Through a Jungian Lens

I love taking photos in nature, about nature.  For example, this photo shows a new pine cone as well as an old pine cone attached to the branches of the tree.  And behind the bright greens are dark shadows as the branches filter out sunlight.  The intensity of the green colour changes with the presence of sunlight.  In the shadows, the green becomes closer to black, a more sombre colour.  Nature celebrates both darkness and light and acts as a living reminder that life is a balance of both darkness and light.  This is a lesson we rarely take to heart.  Instead, we become “complexed” as we struggle with both darkness and light.  And our psyche keeps pushing us to become more balanced whether we do so consciously or unconsciously.  When we resist the intentionality for balance, trouble begins and it is left to the unconscious.

“. . . complexes interfere with intentionality, and they often trip up the best laid plans of noble and base individuals and groups alike.  One wants to offer a compliment and instead comes out with an insult.  One does one’s best to put an injury to one’s self-esteem behind one and forget it, only to ind that one has inadvertently paid back the insult with interest.  The law of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth seems to remain in control despite our best conscious efforts and intentions.”  (Stein, Jung on Evil, p.3)

The shadow, the darkness within finds an out when consciousness is weak.  With a breakdown in the psyche, that expression of shadow and darkness is left to run amok and often results in acts and attitudes that are best described as evil.  The fear of darkness is a fear of evil.  The dark shadows of a forest are thought to hide evil, an evil that is really located within.  Being blind to our own shadow has us become victims of what we perceive is the evil of others.

To have this lack of consciousness become the basis for a “collective consciousness” where we are hell bent on punishing and imprisoning and even killing those who are own projected shadow is an invitation to collective evil.  So how does one escape the darkness of the collective, one’s home culture, one’s home family?  I think one has to become an individual and suffer being pushed out of family, culture and community on some level.  The hope is that in daring to be an individual and not become a victim, one can be a beacon of light for others who would then dare to chose consciousness.