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Robert Bly talks about the concept of ‘the shadow’ as a long bag we drag behind us. He states that up to a certain age , we decide which parts of ourselves we put in the bag, then spend the rest of our lives trying to figure out how to get what we initially put into the bag out. In that bag may be our best parts, like the freedom, vulnerability and abilities our forefathers packed up in their bags. This bag is full of all the things we deny in ourselves, which may be nothing to society, but an integral part of our growth and enlightening. The downfall to the ‘long bag’ is that whatever you throw in it, you will never have access to it again. And the more we throw in the bag, the heavier the bag we drag behind us. And the more we hide away in the bag, the less that is left of our authentic self.