Dangers Of The Shadow.
“The fact is that if one tries beyond one’s capacity to be perfect, the shadow descends into hell and becomes the devil.” - C. G. Jung
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Think about this…
What do we all do around others?
We display our best image, our persona. The “ideal ” image of who we wish others to see. Hence, according to Jung, dangers lie ahead.
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One danger of the shadow is not confronting it and cutting off from our conscious mind. The example above takes it up a notch. If you project a false version of yourself into the world, you are going to build a darker shadow. As it lurks within, it has the potential to arise with as much attention as you provide it. In this case, it reveals its ugly face when least expected.
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Another danger of the shadow is becoming consumed by it. If you give your shadow too much power, it will become your new mask. You personify your darkness. This typically leads to either harm to others or harm to self.
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Avoidance causes it grows with sudden impacts without our awareness.
Over-consumption causes it to possess us.
These dangers are balanced out at a point between avoidance and consumption. A dance we each must join to avoid the harm of our repressed thoughts and feelings.
If we choose to deny this dance, we are walking on unstable grounds. If we take its hand, it will teach us its moves. These moves are displayed through projection.
Next post will feature the wisdom within projections of the shadow.
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To conclude, a warning from Jung....
“When one tries desperately to be good and wonderful and perfect, then all the more the shadow develops a definite will to be black and evil and destructive. People cannot see that; they are always striving to be marvellous, and then they discover that terrible destructive things happen which they cannot understand, and they either deny that such facts have anything to do with them, or if they admit them, they take them for natural afflictions, or they try to minimize them and to shift the responsibility elsewhere.”
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Strive towards wholeness, not perfection.
