Meaning emerges: The role of experience in the creation of meaning
Mark Winborn
British Journal of Psychotherapy August 14, 2026 DOI: 10.1111/bjp.70049 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that meaning emerges from experience—particularly somatic experience, primary affects, and metaphor—rather than from a priori archetypal patterns, and proposes that analytic training be modified to reflect this emphasis on experience as the source of meaning. |
Abstract
Abstract The paper discusses the centrality of experience to the creation of meaning and the implications of this for analytic therapies, especially Jungian psychotherapy. Analytical Psychology includes a significant focus on the influence of image—through dreams, symbols and archetypal material such as myth, fairytales, religions and alchemy. In this paper, I focus on the areas of somatic experience, primary affects and metaphor as the underlying foundational contributors to experience. Supported by phenomenology, neuro‐affective research and clinical vignettes, my primary proposal is that meaning emerges from experience. Contemporary critiques of archetypal theory are briefly reviewed which call into question a priori elements of experience embedded in archetypal patterns and images. The paper proposes modifications of analytic training suggested by an emphasis on the creation of meaning as emerging from experience.