Tuesday, August 26, 2014

The Most Important Archetypes Jung Introduced

By Rhea Frazier


Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung was interested in philosophy, sociology and even astrology. He was the first to propose the concepts of extroverted and introverted personalities. He also developed the theory of the collective unconscious, introducing archetypes and symbols as universal keys for unlocking the mysteries of human personality. The most important archetypes Jung introduced are explained here.

Four major ones are The Shadow, The Self, The Anima or Animus and The Persona. Jung says that there are numerous other archetypes, and many of them overlap and can be easily linked to the main ones. There are, for example, animal archetypes such as the faithful dog, and this one represents unquestionable loyalty.

The Self is the perfect union between consciousness and unconsciousness, human and God. Humans experience such perfect union in the very moment of their birth, when they are still the whole. After that, life makes them change, and they split into different parts of their personalities. That's why people want to re-establish this perfect moment, the Nirvana.

The Shadow is all about human hidden nature, dark and chaotic. Every person have this dark side, there are no exceptions. People usually try to hide their dark side, and sometimes they aren't aware of all aspect of this nature. This side of personality may appear in hallucinations, in dreams or in some special situations. Sometimes this dark side can prevail.

The Animus and the Anima represent male and female, or masculine and feminine sides of human personalities. They also stand as a mean for communicate with collective unconscious. Every person has feminine and masculine side, both men and women. Also, men usually have only one dominant female figure in their life, while women are usually more complex.

The perfect balance or the perfect unity between these feminine and masculine sides in Anima and Animus makes the wholeness. It is also called the Syzygy. The same term is also used for the alignment of planets. This need for achieving wholeness can also be related to a term the soul-mate. People are trying to find their other half, to achieve the perfect wholeness.

The Persona represents the way people want to be seen by other people. Derived from a Latin word that means mask, this archetype acts as a shield from negative influences. Your mask is usually there to protect you. This is actually the way you want other people to see you in different situations, and that's why people wear different masks in different situations.

Family archetypes are well known today and easy to recognize. Father, for example, represents control, authority, security and power, while Mother stands for soothing, nurturing and comforting, even protecting elements. Child is related to birth, innocence, in short, beginnings and all other things that can be related to this term.

Some others, like story archetypes, are also quite popular. The Hero represents power, strength, fighting for greater good, pride, while The Maiden stands for purity, for someone who needs protection, who is fragile and innocent. Another well known archetype is The Earth Mother, and it represents the Nature, with all her characteristics.




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