Theos-Talk Archives (March 1999 Message tt00138)

>>Jerry, my sense is that latter day Jungian psychology has contributed
a great deal to 'personalising' impersonal forces / archetypes.  I
notice how following this tradition people start 'people-ing' their
'inner world' with all kinds of archetypes (so called).  All of them
tend to be very human personifications, and at times even sub human. 
It's a bit like there has been a withdrawal of the 'projection' onto the
divine but only to continue in another form.  For example - my magician,
my wise man / woman, my warrior & so on, & so on.  What is your take on
this?
Regards,
Peter>>

Peter, I have always believed that the external gods and goddesses have
as much reality (no more and no less) that the internal archetypes. The
archetypes are impersonal. But when they are constellated (activated  in
someone) then they speak through symbols, and those symbols can, indeed,
be taken personally. Jung called the personal interpretation of a
symbol, a sign and carefully distinguished the two. 

That people today personalize the archetypes is no different than our
ancestors who personalized the gods and goddesses. This is wrong, yet
very human.

Jerry S.
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
      

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