This week, for a change, song and lyrics first.
Don't look at me that way, I can tell you if you like, What I think about this world and our intermittent life. I'll tell you about the times I tried, and how trying was my vice, You can tell me what it's like to love an unborn life. Start from where you are – living is enough, Give what you can give, then take something, a crutch, For hope is just a virtue, unless you take it for a walk, And love is only romance unless you remember what it's for. Grow open wild with me, Shout breathing sounds with me, Break open eyes with me, And live living proud with me. You can't break it by outrunning, but it'll break if you don't try, You have to sit alone with it, and give it to your eyes, Set aside your name and embrace your darkest shame, The light that you must share is contained within that flame. Your shadow is a blessing, your pride their unborn curse, Don't let it go or you'll be growing a baby for a hearse. That shadow's not a stranger, nor is it a friend, More a source from which you can begin always again. Grow open wild with me, Shout breathing sounds with me, Break open eyes with me, And live living proud with me. A vice is what you make – your life is yours to cleanse, Darkness shines the brightest when you return to it again, So open up to give it air and fuel the precious fire, Turn inside and retrieve the sound of holy choir. The gifted walk among us – you and all your friends, Full of songs of life, and lessons from the pain, Shame's a guide to who they are, not a flashlight, nor a curse, So step forward as a patient, with darkness as a nurse. Grow open wild with me, Shout breathing sounds with me, Live wicked lives with me, And live living proud with me.
This song is partially influenced by time spent reading works by and about Carl Jung and is especially concerned with Jung’s concept of the shadow.
For Jung, “The shadow personifies everything that the subject refuses to acknowledge about himself.” The shadow is that portion of the unconscious into which the parts of ourselves that do not accord with our ego-ideal go.1
Some contents of the shadow are your run-of-the-mill ‘bad stuff.’ We’re all capable of evil, for example, and would do well to become intimately familiar with that potential. But it’s also where a lot of our “precious fire” goes. The good stuff that, for whatever reason (pride, shame, etc.), the ego refuses to acknowledge. A lot of the unique strength or beauty or wisdom of a person’s soul can be buried in the shadow.
To that end, Jung thinks that engaging with the contents of the shadow — both the good and the bad — is a productive means of growth and self-education. If pride is associated with success (in the ego’s terms) then perhaps shame is a flashlight on the contents of the shadow. As tempting as it can be to run from shame, Jung writes, “What you resist persists.” Or, “You can't break it by outrunning, but it'll break if you don't try.”
“Your shadow is a blessing, your pride their unborn curse.” One of Jung’s most famous quotes is, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” To my mind, that can be a call to self-analysis and growth — “Don't let it go or you'll be growing a baby for a hearse” — but it can also help one empathize with others. If, as Jung thinks, there is a shadow in all of our unconsciences, then, well…walk a mile with someone else’s shadow.
It’s hard to talk about psychoanalytic concepts without resorting to jargon like ego, unconscious, etc. I can’t be asked to try and explain them here, nor am I confident in my ability to do so. If interested…Google. :-)
Love this one <3