“Whenever any positive or negative feeling arises, you need not to examine them. Every perception is without foundation, released from the beginning and empty; and refraining from pursuing any of them at the moment of their inception, relax into your own space, into the nature of your mind. Undoubtedly every sense impression is spontaneously released.” (Dowman, 1994)
One of the discoveries from Western psychology (Jung) is the dynamic by which 1st person (I) impulses become dissociated, disowned or repressed, which then appear as a 2nd person (You) or 3r person (It) experiences, as interpreted from the 1st person consciousness. What is our emotional impulse if it’s disowned and repressed will be experienced in another person or in a situation, as projections of our own interpretations and emotions.
Since we are born we encounter infinite experiences, some we digest in a healthy way and some remain undigested, the total of all the undigested experience is referred as the shadow. The shadow is all that was rejected because it didn’t fit an ideal, an ego ideal. Unpleasant qualities that we started hiding for fear of not being loved by others if we showed them.
The effort that it takes to hide the shadow, is constantly draining us of our energy, since the shadow wants to give us an opportunity by knocking at our door over and over again, so that we might integrate all the qualities that we’ve been hiding. Integrating the shadow aspects of ourselves is an essential part of becoming whole, of coming into our true self of Being.
Deep shadow work doesn’t leave us intact, is a deconstruction of the false self, an unpredictable process to bring about the pain that needs to be acknowledged. It is important to do shadow work with guidance. Many practices have been developed to encounter the shadow.
If you’re interested in working with the shadow, to become aware of your projections and shadow elements, and to have support and guidance in the process, send me an email trueisense@gmail.com
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