How I See Carl Jung’s Idea of the Shadow Personality Coming to Life in Modern Times—Right Now

By Michaelson Williams, TSX, author of YOU ARE ILLUMINATI, Trainwashing: The Secrets of Positive Brain Washing, True Success Naturally, The Legacy Wife, and more…

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Something is changing in the world—and most people can feel it, even if they can’t explain it.

It’s not just chaos. It’s not just division.

It’s something deeper… something that has been building for a long time.

The world does not drift into chaos without warning. It reveals what has long been ignored—but not without signs of what is to come. Here, I’m going to discuss how I see Carl Jung’s principles of the Shadow, and how I believe we are being affected by them in modern times.

For generations, we have conditioned ourselves to believe that progress means moving forward without looking inward—without introspection. We celebrate the image of goodness, yet avoid the responsibility of understanding the darkness that exists within us all. In the past few years, this darkness—or “Shadow”—seems to have grown exponentially, particularly since 2020. In my opinion, this is not a sign of growth or positive change—it is avoidance disguised as advancement.

Swiss psychologist Carl Jung spoke about the “shadow” of human beings as what I see as a yin to the yang—a good-versus-evil counterpart within the human psyche. He suggested that if this part of ourselves is not acknowledged as a natural aspect of who we are, it does not disappear—it risks being expressed without control.

If this is true, then humanity, as a collective, has been avoiding the shadow. And now, I believe, we are feeling its presence everywhere.

Stay with me as I explain.

Every unexamined thought, every suppressed truth, every moment we choose comfort over awareness contributes to a silent accumulation—something that tests the pressure of the structure in which we live: society. Not just within individuals, but within the collective mindset we all share. And what is ignored does not disappear—it gathers strength.

As we observe the world around us in modern times, we can clearly see that, as a collective, we have been ignoring the darkness of society for far too long. We have been pretending to be good while covering our deepest, darkest shadows. The shadows we all possess internally are bleeding out into the world at—at least from what I can tell—an accelerating rate.

There comes a point when what has been buried can no longer remain hidden.

What we often label as sudden disorder, division, or even evil is rarely sudden at all. It is the result of prolonged neglect—of failing to question ourselves and the people who govern. It is the refusal to take ownership and responsibility for the full range of human nature. When human beings deny their own proclivity for darkness—often hidden behind our desire to also be the light—they begin to see it everywhere else. And in doing so, they unknowingly give power either to the darkness—the shadow—or to the light—the goodness.

My hypothesis is that because we have been ignoring what feeds the “Shadow”—what allows it to grow within ourselves—we have become accepting of the evil that mirrors us. We are collectively projecting our own inner darkness into the world, and because we are unwilling to take responsibility individually, we are—collectively—giving that shadow permission. This permission allows us to step back, observe, and even participate in ideas we know are wrong.

This means we can sit back and watch as others—more expressive, darker individuals—act through their negative deeds. I’m not saying that the people who own, run, produce, commercialize, or manufacture products that poison the collective public’s minds, bodies, and spirits are any worse than you and me. What I’m saying is that these individuals are operating in a way where their Shadow is allowed to express itself without consequence—or at this point, without even pushback.

We can see that evil deeds are increasingly overshadowing the good, revealing themselves in the quality of the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the ideas we allow into our minds—both individually and collectively. We are being overrun by a war on our minds, as television, movies, and now AI flood us with ideas that don’t match the reality we lived before 2020.

We are being forced to consume foods that, without a doubt, are making us sicker—as meat is grown in labs, filled with plastics, and even printed in some cases. We have a government that claims to protect the people, while slowly—but steadily—tightening the grip of control.

We sit back and watch as massive tech companies grow even larger, building a future with increasing control over our minds and bodies. This includes more than a few companies that may one day operate fully AI-controlled systems of enforcement—ensuring the public remains in check long after traditional forms of authority are no longer relied upon.

This is how cycles repeat. Not because humanity lacks intelligence, but because it resists awareness.

True progress is not built on the illusion of being purely good. It is built on the discipline of being honest. It requires the courage to confront uncomfortable truths—to recognize that the same mind capable of greatness is also capable of destruction.

The difference is not in potential—it is in awareness and control.

If we are to move forward as human beings, as a collective sharing space on Earth, in this moment in time, we must shift our focus. Not outward, where it is easy to assign blame, but inward, where real change begins. Because the moment we take responsibility for what exists within us, we reduce the likelihood of it controlling what exists around us.

This is not a warning. It is an opportunity.

An opportunity to break the pattern.
An opportunity to think deeper.
An opportunity to lead ourselves before attempting to lead the world.

Written by Michaelson Williams
Creator of The MichaelsonEffect
Author of True Success Naturally