Part 149: Lesson 4: Archetypes: The Structure of the Psyche

-Specialist-




"Everyone Loves Jungian Psychology!" An invitation to the you that you don't know. Avoiding the eyes of the underground world order, here comes our fourth installment: "Archetypes: The Structure of the Psyche." Huh? You want to know more about that world order I just mentioned...? I'll tell you about it later. Eeeheehee...Let's begin the lecture. Namah kasagarbhaya, om arika mari muri svaha...


So I think that I've at least succeeded in snapping you out of the delusion that you're the ruler of your own mind! Today, we'll further our knowledge...So let's focus our studies on the unconscious, particularly on the collective unconscious.


You probably see the unconscious as a deep ocean, a lonely place with nothing around...But Jung actually thought of it as a place filled with mind-energy that can jolt your emotions. Why did he think this? It's because he discovered a special property held by the collective unconscious. We've already studied that the collective unconscious is shared by mankind, and that it's been there since birth. So in the deepest part of the collective unconscious lies...the "beginning of the mind," created at birth. Now then, what's in there? The "beginning of the mind" has the basic elements needed when the mind develops. The power of the mind, the ability to recognize patterns. Jung called these elements "archetypes." What allows for this basic ability of the collective unconscious to recognize patterns is archetypes.


In other words, "archetypes" form the collective unconscious. There are, in theory, limitless archetypes, and Jung names some of them. Let's take a look at the "example archetypes."


That pattern itself is the classic example of an archetype. For example, in most ancient religions, there is a "mother goddess" that is worshipped. There have even been statues and pictures of mother goddesses found in ancient ruins. Man has felt this "motherly" image since ancient times; it is an archetype that has been created in our minds. Now then, about that image of the "mother"...What function does this hold as the "foundation of the mind's power to recognize patterns?" Try this out: think of the concept of a "mother." Inside your mind...You think of the power to give birth, the power to love, to hold someone dearly, right? This archetype that creates this motherly image is known as the "Great Mother." Of the infinite archetypes, it is one of the more important ones. Interesting, isn't it? Huh? You're still wondering about that world order? You'll just have to suck it up this lecture. Eeeheehee...Next, I'll do a quick explanation of some other archetypes.


Then there's the "Shadow," which I've mentioned before. This is also an archetype. The Shadow archetype is a dark figure, and represents the properties of the hated, things you don't want to have or be. Just like Shadows, we have "Personas." Coming from the word for "mask," this again is an archetype. From the imagery of hiding one's own face, its property is "your role in society." And one unique group of archetypes include...The female anima and male animus images are found only in males and females, respectively, and depend on gender...I'm only giving a few examples, but as you can see, archetypes are incredibly rich in variety. Boy, today's lesson was a doozy, wasn't it? Are all my lessons like this? Maybe so. Eeeheehee...Well, I'll make your quiz easy, at the very least. Get your buttons ready...Are you ready? All right, I ask thee. What function do "archetypes" have within the mind?
The power to recognize.
Good one. That's what I was talking about all this time.


I'm not going to ask you to master the details, but I hope you can get the basics down. Starting next time, I'm going to go into in-depth descriptions of some of these archetypes.


In order to explain Jung's theories, many myths and analyses of them are brought up. You can say that mythology is a key point of Jungian psychology. I think the general opinion of "mythology" is folklore based off history, with a lot of fantasy thrown in. But it seems that Jung sees myths as stories that are reflected and born from the minds of people. To over-simplify it...Gods and demons were created by the human mind. It's a hard idea for religious-minded people to swallow, but that was the central idea...Now then, it looks like our time is up. That's it for today.