Your Shadow

“One does not become enlightened by imagining light, but by making the darkness conscious” – C.G. Jung

Human nature is complex. In order for any psychotherapeutic treatment to work and have the long lasting effects we desire, there are some challenging truths about ourselves we must own.

Truth #1 There are dark aspects in every human being no matter how intelligent, loving, kind and compassionate they are. The 7 deadly sins of Gluttony, Anger, Greed, Sloth, Envy, Pride and Lust apply to everyone. They are perfect examples and reflections of our imperfect nature. They exist because we exist.

Truth#2 It’s ok that we are not perfect. Our psychological pain is not caused by our darker aspects; it’s caused by our rejection and withdrawal of love from them. Clinically, it’s a bad idea to try and throw away any piece of your psyche.

Truth #3 When we try to dissect and remove unwanted parts of ourselves we send the message to said parts that they are unwelcome and have no place at our table. Once rejected, our darker aspects have no other choice but to go under ground. Once exiled into the unconscious, our darker natures wreak havoc on all we attempt to consciously create. They act out the role of “red headed step-child” or bastard son or daughter. Believing that they are unlovable, they often seek to destroy that which lives in the light. Hence we create our own blind spots. All too often the end result of this process results in mental illness to some degree. Individuals self-destruct and relationships fall apart.

Society reflects and acts out the split between our conscious efforts to be good and our unconscious ghetto of psychic castaways, with things like man-made oil spills, media scare tactics, war for profit, violent crime, homelessness and childhood obesity coexisting with great acts of philanthropy, art, poetry, wild life preserves, Green Peace and the Red Cross.

We have created a culture of “us” and “them”. It seems to me that our cultural creation is a reflection of our own internal struggle between the compassionate, warm, loving and generous people we strive to be and the greedy, fearful and aggressive parts of us we struggle to keep in the shadows.