Welcome to the first part of our three-part series on archetypes. These intriguing concepts shape our consciousness and create artificial boundaries and statuses that influence our perception of the world.
Spirituality, a realm between ‘heaven and earth,’ ‘life and death,’ and the conscious and the unconscious, holds a unique allure for many. It’s a domain of deepening in spiritual and esoteric themes, the science of the unseen, the mysterious, and the mystical. When we delve into spirituality, we absorb some of its ‘aura,’ which can be quite exhilarating. Traits like intuition or extra sensitivity can even become a sort of status. We’re often fascinated by both the internal and external manifestations of these spiritual statuses, which are illusory but serve as the basis for humanity’s social and spiritual divisions.
Our spiritual journey is guided by inner archetypes that have evolved within the human psyche over countless generations. While these archetypes serve as important markers in our quest for spiritual unity, they can also create illusionary statuses that hinder our progress.
How could our status sensitivity have arisen?
Power – Powerlessness
We are daughters and sons of daughters and sons… we ultimately originate from the primordial man; our original psyche is deeply hidden and still contains primal contents like strong instincts of survival and reproduction and deep feelings of dependence on both status and family (tribe or clan) that are present in us as social and spiritual survival instincts.
When the first people with four legs on two legs started walking, they took the first step into the field of awareness (consciousness realm) of the human kingdom. In the deepest layers of our subconscious, we are still standing with one foot in the animal kingdom and one foot in the human kingdom, but we are on our way to take the next step and then stand with 2 feet in the field of awareness (consciousness realm) of the human kingdom; we are on our way to pass through the artificial ceiling of consciousness, Archetypes, but that does not happen automatically.
The first conscious people began to give ‘names’ to people, objects, and natural phenomena such as dangerous animals or weather conditions such as ‘lion’ or ‘thunder’ or ‘water,’ which is essential and even of vital importance for all life. By giving someone or something a name, you acknowledge it and indicate your relationship with it. The ‘naming’ process is a form of ‘appropriation’ and an attempt to control our lives and the circumstances in which we live. We started differentiating and naming the physical universe. This ‘naming’ is the foundation of our psychology; naming is done from within; we can assume that all names were made through intuitive inner reflection of actual events.
The physical reality, Creation, exists for us thanks to the acquisition of consciousness. Without this, there was, and there is nothing or no one who acknowledges Creation, and we would not have existed; we would not have known that we exist because we had not been aware of it. The animal kingdom acts and responds purely to instincts.
For primordial people, naming would have been an almost magical act that gave them the feeling of gaining authority over their circumstances, the birth (awareness) of feelings of power and powerlessness. Naming is appropriation, assessment, and appreciation; by assigning a name, we create something meaningful to us that radiates a certain meaningful vibration. A name consists of a composition of sounds (the individual characters) in a particular order, and this composition receives a specific charge with associated meanings linked to each other; we are gradually becoming aware of the possibilities to manipulate our circumstances. However, initially, people would probably have been instinctively intuitive, and rationality is still far away, a breeding ground for ‘magical thinking,’ assigning supernatural qualities to people, animals, or objects.
In these early human societies, some individuals displayed unique qualities that naturally set them apart as spiritual leaders. These leaders, either self-proclaimed or chosen by the group (tribe), marked the beginning of status differences and hierarchy, laying the foundations of Archetypes.
The spiritual leader would gather assistants, forming a subgroup within the tribe. This exclusivity would create ideal circumstances for the emergence of complex feelings of insecurity and dependence and possibly jealousy, competition, and ambition. The threat of exclusion from the group or the subgroup was not just a social issue but a matter of life and death. Being excluded from the group meant losing status, and losing status meant losing our ‘ existence’ in the subgroup. In other words, we would lose our existential reason for life there, which virtually meant death; the instinctual feelings of ‘spiritual urge to survive’ and ‘physical urge to survive’ became equal in terms of intensity.
These intense and complex feelings that have arisen through the ‘linking’ of spiritual status to survival are still profoundly hidden in our human psyche. They are at the basis of our personality; our identity is determined by our spiritual and religious archetypal cultural or inherited background and all our experiences with these. This positively or negatively experienced archetypal background is the main driver for our intentions, choices, and actions; we are governed by our sensitivity to and dependence on Archetypes.
The personal development from ‘instinctively intuitive’ towards rationality is guided by a progressing overall imbalance between Yin and Yang; the shortage of Yin results in upcoming needs for dependence and guidance of supreme beings or leaders.
The Artificial ceiling within the Over-Soul, the power of the masses
What is deeply embedded within our individual being is deeply embedded within the Over-Soul. The intense psychological dependence on archetypal statuses lies at the core of our being. It is a significant part of the subconscious mind, and we share this ‘root of division’ with everyone. This dependence is at the basis of the current global spiritual state of polarization and schism and may be recognized as group Karma.
An archetypal group field is an energetic field loaded with all specific information and data about a religion or spiritual belief. Such a field contains all the dogmas, rituals, and prescriptions in subtle, energetic form or data. You can compare this with the energetic radiance of an ‘Aura.’ Religions can contain very different details, and the atmosphere in the various religious group fields, the Aura, is just as diverse.
Our inner archetypal ‘part’ resonates with a like-minded overarching archetype of a particular religion and, in this way, appeals to tribally sensitive parts in our primordial psyche. This can give someone a vague feeling or a strong resonance of familiarity with that specific religion. There is no resonance or interest if our inner Archetype does not match the overarching type.
The most important properties of the energy of an Archetypal field are group bonding, conditionality, and controlling. The field is held together by ‘loyal’ followers who have earned the ‘love’ of the field; their vibrational frequency has become identical to the field! They are the eyes and ears of the overarching Archetype. They observe whether everyone, like themselves, respects and follows all dogmas, rituals, and rules of life to maintain the ‘power’ of the field.
The more people who share the Archetype, the greater the charged energetic field. Like the subconscious part, the overarching Archetype has charismatic properties, great appeal, and hypnotic and seductive effects on our consciousness.
The characteristics of the field are strengthened in groups; we can easily fall under the spell of an Archetype and be driven into mass hysteria or develop intense polarizing feelings toward an Archetypal field of another religion. Once we get in the ‘grip’ of an Archetype, it’s hard to get away from it. It is not the power of the Archetype that has a grip on our consciousness; our inability comes from a lack of awareness, clear spiritual insights, and remaining feelings of dependence on the archetypal field; in our emotional life, we are back in prehistoric times and respond instinctively. The group field strengthens our feelings of power, righteousness, and superiority. However, if we are dedicated to becoming aware, the veils will be taken from our eyes.
Let’s not forget: The world’s most influential religious and spiritual institutions are not just physical entities but immense archetypal fields. These fields, charged by the devotion of millions of followers, can imbue pilgrimage sites, church buildings, and temples with the energy of their specific Archetype. Psychologically, the sheer number of believers, the age, and the global reach of these religions validate and justify the ‘data content ‘ of the archetypal field. If such a multitude of people place their faith in it, then indeed, all spiritual beliefs, rules of life, and dogmas must hold some truth.
We may believe that we consciously choose what we think is good or evil and what we believe in, but this may not be entirely true, especially when it comes to the subconscious. The subconscious mind is the most powerful but least understood factor that influences our choices in life.
Understanding how the personality and subconscious mind respond to Archetypal Fields is essential. In part 2, we will examine the various spiritual phenomena evoked by archetypes.
K