I found myself writing down lots of quotes from this book. Here's one I liked at the end:

"People often asked Dr. Jung, 'Will we make it?' referring to the cataclysm of our time. He always replied, 'If enough people will do their inner work.'"

Johnson's books always have at least a few ideas in them to capture the imagination. The idea that the shadow contains some of our strengths and that our light side doesn't always embody our best qualities were two of these ideas for me. The concept of the mandorla as a way of rectifying shadow and light was especially intriguing. Weaknesses include the book's length-- the book is very short, so don't expect lengthy explanations or detailed logical argument. It's more like three extended essays considering three related issues. It's a little uneven as a result. He's a little hung up on binary ideas about gender; and this work seems to assume the only reason men and women come together is sexual or romantic. (He also omits gay/lesbian perspectives.) And he says some things about language -- all language is mandorla being one -- that just aren't true. On the other hand, the relationship between language and mandorla was interesting. What he probably should have said is that careful, creative or healing use of language is mandorla. Want to know what a mandorla is? Read the book!

I have made friends with my dark shadow. She's actually quite the conversationalist and has a lot to say. Her views are not so far off. It's just that her vices could be quite dangerous. I like to let her out from behind the mirror and play house with her occationally though. She makes a fire while I fix us hot chocolate. ;)

Accept Your Demons.

Main Ideas
Culture forces us to create a shadow
Creativity requires Destruction
Falling in love is a projection of yourself
Pain of contradiction = Mystery of paradox

I would have liked to see more practical discussion on how to implement these ideas.

Favorite Quotes:

“Find out what a person fears most and that is where he will develop next.” -Jung

Guilt is a total waste of time and energy.

If we do something we enjoy, we spoil it with guilt about what we ought to be doing. If we do what we ought, what we wish for and fantasize about spoils our discipline.

Biased towards Christianity

The author cannot stop himself from preaching his view of Christianity. There is no clear method or technique here. He describes some ideas about joining light and dark, about using a state of paradox to resolve the shadow, but he doesn’t say how.

2.5/5

"Kendi gölgene sahip olmak: psişenin karanlık yanını anlamak" gibi beklenti yaratan bir isme sahip oluşu nedeniyle kitaba başladım, ancak içinde geçen birkaç ifadeyi göz ardı ettiğim taktirde kolayca "vakit kaybı" diye niteleyebileceğim bir kitaptı ve ince olmasaydı kitabı okumayı bırakırdım. Kitapta bazı ifadeler güzeldi ancak kitabın geneli için aynı şey söylenemez. İlk 3'te 1'lik kısmı fena değildi, ortalamaydı. Son kısımları ise benim için saçmalık diyeceğim türdendi.

Yazarın kitabın genelinde “Thank God”, “God-given”, “Sainthood”, Adam, Virgin Mary, St. Augustine, Western cross, the Church gibi dini ifadelerden ve Tree of knowledge, Garden of Eden, “Restoring the heavenly Jerusalem”, “The Bible tells us”, "Values of Christianity" diyerek dini içeriklerden bahsetmesi bana "Ben bu kitabı neden okuyorum?" diye sordurdu. Yazar arada "Our own Christian culture" falan da diyor zaten. Adam başka bir kültürden başka bir dine mensup ya da dinsiz birinin bu kitabı okumasına ihtimal bile vermemiş açıkça.

This is one of the books so short yet so full of wisdom that you need to re-read it several times..If not to remind yourself of some basic simple truths, than to figure out what you didn't during the first read.

starts off very well and seemed very promising. Towards the end of the book it engaged in some discussion which I think lacked the clarity of the first half of the book. Nonetheless, a very good introduction to the shadow. and also a very quick read. So i do recommend.

Really quick and easy read, but a little disappointing - or at least incomplete. He spent the whole book talking about how important it is to own your shadow and what happens if you don't and it was all very interesting. It made me think of things in a totally new way and I'm convinced- I wanna own my shadow. But he never told us how to do this. This felt to me like a prelude to a book that actually gives practical ways to u know transcend dualities and accept paradoxes and find the solution that balances the pair of opposites. Do I just draw jesus fish?? I really want to know

This slim volume made my brain go boom! Wow, so validating, yet utterly new concepts for me as well. The author definitely identifies as Christian, which became more apparent as the book progressed, but it's blended fairly well with the author's Jungian philosophy. Left me with lots to think about.

In Owning Your Own Shadow, Robert Johnson takes the idea of the shadow, from Jungian psychology, and runs with it, providing guidelines for using the concept to develop ones psychological health and understand ones relationships.

According to these theories, the shadow is those aspects of the self that for personal or cultural reasons we have repressed. We either consciously deny our own expression of them or, more insidiously, they are unconscious. When they are unconscious, we are in danger of expressing them in an uncontrolled destructive way, or projecting them onto other people and seeing them as evil.

Johnson recommends expressing the dark side of ones psychology in a non-dangerous way. For example, he believes that many religious ceremonies exist to allow expression of the shadow. Bring bringing the shadow to consciousness, we are able to deal with it more constructively.

Why would we want to bring out and express our shadow? Because there is "gold in the shadow." Some of our best qualities, or truest sources of energy, may be in parts of ourselves that we keep hidden.

Johnson has many interesting things to say about romantic love, which he believes is the projection of "the gold in our shadow" onto another human being. So, we see in another that which we see as most valuable or divine. (We do not see this "gold" in ourselves only because it is in shadow. A premise of Jungian psychology is that we have the potential to express any aspect of Self.) Johnson believes that this kind of romantic love--which is psychologically equivalent to contact with the divine--is unsustainable and maybe even unnatural when not contained in a religious ceremony because "it is something like connecting the house wiring to a 10,000-volt power line." Johnson believes that this has important implications for marriage. "When marriages survive, it is because both partners have moved down to the 110-volt human level and learned the art of loving."

I find this depressing but relatable.

How do we reconcile ourselves with our shadow? Johnson believes the answer is to embrace 'paradox' rather than lean into 'contradiction'. By 'paradox', Johnson means that we should accept the value of both sides of a moral dichotomy, and work or wait for a synthesis. So, for example, one should be open to the value of BOTH action and passivity, BOTH possessing and poverty, BOTH sex and celibacy, BOTH freedom and obedience, BOTH sobriety and ecstasy, and so on. If we accept both ends, we have a chance of discovering a middle way that esteems both. This is healing.

Love and power are another of these dichotomies, for Johnson.

"Power without love becomes brutal; love without power is weak. Yet when two people get close to each other, there is generally an explosion in their lives. Most of the recrimination between quarreling lovers or spouses involves the collision of love and power. To give each its due and endure the paradoxical tension is the noblest of all tasks. It is only too easy to embrace one at the expense of the other; but this precludes the synthesis that is the only real answer." p.89

"The high energy of fanaticism is a frantic effort to keep one half of the truth at bay while the other half takes control. This always yields a brittle and unreliable personality. This kind of righteousness depends on 'being right.' We may want to hear what the other is saying, but be afraid when the balance of power starts to shift. The old equation is collapsing and you are sure you will lose yourself if you 'give in.'" p.90

The way out of this is courageous encounter with ones own shadow, deliberate exploration and acceptance of the dark side of personality.

In the weakest and third chapter of the book, Johnson rambles about the "mandorla", a tool for working with ones shadow. A mandorla is the almond shaped intersection of two circles, and for Johnson it is a powerful metaphor for the synthesis of opposites. He believes that many works of art and religious ceremonies can function as mandorlas for us, teaching us the value of unity and bringing wholeness and healing.

This is a powerful book if approached with an open mind; I am healthier for it.

Jung's idea of the shadow (the parts of ourselves that we attempt to repress and run from) interests me to no end. It might be the most important concept in psychology. We all have a shadow, and if we're not careful, it will consume us.

Robert A. Johnson states that living in conscious awareness of one's shadow will make us whole. A psychologically complete person embraces both the light and darkness of life. It is a balance. This book has reminded me of how important it is to keep that in mind. It has reminded me of the importance of shadow work, inner psychological exploration.

I am not a Christian. Robert A. Johnson very much is... but that is not a bad thing at all. I was not expecting this book to be so Christian. The best part about it is that anyone can embrace their shadow. Even atheists. The book could have been clearer in that, but I can't think of any other flaws.

It is a very existential self-help book. It is also very brief.

I already know it has changed my life.