“Now to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20 – King James Version) My genuine hope and primary purpose for the Ephesians 3:20 Faith Encouragement and Empowerment Blog is to assist all people of faith, regardless of your prism of experience, to grow spiritually toward unconditional self-acceptance and develop personally acquiring progressive integrity of belief and lifestyle. I pray you will discover your unique purpose in life. I further pray love, joy, peace, happiness and unreserved self-acceptance will be your constant companions. Practically speaking, this blog will help you see the proverbial glass in life as always half full rather than half empty. I desire you become an eternal optimist who truly believes that Almighty God can do anything that you ask or imagine.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Is Your Shadow Overpowering Your Personality? - Part One

Is Your Shadow Overpowering Your Personality? 
Part One


Are you sabotaging yourself in professional and private relationships?  Do you find yourself in repeated conflicts with people though you strive to live in peace with everyone?  Are you always fighting with someone though you resigned from the debating society?  Despite lengthy stretches of spiritual growth and personal development, have you made little headway in professional personal relationships?  Undoubtedly, you empathize with Charlie Brown as being perpetually misunderstood, misinterpreted and misquoted.  Long before the tremendously empowering revelations relating to the “Law of Attraction” detailed in The Secret, analytical and depth psychologist, Carl G. Jung describes this dimension of a person’s character as his shadow.  Where self-contempt, self-loathing and self-sabotage lurk incessantly, the shadow overpowers better aspects of the personality.  Intensity dominates good intentions and people observe arrogance instead of compassion.  A genuine desire to offer one’s very best morphs into perfectionism.  Reliable punctuality makes other people feel as if you are judging them.  The sum of these experiences is broken and ineffective relationships.

In Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious, Jung posits, “A man who is possessed by his own shadow is always standing in his own light and falling into his own traps.  Wherever possible, he prefers to make an unfavorable impression on others.  In the long run, luck is always against him, because he is living below his own level and at best only attains what does not suit him.  And if there is no doorstep for him to stumble over, he manufactures one for himself and then fondly believes he has done something useful.”

Jung describes this unfortunate man as standing in his own light.  Hubris, unresolved past pain and immaturity block his ability to see his self-sabotaging behavior.  He is someone with a victim’s complex who believes everyone conspires against him.  His cynicism immediately creates conflict with anyone he meets as he does not believe a person will like him.  Rather than seeking a common ground, he begins by pointing out their differences.  Blinded by his shadow, the man Jung describes fails to appreciate his pattern of alienating people with his superior attitude as he convinces himself that his positions are more rational and researched.  Lacking self reflection, this man does not see pattern and cannot appreciate its perpetuation.  Hence, he continues “falling into his own traps.”

Whenever possible, he prefers to make an unfavorable impression on others.  This man’s arrogance undergirded by his victim’s complex compels a negative impression upon people.  Instead of seeking ways of making new people comfortable in his presence, he immediately articulates their differences.  Most persons encountering this volcanic intensity make mental notes to avoid this man.  Other people prepare to undermine him as they believe they must proactively defend themselves.  Still, others, while impressed initially by his intelligence and abilities, reason he is immature as he fails to analyze his new setting.  Seeking to demonstrate he is an asset, this man actually makes himself a liability as none of the persons whom he meets leaves with a favorable impression.  Ironically, he leaves them with a very negative reaction as someone to watch, sabotage or terminate at an appropriate time.  Whereas he wants people to notice and value him, he motivates them to remove him.

The proverbial chip on his shoulder, “The world is against me.  Everyone overlooks and devalues me,” coerces this poor soul to alienate people.  They feel compelled to knock this chip off his shoulder.  His zealous ambition greatly disturbs everyone he encounters as they feel he believes he is superior to them.  Suffering from spiritual and psychological myopia, this man cannot break this pattern.  Maintaining, he reaps its disastrous consequences with each person he encounters.  By the grace of Almighty God, his eyes open as he studies his professional and personal life.  He soberly accepts he lacks rapports that would enable him to advance professionally.  He hardly maintains any contacts with anyone with whom he worked previously.  None of his past employers would rehire him.  Bridges were destroyed and burned each time he left a place of employ.  Personally, his circle of friends and intimates is rather small.  In a very emotionally and psychologically twisted way, as he makes a bad impression, he protects himself against any further hurt.  He lives a self-fulfilling prophecy yielding the disastrous results he seeks to avoid. 


In the long run, luck is always against him, because he is living below his own level and at best only attains what does not suit him.  Hopefully, his propensity toward self-sabotage as a means of self-protection further assists this man in seeing luck and life will turn continually against him.  Unless he reverses this regrettable trend, he will live beneath his talent and potential.  He will migrate from one dead-end job to another.  Financially, his standard of living will be stagnant.  His family suffers accordingly as he fails to earn the lifestyle they deserve.  Depression and similar emotions prevent his enjoyment of peace of mind.  Try as hard as he may, he cannot convince himself otherwise.  While he marvels at the contents in his spiritual tool box, he remains bewildered at his incapacities.  Why do success and prosperity continuously elude him?  This question possesses theological overtones as he contemplates the reasons for which God allows this stagnation in his life.  Why does he observe the bounty and prosperity of lesser talented people?  Realizing he is living beneath his potential, how will this man interdependently collaborate with God to liberate himself from his self-sabotaging behavior?

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