archetypes were mentioned by Plato and
Aristotle and then later on Carl Jung
wrote quite a bit about them he believed
that the collective unconscious is this
ancestral memory that all humans tap
into and he he believed that within this
ancestral memory the collective
unconscious that we have these
archetypal images regardless of where we
come from when we come from you know our
particular faith system socioeconomic
level etc etc and and so basically what
it comes down to 44 Carl Jung is that
we're born connected to these ancestral
ideas and they exist you know whether
we're aware of them or not and all
humans can tap into them and in this way
all conversations lead back to these
ideas now contemporary philosophers and
post young'uns they've taken the
archetype to the next step and like
James Hillman is is one uh Julia
Kristeva Maria Louise von franz it's
over Sarah I mean I could spout off a
bunch of names but but what they've done
with archetypes is um they've they've
gone the next step and said that that
they're not just these static ideas that
they're actually dynamic and and they
change according to the culture that
they come from and so like the
foundation or the skeleton of the
archetype stays the same regardless of
the people or the person but the the
details of it can change and evolve or
devolve depending on how the culture
uses them now this is radical and I
don't know
Young was still alive he would agree
with this but uh in between James
Hillman and Carl Jung with this this you
know changing of archetypes you had
Joseph Campbell and Campbell really
subscribed to the Jungian idea that
archetypes are kind of in mobile and and
that they're universal and he wrote at
length about them particularly in
regards to the hero's quest he believed
that all stories go back to the hero
story and and that within the hero's
story there are specific archetypal
things that happen and that there are
specific archetypal characters and
figures that exist for example the hero
is an archetype um uh you know he or she
is is unchanging except for some of the
the less important Campbell would say
details so you know some things about
hero hero in some way it's going to be
orphaned by one or both parents or
orphaned by the community the hero is
going to get the call to adventure and
the call to adventure is often the hero
being asked to leave the community or
ask to save the community and thus
having to leave the community usually
the girl will refuse the call but not
always but but generally speaking here
will refuse the call all of these stages
on the hero's quest are archetypes and
then the people that the here on
counters are archetypes like there's a
often a brother battle within the the
quest circle and the brother battle is
that the hero is is sometimes born with
a twin and the twin is his or her shadow
side and so the brother battled in is
the hero fighting with his or her shadow
side to merge them and become more hole
right we see this in the epic of
gilgamesh the brother is inky do
Gilgamesh is this king and I mean he's
perfect in every way although he's kind
of a jerk but that's neither
they're so he's a king and he's perfect
in every way but the goddess is upset
because people are worshipping him more
than they are her and so what she does
is she creates a brother for Gilgamesh
she makes his exact opposite she takes
everything that is Gilgamesh and she
twists it and creates inky do or Inca do
but but I've always said it as inky do
which sounds silly but anyway and so
we're Gilgamesh is is you know refined
and cultured and and very King like inky
do is a wild man and he's savage yeah
he's tied to nature where Gilgamesh is
is very politic and careful and and
really manages people well manipulates
them actually he can be a real jerk
right inky do is just raw and natural
and and in the nature state in fact he
runs around naked through most of the
story so so they're they're brothers and
and they end up having to sacrifice for
one another and at that point then one
of them has to die and and the idea of
the shadow then merges with the light
and and you only talked about this quite
a bit he the shadow is one of the
archetypes that he spent a lot of time
studying thinking about writing about
etc and the idea behind the shadow is
that all of those things in ourselves
that we reject they can manifest in our
life that's the shadow thing the shadow
nature the shadow fear the shadow you
know whatever so so for example young
with would suggest that if there's a
person you don't like let's say you go
to work every day and there's a person
that you work with and you just don't
like him or her right and you don't know
why you just from sight you just you
didn't like this person and no matter
what this person says or does you just
don't like them and I mean to the point
where we roll there your eyes when
they're talking and and and you know
people say oh no you know here she's not
that bad you're like I just don't like
that person we've all experienced it
right
what you would say is that this person
is a projection right you're projecting
on to them because they actually remind
you of the aspects of yourself that you
don't care for that you haven't come to
terms with or reconciled right and and
so you're you're projecting all of this
this animosity onto this person um
that's what he would say and then
Campbell took these this idea these
philosophical and psychological ideas
and he put them into this hero's quest
and he said so the shadow then is that
you know that that that side of our
nature that we fight that we have to
battle and so even if it's not a brother
battle we still have to battle the the
shadow side and the hero is tasked with
this and tested and and and you know
experiences trials and then as he or she
overcomes these things then then gifts
start to appear like there's the gift
from the god you know the magic elixir
or that special boon he calls it right
but it's some gift from fate or the gods
or the afterlife or you know something
like that and the idea is that this is
the thing that's going to help the hero
cross that second threshold because that
Campbell describes the quest as a circle
and the top part is the light and then
the hero has to cross down into the
underworld and this is in fairy tales
it's usually going into a forest and in
myths it's usually going on into the sea
right or like your Moby Dick or or a
hammer or Jonah you know goes into the
well goes into the ocean goes into the
whale or the big fish right so um so you
know there's that whole underworld and
that's your unconscious where you're
you're challenging those things that
that scare you in your head in the movie
signs the the aliens right are the
beasts that populate the unconscious all
right they show up during the day but in
our story while we're watching the movie
signs they come at night for the family
that we're watching with right in the
sixth sense another Shyamalan movie I
like early Shyamalan movies they're
perfect for
later ones losses not so good the
happenings terrible terrible and if you
like it I'm sorry but it's a terrible
movie um I can't decide if it's going to
be funny or scary or what but but but
the sixth sense has the little boy and
he is between two worlds and that is his
underworld journey but but in order to
cross back into the above world you need
that magic elixir that that gift from
the god sometimes it's a special word
right the abracadabra that allows you
know Aladdin and you know abracadabra
and it opens the cave again and you can
return to the world but but whatever it
is you need that and often you need the
help of your allies or your beloved or
your brother who you've now reconciled
with or etc etc and
