# Episode 172 - Archetypes ![rw-book-cover](https://wsrv.nl/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.libsyn.com%2Fp%2Fassets%2Fb%2F4%2Fc%2F3%2Fb4c3e32cc56b3369%2Fthis-jungian-life_artwork-thumbnail_1400.png&w=100&h=100) URL:: https://share.snipd.com/episode/97c1516a-43e5-4020-9a43-88c6d7310aad Author:: This Jungian Life Podcast ## Highlights > Episode AI notes > 1. Archetypes are universal manifestations that manifest indirectly through images, ideas, and behaviors, forming the contents of the collective unconscious. > 2. The concept of archetypes can be traced back to Plato's idea of divine forms and the belief that all phenomena require a preexisting plan. > 3. Recognizing the universality of suffering is important for transforming it into soul-making and changing our relationship with it. > 4. Understanding our suffering as universal helps us realize our deep connection to others and situates our own situation in a universal context. > 5. Connecting the individual to the universal and human condition can alleviate feelings of existential aloneness during suffering. > 6. Archetypes can influence personal development and push individuals into new areas of growth and healing, even without corresponding lived experiences. > 7. Dreams can serve as a means for archetypes to activate and influence personal development. ([Time 0:00:00](https://share.snipd.com/episode-takeaways/66f26c75-b784-47b4-b247-fe8e72b13deb)) > Exploring the Concept of Archetypes > Summary: > Archetypes are universal manifestations through images, ideas, and behaviors, stemming from the collective unconscious. They are a priori and bivalent, rooted in the presupposition that all phenomena require a preexisting plan. Ancient religions and mythology assume a mythic beginning with a deity's idea generating the world and humanity. Plato introduced the concept of divine forms, which are presupposed to exist through the shadows they cast, making them accessible to humans. These forms are part of the creative plan shaping everything from trees to people. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > Archetypes are psychic universals that manifest indirectly through images, ideas, and behaviors. Instincts and archetypes form the contents of the collective unconscious. Archetypes are a priori and bivalent. > Speaker 2 > So the basis of the idea of archetype goes back at least as far as Plato. And it's the instinctive presupposition that all phenomena requires a preexisting plan of some sort. And whether or not we look to ancient religions and mythology, they all presuppose a spiritual or mythic beginning with a kind of deity that has an idea in mind. And that idea then generates the world, humanity, and everything else. Plato put this into what he felt was a rational idea that there were platonic forms or divine forms and that as human beings we could only presuppose their existence through the shadows That they cast, which is the part of the forms that become phenomenologically accessible to human beings. And those forms are part of the creative plan that allows everything from trees to puppies to people to have a consistent recognizable shape to them. ([Time 0:03:01](https://share.snipd.com/snip/5619b077-9687-4cd9-8b8a-c4e6610de811)) > Why do archetypes matter? > Summary: > Recognizing universality in the midst of suffering is crucial for healing and transforming suffering into soul-making. Understanding our suffering as universal changes how we experience it and our relationship with it. Realizing that we are deeply connected to everyone who came before us and everyone currently alive is a profound insight that affects us at the level of feeling, overwhelming in a positive way, and situates our own situation in a universal context. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > So what about the idea of archetypes? You know, why does this matter? Why should we care about this? One of the reasons we should care is because recognizing universality in the midst of suffering is one of the crucial ways that we heal or that we can transform the suffering into soul-making. It doesn't make it go away. But when we understand our suffering as universal, it really changes how we experience it. It changes our relationship with it. So understanding that we're deeply connected to everyone who went before us and everyone else who is currently alive is a profound realization. Of course, we may know that kind of intellectually, but the archetype affects us at the level of feeling. It can be quite an overwhelming experience in a kind of positive way to see our own situation situated in this universal context. ([Time 0:22:08](https://share.snipd.com/snip/dcc36382-075e-47f1-bc72-9944b251cf7d)) > 2min Snip > Summary: > Connecting the individual to the universal and the human condition helps alleviate existential aloneness during suffering. Moving from archetypal realms to personal experience can lead to distortion and the creation of complexes. The archetype of the great mother, for example, influences biological mothers based on their personal experiences. The archetype can activate and push individuals into unprecedented areas of development, even without the corresponding lived experiences. This is considered a form of healing. > Transcript: > Speaker 2 > So being able to connect the individual to the universal and to the human condition can encourage a kind of objectivity and resolve a kind of existential aloneness that people often Feel when they're suffering. But it also begins to lean us into an archetypal medicine. And by that I mean part of the theory of these strata of subtle structures out of which the physical world precipitates is that as life moves from these archetypal realms of energy and Pattern and they move closer and closer into a personally lived and shaped experience that they lose some of their new monosity and that they are distorted as they enter into the conditions Of the personal psyche. And this is something that we call the creation of the complex. So for instance, the archetype of the great mother is pressing down upon every biological mother as the conditions of becoming pregnant and giving birth are moving forward in the lived Life. The explicit memories of being mother and providing mothering shape how the archetype is perceived in the psyche. The archetype is far more full, far more powerful and as many more dimensions than the individual mother could possibly live out in a given environment. If her experience is small or inadequate to incarnate the fullness of the mother archetype, it's possible that the archetype can activate and begin to press often through the dream World, press into certain capacities that she could incarnate even though she hasn't had access to the lived experiences in her life. So the archetype can begin to push us into areas of development that are unprecedented based on lived experience. And I call that a kind of healing. ([Time 0:23:14](https://share.snipd.com/snip/93913801-7638-4857-8882-d68c2b345e46)) --- Title: Episode 172 - Archetypes Author: This Jungian Life Podcast Tags: readwise, podcasts date: 2024-01-30 --- # Episode 172 - Archetypes ![rw-book-cover](https://wsrv.nl/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.libsyn.com%2Fp%2Fassets%2Fb%2F4%2Fc%2F3%2Fb4c3e32cc56b3369%2Fthis-jungian-life_artwork-thumbnail_1400.png&w=100&h=100) URL:: https://share.snipd.com/episode/97c1516a-43e5-4020-9a43-88c6d7310aad Author:: This Jungian Life Podcast ## AI-Generated Summary None ## Highlights > Episode AI notes > 1. Archetypes are universal manifestations that manifest indirectly through images, ideas, and behaviors, forming the contents of the collective unconscious. > 2. The concept of archetypes can be traced back to Plato's idea of divine forms and the belief that all phenomena require a preexisting plan. > 3. Recognizing the universality of suffering is important for transforming it into soul-making and changing our relationship with it. > 4. Understanding our suffering as universal helps us realize our deep connection to others and situates our own situation in a universal context. > 5. Connecting the individual to the universal and human condition can alleviate feelings of existential aloneness during suffering. > 6. Archetypes can influence personal development and push individuals into new areas of growth and healing, even without corresponding lived experiences. > 7. Dreams can serve as a means for archetypes to activate and influence personal development. ([Time 0:00:00](https://share.snipd.com/episode-takeaways/66f26c75-b784-47b4-b247-fe8e72b13deb)) > Exploring the Concept of Archetypes > Summary: > Archetypes are universal manifestations through images, ideas, and behaviors, stemming from the collective unconscious. They are a priori and bivalent, rooted in the presupposition that all phenomena require a preexisting plan. Ancient religions and mythology assume a mythic beginning with a deity's idea generating the world and humanity. Plato introduced the concept of divine forms, which are presupposed to exist through the shadows they cast, making them accessible to humans. These forms are part of the creative plan shaping everything from trees to people. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > Archetypes are psychic universals that manifest indirectly through images, ideas, and behaviors. Instincts and archetypes form the contents of the collective unconscious. Archetypes are a priori and bivalent. > Speaker 2 > So the basis of the idea of archetype goes back at least as far as Plato. And it's the instinctive presupposition that all phenomena requires a preexisting plan of some sort. And whether or not we look to ancient religions and mythology, they all presuppose a spiritual or mythic beginning with a kind of deity that has an idea in mind. And that idea then generates the world, humanity, and everything else. Plato put this into what he felt was a rational idea that there were platonic forms or divine forms and that as human beings we could only presuppose their existence through the shadows That they cast, which is the part of the forms that become phenomenologically accessible to human beings. And those forms are part of the creative plan that allows everything from trees to puppies to people to have a consistent recognizable shape to them. ([Time 0:03:01](https://share.snipd.com/snip/5619b077-9687-4cd9-8b8a-c4e6610de811)) > Why do archetypes matter? > Summary: > Recognizing universality in the midst of suffering is crucial for healing and transforming suffering into soul-making. Understanding our suffering as universal changes how we experience it and our relationship with it. Realizing that we are deeply connected to everyone who came before us and everyone currently alive is a profound insight that affects us at the level of feeling, overwhelming in a positive way, and situates our own situation in a universal context. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > So what about the idea of archetypes? You know, why does this matter? Why should we care about this? One of the reasons we should care is because recognizing universality in the midst of suffering is one of the crucial ways that we heal or that we can transform the suffering into soul-making. It doesn't make it go away. But when we understand our suffering as universal, it really changes how we experience it. It changes our relationship with it. So understanding that we're deeply connected to everyone who went before us and everyone else who is currently alive is a profound realization. Of course, we may know that kind of intellectually, but the archetype affects us at the level of feeling. It can be quite an overwhelming experience in a kind of positive way to see our own situation situated in this universal context. ([Time 0:22:08](https://share.snipd.com/snip/dcc36382-075e-47f1-bc72-9944b251cf7d)) > 2min Snip > Summary: > Connecting the individual to the universal and the human condition helps alleviate existential aloneness during suffering. Moving from archetypal realms to personal experience can lead to distortion and the creation of complexes. The archetype of the great mother, for example, influences biological mothers based on their personal experiences. The archetype can activate and push individuals into unprecedented areas of development, even without the corresponding lived experiences. This is considered a form of healing. > Transcript: > Speaker 2 > So being able to connect the individual to the universal and to the human condition can encourage a kind of objectivity and resolve a kind of existential aloneness that people often Feel when they're suffering. But it also begins to lean us into an archetypal medicine. And by that I mean part of the theory of these strata of subtle structures out of which the physical world precipitates is that as life moves from these archetypal realms of energy and Pattern and they move closer and closer into a personally lived and shaped experience that they lose some of their new monosity and that they are distorted as they enter into the conditions Of the personal psyche. And this is something that we call the creation of the complex. So for instance, the archetype of the great mother is pressing down upon every biological mother as the conditions of becoming pregnant and giving birth are moving forward in the lived Life. The explicit memories of being mother and providing mothering shape how the archetype is perceived in the psyche. The archetype is far more full, far more powerful and as many more dimensions than the individual mother could possibly live out in a given environment. If her experience is small or inadequate to incarnate the fullness of the mother archetype, it's possible that the archetype can activate and begin to press often through the dream World, press into certain capacities that she could incarnate even though she hasn't had access to the lived experiences in her life. So the archetype can begin to push us into areas of development that are unprecedented based on lived experience. And I call that a kind of healing. ([Time 0:23:14](https://share.snipd.com/snip/93913801-7638-4857-8882-d68c2b345e46))