Perplexing as it may seem, people who self-identify as Christians, and we ourselves, can do terrible things. I know it comes as a shock.
This can cause us to be discouraged about the church and even cause us to doubt the authenticity of our own conversion. If we have been crucified with Christ and raised with him, how is it we continue to do the same old things we did when we were dead in our trespasses? How is it whole churches seem capable of this?
One of the most helpful ideas coined by Carl Jung, the Swiss psychologist, was the idea that every person (and every society) has a “shadow” (a term that always reminds me of Orson Wells’ old radio program). The shadow is a collection of attributes that a person or a society possesses but does not want to recognize. According to Jung, we make no real progress in our spiritual or psychological growth until we acknowledge the existence of our shadow, until we recognize the reality of the things in our lives that are at odds with our preferred view of self.
People and societies are complex. Unlike the old Westerns, villains in real life don’t always wear black hats. And, as you may have discovered by now, heroes don’t always wear white hats. Good hearted and well-intentioned people can do bad things. Wicked and selfish people can do good things. Our real self is also more complicated than the spin we feed to ourselves about ourselves. Sometimes, our shadow can exert itself so forcefully that we are as surprised as everyone else by its appearance. That is what has happened when we hear someone say, “I don’t know what came over me. That just wasn't me!” Of course, it was me; the other me; the me I don’t want to acknowledge. But the shadow knows that it belongs to us. It also knows how to get control over us at crucial times. If that were not true, none of us would have addictions (or bad habits).
Groups have shadows too.
The people in that group usually don’t see its shadow though. They see only the good and wholesome things the group offers. Church people, for example, usually can’t understand why their unrighteous enemies can’t see all the good that their church does in the world. When they hear outsiders describe their church it just seems crazy. A group’s enemies on the other hand, see only its shadow. This is why the way people inside a group and the way people outside it sees things so differently. Neither the insiders nor the outsiders are stupid. Its that the shadow, the group's other self, remains invisible to those inside but obscures its better self from outsiders. When nations are at war, for example, few of its citizens can see the crimes committed by his own country. Nor will he see any goodness in the country with which his nation fights. Patriotism requires a man to deny his nation’s shadow as it leads him to over emphasize the shadow of his enemy. Sometimes though, individuals and groups do see their shadow and like the groundhog want to run and hide. One rarely becomes aware of his shadow during comfortable times. Usually, some life altering event forces us to deal with the shadow.
When someone enters psychotherapy, for example, he may come face to face with those traits and behaviors he has been hiding from himself his entire life. This sudden encounter with reality can plunge him into despair. He can go from admiring himself to suddenly loathing himself. This can be a dangerous period in which the patient becomes nearly unhinged, no longer capable of even knowing who he is. If he works through that painful season however, he may learn the truth about human life: that because people's true motives are mixed, we all try to hide unpleasant things about ourselves from ourselves. Emotional healing thus requires a person to acknowledge both his faults and his strengths, so he can then learn to hold his judgment of both those things as lightly as possible.
Groups can also arrive at such moments of healing. Immature groups rarely acknowledge their faults, of course. If a person in an immature group begins to point out its faults, that group will usually move to punish or even eliminate the irritating person from its midst. It is rare for a group to acknowledge that the one speaking may be offering some valuable insight that ought to be considered. Acknowledging the existence of the shadow, however, may lead the group to make some great improvement; if only the group is willing to face the momentary pain of self-discovery.
James 5:16 says: Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, and you will be healed. Different people will do this in different ways, but one thing is clear: there is no healing without acknowledgment of the shadow. The Pollyanna-ish kind of Christianity that thinks a little kindness will solve the world’s ills and refuses to acknowledge the dark side of human nature serves only to create a domicile for hidden motives and give free play to the Evil One. Profession of Christianity is not a magic incantation that suddenly gets rid of our shadow; at best, it’s the beginning of our journey into the light Let us therefore continue to walk in the light, confident that the one who searches our souls will be also faithful to heal them.
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