Influencing the archetype
Fanny Brewster
September 3, 2018 DOI: 10.4324/9781315222998-12 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Jungian archetypes can be reconceived as action patterns grounded in neurobiological factors such as mirror neurons, the social environment, and species-typical behaviors rather than as contents originating in an unconscious place. Contends that the archetype's metaphysical and transcendent aspect has an experiential basis that supports belief in archetypes as representing the divine, connected to numinous experiences found across religions and spiritual practices. |
Abstract
The archetype corresponding to the situation is activated and as a result those explosive and dangerous forces hidden in the archetype come into action, frequently with unpredictable consequences. Jean Knox, George Hogenson and others interested in C. G. Jung&s;s archetypes and the collective unconscious have begun to explore the possibility of a non-classical Jungian nature of the archetypes. This difference relates more to the archetypes as action patterns that do not necessarily originate from an unconscious place but rather are a result of neurobiological factors such as mirror neurons, the social environment and species typical behaviors. When thinking of the metaphysical and transcendent nature of an archetype there is an experiential basis for a belief in archetypes as representing the divine. In religions and spiritual practices all over the world, humans believe in something greater than themselves which transcends the ego and gives numinous experiences.