Identifying the Shadow Self by Understanding “Duality”
This post was written by guest blogger Mira Taylor, Master Certified Mental & Spiritual Wellness Practitioner. Learn more at moonandrune.com
Letting go of the negative narratives and preconceived notions of what “duality” is – within the world/, the greater Universe and your Self- is an integral part of accepting your whole Self via your identification and acceptance of what the psychology world refers to as your “Shadow” Self.
But before we get too deep into these concepts let’s start simply by defining some important terms:
Shadow Self: “A concept of the human psyche that is either an unconscious aspect of the personality that the conscious ego does not identify with, or the entirety of the unconscious; that is, everything of which a person is not fully conscious.
Ego: “The part of the mind that mediates between the conscious and the unconscious and is responsible for reality testing and a sense of personal identity.”
Duality: “An instance of opposition or contrast between two concepts or two aspects of something” Many Have Accepted and associate “duality” with the concepts below:
Dark vs. Light
Devil vs. God
Demon vs. Angel
Bad/ Evil vs. Good
Villain vs. Hero
Immoral vs. Moral
Wrong vs. Right and so on…
The truth of duality is that it was never intended to serve as a relationship based in adversarial engagement with one’s opposite - but to see the opposite as a sort of “mirror” which allows one to learn about the Self and detach from the unhealthy aspects of the Ego. This is considered a “goal” of mental wellness from the psychology perspective because the Ego is the part of our Self which becomes most easily offended and reactionary to exterior stimuli – resulting in Self-harming and destructive behaviors.
The great irony is that the root of this form of duality was born from the biblical concept of the Devil or “Satan”. The very word itself was what became the basis for these existing adversarial constructs of duality. How could a single word change and shape society, religion, and the human psyche for so long and in such a detrimental way? The entity known as “Satan” actually originated from a Hebrew moniker that was derived from the informal Latin root word “satan” which means "to oppose" or "to act as an adversary." In fact, the word “satan” was originally and most specifically used by Greco-Roman philosophers and politicians to describe someone who opposed their own personal viewpoint of something during public forum - NOT to reference an archetypally evil spiritual entity.
All that said, it is easy to see how a single word became a much greater, albeit allegorical, religious concept rooted in its original and far less religious meaning – literally “adversary” or to view someone as separate and opposing of one’s Self. Historically speaking it is the introduction of the concept of adversarial duality through the creation and emboldening of the word “satan” that created a negatively dualistic nature for society and then relationally within the individual human psyche. Afterall, the only way there can be a “hero” and a “villain” or “good vs. evil” is if the ideology of the “adversary” is created within the human mind in the first place. Kind of crazy how powerful even a single world can be isn’t it?
This was of course, never the true intention of duality or our human experience and understanding of it. The original concept of how we engage with and perceive the paradoxical nature of the Universe - through our awareness of duality as a medium - is how we come to learn the most about our Self and get closest to our most “divine” nature. This is our wholly or “holy” accepted Self.
When you begin to understand these concepts, you come to realize that life and the human experience is a spectrum – not “black and white” – and that when we blindly accept subconscious belief systems - such as the idea that everything to do with a word like “darkness” is “bad” or “evil” - we are also subconsciously rejecting a large portion or “truth” about Self. This oversimplified version of duality also means the individual living within it is missing out on a much larger lens of perception that is available once they are willing to see experiential reality as the true “rainbow” that it is. Once we are able let go of the negative or adversarial concept of duality, we begin to understand how categorizing every person, action, and experience (parts of your Self included) into these two rather boring and limiting definitions of possibility for “all there is” won’t create a very colorful or intriguing picture for you to enjoy as you paint on the canvas of life.
So how does all this terminology about duality and religiously confused allegory tie into the concept of the “Shadow Self?” All of these “terms and conditions” that come along with the adversarial concept of duality bring to mind two important quotes by Carl Jung - the man who first established the concept of the Shadow within the academic fields of psychology. They are…
“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”
“How can I be substantial if I do not cast a shadow? I must have a dark side also If I am to be whole.”
In other words, the Shadow of the human psyche is the part of one’s true nature that they are unwilling to accept as true, or rather, that they themselves are consciously blind too because their Ego has defined this part of the whole Self under the “no can do” tab of dualistic categorization within the mind. These parts of our Self are usually the parts that we have subconsciously defined as immoral, bad, villainous, sinful or “undivine” based upon how the outside world informs us we are supposed to think and act to be “acceptable to the herd” and subsequently our ability to be successful, likable etc. This version of duality thrives on fear, separation and our willingness to engage in the scarcity mindset it allows for.
What’s important to realize about this concept of Self is that the Shadow is built up of all of these “parts” or “fragments” of Self that the Ego has turned away from. These parts of your Self become the “satan” you have created within your own being via your own rejections inside the proverbial “walls” of the individual concept of Self. The Egocentric individual is so blissfully unaware of these qualities that they are almost always unable to see these parts of Self in others and therefore can’t properly learn or Self improve due to the lack of acceptance of the presently “whole” Self. From a psychology perspective this is to say that these parts or fragments of you have become fractured within your own Self and instead of healing these internally inflicted soul wounds the Egocentric individual spends most of their life “fighting with a mirror” that they are unable to see themselves in.
But the concepts of duality don’t have to be about opposition in the sense of “fighting” or being “against” one another. The true purpose of opposites and the energies of polarity - within the Universe and within your Self - is in how it teaches us to reflect, see the true unity of creation and divinity by allowing us the ability to see more than one side of things without anything but a sense of appreciation, love and understanding for the importance of our uniqueness within the “all”. A healthy awareness of the loving intent of the concept of duality makes it possible for us to enjoy new and different potentials through conscious open-minded perspectives. This ultimately allows us to expand our horizons and think for our Self more freely, accept our Self and others’ more wholly or spiritual divine nature. Understanding how to see this spectrum of perspectives available to you and letting go of the “good vs bad” narrative allows you to think completely for your Self, creates a sense of reality that is personal to you and helps you move toward inner balance/ peace through a complete acceptance and genuinely true awareness of Self.