The theory is every man has a shadow that represents everything he rejects. It lives within us always, occasionally surfacing in times of personal or environmental conflict. I've seen him on rare occasions when I felt extreme anger or extreme fear. What more might he embody?
6 million years of DNA-programmed stalking and killing and raping that enabled our ancestors to survive. That naturally-selected psychopath that lives deep inside our reptilian brain.
it's useful in knowing how to deal with stalking, killing, raping and deceit especially. as you know the dark side, it becomes a part of you but that's not entirely bad as long as you know it's an arsenal to use. in order to defeat the enemy, you must know the enemy. just as scum look for innocence or naivety to exploit and there are those who know how scum think and so forth. but those who embody or are mostly operating centrally from that space (shadow) only know how to take advantage or pull others down as competition but not how to be constructive themselves. that's the higher or evolved brain. it's pretty obvious that those who operate from their shadow in times where it's not desperate are losers because there is nothing really stressful happening to them. they are just lazy or incompetent and don't want to put in the time and effort to better themselves. their immaturity wants a quick fix or ego boost by destroying others around them by cheating or stealing or subjugating or oppressing someone else to feel big or better. they add more misery and chaos to society by engendering more suffering and as well as further creating more load on society's social services, mental health/healthcare etc while society suffers from lack of better quality people without realizing the deleterious effects of lowlife scum who operate by fracturing and abusing people which affects the rest of society because their victims are not operating at a healthy or better/normal/optimum level and contributing to society as well as they could have been. shadow operation is negative/cowardly and unhealthy competition by lowering standards, not raising them. these types of people are the real enemies of society that are often hidden or unnoticed with the damage they do because they only operate based on their own ego fulfillment and do not consider how their actions affect others which in turn affect society. they don't because that would require higher brain function, not just the lower brain and shadow side. that's why the shadow side is not often praised because it's not worthy to be praised anymore than a knife should be praised because you had to stab someone to defend yourself. it is not something to glorify because it's not cool as it's made to seem in fantasy or movies with dark heroines. the real truth is it's hideous and ugly for a reason. it would be no different than having to praise war or killing to survive. it's not good in itself, it's something that you might have to do to survive though in some situations because of the dark and those who primarily operate from a shadow side.
ive found the best way to deal with those who praise and glorify shadow tactics is to make sure that you treat people individually based upon their own values as the golden rule applies. though someone may think it okay to operate in such a way to gain an advantage, they would want help or assistance if they were in position of victim and in that case, the only logical and fair reaction would be to make sure not to help them in any way and at any time once you discover this since their values are that they wouldn't care if it was someone else who was victimized or taken advantage of, now isn't that perfectly logical and fair? of course! unfortunately, you only learn that after some life experience with people who think that they are operating from a superior or stronger inherent position but it's only because of those who have not realized the different value system and are not adjusting to treat assholes, well, like assholes. then you just take your power back since it's going to be misused or abused. lmfao!
it's not about the dark/shadow side or the light itself. it's how you use these energies and for what purpose/motive. that's all they are is knowledge and energies.
Externally personifying part of ourselves seems to be a psychological self defense mechanism. It would not be part of us if we truly rejected it.
To some degree I think that's true, but it's more complex than that. Nonetheless, everyone is on The Hero's Journey, trying to overcome the dreaded shadow. It is as much an internal struggle as it is an external one.
"We carry our past with us, to wit, the primitive and inferior man with his desires and emotions, and it is only with an enormous effort that we can detach ourselves from this burden. If it comes to a neurosis, we invariably have to deal with a considerably intensified shadow. And if such a person wants to be cured it is necessary to find a way in which his conscious personality and his shadow can live together."---Carl Jung “Answer to Job” (1952). In CW 11: Psychology and Religion: West and East. P.1
If we could apply that therapy in a larger social/political context, the world would be a better place.
