Images, Figures and Qualities: Clarifying the Relationship Between Individual and Archetype
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies July 1, 2016 DOI: 10.24972/ijts.2016.35.2.93 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 4 |
| Key points | Argues that culturally shared archetypal figures emerge from collective needs for representation and serve to embody timeless, imageless archetypal qualities, thereby making those qualities available as an interactive force to the individual psyche. Specific examples of cultural myth-making considered include George Washington and Mother [text truncated]. |
Abstract
C. G. Jung (1937/1958) described archetypes as collective patterns of consciousness that are catalyzed into the individual human experience.This paper will examine the role of culture and history in the relationship between the timeless and imageless archetypal qualities such as self sacrifice, presence, love; the culturally agreed upon archetypal figures, which may include mythological characters and deities that have some shared cultural meaning; and individual instances of archetypal images, which might show up in a dream, or in a particular religious icon.The examples in this paper will demonstrate how, out of a collective cultural need for representation, a figure emerges to capture archetypal qualities, to embody them so they can come alive as an interactive force, available to the individual psyche.Specific examples of cultural myth-making will be considered, including George Washington, Mother