The shadow knows.

• Author: Chelette, Beate
• Position: WORDS IMAGES - Presidential campaigns

THIS ELECTION SEASON has been quite puzzling, to say the least. I have a bald spot forming because I keep scratching my head wondering where all these angry and frustrated people are coming from. On the far left it feels a lot like socialism, while on the far right the word nationalism keeps being repeated. Let there be no misunderstanding--both sides come with a lot of dangerous and unsettling baggage, but where does this kind of extremism in the general population come from? It was not until I read a Huffington Post blog from Deepak Chopra--"America's Shadow: The Real Secret of Donald J. Trump"--that I understood part of the reason why the Republican nominee has gained this much popularity.

Chopra points out that, "in reality, Trump isn't bizarre or anomalous. He stands for something universal, something right before our eyes. It's an aspect of the human psyche that we feel embarrassed and ashamed of, which makes it our collective secret. Going back a century in the field of depth psychology, the secret side of human nature acquired a special name: the shadow."

The fight between good and evil is as old as human history. Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac for mankind-to be in charge and to rule; have people do what you tell them; be appreciated, respected, even feared; be rich enough to live like a king. Many of us want Trump's life, and that is where the internal struggle with our shadow side begins.

There are many ways to reach a goal. We can tell the truth, be humble, exaggerate, or lie about our past and our experiences when it works in our favor. We can craft a strategic play to outsmart others and make them believe everything we say. In the end, our conscience is the only judge of whether a strategy that gets us what we want is "good" or "bad."

It is easy to identify the people in our circles who pray to the god of power and money and, just to be clear: neither is a leadership attribute. Through my own observations and experiences, I find these people can be ruthless. They justify their behaviors by spinning the story in any way necessary to put themselves in the right light. The ultimate goal is power and the end always justifies the means.

We know who they are and we even may be amused by their erratic and nonsensical behaviors: "They cannot help themselves and are narcissists--what do you expect?" It seems harmless enough when we come across this type of person only once in a while. We tend...