Shadow play...

"It is a very difficult and important question, what you call the technique of dealing with the shadow. There is, as a matter of fact, no technique at all... It is rather a dealing comparable to diplomacy or statesmanship.

There is, for instance, no particular technique that would help us to reconcile two political parties opposing each other... If one can speak of a technique at all, it consists solely in an attitude. First of all, one has to accept and to take seriously into account the existence of the shadow. Secondly, it is necessary to be informed about its qualities and intentions. Thirdly, long and difficult negotiations will be unavoidable...

Nobody can know what the final outcome of such negotiations will be. One only knows that through careful collaboration the problem itself becomes changed. Very often certain apparently impossible intentions of the shadow are mere threats due to unwillingness on the part of the ego to enter upon a serious consideration of the shadow. Such threats diminish usually when one meets them seriously."

- From a letter written by Carl Jung (thanks Kim!)