Love Paradox and Shadow
Have you ever fallen head over heels in love with someone? I have and can remember the overwhelming emotion and power it had on both of us, but while in love sometimes we see the other person in an image that is beautiful to us, but not true of who they really are. Robert Johnson, author of the book Owning Your Own Shadow states, “to fall in love is to project the most noble and infinitely valuable parts of one’s being onto another human being (81). This can have both a positive and negative effect on a relationship. This scenario played out in my own marriage. As I flash back, I can remember both my wife and I running through the days of our relationship blinded by our own shadow projections of one another. There is a need for a balance between reality and disillusionment in falling in love. As these paradoxes become the center of our life’s contradictions, we are forced to find a balance. The beginning of my relationship started when I met Rose in a coffee shop. She was sitting by herself writing. I asked her what her name was …show more content…
I put Rose on a pedestal, giving her an image of divinity second to only my own. Johnson states “to fall in love is to project that particularly golden part of one’s shadow, the image of God-whether masculine or feminine-onto another person instantly, that person is carrier of everything sublime and holy” (62). I believe what Johnson is saying is that projection is where two people lay their positive unaccomplished hopes, ambitions and ideals of godliness onto one another to see those dreams play out. Putting this type of burden on someone else can cause extreme pressure on the development of a relationship. This started a noticeable effect on both Roses and I. Regardless of the new occurrences of opposition to our beautiful paradox we wasted no time in further getting to know each other and rushed into
Have you ever fallen head over heels in love with someone? I have and can remember the overwhelming emotion and power it had on both of us, but while in love sometimes we see the other person in an image that is beautiful to us, but not true of who they really are. Robert Johnson, author of the book Owning Your Own Shadow states, “to fall in love is to project the most noble and infinitely valuable parts of one’s being onto another human being (81). This can have both a positive and negative effect on a relationship. This scenario played out in my own marriage. As I flash back, I can remember both my wife and I running through the days of our relationship blinded by our own shadow projections of one another. There is a need for a balance between reality and disillusionment in falling in love. As these paradoxes become the center of our life’s contradictions, we are forced to find a balance. The beginning of my relationship started when I met Rose in a coffee shop. She was sitting by herself writing. I asked her what her name was …show more content…
I put Rose on a pedestal, giving her an image of divinity second to only my own. Johnson states “to fall in love is to project that particularly golden part of one’s shadow, the image of God-whether masculine or feminine-onto another person instantly, that person is carrier of everything sublime and holy” (62). I believe what Johnson is saying is that projection is where two people lay their positive unaccomplished hopes, ambitions and ideals of godliness onto one another to see those dreams play out. Putting this type of burden on someone else can cause extreme pressure on the development of a relationship. This started a noticeable effect on both Roses and I. Regardless of the new occurrences of opposition to our beautiful paradox we wasted no time in further getting to know each other and rushed into