The
Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious
Archetypes are those pre-existent
forms of behavior, apprehension and perception of experience and reaction that
make us human.14 Similar to our instinctual knowledge,
they help us shape and meet life in a 'human' way. But we can only perceive archetypes through
their archetypal images, for they themselves are unknowable. Archetypes are not inherited images, but
inherent psychic structures responsible for the production of those images.15 These archetypal images in turn give rise to
the myths, dreams and stories of individuals and cultures. Jung believed that these transpersonal
patterns of images are not located within human beings, but rather human beings
are located in and subject to the intentions of the archetypes.
Our
personal psychology is just a thin skin, a ripple on the ocean of collective
psychology. The powerful factor, the factor which changes our whole life, which
changes the surface of our known world, which makes history, is collective
psychology, and collective psychology moves according to laws entirely
different from those of our consciousness. The archetypes are the great
decisive forces, they bring about the real events, and not our personal
reasoning and practical intellect. … The archetypal images decide the fate of
man.16
It is through the psyche that we
have direct contact to the archetypes, the basic patterns of human
behavior. Another way to say this is
that each person has a spark of divinity within, called soul, which is made in
the image and likeness of God/Goddess and which shapes our humanity, for good
or ill. This spark of divinity within
each person pursues aims and intentions that are beyond our ego control, intent
on achieving optimum health and well-being.
This sacred ‘other’ within us sends us information through dreams,
visions and fantasies to help the ego come into balance with the larger forces
of the collective unconscious.
The Lost
Language of Symbols: A Language of Meaning
What we have lost with the
repression of the imagination is our understanding of symbolic language. Because imagination has been repressed, it is
easier to manipulate it and us, because the symbols retain their power, even
when we are unconscious of it. A symbol
always points beyond itself to something unknown. It is a bridge between the unconscious and
consciousness, for, although the meaning of a symbol can never be exhausted, it
is the best way to represent the unknown reality that is trying to be expressed
by the unconscious. Symbolic language
speaks of such intangibles as feelings, moods, values and ideas that cannot be
rationally understood and explained.
It is a language women prefer, even
though it has led us to be called incomprehensible. It is a language of deepening, a language
that wakes things up within us, and gives us an experience of our own
depths. It is the very voice of Lady
Wisdom, for it is the way we learn of and relate to the ways of the cosmos.
This is the education that our people
have been denied. This is the knowledge
that can bring the healing of the
passions of matter, for the symbols and the stories connect us to the
patterns which make us human, the patterns which can take us past the stuck
places or the hurdles in our lives and onto the next part of our journey into
life. These archetypal images contain and focus our energies and help us tame
the passions that would keep us unconscious of the meaning of our lives.
And yet, our Western educational
system does not teach us how to work with the imagination, or even how to think
about and understand our place in the Universe.
We no longer look to Nature - Earth's cycles and laws - for an
understanding of our own human nature, for the rational mind has preempted
that knowledge for itself. We are not
taught about the patterns of human behavior or the necessity of suffering for
growth in consciousness.
Modern education shunts people into
an economic structure. Our children are
often not trained in the gifts of creativity and imagination that are their
birthright, for these talents are not valued by the corporate entities that run
the world. The most amazing gap in our
education has to do with the very thing all human beings desire most: we do not
teach our people how to be in relationship, either with Self or an Other. The very thing we want the most is the
biggest mystery to us, for though Love will always remain a divine mystery, we
could learn to become vessels for the power of this mystery. And so we perpetuate the misery and the
unconsciousness of our people.
It is time to give service to our
community and to our nation because it is only in this way that we can know
what we value. We need guiding images to
contain and express the energies of our people.
We are divided within ourselves: we say we value honesty and truth, yet
our politicians are dishonest, our bankers commit fraud, and we admire power
and wealth over simplicity, humility and individuality. The story of the Tower of Babel
comes to mind: we are all talking gibberish and can no longer understand each
other. We are divided within and
without. We have forgotten how to be
simple and direct or how to attune ourselves to the spirit of life. Most often, we seem to be enfolded in the
arms of the Angel of Death, and we would rather stay with a known dis-ease than
struggle with the unknown in life.
The only way to meet Death is to
face it. If we are to come through this
chaotic time into a new birth, we must reclaim the use of our imaginations, so
we can give birth to new images that will describe our new experience of life
and the world. This coincides with a
return of Feminine Spirit, for the Goddess is the Birther and the Great
Transformer. The East calls her Maya of
the 10,000 Faces. When we meet and name
those 10,000 faces, we will finally understand the voice of Lady Wisdom, who is
the Spirit in Nature, both the world's nature and our human nature. And we can
only come to that place with a loving heart, otherwise we will continue to
misunderstand and misuse the power of images.
The poet Rainer Marie Rilke understood feminine spirit, women and
symbols.
For there
is a boundary to looking.
And the
world that is looked at so deeply
wants to
flourish in love.
Work of the
eyes is done, now
go and do heart-work
on all the
images imprisoned within you;
for you
overpowered them:
but even now you don't know them.
Learn,
inner man, to look on your inner woman,
the one
attained for a thousand
natures,
the merely attained but
not yet
beloved form.17
Like
the famous storyteller, Scheherazade, I hope the images and stories I tell you
will keep you wondering about what is coming next. I want to "shower your right-brain with
images", as the Christian theologian Matthew Fox once said at a
workshop. Perhaps some image will speak
so strongly to you that you will follow it to a new place and a new
wisdom. The power of the imagination
must be respected and understood, so we can make choices that are honorable and
life-giving. With the proper use of the
imagination, we can create a new reality.
The
story of Scheherazade is a wonderful example of the power of stories and images
to transform consciousness. Although
safe because she was the daughter of the Sultan's Vizier, she made a free
choice to try to change her world.
Through her bravery and cunning and storytelling ability, she saved the
women of her kingdom. And she saved her
man. What's better than that!
We
live in a society that is mythologically and imaginally illiterate, where
mistrust and misunderstanding of the imagination has led to a psychic
wasteland. We have lost touch with our
collective stories that shape a world of hope and aspiration. Hollywood
has polluted our psyches as we have polluted our world. We need to clean out and clean up our
collective psyche. We need to
re-mythologize our world and come up with creative solutions if we are to birth
a new world and evolve to a new level of human consciousness.
The Cosmic Story of Our Times
That is why it is important to look at the End Time
stories that are influencing our very masculine, Christian Western society in
these turbulent times. Once we know the
story, we can enter into it and understand it from the inside. So far, we have seen how our culture uses
force and antagonism, a very masculine way of dealing with differences, to
solve 'problems'. What can a more
feminine wisdom, which is inclusive and synergistic, bring to the global
table?
The most important issue women are pondering
today is the question of our spiritual purpose.
Women want to know what Spirit wants them
to do with their lives. We have to look
in our hearts and remember what we love the most and then go do it! The Woman
Clothed with the Sun can help us understand our life's purpose. She helps us incarnate the Sacred and She has
a part to play in the transformation of our individual and cultural lives. She is Lady Wisdom. And She calls us to service.
To return
to a feminine sensibility, we need to be telling stories, sharing images and
dreams, seeing what myths can bring about a transformation of consciousness. Images hold power. They
are transformers. We can let the media
shape our images for greed and misuse of power, or we can let new mythologies
be born within each of us. These new
mythologies can transform each of us and they can transform the world. It is time for us to re-learn symbolic
language. It is our mother tongue. That is why symbols affect us so deeply; they
imprint us in the womb with the genetic code of our being human.
Symbols hold power and can cause great evil if
they are twisted by a person, a nation or a corporation for personal power. The Nazis used the ancient, world-wide symbol
of life, good luck, happiness and blessings, the swastika, to elevate their
political agenda. But when we learn the
language of symbols, we are taken into a deeper understanding of what it means
to be human, for symbols contain the wisdom of our genetic code. And out of this deeper sight, we can
imagine and create a future that will serve the best in us.
Learn to
understand symbolic, imaginal language so you can contribute your vision to
these transformative times. As you read
this book, enjoy the stories and information, and use these examples to learn
the language of the psyche. Do not be
afraid to step into an image or a story.
Wander around, take on each character, go on the adventure, dive into an
image and watch the story unfold. What
does the story bring up for you? How
does it answer your questions about life?
Story Water
A story is like water
that you heat for your bath.
It takes messages between the fire
and your skin. It
lets them meet,
and it cleans you!
Very few can sit down
in the middle of the fire itself
like a salamander or Abraham.
We need intermediaries.
A feeling of fullness comes,
but usually it takes some bread
to bring it.
Beauty surrounds us,
but usually we need to be walking
in a garden to know it.
The body itself is a screen
to shield and partially reveal
the light that's blazing
inside your presence.
Water, stories, the body,
all the things we do, are mediums
that hide and show what's hidden.
Study them,
and enjoy this being washed
with a secret we sometimes know,
and then not.18
Rumi
What images
and stories have influenced you? Make a
list of them and see if they are still an important source of inspiration for
you. If not, dig deep and find some new
stories you can center your life around.
No comments:
Post a Comment