Me and My Shadow

 Are you and your shadow strolling down the avenue as the lyric to the song proclaims?  It seems to me that the shadow or perhaps shadows in the world today is growing to lengths we haven’t seen for many years – perhaps since the rise in Naziism pre–World War 2.  But then again perhaps it is just that the shadow is more visible today because of social media and the instant news (real or not) available on every corner of the internet.

First, let’s be clear about what I am talking about when I speak of the shadow.  I am using the concept developed by Carl Jung.  Jung identified that everyone has parts of themselves which they are not aware of.  These can be aspect or characteristics which are unacceptable to them, that is the dark shadow and also aspects which as positive, but we do not recognize in ourselves, that is the bright shadow.   Here is one succinct description of the shadow which you may find helpful from :

Carl Jung, a renowned Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, called this the “shadow self.” According to Jung, the shadow is the dark, unconscious side of our personality that we often repress or deny. Jung believed that the shadow self is not inherently negative or evil but a natural and necessary part of human nature.  https://medium.com/personal-growth/beware-of-the-shadow-self-carl-jung-659dff8eef18#:~:text=Jung%20believed%20that%20our%20shadow,were%20to%20know%20about%20them.

The shadow can manifest itself in people’s lives when you have a reaction to someone or something which is instant and highly energized.  A person’s shadow is projected on someone what has the characteristics that we don’t recognize in ourselves.  This is for better and often for ill.  Have you ever taken an instant dislike to someone who pushes your buttons and causes you to react negatively which is out of proportion to their behaviour.  Of course, that can work in the other direction, and you may look up to someone as having all the characteristics you admire.  This is the shadow at work.  Carl Jung explains:

Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness’s of other people. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely. Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”

The shadow will appear in our dreams, often, but not always, as a dark figure of the same sex as the dreamer.  By paying attention to our dreams and particularly the shadow figures in them we can be conscious of them and be aware of how the shadow in ourselves is working in our lives. 

The shadow can also operate collectively in groups of people.  This is where the danger to society is greatest.  I will speak more about that next time.

May you be blessed to befriend your shadow on your journey as you stroll down the avenue together.

 

 

It’s Not Just a Coincidence

 Last Saturday, Lorna and I went for breakfast – as is our habit i.e., going out for a traditional breakfast at a restaurant.  The fact that our server had extensive tattoos on her arm caught my attention.  I had made note of that on previous occasions.  However, this time I wondered what was the attraction of tattoos for people and what motivates them to go through the expense or time and money – not to mention the discomfort (so I’m told) of being tattooed? 

Well, I didn’t think much more of it and let the question lie and fall back out of my consciousness.  Then, later that day, I opened the email for the Weekly Roundup from the Pew Research Center which I subscribe to.  The topic for this weekly roundup is ‘Americans and tattoos’.  This, naturally, made me sit up and take note.  The information was interesting e.g., 32% of Americans have a tattoo, including 22% who have more than one; For Americans without tattoos, seeing one on someone else gives them a more negative than positive impression of that person.  These are interesting data on the state of tattooing in the United States. 

There was also information that answered my initial question about why people get tattoos.  Sixty nine percent of those with tattoos was it is t honour someone or something; 47% say it is to make a statement; 32% say it is to improve their personal appearance. 

It is rewarding to have my question answered.  However, what really engaged me was whether this was a case of synchronicity.  Synchronicity is a term coined by psychologist Carl Jung for an occurrence that can most easily described as a significant coincidence.  Merriam-Webster dictionary defines synchronicity as:

the coincidental occurrence of events and especially psychic events (such as similar thoughts in widely separated persons or a mental image of an unexpected event before it happens) that seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality —used especially in the psychology of Carl Gustav Jung.”

Jung explained this seemingly inexplicable phenomena by drawing on his concept of the Collective Unconscious in which is the common inheritance of all humans and in which the usual laws of time and space and causality (no apparent cause and effect), do not apply.  This is described by one source, https://iaap.org/jung-analytical-psychology/short-articles-on-analytical-psychology/synchronicity-an-acausal-connecting-principle/:

A key signature concept in Jung’s vision of the world, synchronicity was defined by Jung as an acausal connecting principle, whereby internal, psychological events are linked to external world events by meaningful coincidences rather than causal chains.

 I have had what I consider synchronistic events in my life that have proven significant for me.  The best example is a synchronistic event which was about synchronicity.  Many years ago, I was taking a course in Jungian Psychology at the University of Toronto.  The lecture on the subject of synchronicity was held on April 1^st, which is my birthday.  The lecture used the Portable Jung as the text for this subject.  When we explore the applicable section, it began with an event which occurred on April 1, 1949.  This is my date of birth.  I queried the professor whether he had chosen the subject specifically because the date of the class was April 1^st.  However, he stated that he hadn’t done this.  So, we have a triple coincidence – the date of the class, the subject of the lecture, and my date of birth all coinciding.

When considering the issue of synchronicity, we must always consider the possibility of mere coincidence without significance.  Jung, in his writing, has gone into some depth on the question of mathematical probability and showing that many synchronistic occurrences and mathematically highly improbable.  However, I believe what must be considered is, what makes it significant?  In my experience these events have been an invitation to change course or to confirm a course in my life.  In the case of the example above it was an invitation from my unconscious to continue my exploration and education of Jungian Psychology.  I have done that since that occurrence, and I have pursued that in many ways including paying attention to my dreams and helping others to explore and understand their dreams. 

So, you may ask, was my encounter with tattoos a case of synchronicity or just a coincidence?  Tattoos themselves, are an interesting subject worth exploring and have great symbolic meaning.  However, I don’t believe that is what make it significant for me.  I found that I was at a time in which I need to renew my interest in Jungian concept and have not been exploring much of that lately.  My exergy and interest have been waning.  I believe that my tattoos coincidence was synchronistic because it reenergized my activity in the Jungian approach to understanding myself and the world.  And that, in the end settles it for me.

I invite you to pay attention to the significant coincidents on your journey. 

 

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A Candle Burns Bright

 At the worship service Sunday at St. Alban’s Church, Souris, the altar candles were on their last legs, so to speak.  They had burned down almost to the base and were lit with the hope that they could give service for one more worship service.  I kept an eye on them and kept my liturgical fingers crossed.  It also crossed my mind that there might be a tradition – we are Anglicans after all, and tradition is important to us -   that it might be bad luck for a candle to burn itself out during a worship service.  A candle going out can represent something coming to an end. 

As the worship service drew to an end, it looked as if I might have a chance to see if that possibility was confirmed.  However, just when I thought the light was going to be overcome, the flame shone forth in a blaze of glory, and all was well.  Both altar candles were snuffed out once the service concluded.  Now, I don’t think that this qualifies as a miracle – even a minor one.  However, it certainly gave a lift to all of us and gave a wonderful conclusion to the worship service.

Of course, candles are an important symbol in Anglican worship.  We have candles on the altar which are lit for worship.  The candle of the Gospel side – the side with the pulpit – should not stand alone, as I was taught in school.  It is lit after the candle on the epistle side and extinguished before the epistle candle (sorry for the minutiae of Anglican liturgy).  We also have the four Advent candles which are lit during the four Sundays of Advent.  There is also the Christ Candle which is lit at appropriate times during the church year and for particular events such as baptisms and funerals.

Beyond these practices, candles have universal symbolic meaning or meaning.  One source entitled, Candles – Brief History of Symbolism, notes in the introduction:

Candles have always had a distinctive place in our society, and as such they represent an incredible link that taps into our past. In a quite unique way, candles radiate messages of romance, passion, security, warmth, hope, spirituality, mystery, to name just a few. Candles indeed are a burning example that the whole is more than sum of its parts – be they just a little wax and wick as they are. Deeply rooted in almost every religious and spiritual practice, creed and nationality, there is something peculiar and symbolic in a solitary flame and the aura of light surrounding it. It communicates with our souls. It speaks beyond words. It is the Unspeakable that dwells in the midst of the candle flame. It enlightens, enlivens, inspires, whispers secrets, comforts and ultimately connects. No matter how thick the darkness, the light of one candle conquers it. No matter how solitary one flame is, it is never alone or lonely for its light knows no boundaries and touches eternity.

As another source said, “it is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”  So may you be blessed always have a candle to light your way on your journey.

Oppenheimer and the Little Rock Nine

Last week, Lorna and I saw the movie Oppenheimer which is in theaters.  This is the wonderfully told story of the development of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos in the United States led by Robert Oppenheimer.  This marked the beginning of the Nuclear Arms Race which is still being run by the world today.  I also heard an interview with one of the Little Rock Nine who were the children who broke the segregation of schools in Little Rock, Arkansas.  These events both took place in the post WWII United States.  But beyond that I saw some interesting connections I want to explore. 

The development of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos unleashed the unimaginable destructive effect of atomic energy, which unfortunately was not unimaginable for the residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki who were obliterated by the first and second (and hopefully last) atomic bombs used in war.  The Little Rock Nine also set off a different type of explosion in the battle for integration which is still being fought in the United States today.  With the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, the nuclear arms beast has been awakened and has raised its monstrous head after slumbering in relative obscurity for many years. 

The specific issue that I want to explore in these two events is non-violence.  The actual and potential for violence in the atomic bomb is unfortunately crystal clear.  This is best demonstrated by the quote by Oppenheimer from The Bhagavad Gita, on observing the explosion of the test bomb at Los Alamos, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”    The development of the atomic bomb by the Oppenheimer team at Los Alamos was justified morally because the Allies and specifically the United States was in a race to develop one before the Nazis.  In effect, Oppenheimer believed that the ultimate effect of having the atomic bomb was uncertain but if the Nazis had it there was no doubt that it would be used in unimaginable ways.  There was, in his mind, no question that the United States had to develop the bomb first.  In this, as in the whole Allied effort in WWII, the use of violence was not an option.  The option was too horrible to imagine.

In the case of the Little Rock Nine and desegregation writ large, the use of non-violence as a strategy was employed by those working to bring about desegregation.  The member of the Nine who was interviewed worked to promote non-violence throughout her life.  On the other hand, those opposed to desegregation did not hesitate to use violence to fight against it and for segregation.  The leader in the non-violence approach was Martin Luther King Jr.  There was no question that this was a powerful moral force in moving the United States to be more desegregated and a more perfect Union that many believe in.  The question that arises from this is, when is it appropriate to use non-violence as a strategy and when isn’t it?

In considering this issue, which I have pondered over the years, I know that as a Christian I am called to uphold non-violence in my approach to others.  However, I believe that it has its limitations.  Gandhi is the example of someone who used non-violence in efforts to free India from the yoke of English colonialism.  This proved that non-violence can achieve its goals.  But I have also pushed back against this.  I, and I am sure many, have posited that Gandhi, and his followers would not have succeeded if they were opposing the Nazis or other totalitarian regimes which would have had no compunction against using every weapon available to them.  Would India ultimately have achieved independence in the long run in such a situation through non-violence means.  I don’t have the answer to that, but I am certain that it Hitler would not have voluntarily given India its independence because of a non-violent opposition.

As a Christian and a follower of Jesus Christ who showed the power of non-violence, I can only conclude that we must give priority to non-violence as the moral option.  However, there are times when the violence must be used to resist evil.  The question is, when is it justified?  There is no easy or clear answer to that, that I can see.

May you be blessed to never face that choice on your journey.