Category: Psychology

According to Jung, an individual's true goal in life is NOT about trying to achieve some kind of unattainable perfection, but rather striving for a wholeness of being.

"Good does not become better by being exaggerated, but worse, and a small evil becomes a big one through being disregarded and repressed. The shadow is very much a part of human nature, and it is only at night that no shadows exist."

- Carl Jung, Psychology and Religion

The path to a greater character, to a more effectual approach to life, lies in integrating those elements of our psyche that for too long have been repressed and denied, our unconscious shadow side.

There is nothing wrong with ignoring this taboo of society, acknowledging it's presence within, exposing it for what it is and balancing your life accordingly.

How to Integrate Your Shadow

Here is an interesting neuropsychiatric disorder which I think that everyone suffers to one degree or the other, some poor souls worse than others.

Bothersome sounds include: slurping, throat-clearing, people clipping their nails, brushing their teeth, chewing crushed ice, eating, drinking, breathing, sniffing, talking, sneezing, yawning, walking, chewing gum, laughing, snoring, typing on a keyboard, coughing, humming, whistling, singing, saying certain consonants, repetitive sounds ...

Not that I break out into a cold sweat, but getting pretty irritated about something so very trivial is something to be careful about.

Normally when I'm having my daily run along those flat and endless meadows which are so typical of the Dutch countryside, I don't think about that much. My brain is on auto-pilot and most of my thoughts either lull just beneath the surface of my consciousness or even disappear altogether.

This afternoon was a little different, though. I kept on thinking about this animated video I'd seen earlier that day. It was called The Divided Brain, and it was packed full of these amazing ideas which struck me.

In particular, there was this one repeating theme about how we need to be more passionate about the right hemisphere and the need to return what that knows to a broader context, which kept roaming around inside of my head.

These were the final words of that video which upon first hearing it rung so very true and then kept on going around and around in my head:

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We've created a society that honors the servant but has forgotten the gift."

Over and over again, and then I was back home huffing and puffing at the back door.