I've not taken a break from my origin task, but I am constantly seeking to integrate what I find in the Bible or in authors who write about the Bible and what I find in psychotherapy technique and theory. So I have finished Keller's A Reason for God and do have a few mental posts relating that to the book on mirror neurons, as well as a few others. But recently I have been reading Richard Pratt's Designed for Dignity, which is a book taking a perspective from the Old Testament on what our purpose on earth was prior to the Fall and after, but I guess it never really has changed. Anyways, one of his points in the book is that we are made in the image of God, hence, we are not Gods nor anything less than images of Him. I see the point Pratt is making as very similar to and perhaps more applicable than Carl Jung's few of the person. Jung, a psychiatrist, friend of Freud, and somewhat philosopher is known for his work on analytic psychology. Jung proposed the idea of the shadow and ego. The shadow is the part of us that takes on all the undesireable traits we see in others, it is the opposite of the ego. The ego is our projection of what we like about ourselves, perhaps our best foot or the parts we like about ourselves. For instance, if I like to think of myself as thoughtful, then my shadow holds my potential to be more feeling oriented and vice versa. The interesting thing to myself is that Jung's theory is that we vacillate between thinking the best of ourselves and then the worst, basically from extreme ego to extreme shadow. I have found for myself that this can be extremely anxiety provoking and depression inducing. One minute "I am the best" and the next "I am terrible." I have seen this a lot in dealing with others as well. Jung proposed that we must learned to be centered between our ego and shadow, or perhaps acheive a balance.
I have found that thinking more of myself in this manner as tremendously helpful, but more so in the terms of Christ and being made in God's image. I have found Pratt's means to working this out in my own mind as most helpful. By Pratt's proposition and God's work, we are not Gods, hence I am not as wonderful as my ego likes to tell me at times. I find being humble as the best means to bring my ego to the center, rather than the use of the shadow that typically leads to a depressed state. On the contrary, I am not as bad as my shadow would like for me to believe at times. Hence, I find Pratt being helpful here in that I can have dignity and respect for myself being made in the image of God. I find having dignity is far more useful and helpful to drawing my shadow to the center rather than trying out my ego. Jung would say we have to break through the barriers in between to get centered. I just think the way God has made us and realizing that is far more effective.
