The Shadow of Man and Nations: A Jungian Perspective
How we can move forward as a society through the lens of Carl Jung's psychology work
Lurking inside of humans and nations is another, a seemingly separate entity, one that the subject is naturally ignorant to. This entity is often repressed, containing undesirable qualities, instincts and emotions. A psychological war is waged from within, and we are in the midst of this battle on a moment to moment basis, both as members of a nation, and as individuals. This is a great challenge of both nations, and the people that inhabit them.
The “shadow” is based on Carl Jung's theory of the mind, which refers to a person's unconscious mind. Jung built on the idea of a conscious and unconscious mind, and how the two interact. The conscious mind can be thought of as the tip of an enormous iceberg, where our thoughts, memories and experiences that we are aware of reside. The unconscious mind represents the rest of the iceberg, which includes emotions, repressed memories, experiences and aspects of ourselves which we can't access directly.
The shadow extends beyond individuals. Jung theorized there are universal aspects to the human psyche that can be seen across all cultures and time periods. These universal aspects are referred to as archetypes, which are themes, experiences, characters or symbols that we have inherited due to evolutionary history. Some common archetypes are the hero, the shadow, the persona, the mother, the father, the trickster and the child. Archetypes do not change over long periods of time, and as such they are a useful device for identifying certain patterns of behavior and experiences core to being human. The understanding of archetypes and their universal aspects are what help us in the path of individuation.
There are days and moments where we act in ways that we claim are not us, that are separate, arising from evil, or from origins other than our conscious self. It is these times where we are at the mercy of our shadow, or unconscious. This can be seen on a daily basis in yourself when you are about to do something you know you are better off not doing, and you feel a tension in yourself, that seems to be tugging you towards your better or worse traits. This tension reflects the internal battle between your persona and your shadow. Often it may be in hindsight that one realizes he was being led by his shadow, which he may then reject as not part of himself. This rejection is partly what creates room for the shadow to roam more freely, and it indicates a lack of psychological harmony.
We all have a collection of masks we wear and present to the world, which we take off when we are alone. Masks are necessary and help us cooperate with others effectively, reducing friction. The persona archetype is what represents the mask, and it's a pattern that is seen in many movies, such as Spider Man, Batman and Fight Club. The mask is a result of the collective pull that requires us to play a certain role in society, which in most cases, does not perfectly align with who we actually are.
The understanding of consciousness as similar to a boat in an ocean, is helpful in the endeavor of learning about the unconscious. The ocean represents all that we are not aware of about the workings of our nature. It's at the edges of our vision, the parts of the ocean we don't often visit, either out of habit or avoidance, that we can find whirlpools, islands, strange creatures and sunken ships. One must see himself as similar to an archeologist, searching for oddities, for strange shapes in the noise of conscious experience. Embodying the archetype of the hero, viewing oneself as an adventurer, seeking to go to your own hellish depths, is where this awareness lies. In taking this path of curiosity, we learn about repressed aspects of our nature, with the ultimate goal of accepting them, and then integrating them over time. Just as an archeologist discovers historical artifacts that explain our existence today, you can uncover the psychological patterns that work in the dark, shaping your fate, and use them to your advantage.
Finding the unconscious aspects of ourself is difficult enough, but it’s even more challenging to integrate the repressed parts of yourself which you often don’t like too much. Integration requires some creativity and the ability to be optimistic. For example, if in your unconscious you find feelings of anger or frustration, deconstruct those feelings and analyze when they seem to pop up in your life, and how you tend to respond to them. Anger is a highly charged emotion, and it can be put to good use, as well as bad use. Rather than trying to suppress your anger, you can channel it into something productive. If you are angry about your situation in life, that can be a constructive energy which can be harnessed to push you forward towards better outcomes, rather than lashing out on those near you. Basically every negative trait has some potential positive benefit you can extract from it if you figure out what to do with it when it arises. Your emotions are fundamentally like a compass which point you towards betterment, but often indirectly, which makes them confusing and sometimes hard to deal with.
Similar to individuals, nations also have an interplay of various forces that operate in the light and dark. This dynamic within nations echoes the individual’s psychological struggle. Every nation has a "conscious" and "unconscious", just as every individual does. It is up to individuals within a nation to recognize this duality and treat their interactions with their nation in a manner akin to their own psyche. Just as we have a persona and a shadow, so to do our nations. Like our persona, a country has a "branding" among other countries, a mask of sorts, that it uses to participate on the global stage. It doesn't necessarily align with reality, just as a company's image they project doesn't always align with what they actually are. A nation's shadow consists of all the issues they are repressing, that their parties aren’t aware of or aren’t willing to confront.
It is our civic duty, if we wish to contribute to the well-being of our country, to partake in a dialogue that seeks to guide the ship. One should treat the ship as if it is part of themselves, as if they are on the boat in the ocean, blazing the path of the hero. A nation is like a brain, where our voices are individual thoughts that arise, which on their own have little to no impact, but at scale, there's a huge conversation going on between a country's population and its government. Nations that suppress their citizens eventually wither, which is comparable to an individual not integrating their shadow, ignoring its various attempts to establish a dialogue. Every citizen has a civic duty to have an informed opinion on the state of the matter, and not doing so represents a state of decadence and nihilism, characterized by many countries that have fallen. It's a state of resignation to the forces of the world, which can be a failing of the individual, but sometimes also of the country itself.
Political parties are the life-blood of a nation, and just as countries, they also contain these archetypes of the persona and the shadow, which can be explored. When trying to get to the fundamental truth of something, you should look beyond the mask, since it is a rosy view of the thing, biased by its interests. We all have aspirations, and ideals for ourselves, and political parties are no different. While those aspirations may be true desires, they are no match for reality. Actions are the only true measuring stick which should ever be used when judging the character of a politican or a country.
Politicians are subject to these same influences as we mere mortals are, although they can appear to have transcended their own personal failings in comparison to ourselves. Some of the worst attrocities in the human race have been a result of people with unresolved psychological complexes who were given too much influence, such as Stalin and Hitler. It seems that some politicians fit directly into a void shape in a country’s cultural unconscious, hitting on fundamental aspects of their yearnings, allowing them to express themselves by association. We often think of dictators as rigid, but perhaps it is a fluidity that allows them to fill the psychological gaps of their followers that makes them so seductive.
While we cannot tell the future, Jung left us with some powerful archetypal tools for understanding ourselves, which can lead to a greater understanding and empathy for others. A society that has made significant progress in integrating their unconscious is less likely to fall victim to the seductive pull of both charismatic tyrants and utopian revolutionaries. Although there are many factors at play in a nation, a society that takes the courageous approach of the hero and explores the unconscious of themselves, their countries, political parties, and politicians, will have much better odds of success than those who remain ignorant of the often paradoxical truths of reality.