Reddit reviews Meeting the Shadow: The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature
We found 11 Reddit comments about Meeting the Shadow: The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Tarcher
Read anything and everything by Edinger. In particular, Ego and Archetype, The Creation of Consciousness, and The New God-Image.
Neumann's Origin and History of Consciousness.
Robert Johnson's He, She and We series to get a better grasp on the masculine and feminine archetypes and the interplay between them.
This book (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/087477618X/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0) which is a compilation of essays across various authors (including Jungian analysts) elaborating on the concept of the Shadow and how it plays a role in one's life. Cannot recommend this one enough.
And finally, Robert Moore's King Warrior Magician Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine. He even as an individual book on each of the individual archetypes, but those are extremely hard to find, and very expensive. You can probably find the audio lectures online though.
>I might be wrong but I feel like theres a lack of books or discussion on this subreddit regarding the shadow in jungian psychology
I'd say not wrong, but maybe your perspective and feeling on it speaks more about something you're seeking or need that you perceive as lacking round these parts?
The shadow is a regular topic among a few repetitive subjects round here, particularly the personal dimensions of it; people are wrestling with it and discussing its manifestations in their lives fairly frequently. I think I even recall posts you've asked questions about aspects of it or shared your own personal experiences tackling it in threads dealing with it.
It is however a difficult subject and complex and/or archetype to deal with. Perhaps shame is a regulating factor in terms of some of its details and 'mapping' that dissuade in specificities and details in its appearance and descriptive recounting in the sub?
The collective aspect seems different. In personal experience this treads into contact with an unspeakable, impersonal palpable, consuming embodied horror and destructive something or quality of presence.
There's an immense pain lurking here that isn't individual.
This concerns subject terrain such as the abject and horror in particular.
>perhaps because of the great openness, and painfully truthfullness one has to express to make such a book.
Yeah, you're likely right.
Tentatively I'd suggest this is being explored and 'channeled' or possibly even sublimated, in both a Freudian and Jungian sense, (while possibly, again tentatively, largely unconsciously), in horror literature, weird fiction territory or crime writing and not necessarily in analytical psychological domains, but I may be wrong in my own current perspective (hence my provisional stance).
>So I was wondering if Jung or his prodigies wrote anything that goes into the deeper layers of the (collective) shadow. Similar to Aion but revolving around the shadow archetype instead of The Self.
None that I'm aware of without some digging, but a couple of fiction authors, one closer to Jung in terms of era, that come to mind are H.P. Lovecraft, and more contemporaneously Thomas Ligotti whose fiction, the little of it that I've encountered so far, seems to be dealing with the kinds of features of the shadow you're raising here.
Another fiction author but also journalist whose work strayed into extreme and dangerous undercurrents in his society (Sweden) that comes to mind is Stieg Larsson, but I've only read interviews or articles of his dealing with what could be called 'deep, dark, shadow' material in terms of the social activities he investigated in his journalistic capacities. His fiction though, apparently, draws on this and weaves into narratives that explore and map it. So maybe there is something there for you?
>Works regarding deviant sexuality and the source of fetishes and what type of complexes and archetypes their linked too would also be greatly appreciated. Or anything regarding the beast inside man
Some of what your raising in your OP concerns affect and trauma; the "darker depths of the shadow" are usually if not always going to involve trauma somewhere. In terms of the scale of its reach and commonality in human experience and roots of history there is so much untold and unresolved trauma that pertains to the "beast inside man".
A Jungian analyst whose work dives into trauma from a Jungian perspective is Donald Kalsched. His first book for instance The Inner World of Trauma describes case studies that are definitely in this territory. Kalsched maps it out according to a post-Jungian framework that discusses what this content may be serving psychologically and approaches to the healing of it. The deeper and darker aspects of the shadow breathe and are witnessed in these pages, it's a profound book.
Another reader in the sub recently mentioned this book, Meeting The Shadow. Perhaps there are essays there that are relevant?
Elsewhere, I'm aware of, but also only in a cursory manner, the work of a philosopher and neo-Freudian writer named Julia Kristeva. Part of her subject concerns focus on the abject, both it's social location, so its collective aspects, and its subjectivities. Though not strictly Jungian, her model is Lacanian, there may be content in her work that is relevant to your quest (?). However, her work is academic and very dense, so might not suit expediency in terms of being able to turn it over into useful, practical purposes, making sense out of it or time spent reading.
A good question jorn818.
>I honestly believe meditation is only ONE tool that helps us face our shadow.
Agreed, shadow work in conjunction with meditation can bring true benefit.
Meeting the shadow is a great book on this topic. Here are some quotes:
"The shadow cannot be eliminated. It is the ever-present dark brother or sister. Whenever we fail to see where it stands, there is likely to be trouble afoot. For then it is certain to be standing behind us. The adequate question therefore never is: Have I a shadow problem? Have I a negative side? But rather: Where does it happen to be right now? When we cannot see it, it is time to beware! And it is helpful to remember Jung's formulation that a complex is not pathological per se. It becomes pathological only when we assume that we do not have it; because then it has us."
"This brings us to the fundamental fact that the shadow is the door to our individuality. In so far as the shadow renders us our first view of the unconscious part of our personality, it represents the first stage toward meeting the Self. There is, in fact, no access to the unconscious and to our own reality but through the shadow. Only when we realize that part of ourselves which we have not hitherto seen or preferred not to see can we proceed to question and find the sources from which it feeds and the basis on which it rests. Hence no progress or growth is possible until the shadow is adequately confronted — and confronting means more than merely knowing about it. It is not until we have truly been shocked into seeing ourselves as we really are, instead of as we wish or hopefully assume we are, that we can take the first step toward individual reality."
There's also a meditation practice in the Tibetan tradition called Chöd that is very similar to shadow work. Tsultrim Allione describes this practice as "feeding your own demons"
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Meeting-Shadow-Hidden-Nature-Consciousness/dp/087477618X
This is a pretty good read on learning about the shadow. Fair warning. You might not like what you find.
My wife arrives home from a longer-than-planned 14 mile run, giving me a
bit of bonus time for my walk this morning. I decide: Some walking & hiking for
fitness, some walking for strolling around the library book sale. Elapsed
time on foot: 1h 45m.
It was also of those days when you grab your stuff without checking what you
already had on you, and end up with a fun assortment of functional
duplicates.
Manifest, mostly top-down and L-R order:
Not pictured: Squeeze bottle with 20 oz. Jolly Rancher Green Apple-flavored
Singles to Go powder mixed with water. I love this flavor. Also: Library book bag, kept rolled up in waist pack.
I extended my two favorite SAK tools, the mini scissors for hangnails and
the precision screwdriver from the Cadet for all kinds of screws incl.
phillips. Love that thing.
https://www.amazon.com/Meeting-Shadow-Hidden-Power-Nature/dp/087477618X?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-ffab-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=087477618X
This is a collection of essays about the shadow by different Jungian thinkers and practitioners. I was recommended it and have recommended it to others.
I've had this book recommended to me.
If by "it" you mean the Truth, then you are correct! :D At least in my opinion.. As I understand it, you can tap into the Truth and find what works. If it doesn't work, it's not the Truth. I ponder whether there is true objective Truth, or if it is different for everyone.. Or perhaps Truth takes on many forms with no version more true than another. Perspective and relativity.
It is also worth noting that at some point, what once worked may no longer work at a later time. You use a boat to cross the ocean, but once you get on land you need a new vehicle. You leave the boat and maybe use a car or bicycle. Neither is "bad" or unnecessary. Both serve a purpose for their leg of the journey. The further you make it along your path, the lighter your vehicle becomes. The less attached you are to what vehicle you use, and the more present you become in the journey. I think this is a good metaphor for the personality, and I've had a lot of the same struggles you're talking about (still do! ;P).
When I started learning about spirituality, I thought I was supposed to completely drop the whole "act" that I saw I was doing. Little things to get attention, fake interactions at stores, etc. I was faking happiness because I was taught it was polite. I then realized it could be considered a very unauthentic way to interact. However, I still HAVE a personality. I'm still me.. I still grew up with initial conditions that affect my psyche. Preferences, aversions, the whole gimick. When I tried to tackle the entire personality, I became overwhelmed with so much to fix. After realizing I did not wish to be overwhelmed anymore, I had to learn to be content with the me that has manifested in this moment. The me with all its preferences and aversions. This does not mean that I have to neglect desires for growth, because that's just another preference that I can acknowledge and take action.
I would suggest looking into Shadow Work. This has to do with the shadow that we've come to know, but is really just negative or unreal energy that we've accepted as our own. It's added baggage, really.. If we want to live lighter lives, we have to not only acknowledge love, joy, humor, connection, personality, etc., but learn to balance them and not attach to them. An actor does not attach to the role, but fully embodies the role nonetheless (with the exception, perhaps, of rare cases where the actor drives themselves mad).
Shadow Work Books:
https://www.amazon.com/Meeting-Shadow-Hidden-Power-Nature/dp/087477618X
https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Side-Light-Chasers-Reclaiming/dp/1594485259
Nightmares are message from our unconscious that we really have to pay attention. Here you have very meaningful symbols like the house usually represent your own personality and how you feel with yourself and the basement is the unconscious, in your basement there is this ghost you are afraid. This ghost is your shadow, you have to confront it in real life and you are afraid of it. To do this you have to think of all the things you reject in other people. For example, you hate hippies who smoke weed...But what area in your life you are a hippie and more chill? Try to connect with the things you hate..
More info here:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evil-deeds/201204/essential-secrets-psychotherapy-what-is-the-shadow
I really recommend this book:
https://www.amazon.es/Meeting-Shadow-Hidden-Nature-Consciousness/dp/087477618X
It seems quite likely that the trip has started to shake things up deep inside you, which now needs further enquiry in order to process and integrate. In my opinion, the very fact that you chose this character's name does seem to lean towards a need for shadow work on your journey, but I am of course just taking a stab here.
I found the following two books extremely helpful on my own path and would recommend them to anybody interested in further exploration of the shadow side of the psyche. The first is a brilliant and varied collection of short essays on the shadow in various different areas of our life. The second focuses more on the technique of using dream work and active imagination to dialogue with one's unconscious. In my experience, active imagination is a very powerful practice, and one that is very much overlooked.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Meeting-Shadow-Hidden-Nature-Consciousness/dp/087477618X/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1512061792&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=meting+the+shadow
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=inner+work
This video also sprung to mind. It is a short lecture given by Anne Shulgin on working with the shadow in mdma/2cb sessions. Definitely worth checking out, if you haven't already done so: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiFFzoaR25U
I don't have online source, it's hard to find because, i think, of the new age movement and other bullshit.
Those two are good, i would recommend the first one
https://www.amazon.fr/Inner-Work-Dreams-Imagination-Personal/dp/0062504312/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1551133202&sr=8-1&keywords=inner+work+robert+A+johnson
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https://www.amazon.fr/Meeting-Shadow-Connie-Zweig/dp/087477618X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1551133078&sr=8-1&keywords=meeting+the+shadow