Within Each Man Lurks a Shadow

Within each man exists a shadow: the sum of those elements of the self that have been cast out – rejected, denied, or hidden – because they conflict with the image he seeks to become. With every clash between human nature and the aureon, the shadow extends its dominion.

Human nature does not ask permission. It asserts itself in instincts, drives, and impulses that are older than reason. The aureon does not always accommodate these. It demands resemblance, and punishes deviation. The shadow broods and festers wherever human nature stands in defiance of the aureon, forming a hidden counterpart to the self.

But what is repressed is not destroyed, merely concealed. The shadow lives on, strengthened by denial and made dangerous by secrecy. It intrudes into thought, into behaviour, into dreams. It lashes out in projected judgement, cloaks itself in borrowed virtue, and unsettles man’s conscience with whispers unclaimed as his own. Every man who flatters himself hides a creature that knows better; and the brighter the light of his flattery, the deeper the shadow behind him.

This is no dysfunction. The shadow is not an affliction to be eliminated, but a presence to be confronted. It is the companion of self-awareness. No man avoids it. He only chooses whether he sees it.