The Power of the Monster Within

Nietzsche once said, “spend not too much time fighting monsters lest you become one; when you gaze into the abyss the abyss gazes also into you.”

But what if the monster and the abyss existed within oneself? Indeed, a monster does in fact exist within each of us, and it is what Carl Jung might call the ‘shadow’ self. It is that part of us that we often repress of otherwise wish did not exist. Although it appears in different forms, with different intensities for different people, common themes include anger, fear, anxiety, lust, and so forth. These emotions are some of the most powerful we can experience, and often they have been heightened and made more intense via traumatic life events.

Yet the shadow and the associated emotional states are inherent to the human repertoire of emotions. The destructively powerful forces that comprise our shadow selves are a constituent part of us. But too often we fail to confront, let alone properly integrate, our shadow. The result is that we are often unknowingly hindered or even controlled by our shadow. Do you ever lose control when angry? Have you ever felt overcome with lust? Succumb to addictive tendencies? How much time do you spend consciously trying to hold such things at bay?

As Alexander Solzhenitsyn said, “the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every man.” It is ultimately up to each of us to confront our shadow selves and confront reality: there is a monster living inside us. In order to achieve worthwhile pursuits in life we must face this monster within us, integrate our shadow, and co-opt its power into our Being, for the good of existence. By honestly staring into ourselves we will find monsters, but we need not become one. It is possible to confront the shadow and integrate it, and in so doing achieve what is effectively a super power: self-mastery. Once one integrates the power of the monster within, one can begin to fell the monsters outside.