Book Review - Owning Your Own Shadow
Author: Robert A. Johnson
Category: Psychology
Quiver Score: 3.25/5
The shadow of the human psyche cannot be overlooked in a thorough exploration of personal development. According to the classic resource Owning Your Own Shadow: Understanding the Dark Side of the Psyche, “The shadow is that which has not entered adequately into consciousness.” In translation, it represents those parts of us that are not “acceptable to our society” and thus we have deemed “have to be put away” into the subconscious.
Author Robert A. Johnson posits in this timeless psychology handbook (118 pages) that if the shadow “accumulates more energy than our ego, it erupts as an overpowering rage or some indiscretion…” The ego is comprised of the parts of our psyche that we give life to and allow to come forth in public; the shadow is comprised of the parts that we have suppressed in an attempt to eradicate their existence. But we don’t actually succeed in killing off the shadow characteristics and instead give them a different life: either projecting them out into the world or allowing them to overtake us in ‘inappropriate’ outbursts.
Of course if each of us did not attempt to rid ourselves of certain tendencies and traits – like locking criminals behind bars and expecting them to ‘behave’ when they re-emerge – we would not give life to shadow monsters that are capable of embarrassing, and sometimes awful, behaviour. The shadow is bound to rise up sometimes and retaliate, just as most energy sources – shifting tectonic plates, captive animals, minority cultures – will do if suppressed long enough.
Furthermore, not only do we suppress undesirable characteristics when we allow society to deny our full expression, but we also suppress some astonishing characteristics, like a young Harry Potter who is ashamed and disturbed by his magical powers. “Some of the pure gold of our personality,” says Johnson, “is relegated to the shadow because it can find no place in…culture.” Incredible musicians, visual artists, geniuses and athletes have never flourished because their savant-like behaviours were deemed a disturbance to others and thus conquered by the likes of abuse and Ritalin. If young ones cannot conform and blithely accept the public rhetoric of the day, they are either cast out or aggressively molded into ‘well-mannered’ children. It is little wonder that so many indigenous cultures struggle with drug and alcohol abuse. Western settlers-cum-conquerors, by waging genocide against cultural expressions, have created insurmountable shadows that many can only hope to subdue with excessive substance abuse.
From the ‘pure gold’ that we suppress to shadow has risen much of our starstruck culture. “Our hero-worshiping capacity,” writes Johnson “is pure shadow; in this case our finest qualities are refused and laid on another.” We project, believing that we ourselves could not possibly achieve what our heroes have achieved, but many have suppressed those characteristics that could have led to such ‘accomplishments’. A dad making fun of his son’s efforts, even once, let alone regularly, is often all that is needed to relegate a passion to shadow.
It would be troubling enough if we projected only the desirable parts of our shadow, but of course we also project the dark parts. As the saying goes, what you don’t like about someone is a reflection of what you don’t like about yourself. Think about what traits or behaviours you least like in others and then strongly consider if those traits might lie deep within you. They might be so deep you cannot find them; in that case, try asking someone you trust who knows you intimately. For example, some are not in the least triggered by angry, belligerent behaviour and instead manage empathy for someone having an outburst. Others are immediately set off by this behaviour and will lash out with their own retaliation of equal force. “Unless we do conscious work on it, the shadow is almost always projected,” writes Johnson. And you can resist being projected upon “if you have your own shadow under conscious control.”
Not all of this is included in Owning Your Own Shadow, but this narrative was largely inspired by the book. In that light, I suppose the book had a reasonable impact, but not so much as a step-by-step guide to overcoming your shadow. It is more of a philosophical exploration of shadow, which has left me thinking and speculating about my own shadow and how I am fostering authentic expression in my own children.
As this book falls under what I consider to be the mythopoetic psychology genre, which I only learned about recently when I read and reviewed Iron John, there are parts of it that I read only to see if better parts lay ahead. There is something about framing the world by drawing comparisons with the bible and Greek gods that does not work for me, but I can respect that this does work for others. I still appreciate the useful information that I did glean from Johnson’s work, and I recommend Owning Your Own Shadow to anyone who wants to explore suppressed aspects of the psyche.
