The ego wants to eliminate all negativity in order to “look good.” Jesus calls this self a “pretender,” a word he uses fifteen times in Matthew’s Gospel, although it is translated from the Greek as “hypocrite.” The ego does not want us to go down into the “personal unconscious” or our “shadow self.” We try to hide or deny this shadow, most especially from ourselves.
Our unconscious is not bad or evil; it is just hidden from us. Carl Jung described shadow as “the source of the highest good: not only dark but also light; not only temporal but also divine. This is why we should not avoid the deep self. Wild beasts and angels reside in the same wilderness, and it takes the Spirit to “drive” us there (Mark 1:12–13).
We absolutely need conflicts, moral failures, defeats, and even seeming enemies. They are necessary mirrors. Even if we only catch a glimpse of such shadows, they offer a moment of inner freedom.
Jesus preceded modern depth psychology by two thousand years when he said, “Why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the plank in your own?” (Matthew 7:4–5). Jesus talked about something caught in the eye and knew that if we see rightly, our actions and behaviors will eventually take care of themselves.
God wastes nothing and includes everything; He is best known for transmuting and transforming our shadow selves into our own perfect good. God brings us—often through failure—from unconsciousness to ever-deeper consciousness and conscience.
Matthew 7:4-5 “How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First, get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.”
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