Stop Projecting Your Shadow And Go Trick-or-Treating Instead!

The great Psychologist Carl Jung said, “the most ethical thing one can do is to own his or her own shadow - in order to no longer project it out onto another.” Jesus said, “you should not worry about the splinter in your brothers or sisters eye - deal with the log in your own eye.” In other words, quit projecting your shadow out on to someone else - instead - face and deal with your own shadow. Ancient Taoism, gives us the well known Yin-Yang symbol. This tradition tells us that life is to be an integration of light and shadow. That even in the shadow you can find a little light. That even in the light you can find a little shadow. Taoism encourages us not to suppress our shadow, not to ignore our shadows, surely not to project our shadows out onto others, but instead to own our shadows - to integrate ourselves - to live into wholeness.

After 9/11, tasting ashes on our own soil, our nation had a real opportunity to reflect and to own some of our own issues. In stead, we focused our efforts on chasing evil in and out of caves in Afghanistan. After 9/11, we as a country could have looked at our own stuff - how the rest of the world viewed us, why they viewed us that way, our sins of racism and sexism, the disparity between the rich and poor, the rape of the natural environment, the abuse and power of the huge corporations, the Military Industrial Complex, and so on. We had the opportunity to look deeply at ourselves - we did not - we found it easier to project all evil onto Osama Bin Laden. What a shame. What a missed opportunity for us to evolve as a people and species.

Most older and indigenous cultures held festivals or rituals to help them embrace the shadow side. Rituals to help them own their own shadows and not project them. Modern Western culture (a product of the Enlightenment) does not provide us the opportunity to romance our shadows. We live in and with light all the time. The bright lights at Walmart shine 24/7. The screens of our computers and TVs constantly flash light at us. Our shadows are ignored and get pushed deep down into the subconscious. Once there, we are driven by our shadows, and we are blind to that which drives us. Believe me, the shadow is there whether you acknowledge it or not. This could be a reason why we love horror films and why violent films do so well at the box office The shadow is trying to relate to something.

Halloween has its roots in the ancient Celtic celebration of Samhain - a celebration of entering the dark half of the year. The Celts would honor the darkness - celebrate it. This is totally foreign to modern culture. The Christian Church connected Samhain to All Saints Day and All Hallows Eve. A celebration that reminded the Christians that they were close to the departed, close to death, close to darkness, close to shadow. This Halloween, as you dress up as some zombie or monster, stop and acknowledge the zombie and the monster in yourself. Acknowledge your own shadow. Look at the log in your own eye. The world would be a better place if we celebrated our own darkness rather than projecting it. Jung would say, “It is the most ethical thing you can do”.