The Archetypes: Defining The Psychic Legacy of Human Evolution
Carl Jung’s theory of archetypes is perhaps his most ubiquitous theory.
We see archetypes everywhere. They appear all throughout our lives as symbols. They manifest in dreams and in stories, in myths, literature and in art. Archetypes act through us, using the wisdom of the collective human experience to guide the way we perceive and make sene of our individual experiences.
Archetypes connect us to the inherited psychological legacy of human evolution. They are universal symbols that represent patterns of behavior, thoughts, and emotions that are embedded in the human collective consciousness.
Through archetypes, we can understand and contextualize our experiences, the world around us, and our place in it. They influence our perceptions, actions, and decisions, shaping the identities of individuals and entire cultures alike.
They are the legacy of every generation of humans since time immemorial. By understanding archetypes, the symbols through which they appear, and the influence they have on guiding our lived experience, we understand the very foundation of human consciousness and deepen our understanding of the shared human experience.
The Origin of Archetypes
Jung discovered the archetypes through his work with patients as a practicing psychotherapist. He noted that his patients’ dreams and hallucinations contained common mythological symbols and themes.
He deduced that these symbols were shared across cultures and could not be merely individual memories or experiences. Jung coined the term 'collective unconscious' to refer to this reservoir of shared human experience. Furthermore, he coined the term archetype to refer to “uniform and regularly occurring modes of apprehension that underlie a variety of specific images and symbols.”.
Archetypes arise from the collective unconscious, shared between the entirety of humanity, ingrained in us from birth. The collective unconscious results from millennia of human evolution. It contains the entire evolutionary and spiritual heritage of mankind. Instincts, archetypes, and the very blueprint of the psyche itself are all a result of the collective unconscious.
However, the concept of archetypes was not unique to Jung.
The word archetype itself is much older. It comes from greek, literally meaning “original form”.
Greek Philosopher, Plato believed that archetypes were ideas, or images imprinted upon the soul before birth. The Theory of Form, as Plato called it, postulated that these forms were the non-material essences of all things. Everything has a form. They are the purest mental representation of a thing, without which the thing could not be what it is.
For instance, there are thousands of species of birds, each with their own unique differences. Despite whatever differences in physical characteristics exist, we know them to be birds because of the ingrained archetypal “form” of a bird. That is, because we possess the innate mental predisposition to comprehend a feathered, winged, beaked flying creature as a bird.
Plato’s theory of form heavily inspired Jung’s theory of archetypes. Both knew that that humans were not born a blank slate, ready to be impressed upon by the world, but instead, that humans are born with a wealth of instinct, archetype, and form from which to drawn from.
Defining Archetypes
As nebulous and complex as archetypes are, we can define them as shared symbols and thought-forms; representations of shared instincts, motifs, ideas, and experiences found throughout our collective human history.
Archetypes are little pieces of shared human psychology that incarnate time and time again throughout myth, fantasy, media, and dreams. Jung called them “a remnant of the joys and sorrows that have been repeated countless times in our ancestral history.”.
Jung thought of the relationship between instincts and archetypes like the relationship between infrared and ultraviolet. They exists on the same spectrum, but are of two differing energies.
Instincts are behavioral predispositions to respond to certain biological needs. They prepare and drive us to take action. There is not much thought that goes into an instinctual reaction. It’s automatic. It just simply happens.
Archetypes, however, manifest as symbols and ideas, instead of reactions and behaviors. They illustrate concepts that are deeper and more profound than mere words can express. Just as we think of instincts as automatic behaviors pre-programmed in our brain, archetypes are pre-programmed modes of thought and comprehension.
While Jung centered his research on only a handful of archetypes, it is worth acknowledging that the number of archetypes is endless. There are countless sources from which archetypes have arisen over the course of our evolutionary history, and they have consequently taken on a vast array of forms.
Examples of Common Archetypes
Although countless archetypes exist, Jung focused on a select few that he felt were the most salient in modern man. These archetypes provide humans with a common understanding of our most fundamental experiences and themes, and arise from a variety of sources along human history.
Archetypes are formed as a result of universally important milestones during human history, they make up the foundation of the psyche, and are the motifs and themes that appear anywhere human creativity is expressed.
The following is by no means an exhaustive list of archetypes, but is intended to provide adequate examples from which we can fully understand an archetypes breadth.
Archetypes as Universal Experiences that Occur Over the Course of Human Development.
The Archetype of the Mother:
The Mother Earth Goddess; Motherhood; One’s experiences with one’s own mothers; The experience of being a mother; The feelings of comfort, safety, sanctuary, home that mother’s provide; The motherly act of bringing something to life from nothingness.
The Archetype of Child:
The experience of youth, enthusiasm, and innocence; one’s experience as children and with children; the inner child that years for joy and for approval, and to have its needs heard and met; the sacred child that feels naive, powerless, and frightened.
The Archetype of the Wise Old Man:
The experience of old age, solitude, and self-discipline, shrewdness, conservatism, and discernment; Sagacity and the wisdom as a result of time and experience; the seeking of advice or mentorship; the dispensing of wisdom and knowledge.
Archetypes as the Organs of the Psyche, Forming the Foundation of our Psychological Make-up
The Persona:
The mask we wear, the role we take on, the ways in which we appear more socially acceptable; the positive qualities we highlight and the negative qualities we hide; our adherence to social norms and standards.
The Shadow:
The part of our personality we repress, that we or society deem unacceptable; the underdeveloped and immature aspects of our personality, the hearts of ourselves we dare not show out of fear of judgment
The Anima and Animus:
The archetypal male and female; the voice of creativity, relation, emotion, and eros in man, the voice of reason, logic, discernment, and logos in woman, the spectrum of gender that we find ourselves on; the expression of male and female, logos, and eros, spirit and soul.
The Self:
The Nucleus of the psyche; the center and the totality of our psyche; our incomparable, unalienable uniqueness; the drive towards self growth, self realization; the quest to find our unique purpose and meaning in life.
Archetypes as the Motifs and Themes Found Wherever Human Creativity is Expressed.
The Archetype of the Hero:
The experience of overcoming challenge and tribulation; the acceptance of the call of fate, the mustering of courage to brave the unknown, the underdog who rises to become the victor, the hero within us all that strives for accomplishment and acknowledgment.
The Archetype of Initiation:
The experience of coming of age; of separating from the parental influences of childhood; of differentiating oneself from the group; the discovery of individuality and sovereignty; the experiences, rituals, and traditions that induct one into adulthood.
The Archetype of Death and Rebirth:
The experience of profound transformation; the end of one way of being and the beginning of a new way; the pain and grief and death; the excitement and hope of rebirth; the acceptance of what must die; the invitation of what must be born.
Conclusion
Archetypes are the inherited ancestral legacy of human evolution, the spiritual heritage of humanity, the collective trials, tribulations, successes and achievements, the very foundation of the psyche, and the basis of creative expression.
There cannot be an exhaustive list of the archetypes within the collective unconscious. They are as vast and as innumerable as the symbols and forms through which we they appear.
However, By seeking to appreciate and understand the archetypes of the collective unconscious, we cane come to appreciate the legacy of those who came before us, how their experiences and ideas shape our lives, and how we in turn contribute to the reservoir of collective knowledge and wisdom that is the archetypes.
