This is one of the most important concepts in psychology, because it is at the root of so many harmful behaviors. In addition to individual shadow, there is cultural and national shadow, which from time to time inevitably manifests as a spasm of scapegoating, repression, and violence. This is at the root of the rise of right wing extremism in the US, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and various other outbursts of violence in the world.

Unconscious expression of the shadow is not always associated with violence, though. It could just be awkward or inconsiderate behaviors. Also, descriptors such as “dark”, “black”, and the like are not about an inherent nefarious nature of our shadow, but rather about how it is hidden from our consciousness. This matters, because when these descriptors are used it’s easy to assume that all the stuff in our shadow is bad, or even evil. That makes us even less likely to being open to exploring this fascinating and critical part of our psyche.