Demystifying The Shadow

Written By Elisabeth Paul

The shadow is that part of ourselves we consider bad, inappropriate, negative or evil. 

Already in childhood we learned how to best get approval from the ones who were our authority. We most likely experienced that the “good” was rewarded and the so called “bad” or negative was either ignored or corrected by them. Accordingly, already at this stage of life we began putting away all those less desired qualities deeper into our psyche. With time, pressure of right and wrong values and behavior from society (school and other institutions), was added - furthering the so-called repressive process of unwanted/undesired qualities within ourselves. With this also came an increased sense of guilt or shame for owning those natural qualities in the first place; we then consciously began to detach ourselves from, or suppress them. 

The reality is, however, that whatever we ignore or suppress as we strive to maintain a certain version or image of ourselves in fitting with societal demands and collective values, does not just disappear from our psyche. From the center of our unconscious, the shadow material is still wanting to be recognized and integrated. When basic natural parts of our psyche are “cut off” like this either consciously or unconsciously, they tend to become even stronger or more accentuated - seeking channels of expression.

One of the most common ways of dealing with the shadow is projecting it over on others - people, communities, governments etc. This is what can be called a “scapegoat psychology” - where someone else is carrying the very thing we refuse to see and accept within our own psychological makeup. We all do this to an extent, but the more we take back those projections and begin to realize them as an organic part of who we are, the less we will meet them outside ourselves; we become more tolerant and accepting. 

I believe a big part of the psychological suffering - increasing also with the younger population, has a lot to do with the striving for an artificial perfection, collective pressure of good and equally artificial normality. Even though we live in times with more openness and perhaps awareness, we still do not generally accept our own “evil” and primitiveness. And, as stated in the beginning, the shame and guilt for perhaps being aware of these qualities yet feeling a need to disown them, can be a burden really tough to carry. 

When dealing with this shadow material, we are not necessarily talking about externalizing all its raw content, but a recognition and acceptance of one’s own more primitive side promotes freedom and creativity.