Our Reflection & Shadow

We are well aware of our body image - especially when we meet our reflection in the mirror, or any smooth shiny surface. This is what we think other people see when they look at us. In fact, there is another part of us that other people see when they look at us, although we pay much less attention (if any) to it. That is our shadow.

In psychological terms, our reflection is the aspect of our personality that we are quite aware of ourselves. This is what we use to describe ourselves, when someone asks us to describe our personality. "I'm friendly, cheerful and loveable".

In contrast, our shadow is the other aspect of our personality that we have not realized or understood about ourselves. Although we might not be aware of it,  our "shadow personality" is as true as our reflection and together, these two aspects of our personality - reflection and shadow - give a more accurate characterization of who we really are.

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Why is it important to know one's own shadow? 

I argue here, that "to be aware of our own shadow personality" is a great triumph as it would allow us to understand the problem of evil itself. Allow me to explain this a little.

When we meet our (psychological) reflection in other people, that is, when we meet those who are like us (e.g friendly, cheerful and loveable) we feel very positive and happy. These are good people, in our opinion, because they are as good as ourselves.

However, when we stumble upon our shadow in others (e.g stingy, lazy, boastful people) we shake in agony and try hard to avoid them. These are the people we hate most - our enemy, or evil itself. They cause misery in our lives, or even, make mischief for the whole world! "If only the world is free of evil", we might say. Unfortunately, this is like saying, "if only we don't have a shadow." 

The solution might be, first, to realize that we cast a shadow, and so does everyone else. Then only can we understand it and finally learn to accept our shadow as a part of who we are. 

Perhaps the video game below tells us something about our own struggle to run away from our shadow (the green character), in pursuit of the ideal self. (The gamer plays the pink character)