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Prayer for You
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Shadow Play
Dear Beauty and Truth Fans,If you hang out here at Free Will Astrology with any regularity, you may have begun to flirt with the philosophy of pronoia: the suspicion that the entire world is ceaselessly conspiring to shower you with love and blessings. Merely flirting with pronoia is a good first step. We don't want to put pressure on you to develop a passionately committed relationship. It's wise to go slowly. Becoming a full-fledged, feel-it-in-your-bones practitioner of pronoia is risky, after all. What could be more wildly at odds with prevailing cultural norms? The nineteenth-century poet John Keats said that if something is not beautiful, it is probably not true. But the vast majority of modern storytellers--journalists, film-makers, novelists, talk-show hosts -- assert the opposite: If something is not ugly, it is probably not true. In a world that regards cynicism as a sign of intelligence and treats evil as if it were the most supremely entertaining subject of all, pronoia might even be called a perversion. It is a taboo so taboo that it's not even recognized as a taboo. You have easy access to an $80-million film in which an elegant, intellectual cannibal fries up and eats human brains. You can contemplate the wonders of a crucifix in a vat of urine or read about the penis of the President of the United States. If some journalists have their way, you'll soon be able to view the autopsy photos of NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt. But you will be hard-pressed to find more than a few obscure novels, songs, films, photos, or news stories that dare to depict life as a gorgeous mystery designed to liberate the human soul. Because pronoia is forbidden, even dangerous, it is not well understood. For instance, most casual observers assume that pronoiacs are impossibly deluded pollyannas who ruthlessly deny the harsh facts about existence so as to concoct a laughably unrealistic belief in the inherent goodness of life. In fact, we pronoiacs build our optimism not through a repression of darkness, but rather a vigorous relationship with it. Our view is that one of the best ways to attract blessings lies through a cheerful willingness to engage what's difficult or problematic. Indeed, we welcome each fresh, late-breaking pain as a source of future bliss; as an oncoming puzzle that will usher us to our next breakthrough. Inherent in our view is the belief that there is an essential difference between evil and the shadow, as defined by psychologist C.G. Jung. Evil arises only when the shadow is ignored or demonized. We'll discuss this more at a later date. One of the most lyrical statements of the pronoiac's relationship with the shadow is in the poem "Unconditional," by the psychotherapist Jennifer Welwood. UNCONDITIONAL Willing to experience aloneness, I discover connection everywhere; Turning to face my fear, I meet the warrior who lives within; Opening to my loss, I gain the embrace of the universe; Surrendering into emptiness, I find fullness without end. Each condition I flee from pursues me, Each condition I welcome transforms me And becomes itself transformed Into its radiant jewel-like essence. I bow to the one who has made it so, Who has crafted this Master Game; To play it is pure delight, To honor its form true devotion. APPENDIX From http://www.cgjungpage.org/jplexicon.html SHADOW. Hidden or unconscious aspects of oneself, both good and bad, which the ego has either repressed or never recognized. The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. ["The Shadow," Collected Works 9ii, par. 14.] Before unconscious contents have been differentiated, the shadow is in effect the whole of the unconscious. It is commonly personified in dreams by persons of the same sex as the dreamer. The shadow is composed for the most part of repressed desires and uncivilized impulses, morally inferior motives, childish fantasies and resentments, etc. -- all those things about oneself one is not proud of. These unacknowledged personal characteristics are often experienced in others through the mechanism of projection. Although, with insight and good will, the shadow can to some extent be assimilated into the conscious personality, experience shows that there are certain features which offer the most obstinate resistance to moral control and prove almost impossible to influence. These resistances are usually bound up with projections, which are not recognized as such, and their recognition is a moral achievement beyond the ordinary. While some traits peculiar to the shadow can be recognized without too much difficulty as one's personal qualities, in this case both insight and good will are unavailing because the cause of the emotion appears to lie, beyond all possibility of doubt, in the other person. [Ibid., par. 16.] The realization of the shadow is inhibited by the persona. To the degree that we identify with a bright persona, the shadow is correspondingly dark. Thus shadow and persona stand in a compensatory relationship, and the conflict between them is invariably present in an outbreak of neurosis. The characteristic depression at such times indicates the need to realize that one is not all one pretends or wishes to be. There is no generally effective technique for assimilating the shadow. It is more like diplomacy or statesmanship and it is always an individual matter. First one has to accept and take seriously the existence of the shadow. Second, one has to become aware of its qualities and intentions. This happens through conscientious attention to moods, fantasies and impulses. Third, a long process of negotiation is unavoidable. It is a therapeutic necessity, indeed, the first requisite of any thorough psychological method, for consciousness to confront its shadow. In the end this must lead to some kind of union, even though the union consists at first in an open conflict, and often remains so for a long time. It is a struggle that cannot be abolished by rational means. When it is willfully repressed it continues in the unconscious and merely expresses itself indirectly and all the more dangerously, so no advantage is gained. The struggle goes on until the opponents run out of breath. What the outcome will be can never be seen in advance. The only certain thing is that both parties will be changed. ["Rex and Regina," CW 14, par. 514.] Responsibility for the shadow rests with the ego. That is why the shadow is a moral problem. It is one thing to realize what it looks like -- what we are capable of. It is quite something else to determine what we can live out, or with. Confrontation with the shadow produces at first a dead balance, a standstill that hampers moral decisions and makes convictions ineffective or even impossible. Everything becomes doubtful. [Ibid., par. 708.] The shadow is merely somewhat inferior, primitive, unadapted, and awkward; not wholly bad. It even contains childish or primitive qualities which would in a way vitalize and embellish human existence, but-convention forbids! [Psychology and Religion," CW 11, par. 134.] If it has been believed hitherto that the human shadow was the source of all evil, it can now be ascertained on closer investigation that the unconscious man, that is, his shadow, does not consist only of morally reprehensible tendencies, but also displays a number of good qualities, such as normal instincts, appropriate reactions, realistic insights, creative impulses, etc. [Conclusion," CW 9ii, par. 423.] An outbreak of neurosis constellates both sides of the shadow: those qualities and activities one is not proud of, and new possibilities one never knew were there. Jung distinguished between the personal and the collective or archetypal shadow. With a little self-criticism one can see through the shadow -- so far as its nature is personal. But when it appears as an archetype, one encounters the same difficulties as with anima and animus. In other words, it is quite within the bounds of possibility for a man to recognize the relative evil of his nature, but it is a rare and shattering experience for him to gaze into the face of absolute evil. ["The Shadow," ibid., par. 19.] |
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© 1995-2008 -- Rob Brezsny. All rights reserved
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