I don’t have much use for
Sigmund Freud and, yes, I’m a big Carl Jung fan, but I do credit Freud for
noticing my favorite word synchronicity, the Freudian Slip. That’s when your
ego says what your id was thinking instead of what your super-ego told it to say. This is usually very embarrassing for
the ego.
Here’s one of my favorite FS
moments from way back:
I’m a young coed at a
college mixer; there are grad students prowling around, looking for undergrads,
I assume. I meet this guy, good
looking and pleasant who tells me he’s studying microbiology. In true coed light-hearted banter
I say, “Oh, you mean you study little orgasms…I mean organisms…” and then I
burst out laughing. There was just
nowhere to hide. I didn’t end up
dating that guy, though we had a great conversation.
In my experience, Freudian
slips are waking dreams in which the Trickster/ Shadow archetype is messing
with me, and since the archetype concept belongs to Jung, I’ve renamed the
phenomenon, the Freudian/Jungian Shadow Slip (FJSS) to credit him, as well.
A waking dream in Active
Dreaming is when you look at an event in waking life as if it were a dream and
apply the same pondering observation to a waking reality that you would to a
night dream. So, having frequently
recognized my Shadow archetype in dreams; I should know Her in waking.
It’s not as easy as it
sounds because: a) the ego hates looking stupid, so it usually does a lot of
damage control and/or rationalization to avoid looking at any undesired truth;
and b) they don’t call it the UNconscious for nothing; what’s in the dark,
stays in the dark, unless you shine a light on it.
But, like night dreams,
FJSS moments are opportunities to learn about myself.
As I understand Jung, an
Archetype is the energy mold from which certain universal psychic realities
flow into particular mythic or symbolic patterns. Cultures project consensus
archetypes into myth and religion; we often project our individual archetypes
into others. Dreams reveal what archetypes are ready to be integrated in the
psyche, sometimes by mirroring some troubled aspect of our lives. As Joseph
Campbell famously put it, “Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths”.
For Jung, the first step on
the path to Individuation, is that a person must face the Shadow. I think this
is what Pogo meant when he said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
(Individuation: that’s when your analyst gives you an A, kidding; it’s when a
person has integrated all the cast off soul energies, restoring wholeness to
the person and peace of mind. I’d
say it’s very like the Eastern concept of Enlightenment).
The Shadow has many
manifestations; perhaps the most extreme is the archetype of evil, the devil.
The Shadow represents what we reject about ourselves as unacceptable, and since
it’s unacceptable to the egoic persona, we tend to unconsciously project our
shadows on to others. The devil,
the enemy, the blasphemer, the person I just can’t stand, whose faults just
drive me crazy, the person who is different, race, gender, nationality, the
list is fairly long.
The main element of the
Shadow is that it’s hidden, the ego hasn’t got a clue that it’s there; but,
says Jung, in order to grow up and take responsibility for our own actions,
it’s the first threshold we need to cross. We meet our Shadow in dreams, as
same-sex-as-the-dreamer characters doing stuff the dreamer would consciously
never do. The otherness of the
Shadow is the first clue this archetypal energy is at work. The challenge is to see our Shadow and
incorporate it’s existence into our conscious, waking life. Since we are by definition, unconscious
of the Shadow, the only way to understand those aspects of ourselves we need to
face and integrate positively, is by paying attentions to dreams, and in my
opinion, to FJSS.
In FJSS, the
Trickster archetype is also at play alongside the Shadow. The Trickster archetype comes by its name
honestly. It’s the energy in life that seems to trip you up or put you off your
intended course. Trickster energy in many cultures is closely aligned with the
Shadow; it’s manifestations are usually ironically funny. Examples are the Norse God Loki,
wonderfully featured in the movie, "Mask", in which Jim Carrey portrays a human
who encounters the Trickster God when he finds a mask of Loki. In other traditions, like the
Afro-Cuban Lucumi, the Trickster god is Eleggua, who is also the gatekeeper and
guardian of the crossroads and of all beginnings, so he is propitiated before
commencing any human undertaking.
For Jung, the Shadow is the
gatekeeper of the Psyche, which is Consciousness in each of us. With the Trickster, how you respond makes the difference between learning the wisdom
offered you by the unconscious or losing the gift in ego fueled befuddlement.
So in my coed FJSS, what’s
behind this slip is a towering Feminine Shadow Archetype; the Prostitute, the
“easy woman.” Interestingly, I
just met a new embodiment of her for the first time, Pompa Gyra, the Lady in
Red; a Brazilian friend introduced her to me. Recognizing this
archetype’s pent up energy and giving her some elbowroom in my personality can
help me avoid a lot of silliness and personal repression. In patriarchal
cultures, the Feminine Sexual Archetype, personified throughout millennia in
many mythic goddess forms, is driven underground. Woman is split into Virgin/Whore and to various degrees, in
various cultures, controlled by that myth. But the energy of an archetype only doubles when it’s
repressed; it needs it’s proper place in the psyche, culturally or personally.
Lucky for me, I live in a
country and at a time when that wounded Feminine Archetype is less hidden and
beginning to heal. There’s still a lot of cultural skewing of the Feminine, but
personally, more women are looking within for who and how they want to be. I have a wonderful Pompa Gira Shadow
from my dream adventures that I’ve written about earlier; her name is
Jeze-bella.
As I make friends with the
Jeze-bella in me, I learn to be more critical of the social mores and standards
I allow to be knee-jerk truths for how I live my life. With Jeze-bella’s help, I
sift through the good girl/bad girl indoctrination and come up with ideas that
fit and attitudes that feel right.
So, let’s hear it for the
Shadow, the dark side of our personality moon. Let’s find a way to befriend our own darkness so we
transcend the pettiness of projection.
The Shadow is a formidable Archetype until it is integrated; then it is
the wisest of teachers. My dreams
have taught me that there is so much to learn that can’t come from books and
universities, scholars or authorities.
Many spiritual teachers will tell you that you are born knowing all that
you need to know; however, the process of remembering what you need to know
after family and culture gets through with you can be a huge challenge.
Every time you put your ear
to the pillow, listen. If what you
hear constantly scares you, get help; otherwise, listen, record, and come to
know your dreaming experience and the dream self that lives it every night. We are on the cusp of a major paradigm
shift; the next generations will value their dreaming, both in sleep and
waking. Each of us who takes to this path today adds weight to this tipping
point we’re living.
Go out in the garden any night,
step one inch outside the tame land
and you are near what you seek.
Open the window of your soul
any night and your guide may come in.
The issue is whether you'll run away
when you see what it is. To make sure
you succeed, tether yourself like a goat
at the edge of the tiger wood that breathes
right beside your bed. He'll come.
Hunting Power, August 16, 2009