How many times in spiritual teaching have you heard the expression of ‘reaching for the light’ or ‘letting the light into your life’? Light reflects emotions such as love, peace, honesty, virtues, compassion and joy. It is not just society that affects our shadow self, however. In Europe, this is seen as particularly offensive. Likewise, in the Middle East, burping after your meal is a sign to your host that you have greatly enjoyed the meal they prepared for you. So what Americans might deem as good manners by making strong eye contact would be seen as rude and arrogant in many Eastern countries such as Japan. However, what is acceptable in one society is quite arbitrary as cultures differ vastly around the world. But these feelings will keep building and building and if nothing is done, they can eventually burst through a person’s psyche with devastating results. Typically, a person will compartmentalize a shadow self so that they do not have to confront it.
These buried feelings can lead to many physical symptoms in the form of speech impediments, mood swings, accidents, neurosis, and also mental health problems. They have merely lost their contact with our consciousness and are thus forced to assert themselves in an indirect fashion.” Carl Jung “But these instincts have not disappeared. But this does not mean they have vanished: We learn what is acceptable in society (persona) and bury what is deemed not to be (shadow). It is at this point that our archetypes begin to separate into the persona and the shadow self. We learn from our parents and people around us that some things are good and others are evil. We are born as complete and whole individuals.
Jung believed that we are all born as a blank canvas, but life and experiences start the color this canvas. Over time, these repressed feelings become our shadow self and are so deeply buried that we have no notion of its existence. As we grow up we quickly learn that certain emotions, characteristics, feelings and traits are frowned upon by society and as such we repress them for fear of negative feedback.
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