Integrating
the Shadow
“The
message is unmistakable; our own healing proceeds from that overlap
of what we call good and evil, light and dark. It is not that the
light element alone does the healing; the place where light and dark
begin to touch is where miracles arise. This middle place is a
mandorla.”
Robert A.
Johnson (Owning Your Own Shadow: Understanding the Dark Side of the
Psyche)
Just for clarification, a
mandorla is an oval of light, usually seen around such sacred
Christian figures such as Jesus or Mary. It is used to indicate holy
ground, sacred space, wholeness. There are many images of wholeness
in other religious traditions—the taijitu, or yin/yang symbol, for
one. It depicts the same reality that Johnson elaborates above—light
and dark exist within one another and cannot be separated. Together
and integrated, they form the whole.
This understanding has
deep implications for each of us individually and for our world. When
we split off one part of us—whether that part is another tribe,
race, nation, human being, or personal characteristic—it is
impossible to be whole. It is not in rejecting what we don't like or
don't agree with, but in bringing into the fold and integrating it,
that we are healed and our nations are healed.
The riots in
Charlottesville, Venezuela, and Kenya, together with the insane
threats of nuclear attacks from the leaders of North Korea and the
United States, form a clear example—when people feel marginalized,
their natural instinct is to fight; when people want power and
control, their natural instinct is to suppress others. The only way
for there to be a good outcome to all this violence is to acknowledge
these opposing needs, to rise above our animal instincts, and find a
way to negotiate. More fighting, more suppression, and more raving
madness will not bring peace or healing. The paradox here is that it
is highly probable that all this nastiness had to come to the
surface, even erupt in our streets, for transformation to take
place—otherwise it would simply stay buried in the collective human
psyche and continue to foment hatred, resentment and more violence.
Acknowledging the legitimacy of the darkness, whether we like it or
not, is a necessary part of healing.
Jungian Analyst, Robert
Johnson, now ninety-six years old, had this to say about it: “Nothing
will see us through the age we're entering but high consciousness,
and that comes hard.” Each of us contributes to the whole, so
individual growth is essential. Becoming conscious is, at this point,
not optional—we must do it to move from chaos to clarity, from
broken to whole. That will not happen solely by gazing upon the
light, but by recognizing and integrating our own darkness.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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