Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious

  • life, the blacker and denser it is. If an inferiority is conscious, one always has a

  • chance to correct itBut if it is repressed and isolated from consciousness, it never

  • gets corrected, and is liable to burst forth suddenly in a moment of unawareness. At all

  • counts, it forms an unconscious snag, thwarting our most well-meant intentions.”

  • Carl Jung talks about two types of shadows: the personal shadow (the unknown dark side

  • of our personality) and the collective shadow (the unknown dark side of society).

  • Starting with the personal shadow, Jung calls it:

  • the thing a person has no wish to be.” It represents unknown or little-known attributes

  • and qualities of the ego. It is the sum of all those unpleasant qualities we like to

  • hide from ourselves. The shadow contains inferiorities which everybody has but prefers not to know

  • about, they seem weak, socially unacceptable or even evil. The shadow is most visible when

  • one is in the grip of anxiety or other emotions, under the influence of alcohol, etc., one

  • may suddenly blurt out a hostile remark during a friendly conversation. When we do not want

  • to assimilate what we despise, we project it unto others.

  • It is possible for one to be acquainted with one’s shadow and be partly conscious of

  • it, that is, under ego control. Many people, however, refuse to recognise their shadow

  • so completely that the ego is not even aware of shadow behaviour and thus has no possibility

  • of commanding it. Under these conditions, the shadow is autonomous and may express itself

  • in inexplicable moods, irritability and cruelty. Throughout his writing, Jung refers to the

  • importance of developing awareness of the shadow in psychotherapy and its projections

  • in the individual’s life. Although the shadow is usually perceived as negative it can also

  • be positive. In fact, exploring our shadow gives us access to many positive qualities,

  • Jung writes that the shadow: “displays a number of good qualities, such

  • as normal instincts, appropriate reactions, realistic insights, creative impulses, etc.”

  • One of Jung’s closest collaborators, Marie-Louise von Franz writes:

  • The shadow is not necessarily always an opponent. In fact, he is exactly like any

  • human being with whom one has to get along, sometimes by giving in, sometimes by resisting,

  • sometimes by giving lovewhatever the situation requires. The shadow becomes hostile

  • only when he is ignored or misunderstood.” The shadow contains all sorts of qualities,

  • strengths and potentials, which if remain unexplored, give us a state of impoverishment

  • in our personality, creating unconscioussnagswhich inhibit the growth and embodiment of

  • these good qualities that lie dormant in our psyche.

  • For instance, a person might believe that being assertive is being rude or aggressive,

  • losing the qualities of confidence and the ability to speak up for himself in an honest

  • and respectful way, which in turn may lead to less proactivity, make it more difficult

  • to get a raise or job promotion, struggle with money, and so on.

  • So, when a person encounters an assertive person deep down he feels resentment and guilt,

  • which makes his shadow blacker and denser. These valuable aspects ought to be assimilated

  • into actual experience and not repressed, it is up to the ego to give up its pride.

  • We also encounter our shadow in our dreams, as a person of the same sex as the dreamer.

  • It is what seems to be a “criticismof our character from the unconscious, an inner

  • judge of your own being that reproaches you, and the result is usually embarrassed silence.

  • We must identify the contents of the shadow and integrate them into our personality.

  • This is the process ofthe realisation of the shadow”, also known as shadow work.

  • Here begins the painfully and lengthy work of self-education, one must enter into long

  • and difficult negotiations with the shadow, a work, we might say, that is the psychological

  • equivalent of the labours of Hercules. Through shadow work, one can observe one’s shadow

  • outwardly by watching one’s emotional reactions and being radically honest about one’s interactions

  • with others, and inwardly by exploring one’s dreams.

  • This allows one to become enlightened and reduces the shadow’s destructive potential,

  • not so much, as it were, by waging war against the darkness, but by bringing the darkness

  • to the light, the light to the darkness. As Jung writes:

  • There is no light without shadow and no psychic wholeness without imperfection.”

  • One must not strive for perfection, but rather wholeness of personality. The lifelong process

  • of individuation creates a balance between one’s conscious and unconscious realms,

  • aligning the ego to the self, the totality of one’s personality.

  • However scary or dark it is to confront our shadow, finding truth brings relief. Discernment

  • of the truth is the process of authenticity; a painstaking excavation into the depths of

  • our being to explore possibilities and limitations, distortions and the buried and often forgotten

  • parts of ourselves and abilities. Most people, however, are too indolent to

  • think deeply about even those moral aspects of their behaviour of which they are conscious;

  • let alone to consider how the unconscious affects them.

  • The shadow can also consist of factors that

  • stem from a source outside the individual’s personal life. Here is when we stumble upon

  • the collective shadow, the dark side or the unknown or little known aspects of a society

  • and culture. It consists of that which opposes our shared and collective values.

  • The collective shadow refers to a huge, multidimensional, often horrifying, yet elusive aspect of human

  • life, to an immensity of harm inflicted by human beings upon each other and the natural

  • world and to the vast aftereffects of such harm in subsequent generations.

  • We find the collective shadow in the projection ofdarknessand inferiority, in violence

  • and oppression, in the invisibility of current suffering, in the denial of current responsibility.

  • While collective shadow material may be acted out brutally in wars, massacres and genocides,

  • it may also hide under the often attractive cloaks of missionary activity, such as mandating

  • the use of particular languages, an Orwellian reality that we are experiencing in the present time.

  • As is the nature of all shadow material, whether

  • individual or collective, its existence and influence may be pervasive without being obvious.

  • The collective shadow manifests outwardly in atrocities, persecution, physical suffering,

  • sickness, poverty, malnutrition, alcoholism, crime, the death of cultures and so on.

  • It may also manifest more inwardly, amid the complexities of each individual psyche, as

  • hatred toward oneself, one’s heritage, and one’s culture, depression and feelings of

  • impotence, the desire for revenge (so that others might experience something like one’s

  • own pain), etc. The collective shadow is what has historically

  • been labelledevil”. In the Christian tradition it would be the devil, and someone

  • who is possessed by the devil loses his human quality and acquires a demonic nature. Our

  • primary response to evil, for Jung, must be the quest for self-knowledge, for wholeness,

  • which presumes the assimilation of shadow material. The individual:

  • must know relentlessly how much good he can do, and what crimes he is capable of

  • When there is an issue known in a particular society, it can be called a shadow issue if

  • there is evidence of denial, projection and a lack of taking individual and collective

  • responsibility. Therefore, taking responsibilitymorally, politically and spirituallyis

  • particularly crucial. The courage with which we bear our darkness frees others from having

  • to carry it for us. For instance, to respond to examples of massive

  • historical suffering: wars, genocide, holocausts, pervasive oppression, etc., the effects of

  • which persist. As human beings we have much to learn in that regard. Denial, often connected

  • with a wish toget on with thingsandput the past behind us”, seems the most

  • common approach and usually the first reaction. There are and have been many attempts to deal

  • with difficult, painful pasts through public apologies for supporting atrocities, repentance,

  • reparation payments after wars, pilgrimages to places of great suffering, etc. But how

  • do we deal with the past in such a way that the integration of the shadow occurs deeply

  • and broadly within a population, rather than simply at a symbolic level through leaders

  • or policies? Remembering and speaking what often seems

  • unspeakable is inevitably a painful process for victims and perpetrators, bystanders and

  • witnesses. Any such process can only be regarded as successful or reasonably complete once

  • the pain, outrage, betrayal, suffering, and all the other feelings have been voiced and

  • heard and once responsibility has been taken. Truth-telling is both the most desirable and

  • the most feasible way to grapple with a difficult past.

  • One example of a terrible mass psychosis represented by the collective shadow is Nazi Germany where

  • people fell into the demonic nature through their personal shadow. They joined the Nazi

  • party and did worse things than they could have ever imagined or would have done under

  • normal social conditions. In this sense, the personal shadow is the bridge to the collective

  • shadow. Therefore, it is important to solve one’s

  • inner conflicts first (one’s personal shadow), so that one does not fall into the collective

  • shadow unconsciously. One may then later influence other people and society would be better off

  • as a whole. “If we practice mindfulness, we will know

  • how to look deeply into the nature of war, and, with our insight, wake people up so that

  • together we can avoid repeating the same horrors again and againThe war is in us, but is

  • also in everyoneEverything is ready to explode, and we are all co-responsible.”

  • To summarise, we must first acknowledge our personal shadow and enter into long and difficult

  • negotiations with it (being honest with ourselves and our interactions with others, watching

  • our emotional reactions and exploring our dreams), in order to not become passive victims

  • of our shadow and of our unconscious projections, allowing us to rescue the good qualities that

  • lie dormant within us, which improves our lives and the lives of those around us.

  • We can then be consciously aware of the collective shadow and not fall prey to it and take responsibility

  • to address the denial of important issues and a lack of individual and collective initiative,

  • the courage of bearing our darkness brings relief to others, as telling the truth is

  • the most desirable way to deal with a difficult past, rather than dismissing the atrocities

  • and having the shadow grow blacker until it can no grow no more, and thus history repeats itself.

  • I hope you enjoyed this video on the shadow.

  • You can support the channel on Patreon or by liking, commenting or sharing the content.

  • Thank you for watching.

Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it