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Lecture looks at shadow concept

Psychoanalyst John Betts will discuss Swiss psychologist Carl Jung’s concept of the shadow during a lecture at North Island College.

Psychoanalyst John Betts will discuss Swiss psychologist Carl Jung’s concept of the shadow during a lecture at North Island College.

Jung described the shadow as “the thing a person has no wish to be.” It is comprised of aspects of our nature which we find shameful and try to hide from others.

“The shadow is an intriguing aspect of our psyche. We tend to think of the shadow as that part of the psyche that dominated the extreme pathology of Hitler, Stalin or Jeffrey Dahmer. What often goes unsaid is that we all have a shadow and, given the right circumstances, can act out terrible behaviors against others,” Betts says.

Betts is a Zurich-trained Jungian psychoanalyst who lives and practices in Victoria. He has produced a series of free, downloadable lectures on the fundamentals of Jungian psychology entitled the Jung Podcast, which is available through his website at www.jungian.ca.

The lecture will begin this Friday at 7 p.m. in Room 203, Tyee Hall at the North Island College campus on Ryan Road.

Admission is $15 for members of the Comox Valley C.G. Jung Society and $20 for non-members. Participants are asked to pre-register by e-mail at cvjungsociety@gmail.com.

For information about the Comox Valley C.G. Jung Society, visit www.comoxjung.ca.

— Comox Valley Jung Society