At The Water's Edge
Our Shadows
The concept of shadow was I believe developed by Jung and has since often been referred to in psychology texts. Shakti Gawain I remember in particular talks about it and it refers to those parts of our psyches that we reject, repress or disown.
Okay, so you want an example? The best one, and possibly the most appropriate perhaps is when I was just writing Criticsm Of Others and I wanted to include a quote from Karen Kingston's Clear Your Clutter: "The greatest critics are those who deep down believe, for whatever reason, that they themselves are not good enough." But I chose not to include it possibly because a) maybe I didn't want to give too much away, b) I don't want to accept that aspect of myself that doesn't feel good enough (a sign of weakness etc, etc).
Those people that most "get our goats" are possibly those that most reflect back at us our shadows. When we dislike them, we are effectively disliking parts of ourselves; when we ignore them, we are ignoring ourselves, when we accept them and try to understand them we are effectively learning to accept and understand ourselves. Remember in the Dark Knight, where The Joker goes to Batman: "You're just like me"? A better example without offending someone I probably can't find.
A topical example is this blog typw thing. An ex-girlfriend has brought a different blog to my attention, in an attempt to irk me I suspect and guess what it has irked me. There is a touch of the I can see things that you can't see about it and guess what, am I not in danger of doing that here? I'm neing jovial about it but there is actually a darkness to that. I know there's a risk of seeming holier than though, preachy, just trying to sound cleverer than you.
