“Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.”
– Carl Jung
On this episode, I talk about the shadow (a term coined by the famous clinical psychologist Carl Jung) and WHY this is important for healing. The shadow is the part of ourselves that we do not want to confront. Our insecurities, actions, and beliefs that only makes things worse. The hell that can consume us if we are not paying attention. The more we confront and understand the dark parts of our personality, the more likely we can avoid this hell in the future. Below are they key points talked about in this podcast episode.
- Integrating the shadow means to understand and develop the dark aspects of your personality that you hide. By doing so, you become more assertive and firm in your morals.
- Carl Jung says: ” The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.”
- What you believe to be right and wrong conflicts with who you think you are. You believe to be a good person and then you lie, steal, or cheat on someone. This act blows apart your “good person” framework. Your own actions traumatize you.
- You can’t become conscious of the shadow without a firm understanding of good and evil. Where people end up and how they get there. We see in Harry Potter where Harry is battling the evil parts of his personality (for he has a piece of Voldemorts soul in him as we all do). Sometimes he can’t control his rage and gives into the pain. But Harry is conscious of this evil inside knowing that one slip or falling prey to such temptations can lead him to the dark side. Sirius Black, his godfather, says it best: ” We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on – that’s who we really are.”
- In a world full of monsters, it is best to become one and keep that monster at bay. Would you rather be a warrior in a garden or a gardener in a war?