Reddit reviews A Little Book on the Human Shadow

The shadow is just a place in your psyche. It's filled with anything that's been repressed, taboo'd, or any behavior not condoned by "normal" society. I'd read Bly's "Little Book on the Human Shadow" as he provides a really good intro.


Everyone's shadows will be similar, but different. For example, depending on the culture you're raised in, different things will be taboo'd. Or, your personal dispositions will lead you to certain behaviors, which you may find undesirable, so you yourself send it to the shadow domain.


Take this in consideration that what I described is the equivalent of cocktail-napkin-math. The shadow, its projections, and all things revolving around that can get pretty complex. I just put a dot on the map and those books will help you find the trail.


Bly's Book -- https://www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Human-Shadow/dp/0062548476/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=little+book+on+the+human+shadow&qid=1572911764&sr=8-1


King, Warrior, Magician, Lover -- https://www.amazon.com/King-Warrior-Magician-Lover-Rediscovering/dp/0062506064/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3BFOJK9R67ANN&keywords=king+warrior+magician+lover&qid=1572912042&sprefix=King+warrior%2Caps%2C167&sr=8-1

The enemy is not the person or religion, the enemy is the hypocrisy, which is originally based on ignorance. In a nutshell, if we knew better we would do better.

Focus on overcoming ignorance in yourself through complete awakening. Before you eliminate your own ignorance you have no right to judge the ignorance of others. After you eliminate your own ignorance you will have only compassion for the ignorance of others.

Starting an open-handed meditation practice would be a very good first step for you.

In fact, your knee-jerk reaction to others' ignorance is ignorance; it is your own shadow, the movement of your psyche to suppress or disown certain parts of you. You want to be done with the hypocrisy you experienced for so long, but your psyche tries a shortcut: saying and believing “that's not me -- I have none of that in me." We all have a shadow constructed in this way; just the details of content vary.

The shadow says “that's not me" and any time the shadow material is encountered it is automatically thrust upon others. You find the shadow material all around you because it is always coming up and being rejected in you. The cure is to openly admit and embrace the shadow material in yourself -- to say “that is me." “There but for the grace of God go I."

(I always thought the “but for the grace of God" part was superfluous. There go I.)

This is the basis of Jesus's teaching to remove the plank in your own eye before trying to remove the speck in your neighbor's eye.

That is great that you want to practice compassion. Some other practices you can try include Brahmavihara/Metta (lovingkindness) practice and Tonglen (exchange of suffering). Both are widely practiced, and there are many supporting guides online for both practices.

Please seek out Buddhist teachers in your area. Whether you attend meditation sittings, Dharma talks, or university lectures, it would be of benefit to you to learn more about Buddhism and connect to the Sangha of Buddhist seekers. Learn and keep learning; we need to hear good teaching many thousands of times before it sinks in deeply beyond our conditioned minds (which have repeated their patterns many millions of times).

**

Edit:** A couple of resources on the shadow -- an important topic of study for any spiritual seeker:

• The Dark Side Of The Light Chasers, by Debbie Ford
  
  
• A Little Book On The Human Shadow, by Robert Bly

Have you read "A Little Book on the Human Shadow"?

https://www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Human-Shadow/dp/0062548476

My friend was always recommending it so I finally read it (it's only 81 pages) and now I regularly recommend it to others.

My advice is not to try to control it or hate yourself for it. We all have a "shadow" - the part(s) of us we can't or don't look it often. How we handle the shadow is critical. I recommend this book by Robert Bly. Don't try to suppress or shut down your shadow - that will only end badly for you and everyone you care about.