Written By Anahitha Raffe Sofia
The other day, I was listening to music from a random playlist on Spotify (you know how you search for one song and a bunch of others similar to that one are in that playlist?) when this very familiar yet unfamiliar song starts playing. I go looking for it only to find that it was the forgotten gem from 2020 that is Interlude: Shadow from BTS' album Map of the Soul: 7. Looking at the lyrics made me fall into a rabbit hole of theories and explanations, and realize how much deeper the lyrics are, what we can learn from it, and how it relates to today’s problems.
What is the Jungian Shadow?
“The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge, and it therefore, as a rule, meets with considerable resistance. Indeed, self-knowledge as a psychotherapeutic measure frequently requires much painstaking work extending over a long period” (Jung 145).
(Note: If you guys don't know who Carl Jung is, you are missing out on the best class offered at AK. Its not too late now, sign up for AP Psych, I promise you won't regret it)
Carl Jung’s goal was to understand the human mind and expose what determines people’s identities, makes us who we are. He divided the Self into the archetypes of the Persona, the Ego, the Shadow, and the Anima and Animus. Let's save the others for another day and focus on the Shadow. This is the part of our unconscious mind that Jung believed to hold all the things about ourselves that we repress, whether because they are evil, socially unacceptable, harmful to others, or detrimental to our own health. In summary, our Shadow embodies our inner darkness, the things about ourselves we hide, the damage we experience in our lives but never fully heal, desires we cannot satisfy.
Now back to Interlude: Shadow.
“Shadow at my feet
Look down, it's gotten even bigger
I run but the shadow follows, as dark as the light's intense”
These lines allude to how the higher you go, the larger your shadow gets. It also refers to how the brighter the light you are standing in front of gets, the darker your shadow appears.
“People say, there's splendor in that bright light
But my growing shadow swallows me and becomes a monster
Up high, high, and higher, higher
I only go higher and vertigo overtakes me
I rise, rise, I hate it
I pray, I pray, hoping to be okay”
For the people seeing your success, it might seem like you are at the top and that there is ‘splendor in the bright light.’ They do not realize how the bigger the light gets, the bigger the shadow gets.
“The moment I'm flying high as I wished
My shadow grows in that blasting stark light
Please don't let me shine
Don't let me down, don't let me fly
Now I'm afraid”
You might never realize the implications of your success. Reaching your dreams will give you a sense of accomplishment and success, but they will also come with sacrifices, whether it is your sleep, your friends, family, or health. Nothing ever comes for free.
“The moment I face myself brought lowest
It so happens that I'm flying the highest”
These are the lines that hit me the hardest. The moments you perceive as your lowest might actually be seen by others as your highest. These past months I had been struggling with juggling all the things I took upon myself. I kept wondering why I decided to do them, why I once dreamed and yearned for those things, when all they brought me now were sorrow and a sense of being lost in the world. Constantly surrounded by people yet being lonely. So much time yet nothing to do. It was a slap of reality to me when in multiple separate occasions, peers came to me to convey their admiration for all I did, telling me that they aspired to be like me one day and asking me what my goals for the future were (which in high-schooler talk is just which colleges I’m planning to apply to). I realized that I too had once been in their place, and that I knew exactly what they thought they saw and wanted, what their ideal life was, while I truly knew what i was going through and what these heights entailed.
“Try smiling, what are you hesitating for?
Wasn't this the kind of thing you were hoping for?
Or cry instead, what are you scared of?
Wasn't this the kind of thing you'd been wanting?
The life you hoped for, the life you wanted
The life you chose, you achieved everything without regrets
So what's the problem? Just enjoy it
Or just let it go, no? Then run, or stop
Don't whine, just choose one or the other”
These lines are a call to action to look into oneself. Ask yourself, if this doesn't make me happy, why do I do it? Is it worth doing something that makes you unhappy every time? This is the fight between the rest of the Self and the Shadow. Even though it is painful to continue to be on the top, the shadow craves the selfish calls of fame and fortune with a disregard to our own well-being. the consciousness of its helplessness in its own situation.
However, as Jung says, “to achieve Individuation, a person must reconcile all the good and the bad within himself.” What does this mean for us?
“ I'm you, you are me, now do you know
We are one body, sometimes we will clash
You can never break me off, whatever you do
You'll be at ease if you admit it too
Succeed or fail, whichever way you flow
You can't escape, wherever you go”
These lyrics drive home the oneness of the two parts. You are not just your consciousness. You are the wants of the shadow and the cries of the consciousness in tandem. This is the double-edged sword of the self conveyed by Jung. There will always be fear of falling as well as a subconscious want to continue to pursue fame and new heights.
“Please don't let me shine
Don't let me down, don't let me fly
Now I'm scared
Don't let me shine”
In today’s competitive world, it might feel like everyone is doing something and that you will be left behind if you let up for even a moment. Everywhere I see are students stressed out about the future. There’s the student doing ACT problems during the 3 minute brain break in class to take it for the 5th time and try to score a 35, higher than the 34 they scored last time. There's the bleary-eyed kid walking out of the room of the house we came to visit at 12 in the morning to get another textbook to study all night for an exam that is months away. There’s the person who is frantically typing an essay in my English class for yet another application for yet another leadership role. Stop. It's alright. It is human nature to want and keep wanting, but you need to step back for a moment and think, “What am I running for?.” Read that book at your bedside that you had no time to read. Watch that show your friends have been raving about all week. Get takeout at that new place down the road. Take your brother out to that movie that he's been begging you to watch with. Chase your dreams but keep close all that it dear to you. Fight against that Shadow to save your Self.
Notes:
Works Cited
Feccomandi, Andrea. “Shadow Archetype | Who is the Shadow? Examples and Use - bibisco.” Bibisco, 17 November 2023, https://bibisco.com/blog/shadow-archetype-examples-and-use/. Accessed 17 April 2024.
“Interlude: Shadow (English Translation) – BTS.” Genius, 10 January 2020, https://genius.com/Genius-english-translations-bts-interlude-shadow-english-translation-lyrics. Accessed 17 April 2024.
Jung, Carl Gustav. The Portable Jung. Edited by Joseph Campbell, Viking Press, 1971. Accessed 17 April 2024.
Lonngi, Gail. “The Jungian Shadow and Self-Acceptance.” Texas A&M University at Galveston, https://www.tamug.edu/nautilus/articles/The%20Jungian%20Shadow%20and%20Self-Acceptance.html. Accessed 17 April 2024.
Perry, Christopher. “The Jungian Shadow - Society of Analytical Psychology.” The Society of Analytical Psychology, https://www.thesap.org.uk/articles-on-jungian-psychology-2/about-analysis-and-therapy/the-shadow/. Accessed 17 April 2024.
Stein, Murray. Jung's Map of the Soul: An Introduction. Open Court, 1998. Accessed 17 April 2024.
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