Jungian Psychology

A concept that I was introduced to that I found extremely interesting was Carl Jung's theory on psychology - or analytical psychology. In fact, I find his "shadow" theory to be more plausible than Freud's (not that I don't think Freud was an intelligent man). The idea that we all possess this unconscious complex of repressed feelings that represent our "darker" self is so fascinating and so undeniably true. At least for me anyway. According to Wikipedia's page on Carl Jung, each individual handles their shadow in four different ways: denial, projection, integration and/or transmutation. Overall, I would say that I perfectly fit the description of the "introvert" - I'm quiet in class, hate drawing attention to myself, and would much rather sit on the sidelines and watch that participate in all the hullabaloo.

The reason I thought Yevgenii's paper on the shadow archetype was so interesting is because I often feel like I possess the repressed, darker feelings in my subconscious. I feel like we all seem pretty nice on the outside and appear to have good intentions, but deep down I don't think there is any denying that we all have a Fyodor Karamazov hidden beneath the surface. Have you ever had an experience where someone was rude to you and you wanted to say something incredibly harsh and vile to them but choose not to because it is so beyond your persona and would break the social norms? I think that perfectly sums up the repressing of one's dark self. Any "acting out" I've ever done is completely passive-aggressive and typically goes unnoticed by everyone else. I'm more of a only-think-mean-thoughts-rather-than-say-them kind of person who represses her shadow, I guess.