Part One: Maintaining Psychic Integrity

by Reg Harris

Every psychological extreme secretly contains its own opposite or stands in some sort of intimate and essential relation to it.

Carl Jung, Swiss psychologist

Polar Opposition and Synthesis

In The Hero with a 1000 Faces (1949), mythologist Joseph Campbell writes of the Call Refused that sometimes “the predicament following an obstinate refusal of the call proves to be the occasion of the providential revelation of some unsuspected principle of release” (p. 64). In other words, adamantly refusing the Call to the journey may trigger an insight that releases us into a journey we need but have been trying to avoid.

In the 1930s, Swiss psychologist Carl Jung called this dramatic reversal or conversion of something into its opposite an “enantiodromia.” Basically, enantiodromias occur when a force, position or tendency grows to such an extreme that it dominates life. Because life tends to maintain equilibrium, a strong countertendency develops to compensate for this imbalance. As the tension between the two poles increases, the countertendency asserts itself, causing the dominant tendency to erode. Eventually the countertendency breaks through, causing the dominant tendency to flow into its opposite. This “flip” is the enantiodromia. Autocracy, pushed to its extreme, creates anarchy. Freedom, when it reaches superabundance, opens the door to regulation and repression. Timidity abused invites aggression, and blind loyalty exploited ends in revolt.

Jung introduced the term “enantiodromia” into modern psychology, but the concept of polar interplay and reversal is not new. Greek philosopher Heraclitus (535-475 BC) observed that all things eventually flow into or are replaced by their opposite. In the 11th century CE, Chinese philosophers expressed this same truth with the taijitu, in which opposing forces yin and yang are forever flowing into each other (see diagram below). Seven hundred years later, German philosopher Georg Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) expressed a similar idea in his dialectic, in which growth or understanding moves from thesis to antithesis to synthesis.

The rejection-reversal-release cycle characteristic of enantiodromias is a common theme in both literature and in the psychological dynamics of the Hero’s Journey, which is at the heart of literature and life. Teachers can use the concept to help students understand conflict and motivation in literature and give them a map to navigating life’s changes. An awareness of how the process works can help all of us manage periods of transition and turmoil in our own lives.

The Dynamics of Enantiodromia

Every position contains its opposite

Understanding enantiodromia begins by understanding the principle of polar opposites. This principle tells us that every position, system, tendency or force contains or implies its opposite: dark requires light to be dark, tall exists because of short, good delineates bad, aggressive implies passive, ethical mirrors unethical, kind is the flip side of cruel, and so on. Similarly, in life, none of us is completely one-sided. We all have polar potentials; we just express one pole and repress the other. The tolerant woman represses her capacity for prejudice, or the passive man represses his capacity for self-assertion.

This principle of polarity appears most clearly in the Chinese taijitu diagram (right). The diagram illustrates how Chinese thought views polar opposites as two sides of one coin. In Chinese philosophy, poles are not–as we view them in the West–in conflict or opposition. In our culture, light is at war with dark, good battles evil and so on. Zen philosopher Allen Watts explains this principle in Tao: The Watercourse Way (1973), writing,

to the traditional way of Chinese thinking, this [battle of opposites] is as incomprehensible as an electric current without both positive and negative poles, for polarity is the principle that + and -, north and south, are different aspects of one and the same system, and that the disappearance of either one of them would be the disappearance of the system (p. 20).

The important point here is that these opposite tendencies are not separate, opposing forces. They are poles of one system. The poles define or delineate each other. Psychologically, the poles represent opposite potentials in one aspect of our psyche. To focus on one potential while denying the other is not just foolish, but impossible.

Jungian psychology calls this counter or opposite tendency the “Shadow.” The name “Shadow” conjures up images of the dark elements of our psyche; however, the Shadow is not necessarily “evil.” It is the unconscious repository for those aspects of our personality that we find unacceptable or uncomfortable. If, consciously, we are shy and retiring, our Shadow would contain the outgoing and assertive side of our nature. If our outward nature is friendly and tolerant, our Shadow would hold our antagonistic and narrow-minded tendencies. The point is that the painful or unwelcome traits the Shadow contains are still part of our character, even though we tend to hide or repress them.

The assumption here is that the opposite to the person’s attitude is likely to be a part of him too, yet a less-developed side of his personality.

Claudio Naranjo, gestalt psychologist

Repression Seeks Expression

These repressed shadow tendencies eventually will seek expression. In fact, because these tendencies are as much a part of us as our conscious tendency, we cannot repress them without eventually experiencing psychological problems. The more we repress them, the stronger they push toward expression. As Jungian psychologist Jean Houston wrote in The Search for the Beloved, “Those denied aspects of yourself, shadow and all, are having their stories rendered impotent and unseen. Inevitably they will rise in revolt” (p. 97).

Emotionally, the problem is that the Shadow is “raw” and unknown. We don’t know how to handle it, so we suppress it and reinforce our expressed tendency. Our psyche maintains balance, so devoting more energy to our expressed tendency causes greater pushback from the Shadow. This repression-expression loop intensifies until the pressure from the repressed tendency exceeds available psychic energy, and we begin to lose control

Elements of our Shadow begin to leak into consciousness, affecting our behavior and relationships and inhibiting our ability to think and act. Our dominant tendency begins to lose coherence as it yields more and more energy to our Shadow. Eventually, the Shadow overwhelms the conscious tendency completely. When this happens, we experience a shift in our perspective, beliefs and behaviors. Our personality undergoes a reversal or transformation: an enantiodromia.

Anything that is resisted or suppressed will be compelled to seek release. And when it succeeds, as it will, most often its expression is wildly distorted, having hurtled itself out from behind the force of our resistance.

Dr. Judith Rich

The Enantiodromia in Life

Enantiodromias are common in both literature and life. In Part II of this article, I’ll explore in detail several literary enantiodromias. For now, I present a couple of simple examples to help clarify the concept.

We’ve all heard stories about a mild-mannered man who “suddenly” becomes violent or, in American slang, “goes postal.” Perhaps this man has been exploited or manipulated repeatedly, yet remains passive. However, the more he clings to his passive tendency, the more his subconscious aggressive tendency pressures him in compensation. That aggression begins to leak into his consciousness, hampering his ability to function and, perhaps, showing up in flashes of temper.

The man tries to control these impulses, but eventually, he will exhaust himself. With his defenses depleted, his aggressive side breaks through, and he begins to act violently. This reversal—from passive to violent—may seem sudden, but the transformation has been building unconsciously for some time.

In other cases, an enantiodromia may release a person’s true nature or passion. Suppose, for example, a woman has committed herself to growing a business even though she has always felt pulled toward art. To prevent the artistic impulse from distracting her, the woman redoubles her efforts at business. This increased intensity creates a compensating increase in the suppressed artistic energy. The woman has created a cycle of repression and recommitment that intensifies until she exhausts herself and must take a break from work.

This “down time” creates an opening in her conscious life for the artistic impulse to break through. While recuperating, she begins to paint. She discovers a deep satisfaction in the activity and questions returning to business at all. In this case, by repressing her artistic counter tendency (her “Call,” in the context of the Hero’s Journey), she initiates a situation where the imbalance in her thinking leads to an enantiodromia.

The only person who escapes the grim law of enantiodromia is the man who knows how to separate himself from the unconscious, not by repressing it—for then it simply attacks him from the rear—but by putting it clearly before him as that which he is not.

Carl Jung

Dancing with the Shadow

Enantiodromias are neither bad nor good. They are the mechanism by which our psyche maintains equilibrium. When we fixate on one aspect or pole of our personality and deny its opposite, we throw the psyche out of balance. Enantiodromias restore the balance by forcing us to acknowledge and integrate the conflicting poles. Both sides have their place in our lives, and we must express both to maintain psychological integrity. In short, we must learn to dance with the Shadow.

Negotiating with the Shadow and incorporating it constructively in our lives can be a complicated and delicate process, so it is beyond the scope of this short article. If you feel the need to explore your own challenges, I recommend seeking professional guidance. However, if you are interested in enantiodromias and working with the Shadow aspects of personality, here are links to articles that offer information, insights and advice.

Six Strategies for Integrating the Shadow

How to Integrate Your Shadow – The Dark Side is Unrealized Potential

How to Own Your Shadow before it Owns You

A Definitive Guide to Jungian Shadow Work

References

Campbell, J. (1949,1967). The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Houston, J. (1987). The Search for the Beloved. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam.

Naranjo, C.  (1993). Gestalt Therapy: The attitude and practice of an atheoretical experientialism. Nevada City, CA: Gateways/IDDHB.

Rich, J. (2012, October 24). Six Strategies for Integrating the Shadow. HuffPost. Retrieved on March 29, 2021, from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/shadow-self_b_1967030

Watts, A. (1973). Tao: The Watercourse Way. New York: Pantheon Books.