| Revealing
the dark side of human nature has been one of
the primary purposes of art and literature. As Nietzsche puts
it,
“We have art so that we will not die of reality.”
– Meeting
the Shadow, The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature
Artists have had the reputation of openly
expressing the dark aspects of human nature. Not only apparent
in the anguishes, which tormented them, but also clearly depicted
in their art. For instance, in the well-known painting, The
Scream, the artist, Edvard Munch captures
the moment while walking along a path with friends and a flood
of anxiety overtook him. Another obvious example can be clearly
seen in Picasso’s infamous Blue Period. During this
time he was fueled by his own struggle with poverty and the
grief over the sudden suicide of his close friend. For three
years, he painted the suffering of beggars, drunks and prostitutes
in a color scheme of blues, blacks and bluish greens.
Whether the artist suffers from depression,
anxiety, obsessions or alienation, he or she develops an intimate
relationship with primeval emotions. A willingness to dance
with aspects of human nature, otherwise commonly suppressed
by the average person, enables the artist to access raw material.
In his article How
Inner Torment Feeds The Creative Spirit published
in the New York Times, Samuel G. Freedman, quotes Dr. Barry
M. Panter, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University
of Southern California and the director of the annual conference,
Creativity and Madness:
"The material artists use for their
art,'' Dr. Panter said, ''comes from the primitive levels
of their inner lives - aggression, sexual fantasy, polymorphous
sexuality. What we know about the development of personality
is that we all go through these stages and have these
primitive drives within us. As we mature and are 'civilized,'
we suppress them. But the artist stays in touch with and
struggles to understand them. And to remain so in touch
with that primitive self is to be on the fine line between
sanity and madness.''
Although the dark side may provide a deeper well of meaning
for the creative process, does this leave the artist vulnerable
to being consumed by such forces? Or would the artist benefit
from learning how to harmonize both the positive and negative
aspects of them selves?
Carl
Jung, founder of Jung Psychology referred to this dark
side as the “Shadow.” He described it as aspects
of the self, which have been disowned, suppressed or denied.
Jung believed essential to one’s personal growth and
wholeness was to incorporate the shadow side by integrating
it back into conscious awareness. One of the ways to achieve
this was by expressing suppressed parts through creative venues.
When working with creative individuals,
I often encounter clients expressing a desire to extract or
eliminate less desirable parts of themselves. Worn down by
society’s definition of “normal” and tired
of feeling alienated, they eventually conclude that their
artistic characteristics are flawed. In reality, therapy cannot
erase parts of the self, leaving behind only the good parts.
The healthier goal is to work towards integrating all aspect
through self-awareness and acceptance, as well as finding
ways to channel dark emotions constructively and creatively.
In a sense, the artist has one foot in
the circle of the shadow self, while the other is grounded
outside in order to balance both forces. In doing so, the
artist is able to access the material to fuel his or her creativity.
In his book Anger,
Madness and the Daimonic, The Psychological Genesis of Violence,
Evil and Creativity, Dr. Stephan Diamond, a clinical
and forensic psychologist, further explains this process.
What he calls “Benevolent Possession” is a voluntary
choice to invite in the dark forces to serve as a positive
and constructive influence in the creative process. He writes:
“The artist allows herself or himself
to be swept up in the raging current of primordial images,
ideas, intuitions, and emotions emanating from the daimonic;
while, at the same time, retaining sufficient conscious
control to render this raw energy or prima material into
some new creative form...it involves the total person,
with the subconscious and unconscious acting in unity
with the conscious.”
David
Richo, a psychotherapist and writer, also understands
the importance of befriending parts of ourselves. He writes
in his book, Shadow Dance: Liberating the Power &
Creativity of Your Dark Side:
“The challenge
is in accepting ourselves all the way to the bottom: admitting
and holding rather than denying and eschewing our arrogance,
our self-centeredness, our will to coerce others, and
any other dark truths we cannot face about ourselves.
All these constitute our negative shadow side, which can
turn out to be not so much a threat as a promise: we can
find the best in us in what is bad in us…acknowledging
and accessing the creative powers we have never believed
we possessed and have never put to use. This is our darkened
positive shadow side.”
The artist does not have to succumb
to his or her dark side, to be devoured slowly by their sufferings.
Instead they can move towards embracing all aspects of themselves,
which is essential to the process of becoming a whole person.
When the artist experiences a sense of self-acceptance and
skillfully integrates these forces into their art, this leads
to a more authentic self-expression. In the midst of harmonizing
conflicting traits, the artist also experiences a momentary
rest from his or her anguish. Thus, the old idea that creativity
accompanies misery and madness, no longer has to apply to
the identity of the artistic person.
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