Archetypes

“What keeps happening?” – Michael Jacobs

I am in the middle of a weekend course on archetypes. It is fascinating.

Some observations:

The truth will be revealed regardless of the costs. How? Through archetypes. Plato wrote about archetypes. Jung was concerned with the psychological, our lived experience. The function of archetypes is to help and transform our personality and character. The purpose of the spiritual archetypes is to reveal our true nature (soul). James Hillman referred to deepest patterns of pyschic functioning. A typical archetype can be a “mother complex”.

See this list for more on Jungian archetypes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungian_archetypes

Our lecturer alluded to the image of a garden. The personality is what we plant in the garden, the trees and shrubbery etc. How do we become a true reflection of who we are meant to be. Our character is defined by how we tender the garden. We get reminders from people who really know us that we are not being ourselves. What is our dream? Do we sabotage that ideal? Is the soul here for its own joy? Indeed what is soul? (the whole issue of the soul will be a another topic for another day).

How do we manifest that which is within us? Our group work dealt with the physicality of walking. What are we showing in our walking? Air, Fire, water or earth? Can we uncover stuff from creative imagination?

Are we all inherently pure and innocent? Is there evil?

More soon…….