Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (Part Two)
Knowledge of the collective unconscious is essential in order to use the symbolic content of dreams and visions in a fruitful way. Without this knowledge, the symbolism lacks its true meaning and appears simply as a way to deal with the immediate stresses of everyday life. This results in indifference to the guidance available from the vast reservoir of wisdom and intelligence contained within the collective unconscious
In order to help facilitate the therapeutic use of dreams and symbols we will first look at the difference between the personal and the collective unconscious and then explore symbols and their role in communication between the former and the latter. We will then examine the nature of archetypes and archetypal symbolism and attempt to understand how they relate to the healing process.
In the western world, when most people consider the unconscious they think of Sigmund Freud. Freud’s theory is that the unconscious is made up of repressed and forgotten material of the individual. It also includes impulses that have been subliminally registered, like scenes viewed in our peripheral vision. Jung agreed with Freud’s definition of the unconscious but felt that it was limited, covering only the personal unconscious. According to Jung, material from the personal unconscious is filled with personal stories and sorrows, long forgotten memories of hurts and humiliation, but he also felt that there was another dimension to the unconscious.[1]
Through observation of disturbed individuals, he saw that the contents of their dreams and fantasies could not be limited to their personal experience. He perceived that these individuals had entered into a realm of ancient symbolism to which they had no conscious access. Their dreams and fantasies often contained mythological themes that existed in cultures they had never visited and times previous to the birth of any of their relatives. From these observations he developed his theory of the collective unconscious, which he defined as the ancestral heritage of possibilities of representation common to all human beings and, perhaps, even all animals.
Because Jung wished to understand complicated psychological conditions and be able to speak about them, he developed a language to express the facts that he observed. He called themes that emerged from the timeless realms of the collective unconscious, archetypes. Archetypes, he said, were what made up the contents of the collective unconscious and had a powerful effect on the individual. The discovery of the collective unconscious and the theory of the archetypes, are some of Jung’s major contributions to psychology.
Because he developed a way to express the functioning of the psyche, Jung has had a very large and many times unacknowledged influence on language in contemporary society. Commonly used terms such as introvert/extrovert, complex, anima, animus, synchronicity, and archetypes are Jungian concepts that are well known but often misused. Because of the misunderstanding of Jung’s language, his work is sometimes dismissed as metaphysical. In reality, Jung was a psychiatrist who was able to help some of the most deeply disturbed psychiatric patients through his ability to be the “unprejudiced observer” of their psychic reality. He developed ways of speaking about what was completely within the bounds of human experience, yet he had the uncanny ability to accept even the wildest fantasies of psychotic patients as a valid expression of their reality. Jung would take even the most bizarre flights of fancy very seriously, for he understood that there was a deeper meaning behind these expressions of the psyche and would accept them as a necessary manifestation of the individual’s dilemma.
The Archetypes
Looking up at the night sky one can see figures created by patterns in the stars. Adromeda, the maiden, with her outstretched arms, Orion, the brave hunter and a panoply of gods, goddesses and animals cavort about the heavens. If we lived in an earlier time we would probably sit around a fire and tell stories of these celestial inhabitants that had been passed down through generations. These stories would also be about the stars and the earth and its inhabitants; about the north wind that blows in the cold weather and about the time that the sun disappeared. Stories were told of the hero who saved the maiden after encounters with a great beast and of gods who descended to earth and mortals who ascended to heaven. These were stories that helped our ancestors understand their connection to the world around them. They were centered, not only around basic survival needs, but also around spiritual needs as well and were expressions of recurrent themes or archetypes. Moreover, just as those themes had a powerful hold on our ancestors, they continue to affect us up to the present day.
We no longer sit around the campfire and tell stories but we do sit, mesmerized for hours, in front of the flickering movie screen or television. And what we watch is, at its core, surprisingly similar to the stories our ancestors once told. The weather is still a powerful source of fascination to humans as it once was when humans depended upon knowledge of weather patterns for their survival.
As far as stories of heroes, we don’t need to look any further than our latest movies, whether the hero is a super karate star or captain of a submarine or “letting the force be with him” the theme is the same – the hero’s journey. Hollywood stories of astronauts and starships ascending into unknown spaces abound along with the ever-present aliens descending to planet earth to either save or destroy us. These are our present day myths and stories and if you look behind the surface of them, you will see ideas that relate to the same human concerns that are the themes of the most ancient myths and stories. Behind these themes are ideas, similar to Plato’s “Idea” that there are pre-formed tendencies inherent within the human psyche.
Here we must differentiate between archetypes in their pure form and the symbolism that they stimulate. The archetypal symbol is imagery generated and regulated by the archetype but the archetype is, in itself, invisible. It is an innate predisposition that may be an inherent component of the brain. The archetypes stimulate the individual mind to make a vast variety of images. The imagery can turn out to be the Mona Lisa or Monet’s Water Lilies or some imagery straight out of The Pit and the Pendulum or the Marquis de Sade.
Another way to look at the archetype is to compare it to the axial system of a crystal. The axial system has the capacity to form the crystalline structure in the mother liquid even though it has no material structure of its own. It determines the basic structure of the crystal but not the ultimate size of the crystal or the exact shape. So too with the archetype. It is a predisposition towards certain manifestation but does not specifically determine the image. As the contents of the collective unconscious, the archetypes are pre-form, pre-thought systems of readiness for action but not the actions themselves.
In becoming familiar with the imagery of myths and legends, we begin to understand some of the universal patterns contained within the archetypes and in turn, learn at least a bit about the human psyche. However, it is not enough to rely only on information from the past; we must investigate the present meaning of the archetypes through individual dreams and visions. It is the task of each age to understand the archetypal symbols in a new way, as each age has its own challenges.
The symbol
In order to appreciate the function of archetypal symbolism as a form of communication from the unconscious, it is important to understand what is meant by a symbol. A true symbol has no fixed meaning but, rather, points to a greater reality that can never be totally understood because it contains wisdom that transcends the knowing mind. The symbol simply points to a greater reality and is not to be confused for the reality as in the following Zen saying:
“A finger is useful to point at the moon,
The wise look at the moon, the ignorant at the finger.”
When a symbol becomes fixed, with a universally agreed upon meaning, it ceases to be a symbol and becomes a sign. A good example of this is the stop sign. Not only does everyone recognizes it for what it is, but it is inherently limited in its agreed upon meaning. It says stop. A true symbol does not say stop, it points towards more and encourages exploration of an unknown reality.
When the meaning of a symbol is fixed by society or religion, it becomes like a stone that has been lying in riverbed. The running water has removed all of the rough edges and unique shapes and it becomes smooth and uniform. When we become familiar with symbols without renewing and exploring their uniqueness, we wear them out. A symbol is only alive when it is pregnant with unknown meaning. This is one of the reasons why western society is now looking towards symbols from the east. Although thousands of years old, they have a new, fresh meaning for the western mind.
Theoretically, there are infinite numbers of archetypal symbols, but there are some that show up in the dreams and visions so often that they are more defined in Jungian psychology. The archetypes of the Self or universal ordering factor, the Shadow, and the anima in the man and the animus in the woman are the most frequently encountered. Although these archetypes are described as if they are separate and delineated in actuality, they overlap and are never this clear.
The awareness of the archetypes and their opposing nature, allows the individual to gain more strength and stability as he accepts the reality of conflict and paradox within the psyche. Symbols from dreams and visions as well as symbolic language and gestures can point to where conflict exists. And, a therapist trained in observing the symbolic realm can help the individual overcome her resistance to the inevitable conflict.
Acceptance and reconciliation of the reality of the opposites within the personality is an arduous process, because each time the ego is confronted with what was previously unacceptable, it struggles to maintain it’s former point of view. This creates inner conflict, turmoil and even depression. When the individual finally integrates the conflict, acceptance leads to an expansion of awareness and a broadening of the personality. This ongoing expansion combined with the development of the individual personality is a natural process that Jung called individuation. Although Jung explored and named the process, individuation, it is not unique to Jungian analysis. It is a natural development that occurs in many ways through various paths. The tendency is an inborn potential within every human being, but it is only through conscious pursuance that the potential will manifest. It is like enlightenment – the Zen concept of enlightenment. Something that cannot be found because it is a sudden and spontaneous expression of what is already there. But it comes only to those who spend the time and effort looking for it.[2]
[1] C. G. Jung, Collected Works 8, The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981), 140.
[2] Carl G. Jung, Man and His Symbols (New York: Doubleday, First published in 1964), 81-82.
