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...
The aim of this paper is a short overview of the book of Evan Thompson Wak ing, Dreaming, Being.Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy, with some polemic remarks.Thompson presents an interest ing approach to the problem of cognition, knowledge and selfknowledge -the problems considered in philosophy, psychology, neurosciences, which -if they interact -create an...
By definition, hallucinations occur only in the full waking state. Yet similarities to sleep-related experiences such as hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations, dreams and parasomnias, have been noted since antiquity. These observations have prompted researchers to suggest a common aetiology for these phenomena based on the neurobiology of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. With our recent...
In Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound, the Oceanides – Asia, Panthea, and Ione – direct the evolution of poetic consciousness through their lyricism which expresses human intuition and what Shelley calls in his ‘Defence of Poetry’ (1820) ‘the before unapprehended relations of things’. Their presence in Shelley’s lyrical drama leads from both abstract transcendental and literalist...
Current advances in neurosciences deal with the functional architecture of the central nervous system, paving the way for general theories that improve our understanding of brain activity. From topology, a strong concept comes into play in understanding brain functions, namely, the 4D space of a "hypersphere's torus", undetectable by observers living in a 3D world. The torus may be compared...
This article deals with the connections between the assimilation of certain shamanic practices related to Romantic inspiration in English literature. The interest in the world of altered states of consciousness as a manifestation of the sacred is typical among Romantic writers in nineteenth-century England. These writers in fact sought the manifestation of the world of dreams by means of...
A comparative analysis of Jungian depth psychology and Tibetan Buddhist Tantra reveals a fascinating array of similarities, which are united in their most essential form through the manner in which mythic imagery is employed in both disciplines as a powerful agent of inner transformation. Various forms of creative engagement with sacred symbols–including mandalas–are enacted in each...
Humans have employed an incredible variety of plant-derived substances over the millennia in order to alter consciousness and perception. Among the innumerable narcotics, analgesics, 'ordeal' drugs, and other psychoactive substances discovered and used in ritualistic contexts by cultures around the world, one class in particular stands out not only for its radical psychological effects, but...
As a "wild," drumming thunder shaman, a warrior mounted on her spirit horse, Francisca Kolipi's spirit traveled to other historical times and places, gaining the power and knowledge to conduct spiritual warfare against her community's enemies, including forestry companies and settlers. As a "civilized" shaman, Francisca narrated the Mapuche people's attachment to their local sacred landscapes,...
Freud and Jung are the pillars of the modern scientific study of the mind. Their ideas are based upon diverse sources, ranging from mythic literature to the case studies of their individual patients. The work of those who came later, even when it veered away from that of these two pioneers, still took into account the theories they forged. Today, modern laboratory techniques and equipment have...