-IBIS-1.5.0-
rx
principles (Mind/Body)
the shadow and physical symptoms
psychospiritual approaches

definition

The 'shadow' is a term, originally coined by C.J. Jung, which embodies the sum of all those rejected aspects of reality which people either cannot or will not see within themselves, and of which they are therefore unconscious. The shadow is our greatest threat (and ally), because it is always there even though we do not know it or recognize it. It is the shadow that sees to it that all our efforts and purposes eventually turn into their opposites. All those contents that emerge from our shadow we project onto some anonymous 'evil' in the world 'out there' because we are afraid to discover within ourselves the true sense of what is un-holy.

Everything that we do not wish for or approve of originates in our own shadow, for it is the sum of everything we do not want. However, our refusal to come to grips with this one part of reality and live it out in reality is precisely what ensures that we never get what we hope for. Instead, the rejected aspects of reality force us to devote ourselves to them all the more intensively. This process takes place mainly via the medium of projection, because once we have rejected and repressed any given principle within ourselves, it continually generates fear and rejection in us whenever we encounter the world 'out there'.

Projection thus ensures that we use one half of all our various principles to fashion for ourselves an 'out there', simply because we are unwilling to accept them 'in here'. Thus the I is responsible for splitting apart the whole of existence. The I constellates a you which is experienced as being out there. But if the shadow consists of all those principles that the I has refused to integrate, then in the last resort the shadow and the 'out there' are one and the same. We always experience our shadow as being 'out there' for the simple reason that, were we to recognize it within ourselves, it would no longer be our shadow.

Not recognizing the shadow, we launch ourselves into an attempt to root out these negatively experienced aspects from the very world itself. Since, however, this cannot be done (the law of polarity), the attempt turns into a long term project which guarantees that we intensively concern ourselves with those parts of reality we have rejected. Here is a law of irony from which nobody can escape: what we concern ourselves with most is what we do not want. In the process we get so close to the principles we have rejected, we finish up by living them out in flesh and blood, as symptoms.

In summary: dis-ease is the path of the shadow, of integration:

• Human consciousness is bi-polar. On the one hand this allows us to become self-aware, but on the other hand it makes us un-whole and in-complete.

Illness is our nature. Dis-ease is the expression of our incompleteness and is unavoidable in the context of polarity.

• Human illness em-bodies itself in symptoms. Symptoms are parts or our consciousness's shadow that have been precipitated into physical form. In our symptoms we have what our consciousness lacks. A given theme or problem can express itself via a whole variety of organs and systems. Any given symptom may be overcome or even prevented, but if it is, the problem in question will simply choose another way of embodying itself, a phenomenon known as symptom-shift.

• Each of us as a microcosm contains within our consciousness all the principles of the macrocosm. We are archetypal aspects of being that are capable of manifesting in a wide variety of concrete forms. Every concrete manifestation is thus the formal representative of a vital inner principle. Since our power of discrimination ensures that we only identify ourselves with one half of each principle, though, the other half is relegated to the shadows and is consequently unknown to us.

• Any principle that is not lived out in reality insists on its right to life and existence via the medium of physical symptoms. In our symptoms we are constantly forced to live out and to real-ize precisely those things that we least want to face. This is how our symptoms make up for our imbalances. Symptoms make us honest.

• Healing is made possible only by making ourselves aware of those hidden aspects of our selves that are our shadow and by integrating them. Once we have discovered what we are lacking, the symptoms become superfluous.

• The aim of healing is wholeness and oneness. At some point it should start to become clear to us that there is no 'outer' world stamping us, molding us, influencing us, or making us ill. Instead, the outer world acts as a mirror to the shadow. The outer world and the inner world are identical. We are whole the moment we finally discover our true self and become resonant as one with all that is.
• Illness prevents us from straying from the road that leads to oneness. For that reason, illness is a path to perfection. The shadow material must be given light for integration to happen.
(Dethlefsen, p. 36-42, 83, 90-91)

see:
body reveals: the spirit
exploratory or mechanistic?
holographic consciousness
process paradigm
search for god - "a wounding"
state-dependent learning
subjective inquiry approach
theotherapy
transference and countertransference


footnotes