anhang - medidationen

Archetypes They were seen by the classical philosophers Cicero, Pliny and Plato as primordial images appertaining to the mythology of all religions and societies. According to Mircea Eliade “These archetypes are not personal images and do not participate in the historical Time of the individual life. They “live” in the Time of the species and even in organic Life itself.” (p.54, Myths, Dreams and Mysteries”, 1968) In psychological terms much has been written about archetypes by Joseph Campbell in his famous book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” and his series “The Faces of God.” Carl Gustav Jung called them primordial mental images inherited from the earliest human ancestors, and presumed them to be present in the collective unconscious. As images of primordial human experiences they can be regarded as forming a genetic base for the structure of a personality. As examples of everyday personal life there are the archetypical king, tyrant, warrior, peacemaker or father and mother, the lovers, the healers etc. Above these are the norms of society such as the Law, Honesty and Morality etc. - On another level there is the challenge to question higher qualities by asking what is: Beauty, Peace, Justice and Wisdom etc.