Meeting the Shadow (A New Consciousness Reader) (Paperback)

by Connie Zweig (Editor), Jeremiah Abrams (Editor) "Everything with substance casts a shadow..." (more)
Key Phrases: homo hostilis, chauvinist mind, shadow personality, United States, Soviet Union, Trungpa Rinpoche (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Zweig, former executive editor of Brain/Mind Bulletin, and Abrams, a Jungian therapist, offer a provocative collection of more than 60 brief pieces (most of them extracts from longer works) exploring the "shadow," the part of the unconscious self that a conscious mind sees as undesirable and tries to define as the "other." Christine Downing considers how a person might project the shadow self onto a same-sex sibling, while Maggie Scarf describes the ways in which husbands and wives can do the same thing: one spouse, for instance, expressing anger for the spouse who shuns the hostile feelings, turning an "intrapsychic problem" into "interpersonal conflict." Jerome S. Bernstein looks at this phenomenon in collective terms: the U.S. sees its darker self in the Soviet Union and vice versa. Many of the contributors note the dangers of ignoring one's own shadow, and the volume concludes with texts that discuss ways of coming to terms with it. Ken Wilber suggests that people should try to recognize and play out aspects of their rejected selves in order to heal "the split between persona and cap is correct/pk Shadow."
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 335 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher; 1st edition (April 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087477618X
• ISBN-13: 978-0874776188
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #20,704 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An extraordinary and diverse anthology about the "dark side", October 2, 1998

By	dr. (Dr. Stephen Diamond, author of ANGER, MADNESS, AND THE DAIMONIC from Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews

Editors Connie Zweig and Jeremiah Abrams deserve congratulations for constructing this remarkable collection of illuminating looks at the hitherto inscrutable human "shadow." This substantial volume brings together extremely diverse perspectives on this eternally timely topic, citing brief but pithy passages from luminaries like Carl Jung, James Hillman, M.L. von Franz, John Sanford; Harville Hendrix, Marsha Sinetar, Larry Dossey, W.Brugh Joy; M.Scott Peck, Rollo May, Ernest Becker, Sam Keen, Robert Jay Lifton; Ken Wilber, Robert Bly, Joseph Campbell and John Bradshaw. There is much distilled wisdom in these pages, organized in a meaningful, coherent, even entertaining fashion--with intelligent commentary by the editors, who scatter lovely little nuggets from Rilke, Nietzsche, Rumi, Shakespeare, Lao-Tzu, Blake, Dante and others throughout. Some reviewers have called this highly readable book the "I Ching" of the shadow, and for good reason: readers, even those new to the notion of the "shadow," can pick it up, open to practically any page, and discover something valuable and essential to understanding themselves and others more deeply and more compassionately. In short, this compendium is a terrific introduction to Jung's archetypal concept of the Shadow, and I, for one, was honored to contribute to it.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "No one knows what the shadow knows.", November 29, 2003

By	Rocco B. Rubino "Rocco R." (Ohio) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This collection of 65 essays from a wide array of Jungian practioners is designed to give us a window into the mysterious world that lives within each of us; the shadow.

Each of these essays, in their own unique ways, throws the lid off of our own personal "Pandora's box" and brings us face to face with the disowned and despised parts of who we are: sexual urges, rage, resentment, arrogance, greed, envy; the list is endless.

Jung was once quoted as saying "I would rather be whole than to be good." I did not understand this statement until I read this book. Now that I have begun my own "shadow work," the picture is becoming clearer, and clearer.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Guide to understand and free our shadow aspects, March 3, 1999

By A Customer

Not only is this books a valuable collection of essays by Jungian practitioners, is it also a very practical guide to understanding our Shadow aspects and how to access them. As a management consultant I have used several of the essays to help individuals understand how they project their unknown and unconscious aspects onto others.