Shadow and Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance
When someone holds onto their beliefs so strongly, they have a desire to keep their perception consistent with this firm religious belief by any means necessary. The conflict between beliefs and behavior is what we label cognitive dissonance. This is something we all experience in our lives, If we do something deliberately while knowing it’s bad for you or wrong, that is cognitive dissonance. Psychologically we become uncomfortable with internal contradictions and prefer internal consistency.
Carl Jung’s Shadow
The shadow is one of many archetypes identified by Carl Jung as collective ideas or beliefs that are unconsciously passed down to us. It is easier to point out within ourselves because we are our own worst critics. The shadow is the part of us that we do not want to see, our imperfections. Anything within ourselves that we find unacceptable is the shadow within.
Concept Application
My choice to best explain the concept is from one of my all time favorite movies, Star Wars. More specifically, I’d like to use Anakin Skywalker, the character who later becomes Darth Vader.
Anakin Skywalker Causes Dissonance
There are many points in Anakin’s life where he goes through dissonance. It will raise and fall based on where he is in his life. One pivotal point caused a huge paradigm shift. His religious belief is the Force and his drive is to stop death. First he fails to stop his mother from death and second he fails to save his wife. This need for immortality is the path Anakin chooses when it comes to his ultimate religious goal. The desire to maintain this belief and make it reality is so strong within him that he even dreams about it. In order to reduce dissonance, he has to let go of all the fear he’s built into feeding this unwavering attachment to eternity. Eventually he does, with the help of his son Luke. Unfortunately he dies right after but better late than never.
Anakin and his Shame
Shame is a prominent source of dissonance that Anakin went through. It caused a paradigm shift in his life towards the dark side. There are many things Anakin did that could be considered socially unacceptable. That guilt would push him towards the huge shift he made in his life. Being a Jedi and taught the ways of the force conditioned him to let go of his emotions like hate, anger, jealousy, and even love. His attachments were to be let go, as each one is another step towards the dark side of the Force. When he finally lets himself out of control, giving into his shadow, the shame continues to pile on, fueling him throughout the rest of his life. His sense of self collapses completely as he destroys his body, forcing him to end his days in a suit to keep him alive, thinking he killed his pregnant wife before their children were born. In addition to all of this, he took several lives including that of children. The list keeps going, and with each item, his dissonance changes.
References
Figure 1 - McLeod, S. (2008). Cognitive Dissonance [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-dissonance.html
Figure 2 - Varella. (Artist). Anakin Fanart..? [Web Drawing]. Retrieved from http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/anakin-skywalker/images/23147198/title/anakin-fanart-fanart
Figure 3- Anakin and Padme [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/anakin-skywalker/images/2951828/title/anakin-padme-wallpaper
Figure 4 – Revenge of the Sith [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://massassi.ourhobby.com/massassi/movies/movies/03_revenge_of_the_sith/m3mov19.htm
Figure 5 – [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://movies.hollywoodrepublican.net/2011/04/star-wars/
Cherry, K. (n.d.). What is cognitive dissonance?. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/f/dissonance.htm
