The shadow carl jung pdf

There is also a part within each of us that also seeks to take and to destroy. Often described as evil, Thich Nhat Hanh instead calls these the unwholesome seeds within our store consciousness. These seeds are heavy, destructive, and seek to imprison us in our suffering.

These are traits such as anger, greed, hatred, selfishness, self-centeredness, need to control, ignorance, and pride. Seeds create emotional states from which thoughts arise.

Thought precedes action, thus, the fourth step of the Buddhist Noble Eightfold Path, right action good , is dependent on our attention right-mindedness and contemplation. Shadow - 2 and the environment. Ignoring the inner dimensions serves only to create a petri dish that allows the unwholesome seeds to fester. Our educational systems are partially responsible for creating this fetid petri dish.

Our students are unable to attend to their inner dimensions and this creates shadow in which the unwholesome seeds flourish. Standardized achievement and ability texts focus on only two types of thinking: logical-mathematical intelligence and linguistic intelligence Gardner, , neither of which are very predictive of success in real world endeavors Sternberg, This approach gives students an extremely limited sense of their own potential and offers a very narrow view of the world.

In this narrow, two-dimensional educational world, there is little place for emotion, imagination, intuition, spirituality, and other ways of thinking and being. One goal of education should be to expand consciousness. Consciousness is that to which we attend. Expanding consciousness is merely widening our attention to include more external stimuli knowledge and skills commonly thought to be intelligence and internal stimuli intuition and emotional intelligence.

By attending to all parts of the psyche or expanding consciousness, we become aware of the full array of seeds within our store consciousness. This new attention should be given to the unwholesome as well as the wholesome seeds. The purpose of this article, however, is to explore how holistic educators might examine the unwholesome seeds within their classrooms. What Thich Nhat Hanh calls unwholesome seeds, will be identified here as shadow. This is that which seeks to take from or destroy the self, others, or the environment.

What Thich Nhat Hanh calls wholesome seeds, will be identified here as light. This is that which serves to nurture or provide for the self, others or the environment. Why should we include the study of shadow into our already crowed curriculums?

Five reasons: First, it will prepare students for real world situations. Classrooms provide a safe environment for them to come to understand the shadow they will encounter to varying degrees in their lives. Trying to protect young children by providing a sterile environment leaves them less prepared emotionally and psychologically to face the myriad of things that go wrong in life Bettleheim, Second, identifying shadow helps students recognize it when it is encountered.

By recognizing it, they will be better able to avoid being manipulated by people or institutions that seek to harm or take. Third, an examination of shadow can be used to examine and understand parts of the psyche or self. It is by understanding all aspects of the self that one is free from the control of unconscious forces Bettleheim, Also, by bringing unconscious images, wants, and feelings to consciousness one is free to act upon them.

Fourth, an examination of both light and shadow provides a context for understanding and analyzing the forces that govern individuals, teachers, education, and society. That is, one can more aptly judge the morality of the constraints that are imposed on people by understanding the nature of light and shadow.

Indeed, the study of social justice is based, in great part, upon what is the right, just, or moral thing to do based on a set of moral principles. And finally, having students wrestle with the nature of light and shadow and asking them to make decisions related to right and wrong helps them in developing their moral reasoning abilities. Our students are better able to make good decisions if they have had some practice and experience in this endeavor. There is no such thing as a value free education.

However, the inclusion of shadow and light into a curriculum should be as value-free as possible. That is, given an objective definition and description of these two concepts, students should not be lead to a particular conclusion, but allowed to come to their own. Also, the introduction of shadow and light must be developmentally appropriate. There are many topics that are appropriate for middle and high school students that should not be covered in elementary schools. Common sense and knowledge of developmental levels should be used here.

The eight characteristics of shadow examined below are based on M. A psychiatrist by training, Peck uses the word evil to point to shadow and in so doing, he describes as a specific form of mental illness. Whether it pertains to people, groups, or institutions, shadow has some or all of the following eight characteristics: 1. Shadow seeks to dominate or control.

Domination and control is present whenever more powerful groups tries to manage the affairs of a lesser group and this management is unasked or unwanted. The opposite of domination and control is autonomy and self- determination.

Sometimes the use of control is justified as a way to avoid chaos. While chaos can be just as detrimental as control, there is a very large continuum from control to chaos. The midway point between these two is a supportive structure. Structure in education takes the form of goals and some sort of defining principles. Schools and teachers are then allowed the freedom to reach those goals in ways that best accommodates their talents and resources.

Teachers, like students, need the least restrictive environment if they are perform at their best. In the same way, well functioning classrooms provide students with a basic set of rules and structure. Students are then given freedom within that structure. However, classrooms, just like students, are not the same.

Some need more regulation structure and less freedom, while others need less regulation and more freedom. Schools are kept from reaching their full potential by stringent curricular mandates that do not allow teachers to bring their passions, interests, and art into the classroom.

Shadow - 4 approach inhibits teacher empowerment and lessens the effectiveness of schools Book, Educational experiences and pedagogical approaches should be as unique and varied as the personalities and philosophies of our teachers. When teachers are allowed to take risks and make changes related to teaching and learning, student achievement is enhanced Marks, and Louis, ; Sweetland and Hoy, , and schools become more effective learning communities Detert, Louis, and Schroeder, In the same way, for students to realize their full potential, they need the freedom to find and follow their interests and passions.

This means having a differentiated curriculum where students have choices about what they study, how they learn, and how they demonstrate their learning.

Sadly, it is the assembly line approach to education that still predominates. Here, students are seen as standardized products that are all put on the same conveyer belt in kindergarten. They move along through the grades in lock-step formation, all at the same speed with the same parts being put into each. This approach is effective if you are making Dodge Neon automobiles, but very ineffective if you are trying to develop thinking, compassionate, self-actualized humans.

Shadow seeks fragmentation and separation versus wholeness. In education fragmentation can be seen most prominently in the over-reliance on positivist views of reality that exclude all other views. Positivism has its roots in the scientific tradition and states that knowledge exists outside the self and thus, truth can only be derived through objective observations which are proven through reliable tests and predictions Alkove and McCarty, That is, only by collecting empirical data, isolating variables, testing, and retesting can we arrive at truth or say that a thing exists.

In education, this positivistic, one-sided view of reality manifests in three ways: First, the overemphasis on testing as a way of assigning worth or value to an educational experience Popham, ; Sternberg, These tests measure only a small part of what intelligence might be and hence, offer a very incomplete view of learners and learning.

Second, the lesser status given to the arts when compared to the sciences and other curricular areas. The arts give form and expression to our inner experiences and thus, are an integral component of an educational experience that seeks to address the whole student. And third, intelligence is largely determined and described only in terms of numbers Richert, That is, intelligence is thought to exist only if it can be quantified and compared to a normative scale.

On the level of individual students, fragmentation occurs in three ways: First, as students are labeled and shuffled off to specialist to have their special learning needs met, their educational experience becomes more fragmented and thus, more confusing Allington, Shadow - 5 sizes and professional development resources for teachers so that they are able to learn the skills necessary for classroom inclusion.

Block scheduling and thematic instruction are two ways to circumvent this kind of fragmentation. Finally, fragmentation occurs when specific skills related to reading, writing, math, social studies, and science are taught in isolation, apart from a meaningful context.

A non-fragmented, holistic approach is exemplified in the whole language philosophy that advocates creating authentic literacy experiences first, then teaching the skills students are ready for within the context of that authentic experience Goodman, Shadow is narcissistic. Educational narcissism occurs whenever the system or those operating within the system become more important than those being served.

Here, the needs of politicians who want to get elected, administrators who want to stay in power, or schools that want to look good supercedes the needs of students. Instead of using research-based practices and validated strategies, educational narcissism leads to simplistic solutions for complex problems that are validated only by popularity and perception Spiegel, And when these simplistic solutions fail to reach their desired affect, as they inevitably do, blame is focused on teachers, parents, students, and the media.

Shadow takes and destroys. Young children come to school eager to discover the world around them, ready to learn new things, but something happens early on to take away this natural love of learning Holt, Learning then becomes, not something children do; but something that is done to them. Instead of addressing what children are most interested in, schools insist they learn those things deemed important by a curriculum director or publishing company. The scope and sequence chart becomes sacred scripture as children are made to learn certain things in a certain order so that they will not get out of order and will instead be ready for the next thing at the next level.

Schools tend to ask young children to learn in ways that are not natural to them Holt, Instead of using their natural need to move, touch, and explore, young children are asked to sit quietly in rows and not to talk to their neighbors as they are taught abstract concepts and skills that are outside their experience.

And when elementary and middle schools want learning to go up, they often cut the most important learning experience for any elementary student: recess. Children need this time, apart from adult supervision, to make their rules, play their games, and solve their own interpersonal problems. In this way they grow as human beings and come to understand each other.

Adolescents need curriculums that incorporate social, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and emotional skills. For the partner, it may seem that it is nearly impossible to get past a certain level in knowing them. It begins to appear that the relationship is lacking depth, and may begin to dissolve the bond. A great modern example of this, is the case in the TV Show, Dexter. Dexter is a serial killer who attempts to maintain the appearance of a normal life. Dexter has a lot of trouble with intimate relationships, because he is unable to share his Shadow side the murderer with even his closest partners.

This repression and hiding of the shadow causes a lot of internal stress for Dexter, and often leads to the dissolution of relationships. In some cases, a repressed shadow may force itself out from someone, and take control of their personality for periods of time.

In the extreme cases this can cause anti-social behavior such as considerations to do harm or violence. In less extreme cases, Shadow traits may come out as rudeness or ill-intent. They may be Shadow possessed, and giving off bad energy because of their own discomfort. If you are able to maintain a psychological distance from them, you can see this behavior for what it is, and decrease its influence upon you. If one is unable to accept their Shadow, it can lead to low self-esteem.

This could produce symptoms such as anxiety and depression. It is important to alleviate Shadow insecurities by acknowledging and accepting Shadow traits, and working to transform them into positive aspects of our personalities.

It cannot be argued out of existence or rationalized into harmlessness. Carl Jung realized that mental-balance cannot exist without a direct confrontation with the Shadow. This confrontation requires an individual to explore and acknowledge every aspect of their Shadow, no matter how grotesque it may be.

The act of simply acknowledging shadow traits, and accepting them into reality, will bring more balance to the mental landscape. It is even possible to channel these shadow energies into positive energy, or bring them fully into the light where they belong.

This process of internal work, can lead to a tremendous increase in success and inner-satisfaction. It is not easy to undergo the process of Shadow Integration, though the fruits are worth the challenge.

This can be done with the help of Psychoanalysis, or through more individual efforts such as meditation. Carl Jung practiced his own Psychoanalytic techniques with his patients. Jung also suggested that there are many ways for one to access their own shadow by themselves. Shadow work is a unique process for every individual. The Unconscious mind can be accessed in a variety of ways, from traditional meditation , to more experimental forms such as psychedelics.

Any confrontation with the unconscious is beneficial, even the scarier experiences. Dreams are also another great way of accessing the unconscious, you can read this article to learn more about dream work. Growing up we are rewarded when we behave like others, think like others, and desire what others desire. When we show individual deviation from the collective, more often than not we are shunned and ostracized; sometimes in subtle ways, sometimes in overt ways.

But either way, we are taught that an expression of our individuality, of the ways we are different from others, does not grant us the acceptance of peers and the approval of authority figures. And so we tend to repress our individuality, both the good and bad portions of it, into our shadow.

We hide it from ourselves and others, through the construction of a persona and socially acceptable worldview.! Through adolescence and into adulthood, our explicit dependence on the approval of others tends to diminish, but our implicit dependence remains, managed by an inner authority - our conscience.!

Our conscience is an internal censor informing us of what is right and wrong, good and bad, acceptable and unacceptable. It tells us what we should be doing, guides our actions and decisions, and thus shapes our personality and destiny. While it may appear to be a psychological entity of our own making, an expression of our personal moral compass, it is actually a by-product or remnant of the socialization process.

Through the course of our development, the commands and expectations of others become introjected and internalized, forming our conscience. In other words, the demands of others, and society at large, continue to exert authority over us into adulthood; only now they are disguised as our own voice.

Or in the words of Nietzsche:! As the demands and expectations of the collective continue to exert authority over us through our conscience, many people continue to repress their individuality well into old age for the same reason they repressed it in childhood: to appease the demands of others, to look good in the eyes of society.!

In the words of Jung:! To release your individuality from the confines of the shadow, and accept the idiosyncratic parts of your personality you have previously rejected and repressed, requires you retract your emotional dependence on familial and social values, and make a psychological break with the collective in favour of a higher, inner law.

The collective…has fixed rules in accordance with its general interests, which do not take account of individual demands. And so our singularity can find room in the world only if we succeed in recognizing what our genuine needs are, and on that basis finding the courage to break collective rules. The overcoming, or breaking, of collective rules, has been recognized in mythology as an essential process for psychological development. It has been expressed in two especially powerful metaphors: the struggle with the dragon, and the killing of the father.!

In his words, the father is symbolic of:! This spiritual system appears as the binding force of the old law, the old religion, the old morality, the old order; as conscience, convention, tradition, or any other spiritual phenomenon that seizes hold of the [individual] and obstructs his progress into the future.

To kill the father means to overcome the familial and social expectations you have previously respected and obeyed. It is to gain awareness of the ways in which your life has been collectively conditioned, and to replace this conditioning with an attitude that emphasizes individual solutions, instead of social and familial sanctions. The killing of the father is an essential stage in life, for as Neumann commented, "without the murder of the 'father' no development of consciousness and personality is possible.

The struggle with the dragon is another powerful metaphor for the process of overcoming our dependency on the collective. Many spend their life stuck at this stage, to the detriment of their well-being.! It is when the spirit suffers a crisis of values that the next metamorphosis occurs.

The dragon represents the dead weight of tradition. It is the source of the oppressive burden we can feel in the face of institutions and decaying familial and cultural values.

Along with granting us an independence from the collective required to release our individuality from our shadow and thus discover, or rediscover, meaning in our life, making a psychological break with society also grants us immunity from social pathologies.

In his book Vertical Labyrinth Aldo Carotenuto explained the importance of immunizing ourselves from the ills of society.! It is very important to understand this point because so much neurotic suffering is precisely the result of not having understood that what has gone wrong is not within the individual, but in the outside world.

Many social pathologies are responsible for stimulating large numbers of people to repress into the shadow, traits and impulses that are conducive to potency and vitality.!

In the article Levine explains how young students are increasingly being diagnosed as suffering from a psychological illness called Oppositional Defiance Disorder, symptoms of which are said to include defying and refusing to comply with adult requests or rules, and a tendency to argue with adults.! The medicalization of those who tend towards anti-authoritarianism and nonconformity sets a precedence.

It teaches young children, and society at large, that questioning rules and requests, and refusing to accept ideas merely because they come from authority figures, constitutes a psychological illness.! But this medicalization of a small subset of anti-authoritarian children is only a symptom of a much larger pathology that has been rampant in the modern schooling system for over a century.

As the former teacher turned author, John Taylor Gatto made clear in his series of books, the modern Western schooling system, was inspired and built upon the Prussian schooling system, which, in turn, was constructed primarily for the purpose of cultivating widespread obedience in the population:! One of the key elements in the process of meeting and integrating the shadow, is to recognize and reject or overcome the pathological social norms, values, and institutions, which have led you to brand as negative and evil, individual qualities which are in fact life-enhancing, and essential for your well-being.

But the shadow, along with positive qualities we have rejected and repressed during the process of socialization, contains qualities which are definitely destructive and evil. Speaking of the modern individual, Jung warned:! As we confront the shadow, we cannot merely pick and choose the positive and discard the negative, but must find a way to accept the entirety of the shadow as a necessary and even desirable part of our personality.

It goes without saying this can be exceedingly difficult, stimulating all sorts of defence mechanisms to protect us from having to look into the depths and abysses of our darkness.! Especially for one who has previously over-identified with the persona and conformed to the socially acceptable ways of being in and seeing the world, the discovery of these destructive and negative shadow qualities can be traumatic; often resulting in temporary depression or existential disorientation.

As Neumann explained:! But the roots of the shadow problem go deeper still, and it becomes a matter of deadly earnest when the probe reaches right down to the sources of evil itself, where the personality experiences its relationship with the enemy of mankind, the drive to aggression and destruction, in the structure of its own being. The temporary depression or disorientation experienced upon probing the depths of the shadow can be overcome by two realizations.

Firstly, a shattering of the ego which has previously over-identified with the persona is the essential primary stage in the process of self transformation: before a new state of being is born, the old one must perish. Secondly, the drive to aggression and destruction within us has the capacity to manifest evil in our life and the world only when it remains repressed. If we can become aware of the sources of evil within, acknowledge and explore them, we can learn to domesticate them, and channel their powerful energies towards positive ends.