Trees are one of my favorite metaphors for people. I wear a necklace with a “tree of life” medal almost everyday because it reminds me that, like trees, we are always growing. More-so, we should always be striving to grow.
This dawned on me one afternoon while I was taking a nature walk not too far from my apartment. I was in a very serene mood, trying to calmly observe and take in my surroundings as I walked along the path. In the midst of my walk, I started to notice the individuality of nature. There was such a breathtaking beauty in recognizing how unique every form of life is.
As humans, we love to categorize everything and fit them into neat little boxes. This keeps our world organized and allows for everything to just “make sense.” From an evolutionary perspective, this of course has its advantages. Yet, the disadvantages from our own perspectives should not be ignored.
We all know what a tree is. But there is no single tree in existence that is identical to another. Some look the same, some grow similar leaves or fruits, and still, no two are alike. Each tree exists as a unique form of life.
As this settled with me, I felt like I was seeing trees for the first time ever, which in reality, was very much true. I’ve of course seen thousands, maybe millions, of trees in my life, but in those moments, I was seeing those specific trees for the first time. Each tree was a living embodiment of a story that was being told by its mere existence. The story of how much it’s been through; its entire life’s journey was staring me in the face. It was evident through the their height, growth, color, leaves, branches; it was all there, being told aloud for those willing to listen.
I listened. I observed. And I came away with such a deep appreciation for nature and life itself. Everything in life is constantly growing and evolving. We humans are a part of life, and we would be fools to not recognize this in ourselves. The people we are today are not who we were yesterday. Just as I was different 5 years ago than I am right now, I will never be the same person tomorrow that I am today.
After this realization, I tried to embody growth in everything I was doing. I listened to more informative YouTube videos from intellectuals and deep thinkers. I tried meditating and writing more. “Growth” was always in the back of my mind, and to me, growth was linear. It was striving to be above who I was the day before. But growth requires something far darker than many of us care to think about.
It wasn’t until the last few months that I’ve come to understand the concept of the “shadow” by Carl Jung. The shadow embodies the aspects of ourselves that we fail to recognize and accept, but are still present in our lives. Often, we prefer to believe they do not exist at all.
What are the worst parts of ourselves? What are the worst parts of humanity in general? The shadow encompasses all that comes to mind and more. The shadow contains the darkest parts of our human nature that we would rather stay blind to.
Life itself is not good or evil, it’s simply life. When a tiger attacks and eats a zebra in the wild, we don’t call it evil; it’s simply life playing out. When the meteor struck earth and wiped out the dinosaurs, this was not an evil thing. It was simply life playing out. The possibilities of life transcend all human defined concepts of good and evil, as life is simply the potential and realization of all things that are possible, regardless of morals or ethics. As humans, we are part of life, too; we are life itself, in our human form. We would be willfully ignorant to deny the potential that exists inside of us, just as the potential of life exists all around us.
Evil, as defined by humans, exists because we are capable of and have the potential to do evil things. This is the shadow. We don’t want to admit that we’re capable of doing wrong things, but even more, we don’t want to admit all the bad and negative things about ourselves, and how we ourselves have the potential to embody the worst attributes we can imagine. It’s through the denial of both ourselves and our human nature that has allowed for so many people throughout history to be overcome by it. It’s what allows people to get so caught up in their anger or hatred, that afterwards when they’ve calmed they may say, “I can’t believe I did that! That felt like a different person.” It felt like a different person because we refused to believe we were capable of being that way in the first place. Our denial fed the shadow until it overcame us completely.
Truthfully, I wish that I had already fully explored my shadow. I wish I had come out on the other side to write about how freeing it is to understand the entire realm of our human potential. I’m only beginning to understand what this all means. The best I can understand about my own shadow are my tendencies to procrastinate and push things off until “tomorrow.” My shadow contains my tendency to project onto others what I feel are the most important truth’s of life when I’m not living them out myself.
My shadow is also much deeper than this though, and I am able to confront it in my everyday life by not running away from situations that make me feel uncomfortable or trigger something unfamiliar in me. In order to make the unconscious conscious, I must be willing to go where I haven’t gone before. My shadow will be understood when I fully understand myself, even if I think I may strongly dislike parts of myself. It’s only by exploring all these “negative” aspects that my shadow will not sneak up on me one day to the surprise of both myself and those around me.
I do know that, now more than ever, we live in a world where we are constantly pointing out the shadows we recognize in others while failing to acknowledge our own. This widespread miscommunication will collectively move us backwards. All the while, we may think our perspectives, attitudes, and thoughts will be on the “right side of history.” But if our shadows are left un-examined, if we’ve never honestly explored the realm of good and evil that exists inside each of us, how can we ever know if that’s truly the case?
We cannot change what we refuse to admit is real. What is real is what’s been played out in history: the human potential for good, evil, and everything in between. It is through the full exploration of our shadows that we can fully understand ourselves, and in turn, understand others. It is by understanding our own innate potential for evil that we can truly grow to become good and loving people. Our journeys of never-ending growth must include the uncomfortable, the unfamiliar, and the acknowledgement of our potential for evil that exists inside of us. As Carl Jung once famously put it, “No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots touch down to hell.”