The Shadow

The Shadow

The Guard at the Door

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Man stands in his own shadow and wonders why it is dark

Zen Saying

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Just as all objects under a light have a shadow, the human mind has a light or conscious side and a dark unconscious side. Jung named this dark side of the mind the shadow and called it

"that hidden, repressed, for the most part inferior and guilt-laden personality whose ultimate ramifications reach back into the realm of our ancestors and so comprise the whole historical aspect of the unconscious."

As the accumulation of everything that an individual refuses to acknowledge or is unable to see in himself, the shadow contains negative qualities that cannot be faced, such as faults and bad habits, and as well as positive qualities that are unable to be acknowledged. The shadow may also contain personal gifts and abilities that have been unaccepted by parents and society during the childhood socialization process. If, for instance, a man is taught that being yielding and sensitive is not acceptable, he may suppress those qualities, even though those qualities may be exactly what he needs to express his creativity. 

Social pressure may also cause a person to suppress certain qualities. A society that abhors any type of aggressive behavior will cause many individuals to put anger and aggression in the shadow. Qualities and emotions that lie in the shadow are not directly accessible to the individual or to society but eventually seep out in uncontrollable and often destructive ways. A method of accessing these energies is to investigate the contents of the shadow, thus integrating them into the conscious mind. 

While investigating shadow material can be a humbling and sometimes depressing experience, those who are able to tolerate the work reap the rewards of increased clarity and vitality. Attributes that remain in the shadow contain a great deal of personal energy that cannot be used for the benefit of the individual and may even be the source of disease. Integrating previously unconscious shadow material into the conscious mind allows the mind to access the energy.

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The Illusionary Life - Projection of the Shadow

Parts of the shadow that are not brought into conscious awareness are projected out into the world. Although the other contents of the unconscious may be transferred, it is the projection of the shadow that is of particular concern. When the shadow is projected, its unaccepted contents are blamed on others. In this unconscious stare, what is denied in the inner state is seen in objects of hatred and aversion in the outside world. Because the unrealized shadow is not known to the conscious mind, the source of this transmittal is not the individual ego but the unconscious. Thus, the unconscious shadow material casts itself out onto the environment, creating an illusionary world that the ego is fooled into seeing as reality. The effect of unexamined projection is, according to Jung,

"to isolate the subject from his environment, since instead of a real relationship there is now only an illusory one."

In other words, projections create a waking dream from which the individual is unable to emerge without significant effort. Projection of the shadow is similar to the phenomenon that in the East is called Maya, the veil of illusion. The object of many Eastern spiritual practices is to break through this veil into the reality of life. An example of this can be seen in the following discussion between a practitioner of meditation and his teacher. The practitioner, who was having a lot of trouble with his life, described many of the terrible things that were happening to him. The teacher replied, "This is your movie. Why did you decide to make it a horror film?" This reply seems at first to lack compassion, but it may have been just what the student needed to begin to question the illusion that was being created by his unconscious mind.

Only a very few will be able to accomplish the withdrawal of projection that is the goal of such spiritual practice, but awareness of the projection of the personal shadow is a goal that can be reached by many. The personal shadow is the repository of an individual's unwanted and unconscious material, the exploration of which is most often the first step in healing. When the personal shadow is integrated, there is less likelihood of projecting its contents onto the environment and the surroundings appear to change in surprising ways. How many times have we heard someone who has gone through a profound healing say that they have noticed an improvement in their friends or spouse? Many people exclaim that,  suddenly, after years of unpleasantness, their partner is being friendlier and more loving, or that they have gotten a new job, or that things have miraculously changed in their old job. Never mind that these things had been going on in the same way for years; it is now suddenly different. Has the world now conspired to help these people, where in the past it was working against them? No. What has been altered is within themselves, and that change is projected out onto their environment.

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Dreams, Symbols, & Homeopathy,

Jane Cicchetti