Shadow Integration: What you must do FIRST

[@SSSnakeSpeaksss]

That's amazing. We also tapped into the topic of shadow work! It's a real game changing experience. Keep up this good work and dedication to detail.

[@JungToLiveBy]

Hi @SSSnakeSpeaksss, thank yo uso much for your kind comment, its very much appreciated. Kindest Regards, Steve & Pauline

[@Lioness_of_Gaia]

This demystified things a lot, thanks! Lots of love 💕

[@JungToLiveBy]

Hi again @Lioness_of_Gaia, many thanks, its about time that the 'Shadow' was revised as a concept, as its 'clinical' presentation, is not at all like how the Jungians model it, and how they negatively suggest to people that it is. Kindest Regards, Steve & Pauline 🙏🙏

[@spazzychalk]

"Root causes emerge under pressure "... I paused to chew on that for a few. Then I unpaused and had to do it again on the next thing he said.

[@nuni6158]

There was a good reminder that one cannot help it when complexes are forming. Also the metaphor of magnetic field and its effect on volcanic rock is useful for me. There are other "invisible" factors at play, than just for example what happens between mother and child, when the complex starts forming.

[@JungToLiveBy]

Hi again, @nuni6158, thanks for sharing your insights and your comment, they're very much appreciated. Kindest Regards, Steve & Pauline 🙏🙏

[@blackdog1392]

At last a real understandable reassuring explanation of these very complex and much misunderstood concepts. Thank you so much.

[@inlov33]

Please do a video on impulses vs instincts, discerning, traps, nuances. Thank You

[@1496tyler]

Hey guys, thanks so much for your content. You send ripples of knowledge out into the universe that will continue to reverberate for eternity. Can I get your perspective(s) on inner Child work and IFS (Internal Family Systems Therapy) for healing childhood "wounds"?

[@jungtolivebyafterdark]

Hi again Nachoflo, thanks for your kind remarks. Inner Child work, and IFS, both for me are contextual, in that it has certainly helped some, and for the former, I have seen it cause harm, directly. This was through a 'regressive', infantalism, of the patients, by identification with a past and vulnerable stage of their life, from which 'State' they became vulnerable once again, both to inner pressure from complexes, and. opportunism by the negative pole of the psyche to associate 'new' complexes, in the present. That said, many people benefit from it, and of course all forms of therapy have their drawbacks and issues. Kindest Regards, Steve.

[@Story_1]

What Jordan peterson say in the clip you marked is basically what this guy with the women said. Its is to understand your shadow understanding why are you capable of dark stuff. so relating to it and not letting the shadow control you is what gets you going properly

[@talastra]

Are you saying that the Peterson clip is the same as what Pauline and Steven say? Because that is absolutely not the case. My terminology or explanation cannot be as exact as James or Steven and Pauline would make it, but the Shadow is not only some monstrous soup of disgusting instincts, as Peterson suggests. Peterson is actually DEMANDING (and this is a dangerous thing to do, when you are a charismatic leader) that his followers project themselves into the role of rapist, murder, or medieval torturer (the example in the clip). He's insisting that you BELIVE him that that's what you "really" want to do, but thank goodness you've suppressed or repressed that desire. Of course, Peterson is just projecting and spelling out his autobiography for us, and he's quite proud of himself for having "conquered" those impulses. (His recent decent into a medically induced come in Russia to deal with his drug addiction suggests that the conquering was less complete than he imagined. For whatever good he aims to do, he has also been "raping" and "medievally torturing" vulnerable the minds of young men, in particular, as a sort of sublimation of his own supposedly "conquered" impulses. But all he's done is redirected them, apparently unconsciously. Well, one can wonder just how consciously or not he's been doing it.) Meanwhile (from the video), "The shadow is a psychological construct that forms over an individual's lifespan as a counterbalance to the ego's attitude. It is a necessary balancing function." So, if the ego is dwelling on X, then the shadow (as regulated by the alter-ego) will generally be providing a regulatory not-X to keep things homeostatically balanced in the psyche. Certainly if, in your conscious life, you are trying to project saintliness, pure altruism, and selfless devotional messiahdom to the world (like Peterson), then your shadow might very well have a medieval torturer, rapist, and satanic regulatory counter-balancing going on. But if you were an actual medieval torturer, you might have as a shadow an innocent inner child or angelic self that you have to anesthetize with alcohol. We typically think of CIA torturers (or police officers) as self-medicating and drinking at home due to the horrible stresses of their work, but perhaps we should instead see the alcoholism at home more as a sign of trying to stave off the "terrible" knowledge of that inner innocence within which threatens to make doing such labor (on behalf of the State) possible. In any case, as a counterbalance to the ego's attitude, the shadow is not always and only some foetid cesspool of one's "darkest desires"; that's an uncharacteristic case. Those parts of ourselves that the ego prefers not to deal with or express (for whatever reason) CAN have a devilish quality, of course. The super-responsible workaholic might have to constantly fight off an enormous impulse just to run away from everything or procrastinate, but in this case, the person's "dark secret" is that they're also lazy and irresponsible, not a medieval torturer. It's just a bit too romantic to fantasize that we're ALL Satan at the core. To the extent that the ego aspires to be "a good person" then some portion of "a bad person" will come up psychologically through the alter-ego's regulatory activity, but not only does this mandate acting on such regulatory behavior, they're also not normally that frequent, and don't require much "work" except perhaps to say, "Ah, hello there impulse. Thanks for popping in. Now, off you go." It's only when you have a fantasy that such thoughts are somehow "unthinkable" that you feedback power into them. These days, not being a racist seems to be uppermost on (white) folks' minds. If someone calls you a racist, say, "You might be right" and that's that. You could also be snottier and say, "Are you trying to recruit me to your rally" :)

[@lovorka3321]

just purchased ur book, thanks for your work guys!

[@rinhu8864]

The volcano metaphor was sublime ✨

[@jungtolivebyafterdark]

Thanks R Inhu, that's very much appreciated, Kindest Regards, Steve.

[@icephoenix1024]

I didnt quite understand it... But i guess it had something to do with something goes from one form to another form (solid form)...

[@aceflameseer]

Steve, where does Adler's 'Social interest' concept fit with the anima? The proper relating to the outside world and inside that you describe as the anima is so similar to Adler's 'Community feeling' or 'Social Interest'. low social interest (negative relating) and high social interest (you takng your part in the community of fellow human beings, or positively relating) . Would love to read your thoughts on this, thanks. :)

[@jungtolivebyafterdark]

Thanks Alekssander Angelovski, great points you raise, please see my reply to @Kaizen below. Broadly, its often useful to see an analogy between the 'Three Turnings of The Wheel of Dharma' in Buddhism, and the three founding schools of psychoanalysis: Freud, Adler, Jung. As in Buddhism, the third turning of the wheel obliges underdtanding of the first two, so to really grasp Jung, you must also understand in full, both Freud and Adler. In this analogy, Adler would be 'Mahayana' to Freud's 'Hinayana' andf Jung's 'Vajrayana'. Jung himself was clear about the necessity to incorporate all three schools. Adler has been overlooked, largely, which is both a shame and a problem. Social Interest is a major adaptation to outer life. His insights on guiding fictions, fictional finalism, private logic and neurotic alibis, clearly explicate the negative side of personal mythology and the behaviours that sustain them. His insight into the power complex and its compensatory dynamics (inferiority-superiority) is crucially relevant, particularly in the adaptive phases of the first half of life. You often encounter, clinically, neurosis (complexes) that are clearly Freudian. As these are resolved (and not necessarily through lengthy psychoanalysis), Adlerian issues frequently emerge. Jungian issues, can frequently present prematurely, i.e. when people have not resolved Freudian or Adlerian adpatations. Jungian theory is, in many such cases, a kind of Adlerian pathology, that acts as private logic, fictional finalism, neurotic alibi and guiding fiction. Jung himself would have agreed with this. The internet has caused many young people (male and female) to misfire prematurely, by going straight to Jung without understanding Freud and Adler. Kindest Regards, Steve.

[@aceflameseer]

@@jungtolivebyafterdark This just blew my mind! Thanks for your reply! Cant wait for more of your videos!

[@nasherbuenafe253]

Thank you so much for uploading. This is a blessing. Love.this channel

[@JungToLiveBy]

Hi again Nasher Buenafe, huge thatnks for your kind words, Kindest Regards, Steve.

[@rachelzuniga5300]

Wow! Thank you for that analysis. That helped to bring a lot of ideas together for me 😀

[@JungToLiveBy]

Blessings, Kindest Regards, Steve 🙏

[@Igor_ZG]

Very informative video!! Thank you!

[@georgethakur]

Can you please make a video on how to integrate your ego?

[@Asclepius919]

Ah well that's my problem. I've had so many others in my head giving me feedback and controlling me for so long, I have multiple parts of myself that are not me, when we remove those, I don't know who I am really. It's an odd thing.

[@JungToLiveBy]

Hi FemmeFatale, thanks for sharing, find your true tribe, and take your place within it. Kindest Regards, Steve 🙏

[@rachelzuniga5300]

Who did the woman make a reference to? When she said something about “set stages” at 13:35?

[@JungToLiveBy]

Pauline is referring to the set stages on Anima and Animus development that mainstream Jungians often insist occur - in both form and content. She means that in real world experience these do not occur in that way for most people, and that expecting that they do, or should, because of a theoretical dogma, causes problems for people in understanding the actual context and development of their relational lives. Kindest Regards, Steve 🙏

[@paulkerridge6001]

Brilliant stuff. 👍🏻

[@jungtolivebyafterdark]

Thanks Paul Kerridge, very much obliged, Kindest Regards, Steve.

[@MrSupernovaparkour]

by "relating" does he mean empathy/understanding?

[@eskapegoat86]

So... Thoughts really do become things. So watch your thoughts. But accept all. Just observe. And relate to what You believe to be True. Why is it easier said than done?

[@JungToLiveBy]

Don’t philosophise, it’s a repetition compulsion trap. Live and relate naturally

[@Lavone__]

All three of you must be very aware what the modern man is going through. I think I need to see e therapist. I understand what you are talking about but no idea how to consciously and actively integrate the shadow and relate to the anima. Grew up without a father and my mother was sweet but abusive and bipolar with schizophrenia.

[@Belphy17]

Hello everyone, I have only recently discovered jungian/depth psychology, and the whole system has deeply fascinated me and it strongly, strongly, resonates with me. I am still trying to figure out my way around the channel but i have absolutely devoured as much material as I could, even at the slight expense of my studies. Now, i have a million questions i wish I could answer, but I will limit myself to just one. Although it is a loaded question, as in i would like to make my background clear in the case you decide to answer (i am hopeful, i see you reply to many comments, although this is an old video so who knows). Now, I am not and never really were interested in becoming an analyst, so that's my my angle. I am 24 now and I come from a life long struggle with depression and such, I've "done" therapy most of my life and it really did set me on a "productive" path, but I see now that back then i just couldn't understand, I was in a very bad place, i would almost say I just wasn't, i was an empty spot within a dark cloud and i have been for a long time. Sorry if it seems dramatic but as i said i was never called to become a therapist. A writer, yes indeed. And oh my god how badly I've handled it so far. Getting better now. Okay this is getting ridiculously long im so sorry. I found some sort of calling when after many struggles i finally allowed myself to study philosophy at university (which i had avoided for so long because of father related issues). So, the point is i have found myself some sort of direction, I've been learning so much and building my own culture and articulating and deepening my thoughts. I am proud of that. What you talk about on your channel resonates so much with the way I've been building my... experience? I'm sorry for all this but context matters, no? When I was very very young child, and this is probably the first dream I can remember, I've only had it once but i had many recurrent nightmares. In this dream i was in a field, (which has a huge symbolic meaning when connected to my childhood, i think) As far as I've understood, this would be way before i could have developed a shadow, but the anima was already there right? Well in this dream there was a beautiful girl with blood red hair, and nothing much happened. The only thing was this utter and absolute certainty when I woke up that i was gonna marry that girl. I was a very young child and i was fixated on that girl for many months, I named her Lily. I also can say now that I have absolutely projected that dream-girl on real women growing up and that REALLY didn't go well. Now, after this absolute mammoth i have written. Is there any way the blood hair girl was some sort of "first contact" with the anima? Or am I just building my own paper castle? I wouldn't have written all this though if i didn't remember that feeling so vividly. Now that I hear you discuss these things... memories and old dreams seem to have started to "click". I hope I didn't bore anyone, thank you so so much if you've paid attention to my rambling thus far!

[@JungToLiveBy]

Hi Lish, if you want to enegage in a discussion about any of the above, then I'd suggest joining our Discord community. There are trainee therapists and peers, who share experiences and progtress in self-development. Kindest Regards, Steve🙏

[@Belphy17]

@@JungToLiveBy I want to say thank you so very much for your reply here and for all your incredible work. I have truly fallen in love with you three during these past few weeks, you seem to me like truly wonderful people. Anyone would be lucky to engage with your ideas and points of view. I feel like the discovery of your work has come with incredible timing in regards to my own self-progress. My understanding of synchronicity is still very superficial but this surely smells like it. I have put some work in now and I'm starting to get my way around your videos and concepts, and i have just received from you your "shadow-manual", looking forward to confront it. One last thing and I will stop rambling, what I mean by "good timing" is that i came across depth psychology and yourselves right after having finished a book that has changed me deeply, it had never happened with this intensity, it was a complete reframing of myself and it worked SO well with the years and years of therapy that i had done (which really seems to me now it was "jungian", but i didn't understand it then, most of it just clicked into sense thanks to that book) Now, the book is "The Human Place in the Cosmos" by Max Scheler (1928), do you know it? What it has tought me is what it actually means to respect what's "below", it tought me how to love it, even. And it tought me how fragile what's "at the top" is. "To be as fierce as a devil To be as fragile as God" Was my attempt at summing it up in a poetic way. I hope to one day maybe hear your thoughts on that book and its relation to the jungian ideas. It is truly truly fertile material and it could fill a lifetime of appreciation, or so it feels to me at least. Thank you again for everything! I'm sorry if these long comments are annoying, i will gladly join your discord community and let myself be more participant as soon as more urgent life matters are dealt with. Kindest regards!

[@reverie_song]

Can a part of my animus show up entangled/united with the shadow? Or is it just affected by the shadow? (My animus has multiple expressions in how it shows up)

[@JungToLiveBy]

Hi Reverie Song, depending on what we attribute to those ‘constructs’ (Animus and Shadow) a wide range over entangled interactions can snd do occur. The Animus in broad terms is all aspects of relating. When it is projected or internally represented as a ‘ male’ figure, it is usually being portrayed in a specific role in relation to definite instinctive drives and goals. The Shadow as such is a compensatory dynamic, to ego consciousness, and where roles or goals overlap, may appear in syncretised representation with the Animus. Kindest Regards, Steve. .

[@ograzebrook]

So when Echart Tolle says the non ego state is achieved through no mind and no identification (or something similar), it could be said he's engaging in a conscious state like that of a baby where ego/identification has not developed. I wonder if this spiritual approach can bypass complexes and the shadow to an extent via conscious awareness. Or, perhaps a trained ability to reach this state through spiritual practice, would allow one to observe and reframe their own complexes. Just a thought.

[@K-A5]

You can't bypass ego constructs as theyre literally a part of your neural architecture. You can dismantle them to rewire your brain and nervous systems though and rebuild who you want to be. When we create an ego/adaptive self/protective defenses, we create body armoring aka "characters structures" in our nervous system, muscles and fascia. Your body language, basically. This process of dismantling the ego and unwinding the body is undone with therapy, meditation, yoga, fascia unwinding, bioenergetics, or any other countless somatic practices. You might like to look up "body armoring" and "Wilhelm Reich character analysis" to see how your ego reflects in your body and in order to dismantle the ego you've built you also will find it helpful to include a physical practice that unwinds the ego constructs in the body too. Edit to add: this guy did a series of short videos on the 5 basic character structures kzbin.info/www/bejne/g3PZhHmvZbRji6s

[@aquilatempestate9527]

If I were a malevolent cabal seeking a pacified herd, I'd ensure lots of attention was given to those dressing up passivity and infantilism as divinity incarnate. Wouldn't you?

[@ograzebrook]

@@aquilatempestate9527 Oof...I need to unpack that, but I think you're being quite cynical

[@ograzebrook]

@@K-A5 thank you for that response I'll investigate.

[@ograzebrook]

@@aquilatempestate9527 do you always associate divinity with infantilism? Because I was just throwing the association out there as a thought experiment I suppose. I suppose if you believe in a spirit, then you would have to support the hypothesis that consciousness is an emergent state and the brain is more of an antenna than simply a tool that facilitates evolutionary/genetic survival. I think Tolle is realising his genetic potential (possibly and some) through his commercial success and he would likely agree without trying to hide this (I base this supposition on his comments). It's okay to accept that there is no such thing as true altruism and his success has a selfish element that promotes his mating potential...we all fall into this trap in every walk of life I would think.

[@DailyArchetype]

Great work!

[@jungtolivebyafterdark]

Thanks Isaac Daily Archetype, much appreciated, Kindest Regards, Steve.

[@DailyArchetype]

Steven T Richards you’re very welcome. I sent an email to the contract@ to see if any of you 3 might be able to speak on a podcast and/or zoom conference in the coming weeks. Thank you again 😊

[@andressauvage7738]

Thank you guys so much for all your work and the pure and legitimate passion you put into it, it really shows methinks, and I personally can easily sense it. I've been going through bone shattering and spiritually tormenting Hell the past year, and your channel, among a very few others, has been a rock for me, especially after I got all tangled up in so many different "gurus" on KZbin. Thanks again, and just signed up for that Shadow Integration manual 👍

[@ankitaraj1212]

Since childhood I was treated so badly by my family friends...after reaching a certain age I started opposing and then I realise there is alot of shadow deep inside in my head....I feel good now to express my anger to maintain healthy distance, I feel free to give my own opinion wether they will like or not and I brutally tell them the fucking truth where they are wrong..... Is this entire practice is called as shadow work?????

[@jungtolivebyafterdark]

Hi A R, yes, what you describe, is indeed Shadow work. Kindest Regards, Steve.

[@ankitaraj1212]

@@jungtolivebyafterdark Thanks alot!!

[@Zach0451]

Beginning to think James has something against Jordan Peterson...

[@aquilatempestate9527]

I should hope so, total fraud.

[@Zach0451]

@@aquilatempestate9527 nah

[@rinhu8864]

@@aquilatempestate9527 fraud is unfair.

[@aquilatempestate9527]

@@rinhu8864 I'm a fraud too in some ways, sorting it out tomorrow or definitely Monday, after breakfast though. That said; briefly list what you perceive to be his authentic and valuable actions/traits. I'll likely respond over weekend and if the words were unfair... it should be apparent.

[@rinhu8864]

@@aquilatempestate9527 Kind offer, no thank you. semper necessitas probandi incumbit ei qui agit

[@michaeloconnell7274]

What does he mean by ‘relating’

[@ralucaspataru7175]

Isn't the second one Alter Ego though? :)

[@DJSTOEK]

❤❤❤

[@K-A5]

Lol I like the way you pronounce "ego" Like "leggo my Ego" 😋

[@jungtolivebyafterdark]

An Ego made of Lego is something easily dismantled and re-configured - quite an adavantage.... 😋

[@K-A5]

@@jungtolivebyafterdark thats true but I was actually referencing an old waffle commercial, the waffles were called Eggos... kzbin.info/www/bejne/eKe9mHR7nraLnc0

[@JungToLiveBy]

😇

[@icephoenix1024]

So the inner women, anima, is the first thing to integrate before the shadow?

[@JungToLiveBy]

Hi IcePhoeniX, yes, insofar as the Anima is the 'Relating Function' and not limited to one aspect of it, i.e. the 'inner woman'. Kindest Regards, Steve

[@chrisjohnston8457]

Keep we lit lads

[@chrisjohnston8457]

It’s supposed to be keep er lit but I’m not used to iPhone auto correct

[@jungtolivebyafterdark]

Cheers Chris Johnston, Kindest Regards, Steve.

[@calima3]

Why would you need to gratuitously attack Jordan Peterson with that "most certainly".

[@marmadukescarlet7791]

Because he was wrong. He’s not infallible, ya know. In fact, he’s a bit of a douche, who games you with his wilful ignorance.