Greater Concepts: The Shadow
It can be daunting to truly be introspective, both with ourselves and others. To that end, as Jung put it, we put up a Persona to deal with the social world around us. A Persona is essentially a mask that we use to hide the deeper parts of ourselves in order to handle different situations. As negative as this sounds, it is natural. Think of Personas like different outfits. We wear different outfits for different occasions and the same is true for the masks we wear each day.
The Persona, then, is a way to hide ourselves—our true selves. Whether it’s just the private self that we do not wish to put on public display or it’s something more negative. Along with the concept of the Persona, Jung mentioned a few other archetypes that are connected to the Self; the Self being the culmination of the conscious and unconscious of an individual. It’s that pesky unconscious that I want to talk about today.
The Shadow is a part of that unconscious. It represents the negative aspects of ourselves that we do not wish to show to others: weaknesses, shortcomings, failures, vices, instinct, etc. Of course we don’t want those things out in the open, so it’s natural for us to hide them. To clarify, I am not arguing that these things should be out in the open, either. Especially the more harmful aspects.
Most people would agree that they do not show these aspects of themselves. And that’s good. The issue, I believe (and Jung would back me up here), is when it comes to the denial of the Shadow. I believe there are two types of denial: one is positive and the other is detrimental.
Positive Denial
There are obviously certain things we should not say or do. We should not act on our Shadow’s whims as they are neither positive for us nor for the world we live in. However, I hesitate to call the Shadow evil. It is, after all, just a conceptual way of viewing the personality. For some, it may be comprised of negatives, but for others, it may be comprised of things that are simply unacceptable in the society in which they live. Positive denial, then, would be a form of the Persona. Perhaps it would be better to say that this is a “refrain.” Rather than denying, we are refraining from doing something that goes against our morals, values, or societal norms.
Negative Denial
This is where we run into an issue. It is common for humans to look for the good in not only others, but themselves. No one wants to believe that they are evil or capable of evil (just as some will deny the concept of a ‘sin nature.’) We deny the possibility of the Shadow existing in ourselves to the extent that we fully identify with our Persona. The result, as Jung put it, “is that [people] become identical with their personas—the professor with his textbook, the tenor with his voice." (C. G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections (London 1983) p. 416). But we are not only our Personas. To put it another way, I am not only a therapist. That is one of my Personas, yes, but it is not all I am. To make that my entire identity would be a denial of every other aspect of myself.
The result is a flawed self and a lack of understanding about who we really are. Personas fade and change. I used to be a Home Theater Specialist at Best Buy; that was my Persona while I was there, but I no longer work there and, thus, that Persona has faded. When we fully identify as these mutable identifiers, we leave ourselves at risk of losing our identity when the Persona inevitably fails or fades.
So what do we do, then? If we can’t hide forever, then what is our other option?
I Will Face Myself
I want to take a break from the jargon and pondering for a moment in order to look at an example. If you know anything about me, you know that I am a rather big Persona (the game series) fan. While I think the Persona 3 and Persona 5 are fantastic, Persona 4 is far more applicable here as it has the fullest integration of the concept of Shadow Work.
In Persona 4, each of the main characters must contend with their own Shadow (in a very literal sense) in order to survive. In each instance, we see that the denial (see: negative denial) of this aspect of the self leads to negative consequences. Here’s an example from very early on in the game. (Language Warning)
Allow me a short recap, if you will. Yosuke is faced with his Shadow, a version of himself that embodies his true, negative feelings about himself, the world, and even the situation he is in. In denying this aspect of himself, his Shadow goes out of control. It is only after accepting that this is a part of himself (after a typical Persona RPG battle) that it calms down. He comes to terms with the fact that these are his actual, hidden feelings. It is only through accepting them that he is able to defeat them.
We, too, must do the same thing with our Shadows… minus the boss battle. Shadow Work is the process of integrating the shadow into the self; it is the understanding that, yes, this part of us that we hate and want to hide, is indeed a part of us. It is only through that recognition that we may begin to work on it. After all, the first step is admitting that there is a problem. If the alcoholic does not admit that he has a problem, then he will have no impetus to change. If he does admit the problem—if he does recognize his Shadow as a part of himself—he can then begin to work on himself in whatever form that takes.
We need to be able to look into ourselves and accept both the good and the bad. Even with that, though, it is important to understand that we are far more than the sum of our parts.
I Am… All of Me
One of my favorite characters in all of fiction is Shadow the Hedgehog. From his introduction in Sonic Adventure 2 (my favorite game of all time) to his most recent incarnation in Netflix’s Sonic Prime, I fully believe he is one of the most interesting and most developed characters in the Sonic series. In SA2, we see his internal conflict between his nature vs. nurture, whether to save the Earth or destroy it. In Shadow the Hedgehog, we see several different aspects of his character.
The core conceit of Shadow the Hedgehog (the game) is that there are different branching narrative paths that your actions are supposed to directly lead to with absolutely no gameplay issues whatsoever. The paths range from True Dark (Evil) to True Hero (Good). Interestingly enough, as bad as the game is, from a narrative standpoint, each of these endings is in line with who Shadow is as a character in both this game and the previously established material. Upon completion of the different endings, the True Story is unlocked.
Interestingly enough, aside from the comically evil endings, most of the endings could lead to this specific ending, whether good or bad. The True Ending is definitely a “good” ending in that Shadow’s actions are heroic, but it is more than just “good” or “bad.” The answer to the question of “Is Shadow good or bad?” is: “yes.”
Still with me? If you are, awesome. Pat yourself on the back for reading my Shadow the Hedgehog appreciation section. Now, the purpose behind all of that: good or bad, each of the endings is in line with his established characters. This means that they are all a part of him— the capacity for good and the capacity for evil. However, that is not how the game ends. It does not end with him being either good or evil. Instead, it ends with a culmination of who he is.
For those of you who rock Gestalt psychology like I do, I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this. Shadow, in his titular game, is more than the sum of each ending. The True Ending is the “sum” of the “parts,” but it is also greater than that.
Beneath the Mask
All of this is to say: you, too, are greater than the sum of your parts. Even with the Shadow and Persona, as well as the other aspects of the self, you are more than them. For that reason, the Shadow is not something to fear. We all have one and once we recognize that, we can finally start to work on it. To improve. Don’t be afraid of Shadow Work. A good therapist won’t judge you and, instead, help you work on integration and resolution. And if you’re looking for one, I happen to know a great one.
