Basic Concepts: The Shadow

Who was Joseph Campbell? What is a myth? What does "Follow Your Bliss" mean? If you are new to the work of Joseph Campbell, this forum is a good place to start.

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Cindy B.
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Post by Cindy B. »

Am I jealous, Persephone, that your friend studied in Zurich? If only I could do it all over again... :wink: By the way, Jungian analysts are awarded a Diploma in Analytical Psychology and Psychotherapy (rather than a Ph.D.) upon completion of a five-year training program and personal analysis, and this after having first obtained the minimum requirement of a university Master's degree. The Jungian course of study is very cool, and the only thing remotely similar here in the States is offered by the Pacifica Graduate Institute, home of the Joseph Campbell Collection.

For any interested in Pacifica: http://www.pacifica.edu/about.aspx Yep, if only I could do it all over again. :)

Cindy
If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s. --Jung

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Post by Ercan2121 »

Cindy B. wrote:Am I jealous, Persephone, that your friend studied in Zurich? If only I could do it all over again... :wink: By the way, Jungian analysts are awarded a Diploma in Analytical Psychology and Psychotherapy (rather than a Ph.D.) upon completion of a five-year training program and personal analysis, and this after having first obtained the minimum requirement of a university Master's degree. The Jungian course of study is very cool, and the only thing remotely similar here in the States is offered by the Pacifica Graduate Institute, home of the Joseph Campbell Collection.

For any interested in Pacifica: http://www.pacifica.edu/about.aspx Yep, if only I could do it all over again. :)

Cindy
Maybe the only problem is that such an in-depth study is rarely
interesting to young people?

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Post by Cindy B. »

Which goes hand in hand with not making such material easily available to young people. The internet is most certainly helping, though. As are teachers like Clemsy. 8)

Cindy
If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s. --Jung

Ercan2121
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Post by Ercan2121 »

Cindy B. wrote:Which goes hand in hand with not making such material easily available to young people. The internet is most certainly helping, though. As are teachers like Clemsy. 8)

Cindy
Sometimes knowledge/wisdom is very precious; so we inevitably expect
people show some respect; that's how it works in Old Continent (here,
I mean Eurasia). I think that Beatnik culture is cosy however
I cannot always tolerate the way they're talking of Eastern wisdom and
disagreement arises. Reaction and response arise.
When people start talking inconsiderately, they should envisage the same
from the other party as well -and even more.
What Clemsy's teaching by the way?
Analytical psychology or Shakespeare? :lol:

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Post by Clemsy »

What Clemsy's teaching by the way?
Analytical psychology or Shakespeare?
A bit of the former, Ercan, is part of my senior curriculum. I give them Jung's and Freud's models. Archetypes, shadow, anima, animus, projection are useful in story and character analysis, and I encourage them to apply the same to the main character in their own story: themselves.

Nothing deep, you understand, just an intro to the concepts.
Give me stories before I go mad! ~Andreas

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Post by CarmelaBear »

Cindy,

How were you first introduced to Jung?

Carmela
Once in a while a door opens, and let's in the future. --- Graham Greene

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Post by Cindy B. »

Hey, Carmela.

I was in my early teens when I first discovered Jung. My home life was, well, unsettling at times, which left me generally unsettled and confused about what the heck was going on. So being naturally psychologically minded, I turned to psychology for answers. Needless to say, I was in way over my head when I first started reading Jung, but intuitively his ideas resonated with me, so I kept at it. It was through Jung that I was introduced to comparative mythology and religion, so eventually I ran across Campbell's work, too.

Cindy
If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s. --Jung

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Post by Neoplato »

I was in my early teens when I first discovered Jung.-Cindy
Teens? And I run across psychology students who never heard of Jung in their 30;s. :shock:

I heard of Jung, but I never took him seriously until I started reading his works a couple of years ago,

And I haven't found any disagreements with my philosopy yet. :wink:
Infinite moment, grants freedom of winter death, allows life to dawn.

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Post by CarmelaBear »

I like the word "unsettled".

8)
Once in a while a door opens, and let's in the future. --- Graham Greene

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Post by Ercan2121 »

Clemsy wrote:
What Clemsy's teaching by the way?
Analytical psychology or Shakespeare?
A bit of the former, Ercan, is part of my senior curriculum. I give them Jung's and Freud's models. Archetypes, shadow, anima, animus, projection are useful in story and character analysis, and I encourage them to apply the same to the main character in their own story: themselves.

Nothing deep, you understand, just an intro to the concepts.
Sorry Clemsy, that’s how I perceive things when I’m nervous and don’t know why I posted these comments/questions and I won’t deny that I also learned so much from your posts and your manner of approaching any issue. Sorry again :cry:

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Post by Nermin »

The logic behind shadow sounds simple; we love and hate, we admire and
criticize at the same time. All the inspiration and negativity are within us and we
constantly project them to others. Because we're coming from a neutral
source of singularity -that becomes polarity and duality whenever we think
something :wink:

Ercan2121
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Post by Ercan2121 »

Nermin wrote:The logic behind shadow sounds simple; we love and hate, we admire and
criticize at the same time. All the inspiration and negativity are within us and we
constantly project them to others. Because we're coming from a neutral
source of singularity -that becomes polarity and duality whenever we think
something :wink:
The logic may be simple but what about the practice of facing
the shadow? :(

CarmelaBear
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Post by CarmelaBear »

Ercan2121 wrote:
Nermin wrote:The logic behind shadow sounds simple; we love and hate, we admire and
criticize at the same time. All the inspiration and negativity are within us and we
constantly project them to others. Because we're coming from a neutral
source of singularity -that becomes polarity and duality whenever we think
something :wink:
The logic may be simple but what about the practice of facing
the shadow? :(
In a past incarnation, I was a lawyer (1982-1997), and I practiced some criminal defense law, where there are funhouse mirrors that reveal shadows from everywhere, distorted and mangled beyond recognition.

There is the inner shadow that we learn about from our diaper days, when we had no idea how our personal experience was affecting anyone around us, and we all learn the first lessons the hard way.

There is another shadow than your own. It is that of the Righteous and the Indignant who make your own shadow appear quite harmless and irrelevant by comparison. America is the only economically developed country with a primitive compulsion to imprison millions of our own people and create an industry of destroying the lives we systematically discard from birth onward.

I have a shadow that curses and swears and frightens small animals. It is not a shadow when compared to the laws created and carried out by those who are afraid someone might be too dark-skinned, too poor, too high, too different, too dirty to live among us as free and equal citizens.

No, my friend. Most people on this planet have a shadow that may annoy us from time to time. We don't cast a long, deep shadow. It is only as societies torn from any kind of guiding principles of decency that we live beneath a cloud of demonic rage and scorn and negativity. A society's shadow can grow to such dimensions and become so ugly that we see right through it just to go on with our lives and we tend to forget it is there.

:evil:
Once in a while a door opens, and let's in the future. --- Graham Greene

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Post by Ercan2121 »

In a past incarnation, I was a lawyer (1982-1997), and I practiced some criminal defense law, where there are funhouse mirrors that reveal shadows from everywhere, distorted and mangled beyond recognition.
Thank you, Carmela, for talking openly about past incarnations and your ingenious
manner to paraphrase the notion of shadow. I also noted that memories from another
past life
gently emerge from deep sea when working vehemently on psychic phenomena.

It is possible to come up with various theories or explanations, but I can say that I found
enough proof for previous lives in my own experience. Thank you again for reminding me
this aspect of existence at a time I amply looked for.

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Post by CarmelaBear »

Oh--oh.... :oops: ....Did I make it sound like I could remember a past life? That was not my intent.

The reason I gave the dates of my criminal law work is that it was part of this, (not a previous), life. I am 62. I was a lawyer from the age of 32 until I was 47. During that time I represented hundreds and hundreds of clients who were accused of crimes.

I'm sorry about any misunderstanding about my use of the word "incarnation". There may be past lives and multiverses, but I'm afraid I have no particular experience or insight into those realms. I honestly did not mean to suggest that I have any access to any other life memories.

Are your beliefs related to a specific religious practice? I can't remember references you may have made in other posts concerning your background with respect to specific beliefs. I've read a bit on the subject of reincarnation and I am assuming that it is the subject to which you refer. Perhaps you could explain a little bit more.

I hope my use of the word "incarnation" has not put a damper on our discussion of the shadow.
Once in a while a door opens, and let's in the future. --- Graham Greene

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