near-death experience at the age of 11?

Robert A. Johnson had a near-death experience in a car crash at the age of 11. He found that the nothingness and blackness he experienced was also an ecstatic world filled with golden visions. This experience deeply affected him and influenced his later work.

How did Carl Jung's advice influence Robert A. Johnson's life and work?

Carl Jung advised Robert A. Johnson to spend most of his time alone, have a separate room for inner work, and avoid joining any organization or collectivity. Jung emphasized that the unconscious would protect and guide Johnson, and that his primary duty was to do his inner work, which would lead to all other aspects of life falling into place.

What is the 'golden world' that Robert A. Johnson refers to in the script?

The 'golden world' is a state of consciousness that is always present and open to anyone at any time and place. It is not a physical place or time but represents a profound spiritual and psychological experience of wholeness and beauty.

What misconceptions does the script mention about the concept of the shadow?

The script mentions that the shadow is commonly misconceived as evil, dark, and something to be avoided. However, the shadow is actually a part of oneself that contains both positive and negative aspects and should not be ignored but integrated for wholeness.

How does the script describe the relationship between the shadow and the ego?

The script describes the relationship between the shadow and the ego as a balancing act. The ego represents the conscious, acceptable qualities, while the shadow contains the unacceptable ones. Both are necessary for psychic equilibrium, and the seesaw metaphor is used to illustrate this balance.

What is the role of the shadow in an individual's psychological makeup?

The shadow has a compensatory role, representing aspects of the personality that are lacking or have been repressed. It seeks to restore the wholeness of personality and can contain both negative and positive traits that are essential for a balanced self.

How does the script relate the concept of the shadow to religious and spiritual experiences?

The script relates the shadow to religious and spiritual experiences by suggesting that acknowledging and integrating the shadow is akin to a spiritual practice that leads to wholeness. It also discusses the mandorla as a symbol of the overlap of opposites, signifying reconciliation and wholeness in spiritual terms.

What does the script suggest about the importance of acknowledging the shadow in society?

The script suggests that acknowledging the shadow is crucial for individual psychological health and societal harmony. Ignoring the shadow can lead to the projection of these qualities onto others, resulting in conflict and societal issues such as war, economic chaos, and intolerance.

How does the script explain the process of individuation or self-realization in relation to the shadow?

The script explains that individuation or self-realization begins when one is faced with a hopeless conflict or a situation with no solution. This forces the individual to confront their ego and realize that they need to look beyond it to find a greater truth, which involves acknowledging and integrating their shadow.

What is the significance of the mandorla in the context of the script?

The mandorla is an almond-shaped symbol that represents the overlap of opposites, such as good and evil, light and dark. It signifies the reconciliation of these opposites and is a guide to wholeness and spiritual experience. The script suggests that the mandorla can provide healing and a deeper understanding of life's paradoxes.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 Embracing the Shadow for Wholeness

The first paragraph introduces the concept of the 'shadow' as a vital part of the human psyche, as explained by Robert A. Johnson, a Jungian analyst. Johnson's personal experiences, including a near-death experience and his journey to India, underscore the significance of inner exploration. He emphasizes that the shadow, often misunderstood as evil, is actually an integral part of our personality that, when ignored, can lead to inner conflict and neurosis. Johnson's work encourages individuals to accept and integrate their shadow to achieve wholeness and spiritual growth, as he discusses in his book 'Owning Your Own Shadow: Understanding the Dark Side of the Psyche'.

05:02

🔍 The Shadow's Role and Origins

This paragraph delves deeper into the origins and manifestations of the shadow. It explains that our rejected and unacceptable traits form the shadow, which can accumulate and erupt as negative emotions if not acknowledged. The text likens the shadow to the concept of sin and suggests that cultural norms often suppress parts of our nature, leading to a division between the ego and the shadow. Johnson highlights the importance of recognizing and integrating the noble aspects of the shadow, as denying them can lead to a sense of lifelessness and exhaustion. The religious aspect is also touched upon, with the suggestion that religion aims to restore the wholeness of the personality.

10:02

💡 The Balance of Light and Dark

The third paragraph discusses the balance between the light and dark aspects of the human psyche. It uses the metaphor of a seesaw to illustrate the need for equilibrium between our acceptable and unacceptable qualities. The text posits that the holy place is the center point of this seesaw, representing wholeness. It also explores cultural and religious perspectives, such as the Hindu trinity of Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu, to emphasize the universality of balancing creation and destruction. Johnson shares personal anecdotes to illustrate the consequences of not acknowledging the shadow and the importance of integrating it for a balanced and meaningful life.

15:03

🚫 The Danger of Shadow Projection

This paragraph examines the perils of projecting our shadow onto others, which can lead to conflict and a failure to achieve personal wholeness. It suggests that recognizing and assimilating our shadow is essential for personal growth and for reducing the collective societal shadow that manifests as war and intolerance. The text also discusses the importance of rituals and symbolic actions in acknowledging and integrating the shadow, drawing parallels to the roles of shamans and the wounded healer archetype.

20:05

🔄 The Transformative Power of Paradox

The fifth paragraph explores the concept of paradox as a way to reconcile opposing elements within ourselves and to move beyond neurotic suffering. It discusses how embracing the shadow is a step towards understanding paradox, which allows for a more profound spiritual experience. The text references the mandorla, a symbol of the overlap of opposites, as a guide for reconciliation and healing. It suggests that the integration of good and evil, light and dark, is not only necessary for personal healing but also for the realization of a unified self.

25:08

🌐 The Collective Impact of Individual Wholeness

In the final paragraph, the focus shifts to the collective impact of individual efforts to achieve wholeness. It suggests that by acknowledging and integrating our shadows, we can contribute to reducing the collective shadow that fuels societal issues. The text highlights the importance of mandorla as a symbol of wholeness and the ultimate goal of human consciousness. It concludes with a poetic reference to T.S. Eliot's 'The Four Quartets,' emphasizing the unity of seemingly opposing elements and the profound satisfaction found in this understanding.

Keywords

💡Shadow

In the context of the video, 'shadow' refers to the unconscious aspect of the self that is often overlooked or ignored. It is a concept derived from Jungian psychology, representing the parts of our personality that we deny or consider unacceptable. The video emphasizes the importance of acknowledging and integrating the shadow to achieve wholeness and self-acceptance. For example, Robert A. Johnson explains that the shadow is not evil but a part of oneself that needs to be recognized and embraced for personal growth.

💡Wholeness

Wholeness is a central theme in the video, representing the state of being complete and undivided, both in terms of one's personality and spiritual development. It is the goal of embracing both the light and dark aspects of the self, as suggested by the video. The concept is illustrated through the idea that acknowledging one's shadow contributes to wholeness, which is essential for spiritual evolution and personal fulfillment, as Robert experienced when he reconnected with the 'golden world' during his visit to India.

💡Inner Work

Inner work, as discussed in the video, involves the introspective process of exploring one's inner world, understanding one's unconscious desires, and integrating the shadow into consciousness. It is a key practice in Jungian psychology and is emphasized by Dr. Jung's advice to Robert to spend time alone and focus on personal development. The video suggests that inner work is crucial for personal growth and the evolution of the collective unconscious.

💡Ego

The 'ego' in the video represents the conscious self, the part of the personality that is aware and in control of one's thoughts and actions. It is often in conflict with the shadow, as the ego tends to reject or suppress the unconscious aspects of the self. The video discusses the need to balance the ego with the shadow to maintain psychological health and achieve a state of wholeness, as illustrated by the seesaw metaphor.

💡Paradox

Paradox, in the context of the video, refers to the reconciliation of seemingly contradictory elements or concepts, such as good and evil, light and dark, or creation and destruction. The video posits that embracing paradox is essential for spiritual growth and understanding the complexity of life. It is through the acceptance of paradox that one can transcend the limitations of dualistic thinking and achieve a higher level of consciousness, as exemplified by the mandorla symbol.

💡Mandorla

The mandorla is an almond-shaped symbol that represents the overlap and reconciliation of opposites, such as the divine and the human, or good and evil. In the video, it is presented as a guide for healing and wholeness, suggesting that true transformation and spiritual experience occur at the intersection of these opposites. The mandorla is a visual representation of the sacred union that transcends duality and leads to a profound understanding of unity.

💡Projection

Projection, as discussed in the video, is a psychological defense mechanism where one attributes their own unconscious impulses or undesirable qualities to someone else. The video explains that ignoring one's shadow can lead to projecting it onto others, which can cause conflict and misunderstanding. Recognizing and integrating one's shadow can reduce projection and contribute to personal and collective harmony.

💡Individualization

Individualization is the process of self-realization and becoming one's true self, as described in the video. It involves the integration of the conscious and unconscious aspects of the personality, leading to a state of wholeness. The video suggests that facing conflicts and the shadow is a starting point for individuation, which ultimately leads to a deeper understanding of one's identity and purpose.

💡Nobility

Nobility, in the video, refers to the positive and admirable qualities that are often hidden within the shadow. The video points out that people may resist acknowledging their noble traits more than their darker aspects, which can lead to a lack of self-awareness and personal growth. Embracing the nobility within the shadow is part of the journey towards wholeness and self-acceptance.

💡Cultural Influence

Cultural influence, as mentioned in the video, is the impact that societal norms and expectations have on shaping an individual's ego and shadow. Culture often dictates which qualities are considered acceptable and which are suppressed, leading to a division within the self. The video suggests that recognizing and integrating the shadow can counteract the limiting effects of cultural influence and lead to a more authentic and whole self.

💡Religion

Religion, in the context of the video, is presented as a means to restore wholeness and connect the fractured aspects of the self. It is associated with the process of reconciliation and the integration of opposites, such as good and evil. The video discusses how religious practices and symbols, like the mandorla, can guide individuals towards a deeper understanding of paradox and wholeness, contributing to personal and collective healing.

Highlights

Honouring and accepting one's shadow is a profound spiritual discipline that leads to wholeness and is considered the most important experience of a lifetime.

Robert A. Johnson's near-death experience at age 11 led to visions of a golden world, highlighting the profound impact of such experiences on one's perspective on life.

Johnson's difficulty with the outer world and his encounter with Jung underscore the importance of inner work and the role of the unconscious in personal development.

Johnson's transformative experience in India at age 54, seeing the golden world again, illustrates the concept of the golden world as a state of consciousness accessible at any time.

The golden world is not a place or time but a state of consciousness that represents the potential for spiritual awakening and self-realization.

Johnson's books, such as 'Owning Your Own Shadow', emphasize the importance of understanding and integrating the shadow to achieve personal wholeness.

Exploring the inner world is identified as the most important task in our lives, necessitating a journey beyond the ego to confront and understand the shadow.

The shadow is not evil but a part of oneself that represents unacknowledged aspects and has a compensatory role in seeking personality wholeness.

The concept of the shadow being a friend rather than an enemy is introduced, emphasizing the importance of integrating the shadow for personal growth.

The shadow's hostile nature emerges when ignored or misunderstood, leading to it taking control and causing neurotic behavior.

The origin of the shadow is explained as a result of refused and unacceptable characteristics that accumulate and take on a life of their own.

Cultural demands and the legacy of the knowledge of good and evil contribute to the formation of the ego and the shadow, as well as the concept of sin.

The resistance to acknowledging noble aspects of the shadow is discussed, as people often find it more disturbing to recognize their own nobility than their flaws.

The wounded healer archetype and the role of the shaman are introduced as examples of individuals who have integrated their shadow and found inner gold.

The seesaw analogy is used to illustrate the balance between the ego and the shadow, emphasizing the importance of psychic equilibrium for mental health.

The concept of the mandorla as a symbol for the reconciliation of opposites and the path to wholeness is introduced, highlighting its significance in spiritual experience.

The importance of paradox in embracing reality and achieving wholeness is discussed, with examples of how it applies to various aspects of life.

The collective shadow and its impact on societal issues such as war, economic chaos, and intolerance are examined, stressing the need for individual shadow integration.

The role of religion in bridging opposites and healing the psyche is explored, showing how it can help transition from contradiction to paradox.

The significance of owning one's shadow in preparing for spiritual experience and the divine progression from conflict to revelation is highlighted.

The mandala and mandorla are presented as symbols of wholeness and reconciliation, with the latter representing the overlap of opposites and the potential for healing.

The ultimate goal of achieving wholeness through the integration of the shadow and the transcendence of opposites is encapsulated in the concept of the mandorla.

Transcripts

“To honour and accept one’s own shadow is a profound spiritual discipline.

It is whole-making and thus holy and the most important experience of a lifetime.”

Robert A. Johnson was an American author and Jungian analyst (a follower of Carl Jung’s

analytical psychology).

At the age of 11, he had a near death experience in a car crash and was rushed to the hospital.

He found that the nothingness, the blackness, was also the ecstatic world, he saw the world

golden in visions.

When they saved his life, and the visions stopped, he could not bear to live.

In therapy, he was convinced to live because without the human faculty, he could not see

the things which he treasured so much.

Robert had a great difficulty with the outer world.

At one point he was known as Parsifal, an innocent fool.

He experienced many slender threads between life and death during his life.

Exploring the inner world helped him tremendously.

His encounter with Jung was decisive, he wrote: “Dr. Jung told me to spend most of my time

alone, have a separate room in the house to be used for nothing but inner work, never

to join any organisation or collectivity…

Dr Jung told me that the unconscious would protect me, give me everything that I needed

for my life and that my one duty was to do my inner work.

All else would follow from this.

He said it was not the least important whether I accomplished anything outwardly in this

life since my one task was to contribute to the evolution of the collective unconscious.”

At the age of 54, and feeling lost in his life, Robert visited India alone.

After a long and exhausting trip, and having lost his luggage, he went to his hotel and

wanted nothing else than to sleep the whole day.

He looked outside the window, and was struck by the beauty of the sight.

He experienced the golden world a second time, after many decades.

He was given a second chance.

If you trust the inner world, it will take care of you.

The golden world is there all the time, it is a misconception to think that we produce

it or earn it.

It is not some other place or time, but a state of consciousness, an experience open

to anyone, at any time, and at any place.

The Kingdom of Heaven is within.

Robert has published books such as: He: Understanding Masculine Psychology, She: Understanding Feminine

Psychology, and Owning Your Own Shadow: Understanding the Dark Side of the Psyche, among others.

We will be focusing on the third one.

In our times, the water of life lies not in the external world, but rather within.

The exploration of our inner world is the most important task in our lives.

For this, one must go beyond the ego (what we are and know consciously), and delve into

the shadow.

Robert refers to Jung’s early usage of the term, the part of us we fail to see or know

(anything that is part of the unconscious).

There are many misconceptions regarding the concept of shadow.

It is commonly seen as evil, dark and something to be avoided.

However, this is not the case.

The shadow is not a detached thing that is not part of oneself, or the embodiment of

the devil.

It is a part of you.

It cannot, and should not be avoided, for you will be going against yourself.

We all have a shadow walking behind us (both literally and metaphorically).

It is the mirror image of ourselves that we cannot see.

It represents those aspects that we lack.

It has a compensatory role that seeks to restore our wholeness of personality.

For instance, the shadow of a criminal would not have murderous impulses, but the opposite,

sincerity, relatedness, tenderness, etc.

The shadow of a shy person would be assertiveness, commitment, responsibility, etc.

By displaying only the pleasant parts and highlights of oneself, and by denying one’s

emotions and inner feelings, because one wants to, for example, be likeable or avoid conflict,

one will build resentment that will go directly to the shadow and be projected onto others

unconsciously.

We must recognise that we are capable of both good and evil.

That is the only reality.

To deny darkness is to deny half of oneself.

With this in mind, most of us strive for a life of goodness, tranquillity and happiness.

The shadow is not to be seen as our enemy, but our friend.

It contains pure gold waiting to be integrated into our personality.

The shadow only becomes hostile when it is ignored or misunderstood, that is when it

takes control of us, because we are not willing to.

You can either be led and guided in life by your shadow, or be dragged through life by

it, leading to neurotic behaviour.

It is not good that makes holy, it is the union of both good and evil that gives way

to the transcendent.

So, how does the shadow originate?

Our refused and unacceptable characteristics do not go away; they only collect in the dark

corners of our personality.

When they have been hidden long enough, they take on a life of their own—the shadow life.

If it accumulates more energy than our ego, it erupts as an overpowering rage.

Someone once told Jung, “how do you find your shadow?”

He replied, “how do you find the dragon that has swallowed you?”

By definition the shadow is a part of you that you don’t know.

You don’t talk about your own shadow.

If you can talk about it, it is already conscious and no longer shadow.

As such, other people are more likely to see your shadow first, an embarrassing reality.

We are all born whole, but somehow culture demands that we live out only part of our

nature and refuse other parts of ourselves.

We divide the self into an ego and a shadow because our culture insists that we behave

in a particular manner.

This is our legacy from having eaten of the fruit of the tree of knowledge in the Garden

of Eden, gaining consciousness of good and evil.

The shadow can also be seen as sin, and the self as the figure of Christ.

Culture is the great levelling process, it brings everyone down to the same level.

This means that also some of the pure gold of our personality goes into the shadow.

Robert writes: “Curiously, people resist the noble aspects

of their shadow more strenuously than they hide the dark sides.

To draw the skeleton out of the closet is relatively easy, but to own the gold in the

shadow is terrifying.

It is more disrupting to find that you have a profound nobility of character than to find

out you are a bum.”

Ignoring the shadow is to ignore the inner gold.

And many only discover their gold when they suffer from severe or life-threatening illness.

This intense experience shows us that an important part of us is lying dormant.

The archetype of the wounded healer is one who has learned to cure himself and find the

gold in his experience.

This is typically the role of the shaman who often falls ill only to gain the insight needed

to heal himself and bring wisdom to his people, the elixir of life.

As we reach adulthood, we have a clearly defined ego and shadow, a system of right and wrong.

The religious task is to restore the wholeness of personality.

Religion means to put things back together again, to connect whatever is fractured.

This is the job of the religious life.

We modern people are broken within.

The truth is hard to bear and we do not want to hear that there’s something in the world

more important than our ego.

Something needs to die, not our bodies, but the ego.

Robert writes: “Generally, the first half of life is devoted

to the cultural process—gaining one’s skills, raising a family, disciplining one’s

self in a hundred different ways; the second half of life is devoted to restoring the wholeness

(making holy) of life.”

Robert uses the image of the teeter-totter or seesaw to illustrate our personality.

On the right side we have our acceptable qualities (the righteous side), and on the left side

we have those qualities that are unacceptable (the forbidden side).

No quality can ever be discarded, it can only be moved between these two sides of the seesaw.

A law prevails that most of us choose to ignore completely.

The seesaw must be balanced if one is to remain in psychic equilibrium.

If one indulges characteristics on the right side, they must be balanced by an equal weight

on the left side.

The reverse is equally true.

This instability is what causes mood swings or suddenly acting as a completely different person.

On the other hand, if the seesaw is too heavily loaded, it may also break at the centre point.

This is a psychosis or “breakdown”.

While we take the balance of say, our body temperature, for granted – we rarely recognise

that the psyche also has its way of keeping a balance.

This idea is illustrated in a medieval manuscript of the tree of knowledge produced from Adam’s navel.

On the left, the Virgin Mary is clothed as a nun, picking fruit from the tree and handing

it out to a long line of penitents for their salvation.

Eve, naked, stands on the right, picking fruit from the same tree, handing it out to a long

line of people for their damnation.

This single tree gives a dual product.

Whenever we pluck from the fruit of creativity, our other hand plucks the fruit of destruction.

We would love to have creativity without destruction, but that is not possible.

Our resistance to this insight is very high.

The prevailing attitude of goodness or sainthood is to live as much as possible on the right

hand, the good side, of the seesaw.

But such a condition would be unstable.

The holy place is the centre point.

While we must hide our dark side from society, we should never hide it from ourself.

Robert writes: “Of course we are going to have a shadow!

St. Augustine, in The City of God, thundered, ’To act is to sin.’

To create is to destroy at the same moment.

We cannot make light without a corresponding darkness.

India balances Brahma, the god of creation, with Shiva, the god of destruction, and Vishnu

sits in the middle keeping the opposites together.

No one can escape the dark side of life, but we can pay out that dark side intelligently…

The balance of light and dark is ultimately possible – and bearable.”

This is one of Jung’s great insights: that the ego and the shadow come from the same

source and exactly balance each other.

To make light is to make shadow; one cannot exist without the other.

“To own one’s own shadow is to reach a holy place – an inner centre – not attainable

in any other way.

To fail this is to fail one’s own sainthood and to miss the purpose of life.”

It is not perfection that we must strive for, but wholeness – this is how the joy of life

is created.

It is embracing our own humanity, our strengths and flaws, and not a one-sided goodness that

has no vitality or life.

Robert writes: “I remember a weekend when I put up with

very difficult guests who stayed days beyond their invitation.

I exercised herculean patience and courtesy and sighed in great relief when they left.

I thought I had earned something nice by my virtue so I went to the nursery to buy something

beautiful for my garden.

Before I knew what was happening, I picked a fight with the nurseryman and made a miserable

spectacle of myself.

Since I did not pick up my shadow consciously, I landed it on this poor stranger.

Balance was served, but in a clumsy and stupid way.”

One has to honour one’s shadow, for it is an integral part of oneself; but one must

not push it onto someone else.

The shadow will claim its dues in some form, intelligent or stupid.

Projection is always easier than assimilation.

It is only possible to do one’s best and live a decent civilised life if we acknowledge

this other dimension of reality.

We all have the potential for evil, that is what unites all of us.

Those who deny this, are often those who fall prey to their own shadow.

To refuse the dark side of one’s nature is to store up or accumulate the darkness;

this is later expressed as a black mood, psychosomatic illness, or unconsciously inspired accidents.

“We are presently dealing with the accumulation of a whole society that has worshiped its

light side and refused the dark, and this residue appears as war, economic chaos, strikes,

racial intolerance.

The front page of any newspaper hurls the collective shadow at us.

We must be whole whether we like it or not; the only choice is whether we will incorporate

the shadow consciously and with some dignity or do it through some neurotic behaviour.”

The tendency to see one’s shadow “out there” in a specific person or a group of

people is the most dangerous aspect of the modern psyche.

Not only does it affect others negatively, but also oneself.

It is only by taking the shadow back into one self, that one can assimilate it.

It must return to where it first originated and where it is required for your own wholeness.

It is common for two people’s shadows to be at each other.

This rarely leads anywhere, as both of them are entirely at the mercy of the unconscious.

To be in the presence of another’s shadow and not reply is nothing short of genius.

Goethe’s Faust is a great example in literature of the meeting of ego and shadow.

Faust is a scholar who finds that life is meaningless and contemplates suicide, his

seesaw has reached the breaking point.

At this moment, he meets with his shadow, Mephistopheles.

Through their perseverance, Faust is saved from his lifelessness and becomes capable

of passion, and Mephistopheles discovers his capacity to love.

Love is the one word in our Western tradition adequate to describe this synthesis of ego

and shadow.

One of the hardest things to understand is that we often refuse to accept our noble traits

and instead find a shadow substitute for them.

“People are as frightened of their capacity for nobility as of their darkest sides.

If you find the gold in someone he will resist it to the last ounce of his strength.

This is why we indulge in hero-worship so often.”

All our energy lies in our shadow and ignoring it makes us feel lifeless, exhausted and lazy.

A confrontation with one’s shadow fills one up with energy and stamina, which we can

use for our daily tasks and work.

Robert writes: “A wise woman once showed me how to get

more energy when I complained that I was exhausted before lecturing.

She instructed me to go to a private room just before the talk, take a towel, dampen

it so it would be very heavy, then throw the towel, wrapped up into a ball, at the floor

as hard as I could—and shout.

I felt infinitely foolish doing this, for it is not my style.

But when I walked out to the lecture platform after such an exercise there was fire in my eyes.

I had energy and stamina and voice.

I did a courteous, well-structured lecture.

The shadow backed me but did not overwhelm me.”

Parrots learn profanity more easily than common phrases since we utter our curses with so much vigour.

The parrot doesn’t know the meaning of these words, but he hears the energy invested in them.

Even animals can pick up on the power we have hidden in the shadow!

In middle age one gets tired of the involuntary round trips between the two ends of the see-saw.

To our surprise, that middle ground is not the grey compromise that we feared but the

place of ecstasy and joy.

If we learn how to take the energy of the shadow and use it correctly, it can set the

stage for a whole new phase of life.

In a shadow ritual, one must find one of the left-hand contents and give it expression

in some way that does not damage the right-hand personality.

One can offer a sacrifice in multiple ways, such as writing the shadow material down and

then burning the paper.

A symbolic or ceremonial ritual affects one as much as any event, as long as it means

something for you.

All healthy societies have a rich ceremonial life to pay out their shadow in a symbolic

way, through fasting, sacrifice, sexual abstention, etc.

We must acknowledge the whole of reality, destruction and creation, evil and redemption.

Our fondness for the light blinds us to the greater reality and keeps us from this larger

vision of wholeness.

Paradox is that water of life we need so badly in our modern world.

All the great myths give instructions on this subject and remind us that the treasure will

be found in one of the least likely places.

Strangely, the best can come from the most neglected quarter.

We will go to almost any length to avoid this painful paradox; but in that refusal we only

confine ourselves to the useless experience of contradiction.

Contradiction brings the crushing burden of meaninglessness.

One can endure any suffering if it has meaning; but meaninglessness is unbearable.

Contradiction is barren and destructive, yet paradox is creative.

It is a powerful embracing of reality.

Every human experience can be expressed in terms of paradox.

Day is comprehensible only in contrast to night.

Masculinity has relevance only in contrast to femininity.

Activity has meaning only in relation to rest.

Up is only possible in the presence of down.

Where would I be without you?

Where is joy not bounded by sobriety?

To advance from opposition (always a quarrel) to paradox (always holy) is to make a leap

of consciousness.

That leap takes us through the chaos of middle age and gives a vista that enlightens the

remaining years of life.

Winning and losing, eating and fasting, earning and giving – these are not opposites, but

are all necessary to the human condition.

Everyone one of us lives in this contradiction.

So what do we do with this apparently insufferable contradiction?

That is essentially the question that is at the base of every neurotic dissociation and

every psychological problem.

If we go at the question wrongly we are bound in a neurotic paralysis in which we can do

nothing.

We cannot act or be still.

This is where many people stand and their suffering is intense.

Danish philosopher Kierkegaard expresses this as exemplifying the life of the aesthete,

who chases pleasure but is struck with despair.

He writes: “I can’t be bothered.

I can’t be bothered to ride, the motion is too violent; I can’t be bothered to walk,

it’s strenuous; I can’t be bothered to lie down, for either I’d have to stay lying

down and that I can’t be bothered with, or I’d have to get up again, and I can’t

be bothered with that either.

In short: I just can’t be bothered.”

Kierkegaard, too, believes that paradox is the solution to despair, which can only be

found in taking the leap of faith towards God.

To think that one way of action is profane and another sacred is to make a terrible misuse

of language.

This is a flaming, flagrant error and is the seat of most of the neurotic suffering in

humankind.

Religion bridges or heals, it restores and reconciles the opposition that have been torturing

each of us.

It helps us move from contradiction—that painful condition where things oppose each

other—to the realm of paradox, where we are able to entertain simultaneously two contradictory

notions and give them equal dignity.

The English poet William Blake also spoke about the need to reconcile both the light

and the dark parts of the self.

He said we should go to heaven for form and to hell for energy – and marry the two.

Most people spend their entire life energy supporting the war of opposites within themselves.

This only brings despair.

In the miracle of the paradox, it is good to win; it is also good to lose.

It is good to have; it is also good not to have.

Each represents a reality, a truth.

To stay loyal to paradox is to earn the right to wholeness.

Fanaticism is always a sign that one has adopted one of a pair of opposites at the expense

of the other.

The high energy of fanaticism is a frantic effort to keep one half of the truth at bay

while the other half takes control.

This always yields a brittle personality of “always being right.”

But what has paradox to do with the shadow?

It has everything to do with the shadow, for there can be no paradox—that sublime place

of reconciliation—until one has owned one’s own shadow and drawn it up to a place of dignity

and worth.

To own one’s own shadow is to prepare the ground for spiritual experience.

Conflict to paradox to revelation; that is the divine progression.

Who does not spend much of his time debating whether to do the disciplined task or to goof

off a bit longer and stay in dreamy “nowhere”?

Neither is holy; but exactly in the paradox between them lies the holy place.

To be in a situation where there is no way out, or to be in a conflict where there is

no solution, is the classical beginning of individuation or self-realisation.

In this state, the unconscious wants the hopeless conflict in order to put ego-consciousness

up against the wall, so that one has to realise that whatever one does is wrong.

This is an act of humility, that invites one to see beyond the ego, to that which is greater

than ourselves.

We know that the mandala is the holy circle that represents wholeness, the Self.

Mandalas are devices that remind us of our unity with God and with all living things.

In Tibet a teacher often draws a mandala for his student and leaves him to meditate on

this symbol for many years before he gives the next step of instruction.

The mandorla, however, is an idea that is rarely talked about.

The mandorla also has a healing effect, but its form is somewhat different.

It is an almond-shaped segment that is made when two circles partly overlap.

This symbol signifies nothing less than the overlap of the opposites that we have been

investigating.

It instructs us how to engage in reconciliation.

We can often see Christ or the Virgin Mary in its centre.

By definition, Christ himself is the intersection of the divine and the human.

He is the prototype for the reconciliation of opposites and our guide out of the realm

of conflict and duality.

When one is tired or discouraged by life that one can no longer bear to live, the mandorla

shows what one may do.

When the most herculean efforts and the finest discipline no longer keep the painful contradictions

of life at bay, we are all in need of the mandorla.

Our own healing proceeds from that overlap of what we call good and evil, light and dark.

It is not the light element alone that does the healing; the place where light and dark

begin to touch is the most profound religious experience we can have in life.

We like to think that a story is based on the triumph of good over evil; but the deeper

truth is that good and evil are superseded and the two become one.

When one is truly both a citizen of heaven and earth, one finally realises that there

was only one circle all the time.

This is the fulfilment of the Christian goal.

The two circles were only the optical illusion of our capacity and need to see things double.

If one makes a mandorla in the privacy of one’s interior life, it is heard for more

than a thousand miles.

People often asked Jung, “Will we make it?”

referring to the cataclysm of our time.

He always replied, “If enough people will do their inner work.”

The acknowledgement of one’s shadow diminishes shadow projection and helps to contribute

less to the general darkness of the world by not adding to the collective shadow that

fuels war, division and strife.

But we also prepare the way for the mandorla, that ultimate place of wholeness in one’s

inner life, the great prize of human consciousness.

“In the Four Quartets, T.S. Eliot writes,

‘The fire and the rose are one.’

By overlapping the two elements of fire and flower, he makes a mandorla.

We are pleased to the depth of our soul to be told that the fire of transformation and

the flower of rebirth are one and the same.”