Uploaded October 2022 | Updated September 2026, 14 hours ago
The Shadow archetype is a crucial sources of symbols of value for human life, to help us avoid threats. However there is often a mismatch between our responses to the shadow (linked to negative emotions), and the most practically adequate response to threats, because the threats have changed so much in modern life. We can most helpfully use the shadow to help alert us to human absolutizing, rather than increasing our stress levels unnecessarily by going into loops of anxiety about things we cannot change.
This talk is the sixth in the 'Archetypes and the Middle Way' series by Robert M Ellis, delivered in the context of Zoom meetings in the Middle Way Network. It is followed by discussion with the audience and by a recommended practice focus. For more about the Middle Way Network see middlewaysociety.org/events/middle-way-network
The Shadow archetype is a crucial sources of symbols of value for human life, to help us avoid threats. However there is often a mismatch between our responses to the shadow (linked to negative emotions), and the most practically adequate response to threats, because the threats have changed so much in modern life. We can most helpfully use the shadow to help alert us to human absolutizing, rather than increasing our stress levels unnecessarily by going into loops of anxiety about things we cannot change.
This talk is the sixth in the 'Archetypes and the Middle Way' series by Robert M Ellis, delivered in the context of Zoom meetings in the Middle Way Network. It is followed by discussion with the audience and by a recommended practice focus. For more about the Middle Way Network see middlewaysociety.org/events/middle-way-network
