11:11 Befriending the Shadow to Uncover the Artist

Your Unconscious is the Workshop of Your Soul

Photo by Rishabh Dharmani on Unsplash caption...

When we shake hands with our shadow, we can quit warring endlessly with our flaws and get on with the soul’s work of creation.

If you’re having trouble getting in touch with your dreams, it could be an invitation for you to enter the realm of your unconscious mind. Although you may think you are awake, conscious and in control of your words and actions, your everyday behavior is largely shaped by desires, needs and fears of which you are probably unaware. (That’s why it is called the unconscious mind.)

We all have both a conscious and unconscious aspect to our mind. Whether it’s a slip of the tongue, an irrational outburst or a flash of intuitive insight, we are all subject to influences that arise from somewhere other than the conscious mind. The shadow exists in the hidden recesses of our psyches, where we find both the distressing experiences we’ve shoved out of our conscious minds, but also the deeply held dreams and talents that can heal us and make our hearts light. In this post, we’ll take a deep dive (pun intended) into the murky and fertile land of your unconscious mind.

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Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens. ~ Carl Jung

As part and parcel of the human condition, we’re in possession of two minds, the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. The conscious mind is the realm of rational thought, linear reasoning and logic, while the unconscious mind is the territory where intuition, emotion and dreamstates arise spontaneously and somewhat mysteriously. The conscious mind judges, analyzes and compares while the unconscious mind feels, intuits and imagines. 

Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people. ~ Carl Jung 

The unconscious mind is also the place where we imprison the “ugly, unlovable or unacceptable” parts of ourselves inside hidden caves in our gray matter. Banished (and mad about it,) our shadow self conducts covert operations to earn its freedom. It tries to capture attention by acting in ways that are compensatory, unpredictable and sometimes totally over the top. Like a prisoner pleading his case for leniency, the shadow takes over our conscious mind to justify its illicit activities. We remain subject to the shadow’s sneak attacks on our rational mind until we acknowledge it as an essential and valuable part of our human condition that’s enabled us to survive threatening circumstances and overcome adversity. 

One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. ~ Carl Jung

Like a physical shadow, the shadowy part of our personality follows us wherever we go.  We may try to ignore, deny or suppress it, but eventually, when conditions are just right, it will burst rudely out of the basement, kidnap our conscious mind, holding us hostage to its irrational demands. We may be mystified or horrified when a subterranean emotional landmine unleashes our shadow on us and an unsuspecting world; we may try to shove that shadow self back down into the basement and forget all about it, but it’s no use. It will explode into awareness the next time it gets activated by similar circumstances. 

All forms of self-defeating behavior are unseen and unconscious, which is why their existence is denied.~ Vernon Howard

Trying to ignore the shadow is like partying with our better nature upstairs while the unsavory parts of self sit coiled in the recesses of the mind’s basement, plotting a takeover. Those sad, mad or scared parts of us, are, well, part of us. They have a story to tell, art to make and gifts to share that we can’t access as long as we condemn them to a lonely corner of the basement, pretending they don’t exist. When we open the door to the “basement” of our unconscious mind and welcome our shadow to the party “upstairs,” we can use our conscious mind to negotiate a truce that lets us benefit from the treasure trove within the unconscious mind instead of being sabotaged by it.

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Images that emerge from the unconscious have their own vitality and present scenarios that proceed according to their own logic. ~ Carl Jung

When we accept who we are without the burden of excessive shame, we become light and can move in more desirable directions without struggle. When we shake hands with our shadow and declare a ceasefire, we quit warring endlessly with our flaws. It may seem counterintuitive, but when we accept the flawed parts of ourselves instead of judging them as shameful, bad or wrong, they will come under our conscious control more easily. When we accept that our mercurial human nature is designed for the purpose of learning, creating and growing our soul, we can allow ourselves to let go of what we’ve outgrown and try on something new. 

 By welcoming both the saint and the sinner in us to the party, we become whole and at peace with ourselves and the world around us. 

We’re not robots. The good, the bad and the ugly parts of us are what make us so beautifully human. Since emotional landmines are composed of suppressed, volatile and trauma-induced feelings warehoused in non-rational territory, we can’t think our way out of old pain or force ourselves to forgive past injury. If left buried though, these emotions left over from the original hurt become the collateral damage known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). As long as volatile emotions remain inaccessible to our conscious mind, they’re capable of exploding into consciousness by outer provocations.

If instead of denying, we shine a benevolent light on our volatility or vulnerability, it gets de-fused by our acceptance. With empathy, understanding and forgiveness, we can dissolve old wounds for good, allowing us to traverse our path in wisdom and in safety. When we make the unconscious mind conscious and embrace it like the source of creativity that it is, we befriend ourselves in both our shadowy and our light-filled aspects. By embracing all aspects of our human nature in a heartfelt way, we become wholly human and therefore holy.

When we shake hands with our shadow, we quit warring endlessly with our flaws and begin to gain access to the rich and fertile territory of the unconscious, workshop of the soul.