Different forms of shadow

As I started the first article about our shadow I wrote: The shadow is a wonderful, interesting and mysterious phenomenon.  Painters have scrutinized the subtile colours of the shadow, for centuries. So have astronomers when they have been observing the shadow of the earth on the moon, during lunar eclipse.

In the 6.th century BC the Greek philosopher Thales used the shadow to measure the height of the pyramids He did  it at the same time when his own shadow was as long as himself.

– Our Personal Shadow (negative aspects)

In this small article it is the symbolic and metaphorical aspects of the shadow that have interest. In our Psychological Universe the “shadow aspects” refer to  the unconscious aspects of the personality which the conscious self or ego does not identify in tself.

The shadow  tends to be rejected by the self or been left in ignorance, because it is conceived as the least desirable aspects of one’s personality. In other words mainly negative qualities of ourselves. But Psychoanalyst Jung broadened this perspective.

– Our personal Shadow(positive aspects)

C.G. Jung contrary to S. Freud also filled the concept of the shadow, with positive qualities. That is, he meant that all parts of our psyche that we are unaware of, or not conscious of, belong to our shadow. This also means all the positive qualities we are in posession of, – without knowing it!

Qualities that our parents or caretakers have forgotten or denied to acknowledge in us. Or properties that we have suppressed because we have had low self-esteem, or extreme modesty.

Psychopaths or sosiopaths,  usually have extremely dark shadows, that are projected on to others. It’s the other, or you,  that are deceitful and cheating, – unfaithful in marriage, even bad and evil. You are the persecutor , you are the one sick in your head, you are the hateful person.

Listen to a psychopaths negative description of yourself or others, and remember that; – the one he is really describing is himself!

How can we relate to our shadow

That’s a  big problem. I think the best way to do it is to start with the positive aspects of ourselves, that perhaps are denied or unconscious. When we have listet up this single item(joke), and try to affirm and recognize that this too, is us, is me, we can start with the negative qualities.

Remeber: In a meta perspective, – in a broader “one-level-up aspect”, – gaining knowledge of ones’s drawbacks and negative sides, is a even a stronger positive quality than several single positive ones.

Man trying to accept both negative and positive shadow aspects

This is so as long as we try to be thorougly honest about it. Besides that,  we must also try to affirm, understand and accept the negative qualities in our psychological universe. You cannot truly change in your depth, if you don’t accept or recognize the flaws you want to change. There is a great difference between a person acknowledging his or her negative traits, than a person denying them, and instead acting them out on others!

The true difference between a psychopath with an aggressive personality disorder and a normal human being, is the acceptance of being a whole person. A whole person has all kinds of emotions and tendencies, but all in all accepts his or her less formidable traits.

Therefore she or he can contain themselves, without needing to split their selves in two. One conscious very perfect, idealized, super edition og themselves, and the other shadow variant, – the hateful vindictive, aggressive and violent, denied edition.

Person trying to look for his shadow and seems  rejecting it

Let’s try to catch and say hello to our shadow this very day!

Front page photo illustration, of me by janeriwaa