In The Human Shadow, Bly takes us on a thought provoking and entertaining journey exploring our “shadow” through poetry, music, and storytelling. Bly says that the development of the shadow starts in childhood when parents make it clear there are certain parts of us they don’t like: “you’re too noisy!” So we put this into a “bag”. Over time, our independence and feeling also go into the bag, getting heavier and heavier. Then, according to Bly, we spend the rest of our life trying to get everything back out of the bag to live fully again.