An interesting read about balancing shadow and light within our persona. Vague, and a bit of a ramble in parts, but spot on in others. The shadow and balance is an in depth conversation and the way we tackle it is individual. This book does not give you tools. More theories. Which are a helpful stepping stone. I know religion is used as a concept in this book, cultural and not specific. But it did stop me from really feeling connected to this text. So did references to masculinity and femininity as there is so much more to us beings than that. I did get something out of this read. But I also have visuals of a rich old white man rambling his pseudo intelligent ideas after seeing an opera over glasses of wine with his toffy chums...

I finished this today and remain as confused as when I started it. IMHO her never clearly defines the Shadow. He argues by comparison, and these often don't make sense or work. Even though it's a short book, 118 pages, I don't think it's worth rereading. Jungian studies do interest me, so that's why I bought this.

Was recommended the book by a friend. Having engaged with Jungian thoughts and writing, I was immediately drawn to reading it (also the fairly compact size!). Perhaps my expectations were higher. The book is certainly a well written intro to the Jungian “shadow”. However, I found the book rather Euro/west centric in its framing of “Indian” thought. That said, it’s an easy read and gently introduces the idea of “inner work” and moving beyond the cognitive introspection which does not sufficiently “embrace” one’s deeper shadow. The idea of wholeness/oneness is also well introduced. If you’re looking for a good essay that spurs reflection and introspection this is for you.

Big kudos to this book for being succinct. The main premise of the book is that human beings put themselves into bad situations and act out when they don't acknowledge the wholeness of their nature - when they try to dismiss or dispose of their less culturally acceptable traits. Johnson presents the old idea that there must be balance between our 'light' and our 'dark' (Ego and Shadow) - and that without regular acknowledgement and interaction with our Shadow, we project it onto others. This destroys relationships, societies and the planet. He cites our modern society's lust for things like violent video games and horror films as a way to indulge our Shadows now that we don't have other widespread rituals and community rites to project onto.

I agree with him that racism, sexism and other Othering practices is about projection and our impulse to put onto others the parts of ourselves we have, through social conditioning, rejected.

He speaks often of the terror of the mid-life crisis, which he basically sees as what happens when people are forced to face their Shadow, after spending the first few decades of life building up their Ego and Persona. In terms of avoiding mid-life crisis, I think this is a really good read.

One thing that confused me about this book was the author's religious affiliation. He keeps referring to Christianity as if it is the reader's religion, but then he also brings in other religious texts, as well. It basically felt as though he were referencing knowledge about his beliefs that I never actually got the memo on. This didn't bother me, but I did find it puzzling.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I wrote a lot in the margins and underlined much, so there was much to engage with and think about. While I'm not 100% convinced of the theories put forth in the book, the cool thing is that through observation and experience, I can test them out and get some better understanding.

He doesn't go much into HOW to engage ones Shadow but he talks about the importance of having rituals and symbolic acts to achieve that balance between Ego and Shadow to maintain equilibrium. I have been thinking about that and tried a few things that - I was surprised to find - did seem to make a satisfying difference.

So who knows. I will keep these ideas in mind. Also, this book introduced me to the concept of the mandorla, which I'd never heard of before, but I had coincidentally just had a dream that prominently featured a mandorla (I was quite puzzled about what the shape was in the dream and after the dream. When I read about it in the book I was again surprised and thought that was pretty cool.

كتاب بدأ بشكل لطيف في شرح مفهوم "الظل" في النفس الإنسانية عند كارل يونج، ثم هبط بعد ذلك في الشلاحات ولم يقدم أي شئ. كان بالإمكان تلخيصه في خمس ورقات. كتاب تائه بين علم النفس والتنمية الذاتية.

خواب سایه م رو دیده بودم و وقتی توی کتاب فروشی چشمم به این کتاب افتاد، حس کردم یک نشانه ست و باید بخرمش. ولی الآن بعید می دونم که نشانۀ خاصّی بوده باشه ! حرف اصلیش این بود که آدم باید سعی کنه تضادهای درونیش رو تحمّل کنه و اونها رو در خودش به تعادل برسونه و اینطوریه که می تونه رشد کنه.

درک این کتاب نیازمند آمادگی قوی قبلیه. ارزش چندین و چند بار خواندن رو داره و میشه با هر جملش تجربه سنگینی رو حس کرد. برای من خواندن این کتاب تموم نشده و حتما دوباره بهش برمیگردم

I appreciated this short book, and gained some wisdom that I applied to my life at the moment. I had a thoughtful discussion with my friend over the material--so if anything, it's worth reading because most people like to discuss what it means to have a "dark side." Most interesting were Johnson's thoughts on hero worship as a form of shadow projection, the pitfalls of romantic love (and how what we see in our beloved is actually the "golden" parts of our shadow), and the mandorla.

"Great poetry makes these leaps and unites the beauty and the terror of existence. It has the ability to surprise and shock -- to remind us that there are links between the things we have always thought of as opposites." p. 103

"A particularly powerful form of mandorla can be seen in the customs of South American curanderos, who are a curious mixture of primitive shaman and Catholic priest. Their mesa (table) is an altar where they say Mass for the healing of their patients. They divide this alter into three distinct sections. The right is made up of inspiring elements such as a statue of a saint , a flower, a magic talisman; the left contains very dark and forbidding elements such as weapons, knives, or other instruments of destruction. The space between the two opposing elements is a place of healing. The message is unmistakable; out own healing proceeds from that overlap of what we call good and evil, light and dark. It is not that the light element alone does the healing; the place where light and dark begin to touch is where miracles arise. This middle place is a mandorla." p. 111

I really only enjoyed the later portion of the book. The exploration of mandorlas was exquisite.

Excellent discussion about the role and meaning of "religion" as a means to "bind together ... surmounting the split that has been causing so much suffering. It helps us move from contradiction - that painful condition where things oppose each other - to the realm of paradox, where we are able to entertain simultaneously two contradictory notions and give them equal dignity." From this we understand that Christ wants to redeem and restore those parts of ourselves that we are ashamed of, consider inappropriate and unacceptable (our shadow side) and not condemn them. We should strive to do the same.

Very interesting and quick read. Brings to light the constant contradictions we live everyday and that trouble everyone on some level. The key to living a happy life is by living a balanced life and honoring all parts of yourself, not just the parts that society/religion have told us are worthy of attention. We've got to let out the animalistic parts of us in healthy ways or it will come out in a destructive way. It's OK to have them and a balance of both light and darkness is to be close to the universe/god/spirituality/infinity (whatever you want to call it).

I like how the author doesn't tell you step by step on how to do this in your personal life. It's going to be a different answer for everyone anyway.

I like any book that makes me analyze why i do the things I do. If a book does that it stimulates my brain more than anything, which is my goal these days, i only want to learn.

Kitabın tercümesi ve akıcı anlatımını çok beğendim.
Gölge ve Aşk bölümü özellikle en iyi bölümdü.

Paradoksları kabullenerek yaşamanın gerekliliğini güzel örneklerle anlatmış. Örneğin yazar yapılması gereken önemli bir işi yaptıktan sonra '' bu işi yaptığım için çok keyif alcağım bambaşka bir şeyi yapamadım'' hissi ile mücadele etmek yerine bunun böyle olduğunu , o yapılması gerekeni yapmanın diğer aktivitenin değerini daha da arttırdığını kabul ederek , netlik kazanmamızı salık veriyor.
Hayatın enerjisi yaşadığımız paradokslarda saklı , önemli olan bunları çatışma olarak görmemek.
Birbiri ile çeliştiklerini varsaymak yerine birbirlerinden güç aldıklarını kabullenmenin önemi vurgulanmış.

Kitapta yazar şöyle bir soru da sormuş:

Hayatınızın sonuna kadar bir kişi ile aynı odada kalmak zorunda olsanız bu kişi kim olurdu?