Can you explain how to practice Ken Wilber's 3-2-1 Shadow Work Process?

Answer 1

Take a person, thing, or an event that triggers an emotional reaction (negative or positive) in you, instead of just being informative. Face it in the 3rd person: write it on paper, describing it from a 3rd person perspective. Next, talk with it treating it as a 2nd person: write down your dialogue, taking both perspectives. Finally, take exclusively the 1st person perspective of the thing/person/whatever that triggered the reaction, and speak from that perspective. Writing down the whole exercise is helpful and takes anything from 5 minutes to an hour. The main point is to make a 3rd person "it" into a 1st person "I". Instead of projecting our shadows, the process intends to bring them back into our conscious awareness. The point being, they liberate us from others and others form us, giving us more freedom and energy to use for whatever we wish to use it for.

I think further clarification may be helpful for some as to what 3rd person 2nd person and 1st person actually is.

3rd person language is objectifying something (making it an object outside of you) this may involve "it" language or "they his hers them or those - essentially it is something outside of you which at first appears to be nothing to do with who you are - but usually if not invariably triggers some emotional response in you.

Like: His greed really gets on my nerves! or She is so arrogant - "it" makes me mad!

In 3rd person you bring to awareness and describe what appears to be the cause of your negative or positive reaction.

In 2nd person after having described what triggers the emotion or feeling you then enter into a dialogue as already previously stated. Unless you actually have the person there then much of this is your own imagination - you make up what you think would happen if you told them how they make you feel because of whatever trait they possess and also state how you feel going into as much depth and description as you feel necessary.

In 1st person you then embody whatever trait or behaviour seemed to be the cause of your emotional reaction. During the 2nd person dialectical process you should have some insight or realisation that this is not just about them - it's something within me! If this does not happen then it really isn't possible for you to sincerely hold it as a 1st person. If you cannot identify with it then you cannot embody it. Therefore the 2nd person process should result in this 1st person embodiment of the characteristic or trait that was perceived as something in them but not in you.

If anyone has any opinions or insights that I may have missed or you feel that any of this is incorrect then please do share!