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the Shadow vs. The Dark Side
May. 24th, 2004 05:26 pmPeople talk about their "shadow" sides and their "dark" sides -- usually as if they were synonymous. But it occurred to me recently that I don't think they are.
Our Shadows are the parts of ourselves we repress -- but we don't repress only the negative aspects of ourselves. Sometimes we repress our strengths because we're afraid of the consequences of expressing them. Some time ago I posted here about my "glorious shadow": the positive parts of myself I've restrained out of excessive modesty or insecurity or because I was informed in some way that they were threatening to others. Charisma, personal power, ambition, confidence/pride, creativity, and sexuality are all things that can become "shadow" aspects of a person if we don't feel able - for whatever reason - to give them full expression in our lives. Anger can become part of our Shadow if we have legitimate feelings that we squash rather than find appropriate outlets for, or are able to consciously register and then let go of.
The Dark Side is different. The Dark Side is those parts of us that we really do want to overcome and control: the impulses to hatred, greed, cruelty, nastiness, as well as the fear and anger that stop being legitimate self-defense reactions to danger or abuse and become justifications for harming others.
I've been working lately on trying to untangle my Shadow Side from my Dark Side. As I've been looking at it, the things I've repressed into my Shadow are often things that I've labeled "bad" -- often in response to my perceptions of social expectations. They aren't necessarily Dark Side, but I've regarded them as Dark Side.
Sometimes, of course, the line between Shadow and Dark side is hard to discern, especially around anger.
I feel like there's a black box inside me that's full of tangled threads of emotions and qualities. The box is labeled "Bad - Do Not Open". But I *need* to open it up and sort out the threads to recover those that should be placed over in the box that says "Gifts - Use and Express Fully".
Our Shadows are the parts of ourselves we repress -- but we don't repress only the negative aspects of ourselves. Sometimes we repress our strengths because we're afraid of the consequences of expressing them. Some time ago I posted here about my "glorious shadow": the positive parts of myself I've restrained out of excessive modesty or insecurity or because I was informed in some way that they were threatening to others. Charisma, personal power, ambition, confidence/pride, creativity, and sexuality are all things that can become "shadow" aspects of a person if we don't feel able - for whatever reason - to give them full expression in our lives. Anger can become part of our Shadow if we have legitimate feelings that we squash rather than find appropriate outlets for, or are able to consciously register and then let go of.
The Dark Side is different. The Dark Side is those parts of us that we really do want to overcome and control: the impulses to hatred, greed, cruelty, nastiness, as well as the fear and anger that stop being legitimate self-defense reactions to danger or abuse and become justifications for harming others.
I've been working lately on trying to untangle my Shadow Side from my Dark Side. As I've been looking at it, the things I've repressed into my Shadow are often things that I've labeled "bad" -- often in response to my perceptions of social expectations. They aren't necessarily Dark Side, but I've regarded them as Dark Side.
Sometimes, of course, the line between Shadow and Dark side is hard to discern, especially around anger.
I feel like there's a black box inside me that's full of tangled threads of emotions and qualities. The box is labeled "Bad - Do Not Open". But I *need* to open it up and sort out the threads to recover those that should be placed over in the box that says "Gifts - Use and Express Fully".
