While We Wait — Facing My Own Leftist Shadow

It is easy to identify President Trump’s shadow.

He calls others liars because he lies.

He blames violent behavior on others because he instigates it.

He talks about about “law and order,” because he is circumventing the law.

He blames others for corruption… go ahead — you can continue and just fill in the blanks.

Projecting one’s own shadow onto others and blaming them for it, has been a main tactic in Trump’s playbook.

But it is not just President Trump who does this.

No matter who wins, we are facing a nation that, in Jungian terms, projects its shadow. We deny what we are afraid of. We hide from what we despise in ourselves. Instead we project our inner demons and and our own denied darkness onto others.

And we have turned on ourselves. Our enemies are no longer foreign adversaries — but rather fellow citizens of the opposite political persuasion.

We cannot force others to face their shadow. But while we wait for the election outcome, we can face our own. And so currently, this is my question to myself:

How does my shadow manifest? What is it?

I don’t mean for this to become a psychological share-fest, but in order for each of us to truly stand in our power when the dust of this election settles, it will be beneficial to face the future with clarity and focus.

And there is no clarity and no focus if we have not confronted and integrated our shadow.

So what am I (a left-leaning intellectual) projecting onto others, and what are we, as a group, projecting on others? What is it I/we are reluctant to facing in ourselves?

We learn to understand things about ourselves by analyzing what it is that irritate, provoke, and make us fearful of others. That which triggers us.

What is it?

I know that obviously we, as a group, are stirred because of righteous concerns about democracy, continuing free press, equal access to healthcare and education, Climate Change, the rights of POC, women, LGBTQI people, etc. This is the obvious and collective part of what agitates us about Trump…