Archetypes As Defined By Carl Jung
The Nature of the Archetypes
The Archetypal Patterns
Shadow
Anima/Animus
Syzygy
Child
Self
Dreams and myths are constellations of archetypal images. They
are not free compositions by an artist who plans them for
artistic or informational effects. Dreams and myths happen to
human beings. The archetype speaks through us. It is a presence
and a possibility of "significance." The ancients
called them "gods" and "godddesses."
What then is an archetype? Jung discovered that humans have a
"preconscious psychic disposition that enables a (man) to
react in a human manner." These potentials for creation are
actualized when they enter consciousness as images. There is a
very important distinction between the "unconscious, pre-
existent disposition" and the "archetypal image."
The archetype may emerge into consciousness in myrids of
variations. To put it another way, there are a very few basic
archetypes or patterns which exist at the unconscious level, but
there are an infinite variety of specific images which point back
to these few patterns. Since these potentials for
significance are not under conscious control, we may tend to
fear them and deny their existence through repression. This has
been a marked tendency in Modern Man, the man created by the
French Revolution, the man who seeks to lead a life that is
totally rational and under conscious control.
Where do the archetypes come from? In his earlier work, Jung
tried to link the archetypes to heredity and regarded them as
instinctual. We are born with these patterns which structure our
imagination and make it distinctly human. Archetypes are thus
very closely linked to our bodies. In his later work, Jung was
convinced that the archetypes are psychoid, that is,
"they shape matter (nature) as well as mind (psyche)"
(Houston Smith, Forgotten Truth, 40). In other words,
archetypes are elemental forces which play a vital role in the
creation of the world and of the human mind itself. The ancients
called them elemental spirits How do archetypes operate?
Jung found the archetypal patterns and images in every culture
and in every time period of human history. They behaved according
to the same laws in all cases. He postulated the Universal
Unconscious to account for this fact. We humans do not have
separate, personal unconscious minds. We share a single Universal
Unconscious. Mind is rooted in the Unconscious just as a tree is
rooted in the ground. Imagine the Universal Unconscious as a
cosmic computer. Our minds are subdirectories of the root
directory. If we look in our personal "work areas," we
find much material that is unique to our historical
experience--could only have happened to us--but it is shaped
according to universal patterns. If we humans have the courage to
seek the source to which our "account" belongs, we
begin to discover ever more impersonal and universal patterns.
The directories of the cosmic computer to which we can gain
access are filled with the myths of the human species.
Modern man fancies that he has escaped the myths through his
conscious repudiation of revealed religion in favor of a
purely rational natural religion (read: Natural
Science). But consider his theories of human origin. In the
beginning, there was a Big Bang, a cosmic explosion. This is an
image from which reason may begin to work, but it is not itself a
rational statement. It is a mythical construct. Consider the
theory of biological evolution. Man's ancestors emerge from the
seas, and they in turn emerged from a cosmic soup of DNA. The
majority of creation myths also begin with the same image of man
emerging from primordial oceans. See Genesis 1 or the Babylonian
creation epic. Consider the Modern tendency to call ourselves
persons from the Latin persona. The term derives from
the "mask" of Dionysus. Moderns are the wearers of
masks! The reality is concealed in the darkness of mystery. This
too is a mythical construct.
The Archetypes
The most basic potential for patterning is the Shadow
Archetype. This is the potential of experiencing the unconscious
side of our unique personalities. As we move deeper into the dark
side of our personality personal, identity begins to dissolve
into "latent dispositions" common to all men. We
experience the chaos which indicates that we are drawing close to
the material structure of psychic life. This "Other
Side" may be manifested in a wealth of images. The image of
"wilderness" is fundamental. Remember that Hanzel and
Gretel were led "into the woods" and were trapped.
Knights discover dragons, ogres, and thieves in the woods. Robin
Hood is at home in the wild. The image may be that of the mob and
its underworld, an urban equivalent in which "Pretty
Boy" Floyd is a hero. There is always "the concrete
jungle." Dragons sail the sea, "the watery
wilderness." Jesus and John the Baptist met God "in the
wilderness," as did Israel at Sinai.
The Shadow is the easiest of the archetypes for most persons
to experience. We tend to see it in "others." That is
to say, we project our dark side onto others and thus interpret
them as "enemies" or as "exotic" presences
that facinate. We see the Shadow everywhere in popular culture.
He is Batman. She is Spider Woman. It is the Ninga Turtles. We
see it in popular prejudice as well. We "imagine" that
the Black Man is our enemy; that Communists are devils. We
incline towards Hawaii as the "land of paradise." We
accept people uncritically if we perceive them as "Fair
Haired." Of course, Satan is the great Shadow image of
popular religion (Consider: the word only occurs 54 times in the
entire Bible.)
The Shadow is the personification of that part of human,
psychic possiblity that we deny in ourselves and project onto
others. The goal of personality integration is to integrate the
rejected, inferior side of our life into our total experience and
to take responsibility for it.
The second most prevalent potential patterning is that of the
Soul (Anima is the male name for soul; Animus is the female name
for soul). Here we meet our inner opposite. Males meet their
Anima; females their Animus. The Anima may appear as an exotic
dancing girl or a weathered old hag--the form generally reflects
either the condition or the needs of our soul presently. Remember
the wicked witch encountered by Hanzel and Gretel. The Animus may
appear as an exotic, senual, young man or as an old grouch.
Remember the Great Oz who ran the Emerald City? There is always
Simon Legree who took in Little Eva. Consider Super Man and Lois
Lane. Clark Kent is the inferior, shadow side of Super Man, but
he is also closer to ordinary people. Lois Lane has no interest
in Clark. She is infatuated with Super Man, her Animus; the
masculine completion of her personality. Wonder Woman offers us
an example of the Anima in action.
If one comes to terms with the Shadow and the Soul, one will
encounter the enchanted castle with its King and Queen. This is a
pattern of wholeness and integration. The opposites of the outer
and the inner life are now joined in marriage. Great power arises
from this integration. Christ and the Church, God and Israel are
syzygy images. The believer who aspires to be the "bride of
Christ" is modeling his or her experience in response to the
syzygy archetype.
The Child Archetype is a pattern related to the hope and
promise for new beginnings. It promises that Paradise can be
regained. Child images like the New Year's Babe obviously derive
from this archetype. So do the golden ring and the golden ball
and most flower and circle related images. The birth of the
Christ Child who unites Heaven and Earth, Man and God, is a
powerful archetypal event. Were the life of Jesus not interpreted
by this archetype, it would lose most of its meaning. Jesus would
just be one more teacher from the Hellenistic world.
The ultimate pattern is the Self. For Jung this is
the God image. Human self and divine self are incapable of
distinction. All is Spirit. Images of Spirit abound. Wind and
breath being two very common ones. The Spirit descends as a Dove
upon Jesus in the wilderness. The voice declares to him his true
nature: "Your are my Son, my Beloved." This is an
archetypal drama of the Self. Galahad achieving the Grail and
ascending with it to Heaven is likewise an archetypal drama of
Self. Lancelot's failure to achieve the Grail speaks of his
failure to achieve the final discovery of Self. Chariots and cars
point in this direction. Remember the death car which comes in
Darby O'Gill and the Little People? Enoch is taken up in a
chariot of fire. Ezekiel Chapter One describes the chariot
conveying God into the world.
Further Reading
Jung, Aion
Jung, Man and His Symbols
Jung,
Psyche and Symbol.
IronPython in Action
