Shadow

Definition.

As a concept, the Shadow relates to those parts of ourselves which get suppressed because we perceive them as dangerous, inconvenient, too fragile, or otherwise undesirable. Certainly, our darkness — however we interpret that idea — resides here. The question of what ‘makes up’ the shadow, however, is an open one. The shadow may be a single archetypal image in psyche, a collection of the suppressed parts of ourselves, or — as I tend to hold — the ‘area’ of psyche occupied by denied, unwanted, or dangerous-feeling parts. Complexes (with the exception of the ego-complex) can certainly be understood as shadow-selves.

What ego-consciousness rejects becomes shadow.

— Murray Steinfootnote 1

In the shadow, we may find the traits that our parents found unlovable in us, and so, in order to survive, we felt we had to push them aside. Alternatively, we may find the qualities our culture finds repugnant, parts of ourselves which we must suppress in order to be accepted into the larger community. For whatever reason these qualities are excluded, they find their way into the shadow.

The contents of the shadow are less like an overstuffed closet and more like an orphanage, home to the wayward and unwanted. This is because, when such parts are often split off by a trauma or other injury, they can personify, taking on an independent identity within the wider unconscious, forming splinter psyches that Jung called complexes.footnote 2 Here we see the development of subpersonalities.footnote 3

The figures of the shadow are seldom quiet within us, and we encounter our complexes both in our dreams and in our daily lives. Just because something is unconscious does not mean that we are unaffected by it.

Cite this.

Suggested APA citation for this entry:
Harkey, F. (2026). Lexicon: Shadow. The Research of Faith Harkey. https://faithharkey.com/0/144

Hyperlink to this lexicon entry:
https://faithharkey.com/psyche/shadow

Notes.

  1. Stein, M. (1998). Jung’s map of the soul. Open Court. (p. 108)
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  2. Jung, C.G. (1969). The collected works of C.G. Jung: Vol. 8. Structure and dynamics of the psyche (R.F.C. Hull, Trans.) (H. Read et al., Eds.). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1948) (p. 98)
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  3. To be clear, there is an overlap between the concepts of the shadow and the complex. It is fair to think of the shadow as the area where our complexes reside, but it is also true to think of our complexes as the manifestations of our shadow.
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