"In Carl Gustav Jung's analytical psychology, the shadow as a concept comprises everything the conscious personality experiences as negative. In dreams and fantasies the shadow appears with the characteristics of a personality of the same sex as the ego, but in a very different configuration. It is presented as the eternal antagonist of an individual or group, or the dark brother within, who always accompanies one, the way Mephistopheles accompanied Goethe's Faust.
"Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. If an inferiority is conscious, one always has a chance to correct it. Furthermore, it is constantly in contact with other interests, so that it is continually subjected to modifications. But if it is repressed and isolated from consciousness, it never gets corrected, and is liable to burst forth suddenly in a moment of unawareness. At all counts, it forms an unconscious snag, thwarting our most well-meant intentions (CW 11, p. 76, para. 131)." [Read more]
"The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real" [“The Shadow,” CW 9ii, p. 8, para. 14.] [Read more]
Shadow: "For Swiss psychiatrist C. G. Jung, the theory of the shadow” was a metaphorical means of conveying the prominent role of the unconscious in both psychopathology and the perennial problem of evil. In developing his paradoxical conception of the shadow, Jung sought to provide a more highly differentiated, phenomenologically descriptive version of the unconscious and of the id than previously proffered by Freud. The shadow was originally Jung’s poetic term for the totality of the unconscious, a depiction he took from philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. But foremost for Jung was the task of further illuminating the shadowy problem of human evil and the prodigious dangers of excessive unconsciousness. Especially concerned with those pathological mental states historically known as demonic possession,” Jung’s psychological construct of the shadow corresponds to yet differs fundamentally from the idea of the Devil or Satan in theology. As a parson’s son, Jung was steeped in the Protestant mythos, digested the rich symbolism of Catholicism, and studied the other great religious and philosophical systems. But, as a physician, he intentionally employed the more mundane, banal, less esoteric or metaphysical and, therefore more rational terminology the shadow” and the unconscious” instead of the traditional religious language of god, devil, daimon or mana. For Jung, depth psychological designations such as the shadow or the unconscious, were “coined for scientific purposes, and [are] far better suited to dispassionate observation which makes no metaphysical claims than are the transcendental concepts, which are controversial and therefore tend to breed fanaticism” (cited in Diamond, 1996: 97).” (p. 836) [Read more]
Jung, C. G. (1971). The shadow (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). In H. Read et al. (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung: Vol. 9ii. Aion (2nd ed., pp. 8-10). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1951) https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400851058.8
Jung, C. G. (1969). Answer to Job (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). In H. Read et al. (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung: Vol. 11. Psychology and religion (2nd ed., pp. 355-470). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1952) https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400850983.355
Jung, C. G. (1970). The fight with the shadow (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). In H. Read et al. (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung: Vol. 10. Civilization in transition (2nd ed., pp. 218-226). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1946) https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400850976.218
Jung, C. G. (1970). After the catastrophe (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). In H. Read et al. (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung: Vol. 10. Civilization in transition (2nd ed., pp. 194-217). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1945) https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400850976.194
Jung, C. G. (1970). Epilogue to Essays on contemporary events (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). In H. Read et al. (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung: Vol. 10. Civilization in transition (2nd ed., pp. 227-243). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1946) https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400850976.227
What are the blissful islands? And where are they? This book takes as its starting-point the chapter called ‘On the Blissful Islands’ in Part Two of Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and its enigmatic conclusion: ‘The beauty of the Superman came to me as a shadow’. From this remarkable and powerful passage, it disengages the Nietzschean idea of the Superman and the Jungian notion of the shadow, moving these concepts into a new, interdisciplinary direction. In particular, On the Blissful Islands seeks to develop the kind of interpretative approach that Jung himself employed. Its chief topics are classical (the motif of the blissful islands), psychological (the shadow), and philosophical (the Übermensch or superman), blended together to produce a rich, intellectual-historical discussion. By bringing context and depth to a nexus of highly problematic concepts, it offers something new to the specialist and the general reader alike. So this book considers the significance of the statue in the culture of antiquity (and in alchemy), and investigates the associated notion of self-sculpting as a form of existential exercise. This Neoplatonic theme is pursued in relation to a poem by Schiller, at the centre of which lies the notion of self-sculpting, thus highlighting Nietzsche’s (and Jung’s) relationship to Idealism. Its conclusion directly addresses the vexed (and controversial) question of Nietzsche’s relation to Plato. This book’s main ambition is to provide a cross-cultural, interdisciplinary reading of key themes and motifs, using Jungian ideas in general (and Jung’s vast seminar on Zarathustra in particular) to uncover a dimension of deep meaning in key passages in Nietzsche. Engaging the reader directly on major existential questions, it aims to be an original, thought-provoking contribution to the history of ideas, and to show that Zarathustra was right: There still are blissful islands!" [Read more]
Butler, J. (2016). Gnawing at the roots: Toward a transpersonal poetics of guilt and death. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 35(2), 51–60.
Abstract: As an imaginal approach, archetypal psychology focuses its attention on the diverse and polysemous expressions of imagination as the ground from which all psychological expressions emerge, replacing the dried up concept of a singular ego with the notion that consciousness takes up a multitude of styles concordant with the mercurial flow of images that concentrically influence, grip down, and take over consciousness like a band of pirates commandeering a ship. Archetypal psychology situates itself as a transpersonal psychology by qualifying the image as inextricably archetypal, denoting a valence of meaning that extends beyond the merely personal, beyond the particular cultural-historical situation, pointing toward a pattern that has persisted in the cultural and personal heritage of humanity since time immemorial. After a brief introduction to some of the primary ideas of archetypal psychology, this paper explores the Criminal as an archetypal image, complex, and shadow projection that has been culturally disavowed and expressed through the brutality of systemic racism. The paper concludes with an example of the transformation of this image through the psychological functions of guilt and death.
Brewster, F. (2019). Childhood innocence: Racial prejudice and the shaping of psychological complexes. Psychological Perspectives, 62(2), 164–175.
This article examines C. G. Jung’s theory of complexes in consideration of ethnicity, racism, and African American culture with a focus on the development of the racial complex within Africanist children. The intention of the exploration of a particular complex identified as a racial complex is to bring into a broader Jungian psychology a discussion of the possibility of increased conscious awareness that supports identification of, and engagement with, the influences of such a complex operative on the individual and group cultural levels. A section of this article reviews American slavery and shadow as archetypes capable of causing constellations that impact on human behaviors, that have promoted racism within American societal structures for centuries. The trauma of the racial complex is reviewed within an Africanist cultural context. Trauma, emotions, and archetypal energy, as shown through racial interactions, are discussed as parts of a racial complex and explored as features of intergenerational cultural trauma. The discussion of the article centers on exploring how ethnicity can create childhood trauma that leads to the psychological development of an Africanist racial complex.
Casement, A. (2003). Encountering the shadow in rites of passage: A study in activations. The Journal of Analytical Psychology, 48(1), 29–46.
Abstract: Jung’s concept of the shadow is explored in this paper through his writings on its realization and assimilation in which he says the shadow may be experienced as the regressed and denied “other self” in each individual. However, this is not the whole picture, and he also points to the fact that the shadow contains more than something merely negative. While in no way treating them as “patients”, the paper will also touch on the experience of the anthropologist, Bronislaw Malinowski, and the writer, Joseph Conrad, in their personal encounters with the shadow. All three encountered the shadow whilst going through rites of passage of their own and each owes much to the Romantic Movement. In this context, attention is directed to the writings of the philosopher and theologian, Johann Gottfried von Herder, who discovered a deeper understanding of his destiny in the course of a sea voyage.
Cremen, S. N. (2019). Vocation as psyche’s call: A depth psychological perspective on the emergence of calling through symptoms at midlife.. International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, 19(1), 41–61.
Abstract: Vocation, as distinct from career, is not something one chooses but something to which one is called. Bringing a depth psychological perspective to debates around calling, I argue that surrendering the ego or personal will into a relationship with the unconscious psyche allows one’s calling to emerge. Using a hybrid qualitative approach drawing on hermeneutics and incorporating interviews with midlife adults, the research shows how calling can arise through darkness, disruption and trouble, paralleling a process of initiation in traditional cultures. Applications of Jungian concepts including psyche, shadow, persona and individuation are discussed. Vocational research and practice implications are raised.
Naifeh, K. H. (2019). Encountering the other: The white shadow. Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche, 13(2), 7–19.
Abstract: In spite of Jung’s encounter with the spirit of the depths that he describes in The Red Book and his reverence for other cultures, he remained, in some ways, very much a man held by the spirit of the times in which he lived. Eurocentrism, even unconscious patronizing racism, is evident in Jung’s writings. This article asks how, due to the impact of the spirit of the times on us, do we unconsciously express attitudes, writings, and actions that are offensive to the other? There are embedded forms of racism and thereby oppression that members of the dominant group learn not to see, to keep in the shadows. What forces keep unconscious racial bias alive and active in our societies? One answer lies in a culture’s shadow. This article utilizes writings of Jung and post-Jungians, such as Kimbles, Singer, and Brewster, as well as examples from philosophy, relational psychoanalysis, film, and literature that depict culture’s shadow. The relationship of culture’s shadow to Jung’s “geology” of the personality as diagrammed in one of his 1925 lectures is explored as is the connection of culture’s shadow to archetypal evil and to the formation of negative cultural complexes. These explorations are directed toward new ways of understanding the creation and maintenance of the sense of other in the psyche, furthering the work of bringing culture’s shadow into consciousness..