Wrestling the Shadow....without and within

[Guest guest]

Levy has just shared with me this just-published piece about the Shadow. I

think he has articulated this confusing and often-paradoxical subject very well.

I hope some you will enjoy reading and thinking about what says here. I

think he is getting it right. And it is really perfect for these troublesome

times in which we now find ourselves....and from a Jungian POV, to be sure.

He gave me permission to share it here. Enjoy.

Greg

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ILLUMINATED BY DARKNESS

By Levy

(Note: For those of you have read my book, the first few parts of this article

might be somewhat familiar, but I urge you to not let this stop you from getting

to the meat of the article, as I genuinely try to illumine some new territory.

I’ve included these first few parts for those unfamiliar with my work, as it

serves as a framework for the main discussion that follows later in the

article).

In my recent book “The Madness of W. Bush: A Reflection of our Collective

Psychosis (available on my website www.awakeninthedream.com),” I point out that

one of the fundamental psychological dynamics in-forming the crisis that is

playing out in our world is the unwillingness to “consciously experience” our

own sense of shame, guilt and sin. This turning away from the darker part of

ourselves pervades the entire field, which is to say it exists within each one

of us in potential at each and every moment. This contraction against our own

guilt, shame and sin is an active dynamic that exists “inside” every one of us

and is revealing itself to us as it gets “dreamed up” in the “outside” world.

This inner psychological process of turning away from our own darkness is giving

shape to collective events in our world.

To see what is playing out in our world as a “dreaming process” is to

contemplate it as if it IS a dream we are having right now. As in a dream, the

outer (what is happening in the world) is nothing other than an unmediated

expression or reflection of what is going on inside the dreamer, which in this

case is us. The fact that this core psychological process of turning away from

our guilt, shame and sin is at work, “fully employed” in-forming and fueling the

crisis in our world, is revealing to us that this very same process exists

within ourselves. This is to say that the genuine healing and resolution of our

world crisis is to be found by looking within ourselves. This is exactly what

Christ himself was teaching when he said, “The Kingdom is to be found within.”

Just like a dream, the core “inner” process of the psyche is revealing itself,

both literally as well as symbolically, in, as and through events in the

“outside” world. We don’t recognize this synchronistic correspondence between

the inner and the outer not because it is hard to see, but because it is so

obvious, we don’t notice what is staring us in the face. This correlation

between what is happening inside of ourselves and what is happening in the

outside world is “transparent.” This is to say it is not hidden, as it’s fully

apparent, while at the same time being invisible, like a see-thru medium that we

are not able to register. This synchronistic co-relation between the inner and

the outer is veiling itself in the obviousness of its very revelation. We are

simply being asked to recognize what is being revealed.

Seen as a mass, shared dream that we are all collaboratively dreaming up into

materialization, what is playing out on the world stage is symbolically

revealing to us the core psychological process that is keeping us separate from

one another. Any one of us integrating our own darkness into our image of

ourselves has a non-local effect on the entire field, which is to say that the

way to “fight” evil is by coming to terms with it within ourselves.

GEORGE BUSH IS OUR REFLECTION

We can use the figure of Bush as an example. As I articulate in my book

(in chapter 1), at the bottom of Bush’s madness is his unwillingness and fear to

consciously feel and experience his own guilt, shame and sin (which means to

miss the mark). In order to hide from his darkness, Bush splits-off and projects

his own darkness outside of himself. In projecting his shadow, however, he is

lying (both to others, as well as himself), for he is disassociating from and

deceiving himself about his darker intentions. Bush then deludes himself into

believing his own lies, which is the very thing which feeds his guilt in the

first place, creating the very thing he is hiding from. Bush is caught in a

self-created, involuted spiral of ever increasing madness, a crazy-making

double-bind with no “exit strategy” that he is acting out on the world stage.

This self-reinforcing process of splitting-off from his guilt develops a

momentum and a sovereignty of its own, more and more taking Bush over in the

process. Bush is being manipulated, victimized and possessed by darker forces

that he himself is setting in motion through his refusal to self-reflect and

consciously experience his guilt. He has fallen into a self-created and

self-creating feedback loop, an infinite regression known in Buddhism as the

endless wheel of cyclic, problematic, and suffering-filled existence called

“samsara.” Because of his position of power to determine events in our world,

however, we are all at risk, as his disastrous, unconscious, fear-based

re-actions threaten the well-being of the entire planet.

Being so taken over by his unconscious as a result of his unwillingness to feel

his guilt, Bush is incarnating this (inner) process in full-bodied (outer) form,

which is to say he is an embodied “revelation” of this inner process. The figure

of Bush is both literally, as well as symbolically - like a figure in a

dream - reflecting back to us the part of ourselves that is feeding and thereby

supporting our own darkness, as well as the darkness in the universe. Seen as a

dreaming process, in which Bush is a figure that we’ve all dreamed up

into materialization, we have dreamed him up to mirror back to us our own

ignorance, madness, and darkness, so as to help us recognize and integrate these

pathological parts within ourselves of which he is merely a reflection.

Being an embodied reflection of this part of ourselves is to say that Bush is

not separate from us, as we are all interconnected parts and expressions of the

underlying unified field. We don’t exist in isolation from Bush, nor him from

us, but rather, in co-relation to each other. We are all interdependently

co-arising together, which is to say that we are all parts of one another. We

are expressions of and contained in a being whose periphery is far greater than

what we have been imagining for ourselves. To realize this is to have an

expansion of not only our image of who we are, but of consciousness itself.

WE ARE ALL COMPLICIT

Avoiding relationship with our shadow results in having a chronic “guilty

conscience,” which is an expression of “unconsciousness,” and is the polar

opposite of “consciously” experiencing our guilt. Our turning away from

consciously experiencing our own guilt, shame and sin literally feeds and give

life to the shadow, both on the personal level (in ourselves), and on the

collective, archetypal level (on the world stage). This “turning away” from a

part of ourselves is an inner, archetypal, age-old process that has enacted

itself all throughout history. This is to say that this dynamic exists in the

collective unconscious of humanity, pervading the entire field of consciousness,

and is therefore a process in which we all share and participate. To the extent

that each of us is not dealing with our own guilt, shame, and sin, we are

contributing to and unknowingly colluding with the collective shadow that is

playing out in the world.

The evil that is playing out in the world non-locally pervades the entire field,

which is to say that we are all complicit. Though he was talking about Nazi

Germany, Jung could have been talking about our present day when he said,

“Psychological collective guilt …hits everybody, just and unjust alike,

everybody who was anywhere near the place where the terrible thing happened.” In

our case, because the evil is playing itself out non-locally throughout the

field, which is to say everywhere, we are all “near the place where the terrible

thing happened (and is happening).” We are all playing roles, to the extent we

are acting out our unconscious, in animating the darkness that has befallen our

planet. To say this differently: We are all collaboratively dreaming up the

darkness in the world, we are all responsible. There is no one in this world who

is completely innocent, as we are all interconnected, inseparable parts of the

greater field.

When we are unwilling to consciously experience this shadow part of ourselves,

we necessarily project it outside of ourselves. This split-off, darker part

literally gets “dreamed up” into materialization in the outside world. Once we

meet our projected shadow in the outside world, we immediately contract against

it, which is the very reflection of our original impulse of contracting against

our own inner darkness being played out in the outside world. Paradoxically,

this implies that the way to work on our inner process is by actively

participating in the outside world, while concurrently, the very way to change

the outer world is by looking within and working on our inner process.

THE DARKNESS ITSELF ILLUMINES US

Once we project our shadow, we fall into a vicious cycle in which we are

endlessly hiding from and lying to ourselves. In order to justify our shadow

projections, we continually have to entrance ourselves into believing the lie

that is inherent in our shadow projection. Interestingly, Jung simply refers to

“shadow projection” as “the lie.” Etymologically, lying is related to the word

“Devil,” who is the “liar.” Shadow projection is intimately related to the evil

that is playing out in our world.

We secretly feel a sense of guilt when we shadow project, because we inwardly

know we are not in our integrity. This sense of guilt itself is the very feeling

from which we split-off. Our guilt does not allow us to feel our guilt, which is

what we secretly feel guilty over. To the extent that we don’t consciously

experience our guilt, we become caught in an infinitely-perpetuating double-bind

in which we project out our darkness, which just perpetuates the very thing we

feel guilty about, ad infinitum.

Commenting on the insidious futility of shadow projection, Jung said, “One

realizes, first of all, that one cannot project one’s shadow on to others, and

next that there is no advantage in insisting on their guilt, as it is much more

important to know and possess one’s own, because it is part of one’s own self

and a necessary factor without which nothing in this sublunary world can be

realized.”

Jung is pointing at the “primary” importance of getting in touch with our own

guilt. It should be noted that getting in touch with our own guilt doesn’t

preclude at the same time holding someone like Bush accountable for his criminal

actions. Both the inner and outer situations need to be consciously dealt with,

without either being marginalized.

Once we consciously access our own guilt, however, we withdraw and dis-invest

our projection of the shadow onto others. We recognize that the evil we’re

seeing in the other is simultaneously our own evil, thereby realizing we can no

longer project evil outside of ourselves and keep it at arm’s length. On the

contrary, we discover that evil exists within the very arm that is pointing to

it out there. Yes, Bush is guilty. And to the extent that we are turning away

from a part of ourselves (whether within ourselves, or as it appears in

reflected form in the outside world), so are we. We are all complicit.

Once we withdraw our shadow projections from external reality, we dis-spell and

dis-engage from the diabolical feedback loop which we were unknowingly feeding

and in which we were imprisoned. Once we withdraw our shadow projection from the

outside world and recognize it within ourselves, we are able to snap out of our

self-created double-bind and consciously feel our guilt, shame and sin. Once we

become fluent and engaged with the darkness within ourselves, we no longer have

to hide from it, which is to say from ourselves, by projecting our shadow

outside of ourselves. We can thereby take responsibility for our role in

perpetuating this cycle of self-deceit and denial, and with our increased

consciousness, bring our complicity in this dynamic to an end. We are then able

to deal with the “sublunary world” of the dark unconscious, both within

ourselves and as it appears in the outside world. Once we are acquainted with

the archetypal darkness which expresses itself non-locally

throughout the field, this darkness paradoxically reveals itself to be an

expression of the light, as it is the darkness itself that has illumined us.

Becoming “intimately related” to our own darkness empowers us to effectively

deal with the darkness in the world in a way that was unavailable to us as long

as we were avoiding a confrontation with our own inner darkness. When we were

hiding from our own darkness, we were trying to destroy it as it appeared in the

outside world (which is merely an “externalized” reflection of our “inner” act

of contracting against our own darkness). In other words, the darkness (inside

of us) is trying to get rid of the darkness (in the outside world), as if the

darkness is trying to get rid of itself, which is the very act that generates

and is generated by the darkness in the first place.

WE ARE ALL GUILTY OF BEING INNOCENT

Once we consciously take the shadow back into ourselves, we become an

instrument, a flash of light that illumines the darkness in the outside world.

Instead of reacting to the darkness in the outside world through the lens of our

own unembraced darkness, which simply creates, through projection, more

darkness, we are able to see the darkness through the part of ourselves that is

separate from it. Paradoxically, seeing our own evil is the very thing which

activates the part of us which is “other” than and free of evil. This part of us

that is “other” than evil is the only part of us that can clearly see evil (as

it plays itself out both within ourselves and in the outside world) because it

is not “mixed up” with it, and thus, is not blinded or deceived by it.

At the same time we see the evil part of ourselves, the part of us that is

seeing evil is free of it, for we couldn’t objectify it otherwise. For example,

if we have jaundice, we couldn’t pick out what objects are truly yellow, for

everything looks yellow. The part of us that is seeing the color yellow is the

part of us that is “yellow-free.” Paradoxically, it is only in recognizing and

owning the evil within ourselves that allows us, by virtue of being the witness

of it, to relate to it as “other” than ourselves, which is to be free of it

(“evil-free”).

This is a very subtle, but immensely profound point. When we see the evil within

us, by owning it we simultaneously witness it as other than and separate from

ourselves, which is to get in relationship with it as an “other.” Simply aware

of what it is witnessing, the part of us that is the witness of “evil” is free

of the attribute that is being witnessed; it is not the “guilty party.” The evil

I am witnessing within myself is an aspect of me and I own it but it is not

mine. This is the personal/impersonal paradox of the soul: what is most me is

not mine.

We are only able to bear the experience of the evil within us and not fall into

overwhelming despair if we recognize the “transpersonal” origin of evil (for a

deeper discussion on evil, see the chapter in my book called “Shedding Light on

Evil,” chapter 13). Instead of identifying with the evil we have found within,

thinking it “belongs” to us individually, we recognize that evil is “archetypal”

in nature, in that it belongs to the universe itself. Realizing the archetypal

dimension of evil is itself an expression that we are in touch with our

intrinsic wholeness, which enables us to not split-off from nor identify with,

but rather contain, transmute and liberate evil’s deleterious effects. Becoming

engaged with and intimately related to the transpersonal evil within us

simultaneously acquaints us with the part of ourselves that is beyond the

personal ego and plugged into something greater than ourselves.

Similarly, the part of us that experiences the guilt that is bound up in the

evil within us is the guilt-free (innocent) part of us. When we consciously

experience our “feelings” of guilt in a “full-bodied way” (compared to an

“intellectual” way, in which we only experience the “idea” of our guilt), the

underlying guilt, as if released from being stuck in a frozen block of ice,

begins to melt, move, and transform. Fully experiencing one of the opposites,

our guilt, constellates its opposite, as we become introduced to the part of us

that has always existed in primordial purity. This “innocent” part of us has

simply been temporarily hidden by our unwillingness to experience our own evil

and corresponding guilt. Paradoxically, by consciously experiencing our guilt,

shame and sin, and experiencing remorse, we become acquainted with the part of

us that is “innocent.”

This “innocent” part of ourselves has never been tainted by darkness. This part

of us that is “other” than evil is unstained and undefiled by evil, just like

the sands of the Sahara desert are not made wet by a mirage of water. This

innocent part of us warrants being identified with divinity. Paradoxically, by

owning the evil inside of ourselves, we access the part of us that is untouched

by evil, and can genuinely be called “good,” as it is of the nature of “God.”

THE SHADOW IS A TRICKSTER

Jung said, “Consciousness of guilt can therefore act as a powerful moral

stimulus…without guilt, unfortunately, there can be no psychic maturation and no

widening of the spiritual horizon.” Feeling genuine regret and remorse brings

with it a “metanoia,” a refreshing and renewal of the spirit. This is the

“remorse of conscience” that the spiritual teacher Gurdjieff considered to be

the doorway into genuine spiritual maturation and evolution.

Experiencing remorse involves seeing the times in our lives when we have

deceived ourselves and/or others and have hurt other people in the process. Who

among us is not guilty? It takes moral courage to shatter our one-sided image of

ourselves as “pure and righteous,” face ourselves in the mirror, see our darker

half and experience remorse. Humility spontaneously arises as we “feel through”

our remorse.

There is a danger however. To quote Jung, “In making the shadow conscious we

must be very careful that the unconscious does not play yet another trick and

prevent a real confrontation with the shadow. A patient may see the darkness in

himself for a moment, but the next moment he tells himself that it is not so bad

after all, a mere bagatelle [something of little importance]. Or else he

exaggerates his remorse, because it is so nice to have such a wonderful

remorseful feeling, to enjoy it like a warm eiderdown on a cold winter’s morning

when one should be getting up. This dishonesty, this refusal to see, ensures

that there will be no confrontation with the shadow. Yet if there were a

confrontation, then with increasing consciousness the good and the positive

features would come to light too. We must therefore beware of the danger of

wallowing in affects- remorse, melancholy, etc.- because they are seductive.”

[Emphasis added]

Until integrated and made conscious, the shadow is always trying to obfuscate

itself. Even the part of us that wants to integrate the shadow so that we can be

free of it might itself be an aspect of the shadow. The shadow itself is not

“bad,” it is a mere “shadow” with no substance. It is our turning away from and

avoiding our shadow which is the very act that is both created by and creating

the darkness from which we are turning away.

Spiritual/New Age practitioners who are endlessly affirming their innocence are

another example of falling under the spell of the shadow. Many metaphysical

practitioners are actually caricatures of genuine spiritual practitioners, as in

their affirmations of their guiltlessness they are unwittingly avoiding

conscious relationship with their feelings of guilt, shame and sin. Overly

identified with the light and trying to be pure, they become self-righteous and

one-sided, which guarantees that they will unconsciously act out their shadow

destructively in the world. These “light-workers” generally run the other way

screaming in horror when someone has the temerity to even mention the word

“evil.”

There is also a danger of identifying with, getting absorbed into and caught by

the shadow, where we feel possessed by it and act it out unconsciously. Once we

develop a strong enough sense of self, however, we can not only become more

intimately in relationship with the darkness as an “object” other than

ourselves, but we then experience the darkness “subjectively,” as we experience

ourselves as the source of the darkness. This is to realize that it is our

contracting against the darkness, a form of clinging and grasping, which is the

very act that generates the darkness against which we are resisting.

OUR BURDEN IS LIGHT

As Christ said, “resist not evil.” There is a radical difference between

fighting evil and loving God. Loving God is to embrace unconditionally both the

light and dark sides of God, which is to say of ourselves. Snapping out of the

self-created and infinitely-regressing feedback loop of fighting against our own

darkness is to realize that our very grasping itself is the origin of the

problem of evil. This realization allows us to receive the blessings of the

“dark God.” As alchemists, we are then able to transmute the darkness into

light. As Christ said, “My burden IS light.” Could this statement by Christ mean

not only that his burden is “not heavy,” but that his (and our) burden IS (in

disguised form) the “light” of the Godhead itself?

We are confronted with a paradox: No one is innocent, as we are all complicit in

the darkness that is playing out in the world, while simultaneously we are all

innocent. A genuine “coincidentia oppositorum,” a co-inciding of the opposites,

a complete and utter paradox where both opposites are true simultaneously.

Consciously experiencing this co-joining of opposites challenges us to snap out

of the spell of our bifurcating, dualistic mind which separates this seamless

universe of ours into alienated fragments that seem to be at “odds” with each

other.

The only way to directly realize this union of opposites is to have an expansion

of consciousness in which we recognize our interconnectedness and

interrelatedness, and develop a more complete and holistic vision of our

inseparable relationship to each other and the universe as a whole. Entertaining

both opposites being true simultaneously is an expression that we have become

united with ourselves (which is reflected both within ourselves, as well as in

the outside world), while at the same time we ourselves have been united by the

opposites. Not merely the “subjects” of our inner process, we have become the

“objects” of a deeper, mythic, archetypal and divine process that is incarnating

itself through us. We are the conduits through which the universe is becoming

consciously aware of itself. The universe is waking itself up through us.

Just like the darkest thunderclouds are themselves the unmediated expression of

the sky, not separate from the sky in one iota, as they come out of the sky and

unfold back into the sky when they dissolve, evil can be recognized to be

related to, not separate from, and a revelation of our true nature. Just like

the darkest thunderclouds don’t dirty the sky, evil is recognized to have no

power to taint our true nature, but rather, in some very peculiar way, helps us

to realize who we are in a deeper, more ultimate sense. Evil awakens in us the

recognition of our true nature, similar to how we would never notice the surface

of the mirror without its reflections. Interestingly, it is only by allowing

himself to be completely bound by darker forces on the cross does Christ

actualize true freedom. Paradoxically, by binding us, evil can potentially

enliven the part of us that is truly free.

Just like a mirror can reflect back the vilest image and not become sullied by

the darkness of the reflection, when we become truly acquainted with our true

nature – which embraces both light and dark and is simply aware of what it

witnesses - our “original sin” dissolves back into the empty illusion that it

always was. Acting from the living experience of our basic goodness and

primordial purity, we can then truly be of benefit to the world.

Levy is an artist and a spiritually-informed political co-activist. A

pioneer in the field of spiritual awakening, he is a healer in private practice,

assisting others who are awakening to the dream-like nature of reality. He is

the author of “The Madness of Bush: A Reflection of Our Collective

Psychosis,” which is available at his website www.awakeninthedream.com. Please

feel free to pass this article along to a friend if you feel so inspired. You

can contact at paul@...; he looks forward to your

reflections. © Copyright 2006.

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