Authentic Self, Pt. 2

It's 12:12 am, much later than usual to write, I probably won't add much, but let's see what wants to be said.

When adults speak of the authentic self, and then remind us to acknowledge Shadow and to use our Integrity and MORAL effort to unearth it to the curative power of the Light, what do we say to a 15, 16, or 17 year old who has little Shadow and not much strata to dig through in search of one's authenticity?  How do we add ken's description of the young and the Soul into our daily interactions with teens? And how much of this is safely done in schools?

Work with Zones #1 and #2 as separately as possible, for one thing.  Deal with the inner subjective thru dream work, investigating spiritual and religious differences in their experiences, which is something I am now digging into in my research.  Deal with the inner objective to explain the constant stream of feedback that students receive daily, and contextualize it.  That gives the Authentic Self room to grow in a healthy environment, and gives the teen as best a reality check as possible before going beyond the "nurturing" confines of high school. This fosters the Individuation process, or movement toward the integration of inner and outer realities in a meaninful wholeness.  Who more than teens needs this done for them with sensitive and wise educators who have done this process themselves?  Can you imagine qualifications for this Life Course, which would be required prior to graduation: "Teacher must be in a process leading to Enlightenment, self-inquiry, or other transpersonal work".  OK, let me dream.....

Let's go Jungian for a minute, and deal with the social self/persona/ego of the conscious, mediative role that interacts with others and navigates on a daily basis, and the unconscious that represents both demon (Shadow/rejected self) and Infinte Ground of Being/heaven.  Sibylle Birkhauser-Oeri speaks to this as the Individuation process, "a psychological pattern of development that leads one into a confrontation with one's shadow side and with evil, and also involves owning up to unrealized potential". (1988, 23)  WOW----RIGHT ON!! 

Kids are fascinated with their dreams, and during these stressful years, can come upon quite a few realizations from them.  I do a Jungian guided meditation with several archetypes that I then discuss (that will be described in my book!) and each student discovers something authentic from that (perhaps) first forray into their subconscious.  For those who are interested, I offer lucid dreaming, and each year I get the right kids to go more deeply into it.  Then during the year, they come to me and we discuss their particular dreams, altho I never never present myself as a psychologist, and rush them downstairs to the child study team if their dream is not really transparent to them or to me.

And what of their Shadow?  I first teach them Freud's defense mechanisms, and I explain that these are all ways of dealing with untolerable levels of anxiety, then asked why they drank, did drugs, and they responded YES, it is to self-medicate against anxiety!!  So now they have a reason that is authentic, real, true, and just leaves the truth out there for them to deal with.  Of course I have tons of teaching stories to illuminate each of them, and I make sure that it relates to their lives, the 1/3 of their time that is rarely acknowledged in school, their lives of quiet or rowdy reactivity and energy-depleting time spent dealing with anger, jealousy, betrayal, hurt, terror, etc.

So they now understand that there is hidden wisdom beneath the mascaraed eyes and Juicy couture outerwear.  It feels to them as exciting as Lewis and Clark must have felt, exploring a new world.  But the experience is theirs, and they now have a few methods of entering into a dialogue with the hidden parts of themselves.

I add to this study of brainwaves, and they understand the UR correlates to these UL manifestations without reducing the UL to the UR.  One of my kids found KW's brain wave experiments where he flatlines his EEG on YOUTUBE, and I was able to teach from that, which just blew their minds!!!!! Ironically, I had just spent a night at a sleep lab, and had my own results for them.  Their next question was, how did he DO that??  The answer---30 years of meditation.  And being KW.

Their seeing him with active Delta waves while flatlining the others gave vent to many questions.  Here's where some of my "drug-experienced" students catch on faster than others.  Nate asked, Is that the Witness???  An "A" for him.  We then got into endogenous and exogenous altered states, which I contextualized sociologically, and then gave them KW's talk on how it will not get you any where except becoming a burnout and getting into heaps of trouble.  

I might get into a heated discussion with psychologists here, and i am going on instinct and experience only.  But when it comes to teens (and perhaps others, I don't know), Shadow, Authentic self, is where character education misses the boat.

What is the Shadow? what is considered to be the inferior part of the personality, or as Jung noted, 
"The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort.  To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspect of the personality as present and real.  The act is the essential condition for self-knowledge, and it therefore, as a rule, meets with consideable resistance.  Indeed, self-knowledge as a psycho-theraputic measure frequently requires much painstaking work extending ove a long period"  (Singer, 1973, 215).

So we are aking for teens to continue moral education while not splitting off certain aspects of themselves that might become projections, impulsive acts, or reasons to engage in dangerous behavior.

We need to explain to them that there are some parts of themselves that need to incorporate social norms and not disrupt the educational process for themselves or others.  Concrete thinkers can have this spelled out to them in cause and effect terms as THE RULES; formal operational thinkers will be able to conceptualize it as necessary to assist them in the future with their personal and career goals.  My exercise on value-->norm--->sanction makes complete sense to them, even tho they will grouse about the value.

We need to explain to them Eriksonian stages of development, and what their existential questions are.  They will have to know that guilt has a socially productive purpose, and that those without any guilt are predators.  "Who am I?" is a crucial question for them, and should be followed thru the curriculum a part of the UL, not just as part of the LR or UR.  Using personality tests are fun, non-threatening, and neutral; they help the teens understand the categories into which they fit, beyond "cool", nerd, slut, jock, etc.

We need to traverse spiritual/religious questions, which will become more and more difficult, and less and less likely to be mentioned in public schools as we balkanize education.  But I still argue that by dealing with the 4 Qs, it can be done tactfully and relevant to everyone in the class.  Then again, I did not have ultra-fundamentalists this year.  Without integration of these aspects of American life, we leave them without HEALTHY ADAPTIVE RESPONSES TO THEIR ANXIETIES!!!!!!!  Stan came to me after his operation and said that since he quit smoking pot, he has no clue how to ease his psychic and physical pain---IS THIS NOT A GREAT INSIGHT?" And if we want them to say NO to drugs, how are they to deal with their anxieties?

We need to figure out---I don't have any wise answer here at all---how to structure a public school where the kids feel free to engage these questions.  They already know that my class is a safe space, and I just know that there are other teachers who can do the same in their subjects.  We put pink triangles on the doors for safe space for gays; why not put turquoise infinity signs or quadrants!! on the doors of teachers where it is safe to discuss inner processes and thoughts.

I often speak of my course as an owner's manual to the Self.

OK, it's after 1 am, and I am getting sleepy.  Dream on....