Crushing the Head of the Snake

  We recently reintroduced the concept of the second self into class discussion, but this time regarding the encounter between two beings. I was struck by the fact that we referenced a shadow self as elements that we’d rather not reveal about ourselves, rather than a completion of self.

This form of shadow self is just as valuable as an Enkidu or Patroclus, though. It confronts us with our perceived failures and asks us to grapple with whether or not they are controllable or perhaps instead not failures at all.

I was reminded of the scene of the crushing of the snake’s head in C.S Lewis’s “The Great Divorce.” The snake—temptation—begs that its life be spared. Because it appeared as a companion, hearing its pleas and acknowledging that it will permanently die makes any action against the plaguing influence (a parody of a shadow self) inherently much more difficult. In some sense, the shadow self has a competing self-preservation instinct that may make us hesitate and spare it. Killing it will prevent us from hearing it in the future—thus if it was correct, it will no longer be able to advise us.

Except the truth has ways of creeping past even willful ignorance. Perhaps the tormentors like the snake—parodies of the more virtuous shadow selves—need not be kept around for “completeness of opinion’s sake” at all.