notnertllennoccm's review
5.0
The human shadow is a very fascinating topic to me and of the books I've read so far on it (the both of them) this one did the best in terms of defining and explaining the necessity of embracing your shadow. While not as poetic as Robert Bly's book on the same topic, it does make up for it in clarity.
mikepage7176's review
2.0
This was my first time consuming anything Jungian, and maybe I'm not used to it, but it's an odd worldview. There are plenty of interesting concepts that might have been sussed out better, but the author's writings just come off as a bizarre stream of consciousness. He's constantly asserting things with no factual or literary basis. Square pegging into quite a few round holes. As an example, he just states the reason for sexual dreams being conflict or unease in life or something. Then just moves on. Doesn't say why, or speak to variations, or why others might say otherwise. It's grating and hard to handle.
There are a few things worthwhile. But I was usually left frustrated since I wanted a bit more. A deeper dive into how to merge the light and dark would have been helpful. Can we go deeper into Faust and the ego and what not? No. What about ceremony makes society healthy? Dunno...
As an aside, I'm a Christian. I found his syncretism annoying. He misreads Scripture so often is distracting, and a speaking to the dark side of the psyche without mentioning things like repentance or redemption just misses the mark for me. You don't rehab the old man, you put him to death.
Some nuggets that may get you contemplative don't do much to bring this up to anything more than a few underlined passages in a dull write up. Thank God it was short.
There are a few things worthwhile. But I was usually left frustrated since I wanted a bit more. A deeper dive into how to merge the light and dark would have been helpful. Can we go deeper into Faust and the ego and what not? No. What about ceremony makes society healthy? Dunno...
As an aside, I'm a Christian. I found his syncretism annoying. He misreads Scripture so often is distracting, and a speaking to the dark side of the psyche without mentioning things like repentance or redemption just misses the mark for me. You don't rehab the old man, you put him to death.
Some nuggets that may get you contemplative don't do much to bring this up to anything more than a few underlined passages in a dull write up. Thank God it was short.
brittni915's review
2.0
I love studying about Jung, but this book was just a review of what the shadow is. I was looking more for a guide. This isn’t it.
moonwitch's review
challenging
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Definitely examined through a Christian lens.
jtisreading's review
3.0
Worth the quick read, but only because it takes just a few hours to read the entire book, it's a decent introduction to The Shadow, but many other books take a much deeper and more evaluative form. Johnson excels in creating amorphous abstract thought that allows growth within self-thinking and helps in conjunction with his Inner Work.