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Chapter 6 - The Shadow and the Disowned Self
Contributor: Ken Wilber 
One of the great discoveries of modern Western psychology is the dynamic by which 1st-person impulses can become dissociated, disowned or repressed, consequently appearing as 2nd-person or 3rd-person events in one’s 1st-person consciousness. From before we are born, we encounter a never-ending stream of experience; some of it, we can digest in a healthy way, and some of it, for a variety of reasons, remains undigested. The sum total of a person’s undigested experience is what is referred to as their shadow.
One of the great discoveries of modern Western psychology is the dynamic by which 1st-person impulses can become dissociated, disowned or repressed, consequently appearing as 2nd-person or 3rd-person events in one’s 1st-person consciousness. From before we are born, we encounter a never-ending stream of experience; some of it, we can digest in a healthy way, and some of it, for a variety of reasons, remains undigested. The sum total of a person’s undigested experience is what is referred to as their shadow.
Perspectives are very helpful in understanding the dynamics by which the the shadow is formed. Consider how an impulse of anger, for instance, becomes repressed. Upon having a 1st-person experience of anger, the self may choose to push the impulse outside of its I-boundary, at which point it becomes experienced as a 2nd-person occasion. It is no longer me or mine—but I am on speaking terms with it. If the repression continues, it can become completely dissociated, a 3rd-person occasion that I am no longer on speaking terms with. In either case, the feeling or quality remains, but the ownership does not. Rather than a conscious subject, that experience becomes a hidden subject, making itself known via various neurotic symptoms (usually at the worst of times!). The goal of psychotherapy is to re-own the sum of undigested experience that makes up the shadow.
Sigmund Freud is considered a brilliant pioneer in our understanding of the shadow. By using a combination of phenomenology (zone-#1) and hermeneutics (zone-#2), he was able to spot the dynamics by which impulses are pushed beyond the “I” boundary. Understanding how early stages of development might be conceptualized from without and from within constitute some of the truly great discoveries of the Modern West. Freud's famous statement “where the id was, there ego shall be” is actually more properly translated, “where the it was, there I shall become.” This statement beautifully summarizes the goal of psychotherapy.
Developmental studies point out that the fundamental process of development is the subject of one stage becomes the object of the subject of the next stage (Kegan), or simply, the self of one stage becomes the tool of the next (Gebser). AQAL helps us to see that, more precisely, in healthy development, the I of one stage becomes the me (or "mine") of the I of the next stage. By contrast, in unhealthy development, I is converted not to "me," but rather, to "it," thus constituting not development, but pathology.
Ken introduces the concept of the shadow as it has been understood by the modern West. From our earliest moments, we are bombarded with experience, some of which we can't be adequately incorporated as part of our conscious "I." It thus becomes part of our unconscious "I," perhaps being projected onto a "you" or even an "it." The goal of psychotherapy is to re-incorporate that experience. As Sigmund Freud, pioneer of the modern understanding of the shadow, summarized it: "where it was, there I shall become...."
Maria Montenegro asks a series of superb questions regarding the shadow. For those who are highly conceptual, how can 3-2-1 shadow work be practiced without dissociating? How does the doctrine of karma relate to shadow work? And how can practitioners ensure that, in following the bodhisattvic injunction not to be angry, that they are not simply repressing their anger?
Sam Sabra asks how to practice ethical behavior in a way that doesn't reinforce shadow and limiting beliefs. Also, he points out, during the second step of the 3-2-1 process, we're supposed to engage in conversation with disowned aspects of the self. From an integral perspective, how are we to understand realized beings who claim to be conversing with Buddhas, spirits, or demons?
David Vaughan asks about "shadow hugging," by which we project our good points onto others, and also inquires about the dynamics of micro-disidentification, by which our experience of states helps us toward stage development.
Durwin Foster asks how we can move toward a lofy notion such as "the authentic self" without falling into typically masculine pathologies such as dissociate-and-repress (considering that the erotic/agentic mode is normally the one that gives us the necessary "escape velocity" to go beyond our habitual atmosphere.
Arthur Gillard asks whether the 3-2-1 process might be too superficial--specifically, too cognitive or intellectually focused--to do really deep shadow work. With respect to the process, what happens when fear arises?
Arthur Gillard asks if, as Robert Augustus Masters contends, every practice has a shadow side, what is the shadow of 3-2-1 shadow work? What are its strengths and weaknesses? What is the turquoise shadow?
Arthur Gillard and Ken discuss the way in which shadow processes manifest in social holons. What is the collective shadow, and what is the collective Integral shadow?
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