Only the Shadow Knows

-Giorgio de Chirico, Melancholy and Mystery of a Street (oil on canvas, 1914); private owner

Some years ago, I spent quite a bit of time studying the psychology of Carl Jung. Of course, you have heard of the shadow, that unconscious powerful influence that ofttimes surfaces in our dreams (not to mention personal conflicts and societal/national wars).  Consider this quote from Jung's, Psychology and Religion,

"If you imagine someone who is brave enough to withdraw all his projections, then you get an individual who is conscious of a pretty thick shadow. Such a man has saddled himself with new problems and conflicts. He has become a serious problem to himself, as he is now unable to say that they do this or that, they are wrong, and they must be fought against. He lives in the "House of the Gathering." Such a man knows that whatever is wrong in the world is in himself, and if he only learns to deal with his own shadow he has done something real for the world. He has succeeded in shouldering at least an infinitesimal part of the gigantic, unsolved social problems of our day."

This was written in 1938, but it will be just as true in 2008; are we not all pointing fingers of blame and demonizing others? I am not guiltless; how about you?