The Shadow
The Persona is the adaptive face we develop to function in the world. Whatever the Persona excludes goes into the Shadow. The Shadow is defined by what the Persona requires.
In Jungian psychology, the Shadow is the unconscious repository of everything the conscious self has rejected, suppressed, or never developed — not because it is necessarily evil, but because it did not fit the persona required to survive in a particular family, culture, or society.
Shadow and Persona — always in relation
The Persona is the adaptive face we develop to function in the world. Whatever the Persona excludes goes into the Shadow. The Shadow is defined by what the Persona requires.
“If you live in Medellín in the 1980s around Pablo Escobar, your persona needs to be rough, tough, merciless. So all your sensitivity, care, empathy, emotion go into your shadow. The same if a boy grew up in a family where feelings were not welcome — all his feeling function will go into the shadow.” — Philippe Jacquet
How to recognise your Shadow
“Often the best way to recognise your shadow is to look at the people who annoy you most. What annoys you about them is often a part of you within your shadow — a part you don’t want to see. Generally we project the shadow onto someone else and do character assassination, because it is a part of us we don’t like.” — Philippe Jacquet
Working with the Shadow
The goal is not to eliminate the Shadow but to integrate it. When Shadow material is integrated, qualities that seemed destructive become resources.
Book a consultation with Philippe Jacquet — psychotherapist and Jungian analyst, London.