Castles In The Sky

 

From Zero To Hero

How To Recognize And Utilize The Shadow Through Storytelling

                                    Stephanie H.A Ash
                        Image And Sequence, Spring Quarter, Lucia’s Seminar

                                    Dr. Lucia Harrison

                                                      May 12, 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abstract: Inauthentic education hampers children in learning how to deal with their shadow issues. Failure to integrate the shadow into our conscious mind results in many problems that may erupt late in life to cause severe psychological problems. However, these issues can be avoided by learning to utilize the positive aspects of the shadow and ameliorate its negative aspects. Parents often have trouble learning how to speak to their children about this difficult topic honestly, but they can use examples from literature, film and stories to talk about the shadow issues as well as explore healthy strategies for reconciling the shadow and self in order to harvest the rich creative potential that it holds.

 

Carl Jung wrote “Everyone carries a shadow” (as cited in Abrams and Zweig, 1991, p. 2), but what he meant by the shadow is more than just the visible reflection cast by daylight. The shadow that Jung meant is made of up everything that the conscious mind represses such as emotions, actions, thoughts, words, and memories. The psychic phenomenon is the reverse of the physical shadow; the psychic shadow becomes darker and less visible as it becomes denser. Traces of the shadow leave their mark in popular stories including film, plays and literature. Storytelling that the shadow can be examined, understood and be used as a means of teaching children to see the psychic shadow as an ally rather than an enemy.

The idea of the unconscious existed in stories before Jung and his mentor Freud put it in psychological theory. Mysterious others embodied as gods, demons, animals and elements that affected the world and caused problems outside of the control of humans in mythology. Certain people such as shamans were able to communicate with the spiritual world, divine their will and suggest strategies for dealing with the spirits. While there was not a clear distinction between conscious and unconscious at this time, there was at least the idea that there was a struggle going on between two opposing forces. The agreed social context of ritual, storytelling and instruction gave individuals a way of coping with their shadow and its actions that allowed them to achieve a balance between the conscious and unconscious (Papadopoulos, 2006 p. 52).

The advent of the Enlightenment sought to explain the conscious and unconscious in scientific terms. [O1]  The division of the mind resulted in its aspects such as emotions being put into a hierarchy that defined them as inferior. The unconscious mind was dismissed as redundant and unnecessary while the conscious mind was elevated to a supreme position. Myths, legends and stories that were once seen as the repositories of human knowledge were shut out of the Enlightenment rationality (Papadopoulos, 2006 p. 56).

Freud formulated the concept of the unconscious from his work with young women. The idea that mental problems could have an origin other than organic was relatively new, and Freud used it to develop a new therapy that encouraged patients to talk rather than try to control them through hypnosis or suggestion (Papadopoulos, 2006 p. 58). When patients said whatever was on their minds, Freud was able to process the information and make links that lead back to the source of their psychological symptoms that gave proof that the cause was not organic in nature, but resulted from repression of trauma (Papadopoulos, 2006 p. 58).

As innovative as Freud was with his theories and treatments he still tried to make them into a purely logical and scientific study (Papadopoulos, 2006 p. 59). Around 1896, Freud claimed that the repression of trauma was linked to the repression of instinct and specifically the repression of the sexual instinct. From this hypothesis, Freud developed the idea that all human psychology and eventually all civilized life were supported by the suppression of our sexual and aggressive instincts (Papadopoulos, 2006 p. 59). In Freud’s theory sexual energy supplied the energy to the psyche to fuel achievements in all fields.

Although Jung studied Freud’s theories and initially supported them, he gradually began to formulate new hypotheses of his own. Jung was dissatisfied with Freud’s fixation on sexuality and sexual instinct. He proposed that there could be other sources of psychic energy (Papadopoulos, 2006 p. 52). Using Freud’s model, Jung expounded the idea of the unconscious mind to include not only a personal unconscious, but a collection unconscious as well. The personal unconscious, he hypothesized, is the earliest part of the brain that develops from earliest life, it holds our dreams and fears as well as our fantasies. The collective unconscious has the “primordial images” and “mythological motifs” from fairy tales, legends, religious stories and folklore (Papadopoulos, 2006 p. 66). Jung theorized that the collective unconscious has been related to and found expression in philosophy and religion. The shadow primarily represents the personal unconscious, the part of ourselves we are most ashamed of, but can also represent the collective unconscious (Papadopoulos, 2006 p. 52).

Jung used examples from the writers of his time when developing his theory. Jung was inspired by a book published a century before his break with Freud in 1913. After reading Hoffman’s tale of a monk who is sabotaged by his own doppelganger, Jung wrote “…it fares with us all as with Brother Medardus…somewhere we have a sinister and frightful brother, our own flesh-and-blood counterpart, who holds and maliciously hoards everything” (Casement,2003 p. 30).. The dangers of identifying with the shadow were likened to Nietzche’s bitter feud with Wagner when Jung said “The whole man, however, knows that his bitterest foe, or indeed a host of enemies does not equal that one worst adversary, the ‘other self’ who dwells in his bosom (Casement,2003 p. 30).

Jung’s mining of literary references makes the concept of the shadow more accessible and easier to understand and serves as a good example for how to talk about the shadow. There is an attempt by adults to try to protect children from the shadow by trying not to talk about the shadow side of life (Earl, 2001,p. 282). Death, envy, sloth, greed, dirt and filth are subjects that adults feel uncomfortable discussing with children (Earl, 2001 p. 282). The story of Jesus being resurrected is a central theme to a major religion and is generally acknowledged as a story that is worth educating children about. However, Jesus’ death by torture and the graphic images associated with it are considered by some to be unsuitable for children to view (Earl, 2001, p. 282). There is a hope that the story can be drawn and told without admitting that its central symbol is about death. By refusing to talk about the central theme of the story about death, adults are not teaching children how to handle what they find unpleasant or disturbing such as the shadow. The insight into evil allows us to have the capacity to understand evil and handle it when we find it (Casement, 2003, pg 43).

Earle suggests that adults expect to develop the ability to deal with their shadow issues as they reach adulthood without help or instruction about the shadow (Earl, 2001, p. 282). However this assumption is rather like expecting someone to know how to drive a car without ever having seen one before. Ignoring the shadow will not make it go away and eventually it will burst through and usually does so during mid-life or in moments of stress. The individual’s lack of experience with these outbursts or a mechanism for coping with the shadow can leave them devastated socially, mentally and spiritually when they don’t know what is happening. The lack of preparation given to children early in life and not giving them the tools to cope with their inevitable struggles does more damage than good (Earl, 2001, p. 282). 

The shadow can be terrifying and difficult to deal with or even acknowledge.  The tendency of the individual is to reject or project those parts of their selves that cannot be dealt with by the conscious mind. Projection is a strategy in which the individual thrusts what they experience on the inside to the outside where it can be reflected in other people and even objects in order to divorce it from the individual (Papadopoulos, 2006 p. 97). When there is a failure in the individual to realize that they are living through projection, then the outside world becomes increasingly impoverished and illusory until, in extreme conditions, the individual find his or her self isolated from the world (Papadopoulos, 2006 p. 98).

Jung wrote of the other extreme, accepting the shadow and all that it contains, when he wrote “The acceptance of the shadow side of human nature verges on the impossible. Consider for a moment what it means to grant the right of existence to what is unreasonable, senseless and evil!” (Earle, 2001, p. 286). Accepting the shadow and identifying with its unreasonable nature can make the individual into a person who always makes an unfavorable impression on others and create barriers between him or her self where none should exist. The shadow self does not mesh well with other and therefore is dangerous to allow it prominence in our actions (Earle, 2001,p. 287).

A neurotic split can occur when the individual feels at war with him or herself. This is caused by the failure to reconcile the shadow, which is always struggling for expression, with the conscious mind, which is always struggling for control. (Papadaopoulos, 2006, p. 100).  The story of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde served as a inspiration in Jung’s writings about neurosis  (Papadaopoulos, 2006, p. 100).  This is a serious problem that can lead to the death of the self and eventually the death of the body as well.

Perhaps worst of all, is the creative energy that is lost when the shadow is our enemy rather than our ally. Positive aspects of the self such as the personality such as imagination, inquisitiveness, friendliness and helpfulness may be suppressed in order to fit in with a culture, society or group (Earl, 2001, p. 280). The shadow also contains vast amounts of repressed knowledge and imagery that can be used creatively. This is known as gold in the shadow that can be mined for insights and inspiration (Abrams and Zweig, 1991, p. 250). When the shadow is integrated with the conscious mind then it can be plumbed for on a regular basis rather than waiting for trickles of creativity to leak through (Abrams and Zweig, 1991, p. 295)

Children can learn through symbol and story the complex issues of the shadow very well. From an early age we are aware of a division in the world between two different states such as the answers we are given about why the world works and the reasoning that we have worked out ourselves (Earl, 2001, p. 284).. Children’s literature such as J.K Rowling’s series about Harry Potter and Pullman’s Northern Lights explore the struggles of children trying to deal with adult issues. The main characters are forced to grow up and deal with their negative as well as positive shadows in ways that the readers can use in their own lives (Earl, 2001, p. 284).

Jung speculated that part of the problem with dealing with shadow issues is that de-spiritualization has progressed as science and technology grows (Earl, 2001, p. 287). Spiritualization has traditionally given individuals ways of dealing with their shadow issues by giving examples that we can use as models for ourselves (Earl, 2001, p. 287). There was an idea that banishing the supernatural would banish the shadow as well, but that has not been the case. Individuals have learned to shift projection from the supernatural to technology instead. Our fear of the dark and the shadowy figures in it has been replaced by a fear of robots, cyborgs and appliances(Earl, 2001, p. 284). By projecting our shadow onto them we give them a life of their own, fueled by our shadow. The shadowy figures of actors reflected on a screen are an example of this modern mythology given life (Hauke and Alister, 2001, p. 59).

Mythologies such as religious stories can help us explain and examine the complex issues of the shadow effectively. The rich language of myths is full of subtext that can be examined over and over again to slowly reveal meaning. These gradual revelations allow the individual to gradually become aware of their own shadow issues and learn how to deal with them in their own time. [O2] It is important that the individual find their own time and place to deal with their shadow issues (Earl, 2001, p. 285). Failure to move at our own pace in understanding the shadow is as bad as ignoring it and can lead to the same problems, the same traps waiting for in the psyche to erupt and ensnare us (Earl, 2001, p. 284).           

Inauthentic education of children is the root cause of many problems that could be avoided later in life (Earl, 2001, p. 282). The crippling of young minds by forcing them to repress the best parts of themselves along with the worst is a tragedy that can be avoided. Religion and spirituality give us some insights in how to make peace with the eternal struggle and forgive the darkness within it and make it our ally rather than our enemy. Jung’s spirituality was huge break from Freud’s scientific enquiry (Papadopoulos, 2006, p. 55).

There are many resources for understanding and assimilating the shadow. Literature can make us aware of the shadow. Stories, myths and legends can give us tools such as symbols, archetypes and metaphors to talk about shadow issues, to discuss strategies and learn from examples (Earl, 2001, p. 287). Understanding symbols and archetypes can help the individuals communicate with the shadow directly and see their own projections (Papadopolous, 2006, p. 74). Spirituality and religion give the individual the strategies to understand and integrate the shadow (Earl, 2001, p. 284). Inauthentic education does not teach the individual how to use these sources (Earl, 2001, p. 282). An authentic education is adaptable to changing needs and situations. Failing to acknowledge the shadow can cost us more than our lives, it can cost us a better and richer life.