What a pleasure it was to read your essay. Makes me think of the Jungian concept of the "shadow" aspect of ourselves, the negativity that is the dark side of the terms of Being (the really-real) that we're trying to realize in our lives. The shadow clings to us in our struggle with it. What the Buddhists call "lack." (A more accurate translation than "suffering.") The hero stories I love the best are the ones where the antagonist has an essential connection to the protagonist. The more the protagonist opposes the antagonist, the more powerful the antagonist becomes. The hero must undergo a realization in order to realign his relationship to the antagonist. It's the Jungian principle: all the aspects of personality, even those we seek to alienate from ourselves, have profound teachings for us. One finds illumination by going into the dark... recognizing the shadows we cast... those dark train tunnels. Yeah, why would anyone go down there?
Week Five Recap
What a pleasure it was to read your essay. Makes me think of the Jungian concept of the "shadow" aspect of ourselves, the negativity that is the dark side of the terms of Being (the really-real) that we're trying to realize in our lives. The shadow clings to us in our struggle with it. What the Buddhists call "lack." (A more accurate translation than "suffering.") The hero stories I love the best are the ones where the antagonist has an essential connection to the protagonist. The more the protagonist opposes the antagonist, the more powerful the antagonist becomes. The hero must undergo a realization in order to realign his relationship to the antagonist. It's the Jungian principle: all the aspects of personality, even those we seek to alienate from ourselves, have profound teachings for us. One finds illumination by going into the dark... recognizing the shadows we cast... those dark train tunnels. Yeah, why would anyone go down there?