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Archetypes (Greek, ‘originals’) were discovered by Jung through the analysis of dreams. He discovered that images occur which are not always part of our own history or personal experience. He also discovered that these elements, which seemed to be inherited from somewhere else, had a tendency to organize themselves into predetermined patterns or symbols; these he called archetypes. Freud\'s analysis of dreams had come up with similar anomalies which he had called ‘archaic remnants’: part of our archaic past and biological development; a part of our mind that is close to animals. Each of us, in this sense, has an extremely old psyche, a deposit of collective images and primitive motifs. They are, according to Jung, fantasies and visual representations of our instincts. Each archetype is a recurring pattern of human development, which will represent itself as a mythical figure, image or motif. Six examples of archetypes we are thought to live by are the Hero, the Orphan, the Wanderer, the Warrior, the Martyr and the Magician. MJ
Further reading Carol S. Pearson, The Hero Within. |
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