Integrate the Shadow

We’ve all heard of a tale or two about a protagonist on an arduous quest to slay a dragon. The challenging battle with the winged, fire-breathing beast is the climax of the story. Once our hero defeats the dragon, he gets first dibs on the bright gold in the sacred treasure chests. The entire tale, from start to finish, is a representation of The Hero’s Journey. This journey starts off with a call to adventure, reaches its peak when the hero enters the abyss, and ends with our hero returning to his home. By the time the journey is complete, the hero is a different person. Perhaps he has new skills. Maybe he is more knowledgeable. Or, his character transforms. In fiction, this change is called “character development.”

Traditionally, the character that partakes in The Hero’s Journey is dynamic and round. As a reminder, a dynamic character is a character that changes throughout a story and a round character is a character that is complex. For the purpose of storytelling, a main character that does not change and is one-dimensional is less interesting than someone that develops in some capacity. Humans, being conflicted and mortal, more effectively relate to a multifaceted character. Humans are not robots. Nobody ends their life as the same person they began as. We all mature at different points of our lives, some more thoroughly than others.

Since the beginning of time, the only constant is change. Maturation is a part of the natural order. Cubs behave differently than bears; caterpillars behave differently than butterflies; children behave differently than adults. Understandably, if a subject of a Hero’s Journey is a child, he is expected to be more mature after coming out of the trip full circle. Another theme that can be linked to The Hero’s Journey is the concept of integration.

What is integration? What does it mean for a person to be integrated? A human that is integrated is whole, meaning that he is capable of embodying both the societally agreeable and societally disagreeable aspects of his personality. In other words, he doesn’t repress the “dark” or “bad” qualities of his being. He is aware of his shadow. Conversely, someone who is not integrated continues to block his shadow from his conscious perception. The shadow can be conceptualized as the agglomeration of character traits that are typically anti-social with respect to the cohesiveness of a society.

When an infant is born, he is whole. His shadow is integrated. However, as the infant progresses through his life, he is taught that certain behaviors are “good” and other behaviors are “bad.” “Good” behaviors are those that contribute to the maintenance of a culture. “Bad” behaviors are those that disrupt a social order. If the child behaves “badly,” then he is chastised and punished. When he behaves “well,” he is encouraged and rewarded. The developing ego of the child pushes the “bad” inclinations into the abyss to appease the superego. In this case, the superego is the set of parents that the child has and, more broadly, the society in which the child resides.

The more a child shoves the “bad” impulses into the unconscious, the more repressed he becomes. The more repressed the child becomes, the more disrupted his integrity becomes. Repressed people lack integrity. They are unintegrated and lack wholeness. At face value, repression can often seem beneficial for society. However, repression, which is unpremeditated by definition, proves to be detrimental to the individual because unconscious impulses are unable to be called upon in situations in which they are needed. Alternatively, repressed impulses often influence an individual in insidious ways.

Take a schoolboy named Neon, for example. Another kid physically picks on the boy. If Neon is psychologically healthy, his natural impulse will be to fight back in self-defense. So, he rightly punches the assailant. Both of them are suspended from school due to an anti-violence policy legislated by the district. Once Neon arrives home from school, he relays the situation to his parents. His parents instruct him to not fight back again, since they are afraid that they’d get sued if he gets in a physical altercation and they have little money for a babysitter to watch him during the weekdays. Neon learns to quell his natural aggression.

As Neon gets older, he finds that it’s difficult to speak his mind. He shuts down whenever the people around him get emotionally heated during an argument, even when he has insights that would help calm the room down if stated. He believes there is no point in contributing to difficult discussions and remains on the down-low. He falsely thinks that self-assertion is wrong. The foundation of this belief stems from his childhood experience in school.

Because Neon has repressed his natural aggression, he is unable to utilize it. This vitality lays dormant in Neon’s unconscious mind. Repressed impulses that can’t be utilized can be described as “blocked.” Blocks are both psychological and physical. They show up in the mind and in the musculature of the body. The mind of a person like Neon is distorted; the body, inhibited. The mechanism that constricts the body is called “character armor.” This armor, which is explained in detail in another post I made titled “The Ideal Personality,” blocks the perception of pain. It blinds one to his inner turmoil.

If a person possesses armor that is chronic and operates independently of the ego, that person is what psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich terms “neurotic.” On the other hand, a person whose armor is flexible and under the control of the ego is “self-regulated.” The neurotic person is split, while the self-regulated person is whole. The neurotic person unconsciously turns a blind eye to his shadow, while the self-regulated person constructively sublimates his “bad” impulses to achieve goals. The former lacks integrity, while the latter is integrated.

Neon is neurotic. Almost everyone on this planet is neurotic to an extent. Self-regulated people are rare diamonds. Neurotic people have ferocious internal dragons they must battle and demons they must befriend. Self-regulated people have no giant internal dragon to fight and are in command of their “angels” and “demons.”

Reich had observed more specific differences between the armored neurotic and the unarmored self-regulated character. He elaborates on these distinctions in Ether God and Devil & Cosmic Superimposition (1973). According to the psychoanalyst, the neurotic person looks for meaning and purpose in life. If said neurotic fails to find any abstract meaning to latch on to, he feels empty. Living purposefully and meaningfully, the psychologically integrated person, in contrast to the neurotic, paradoxically neglects this act of searching.

The neurotic functions in accordance with the laws of man, while the integrated individual functions in accordance with the laws of nature. The neurotic fails to perceive the pulse of life, while the integrated organism dances with the flow of life. On multiple levels of his psyche, the neurotic possesses a “deadness,” which is showcased by his personality. The integrated person is vibrant. The neurotic uses his character armor to hide from life, while the integrated person embraces the peaks and valleys of life without holding on to any numbing falsehoods or delusions.

On a physical level, the armored neurotic puffs out his chest to appear “tough,” sets his jaw to appear “determined,” and restricts his pelvis to appear “civilized.” This muscular phenomenon happens unconsciously. The neurotic does not realize that he lives his life dishonestly and without integrity. In contrast, the unarmored, integrated person knows that he can assert himself with his libido when the time comes for self-assertion. He has no inclination to contort his body in an artificial manner to navigate through life. The libido that pulsates through his body is free-flowing, akin to the energy of wild animals and several small children.

Unlike most human adults, many young children and all non-human organisms are whole, integrated, and pure. One can say that children are born “bad,” if we define “bad” as lacking the ability or willingness to fit the mold set by a culture. Likewise, animals can be considered to be “bad” due to being uncivilized. But can the word “evil” truly be used to describe these beasts? No, says Reich. He justified his position by stating that animals don’t rage war on each other or disrespect the biological rights of their young. Animals kill under three conditions: 1) to eat, 2) to defend territory, and 3) to protect themselves and their young. Since resources are limited, defending territory ensures an animal access to these life-sustaining resources. Animals kill out of necessity, not pleasure.

Humans fight each other for goals that have nothing to do with their immediate biological needs. They involve themselves in wars to fight humans that never threatened their way of life. Dictators spring up, spreading their nasty propaganda to brainwash masses of citizens. Fruits of labor are stolen by bureaucratic entities and then utilized in manners that fail to benefit the victims. Doctors circumcise innocent little babies right after they are born in cold, stale rooms. Humans often enjoy hurting other human beings.

Granted, it can be argued that animals lack the intelligence to perform the atrocities mentioned above and are therefore not “more moral” than us. That’s a fair argument. Reich, however, argues that these acts of indecencies are supported and performed by only armored humans. He theorized that a world consisting of only integrated organisms would experience none of the tragedies listed above. As a reminder, the integrated Homo sapien lacks chronic armor and is orgastically potent. If a person is “orgastically potent,” then the energy that flows through their body is unimpeded. Since the energy is not used to repress uncomfortable psychic content, it is fully available for the achievement of goals. Clarity of thought is enabled due to the lack of restriction.

“Integration” is an idea that has been dissected by those like Carl Jung and Friedrich Nietzsche. They posed the question, “How does one become an integrated man?” They each have their own prescriptions for those who want to ascend.

Near the end of his career, Reich discovered the possibility of allowing a child to be born and stay integrated throughout its entire life. The solution is simple: ensure that the child develops no chronic character armor. However, to accomplish this in a society full of armored humans is no easy endeavor, as Reich learned from a case study named David. The experiences of working with this case study is outlined in one of Reich’s books – Children of the Future (1985).

From conception to the age of six, David had been monitored by his parents and Reich. The adults assisted the boy in slaying any metaphorical dragon that would hatch from its egg. They ensured that the boy fully faced and thoroughly processed any psychological friction that came about in his life. They let him act out his animalistic impulses in a controlled, private setting while simultaneously raising him to operate as a respectable member within the public sphere.

Personality-wise, David was a naturally generous child. He never needed to be told to share items. When the his armored peers did not reciprocate his kindness, David became desperate. The little boy was markedly social, getting along well with nearly everyone and forming friendships swimmingly. On the flip side, he could become red with anger if an explanation was not provided for why he didn’t get something he wanted badly. However, David was never sadistic; that is to say, he never took pleasure in tormenting other children. The boy did occasionally display a nasty attitude, but this happened only as armor began to take its roots in his body. Once the armor was eliminated, the boy’s natural gracefulness returned.

Physically, David’s body easily yielded to passive movement and was mostly soft. The only rigid (armored) part of his body was his pelvis. His gait was coordinated and his skin was warm. He was a physically active boy and ran well.

The body and mind are one. The body reflects the soul and the soul can be assessed by the body. “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” they say. In the context of armoring, this old saying collapses like a line of falling dominoes. You often can make accurate assessments on a person’s character based on the physical attributes of said person’s body, along with how they move and their mannerisms.

A child’s biological needs need to be sufficiently met at each stage of development in order for it to grow into an integrated adult. These stages are the same ones listed by Sigmund Freud – oral, anal, etc. In advanced societies (i.e. post-nomadic societies), it is rare for a child to have all its developmental needs met, hence the severe degree to which neuroses are widespread among the humans on this planet. Any developmental disturbance will induce stress in a child. The child can bear this emotional turmoil for only so long. If this stress continues for longer than the child can handle, the child’s body blocks the pain by constricting the muscles associated with said pain.

Psychoanalyst Alexander Lowen uses the anal stage to illustrate this repression in The Voice of the Body (2005). He observed that once the anal tensions of a patient were released, the patient’s unconscious memories of overly strict toilet training became conscious. The patient felt the raw emotions associated with the stiff regime that had been blocked for decades. Such a patient becomes less obstinate and “anal,” personality-wise, once he successfully integrates the formerly blocked energy from the pelvic floor and anal sphincter. Life is energy. Most people are not nearly as vital as they would be if they’d had been raised to be integrated (have no chronic armor).

Taking the aforementioned patient into consideration, it can be said that adults are able to realistically slay their dragons (armor) as well. For a case study of an adult “slaying his dragons,” read Me and the Orgone (1971) by Orson Bean. However, although adults can slay dragons, it’s much less of a hassle to fight a baby dragon than a full-grown version of the beast.

Nevertheless, whether a person is a child or an adult, said person needs to slay all his dragons in order to reach his full potential as a human. Based on his analysis of patients, Reich noted the ease with which the integrated, unarmored human copes with the vicissitudes of life. The unarmored human is a natural human with no pretenses or self-deceptions. To the envy and suspended belief of his neurotic peers, the self-regulated person glides through his life like a bird sails in the sky.

As previously stated, integration, as pertaining to the internal character traits of an individual, is one of the themes involved in The Hero’s Journey. The idea of taking a voyage into the depths of the mind and heart has fascinated humans for centuries, hence the existence of the arts and humanities. The chronically armored neurotic, who has been running away from his internal dragons for close to 10,000 years, has been philosophizing and intellectualizing about these reptiles during his flee. The orgastically potent self-regulated character slays his dragons as soon as they hatch from their eggs. He basks in the sea of gold coins and milks the juices from life.