A collaboration between the Joseph Campbell Foundation, OPUS Archives, and Pacifica Graduate Institute. Join the conversation, create the vision, deepen the study of myth.
An important idea that lends the "depth" to depth psychology is the "shadow." The shadow is the unconscious aspect of an individual or a society, in contrast to the "light" of consciousness. Although the contents of the shadow aren't necessarily "bad," the term shadow is also used to refer to things that the ego represses and relegates to unconsciousness, events or qualities or feelings that are too unpleasant or pose too many challenges to the ego's status quo. The ego is an important and relatively frail container for our beliefs and moral judgments; the control it exerts is a personal and collective force.
We can get a clue about what is repressed by noting what bothers us about other people and the accusations that we make. Called "projection," this is one way to insure that repressed material stays down. If you don't want to look at your own mixed record, if you don't want to confront your own sins and failings, accuse someone else of your crimes, find an "axis of evil" outside of yourself.
In this vein I share the following observation, which raises interesting possibilities regarding the identity of our three hideous brothers (who are not to spoken of).
"Maybe the three unspeakables are simply the shadows of whatever bright torches a given society holds up - in the U.S.: Liberty's shadow might be Slavery or indentured servitude. Democracy's shadow might be the lack of choice we truly have in our elected leaders. Free market's shadow, the lack of freedom in the market for a large segment of our society or other countries who must abide by our terms. etc. It's interesting to think of the "she dost protest too much" idea when we think of the ideals we sing out so loudly in our anthems at our ball games, or that we utter as we point our fingers at the other across the planet who does differently (and so, does what is bad)."
We'll continue our engagement with the Greek myths of the Titans, Prometheus specifically, at the High Desert Mythological RoundTable Tuesday April 28th, 7-9PM at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center. If you're in the area, hope to see you. If not, stay tuned here.
