4 Enlightening Ways Shadow Work Is Spiritual

A popular question we get asked on this blog is the question: “Is shadow work spiritual?”

Yes, shadow work is part of a paradigm that helps you connect with any higher power you believe in. It helps you with your own psychology while helping you develop your spirituality. It resonates most with people who are inclined to be intuitive, emotional and philosophical, intellectual, etc. People who are more “bound to their physical senses” or are primarily logical may not resonate as much with this material but can still benefit spiritually from it.

Before we get more into it, let’s go over some key concepts.

What is Shadow Self & Shadow Work?

Your shadow self, or shadow, is the side of yourself you have no awareness of. It holds all the qualities you disowned during your formative years.

Although you learned to repress these qualities and push them outside of your awareness, they still live underneath the surface.

They unconsciously guide your actions and are the unseen cause for many of the troubles in your life.

Shadow work is the intentional practice of becoming aware of your unconscious shadow and integrating these neglected qualities into your being—becoming whole.

This is a process of building self-awareness, self-acceptance, and universal Love.

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
Carl Jung

NEXT READ: Everything About Shadow Work (Comprehensive In-Depth Guide)

4 Enlightening Ways Shadow Work Is Spiritual

Spirituality is the idea that you are a small part of a much bigger whole while acknowledging a higher intelligence at work encapsulates your own.

Here are lessons that make shadow work spiritual:

Judging is Self-Sabotage & a Negative Feedback Loop

The shadow can only really be observed indirectly. This means that initially, you won’t be able to see it on yourself, but you can see it on others.

The idea of “other” is fundamental here. Because you will instinctively project your shadow onto an “other” who has a quality you’ve disowned.

Many times this is due to your upbringing. Based on a trauma you’ve experienced or a value you picked up.

For example, if your mother told you that the other boys won’t want you if you’re fat, then you likely grew up doing two things:

Judging overweight people
Doing your best to prevent weight gain

Do you see what’s going on here?

You dehumanize and consider yourself superior to an entire group of people—based on the arbitrary belief that wasn’t even your own and isn’t even true.

Your ego even bases its value on that comparison.

What hurts is that you love food… like a lot.

But you live in a personal hell where you have to deny this part of yourself in fear of becoming “one of them.”

Hell is living in a world of your own expectations and hurting every moment you know that you’re not living up to them.

And then what happens when you get a bit older and start putting on weight? Or you get injured, and you gain weight due to necessary recovery?

Because of that judgment you held so deeply, you will now live in shame of your existence.

The same people you looked at with triggered disgust are now the same people with whom you are inarguably able to identify with.

The only way to get over this arbitrary self-hate is to accept this as a part of yourself.

Shadow work is an act of self-love. Every quality that a person has exists within you, too, at varying degrees.

But by altogether rejecting a quality in yourself, you are actively engaging in self-hate.

Life is long, and it’s foolish to think that the circumstances people go through that you look down upon won’t happen to you.

Now I hope you understand how your mind is tricking you into believing that you and “other” exist.

The idea of “other” is a projection, and it always comes back to bite you in the ass.

Which we’ll get more into in the next point—

More accepting of everyone, the projection knowledge needed to see you’re actually part of a whole

Everyone’s first assumption is that others see the world the same way as themselves.

The most meta way of describing this is by understanding that—

If you judge other people, you will think others are judging you too.

Remember that there is “judging,” as in making patronizing comparisons, and the discerning judgment that falls under observation.

Mature discernment is self-aware and is much less likely to fool itself the same way as someone with a typical judgmental attitude.

Understand that when you go out and judge others, you are projecting stories at them.

You are assuming you know how they think, how they act, their lives, and circumstances—much of these stories are expectations you’ve attached to the qualities you’ve rejected within yourself.

Because keep in mind, you rejected these qualities for a reason. You do have negative expectations and stories attached to your shadow qualities.

Again, the mind is fooling you to believe you are not part of a bigger whole. That there is you and “other” when the concept of “other” is only a projection of the mind.

When you learn to stop judging people, you will no longer feel as if others are judging you.

This isn’t the most straightforward task. But being aware of it helps a lot.

When you stop judging others, you will stop judging yourself. You will stop your self-sabotage.

The negative feedback loops from your shadow beliefs will no longer haunt you; “Everyone is out to get me,” “Nobody can be trusted,” and any other outlooks that with obvious recoil.

By seeing everyone as perfect, and understanding they are the best they could’ve possibly been—*at this given moment—*you will be more accepting of others and be more willing to see yourself as part of a whole instead of an “other” separate piece.

Taking back your share of fate

The World is always at work, and your life is under its unseen influence. However, when you aren’t aware of your unconscious, you give undue credit to the World for your life.

One of the most significant side-effects of “shadow-making” is the inner child wounds you accumulate.

Check out What is Shadow Work and Inner Child Work?

An inner child wound is a remnant of unprocessed emotion that has evolved into an existential belief about yourself that you learned in your formative years.

These beliefs are not only dysfunctional, but they also take you further away from the idea that you belong in this world.

The biggest issue is that you won’t have any awareness of these unconscious beliefs about yourself initially.

They are embedded deep within your psyche, and they convince you that the World and your Self are pitted against each other. But that’s not the case.

These unconscious beliefs are what keep you misaligned in life. They have tainted your psyche.

It’s by becoming aware of these “shadow beliefs” that they lose their unseen influence over your life.

Until then, whatever belief you hold in your psyche, your unconscious will seamlessly influence you to relive.

You will unconsciously seek to fulfill the existential position that gives you the validation you’re used to, based on your inner child wound:

Nobody can be trusted
I’m blameless & you’ll always forgive me
I’m always wrong
I am pure
I am helpless
The world wants to dominate me
I’ve always been a loser
Everyone is ungrateful

You will unconsciously live out these positions in your relationships—even when it’s against your self-interest.

Until you become aware of this, your psyche is in arrested development.

Learn Self-Love through God, or Infinite Intelligence, Higher Power, etc.

The story of Jesus Christ is about a boy who was born to a mother but no father.

Without a healthy and whole support system, he must rely on the Father, God, to give him any Love he didn’t receive in childhood.

This is similar to all people who had inadequate parenting.

A parent can teach a child to be polite and civilized to be a functional member of society. But not all parents are equipped to do this in a way that teaches their children that they are still loved regardless.

Not adequately building “secure attachments” with the parents usually results in inner child wounds.

A secure attachment reflects a person’s connection with God, or their “transcendent function”—the ability to trust one’s instincts and self-direction while being aligned with the higher intelligence at work.

A damaged connection—or a lack of adequate self-trust and self-love—causes people to struggle in their lives. They have dense shadows, and things don’t seem to go their way.

This is because finite intelligence is no match for Infinite Intelligence.

It takes genuine self-love to align with this higher intelligence—something many people don’t have.

Those who have adequate self-love are already unconsciously aligned with God. Those without self-love will consciously and consistently struggle.

This is why spirituality is essential. It helps close the gap between you and your security with a higher power—albeit a more deliberate and conscious effort.

NOTE: Self-Love, Love, God are all the same things.

If you are interested in self-development to improve your psychology and self-love:

Here are some resources I recommend:

A Light Among Shadows is a guide to self-love and being that helps you overcome negative self-talk, instill genuine self-acceptance, and overcome self-hate and resentment by making sense of people’s level of consciousness and your spirituality.

Shadow Work for Beginners Series helps you beat negative patterns and beliefs, integrate your shadow, heal your inner child, reclaim your projections, build emotional maturity, and take back your life by becoming whole.

Shadow Work for Relationship Series helps you heal your attachment style, navigate relationship issues, and build a healthy, mature relationship.

Advanced Shadow Work is an ongoing publication with continued in-depth insight and practical advice you won’t find anywhere else on the internet for practicing shadow work, self-awareness, inner healing, spiritual development, and more!

Approved Tools

Tarot Cards (incl. Manifestation Manual ebook) provide insight and intuitive guidance for personal growth and decision-making.

Chakra Crystals (incl. Ancestral Healing ebook) can bring balance and harmony to your mind, body, and spirit.

Book of Shadows (incl. Shadow Work Journal) is your own special journal that you fill up with your energetic intentions as you scribe your own inner practices to be passed down to others.

Subliminal Bundle uses different hypnosis tracks to subconsciously improve your health, love life, motivation, self-love and much more.

These products are not affiliate links, we do not get a commission when you purchase these tools. We are supportive of our partnership with Sinful Goods for offering small websites a chance to promote their brands.

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