Tag: shadow work

Spiritual Activism: Recognizing the Shadow (Essay 3 of Series)

Before I pick up where I left off in the second essay of this series, I would like to give expression to a relevant teaching that I was reminded of while reading the book, “Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality” by Charles Burack. The teaching highlights the necessity of affirming the “original blessing” (from Aquinas’ “original goodness”) of human life as central to beginning the spiritual journey to wholeness and holiness.

Reading this work on Fox’s writings reminded me of my initial encounter with his teachings on “original blessing” (versus original sin) that I encountered in the 90’s while reading his book, “Creation Spirituality” on the urging of a friend who was then a student of his Oakland, CA based school, University of Creation Spirituality. At the time, while an exciting revolutionary concept to me, it did not land on “fertile soil.” Thankfully, my 7-year deep study and practice of Buddhism from 2010-2017, particularly Shambhala Buddhism and the writings of Pema Chodron and Chogyan Trungpa Rimpoche (1939-1987) provided the necessary compost to reawaken and revitalize the dormant mental seed planted which blossomed into a flower of liberation during a Buddhist meditation retreat weekend early in this period.

For readers with traditional Christian backgrounds (and thus most likely the “original sin” malaise), (re)awakening to this truth is especially important before starting this type of deep healing work, and I was remiss in not including that statement earlier. (For more on the concept of “original blessing” I encourage you to read one of the many books authored by American priest and theologian, Matthew Fox.

If we return to Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” the source of the inspiration for embarking on this adventure to author this essay series on the topic of spiritual activism, we can see this necessity present in Dante’s journey. Initially, Dante informs his guide, Virgil, that he is not strong enough for the first leg of the journey—hell. However, after Virgil explains that he is there to assist him, because Beatrice asked him to do so out of her concern and love for him, Dante musters the courage to follow Virgil through the Gate of Hell. This revelation of Beatrice’s love and his lovability (i.e., original goodness) fuels his courage to face his fears.

Now, picking up where I left off. As stated in the second essay of this series on spiritual activism, internal seeing and recognition of habituated destructive life patterns– the inner capacities cultivated, over time, by regular self-observation practices along with daily meditation and prayer– are the beginnings of freedom from them.

If/when one is serious about making deep personal change, these difficult and painful realizations source the motivation to attempt the challenging act of refraining from a habituated reaction. Notice the word, “attempt” here. Refraining from habituated reactions takes effort and practice. One may not do so in the first few attempts. One may fall short a lot; however, over time one develops the capacity to notice the habituated pattern arise in one’s being sooner and sooner and sooner such that one day the person will be able to catch “the train” right as it starts to depart the station. At that point, they will be able to refrain and replace or reorient to the desired ideal, mode, or way of being.

Usually one uncovers past hurts, woundedness, untruths, shadow elements, and outmoded thinking underneath habituated patterns during this healing phase of the journey, which as highlighted previously is continuous and spiral-like versus linear. Again, not pleasant, but liberating. Stay with it but expect an internal fight.

An internal fight is to be expected as one’s small self, ego, or operational self is challenged by this work. There is an aspect of the psyche that is threatened by this inner work of healing, maturing, and transforming to being and becoming a spiritual activist (aka, a “transformed nonconformist” MLK Jr). Thus, it is essential that you find support for your journey to include a comprehensive framework to inform, guide, and provide insight into the complex internal process underway.

Personally, I have benefited from several such frameworks to include Integral Life Practice (Ken Wilber and Terry Patten), Psychosynthesis (Roberto Assagioli), the Fourth Way (especially the writings of Ted & Rebecca Nottingham), as well as Contemplative Christianity (Thomas Keating, Richard Rohr, Cynthia Bourgeault), and as mentioned previously, Buddhism, especially the work of American Buddhist nun, Pema Chodron whose writings I highly recommend for this phase of the journey especially, “No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva or the section of this book presented in her work, “Don’t Bite the Hook.”)

Of note, I briefly cover these frameworks and traditions as well as cautions for the spiritual journey in my book, “Ten Developmental Themes of Mindful Leaders. The book version is available on my website as a free PDF download and an audio version available via Audible. I have also authored essays on some of them which are available on my website as well.

In addition to adopting and studying at least one of these schools, traditions, or frameworks, you may want to journal, and work with a therapist and/or reputable support group especially during the initial phase of this work. Minimally, I encourage you to have at least one trusted support person you can authentically discuss your experience with who will objectively listen without offering unsolicited advice.

To be continued.

Ego Inflation: The Dark Side of Charismatic Leadership

crowned personAmericans tend to have a fascination with charismatic leaders. They can awe and wow us with their apparent confidence and boldness. We may equate such boldness and swagger with some type of super- human power that we lack. Consequently, our inner child may experience a tug or pull to give our power to the charismatic leader. We may reason that with such confidence surely he or she knows more than I do.  Furthermore, we may reason, that if they know more than I do, perhaps they can protect me from the evils of the world.

Unfortunately, some charismatic leaders may welcome our immature fantasies. Such charismatic leaders believe that they are special, more capable, and more intelligent than others are. They may also believe that this specialness entitles them to say and do whatever they want to say and do, and others will fall in step regardless of the unlawfulness, immorality and insanity of their propositions. Minimally, this type of distortion represents ego inflation (narcissism, a clinical personality disorder, is a more severe expression of this phenomenon), the dark side of charismatic leadership.

Charismatic leaders under the spell of ego inflation have a highly distorted sense of self. They cannot see any of their flaws or shortcomings.  Furthermore, fear fuels the inflated ego as everyone and everything is a potential threat to its grandiosity. The inflated ego cares only about protecting itself and getting what it wants at all costs. It is blind to the carnage in leaves behind in its wake.

We might expect an inner warning signal to go off when we encounter the dark side of the charismatic leader. However, if we are not healthy, mature, and confident in our being, our inner child is vulnerable to the seduction of the charismatic leader. In his seminal book, Escape from Freedom, Erich Fromm (1900-1980) proposed that the thought of real freedom, freedom to choose, create, and live one’s life, frightened people more than inspired them.  It appears some of us may long for a perpetual childhood where others tell us what to do and when.  When we do, we refuse to accept responsibility for our lives or the state of our world.  Instead, we would much rather blame some “evil” other for our misery. Unfortunately, there are people who will gladly take our power and claim that he or she alone can save us or fix it all.

Confidence and self-esteem are essential elements of leadership. They allow us to embrace our strengths and take stands for what we care most about in our lives.  This confidence and self-esteem are necessary for effective leaders as well as healthy adult maturation. However, BEWARE of the charismatic leader with a highly inflated ego, who has lost touch with reality and is willing to do everything and anything to protect its fragile identity.  We know from our life experiences and history that this type of leader is dangerously destructive to his or herself, the people with who they live and work, and potentially to America and our world.

Leader Self-Development and the Necessity of Shadow Work

iStock shadow imageLeaders across the sectors are experiencing growing pressures to handle complexity, collaborate with diverse populations, and accept more responsibility for the impacts their organizations have on people and our planet. These increasing demands necessitate transformation of consciousness (i.e., perceptual shifts toward greater complexity and inclusivity) as well as deep inner work associated with surfacing and healing old wounds repressed in the basement of the unconscious (i.e., shadow work).

In his book, “Soul of Leadership,” Deepak Chopra highlighted the necessity for today’s leaders to include shadow work in their developmental plans for success.  Chopra’s book is one of the few leadership books that I have read thus far that specifically addressed the critical issue of shadow work in leader self-development and transformation.  For example, he cautioned, “Whatever you haven’t faced has power over you. You may set out to do nothing but good, but unless you become conscious of your shadow, the result will be denial. In a state of denial, you will face all kinds of negative effects from the external world, but you will be ill equipped to defeat them. Negativity is defeated only when you can integrate it into the whole fabric of life” (p. 120).

Psychosynthesis, developed by Roberto Assagioli (1888-1974), offers a promising holistic framework to illuminate and instruct a more integrative approach to leader self-development that includes shadow work.  Unlike psychoanalysis, the framework acknowledges and integrates a higher unconscious as well as a lower unconscious, middle unconscious, field of awareness, personal self or I, Transpersonal Self, the collective unconscious, and sub-personalities into its model of the human psyche.

In addition to these core elements of psychosynthesis depicted in the model’s “egg diagram” and several other important concepts (e.g., consciousness and will), psychosynthesis includes a dynamic five-stage healing process. Stage zero highlights the predominate stage of humanity characterized by what Assagioli called, the “fundamental infirmity of man.” In their book, Primal Wounding, John Firman and Ann Gila refer to this human condition as “primal wounding,” wounding resulting from not being seen and heard for who we truly are by significant others in our lives. Stage 1 relates to the tuning in of one’s inner experience and the cultivation of greater self-awareness.

Self-awareness is the foundation of all healing and development. Without self-awareness, we tend to react out of habitual responses, or what Firman and Gil refer to as, the survival personality. As self-awareness expands, we start to see all the ways we cause pain and suffering for ourselves and others through our habitual patterns, tendencies, and character flaws.  Initially, such self-revelations are painful. However, with ongoing compassionate effort, eventually, the fruits of liberation begin to ripen and provide a sweet taste of what is possible—freedom from the chains that bind us from happiness and fulfillment as well as role efficacy.

Thankfully, numerous modern and ancient practices (e.g., meditation, self-observation, journaling, etc.) offer leaders tools to cultivate greater self-awareness and expand consciousness. Over time, such practices help leaders recognize the physiological, emotional, and mental patterns associated with defensive and unproductive behavior, which allows them to begin disrupting old patterns and creating new, more constructive patterns of being and relating (additional stages include disidentification, contact with the Transpersonal/Highest Self, and listening & responding to the Transpersonal Self).

As highlighted by Chopra and other writers on shadow work (e.g., Shadow Dancing by David Richo), becoming aware of shadow elements with acceptance, nonjudgment, forgiveness and responsibility are essential dimensions of this challenging inner work which may require the support of a therapist, support group, or other reputable process or program. Consequently, a key opportunity (and necessity) for today’s leaders is to employ transformative practices (e.g., meditation–see my essay on mindfulness meditation) to both  surface  and address shadow issues as well as to expand awareness to more include expansive, inclusive, and complex realities as key dimensions of leader self-development.