The Psychoneuroimmunology of Shadow Projection (Part 2)
An Evening with Tim Lyons June 25, 2021
“May the frightfulness become so great that it can turn men’s eyes inward, so that their will no longer seeks the self in others but in themselves.” C. G. Jung, The Red Book
“I’ve spent many years alone with the process of unlearning. Have you ever unlearned anything?” C. G. Jung, The Red Book
In part 2 of this program, we will explore how we can develop somatic consciousness in order to unlearn some of our most primal, instinctually and biologically conditioned attachments. The child’s awakening at birth is charged with duality from the first cry of chaotic, inflammatory emotions that interrupt the sleeping, dreaming experience of oneness in the womb. The first breath of air boots up the immune system of the infant and the essential journey of seeking connection begins. The initial inflammatory shadow projection of chaos at birth is appeased as the archetypal instinct to search for nourishment kicks in. If one is lucky enough, the flow of mother’s colostrum, the yellowish fluid, “liquid gold,” almost narcotic, dense in nutrients and antibodies, soothes the infant. The golden shadow of paradisal oneness is projected within the union of mother and infant.
The ultimate vulnerable shocking moment at birth triggers the fight or flight response of the sympathetic nervous system. Then, in an alchemical transformation, it shifts to the emotionally healing, digestion and procreation supporting, immune enhancing, parasympathetic nervous system. This alternation of compensatory dualities; psychic and somatic, diastolic and systolic, of dark and golden shadow projection, is the beginning of the hero’s object relations journey.
The embodied pattern of dependent object relations, once essential for the survival of the infant, may develop into attachments to the bad object. These stressful, auto-immune-inducing, co-dependent attachments can become deadly, even as we struggle to grow to independence. Understanding these frightful situations can help mobilize our will to turn inward so we can make conscious choices that are biologically and emotionally sustainable to the Self. The goal is to transform our own natural internal psychopharmacology to promote nourishing inner peace and conscious individuation.
Timothy Lyons 