What does it mean to be authentic?

Authenticity II. The Shadow, according to Carl Jung.

Reviewed by Andrea Amaral

If the Persona is the mask we wear to face the world, then the Shadow is everything we’ve hidden behind it.

In the first article of this series, we explored the concept of the Persona—how it forms, why we need it, and what happens when we mistake it for the full story of who we are. But if becoming authentic means moving beyond the mask, then we have to ask: What exactly are we hiding underneath it?

Carl Jung called this hidden part of ourselves the Shadow—a term that doesn’t refer to something sinister, but something unconscious. The Shadow is made up of the traits, emotions, desires, and memories we’ve rejected, suppressed, or disowned, not because they’re inherently “bad,” but because at some point in our lives, we learned they were unacceptable, unsafe, or unlovable.