Here is where "juicy boyos" get cut off at the Nietzsches. Yes, of course, we need to form our own values, or rather "own" the values we exercise, but only in a certain sense.
God says he wrote what he requires on every man's heart, such that all are without excuse. That is why even an atheist knows right from wrong innately, at the level of conscience. We are all burdened with existential angst born of ethical dilemmas and freedom of choice. There are many ways to seek relief, some fall prey to self-delusion; or vain speculations from those who think themselves wise.
Moralists grow in the most inhospitable soil, even when blinded by reason and alienated from God. In the West, some go mad trying to escape their conscience with rationalizations and moral equivocating. In the East, there are various techniques to either deny self, deny choice, or flow with "instinctual" energy.
After all, there can be no guilt if there is no self, or if one acts instinctively, without hesitation, without rational thought. By not striving for what one cannot achieve (at either end of the spectrum), it may seem wise in your eyes, since a path forward is easily produced. We can equate the "middle way" of the Eastern mindset with what God disparagingly calls "lukewarm", neither hot nor cold.
If you are lukewarm, you are taking the easy path but it does not necessarily lead to God. He spews you out like tepid tea and you continue to suffer more existential angst until you finally make a decision. What side will you play for, the light, or the dark? Choose wisely, there are consequences, the stakes are your very soul, your "self".
Regrettably, some take a path of repeated grievous violations, until their conscience becomes seared as with a hot iron. They become completely given over to their vices and have nothing to look forward to, except the impending doom of approaching judgment.
Jung would say such people are taken over by their shadow. Freud would say such impulses come from the Id. However, a highly educated second temple Pharisee was chosen by God himself, to supply the solution to this most vexing and ancient of problems.
The great apostle Paul described Jung's shadow in Romans 7 and gave the solution in Romans 8. It turns out if you just trust God and put your faith in him, he is willing to help you develop your own values (Nietzsche's quest) by exercising your conscience and making decisions as a free moral agent.
What's more, like a good parent, he provides both grace and discipline during the necessary growth process. Tough love, so to speak, with your ultimate good (and that of others) in mind. He wants you to "OVERCOME" your shadow and thereby "OWN" your values.
However, only those who make a "leap of faith" can be "led by the Spirit". That is the source of the real "juice" you need to overcome your dark side - "de wey" is hard and few find it.
If one is "stiff-necked", one can resist, grieve, or even quench the Spirit. The Knight of Faith cooperates with God, he invites the Spirit in - to renew his mind, to heal his psyche, to strengthen him in the "inner man", to teach him knowledge and wisdom from above - to work in and through him.
It is only within this willing synergy, that power from God flows freely, to do work within us that we cannot do ourselves. Shadow work is somewhat akin to the Christian understanding of the process of sanctification. Paul said - "if you live according to the flesh (shadow), you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body (shadow), you will live ."
The warfare is within, as Freud, Jung, and many others have said, but the solution is not to embrace your dark side and integrate it. First of all, your physical flesh is not evil, to think so would be Gnostic, not Christian thinking.
By flesh (Sarx), Paul means the drives (desires, lusts) within us that produce " sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. "
You must overcome these drives by walking in the Spirit and making no provision for the "flesh", not by (as Jung suggested) letting your "bad boy" out to play, for fear it will grow stronger and consume you if you don't. Or fear that you will be weak, uncreative, and undesirable without it.
That is where Jung went wrong, he took a view held by some in the East. A view which attempts to balance the psyche but in the wrong way. He advocated accepting the darkness as part of oneself, an inescapable part we should accept and integrate, even draw strength from.
Jung correctly identified the problem but he did not accept the solution that God actually provided, as communicated by the apostle Paul. Boyos beware. Boyo alert.
The Knight of Faith has no need to draw strength from the dark side, he is strengthened by God himself, in the inner man. By persevering through trials and tribulations, through great existential angst, he is trained by God to exercise his conscience, to be SELF-controlled. As he matures, he comes to OWN the values he exercises, as he learns to take RESPONSIBILITY for his own choices.
In that sense, like a growing child, every man can have Nietzsche's "wet dream" of his own values. Not values imposed by family, society, institutions, or a book, though the bible is a helpful guide when interpreted properly. In the end, one must accept the entity (GOD) that the book points to, in your innermost being, in a permanent, ongoing relationship - OR NOT .
IF NOT , you are still made in his image and answer to the conscience he gave you. You may attempt to escape into delusion, or burn your own conscience, but this will end in tragedy. If you respond with faith you will find not only the peace you seek, but also a sound mind, power to overcome, and everlasting life - faith is the pearl of great price.
In common vernacular, no matter what your culture calls God, you need to be in personal contact with the source of life. He revealed Himself in the flesh, in the person of Jesus Christ, foretold by the 70 weeks of Daniel and many other prophecies, he came right on time and did exactly what was foretold.
He poured out his Spirit upon ALL flesh, he strives with ALL men, though most reject him. Attach to the vine and you, as a branch, will effortlessly bear fruit. If you do not attach, or choose to detach later, no institution, no guru, no book, not even the bible, can save you. You will wither and die, none of your rational speculations, institutional sacraments, or cultural inheritance, can supply life - let alone life everlasting.
It is that simple, so simple that you must check your adult rational speculations at the door, and enter the relationship like a little child, trusting in the one who loves you and knows more than you do. You must surrender to God and allow Him to guide you like a wise father, to mold you like a skilled potter molds clay. To finally trust the ONLY teacher you should trust, the Spirit
Then, as you live your life forward in faith, you will be able to look backward and understand what it is meant by " all things work together for good to those who love God ". When you see how he has led in times gone past, it strengthens your faith in the present, in the eternal now, as he continues to lead you from glory to glory.
Even Jung remarked about the strange relationship we have with time, albeit in much different language than Kierkegaard. He was intrigued by the synchronicities and inexplicable events that show our "future self" in relation to the self of the "endless now".
Jung also showed great maturity in loving those who were traumatized by what their "shadow" had led them to do. He rightly thought that one should not condone such behavior, but at the same time recognize you have the same potential within yourself. As the good book says - take heed if you think you stand, lest you fall.
There is no weakness with God, the power and freedom to form values, as Nietzsche sought, is available, but it comes by faith, not reason - faith that works through love. Authentic faith that is lived and given existential expression.
If you, as a free moral agent, choose to deny God and form your own values without his wisdom and guidance, you are perfectly free to go Nietzsche. If you think God may be wiser than you, since he created everything and has been around longer than you, then go Kierkegaard.
If you can't make up your mind, stay with Jung, at least for a time. Stay in the middle where you feel safe, where the existential angst is easier to bear but never-ending. Bounce between the choice of good and evil, light and dark, until you finally find the moral courage to "man up", and make the ultimate decision of your life. Choose wisely...
We have been given the opportunity to co-create reality with the master, the creator of all life, empowered, inspired, energized, transformed by his Spirit.
Daniel 11:32 But the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits ...
