“Higher Self” and “Dark Side” Morality — A Christian Response to an Ego Trip
Higher Self & Dark Side Morality
A Christian Response to a Futile Ego Trip
“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 aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.”
Your “higher self” and your “dark side” (a pop culture bastardization of what Jung called the “shadow self”) are just atheistic, ego-centric alternatives to God and Satan. A central problem is that they both hinge on the exaltation of your ego and self, which inherently lack objectivity. Thus, Good becomes subjective to your preference. Then, when your “higher self” achieves its self-defined Good, pride is the inevitable outcome. And when your “dark side” inevitably prevails, it’s inseparable from you.
In faith communities, we may not always use such trendy language, but the same idea is often prevalent. Many rely on internal feelings to determine Good and Evil. “A check in my spirit” and “I don’t have peace about it” may be indicative of Good or Evil, but such feelings in isolation should not rule the day or be the basis for morality. Many times, what’s Good isn’t easy or what we want. Likewise, an aversion to something doesn’t make it Evil.
From a Biblical perspective, reliance on one’s own ethics, thoughts, and preferences is a faulty foundation for morality. As we all know, and even Jung explained, people are complex and often contradictory creatures. We often don’t know what we want, need, or truly value. We sabotage our own self-interests. Our opinions change. And, perhaps worst of all, we are largely ignorant. Even if we could identify the most informed person alive, he or she would have only a myopic view of the totality of universal experience. Whether individually or through some sort of collective amassing, reliance on self as the arbiter of Good and Evil is ridiculous at best.
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”
So what’s the alternative?
In contrast to the “higher self”/“dark side” moral guide, the Bible teaches that Good is external and objectively defined by God and produced only through God. God alone is Good. Restated: You and I are not Good.
“No one is good — except God alone.”
Because God isn’t dependent on humanity, Good stands on its own, apart from the condition of humanity. Human Goodness cannot be self-generated, but it can be adopted by accepting the reality of God’s Goodness. The only Good we can experience is not to our credit but wholly attributed to God. By practicing degrees of Good, which is simply the acts stemming from an acknowledgement of what is truly Good, we are not producing Good — we’re merely resisting it less. Acknowledging the reality of God’s Good isn’t an intrinsic credit to one’s self — it’s simply a rightful, neutral position.
Likewise, we don’t produce Satan. Satan (which literally translates to “the enemy”) is that which opposes the inherent Goodness of God. The product of Satan’s opposition to God’s Good is called Evil. Like Good, Evil’s existence isn’t tied to individual humanity. Evil is externally defined.
“The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”
For instance, since Good includes the virtue of forgiveness, Satanic Evil is the enemy that produces unforgiveness. Unforgiveness is Evil but not autogenic. It’s simply the opposite of Good. Thus, our acts of Evil are not an inherent part of us. They can be separated from us without denying or diminishing our true selves.
“Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
Just as we are neither God nor Good, we also are not Satan nor Evil. We are humans, with endless opportunities to participate in God’s Good. If we choose not to, we’re participating in Satan’s Evil. At our best, we can only align ourselves with Good for the neutral exaltation of God. Vice versa for Evil: At our worst, we can only align ourselves with Evil in a futile attempt to oppose the supremacy of God. The Biblical truth is that humanity has been created in neutral goodness but is susceptible to both Good and Evil. Often, our free will results in both. This vulnerability is why a war is being waged both for and against us.
Relying on your own feelings to guide your morality is essentially the act of supplanting God with self. And any such failure to acknowledge and yield to the supremacy of God is Satanic. The results of which are Evil. So while it may be self-indulgently gratifying to think that your “higher self” or “dark side” can properly guide you, that form of hubris is fraught with problems. Your limited knowledge, finite intelligence, shifting emotions, conflicting desires, and time-bound perspective make you — and everyone else — highly susceptible to making the wrong decisions. The stakes are life or death, not something to take lightly on an ego trip.
— John