On Earth Day, The Minds of Gray Whales & Our Shadows

Gray Whale Mother & Calf, San Ignacio Bay, Baja, Mexico || Photo by Lisa A. Rainwater (2006)

In the minds of gray whales there is an inner geography, cartography unknown to us. It urges them along the electromagnetic directions of the Earth. They read the polar constant from inside themselves. They know it by birth as well as by the placement of the sun. The mental maps of the gray whale are more powerful than anything we will know, as lost as we sometimes seem to be, even thinking we know our way … They watch the ever shifting world beneath as if they know the natural history of water, still mysterious to us, and far from constant. They have their own vision of the world, a waterway.

Because we inhabit a world that seems fixed, seldom do we think of a map as something that exists not on paper or chart … But in the seamless sea, the mind of the gray whale contains a map deep, fluid, and as shifting as the coastal currents. The whale has an elemental knowledge of its world, not only the shape of coastlines, point by point, but the radiance and direction of light. ~ Brenda Peterson & Linda Hogan, Sightings. The Gray Whales’ Mysterious Journey (2002) [1]

What would it mean for us to journey through life like the gray whale? How could we connect with our elemental knowledge of the world? How could we read inside ourselves for guidance, direction, vision?

Nature is our teacher, every day. We only need listen, smell, taste, touch, and observe. On this 53rd Earth Day, reading our profundity can lead us into a verdant chartreuse and emerald-painted forest, where we can chase our Shadow amidst spring’s dew drops and cadmium yellow rays of sunshine.

Coming to understand the self in connection to our natural world and to others is an enlightening journey into waters and forest floors that we inhabited eons ago. Well before the study of epigenetics, Carl Jung posited that a hidden and repressed part of the self, aka The Shadow, “reach[es] back into the realm of our animal ancestors.” [2]

While The Shadow is often referred to as the unknown darkness inside of us, Jung maintained that it also contains the lightness inside of us. Lightness such as repressed instincts, creative energy, intuitive and realistic understanding. Might we, then, liken The Shadow to the gray whale’s elemental knowledge of “radiance and direction of light?”

Inviting your shadow to come forth.

Boxing with one’s shadow includes reading inside to uncover what parts of the self we unconsciously project onto others. Through observation, you may begin to realize that a behavior or trait you dislike in another is actually a behavior or trait of your own. Shadow work also includes identifying, accepting, and releasing parts of the self we suppress and repress out of unconscious shame, revulsion, and humility.

Our shadow grows and develops unconsciously alongside our physical self. It is influenced from an early age by our unconscious and conscious messaging we receive and interpret from our parents and caregivers. We internalize their positive and negative attitudes towards our body, feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. Our shadow stores these messages, which unconsciously play out in our individual and collective existence on earth. At the individual level, personal and professional relationships can be impacted. At the collective level, cultural, social, and political engagement can be thwarted.

London-based Jungian analyst and psychotherapist Christopher Perry explains:

The harsher the attitude, which may have been expressed by withdrawal of love, rejection, physical/emotional/sexual abuse, the more hostile we are to these facets of our shadow. At worst, the shadow becomes inextricably entwined with abandonment anxiety so that its emergence can really feel like a matter of life or death. [2]

Accepting your shadow, the light and the dark.

The gray whales’ mental maps allow them to travel annually up and down the Pacific coast, from Baja, Mexico to the Behring and Chukchi Seas—12,000 miles round-trip. Their connection to the earth, the sun, the moon, and the stars provides them light in darkness and darkness in light.

Step outside today. Turn toward the sun and look for your shadow. Inhale life. Exhale peace. You’ve taken the first step on finding your guidance, direction, and vision.

Happy Earth Day!

Lisa

Lisa A. Rainwater, PhD, MA (couns) LCMHC, NCC, CGP, CT is the owner of Rainwater Counseling in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she provides relational attachment, grief, and depth psychotherapy to individuals and couples. She earned a master’s in German Studies from the University of Oregon; a master’s in counseling from Wake Forest University; and a doctoral degree in German and Scandinavian Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is a Certified Thanatologist through the Association of Death Education and Counseling and is seeking certification in Grief Therapy as Meaning Reconstruction at the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition.

Notes

[1] Peterson, B, & Hogan, L. Sightings. (2002). The Gray Whales’ Mysterious Journey. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic.

[2] Perry, C. (2015). “The Shadow.” The Society of Analytical Psychology.