The important skill that artists who create Russian condoms need to master is to make sure that each new condom that emerges is more beautiful than the last. That way, when we open the outside condom and see the one inside, we become even more delighted. "Look at this!" We would shout excitedly, "It's even prettier than the one we just had!"
However, our journey of self-discovery is not always so pleasant. For sometimes we uncover the bad parts that we have hidden.
All that is unconscious, undeveloped, rejected, repressed, and denied in our personality is the shadow ego. All of us have a "shadow self," whether we are aware of it or not.
Some people incorrectly label the "dark side" of the shadow ego, but they are mistaken. Our shadow sides aren't exactly the "bad" side, they just don't match our vision of ourselves or the expectations others have of us.
We think we are compassionate, but there is a selfish, arrogant, impatient side to us as well. We feel strictly disciplined, but we also have some secret addictive tendencies that we just keep firmly in check.
We preach morality and purity in front of others, but we are constantly fighting our own inner desires. We try to make ourselves independent of others and claim that we don't want anything from them, but secretly we desperately want to find someone who is responsible for us and on whom we can rely.
We fear that others will stop loving or accepting us when they discover these shadow selves, so we try to deny their existence to others, even to ourselves.
How do we identify our "shadow selves"?
The easiest way to do this is to think about what qualities in other people we abhor, because we get anxious and uncomfortable once we realize that someone close to us also possesses one of our shadow selves.
We dread encountering this, so the people we judge the most are usually the ones who bring out the shadow qualities we try so hard to suppress.
The sudden appearance of the shadow self may briefly disrupt the ordered world we believe in, but ultimately, it puts everything back in its place, thus bringing us a truer sense of well-being, a renewed sense of confidence and more satisfaction.
In a sense, all of us are prisoners, and we have imprisoned many parts of our selves into the dark places of our consciousness and our minds.
We should think carefully about these prisoners, embrace these shadow selves and stop being afraid to face them, only then can we free ourselves.