Jungian Psychology

Emerging From The Shadows

The journey of self-awareness

For more than a decade I wrote about Jungian psychology and how that translated to live-as-lived by ordinary people. I was trained in psychology, and felt comfortable with the language of depth psychology. However, as my wife was quick to point out, for the rest of the world, it was all so much psychobabble. I took it as my mission to attempt to put what I knew into ordinary, everyday language.

I became interested in Jungian psychology thirty years ago, reading as much as I could before taking courses in the discipline. Like everyone else I know in the world of psychotherapy, I arrived to the world of Jungian psychology as a broken man.

I seemed to have slipped down a rabbit-hole into a shadow world that was mostly dark. That darkness was as much visual as it was spiritual. And so, I began a journey through the world of shadows hoping to recover my sanity and re-emerge into the outer world as a functioning man.

I found a reference to those troubling shadows in one of Jung’s books:

“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.” C.G. Jung CW 9ii, par. 14

The above quote sums it up quite well. To have darkness and the shadows loose their hold over me, I was required to confront the darkness head on. In time, I came to realise that those lurking presences that scared the shit our of me, were denied aspects of myself. I needed to own them. In other words — I looked into the mirror and saw my enemy.

“Consciousness grows out of an unconscious psyche which is older than it and which goes on functioning together with it or even in spite of it.” C.G. Jung, CW 9i, par. 502

At the time when I was cobbling together the words found above in 2009, I was working on a photo book for a project called SoFoBoMo, the Solitary Foto Book in a Month project. My project had focused on awareness or consciousness as a journey.

I wrote in my journal at that time:

“This morning I wandered again down the railway track, and as the past few times, I did so while nude. I wait until the track has turned a bend and the house to the north of the tracks is hidden behind a collection of scrub trees. There was something shifting within me once again, a glimpse of the shadow that I had thought I had buried for good the past year in China. Yet, in this image, the shadow showed its face.”

Photos had been the pivot around which my writings flowed, especially for the new book, which I found these words in an entry for the photo book:

“The only mysteries remaining are those of relationship, of love. In spite of our belief in reason, we are pulled into a different mystery. We accept this pull and even revel in it as long as we feel we are in control, that we are fully aware.”

“As long as we feel we are in control.” Ouch! It is hard to believe that I wrote those words for the book. There was definitely no feeling of being in control experienced, despite the fact I have had good control of my life for the most part.

Well, I still don’t have control of the shadows which lay deep within my unconscious. My adoption of naturism was a reflection of that “shadow” oozing out of the depths. And the reality is, not one of us will ever have control of the unconscious aspects of ourselves. Naturism was one aspect of shadow that emerged, a shadow which was a gift rather than a threat. Naturism became instrumental in allowing myself to heal.

“This afternoon I spent extra time in the hills near a very small lake of sorts though most people here would call it a slough. It is a place that is alive. I saw one deer and several varieties of birds. And, I found time to meditate. And as a result, I am able to share a few more words written for the photo book:”

“We deceive ourselves about the mystery and claim that we are consciously choosing and fully in control. And that, the failure to admit the hidden shadows in full daylight, results in confusion as relationships shatter and are left in ruins.”

Yes, I know that I was failing to admit what was hidden in the shadows. My ego was aware something was brewing within, but it didn’t know then what was hidden.

Now I am aware of it. I now know from experience to match my training and studies, total control is never going to happen, and whatever remains hidden will emerge when it is good and ready to emerge … whether I like it or not.

I want to give thanks to my newest followers. Please check them out and see if they are a fit for you as well.

Jan C. McLarty, Kathleen Dutton, Book Summaries, Jody-Lynn Reicher, Chelsea Rose, huizhou92, LindenThorp:creator & Earthling Here & Now, Jacqueline Palma

I also want to mention my stalwarts when it comes to Jungian posts — Jenine "Jeni" Baines, Lucy Weir, and Brian Lageose