Vocabulary of the Soul Part Two: Complexes, Shadow, and Persona

Last time, when speaking of ego growth we saw that the assumptions of the inflated ego collide with external stimuli. These collisions play an important and beneficial part in ego growth. If not too severe (not too traumatic) they trigger a greater level of focus directed at both the internal assumptions, and the external stimuli. This process of inflation and collision causes the ego to strengthen and to broaden the scope of awareness to a wider portion of soul. This stronger ego has a greater capacity to problem-solve and a greater tendency towards autonomy.

However, external stimuli are not the only things that our ego collides with. We as human beings contend much more often with the contents of our emotions, feelings, and images; sometimes to the point that our internal stimulus overcomes the ability of our ego to regulate our feelings and actions. In fact our interaction with internal stimuli is typically much greater than our ability to process the source or contents of these stimuli. This is even to the point where the function and content of our thoughts are at least influenced by, if not determined by the contents of our unconscious. It is this that the ancients (including the apostle Paul) called our passions, and Jung called complexes.

Our personal unconscious is completely inhabited by a series of complexes. But, what are these complexes? What are our passions? It is difficult to define the complexes fully; however the following definition will give us a place to begin.

A complex is comprised of a trauma that resonates with an archetype, thus making the archetype the center of the complex. This archetypal core is coupled with the experience and the emotional content of the specific trauma. Once this core is established, it begins to attract content that are thematically similar to the core. Thus, the content of the complex is associated with or related to the core of the complex. Further, similar trauma can reinforce and strengthen the complex, in particular, in destructive complexes. However, similar but positive experiences can have the effect of modifying the complex.

It is important to keep in mind that the complexes are out-side of the consciousness. These complexes can erupt and impose them-selves onto the consciousness, and this eruption of the complex is called the constellation of a complex. In the mild form of a constellated complex, the consciousness is simply disturbed by the contents of the complex. In a more severe form, the ego is totally encompassed by the contents of the complex. In this state, the ego simply watches the thoughts, emotions, and actions arise and manifest, with limited ability to moderate or control these things. This often results in the ego being the victim of an inner compulsion. In an extreme form of this eruption, the ego loses its identity completely, and begins to identify with the consciousness of the complex. This is a form of possession.

Complexes are energized with what Jung called libido. Libido is usually associated with sexual energy; however our use of the term goes beyond this limited view. Libido can be thought of as the primary form of psychic energy. This psychic energy is the focused desire and emotion that energizes conscious and unconscious action. Libido is one element of the Will, or Life Force.

Libido is the charge that a complex carries. This charge builds up within a complex. When this build up fills the limit of the complex, it erupts onto the ego – consciousness. This can happen cyclically without any additional stimulus, or it can be triggered (or constellated) by an internal or external event that echoes the core or content of the complex.

The function of a strong ego in the face of a constellated complex is to contain some of the energy within itself and moderate the emotional or physical expression of the eruption. Each complex can carry a limited form of consciousness in its own right. In order for the ego to control the eruption of a complex the ego-consciousness must be stronger than the consciousness of the complex, as well as being strong enough to influence the libido of the complex.

Another function of a strong ego is to recognize a trigger as well as its effects, and to defend against the eruption of a complex. It is here where we find the proper application of affirmations and “counter emotions.” These techniques, however are little more than a surface level coping mechanisms, and should never comprise the core of our practice. Rather, the core of our practice is the process of descent, encounter, reconciliation, and transformation.

This process of descent and reconciliation is one of purposeful, but prepared constellation of a complex or archetype. In this way, we can control the release of energy and content from a complex. We can also recognize the contents of the complex and amplify our understanding of that content. In this way we are able bring healing to the wounds of our soul.

The preparation for this process strengthens and empowers the ego-consciousness. And through exposure the ego develops sensitivity to each part of the process. This allows the process of healing itself to become smoother, less uncomfortable, and even graceful. This is the essence of conditioned self-control which is defined as: The ability to screen stimuli to control the eruptions of a complex, and then to purposefully apply stimuli in order to bring about healing to the trauma of a complex. Our goal in doing this is to allow every aspect of our soul to be a beneficial tool for the deepening and further evolution of our relationship with God.

How do we do this?

Here we have the reasons for our progressive meditations and contemplations. What we are working towards is active deity work. In this type of practice we cultivate an archetypal image. We then develop a relationship with this image, allowing it to take on a life and personality of its own. This image will resonate with one or several complexes, in so doing it will be amplified by the contents of those complexes. This is a form of internal projection. In developing this image we explore what is called thematic amplification. This practice of thematic amplification uses recorded mythology to broaden our understanding of a particular archetype.

Take for example the figure of the wise old man. We begin with this figure in the form most familiar to our own experience. Then we research forms of this figure within our own tradition, and then we do the same research but within other traditions. We can even amplify this figure through popular fiction – I have found that fantasy novels are best for this type of amplification. However, we can use virtually anything that resonates with this figure. This allows us to develop a more intimate and expansive relationship with this archetype.

The key is, while we allow this figure to develop on its own, and we cultivate relationship with this figure as if it is outside of our-selves, we must keep in mind that this figure is a part of us. This attitude will keep us from imparting a divinity to this figure that it does not warrant. This is how we resist idolatry while exploring angelic and god-like forms. This is also how we resist potential possession of the ego by the triggered complexes.

Why is this so important?

The goal of all of our soul-level work is to get out of our own way. Almost invariably, when we begin interacting with our own Spirit, or even with God, this interaction will trigger the complexes and archetypes of the soul. If these complexes have not been modified to the point where they no longer disturb the soul, they will distract and restrict our interactions with the highest parts of our-self and God. Because of this, we need to embark on a path of the healing of our own soul, prior to direct cultivation of our interaction with God.

I must digress for a moment. I use the term idolatry a lot. I need to clarify why this must be resisted. When we embrace idolatry on this level, we accept a concept of God as God. In accepting this concept of God as God, we place this image between us and real, direct experience of God. There are two options when we encounter these concept-images. One is to destroy these images forcefully. The other is to recognize that the image, the concept must invariably be incorrect on some level. It is the second method that I advocate, and I use. This allows our concepts of God to grow in a natural and progressive manner. This promotes a process of growth which is balanced and gentle.

Okay, back to the complexes.

Outside but related to the complexes of the personal unconscious, are the familial and cultural complexes. These complexes are intimately related to the personal unconscious, but they are not the personal unconscious. I call the network of these complexes the cultural unconscious. In familial and cultural complexes we are programmed by the dominant value-patterns of our family and our culture. These patterns create a network of attitudes and responses that are culturally similar with others who hold the same patterns.

It is very important to note here, that we can never be completely free from these complex-patterns. Like all complexes, these patterns can be altered, but never destroyed, nor should they. It is for this reason that our spiritual journey needs to begin with the cultural and religious patterns that we were raised with. From there we can modify these patterns through amplification and exposure, but the initial established pattern must come first.

Within the patterns of the cultural complexes there are aspects of both common and personal human experience that are rejected or demonized. This causes rejection and repression of personality traits, and contents of the unconscious. This repression causes the development of what Jung called the Shadow. When we begin the process of active cultivation of our own healing, we will very soon encounter the complexes of the Shadow. The content of the Shadow will often surprise, and sometime shock us. Most often the deepest and most well developed of our Shadow complexes are sexual in nature. This is another reason why it is important to develop a strong ego-consciousness. When sexual complexes arise, we will often feel a drive to explore the content of these complexes. If we do so, we need to do so responsibly. These complexes need to be explored as they arise, however we also need to be wise about their exploration. It is important that we keep in mind that we can usually focus their exploration inward, rather than outward.

Opposite to the Shadow is the persona. The persona is developed through the application of the value-patterns of the cultural unconscious to the ego. This is the social mask we wear in order to be accepted in a given cultural environment. It is the persona that initially governs what is cast into the Shadow. Most of us self-identify with the persona to some degree, and it is those things that are not acceptable to the persona that are repressed by the ego into the Shadow.

Most of us believe our-selves to be decent human beings, and conduct our selves according to the accepted rules of the society in which we live. However, the reality of our own personalities is not so bright. By defining what is right and wrong, and embracing what we have defined as right, we have automatically created its opposite within our own personal unconscious. The flip side to this is that those who have embraced what they think of as wrong have created a Shadow that is comprised of those qualities they have rejected, what they would consider as right. You find this often with violent criminals who have had a “conversion experience” that totally transforms their personality. This total transformation is in fact a form of Shadow possession of the ego. This is one reason why these converts tend to embrace the most extreme and fundamentalist aspects of their new way of life. Given, such a switch is more socially acceptable, but it is still psychologically unhealthy.

It is extremely difficult for the ego to experience the Shadow directly. Rather the Shadow is usually projected outwards onto others. This is one meaning of the scripture, “Do not worry yourself over the speck in your brother’s eye, but turn your attention to the beam in your own eye.” When we find that an attitude or an attribute held by another causes a gut level revulsion or automatic irritation this is a clue to us that we are in fact projecting rejected contents of our own personality onto that person. This allows us to apply the spotlight of awareness to these aspects of our-selves. Even these attributes, as self serving as they are, are tools that our Spirit can use to further our understanding of our-selves and our relationship with God. Gaining an understanding of our-selves through recognizing these projections eventually can lead us to bring aspects of our Shadow directly into the focus of our ego-consciousness.

This does not mean that we act openly in accordance with our Shadow. This is the meaning of the scripture, “be as gentle as doves, and as wise as the serpent.” We know and understand our-selves, and we accept our-selves without condemnation. But we also understand that we cannot expect others to take that same step. From this perspective we can see the persona as what it is really is, a mask.

The persona is a mask that is also a complex. We can have multiple personas. If we have multiple roles to fill, we have multiple personas that we put on. It is important to realize that as a complex, the persona has a certain level of autonomy, or independence from the ego. The role of the persona is as much to conceal as it is to reveal the person. It is a functional complex that has considerable power. It is the strong and appropriate persona that allows social interactions to happen smoothly.

The persona is the “person-as-presented,” rather than the “person-as-real.” It is a complex that has been developed and is applied for a specific purpose. Sometimes we have a general persona which covers a wide range of social purposes. But we also have specific persona that is focused on small, specific purposes.

We must always keep in mind that the development of a persona, for whatever reason, always adds to the content of the Shadow. This is why the content of the Shadow can change in a manner similar to the persona. Whatever persona we are wearing at any given time requires that the ego reject all of the qualities that do not support that persona. The problem with this is the fact that the ego cannot fully shine the light of awareness into the Shadow. This causes content to remain in the Shadow even when the persona has been changed.

If we develop the very difficult and very unusual ability to become aware of the Shadow (even to a limited degree), and through interaction with the Shadow gain some understanding of it, we will come to understand that the Shadow is not evil at all, it is simply socially unacceptable. As we cultivate relationship with the complexes that comprise the Shadow, we will gain a great deal of wisdom.

However, we are most often not strong enough to face the Shadow until after the enlightenment shift. When the ego is unified with the Nous, and through both the archetypal and trans-archetypal self is immersed and saturated by the Pneuma, the ego will be able to see more clearly that there is no need to condemn any of the content of the Shadow. Strengthened by the Spirit, and empowered with true grace, the ego can face the Shadow and accept it for what it is – an honest and acceptable part of the whole of the individual.

This is where we will end today. I know that this is a lot to consider. Go over this material as many times as necessary. Get to know it, because most of our work is working with the complexes. The better we get at this, the more energy and time we will have to cultivate the ascent, saturation, and anointed descent.

First Contemplation: the What Ifs...

First Thessalonians 5:21 tells us, “test (or prove) all things; hold fast to that which is good.”

One of the hallmarks of the discipline of Doing Gnosis is the active personal testing of faith assumptions. One of the reasons for this is to discover how much of our lives and our faith is built on a series of assumptions that we may not even know we have. This discipline is progressive in that we will only be able to see in a limited way the ramifications of the removal of faith assumptions.

This discipline is best embraced after a session of centering meditation.

So, let’s begin.

What if there was no God?

We are not just talking about the classic anthropomorphic idea of God. This is any concept of God as loving or God as judgmental. What if there was no God?

What if there was not even a Higher Being?

What if there is no divine pattern to the universe? What if there is no “Spirit?” What if there is no Tao? What if there is no Chi? What if there is nothing but chance in the universe? This would imply that we have no control over anything – except maybe our-selves, or our responses.

What if there was no Internal Divine Presence?

What if there was no Higher Self, no True Will…? Nothing but our personal psyche – nothing divine that gives us guidance – nothing even greater, or wiser than our everyday intelligence that guides our lives?

How does this make you feel? Scared, alone, angry – why is this important for this discipline? Why would I even consider such a thing?

There is a statement I want you to embrace fully – remember and grow from this:

An untested faith is a weak and potentially worthless faith. An unjustified belief is a weak, unreasonable, and potentially destructive belief.

And there is a concept I want you to embrace – this concept is core for this discipline, and answers the above questions – This concept is also our most difficult discipline –

Radical, Personal Integrity…

Years ago, I began to see that what I had been taught, and what I claimed to believe, was not what I had come to actually believe. I realized I had been lying to my-self, based on what I was told to believe, what I wanted to believe. When I recognized this, I began to turn inward, and question… everything. I was ruthless in my questioning. I began with the assumptions of the tradition I was raised with. I began by testing these assumptions by the only source I respected, the source that my tradition claimed to express – The Bible. And I embraced the bible in the manner that I had come to believe was the only way to see its truth. I talked to God about everything. Even those things I thought I understood, I was not willing to assume that I was right.

I started with the letters of Paul; from there I went back to the Gospels, and worked through the whole of the New Testament. And I did so in constant companionship with God. I was 18 when I began this process.

Over the following months, the Christianity I began to see was very different than the Christianity I knew. So, I began to look at other forms of the tradition, and found nothing that echoed the core teachings of the New Testament. They all claimed to do so, but none of them actually did.

I began to look at the history of the development of Christian tradition, and I discovered that every form of Christianity that I knew of was developed on the foundation of traditions later than, and other than the New Testament. In most cases these traditions directly or subtly contradicted the very scripture they claimed to revere. They interpreted the New Testament in the light of their tradition, rather than interpreting their tradition in the Light of scripture. And I came to the conclusion that almost every event in history that has given Christianity a bad name was because of this miss-interpretation of scripture.

This process was complicated primarily by my need for community. The only community I knew, the only community I trusted was Christian. So, I swallowed the truth I discovered, compromised my personal integrity for community. This led to my first two marriages and divorces. I embraced illusion in the face of truth. I chose ignorance instead of enlightenment, because I was afraid to be alone. And that choice has shaped my life to this day.

It wasn’t until the end of my second marriage that I discovered how much I had grown in the midst of my chosen ignorance. Throughout this time, God and I still had relationship, but I had drawn away from God to embrace my tradition. But God remained faithful. I found that I had grown more than could have imagined.

I embraced a solitary life when my second marriage ended. And the questioning began in earnest. I was determined to be honest with my-self, and with God. I was determined never to lie to my-self again.

I found that my consciousness had to play catch up to my growth. I passed through a series of levels of spiritual growth at maximum speed. And eventually had a total shift of perspective from the psyche to the nous. I had my enlightenment shift (it’s not just an experience, because the change is still constant – it is a total shift of perspective of being).

After this occurred my challenges to my assumptions became even more ruthless. I challenged everything I encountered – reincarnation, life after death, the existence of Chi, the Tao, on and on. And at every turn I could not justify belief beyond subjective experience.

I had a lot of that. I had grown up seeing things that could be called paranormal or even miracle. But was there another explanation? Was there an explanation that did not require flights of fantasy?

You have to understand how difficult this was for me. In asking these questions, I was challenging the validity of my entire life. I was a massage therapist at this time who worked with Chi. I was a martial arts instructor who taught several martial systems that were based on theories of the Tao. I had a whole lot of experience to challenge.

Finally, I had to face my relationship with God. As real as this was, as personal as this was, it needed to be challenged. So, I tested the existence of God. Every idea of God; I put these ideas on like a cloak and walked around in them, looking for the truth. I found many truths, but they were always truths about us, humans, not about God.

So, from there I had to challenge something that was a breaking point for me; my own worth.

Did I have any inherent worth? Did anything have any inherent worth? What if nothing has any inherent worth? What if, the only worth anything has is the worth you invest into it?

How does this make you feel? If this were true, would it change the way you live your life?

Why is this necessary? Why do we ask these questions?

There are many reasons why this discipline is necessary. I will give you one major reason. In the tradition I was raised in, we were encouraged to cultivate divine revelation, visions, and direct relationship with God, but we were taught that our revelations and even our new convictions were to be taken as truth, if not literally. It is this lack of caution and total indulgence that led to most of the mistakes in my life where others were harmed.

Those of us, who are involved in spiritually focused practice, give revelation and intuition an almost divine importance. Channeled material is to be accepted whole, without challenge. Intuitive understanding is to be lived without weighing it against reason and intellect. In fact, most systems that cultivate intuition do so with an anti-intellectual attitude. I tell you from experience that this is a mistake.

Just as the intellect should be balanced with intuition, so should intuition be balanced with the intellect. There is a key to embrace in this statement. If you grow in your intellect, you should cultivate equal growth in your intuition. If you grow in your intuition, you should cultivate equal growth in your intellect. They work together, and if one outweighs the other, your conclusions and convictions will be inherently unbalanced.

But this does not fully answer the above question. Why?

To answer this, I must refer you back to the idea of radical personal integrity. In order to have this level of integrity, you must fully know yourself. Many of us believe things that we are not aware of believing. When these things are brought into the light of awareness we are often surprised at how unreasonable our beliefs are. We find, sometimes, that what we actually believe is different than what we want to believe. We must know and understand our-selves.

It is a challenge to consider your-self and your life without the belief systems you are attached to. When we consider the “what if” and follow our responses we come closer to discovering the truth of our-selves and our belief. We then have the opportunity to ask our-selves whether or not the integrity of our belief system really matters.

Why do you believe what you do? Do you believe what you hope? If your belief is wrong, does it matter? Are you still the same person if your belief system is proven wrong? Will you still make the same choices in life? Would it change who you are, or who you think you are?

Testing your faith may reveal beliefs or practices that you may be attached to for the wrong reasons, or that you have outgrown and no longer need. You may also realize that certain beliefs and practices are essential to your spiritual health and growth and need to remain in your life no matter what the answer to the What if… is. Then, with the full realization that it simply doesn’t matter if the beliefs and practices that work for you are factual, you can move forward with them in place knowing they are serving a purpose in your life and that is all that matters.

This process will help you in realizing that truth and fact is not the same thing. Something can be true and not factual. This process might even help you realize that most (if not all) of what we believe as truth is subjective in nature, and may not apply to everyone all the time. This realization can work to remove the need to impose your truth on anyone else.

Finally, this process leads to an understanding of the superfluous “stuff” that we put between us and God. These things are our Idols, even if we don’t recognize them as such. Our goal as Gnostics is to fully know ourselves and to have a direct, personal, and intimate relationship with God. This relationship needs to be unimpaired by preconceived notions and beliefs. We cannot know what we believe, and whether or not these beliefs impede or impair our relationship with God unless we ruthlessly test them.

They key, ultimately is not to believe something because we want to or are told to; but to understand belief itself and transcend belief into relationship. This is the only way to true, pure union with God. You may not understand this now, but within the depths of our soul, where soul merges with spirit, belief creates barriers to our experience of God. If we do not know what we believe, we will not know what needs to be left behind when we dive into the depths of our soul.