Category: Archetypes

“systems of readiness for action, and at the same time images and emotions.”

What are Archetypes?

Posted on by hopperguy

            One of the best known of Jung’s concepts is the archetype. Understanding the concept of archetypes is not simple because you cannot touch or see them. Jung said, “[T]hey can be recognized only from the effects they produce.” [“A Psychological Approach to the Trinity,” CW 11, par. 222, note 2.]

Jung described archetypes as “… systems of readiness for action, and at the same time images and emotions. They are inherited with the brain structure – indeed they are its psychic aspect.” [“Mind and Earth,” CW 10, par. 53.]

“It is not … a question” Jung wrote, “of inherited ideas but of inherited possibilities of ideas. [“Concerning the Archetypes and the Anima Concept,” CW 9i, par. 136]. Archetypes are collective; “the effects they produce” are individual (according to Jung). So how can we show that they exist and what they are?

In a famous experiment, newborn baby bird chicks were separated from their mothers as soon as they were born so that they could not yet have been taught anything and could not yet have learned anything from experience. The researchers then flew over their heads cardboard cutouts of a bird that is not a predator of these little chicks, and they continued to peep for their mother. Then the researchers flew a cardboard cutout of a bird that is a predator of these chicks. The chicks stopped peeping. The archetype of that predator bird’s shadow was inside each chick at birth, and it set off the behavior of being quiet so as not to be discovered and preyed upon. This image had been passed down because it was important for the animal to survive that the image be in the animals’ brain/mind to touch off the proper behavior when the experience arose. This to me is one of the best examples of both how archetypes act and proof that they exist.

0

Archetypes

Posted on by hopperguy

Every physical reality begins as an image. Read more at What are Archetypes

Learn more about Carl Jung's ideas

Click below to find out more about Carl Jung's ideas and how they can help.

Carl Jung's Ideas and How They Help
0

What are the Anima and Animus?

Posted on by hopperguy

            The anima or animus is a part of the psyche that is unconscious like the shadow. Unlike the shadow, which contains a series of archetypes denied that affect your behavior by erupting or projecting, the animus or anima is an image. The anima can be described as the (traditionally) feminine part of the male psyche. The animus is the (traditionally) masculine part of the female psyche. The anima is composed of the feminine qualities that men tend not to use or express a lot; for women, this is the same in reverse.

            The famous Chinese yin/yang sign is a good example. The two side represent male and female. They narrow from wide to a single point to show that there is a wide range of how much male or female energy one has access to. But they each have a dot of the other inside

            Whereas the shadow is highly individual, the anima or animus is biological and thus more universal. The animus or anima gets projected outward onto persons of the (usually) opposite sex but is closely related to who we choose as romantic partners. Whereas the shadow gets projected out as hate, the animus or anima gets projected out as love. The roles in romantic relationships are often projections of the traditional qualities associated with the opposite sex. A man may see a woman as seductress or saint.

A woman may see her male lover as a hero or little boy.

These may be precisely the roles that their inner opposites (anima and animus) would play for the individual. But because they are not lived out, they are projected outward.

0

What is Amplification?

Posted on by hopperguy

            Amplification is a little like the process of association mentioned earlier. Amplification is looking at the images that you create and are surrounded by, amplifying them to their furthest range of archetypes and associating them with parallels from other areas of the humanities (religion, literature, etc.). It can be described as a form of creative imagination or guided imagination (guided by awareness of archetypes and shadow).

            Amplification is a necessary process for individuation because when we are in the throes of a certain archetype or shadow or anima/animus image, we don’t know it (otherwise, we wouldn’t be at its mercy). But by amplifying the images in our dreams and imagination and words, we can “figure out” what is going on psychically in our lives.

            Amplification can help make sense of something that seems important to the self in its everyday life by showing how it relates to more universal patterns and stories (archetypes). Thus, it can help you see likely outcomes and possible courses of action.

            Once we see what is going on with us psychically, we can react accordingly. We do not always want to dismiss or counteract what has a hold of us. Some archetypes help us get through life’s difficulties by providing a model for how we should behave. Some elements of the shadow can be sources of great creativity and energy. But we do need to be aware of them so we are not “hijacked” by them.

            An example of using amplification off the top of my head:

            You’re talking to a friend and you say, “This morning I woke up and turned off my alarm rabbit.” You might look at what you associate with the rabbit. What gods are personified as rabbits. What attributes do rabbits have? What are other words for rabbit? What are other images like rabbits? What are famous rabbit images?

            There is a famous trompe l’oeil trick of the eye drawing depending on how you look at it it’s either a rabbit ears or a ducks beak.

So maybe the Jungian slip of rabbit is meant to take you to duck. Maybe it is meant to show you that time, like the rabbit duck image, can change depending on how you look at it. Or maybe it was just your subconscious warning you not to be late, like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland. Are you worried about being late to a specific appointment that week? Or late to doing something to save your marriage? Or late to writing that Great American Novel you were always planning to write? By starting with a seemingly trivial image from your daily life, amplification can help you learn what the psyche/soul is really worried about.

0

What is the Archetype Puer Aeternus (The Flying Boy)?

Posted on by hopperguy

            Puer aeternus is Latin for “eternal boy,” and it refers to a personality for the type of man who never grows up emotionally. Some say there is a related archetype for women: puella aeternus. It is called the flying boy because the person is always trying to “fly away” (escape) from adult-life entanglements: jobs, relationships, debts, etc. Also, many examples of this archetype are associated with wings or flying: The Roman god Mercury (Greek Hermes), with his winged helmet and winged ankles; Peter Pan, who escapes into a fantasyland; Icarus, who was warned not to fly too close to the sun with his feather wings held together with wax, but did and fell; the Little Prince, who lives on a distant planet and meets an aviator; etc. In its positive aspects, the puer is able to create lots of new things and helps in transformations of other people and things into new manifestations. Hermes invented the lyre (forerunner of guitars) out of a turtle. The archetype is also the messenger of the gods or bridge to God (psychopomp). Hermes/Mercury also has a symbol associated with the healing arts and with commerce: the caduceus, a staff entwined by two snakes. He happened upon two snakes fighting or copulating (depending on the version) and separated them with a staff, then rejoined them with the staff. So he was associated with healing and bringing peace and also with ambiguous sexual identity.

            So if you meet someone who is always looking for something new, just know they can help you to move onto another stage of your life…but they probably won’t be there with you for that new stage.

0