Fact: I'm not a psychologist
The Yin and Yang
Are you actually in charge of the person you are? Do you have absolute control over your desires and emotions? Are you the one making your own decisions? Are your actions in alignment with your own moral values? To summarize: are there unconscious aspects of your personality that your conscious ego refuses to identify in itself?
Everything has a polar opposite in a Universe of light; duality demands darkness for balance to be restored. It's part of an eternal periodic process of creation through change. It's all about generating voltage necessary for progress. We have to embrace our dark side and learn to live with it. We must accept our dark side if we are to know ourselves.
The Misconception
It's only referred to as the dark side simply because one tends to remain ignorant of the undesirable aspects of their personality. Probably a result of defense mechanisms taking action and preventing one from realizing their own flaws. Therefore the shadow is mainly negative, meaning that the individual is more prone to being ignorant about their own negative aspects of character.
However, it's highly likely that positive aspects remain hidden in one's shadow as well. For instance, people with low self-esteem are basically ignorant of qualities they do actually possess, people suffering from anxiety fall victims to their own misonceptions of themselves and the world; false beliefs create unbearable illusions. You're only afraid of the dark because you've misinterpreted its true nature.
The shadow is the unknown side of the personality. Driven by instinct, the dark side is projected on one's behaviour forming the shadow. Perceived personal inferiorities are recognized as perceived moral deficiencies in different psychological projections. Projections that only make things worse by deceiving individuals and forming illusions between the ego and reality.
“Despite its function as a reservoir for human darkness, the shadow is the seat of creativity.”
― Andrew Kaufman
Thank you for your attention!
Highest Regards
