Dregs of Yore

 Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious “The unconscious no sooner touches us than we are it—we become unconscious of ourselves. That is the age-old danger, instinctively known and feared by primitive man, who himself stands so very close to this pleroma. His consciousness is still uncertain, wobbling on its feet. It is still childish, having just emerged from the primal waters. A wave of the unconscious may easily roll over it, and then he forgets who he was and does things that are strange to him. Hence primitives are afraid of uncontrolled emotions, because consciousness breaks down under them and gives way to possession.” The objective mode of thinking has only been around for a few centuries. In the time of the primitive man, when his consciousness had just been born, he viewed the world in a predominantly subjective perspective and it served humanity well. It is unfortunate that in the modern era, we are so wrapped up in our objectivity and materialism that we have forgotte...

Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious “True, whoever looks into the mirror of the water will see first of all his own face. Whoever goes to himself risks a confrontation with himself. The mirror does not flatter, it faithfully shows whatever looks into it; namely, the face we never show to the world because we cover it with the persona, the mask of the actor. But the mirror lies behind the mask and shows the true face.” Water is the symbol of the collective unconscious. Diving into the depths of this water would be to venture into the Underworld, a realm that is rarely visited on will. Since the collective unconscious is the seat of emotion, instinct and subjective experience, the brave decision to undertake the journey downward can be expected to be met with all manner of subjective “demons” that pounce upon the one who dares enter into their kingdom. In the conscious realm that we occupy for much of our lives, we repeat more or less simplified behaviours that we have learned to ex...