The scandal of shadow
Extracts from Chapter Four of "Primitive Materialism".
The concept of shadow derives from the philosophy/psychology of Carl Jung. An archetype is a potentially autonomous complex of the psyche that can take on a personality. The shadow is the archetype of the negative ego; it represents “counter-tendencies in the unconscious… a sort of second personality, of a puerile and inferior character.”[1] Jung argues that there is a “collective shadow figure” – one that belongs to people in general – from which “the personal shadow” of an individual is derived. The shadow, for Jung, contains both positive and negative characteristics, and arises from one-sided development, so that the emergence of a shadow in an individual is a consequence of the growth of personality in adolescence, for that growth requires the development of one aspect of the personality at the expense of others. However, the shadow contains contents that are collective and archaic, and hence is no mere product of personal repression; the more unconscious one is of one’s shadow, the more repressed it is, the more dangerous and negative it becomes.
Jung’s psychology is a gloss on the theme of “know thyself”. To know oneself, one must know one’s dark side. Jung’s reply to the body/soul antagonism is a combination of: Be careful of the dark side of your quest for perfection and seek wholeness rather than perfection. Purity lies in self-knowledge and wholeness rather than in the rejection of the Flesh.
[1] The Phenomenology of the Spirit in Fairy Tales – on the Psychology of the Trickster-Figure, from C. G. Jung, Collected Works, Vol 9, part 1: The Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious, p.262.
Jung’s psychology is a gloss on the theme of “know thyself”. To know oneself, one must know one’s dark side. Jung’s reply to the body/soul antagonism is a combination of: Be careful of the dark side of your quest for perfection and seek wholeness rather than perfection. Purity lies in self-knowledge and wholeness rather than in the rejection of the Flesh.
[1] The Phenomenology of the Spirit in Fairy Tales – on the Psychology of the Trickster-Figure, from C. G. Jung, Collected Works, Vol 9, part 1: The Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious, p.262.
Questions
1. What is an archetype? Do archetypes exist?
2. Assuming that archetypes exist, what is their influence upon religion?
3. Is Jungian psychology a form of ethical teaching?
4. Should we be reinterpreting the ethical ideal of purity in terms of self-knowledge and wholeness rather than in terms of antogonism to the flesh?
2. Assuming that archetypes exist, what is their influence upon religion?
3. Is Jungian psychology a form of ethical teaching?
4. Should we be reinterpreting the ethical ideal of purity in terms of self-knowledge and wholeness rather than in terms of antogonism to the flesh?
Extract Two
The overthrow of Christianity as a metaphysics. There has been a revolution in our culture. Between the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries a battle was fought between Christianity and materialism, the academic variant of which is called Positivism, which resulted in a tremendous victory for materialism.
Questions
1. Is the above statement true? Is academic philosophy hostile to Christianity? Has Christian metaphysics been overthrown by materialism?
Extract Three
The need for a psychological explanation of the rise of Fascism is illustrated by the following remark by Klaus P. Fisher, when investigating the long-term causes of the rise of totalitarianism:
"Only psychopathology can adequately explain the sequential steps that led from a perception of Jews as socially offensive to a willingness to exterminate the entire race on the ground that they were not human but deadly bacilli, so that by warding off the Jews one would be doing the Lord’s work."[1]
He states that history requires psychopathology. It is said that fascism is the radicalization of the middle-classes when threatened with change. For most middle-class people, being Christian means something like, attending Church, upholding the values of civilized society, which can mean, supporting authority, not transgressing against social norms, dressing decently, not smelling, not stealing, not getting excessively drunk, not engaging in prostitution, having a good work-ethic, and being responsible people. All commendable, but it buries the inner ethic of duty and love and fossilizes the religion under rules and regulations. The Christianity of brotherly love is narrowed to concern for one’s own group, which is not brotherly love.
The disease of split-consciousness is everywhere. It is the legacy of the Christian epoch, so that even if medieval Christianity is dying away as a metaphysical system, that evil propensity to inhumanity built on the foundation of an ego-ideal remains to be overcome.
[1] Klaus P. Fischer, Nazi Germany – A New History, Constable, London, 1995. Part One – The Roots – 1870-1933, Chapter 1 – The Origins of Totalitarianism., p.33.
"Only psychopathology can adequately explain the sequential steps that led from a perception of Jews as socially offensive to a willingness to exterminate the entire race on the ground that they were not human but deadly bacilli, so that by warding off the Jews one would be doing the Lord’s work."[1]
He states that history requires psychopathology. It is said that fascism is the radicalization of the middle-classes when threatened with change. For most middle-class people, being Christian means something like, attending Church, upholding the values of civilized society, which can mean, supporting authority, not transgressing against social norms, dressing decently, not smelling, not stealing, not getting excessively drunk, not engaging in prostitution, having a good work-ethic, and being responsible people. All commendable, but it buries the inner ethic of duty and love and fossilizes the religion under rules and regulations. The Christianity of brotherly love is narrowed to concern for one’s own group, which is not brotherly love.
The disease of split-consciousness is everywhere. It is the legacy of the Christian epoch, so that even if medieval Christianity is dying away as a metaphysical system, that evil propensity to inhumanity built on the foundation of an ego-ideal remains to be overcome.
[1] Klaus P. Fischer, Nazi Germany – A New History, Constable, London, 1995. Part One – The Roots – 1870-1933, Chapter 1 – The Origins of Totalitarianism., p.33.
Questions
1. Is Klaus P. Fischer right when he states that psychopathology is required to explain the rise of Facism?
2. What is the relation between the historical rise of Fascism and Christianity?
3. Is split-consciousness and the shadow problem endemic to man? If so, what can be done ethically to overcome it?
2. What is the relation between the historical rise of Fascism and Christianity?
3. Is split-consciousness and the shadow problem endemic to man? If so, what can be done ethically to overcome it?