"Filling the conscious mind with ideal conceptions is a characteristic of Western theosophy, but not the confrontation with the Shadow and the world of darkness. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular." Carl Jung. CW 13: Alchemical Studies, par 335, pg 265
"To confront a person with his Shadow is to show him his own light. Once one has experienced a few times what it is like to stand judgingly between the opposites, one begins to understand what is meant by the self. Anyone who perceives his Shadow and his light simultaneously sees himself from two sides and thus gets in the middle." - Carl Jung. CW l0: Civilization in Transition: 872, pg 463
"One has any amount of subjective reactions, but it is not quite becoming to admit these things. These reactions I call the subjective components. They are a very important part of our relations to our own inner side. There things get definitely painful. That is why we dislike entering this shadow-world of ego. We do not like to look at the shadow-side of ourselves; therefore there are many people in our civilized society who have lost their shadow altogether, they have got rid of it. They are only two-dimensional; they have lost the third dimension, and with it they have usually lost the body." - Carl Jung. Analytical Psychology: Its Theory and Practice, pg 22, 23
In ‘Forty-Six & 2’ [song by Tool], the shadow archetype plays an important and literal role. ‘My shadow’s / shedding skin / and I’ve been picking / scabs again / I’m digging through / my old muscles for a clue / […] I’ve been wallowing in my own chaotic / and insecure delusions / […] I wanna know what I’ve been hiding / in my shadow / Change is coming / through my shadow / […] Listen to my muscle memory’. The confrontation with the shadow is a necessity for change and an essential step in the process of individuation. The person singing the song is aware of this, and chooses to go through this endurance. The shedding of the skin refers to the throwing off of the old ego-personality to replace it by a more enlightened one. The person knows dealing with his shadow side will not be an easy task, but he is willing ‘to do what it takes to move through’, because, as Jung states, “there is no development unless the shadow is accepted.” - Niels Tubbing, Vicarious - A Tool Between and Delirium, pg 60-61
