Integrating our Societal Shadow

Jung

There is an established psychological concept and theory originated from psychotherapist Carl Jung that is called “Integrating the Shadow.”  Our “Shadow” is the unknown, dark-side of our personality that lies beneath our conscious, this is the part of our personality that is repressed and dark.  The shadow is where deep negative emotions reside (envy, greed, desire, anger, selfishness, etc) and it is the primitive and instinctual part of our minds that we all carry as humans.  Like an actual shadow, the subconscious shadow never leaves and follows us wherever we go and ultimately shapes the negative aspects of our behaviors and personalities.  In order to gain control of this inherently negative part of us, we must be radically honest with ourselves to identify and understand what drives and feeds this dark part of us.  When we live in denial of this negative aspect to us and further repress our shadow, what happens is that we ultimately become a slave to this part of us and it controls us, making us resentful, depressed, anxious, and without an identity.  But when we assimilate the shadow, we incorporate this part of us in our conscious mind and we gain further understanding of ourselves.  From understanding who we are, we develop what Jung would refer to as “Individuation” which is the integrating of our immature psyche into our lives and making us a better functioning whole, we form an individual identity in which we can build upon and grow.  A couple of common expressions come to mind that embody this idea, “The devil you know” and “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” When we have problems in our lives, if we ignore them they only mount and worsen but when we are honest with ourselves and acknowledge the issue at hand, we can work to resolve the issue.  The shadow is much of the same. 

Simba

 I came across an online lecture from the University of Toronto that was discussing the topic of Jung’s archetype theory, an idea centering around universal patterns and themes.  The lecture was using an example that I thought was perfect, The Lion King.   Although the lecture was not specifically on individuation, the use of the lion king was to point out themes that are in all hero’s journey tales that have been rebranded and told innumerable ways.  One of the archetypes in the hero’s journey is symbolic or literal death and resurrection.   After the death of Mufasa, Simba believes that he is responsible for the death of his father so he flees from pride rock into hiding.  While in exile he runs into Timon and Pumba and gets introduced to the phrase hakuna matata which “Means no worries” and adopts this mantra for his adolescence.  While “worrying” itself is a negative emotion, it is also associated with an evolutionary trait that exists to protect us from dangers and serves a purpose.  However, what hakuna matata meant for Simba was abandoning his identity and the problems that existed in his home of pride rock.  Hakuna matata was a nihilistic mentality that he took on, the belief that nothing matters so what is the sense of caring about anything.  While pretending not to care, he was further repressing his shadow and the result was pride rock rotting from the inside-out of famine and drought.  Rafiki, the wise elder of pride rock shows Simba an image of himself in a puddle and at first he sees nothing, then he is told to look harder and he sees is himself as much stronger, adult version of himself with determination in his eyes.  Mufasa comes to Simba in a vision with the words, “Remember who you are, Remember” and forces Simba to be honest with himself and remember that he is the rightful king of pride rock and he must return to root out the rot that was able to grow while he was hiding from his problems and lying to himself about “Not caring.”  What this scene is meant to represent is the assimilation of his shadow, he confronted his guilt and shame associated to his father’s death and reclaimed his identity as the rightful king of pride rock and more significantly, of his own domain.  An example that came to mind is in a favorite show of mine “Game of Thrones.”  Jon Snow’s true-identity as rightful king of the seven kingdoms was shielded from him, when chaos surrounds him and the fate of the kingdom is hanging in balance, the wise elder Maester Aemon tells Jon to, “Kill the boy.”  What he means is to lay to rest the immature psyche and gain control of his identity and who he is, ascend to the throne of his own domain and the captain of his soul. 

Sailors

It appears to me that as a country and particularly within my generation and younger we have a crisis of identity and that in-turn is leading to the madness of the crowd.  It appears that we are not only not integrating our shadow but worse, we are actively pretending that it doesn’t even exist.  This, amongst many other reasons is the problem with instructing everyone that absolutely everything is a social construct, it never allows for people to form an identity.  If someone is to believe that there is no innate aspect to themselves as a human-being, then how are they ever to learn who they really are?  In schools and in the culture there has been a move to be extremely careful of people’s feelings and avoidance of making anyone uncomfortable.  What in life do we ever get better at by not being made uncomfortable?  Only when you’re Simba, getting smacked on the head with a stick and being forced to look into the puddle do we realize who it is that we are, growing in strength and resolve.  If you’re never able to learn who you are, you get swept away in whatever direction the wind is blowing, falling for every trap along the way.  “A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.”  How skilled will the sailors of our society be if we don’t even let them in the boat?