"The World Hangs By a Thin Thread”

The Scream by Edvard Munch

"The world hangs by a thin thread, and that thread is the psyche of man.... Nowadays, we are not threatened by elemental catastrophes.... WE are the great danger. The psyche is the great danger. What if something goes wrong with the psyche? And so it is demonstrated in our day what the power of the psyche is, how important it is to know something about it. But we know nothing." - Carl Jung

The above words were uttered in a time of great upheaval, after the world wars. The statement in question features the Swiss psychologist Dr Carl Jung emphasising the fundamental role that the psyche plays, both personally and socially, together with mans’ ignorance regarding such fact. Maintaining the context in mind, it becomes clear that Dr Jung seems to be placing the entire blame for the catastrophes’ of the 20th century on mans’ ignorance of the individual psyche – and not on the state, circumstance, or any form of political ideology.

This is a point which we ought to not only consider, but feed on. Taking a look at history, from hindsight, reprehensible events could easily be dubbed as ‘past’ events, or as events whose horrors were the result of some ‘grand manipulator’ such as the state or an unfortunate circumstance. And yet, this is not the case - it rarely ever is. There is but one grand manipulator, Jung notes: man himself.

That being said, if there is not a concrete way of understanding the psyche, what are we to do? First, one must start by analysing history and considering it with a most critical lens, not only for the sake of intellectual stimulation, but, more importantly, for psychological reasons. The psyche of those who lived in the 20th century does not differ much from ours’: what this tells us is that we are equally as susceptible to committing the same mistakes. Unless we learn that historical catastrophes are not imposed upon humanity in a ‘top-down manner’ but are instead the result of humanity itself, of the individual psyche, we risk reaping terror once again. And yet, one might ask, how is knowledge of the psyche’ – of oneself’ - going to contribute in hindering further tragedies? Is reading history not enough? Why read it with relation to my psyche, for what purpose?

By saying, ‘The psyche is the great danger’, Jung was referring to the part of the psyche referred to as ‘the shadow’, which lurks within us all, and which, when disregarded, as happen often times, becomes master over the ego, and renders ‘us’, slaves.

Was Jung insinuating that the majority of historical catastrophes’ trace their roots down to what he referred to as, the Shadow?

Yes, he was. Erich Neumann, a prolific Jungian scholar, defines the shadow as “that dark region of the personality which is unknown and unrecognised by the ego.”, “all those qualities, capacities and tendencies which do not harmonise with the collective values – everything that shuns the light of public opinion”. Any form of repression: be it intentional, or one which is socially imposed, becomes part of the personal shadow: examples of shadow manifestations may include greed for money, a feeling of inferiority, jealousy, resentment etc. And yet, Jung was careful to note that there is more to the shadow than mere subjective repressions, there is a side to it which is collective and thus is, universal. Seen in this light, one comes to see the shadow as an element of personality which can never be omitted: as an omnipresent entity,

“The shadow is a living part of the personality and therefore wants to live with it in some form. It cannot be argued out of existence or rationalised into harmlessness.”

This is to say that one can never ‘escape’ his shadow, in fact, it is important that one does not, for, it is precisely ignorance of the shadow, contrary to conscious shadow integration, which compels the shadow to act negatively: when the shadow is repressed it becomes both possessive and addictive, as Jung writes, “closer examination of the dark characteristics – that is, the inferiorities constituting the shadow – reveals that they have an emotional nature, a kind of autonomy, and accordingly an obsessive or, better, possessive quality.”, and, “the more cut off and unconscious we are of our personal shadows, the more vulnerable we are to having those shadows break out and be set free for a time by addictive behaviours.”. One must accept both the evil as well as good within in order to achieve integrity - it is only when this occurs that an individual will stop projecting the evil within them, the ‘shadow’, on to others.

Repressed, the shadow becomes an autonomous entity, unrecognised and obscure, and capable of usurping mans’ capacity for reason and goodness. For a clear example of shadow ‘possession’ we ought to take a look at the rise of Nazism in Germany. How did the shadow contribute to the rise of Nazism? Possessed by their ‘shadowy’ greed for money, many bourgeois capitalists, to not lose their job, were rendered victims to the rhetoric of the Nazi ideology and thus, joined the Nazi movement, an act which resulted in a sort of ‘mass psychosis’, and, a world tragedy. For Jung, Hitler acted as a perfect projection of the German unconscious shadow - his ability to perfectly give voice to the peoples’ frustrated national consciousness, was what granted him total authority.

Such is the influence the shadow can have when left unmonitored. It has the potential to render man victim to both himself and the state, to demagogues, ideology and all forms of ‘irrational speech’, in a manner that leaves him unaware of his actions, resulting in facilitation for totalitarian behaviour and, historical destruction.

The same must be said for the rise of communism. The emphasis on egalitarianism and 'equality' led many to grant the state exclusive trust and authority, a phenomenon which by now, we ought to have reckoned, never ends well. In cases such as these the state almost becomes a substitute for God, "the State has taken the place of God; that is why, seen from this angle, the socialist dictatorships are religions and State slavery is a form of worship.” One with an integrated shadow would be aware of mans' susceptibility to 'unruly' behaviour, especially when left to his own devices, when granted ultimate authority, as are rulers in a communist regime. We must not let ourselves be duped by the masqueraded kindness and compassion of the state, such noble virtues ought to, primarily, be manifested by ourselves. Although, those who do not acknowledge the part of them that wishes to act in a violent, destructive way - their shadow- will be impelled to act in such a way — whether it is through social justice vis-à-vis communism or race defence in Nazism.

Hence, we must understand that even our soul has a sword, a beast, and that the door of the shadow is always open: the only antidote to shadow possession is to actively turn to our psyche, our psychic experience and feelings, in a manner that would keep us conscious of our short comings and flaws, so to prevent us from projecting flaws or from becoming victims to ourselves, or, for that matter, to the state. “This confrontation [with the shadow] is the first test of courage on the inner way, a test sufficient to frighten off most people, for the meeting with ourselves belongs to the more unpleasant things that can be avoided so long as we can project everything negative into the environment. But if we are able to see our own shadow and can bear knowing about it, then a small part of the problem has already been solved: we have at least brought up the personal unconscious.”

The Delphic injunction ‘know thyself’ is at the core of Jungian teachings, and one that is all too often forgotten in politics.

In this day and age, as in the past, shadow possessions are rather prevalent. Had we to take a good look at societies all over the globe, we would notice many manifestations of shadow behaviour in both citizens and rulers. The politics of fear, scapegoat mechanisms, the loss of compassion, these and more are all examples of shadow possessions. The fear of inferiority, or, of a loss of ‘nationalism’ lurking around, obstructing individuals from seeing things as they truly are, as seeing human beings as human, deserving of dignity and life, irrespective of race, nationality and religion, all shed light on the dire need for shadow work. This is not to say that everything is acceptable, that all values are equal and that there isn’t a hierarchy of right and wrong: it is to say that, above all, human dignity should never be jeopardised for the sake of politics, wealth, or some ‘sham form of nationalism’, it is to say that the state mustn’t be trusted blindly, and neither should, our psyche. We must act firmly and, with haste if we don’t want what Dr Marie Louise Von Franz stated, that is, ‘if not more people tried to reflect and take back their projections, and take the opposites within themselves, there will be a total destruction’, to happen, again. We must reckon that “we are the great danger”. We must integrate our shadow.

“Just as the addition of however many zeros will never make a unit, so the value of community depends on the spiritual and moral stature of the individuals composing it.” - Carl Jung