Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 5:47 pm
Hello Everyone --
Besides Mormonism *smile* I have studied and taught a number of different spiritual Paths/ systems, and here is an article i wrote on the Ouija board and why i generally discourage anyone who asks, from using it --
ON THE SHADOW -- (c) By Gaia
(Please do not reproduce without express permission)
THE SHADOW: WHAT IT IS, HOW IT WORKS:
Renowned Psychologist Carl Jung, (who in his later work focused a great deal on spiritual issues) spoke of the "SHADOW" which all individuals and groups have --
The Shadow is that aspect of our subconscious which "carries" any qualities that we cannot bear to acknowledge within ourselves. The Shadow is *the Other* in us, that embarrasses or shames us:
"By Shadow i mean the "negative" side of the personality, the sum of
all those unpleasant qualities we like to hide, together with the
insufficiently developed functions and the content of the personal
unconscious."
By 1945 Jung was referring to the Shadow as simply "the thing a
person has no wish to be":
"One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light," he
said, "but by making the darkness conscious. The latter proceedure,
however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular."
The Shadow "coalesces into a relatively separate splinter
personality in the unconscious, where it is isolated from exposure
and discovery. This compensates for the one-sided identification we
make with what is acceptable to our conscious minds."
THE SHADOW's POWER:
The Shadow is *very* powerful; it is the source of a great deal of psychic energy; furthermore, we USE psychic energy to maintain the Shadow and to hide it from ourselves -- The more we refuse to acknowledge and work with our Shadow, the more energy it takes.
THE SHADOW, PROJECTION AND BIGOTRY:
Most people who deny their Shadow end up PROJECTING it onto others. For Example: a person who has secret homosexual tendencies might spend enormous energy hiding the fact from himself and everyone else; at the same time, developing tremendous hatred toward homosexuals, and suspicion toward others who (he believes) harbor homosexual tendencies -- generally, most everyone but himself, of course.
A person who hates his own inner weaknesses might develop tremendous hatred toward anyone who demonstrates weakness of any kind.
See how it works?
This is (one of) the origins of BIGOTRY -- projecting onto others the very human qualities, tendencies, weaknesses, desires, etc -- that we cannot bear to confront in ourselves. It's what makes people say things like, "Those __, they're all a bunch of ___!" and "You can't trust a __, they're all alike!"; It's what makes people use terms like "Gook" and "Towel-head" and all the other ugly terms that separate us from each other. It makes the "Other" into some'thing' less human and therefore easier to hate and denounce, even perform acts of cruelty and "inhumanity" toward.
IDENTIFYING YOUR OWN (and someone else's) SHADOW:
If you want to know what your own Shadow is like, just look at the people who drive you crazy -- the people who anger, disgust, irritate, annoy, enrage, horrify or embarrass you.
Here's an axiom to remember: The stronger your personal reaction against someone or some characteristic, the more likely that your personal Shadow is being activated.
This is *not* to say that someone or some characteristic might not be undesirable -- it very well may be -- but a NORMAL reaction is simply, calmly, to acknowledge it, NOT to get all hot and bothered over it.
AXIOM: The hotter and more bothered you get over something or someone, the more your Shadow is being activated. The hotter the rhetoric, the stronger the Shadow is being set off. In cyberspace, the more italics or all caps or exclamation points somebody uses, the more their Shadow may be running rampant.
ARGUMENTS AND THE SHADOW:
A very helpful exercise is to observe arguments from this perspective: that's a prime opportunity for people's Shadows to get activated. LISTEN to the kind(s) of accusations that are being hurled and you'll get a very good idea of what somebody's Shadow involves -- what they fear is deep within themselves, what they fear they may be capable of.
This can help us understand the frequently UNSTATED heart of a disagreement, get to the heart of what's really going on, perceive the real issues -- and hopefully, find a way to solve or defuse the REAL problems -- much faster.
SOLUTION: WORKING WITH THE SHADOW
The solution is to acknowledge and work *with* the Shadow, not to hide from, deny or resist it. There are many ways to do this "Shadow work" -- and in fact, most metaphysical systems have built into them, a specifically and precisely designed way to help people recognize and work through their Shadow issues, and initiation or full membership and knowledge of the inner secrets is withheld, until they have done so.
Certainly nobody with intentions of acting as a leader, should do so without having done considerable Shadow work, because leadership roles of any kind tend to emphasize and activate Shadow material. -- and leaders find themselves reproducing their Shadow issues with everyone they encounter, in one way or another. If you do not recognize and work with your Shadow, it WILL turn around and bite you. In fact, an interesting and very educational exercise is to observe the leaders in your experience, and watch how many problems they have with others, are directly attributable to Shadow issues.
HALLOWEEN AND THE SHADOW:
This holiday is DESIGNED to get people to acknowledge and confront some very universal Shadow issues: fear and loathing of death, disability, disease, decline, disintegration, alienation, etc.
The "monsters" of Halloween are (in part) so popular precisely because they remind us of the "monsters" *within* -- the Monsters of the unconscious/ subconscious, that dwell within us all -- and ANYBODY who refuses to acknowledge that they most certainly *do* have 'monsters' dwelling within them, is fooling themselves and directly speaking from their own Shadow.
ON OUIJA AND THE SHADOW:
A Ouija Board is a *perfect* tool for the Shadow. When someone who has NOT done their Shadow work gets hold of a Ouija Board, their Shadow is set free and can begin to run amok -- it can impersonate a "demon", a deceased relative or beloved, an angel, everything in between, and often ALL OF THE ABOVE.
A beginner simply does not have the experience, power, or knowledge to actually "conjure" some demon -- and they don't HAVE TO -- with a Ouija board, their untamed, wild, undisciplined Shadow is quite "demon" enough for them!
-- Remember that it has access to every bit of conscious AND UNCONSCIOUS material in their psyche, everything they have ever thought, imagined, experienced, wondered, feared, worried about or been embarrassed by -- from infancy through to the present.
UnLESS you have done your basic Shadow work, i strongly recommend that you NOT play around with a Ouija -- they seem to particularly lend themselves to rampant Shadows.... Besides, i think there are much better, more effective divinatory tools -- the pendulum, Tarot, Astrology, Runes, etc - which all seem to be less potentially troublesome.
For more information on the SHADOW, please see the following
RESOURCES:
BOOKS:
- "The Search for the Beloved" by Jean Houston
- "Meeting the Shadow" by Zweig and Abrams
- "Mysteries of the Dark Moon" by Demetra George
- "Dancing with the Shadow"
MOVIES:
- the classic Hollywood sci-fi film, "Forbidden Planet" is a great
resource on the Shadow;
- "What Dreams May Come" starring Robin Williams, was an excellent
resource on the Shadow;
- Strangely enough <rueful grin> Michael Jackson did an interesting
Music Video on the Shadow (sorry i don't know the name, if anybody
does, please let me know!) -- about a Rock singer who is challenged
by a self-righteous religious fanatic who lives in a haunted mansion
(*both* played by Jackson himself) --
Blessings --
Gaia
[/u]
Besides Mormonism *smile* I have studied and taught a number of different spiritual Paths/ systems, and here is an article i wrote on the Ouija board and why i generally discourage anyone who asks, from using it --
ON THE SHADOW -- (c) By Gaia
(Please do not reproduce without express permission)
THE SHADOW: WHAT IT IS, HOW IT WORKS:
Renowned Psychologist Carl Jung, (who in his later work focused a great deal on spiritual issues) spoke of the "SHADOW" which all individuals and groups have --
The Shadow is that aspect of our subconscious which "carries" any qualities that we cannot bear to acknowledge within ourselves. The Shadow is *the Other* in us, that embarrasses or shames us:
"By Shadow i mean the "negative" side of the personality, the sum of
all those unpleasant qualities we like to hide, together with the
insufficiently developed functions and the content of the personal
unconscious."
By 1945 Jung was referring to the Shadow as simply "the thing a
person has no wish to be":
"One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light," he
said, "but by making the darkness conscious. The latter proceedure,
however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular."
The Shadow "coalesces into a relatively separate splinter
personality in the unconscious, where it is isolated from exposure
and discovery. This compensates for the one-sided identification we
make with what is acceptable to our conscious minds."
THE SHADOW's POWER:
The Shadow is *very* powerful; it is the source of a great deal of psychic energy; furthermore, we USE psychic energy to maintain the Shadow and to hide it from ourselves -- The more we refuse to acknowledge and work with our Shadow, the more energy it takes.
THE SHADOW, PROJECTION AND BIGOTRY:
Most people who deny their Shadow end up PROJECTING it onto others. For Example: a person who has secret homosexual tendencies might spend enormous energy hiding the fact from himself and everyone else; at the same time, developing tremendous hatred toward homosexuals, and suspicion toward others who (he believes) harbor homosexual tendencies -- generally, most everyone but himself, of course.
A person who hates his own inner weaknesses might develop tremendous hatred toward anyone who demonstrates weakness of any kind.
See how it works?
This is (one of) the origins of BIGOTRY -- projecting onto others the very human qualities, tendencies, weaknesses, desires, etc -- that we cannot bear to confront in ourselves. It's what makes people say things like, "Those __, they're all a bunch of ___!" and "You can't trust a __, they're all alike!"; It's what makes people use terms like "Gook" and "Towel-head" and all the other ugly terms that separate us from each other. It makes the "Other" into some'thing' less human and therefore easier to hate and denounce, even perform acts of cruelty and "inhumanity" toward.
IDENTIFYING YOUR OWN (and someone else's) SHADOW:
If you want to know what your own Shadow is like, just look at the people who drive you crazy -- the people who anger, disgust, irritate, annoy, enrage, horrify or embarrass you.
Here's an axiom to remember: The stronger your personal reaction against someone or some characteristic, the more likely that your personal Shadow is being activated.
This is *not* to say that someone or some characteristic might not be undesirable -- it very well may be -- but a NORMAL reaction is simply, calmly, to acknowledge it, NOT to get all hot and bothered over it.
AXIOM: The hotter and more bothered you get over something or someone, the more your Shadow is being activated. The hotter the rhetoric, the stronger the Shadow is being set off. In cyberspace, the more italics or all caps or exclamation points somebody uses, the more their Shadow may be running rampant.
ARGUMENTS AND THE SHADOW:
A very helpful exercise is to observe arguments from this perspective: that's a prime opportunity for people's Shadows to get activated. LISTEN to the kind(s) of accusations that are being hurled and you'll get a very good idea of what somebody's Shadow involves -- what they fear is deep within themselves, what they fear they may be capable of.
This can help us understand the frequently UNSTATED heart of a disagreement, get to the heart of what's really going on, perceive the real issues -- and hopefully, find a way to solve or defuse the REAL problems -- much faster.
SOLUTION: WORKING WITH THE SHADOW
The solution is to acknowledge and work *with* the Shadow, not to hide from, deny or resist it. There are many ways to do this "Shadow work" -- and in fact, most metaphysical systems have built into them, a specifically and precisely designed way to help people recognize and work through their Shadow issues, and initiation or full membership and knowledge of the inner secrets is withheld, until they have done so.
Certainly nobody with intentions of acting as a leader, should do so without having done considerable Shadow work, because leadership roles of any kind tend to emphasize and activate Shadow material. -- and leaders find themselves reproducing their Shadow issues with everyone they encounter, in one way or another. If you do not recognize and work with your Shadow, it WILL turn around and bite you. In fact, an interesting and very educational exercise is to observe the leaders in your experience, and watch how many problems they have with others, are directly attributable to Shadow issues.
HALLOWEEN AND THE SHADOW:
This holiday is DESIGNED to get people to acknowledge and confront some very universal Shadow issues: fear and loathing of death, disability, disease, decline, disintegration, alienation, etc.
The "monsters" of Halloween are (in part) so popular precisely because they remind us of the "monsters" *within* -- the Monsters of the unconscious/ subconscious, that dwell within us all -- and ANYBODY who refuses to acknowledge that they most certainly *do* have 'monsters' dwelling within them, is fooling themselves and directly speaking from their own Shadow.
ON OUIJA AND THE SHADOW:
A Ouija Board is a *perfect* tool for the Shadow. When someone who has NOT done their Shadow work gets hold of a Ouija Board, their Shadow is set free and can begin to run amok -- it can impersonate a "demon", a deceased relative or beloved, an angel, everything in between, and often ALL OF THE ABOVE.
A beginner simply does not have the experience, power, or knowledge to actually "conjure" some demon -- and they don't HAVE TO -- with a Ouija board, their untamed, wild, undisciplined Shadow is quite "demon" enough for them!
-- Remember that it has access to every bit of conscious AND UNCONSCIOUS material in their psyche, everything they have ever thought, imagined, experienced, wondered, feared, worried about or been embarrassed by -- from infancy through to the present.
UnLESS you have done your basic Shadow work, i strongly recommend that you NOT play around with a Ouija -- they seem to particularly lend themselves to rampant Shadows.... Besides, i think there are much better, more effective divinatory tools -- the pendulum, Tarot, Astrology, Runes, etc - which all seem to be less potentially troublesome.
For more information on the SHADOW, please see the following
RESOURCES:
BOOKS:
- "The Search for the Beloved" by Jean Houston
- "Meeting the Shadow" by Zweig and Abrams
- "Mysteries of the Dark Moon" by Demetra George
- "Dancing with the Shadow"
MOVIES:
- the classic Hollywood sci-fi film, "Forbidden Planet" is a great
resource on the Shadow;
- "What Dreams May Come" starring Robin Williams, was an excellent
resource on the Shadow;
- Strangely enough <rueful grin> Michael Jackson did an interesting
Music Video on the Shadow (sorry i don't know the name, if anybody
does, please let me know!) -- about a Rock singer who is challenged
by a self-righteous religious fanatic who lives in a haunted mansion
(*both* played by Jackson himself) --
Blessings --
Gaia
[/u]