Tag: The Shadow Archetype

topographia

An exploration of the Shadow as a universal psychic structure—the ‘dark side’ of the ego that contains everything we have disowned or deemed unacceptable. While often viewed as a repository of shame, the Shadow also holds the ‘gold’ of our unlived potential. By identifying how this archetype operates in our lives, groups, and our societies, we move toward a more integrated and honest expression of the Self.

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  • The Disease of Greed

    The Disease of Greed

    “The love of possessions is a disease in them […] If America had been twice the size it is, there still would not have been enough.” Chief Sitting Bull, 1877.

  • These Ancient Stones

    These Ancient Stones

    It takes a lot of courage to work through what has pained you all your life.

  • The Middle Passage

    The Middle Passage

    Many people never pass from childhood to adulthood developmentally, but are overgrown children, and many never pass from the first adulthood into the second, and thus have unlived lives.

  • Shadow

    Shadow

    This past weekend I had the privilege of witnessing a courageous confrontation. Beforehand, no one had mustered the courage to say anything. Finally, though, one of us decided to confront the situation.

  • Suffering the Opposites

    Suffering the Opposites

    I have come to believe that the fiercer a person’s condemnation of “the other side,” the more likely he is blind to his own shadow—the very traits he condemns in others are lying dormant within himself.

  • Freedom

    Freedom

    I remembered my own childhood, the hours spent outside in trees, playing in the shade of my grandmother’s huge, gnarled Crape Myrtle, reading on the porch swing,

  • Leaving Home

    Leaving Home

    A thread running through many dysfunctional leave-takings is that they occur between adolescents and their parents. The once-perfect child goes wrong and is ousted by parents who project their own lack of individuation through an act of tough love.

  • Warning Signs

    Warning Signs

    When I see myself at my worst, I want to apologize to my loved ones for being me. I’m a confusing mix of big-hearted and pig-headed, hearth-warmer and arsonist. I wonder what people will say about me at my memorial service.