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The developmental/emergent model of archetype, its implications and its application to shamanism

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This paper addresses the ongoing debate in the JAP to do with archetype theory and supports an emergent/developmental model which sees archetypal imagery as an emergent phenomenon arising out of neural bio-structures laid down in early infant life as a result of developmental experience. This model is supported by the current findings of those developmental biologists who adhere to Developmental Systems Theory. The themes of Developmental Systems Theory are examined and corroborative parallels are drawn with the model. A number of implications follows: the model has substantial explanatory power and leads to a new perspective on innatism; it implies an archetype-environment nexus; it collapses the nature-nurture debate in relation to archetype theory; it collapses the ‘sacred heritage’ approach to archetypes and it removes the conceptual division between the collective and personal unconscious. This developmental/emergent perspective is then applied to the shaman archetype, using ethnographic records of the Sakha (Yakut) Siberian tribe. The material supports the hypothesis that the shamanic complex is laid down in early infancy by a combination of events which cause emotional ruptures in the mother-infant dyad. Siberian shamanism is then understood to arise out of developmental experience and not from the constellation of an autochthonous archetype.

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... They are believed to be hard-wired patterns in the subconscious mind and are found in mythology, religion, art, and literature from different cultures. Shamanism, as a religious culture, provides important examples of Jung's theory of archetype (Merchant, 2006;Sandner and Wong, 2013;Scott, 2014). In shamanism, archetypes are understood as inner patterns latent in the individual psyche, manifested in rituals, myths, and traditional practices. ...
... He saw archetype as an emergent phenomenon, the result of neurobiological structures formed through the developmental experiences of an infant's early life. It is the result of interactions between the human organism and its environment during development (Merchant, 2006). Knox focused her discussion on the early mind/brain development of the human infant's perceptual processes and employed Johnson's pictorial model of the image as an early mental structure, thus, meeting the need for a model that provides both the archetype and the archetype image (Johnson, 1989;Merchant, 2006). ...
... It is the result of interactions between the human organism and its environment during development (Merchant, 2006). Knox focused her discussion on the early mind/brain development of the human infant's perceptual processes and employed Johnson's pictorial model of the image as an early mental structure, thus, meeting the need for a model that provides both the archetype and the archetype image (Johnson, 1989;Merchant, 2006). This model is supported by different scholars and has been verified in Siberian shamanism. ...
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The alteration of consciousness during shamanic rituals is both a physical and mystical phenomenon. It involves psychological and spiritual experiences. Through ritual practices, shamans can connect with archetype within the collective unconscious, utilizing trance-inducing techniques for “hallucinatory exploration”. This study surveyed 75 participants to investigate the impact of prototype symbols in Shamanistic rituals on participants’ consciousness states focusing on Jungian psychology’s concept of archetype. The results indicate that archetype symbols in shamanic rituals can significantly influence participants’ conscious state, leading them to experience a conscious dissolution of the self. Furthermore, archetype symbols have different effects at the stages of consciousness change. In particular, during the “Visionary Restructuralization” stage, archetype symbols, such as patterns, masks, totems and music, brought participants’ consciousness to a peak and caused significant changes to it. These findings suggest that the metaphoric function of archetype symbols plays a crucial role in rituals. Archetype symbols connect the individual to the collective unconscious through visual images and symbolic imagery. They prompt the participants to experience emotional resonances that transcend individual experiences and affect their state of consciousness.
... Some important clarification then came from John Merchant (2006), who cited developmental biologists that note how small perturbations in environment can influence large scale structures even in genetically identical individuals. Merchant noted that, via selection, an organism can be made insensitive or highly sensitive to perturbations of gene or environment. ...
... Important for the present discussion, Merchant (2006) noted that the process of evolution is not really the focus of the genome-light, developmental, constructivist view. Instead, he argued that the difference between the nativist view of Stevens (2003) and the anti-nativist view of Knox (2004) comes from the explanation for neurodevelopmental endpoints: the activity of universal biostructural processes which correlate with archetypal imagery. ...
... Clinical theoretical relevance Merchant (2006) convincingly argued why all this matters clinically: if the genome-light theory holds, it logically follows that the distinction between the collective and personal unconscious collapses onto early experiences, and it requires a radical revision of what Jung's concepts actually mean. Furthermore, loosed from its mooring, the archetype requires a radical revision alsoarchetypes can no longer be innate as Jung imagined them, but must be considered 'as if arising from something innate' (Merchant 2006, p. 131, italics added). ...
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Throughout his career, Jung felt the psyche had 'ancestral layers' that contained elements of an individual's species history, and clinical experience has shown that this idea can be an aid to psychological healing and emotional well-being. Thus, some later thinkers have attempted to link such theoretical constructs to the genome, as Jung had little knowledge of genetics in his day. But in the early 2000s, genome studies suggested that the genome might contain too little content to be capable of encoding symbolic information. This opinion gave rise to an oft-repeated 'impoverished genome' argument, i.e. that the genome could not provide a significant contribution to the collective unconscious, prompting theorists to propose other sources for it, or to argue that it doesn't exist. Today, however, developments in evolutionary neurogenetics calls the impoverished genome argument into question for a number of independent reasons. These developments re-open the idea that the genome may be worth reconsidering as the biological substrate for the collective unconscious.
... This is the view in biology that the information for producing an organism is contained in the genetic constitution of the zygote and becomes 'read-out' in an environment. This concept does relate to analytical psychology when archetypes, conceived as biologically based and pre-existent in the psyche, are understood to be 'readout' into experience in some preformed way, an approach I have critiqued previously (Merchant 2006(Merchant , 2009). Knox's (2003) image schema model of archetypes which sees infant development itself as leading to the final crafting of mind/brain structures which underpin archetypal experience, is based on contemporary neuroscience and is similarly opposed to the kind of biological determinism which Nelson et al describe. ...
... This is the view in biology that the information for producing an organism is contained in the genetic constitution of the zygote and becomes 'read-out' in an environment. This concept does relate to analytical psychology when archetypes, conceived as biologically based and pre-existent in the psyche, are understood to be 'readout' into experience in some preformed way, an approach I have critiqued previously (Merchant 2006(Merchant , 2009). Knox's (2003) image schema model of archetypes which sees infant development itself as leading to the final crafting of mind/brain structures which underpin archetypal experience, is based on contemporary neuroscience and is similarly opposed to the kind of biological determinism which Nelson et al describe. ...
... This is not an insignificant issue, for if developmental processes can explain the emergence of archetypal imagery as in Knox's image schema model, is there any need to posit innate archetypes as pre-existent a priori psychic structures? It is this question which I have explored previously in relation to the shaman archetype and the case examples Jung used to evidence innate archetypes (Merchant 2006(Merchant , 2009. ...
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This download contains three separate responses to Erik Goodwyn. The first is by Jean Knox, followed by John Merchant, and finally my own response. The three of us have different points of view on the question of innate archetypal patterns, but we all are critical of the idea of innate archetypes.
... There is a connection between this and Jung's formulation of 'the play of opposites' in the psyche which deserves further investigation. We commend the way Buszjaki's 'emergent' neurobiology can account for the generation of complex brain states without the intervention of a divine microarchitect and, similarly, we strongly support an 'emergent' understanding of complex and archetypal theory, as outlined by Roesler (2012), Knox (2011) and Merchant (2006Merchant ( , 2009. Emergence is sufficient. ...
... There is a connection between this and Jung's formulation of 'the play of opposites' in the psyche which deserves further investigation. We commend the way Buszjaki's 'emergent' neurobiology can account for the generation of complex brain states without the intervention of a divine microarchitect and, similarly, we strongly support an 'emergent' understanding of complex and archetypal theory, as outlined by Roesler (2012), Knox (2011) and Merchant (2006Merchant ( , 2009. Emergence is sufficient. ...
... There is a connection between this and Jung's formulation of 'the play of opposites' in the psyche which deserves further investigation. We commend the way Buszjaki's 'emergent' neurobiology can account for the generation of complex brain states without the intervention of a divine microarchitect and, similarly, we strongly support an 'emergent' understanding of complex and archetypal theory, as outlined by Roesler (2012), Knox (2011) and Merchant (2006Merchant ( , 2009. Emergence is sufficient. ...
... There is a connection between this and Jung's formulation of 'the play of opposites' in the psyche which deserves further investigation. We commend the way Buszjaki's 'emergent' neurobiology can account for the generation of complex brain states without the intervention of a divine microarchitect and, similarly, we strongly support an 'emergent' understanding of complex and archetypal theory, as outlined by Roesler (2012), Knox (2011) and Merchant (2006Merchant ( , 2009. Emergence is sufficient. ...
... There is a connection between this and Jung's formulation of 'the play of opposites' in the psyche which deserves further investigation. We commend the way Buszjaki's 'emergent' neurobiology can account for the generation of complex brain states without the intervention of a divine microarchitect and, similarly, we strongly support an 'emergent' understanding of complex and archetypal theory, as outlined by Roesler (2012), Knox (2011) and Merchant (2006Merchant ( , 2009. Emergence is sufficient. ...
... There is a connection between this and Jung's formulation of 'the play of opposites' in the psyche which deserves further investigation. We commend the way Buszjaki's 'emergent' neurobiology can account for the generation of complex brain states without the intervention of a divine microarchitect and, similarly, we strongly support an 'emergent' understanding of complex and archetypal theory, as outlined by Roesler (2012), Knox (2011) and Merchant (2006Merchant ( , 2009. Emergence is sufficient. ...
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Jung's Word Association Test was performed under fMRI conditions by 12 normal subjects. Pooled complexed responses were contrasted against pooled neutral ones. The fMRI activation pattern of this generic ‘complexed response’ was very strong (corrected Z scores ranging from 4.90 to 5.69). The activation pattern in each hemisphere includes mirror neurone areas that track ‘otherness’ (perspectival empathy), anterior insula (both self‐awareness and emotional empathy), and cingulated gyrus (self‐awareness and conflict‐monitoring). These are the sites described by Siegel and colleagues as the ‘resonance circuitry’ in the brain which is central to mindfulness (awareness of self) and empathy (sense of the other), negotiations between self awareness and the ‘internal other’. But there is also an interhemispheric dialogue. Within 3 seconds, the left hemisphere over‐rides the right (at least in our normal subjects). Mindfulness and empathy are central to good psychotherapy, and complexes can be windows of opportunity if left‐brain hegemony is resisted. This study sets foundations for further research: (i) QEEG studies (with their finer temporal resolution) of complexed responses in normal subjects (ii) QEEG and fMRI studies of complexed responses in other conditions, like schizophrenia, PTSD, disorders of self organization.
... These are different from medical epistemologies and treatment paradigms of the West, namely the medical evolution since the time of enlightenment and its typical dyad of microbiology and classical mechanics, today complemented by physical forms of radiation. Notwithstanding a certain tendency of Western medicine to claim the sole truth, other cultures have brought about completely different ways of treatment such as Siberian shamanism [3] or Filipino psychic surgery [4] which are, at least within their native cultures, considered effective. ...
... McDowell (Knox, 2004;Cambray, 2002;Cambray, 2006;Merchant, 2006;McDowell, 2001) these papers marked the beginning of a discussion of archetypes as emergent phenomena rather than expressions of pre-existing templates derived from evolution or other sources. In essence, the emergence model focused on the appearance of archetypal phenomena-the archetypal image-by way of the dynamics of complex systems, including cultural, biological, and other environmental factors, and either relativized or completely eliminated the idea of the archetype in itself. ...
... It is possible to go into much more detail on this period in working on the theory of archetypes, and deal with the researchers involved in the process: Peter Saunders and Patricia Skar (Saunders & Skar, 2001), John Merchant (Merchant, 2006), Joe Cambray (Cambray, 2002) et al., but the point to be made is that by about 2010 the proposals for a theory of archetypes, which really meant a theory of the archetype-in-itself, had both fragmented to a considerable degree, although some form of emergence theory had come to dominate at a more global level, and become quite abstracted from the phenomena associated with archetypes. For example, at this point there was almost no adequate theory of what distinguishes an archetypal image from other phenomena, and beyond a rather general sense that either a loose form of biological reductionism, or the most rudimentary forms of infant development and attachment there was really no account of the nature of the collective unconscious. ...
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The paper reviews the course of the controversy surrounding Jung's theory of archetypes beginning in the mid 1990s and continuing to the present. Much of this controversy was concerned with the debate between the essentialism of the evolutionary position of Anthony Stevens as found in his 1983 book Archetypes: A Natural History of the Self, and the emergence model of the archetypes proposed in various publications by Hogenson, Knox and Merchant, among others. The paper then moves on to a consideration of more recent developments in theory, particularly as derived from an examination of the philosopher Gilles Deleuze, who introduces Bergson's somnambulistic unconscious into the discussion of Jung's theories. It is suggested that this largely unexamined influence on Jung may provide answers to some of the unanswered questions surrounding his theorizing. The paper concludes by suggesting that the notion of the somnambulistic unconscious may resemble Atmanspacher's argument for a dual-aspect monism interpretation of Jung. © 2019, The Society of Analytical Psychology.
... Knox followed this 2001 article with her important and infl uential book, Archetype, Attachment, Analysis: Jungian Psychology and the Emergent Mind (Knox, 2003 ). Also following a more developmental model of emergent phenomena, the Australian analyst and academic, John Merchant, proposed an interpretation of shamanism as an emergent property of certain developmental patterns (Merchant, 2006 ). I published several additional papers on dynamic systems (Hogenson, 2004a ). ...
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... Contemporary researchers have tried to reformulate the theory of the archetype to make it more compatible with notions in modern science. Among one of the most well formulated approaches is a model which theorizes that what Jung might have meant with the archetype is similar to the contemporary cognitive semanticists' notion of image schemas [3][4][5][16][17][18], that is, a structure of sensorimotor experience that captures a "dynamic, recurring pattern of organism-environment interactions" ( [19], p. 136), that can be-"recruited for abstract conceptualization and reasoning" ( [19], p. 141). Image schemas are thought to be "preverbal and mostly nonconscious" ( [19], p. 144). ...
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The theory of the archetypes and the hypothesis of the collective unconscious are two of the central characteristics of analytical psychology. These provoke, however, varying reactions among academic psychologists. Empirical studies which test these hypotheses are rare. Rosen, Smith, Huston and Gonzales proposed a cognitive psychological experimental paradigm to investigate the nature of archetypes and the collective unconscious as archetypal (evolutionary) memory. In this article we report the results of a cross-cultural replication of Rosen et al. conducted in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. In short, this experiment corroborated previous findings by Rosen et al., based on English speakers, and demonstrated a recall advantage for archetypal symbol meaning pairs vs. other symbol/meaning pairings. The fact that the same pattern of results was observed across two different cultures and languages makes it less likely that they are attributable to a specific cultural or linguistic context.
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This paper celebrates the life and legacy of psychiatrist and Jungian author Anthony Stevens, who passed away at age 90 on July 13, 2023. It outlines Stevens's origins as a research fellow in Greece, where his work on infant attachment led to a lifelong dedication to establishing the biological and evolutionary foundation of psychiatry. It details his instrumental role in the debate about the theory of archetypes and describes the current state of the literature including the responses and reactions to Stevens's biological innatist position. The paper concludes with a career retrospective in which Stevens's major works are introduced and briefly described.
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This paper will describe the spiritual states of "oneness" experienced by Andean shamans in relation to oceanic states in early infancy and working with trauma in Jungian analysis. The author's work exploring implicit energetic experience with Andean shamans will be referenced with comparisons made to depth psychology, in both theory and in practice. Definitions of Q'echua terms describing different psychic meditative states that Andean shamans enter into will be provided as Andean medicine people have a much more developed language for conceptualizing these experiences. A clinical vignette will be presented that demonstrates how the spaces of implicit connection that occur between an analyst and analysand in the analytic setting can be a catalyst for healing.
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In this paper we address the question of epigenetics by evidencing some mechanisms related to gene expression, which, we understand, can in a way be used as metaphors for movements occurring during the psychotherapeutic process. The possibility of a dialogue between epigenetics and analytical psychology begins with the hereditary and archetypal question and takes shape in the dimension of the analytical encounter. Through the Jungian attitude model, we propose a way of moving between the two sciences. This paper provides a brief review of the concept of archetype, covering recent publications. It then describes the main mechanisms of epigenetics and, finally, addresses the analytical process and presents the authors' proposal to consider the archetypal expression in the light of epigenetics.
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Goodwyn's (2020) paper ‘Archetypes and the “Impoverished Genome” argument: updates from evolutionary genetics’ continues the ongoing discussion forged in this Journal to do with the bio-genetic, socio-cultural and environmental underpinnings to archetypal experience. Goodwyn's central focus considers the way in which the genome and environment both contribute causally to the development of the collective unconscious across the lifespan, arguing that others in the debate have minimized the genome's contribution. This paper contrasts the research evidence Goodwyn outlines with contemporary gene-environment coaction research within the psychological domain, concluding that the issue may be more one of emphasis by showing that both genome and environment are important in the activation of archetypal imagery. This highlights that ‘pre-formationism’ (as some kind of automatic archetypal read-out mechanism) and the idea of ‘autochthonous revival’ of archetypes are suspect concepts, and this needs to be taken into account in clinical work. Furthermore, the central issue as to which is causally more significant in generating archetypal imagery, the genome or the environment, will be examined. Illustrative examples of the importance of environmental input in activating archetypal imagery are presented from Jung's own life experience, alongside a contemporary case, as well as with an historical case of Jung's.
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Jung often discussed the phenomenon of the human spirit, emphasizing its ambiguous nature; it may work for good as well as for evil. This article engages with the ambiguous nature of spirit through a discussion of the double-figure of the white and the black magician. The black magician represents the dark side of the work of the human spirit—our narcissism and power drive. In the process of individuation, we must confront this figure, if we are to use spirit in a way that enriches our lives and the world in which we live.
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This paper addresses two key controversial questions to do with the concept of archetypes - do they operate autonomously without connection to an individual's personal life experience? Does their biological base mean they are genetically determined, innate and thus a priori inherited psychic structures? These questions are addressed through the case of a person who began life as an unwanted pregnancy, was adopted at birth and as an adult, experienced profound waking visions. An emergent/developmental model of archetype is outlined which stresses developmental start-points through this infant's engagement via response and reaction to the affective and material world of the infant/birth mother matrix and from which emergence later occurs by way of participation in a socio-cultural and material context. The emergentism aspect of this model rescues it from being reductionist since it allows for cultural and socialisation inputs. The model's explanatory power is vastly enlarged by combining this with the developmental component. Critically, once developmentally produced mind/brain (image schema) structures are in place, they have the capacity to generate psychological life. Imagery can then appear as if it is innately derived when that is not the case. The contemporary neuroscience which supports this model is both outlined and related back to the case example. © 2019, The Society of Analytical Psychology.
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Jung's individuation process, the central process of human development, relies heavily on several core philosophical and psychological ideas including the unconscious, complexes, the archetype of the Self, and the religious function of the psyche. While working to find empirical evidence of the psyche's religious function, Jung studied a variety of subjects including the Eastern liberatory traditions of Buddhism and Patañjali's Classical Yoga. In these traditions, Jung found substantiation of his ideas on psychospiritual development. Although Jung's career in soul work was lengthy, throughout, he aimed to steer clear of metaphysics. Patañjali's metaphysics, on the other hand, are straightforward, and his ontological commitments are evident. Because Jung's ontological commitments were not explicit, his theories, when seen through Patañjali's lens, confuse ontological questions with epistemic issues. As a result, when comparing the Jungian and Patañjalian notions of the Self, Jung's insightful ideas seem to be constructed upon a considerably shaky foundation. Yet, utilizing the exceptionally consistent ontological and epistemological commitments of Patañjali Yoga, as well as the objective measures of affective neuroscience, brings credence to the innate aspects and instinctual nature of Jung's archetype of the Self, and assists in answering the question of whether the archetype is innate or emergent. Many scholars in the field of Jungian psychology have utilized neuroscience as a means of exploring the validity of Jungian archetypes and to further develop archetypal ideas
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Shamans and Analysts provides a model by which to understand the wounded healer phenomenon. It provides evidence as to how this dynamic arises and gives a theoretical model by which to understand it, as well as practical implications for the way analysts' wounds can be transformed and used in their clinical work.
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Der Archetypenbegriff, das zentrale Konzept der Analytischen Psychologie, wird in seiner historischen Entwicklung und seinem Stellenwert für Theorie und Praxis ausführlich dargestellt. Angefangen von C.G. Jungs Definitionen des Archetyps bis hin zum heutigen Stand der Diskussion werden verschiedene Konzeptualisierungen auf biologischer, entwicklungspsychologischer und kulturtheoretischer Grundlage vorgestellt. Dabei zeigt sich zum einen, dass es empirische Belege für psychologische Archetypen zum Beispiel in den Neurowissenschaften, der entwicklungspsychologischen sowie der anthropologischen Forschung gibt, zum anderen aber auch, dass die klassische Konzeption einer Vererbung von komplexen symbolischen Mustern vor dem Hintergrund neuerer Erkenntnisse der Humangenetik, insbesondere der Epigenetik, nicht aufrechterhalten werden kann. Die prominenten Lösungsversuche dieses Problems aus der gegenwärtigen Analytischen Psychologie werden diskutiert, insbesondere emergenz- und systemtheoretische Argumentationen. Schließlich werden verschiedene empirische, teilweise experimentelle Studien aus der Analytischen Psychologie, unter anderem der Autoren selbst, vorgestellt, die die Hypothese der Existenz von Archetypen bzw. eines kollektiven (unbewussten) Gedächtnisses bestätigen. Insgesamt gibt der Beitrag einen Überblick über den Stand der Fachdiskussion zum Archetypenkonzept für eine Leserschaft über den engeren Bereich der Analytischen Psychologie hinaus.
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The archetype is one of the most important, if not the central concept of analytical psychology. Nevertheless from the beginning the concept was controversial. This paper attempts to review the debate around the term archetype and tries to point out some of the main problems the concept has in the light of contemporary knowledge especially in genetics and neurosciences. It becomes clear that for its use in the practice of Jungian psychotherapy the element of universality in the concept of archetypes is crucial. However, it must be concluded that there is still no firm scientific foundation for the claim that complex symbolic patterns (as for example the myth of the hero) can be transmitted in a way that every human individual has access to them. The paper attempts to show possible ways in which this transmission may be more successfully conceptualized. I would like to have Jung have the last word here. We find a hint in Jung's work where he opens up to ideas much like the ones I have developed here, and this is where Jung says: culture is part of man's nature.
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A needed rapprochement between Jung and the contemporary human sciences may rest less on the much debated relevance of a biologistic collective unconscious than on a re-inscribing of an archetypal imagination, as the phenomenological and empirical core of Jungian psychology. The most promising approaches in this regard in terms of theory and research in psychology come from combining the cognitive psychology of metaphor and synaesthesia, individual differences in imaginative absorption and openness to numinous experience and spirituality as a form of symbolic intelligence. On the socio-cultural side, this cognitive psychology of archetypal imagination is also congruent with Lévi-Strauss on the metaphoric roots of mythological thinking, and Durkheim on a sociology of collective consciousness. This conjoined perspective, while validating the cross cultural commonality of physical metaphor intuited by Jung and Hillman on alchemy, also shows Jung's Red Book, considered as the expressive source for his more formal psychology, to be far closer in spirit to a socio-cultural collective consciousness, based on metaphoric imagination, than to a phylogenetic or evolutionary unconscious. A mutual re-inscribing of Jung into congruent areas of contemporary psychology, anthropology, sociology, and vice versa, can help to further validate Jung's key observations and is fully consistent with Jung's own early efforts at synthesis within the human sciences.
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This paper contrasts Jung's account of synchronicity as evidence of an objective principle of meaning in Nature with a view that emphasizes human meaning-making. All synchronicities generate indicative signs but only where this becomes a 'living symbol' of a transcendent intentionality at work in a living universe does synchronicity generate the kind of symbolic meaning that led Jung to posit the existence of a Universal Mind. This is regarded as a form of personal, experiential knowledge belonging to the 'imaginal world of meaning' characteristic of the 'primordial mind', as opposed to the 'rational world of knowledge' in which Jung attempted to present his experiences as if they were empirically and publicly verifiable. Whereas rational knowledge depends on a form of meaning in which causal chains and logical links are paramount, imaginal meaning is generated by forms of congruent correspondence-a feature that synchronicity shares with metaphor and symbol-and the creation of narratives by means of retroactive organization of its constituent elements.
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This paper begins with an overview of contemporary approaches to archetype theory and notes the radical nature of certain deductions. Some argue that there is no ‘archetype‐as‐such’ as a pre‐existing entity at the core of a complex driving its formation whilst the findings of current neuroscience are calling into question one very thing on which the classical theory is built – innatism. Knox's argument for image schemas raises the question as to the extent to which archetypes can be conceived in any preformationist sense. The question is then posed – to what extent can Jung's classical theory of archetypes be read in light of these current models? The case examples Jung uses to evidence the existence of archetypes, his explications of synchronicity and his own Philemon experience are then reappraised. The conclusion is drawn that it is difficult to evidence the existence of autonomous archetypes unrelated to personal affective experience. Not only would this be expected by emergent/developmental models of archetype but it can explain many of Jung's disjunctive statements about archetype constellation; the difficulties in separating personal and collective psychic content and Jung's apparent Lamarckianism. The implications of these models for theory, clinical practice and analyst training are then offered for discussion.
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There has always been confusion and disagreement about the nature of the terms archetype and complex in Jungian circles, not to mention non-Jungian ones. Another ongoing concern is whether Jung's concept of the archetype and complex can be justified in terms of current scientific research, most notably that of neurophysiologists and others interested in the brain and consciousness. This paper proposes a theory of the formation of complexes, namely, that they are created through self-organization within the brain/mind. Self-organization is a process typical of large complex systems, and is generally accepted to operate within the brain and to be important in its functioning. Examples of self-organization in biology are related to the psychic processes that form the complexes. It is then natural to define the archetype in terms of the complex, and the authors propose a definition of the archetype as an equivalence class of complexes. On this view, the archetype is an emergent property of the activity of the brain/mind, and is, appropriately, defined at the level at which it emerges. This definition is in line with the original development of Jung's ideas, in that he derived the concept of the archetype from his earlier discovery of the feeling-toned complex.
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This paper considers the claim that C. G. Jung used a Lamarckian model of evolution to underwrite his theory of archetypes. This claim is challenged on the basis of Jung's familiarity with and use of the writings of James Mark Baldwin and Conway Lloyd Morgan, both of whom were noted and forceful opponents of neo-Lamarckian theory from within a neo-Darwinian framework. The paper then outlines the evolutionary model proposed by Baldwin and Lloyd Morgan, which has come to be known as Baldwinian evolution or the Baldwin effect. This model explicitly views psychological factors as central to the evolutionary process. Finally, the use of Baldwinian thinking in contemporary theorizing regarding language and other symbolic systems is reviewed and suggestions are made regarding the implications of Baldwinian models for theory building in analytical psychology.
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This paper addresses the question of how symbols should be understood in analytical psychology and psychoanalysis. The point of view examined focuses on the recent turn to more cognitive and developmental models in both disciplines and briefly reviews and critiques the evolutionary and cognitive arguments. The paper then presents an argument based on dynamic systems theory in which no pre-existing template or structure for either mind or behaviour is assumed. Within the dynamic systems model the Self is viewed as an emergent phenomenon deriving from the dynamic patterns existing in a complex system that includes the physiological characteristics of the infant, the intentional attributions of the caregiver and the cultural or symbolic resources that constitute the environment. The symbol can then be seen as a discrete, and in important ways an autonomous, element in the dynamic system. Conclusions are drawn for further research into the nature of the symbol with implications for both theory and practice in analytical psychology and psychoanalysis.
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Jung's theory of synchronicity is seen as a step in the development of a complete theory of the symbol. In so doing, a number of proposals are made for modelling the symbolic process along lines already in use for modelling a variety of other phenomena, ranging from language to the behaviour of earthquakes. These modelling techniques involve processes of self-organization, and raise issues of scaling in systems including symbolic systems. The proposal is made that symbolic systems obey the same rules of scaling that these other systems obey, and that symbolic systems can therefore be understood as exhibiting the characteristics of a power law distribution-a concept that is explained and developed in the paper. It is finally proposed that synchronicity is an aspect of the symbolic that can be characterized as exhibiting a high degree of 'symbolic density'.
Book
What are the origins of creativity and how can we develop it - whether within ourselves or in others? Not only does Playing and Reality address these questions, it also tackles many more that surround the fundamental issue of the individual self and its relationship with the outside world. In this landmark book of twentieth-century psychology, Winnicott shows the reader how, through the attentive nurturing of creativity from the earliest years, every individual has the opportunity to enjoy a rich and rewarding cultural life. Today, as the 'hothousing' and testing of children begins at an ever-younger age, Winnicott's classic text is a more urgent and topical read than ever before. © 1971 D. W. Winnicott, © 2005 Preface to the Routledge Classics edition, F. Robert Rodman.
Article
Shamanism, while essentially a form of healing, is also intimately involved in religion, and in the person of the shaman is found that duality in which deism and medicine coexist. This extraordinary and superb volume on shamanism is the first complete history of this practice. The author, Chairman of the Department of the History of Religion at the University of Chicago, possesses the erudition necessary to deal with the religious and medical aspects of shamanism in every part of the world. Like his previous books Shamanism was originally written in French and has been very well translated into English.Although the rites of initiation of the shaman embody primarily physical measures, the practice of shamanism is chiefly ritualistic. While the functions of the shaman are essentially similar to those of the medicine man, he alone can cope with illnesses of supernatural origin, namely, the ones that are due to "loss
Book
1. The Classification of Rites2. The Territorial Passage3. Individuals and Groups4. Pregnancy and Childbirth5. Birth and Childhood6. Initiation Rites7. Betrothal and Marriage8. Funerals9. Other Types of Rites of PassageConclusions
Article
A discussion of psychopathology and a general theory of shamanism (based on evidence from several cultures) introduces an assessment of the future shaman's childhood and adolescent behavior. Hypotheses are proposed regarding his/her character structure and major instinctual, defensive, and object-relational sources of his/her behavior. Intrapsychic support for hypotheses are presented through analysis of the shaman's initiation rites, his/her initiatory hallucinations, techniques for treating illness, and myths and fantasies associated with this practice. (6 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
In Jung's psychology, archetypes are biologically inherited supra-individual predispositions of the collective unconscious, and in this paper this controversial theory of archetypes is evaluated in the context of Ernst Cassirer's philosophy of symbolic forms. The main thesis of the author is that with the help of the Cassirerian approach, archetypes can be understood as culturally determined functionary forms organizing and structuring certain aspects of man's cultural activity, namely those predominantly non-cognitive (for example, emotional, numinous, pathological) mental aspects of human life, which remain more or less unarticulated due to their non-discursive nature. The revision the author is proposing revolves around the notion that the archetypal theory can be removed from the rather unfruitful discourse on the genetic inheritance of archetypes. When archetypes are seen as symbolic forms, Jung's theory is in a position to make a potentially valuable contribution to hermeneutical and cultural studies, as archetypes function in this new context as active constituents of human experiences, which give these experiences a non-discursive, symbolic form. Thereby, archetypes can become accessible to historical and cultural analyses, and hermeneutical inquiry into the manifold symbolism of mental (including unconscious) phenomena can be enriched.
Article
The personality is a dynamic system. Like all other dynamic systems, it must be self-organized. In this paper I focus upon the archetype-as-such, that is, upon the essential core around which both an archetypal image and a complex are organized. I argue that an archetype-as-such is a pre-existing principle of organization. Within the personality that principle manifests itself as a psychological vortex (a complex) into which we are drawn. The vortex is impersonal. We mediate it through myths and rituals or through consciousness. In this paper I show that Jung's intuition about the archetype-as-such is supported by recent science. I evaluate other concepts of the archetype. My concept is different from that proposed recently by Saunders and Skar. My concept allows each archetype-as-such to be defined precisely in mathematical terms. It suggests a new interpretation of mythology. It also addresses our spiritual experience of an archetype. Because the archetypes-as-such are fundamental to the personality, the better we understand them the better we understand our patients. The paper is grounded with clinical examples.
Article
The value of cognitive science as a means of investigating psychodynamic theory and practice is discussed and the limitations of this approach are described. Research findings from cognitive science are drawn on to clarify the nature of memory, which is seen to be a mixture of reproduction and reconstruction and the concepts of true and false memory are explored in this light. The part played by implicit memory and internal working models in producing transference is also examined. New ways of conceptualizing fantasy, which describes it as another facet of internal working models, and the role of transgenerational transmission of attachment patterns in creating internal working models are explored. The nature of archetypes is considered in the light of cognitive science research and a minimalist model is proposed, in which they can be likened to image schemas, that is, primitive conceptual structures that exist in a form which can never be experienced directly or indirectly.
Article
This paper challenges the view that mental contents can be innate and offers instead a developmental model in which mental contents emerge from the interaction of genes, brain and environment. Some key steps on this developmental pathway are traced, such as the formation of image schemas. The processes by which mental contents are evaluated and organized are described, notably those of perceptual analysis, representational re-description and appraisal. Jung's concept of the transcendent function is seen to have certain crucial features in common with each of these processes. The emergence of the capacity to symbolize is explored in relation to these concepts and it is suggested that the pinnacle of this capacity is achieved in the emergence of reflective function, in which mind is represented to itself.
Article
Editor's Note: This article is a departure from our usual review in that it discusses new frontiers in the correlation of brain, mind, and emotions in developing children as well as areas of collaboration between pediatrics and sister disciplines. Dr Schore has adapted a substantial amount of technical information to the viewpoint of the pediatrician. At the same time, many readers will encounter perspectives and language that seem unfamiliar. We urge clinicians to invest the effort needed for a careful reading to appreciate exciting new ways to look at development and emotional coping mechanisms. Readers desiring an expanded version with extensive referencing and a chart providing infant and maternal contexts of this information will find it in the online version. - LFN.
Neuroscience and Jung's model of the psyche: a close fit
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Niesser, A. (2004). 'Neuroscience and Jung's model of the psyche: a close fit'. Paper presented at the XVIth International IAAP Congress for Analytical Psychology, Barcelona, 2004.
The Ontogeny of Information: Developmental Systems and Evolu-tion As cited in G. B. Hogenson's (2004) 'What are symbols symbols of? Situated action, mythological bootstrapping and the emergence of the Self
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Oyama, S. (2000). The Ontogeny of Information: Developmental Systems and Evolu-tion. Duke University Press. As cited in G. B. Hogenson's (2004) 'What are symbols symbols of? Situated action, mythological bootstrapping and the emergence of the Self'. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 49, 1, 72.
Shamanism and the Psychology of C. G. Jung: The Great Circle The Sacred Heritage: The Influence of Shamanism on Analytical Psychology
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Ryan, R. E. (2002). Shamanism and the Psychology of C. G. Jung: The Great Circle. New York, NY: Sterling Publishing. Sandner, D. F. & Wong, S. H. (eds.) (1997). The Sacred Heritage: The Influence of Shamanism on Analytical Psychology. London & New York: Routledge.
Paper presented at the Anna Freud 50th anniversary conference. As cited in J. Knox's (2004) 'From archetypes to reflective function
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A developmental psychobiological systems view: early formulation and current status'. In Cycles of Contingency: Developmental Systems and Evolution
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Gottlieb, G. (2001). 'A developmental psychobiological systems view: early formulation and current status'. In Cycles of Contingency: Developmental Systems and Evolution, eds. S. Oyama, P. E. Griffiths & R. D. Gray. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 41–54.
The Self, the symbolic and synchronicity: virtual realities and the emer-gence of the psyche'. Paper presented at the XVIth International IAAP Congress for Analytical PsychologySpirit lodge, a North American shamanistic séance
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Primary maternal preoccupation'. In Through Paedi-atrics to Psychoanalysis: Collected Papers
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The Yukaghir and the Yukaghirized Tungus
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Aboriginal Siberia: a Study in Social Anthropology
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Czaplicka, M. (1914). Aboriginal Siberia: a Study in Social Anthropology. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Instinct and the unconsciousThe structure of the psyche
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‘The Self the symbolic and synchronicity: virtual realities and the emergence of the psyche’. Paper presented at the XVIth International IAAP Congress for Analytical Psychology Barcelona
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‘Neuroscience and Jung's model of the psyche: a close fit’. Paper presented at the XVIth International IAAP Congress for Analytical Psychology Barcelona
  • A Niesser