Owning Your Own Shadow: Understanding the Dark Side of the Psyche

By Robert A. Johnson

Johnson continues his series with one of the most important concepts within Jungian psychology: one’s shadow. We each and all have one; denying it does no good. Nor does wholesale embracing it, as we see happen from common street gangs to the White House. Rather, we seek to integrate our shadow in a full and healthy way. We seek to own our shadow. Johnson’s book is a good first step in that direction.

As the author puts it: “To own one’s shadow is to reach a holy place - an inner center - not attainable any other way. To fail this is to fail one’s own sainthood and to miss the purpose of life.”