MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW, Reviewer's Choice:
There is a darkness in all of us, and how we deal with it is what determines our future, on a personal as well as a societal level. Shadow in the USA is a discussion of human nature and philosophy, as Kay Plumb argues that humanity’s power to hurt itself has run amuck. With honesty and knowledge, Shadow in the USA presents plenty to ponder and makes for a very much recommended reading.
James A. Cox, Midwest Book Review
Small Press Bookwatch: October 2011
You can all mixed up with complexes, things like that, but really, as the Polynesian saying goes, you are then "standing on a whale, fishing for minnows." We are standing on a whale. The ground of being is the ground of our being. If we only look outward, we see problems here and problems there. But when we begin to look inward, we see that we are the cause of them all. –Joseph Campbell
(Originally appeared on March 8th, 2011)
Every few years we're blessed with another great artistic example of what happens to those who deny or bury their shadow. This year, it was The Black Swan.
Nina was a good girl. A good girl nearing the top of a grindingly competitive profession where harsh judgment was the norm. A good girl trying to placate a fragile, frustrated, controlling mother. A good girl trained since early childhood to ignore the complaints and demands of her own body and the needs of her own soul.
Perhaps not since Robert Louis Stevenson woke up from a dream and began writing down The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have we been presented with such a splendid and graphic vision of what happens next to such good girls or boys.
They die.
Maybe not right away in fine dramatic fashion, like Jekyll or Nina. Art has to over-emphasize life to make an impression on us. In fact, maybe you won't even notice their deaths, since almost everyone else you know will be doing the same thing: that slow, mute, miserable shrinkage of the soul which occurs every day as we dutifully trim our dynamic, multi-faceted pegs to fit into the small round holes of Corporate America. But it will still be death.
There was a lot of buzz about sexual repression in reviews of The Black Swan. Which was certainly part of the picture. But the frame around the whole canvas was that trying to conform to any outside authority—a domineering mother, an artistic mentor, or a judgmental culture with rigid professional standards—without regard for the needs of your own soul will 1) drive you crazy and 2) kill you. “Perfect” is a human construct. It does not occur in nature.
There's a lot of juice in the shadow. A great deal of creativity. But ignored, split off, or denied access to consciousness, the shadow turns deadly to its own ego. We can’t “be good” all the time. It’s as deadly as being bad all the time. Those who strive to please others without looking into their own hearts will be attacked from within.
As the great analytical psychologist Marie-Louise von Franz once wrote:
The shadow is not necessarily always an opponent.
In fact, it is exactly like any human being with whom one has to get along.
Sometimes by giving in,
sometimes by resisting,
sometimes by giving love –
whatever the situation requires.
The shadow becomes hostile only when it is ignored or misunderstood.
Do we need to stop being such pushovers? Get in the habit of questioning the motives of others before we buy whatever they're saying or selling?
Certainly we do. Look around you. Evil exists. It's all human based. And we don't seem to be controlling it very well.
Which means that — since you and I are both human — then first off — and even more importantly — we need to develop the habit of questioning our own motives.