That's beautiful work Sherry - again, I'm seeing wisdom of an old soul in your writing.
A couple of reflections... I had the rare luck of coming across the novels of Ursula Le Guin when I was about 12 years old. In the Earthsea trilogy, the main character lets loose his shadow and is then chased by it.... eventually he chases it across the Wall of Death...
I don't want to give away the ending as some might love to read this - I wouldn't say it was written with adults in mind... I understand that Ursula was a child psychologist who used stories to reveal ideas to kids...
To my inner Kid, these books pointed me at the need to integrate the Shadow... at an age where I was probably way too young to get the lifetime perspective on this... but the Idea remained.
And remains. Even today, in my morning practice, I'm contemplating shadow elements.... stuff I've worked on in therapy (which people might find helpful... hint is, there's a good chance that if you think you see your Shadow? You may have missed the point - it's IS the parts of you that you cannot see)..
... and there's an idea to play with there, which you can do without a therapist/practice etc... When someone asks you about Who You Are.... make a mental note.. whatever you reply will give you a starting point.... Whatever you say you ARE probably gives you some pointers to what you Aren't (your shadow).
Keep it up Sherry - your writing is something I look forward to.
Thank you Ben for the kind words (I get called an old soul a lot haha)
Your support has always means a lot to me!!
I've never heard of that novel before, will definitely check it out. It reminds me of a Jung quote—someone once asked Jung "How do you find your shadow?" to which he replied "how do you find the dragon that has swallowed you?"
Most of the time we think that the part we don't like (aka "what you aren't") can be easily repressed or is under our rule but it's actually our equal, if not a greater force. Great ideas here...
Excellent piece! I once heard a Jungian describe the Shadow as the "dark side of the moon." Lots of good things can be hidden there, but also evil desires and all that too. I also like the idea of an alternate take of what we usually tell kids: "You can be anyone and do anything!" Quite an optimistic or even hopeful statement on the one hand, but also (dear goodness) a warning too. When we see people on the news we deem as evil, who knows how close we were to being such people ourselves. And who knows if we will become them later on in life? Sartre comes to mind here:)
Indeed the roots must reach hell in order for the branches to reach heaven. For me, once I realized how intertwined I (ego) am with my own shadow, seeing mugshots on TV felt more chilling. Because to think that we're both equal people and yet one of us did something so horrific while the other one was doing something totally mundane...that's mind-boggling. People can be so cruel or so charitable depending on which side they feed into, and sometimes do so unconsciously.
There's a very easy relationship between pragmatism and spirituality in your writing, and a nurturing tone. You touch on themes that sometimes make me feel queasy, but they're so calmly discussed that I can comfortably digest them.
The how to feel about one's shadow question has fascinated me since before I could put in into words. I was primed to think like a medieval on matters of good, evil and the soul, but philosophically I knew it couldn't be so straightforward.
I'm very drawn to the films of David Lynch because he depicts the epicenters of evil and their effects on the conflicted souls that are drawn towards them.
I struggle to see how anyone who adopts the total darkness phobic stance of a zealous theist could make certain kinds of art. I wonder if devoutly cautious Christians (and perhaps other Western religious conservatives) might make fine landscape painters and composers, but when it comes to poetry, prose, songwriting, cinema, they either fail to create something convincingly human, or become nervous wrecks owing to the tension between creative honesty, and fidelity to goodness.
Thank you Gadzooks...seeing feedback like yours is one of the reasons why I write in public!
I completely know what you mean...I've always felt like answering the question "do you think you're a good person" is a lot more complex than "yea of course I am". But it took YEARS to really think about why and try to articulate it.
I haven't watched too many David Lynch films but I've always felt like Venom was a play on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde/the whole good-vs-evil trope. The fact that using alter egos has always been a common storytelling tool goes to show how intimately we actually understand the Jungian shadow, even if we don't know how to articulate it.
Woah thanks for sharing this that's a good story. I think when we were younger tales like this didn't mean much more than just "oh people change! Good people can become bad, bad become can become good." But it's much deeper than just good people spiralling out of morality and bad people redeeming themselves—both good and evil exist in tandem within each and every person.
This story actually reminds me of the YouTube channel "Soft White Underbelly" where they interview people with difficult lives (ie. prostitution, addictions, mental illnesses, abuse, etc.) and the entire channel just goes to show that so-called social outcasts can be just as normal as us. And vice versa, we are just as susceptible to acting in a way that we know is wrong.
Another way this plays itself out in our lives, usually without our knowing or understanding, is in sex.
A good sex life, to a lot of people, lets you try out things you'd never acknowledge publicly. Lets you play with things like danger and control and selfishness and raw, unmitigated desire.
The ultimate sex life lets you confront the deepest parts of you in a safe way, *through* sex. With somebody who sees you, loves you, and accepts you.
But nobody talks about this. It's something I've wanted to write about for a long time.
Wow, this was so good Sherry. I think my favourite of your essays I’ve read.
The idea of needing to understand your shadow, the part of you that has the potentiality to be malevolent, to become immunized against it is fascinating.
I also loved the example Peterson gave: If you were living in Germany in the 1940’s, you’d be a soldier. You’d act as everyone else did.
I've thought about this one before to be honest I don't know - I did write a piece called the "Paradox of Progress" a while back, that was my attempt at wrestling this topic. I do wonder where we'd be right now if not for the people who so adamantly tried to "make things better'...for example, would we have the technology we have today?
That's beautiful work Sherry - again, I'm seeing wisdom of an old soul in your writing.
A couple of reflections... I had the rare luck of coming across the novels of Ursula Le Guin when I was about 12 years old. In the Earthsea trilogy, the main character lets loose his shadow and is then chased by it.... eventually he chases it across the Wall of Death...
I don't want to give away the ending as some might love to read this - I wouldn't say it was written with adults in mind... I understand that Ursula was a child psychologist who used stories to reveal ideas to kids...
To my inner Kid, these books pointed me at the need to integrate the Shadow... at an age where I was probably way too young to get the lifetime perspective on this... but the Idea remained.
And remains. Even today, in my morning practice, I'm contemplating shadow elements.... stuff I've worked on in therapy (which people might find helpful... hint is, there's a good chance that if you think you see your Shadow? You may have missed the point - it's IS the parts of you that you cannot see)..
... and there's an idea to play with there, which you can do without a therapist/practice etc... When someone asks you about Who You Are.... make a mental note.. whatever you reply will give you a starting point.... Whatever you say you ARE probably gives you some pointers to what you Aren't (your shadow).
Keep it up Sherry - your writing is something I look forward to.
Thank you Ben for the kind words (I get called an old soul a lot haha)
Your support has always means a lot to me!!
I've never heard of that novel before, will definitely check it out. It reminds me of a Jung quote—someone once asked Jung "How do you find your shadow?" to which he replied "how do you find the dragon that has swallowed you?"
Most of the time we think that the part we don't like (aka "what you aren't") can be easily repressed or is under our rule but it's actually our equal, if not a greater force. Great ideas here...
Excellent piece! I once heard a Jungian describe the Shadow as the "dark side of the moon." Lots of good things can be hidden there, but also evil desires and all that too. I also like the idea of an alternate take of what we usually tell kids: "You can be anyone and do anything!" Quite an optimistic or even hopeful statement on the one hand, but also (dear goodness) a warning too. When we see people on the news we deem as evil, who knows how close we were to being such people ourselves. And who knows if we will become them later on in life? Sartre comes to mind here:)
ooooohhh...nice take.
"You can be anything! :D"
*ominously* "You can be anything...."
Indeed the roots must reach hell in order for the branches to reach heaven. For me, once I realized how intertwined I (ego) am with my own shadow, seeing mugshots on TV felt more chilling. Because to think that we're both equal people and yet one of us did something so horrific while the other one was doing something totally mundane...that's mind-boggling. People can be so cruel or so charitable depending on which side they feed into, and sometimes do so unconsciously.
Well said! As the old proverb goes, "Inside you there are two wolves..."
There's a very easy relationship between pragmatism and spirituality in your writing, and a nurturing tone. You touch on themes that sometimes make me feel queasy, but they're so calmly discussed that I can comfortably digest them.
The how to feel about one's shadow question has fascinated me since before I could put in into words. I was primed to think like a medieval on matters of good, evil and the soul, but philosophically I knew it couldn't be so straightforward.
I'm very drawn to the films of David Lynch because he depicts the epicenters of evil and their effects on the conflicted souls that are drawn towards them.
I struggle to see how anyone who adopts the total darkness phobic stance of a zealous theist could make certain kinds of art. I wonder if devoutly cautious Christians (and perhaps other Western religious conservatives) might make fine landscape painters and composers, but when it comes to poetry, prose, songwriting, cinema, they either fail to create something convincingly human, or become nervous wrecks owing to the tension between creative honesty, and fidelity to goodness.
Thank you Gadzooks...seeing feedback like yours is one of the reasons why I write in public!
I completely know what you mean...I've always felt like answering the question "do you think you're a good person" is a lot more complex than "yea of course I am". But it took YEARS to really think about why and try to articulate it.
I haven't watched too many David Lynch films but I've always felt like Venom was a play on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde/the whole good-vs-evil trope. The fact that using alter egos has always been a common storytelling tool goes to show how intimately we actually understand the Jungian shadow, even if we don't know how to articulate it.
Good and evil are two sides of the same coin. Both natures reside within us.
There's a legend around the creation of Da Vinci's Last Supper that illustrates this perfectly: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1190387-when-he-was-creating-this-picture-leonardo-da-vinci-encountered
Woah thanks for sharing this that's a good story. I think when we were younger tales like this didn't mean much more than just "oh people change! Good people can become bad, bad become can become good." But it's much deeper than just good people spiralling out of morality and bad people redeeming themselves—both good and evil exist in tandem within each and every person.
This story actually reminds me of the YouTube channel "Soft White Underbelly" where they interview people with difficult lives (ie. prostitution, addictions, mental illnesses, abuse, etc.) and the entire channel just goes to show that so-called social outcasts can be just as normal as us. And vice versa, we are just as susceptible to acting in a way that we know is wrong.
What a profound and captivating read, Sherry. You are both an amazing thinker and writer. ❤️🙏🏽
Thank you Ephraim!
Of course! It’s seriously so good. Have to reread and save some quotes of yours. You’re amazing ❤️🙌🏾🙏🏽
Thank you for the intriguing read. Timely considering JBPs latest interview on child slavery
Thank you :) much appreciated. I haven't listened to that one yet!
Another way this plays itself out in our lives, usually without our knowing or understanding, is in sex.
A good sex life, to a lot of people, lets you try out things you'd never acknowledge publicly. Lets you play with things like danger and control and selfishness and raw, unmitigated desire.
The ultimate sex life lets you confront the deepest parts of you in a safe way, *through* sex. With somebody who sees you, loves you, and accepts you.
But nobody talks about this. It's something I've wanted to write about for a long time.
Lovely post as usual.
Wow, this was so good Sherry. I think my favourite of your essays I’ve read.
The idea of needing to understand your shadow, the part of you that has the potentiality to be malevolent, to become immunized against it is fascinating.
I also loved the example Peterson gave: If you were living in Germany in the 1940’s, you’d be a soldier. You’d act as everyone else did.
That realization is both humbling and terrifying.
Awesome work :)
I've thought about this one before to be honest I don't know - I did write a piece called the "Paradox of Progress" a while back, that was my attempt at wrestling this topic. I do wonder where we'd be right now if not for the people who so adamantly tried to "make things better'...for example, would we have the technology we have today?