“Know thyself” Socrates 450 BC
“Only the shallow know themselves” Oscar Wilde 1874
In the 2,000+ years between these two statements, we've learned
a) There’s great wisdom and value in knowing ourselves.
b) The task is difficult, because so much of ourselves is unconscious.
c) We need to do it anyway, because…
“Unless you make the unconscious conscious it will direct your life and you will call it fate”. Carl Jung 1919
One way of making the unconscious conscious is seeing through the lens of archetypes. Archetypes give shape and form to energy. They are templates or patterns through which energy moves before finding expression in the world. They describe our behaviour, our motivations (both positive and negative), and the way we express our creativity.
We each have many archetypes – some known to us, while others play out in the shadows. They often influence us without our awareness. Knowing our archetypes allows us to understand ourselves better – particularly when our response to external events surprises us. In times like these, people say things like “I don’t know what I was thinking”, “I’ve no idea what came over me” or “It was the drink talking”.
Archetypal patterns emerge in small children. Siblings raised together can be very different from birth. In an ideal world, these natural patterns are recognised and encouraged. However many of us over-ride these patterns in favour of behaviours that are valued by the outside world. We want our creative expression to bring the love, praise, and validation we crave.
Many of us were raised to tune out our instincts and tune in to other people. We learned to people please and impress. Our subconscious mind became conditioned… programmed with a different blueprint. From this point on we remain disconnected from our true selves, our natural creativity, and our life force energy.
This means we have to work hard to control, copy, and compete with others. We have to rely on willpower and adrenaline for fuel, leading to burnout and a lack of aliveness. Adrenaline is survival energy (which is finite) rather than creative energy (which is renewable). Our need to control means we lose an aspect of our authentic creativity which is a shame because expressing that is our greatest joy. When we’re in control we’re disconnected from our intuition which makes decision-making stressful.
Our creative self is often buried under layers of learned behaviours, habits, and patterns. A discovery of our archetypes – the ones we came in with, the survival ones we all share, and the ones in the wings that are waiting to emerge – provides insight into this creative self.
We’re all born with natural talents and competencies… perhaps these are things our soul came in with, to help us co-create our destiny with joy rather than succumbing to Carl Jung’s cautionary tale… living out our fate.
I’m doing a two-hour introduction to the world of archetypes on Tuesday (25th June) 6pm UK time. Link for tickets