Meeting the Shadow - The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature

“Everything we do not bring to consciousness appears before us as fate in life.”
Carl Gustav Jung
Rage, jealousy, lying, resentment, accusation, greed… These forbidden feelings and behaviors emerge from the side of us that remains in the dark and that we deny, namely our personal shadow. Everyone has a shadow, and the less space an individual gives it in their conscious life, the darker and more intense the shadow becomes. When we feel an inexplicable dislike for someone, when we discover an unacceptable characteristic that has been buried for a long time in ourselves, when we are overwhelmed by anger, envy or shame and succumb to these feelings, we encounter our shadow.
The shadow is not just an individual problem. Groups and societies also have collective shadows that lead to dangerous behaviors such as racism, scapegoating, creating enemies and war.