Four Archetypes

by C.G. Jung, R.F.C. Hull (Translator)

The concept of the archetype is crucial to Jung's radical interpretation of the human mind. Jung believed that every person partakes of a universal or collective unconscious that persists through generations. The origins of the concept can be traced to his very first publication in 1902 and it remained central to his thought throughout his life. As well as explaining the theoretical background behind the idea, in Four Archetypes Jung describes the four archetypes that he considers fundamental to the psychological make-up of every mother, rebirth, spirit and trickster. Exploring their role in myth, fairytale and scripture, Jung engages the reader in discoveries that challenge and enlighten the ways we perceive ourselves and others.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, Mythology, Reference, Self Help

201 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Carl Gustav Jung (/jʊŋ/; German: [ˈkarl ˈɡʊstaf jʊŋ]), often referred to as C. G. Jung, was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology. Jung proposed and developed the concepts of extraversion and introversion; archetypes, and the collective unconscious. His work has been influential in psychiatry and in the study of religion, philosophy, archeology, anthropology, literature, and related fields. He was a prolific writer, many of whose works were not published until after his death.

The central concept of analytical psychology is individuation—the psychological process of integrating the opposites, including the conscious with the unconscious, while still maintaining their relative autonomy. Jung considered individuation to be the central process of human development.

Jung created some of the best known psychological concepts, including the archetype, the collective unconscious, the complex, and synchronicity. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a popular psychometric instrument, has been developed from Jung's theory of psychological types.

Though he was a practising clinician and considered himself to be a scientist, much of his life's work was spent exploring tangential areas such as Eastern and Western philosophy, alchemy, astrology, and sociology, as well as literature and the arts. Jung's interest in philosophy and the occult led many to view him as a mystic, although his ambition was to be seen as a man of science. His influence on popular psychology, the "psychologization of religion", spirituality and the New Age movement has been immense.

Reviews

[Glenn Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Other reviewers have made general statements about the four archetypes - Mother, Rebirth, Spirit, Trickster - covered in this volume of C.G. Jung's work. For the purpose of this review and as a way of conveying the richness of Jung's archetypes, I will focus on one specific aspect of the Rebirth archetype: Enlargement of Personality.

Jung begins this section with the sentence, "The personality is seldom, in the beginning, what it will be later on." Thus, a kind of metamorphosis is at the very core of our being. This is clear when we reflect on the various stages of childhood and adolescence, most specifically, when we think about the transformation in males from boyhood to manhood and a female's transformation from girlhood into womanhood. Cultural anthropologists have written extensively on the rituals surrounding this life-transforming event within traditional societies.

Here is Jung's next sentence, "For this reason the possibility of enlarging it (personality) exists, at least during the first half of life." Why the first half of life? Simple biology. The most obvious example is the enlargement of personality a baby makes in the first few years, from being an infant to being a walking, talking toddler. And so biology propels the toddler thru the phases of childhood and adolescence right up until the time when the person becomes an adult.

But what about the second half of life, where the enlargements are less biological and more psychic and subtle? Here are Jung's words on the topic, "Therefore, if some great idea takes hold of us from outside, we must understand that it takes hold of us only because something in us responds to it and goes out to meet it." Ultimately, the key to enlargement as an adult is our responding, our own internal movement to what we encounter in our world. This internal movement is underscored when Jung writes, "Richness of mind consists in mental receptivity, not in the accumulation of possessions." I am reminded of one of my spiritual teachers who said, "Don't plateau," which is a warning against being complacent, being unwilling to go out to meet the great ideas, the great ongoing challenges we as adults are given throughout our lives.

Keeping on this topic, a man who has spent many years as a Jungian psychoanalyst told me that when the soul cries out for enlargement and one does not heed this internal call, there is a change, a shift, but the shifting and changing can manifest physically. Perhaps this is why we have an epidemic of obesity in the United States: a large portion of the population will not rise to the challenge to enlarge spiritually and thus the body responds by enlarging physically.

Nietzsche speaks again and again on how the arts, creativity and the spiritual path pose challenges to the individual soul. If an artist is truly an artist, one will expand and enlarge one's personality, continually redefining oneself, a series of rebirths, one after another. Of course, one need not be a Picasso or Mondrian; rather, one is called to be an artist of one's own life. And what of those people who lives are smug and self-satisfied, refusing to transform? Here are Jung's words, "He who is truly and hopelessly little will always drag the revelation of the greater down to the level of his littleness." And then what happens, after many months or even many years, when one finally begins to see one's own life in need of radical transformation? Perhaps this seeing lies behind the mid-life crisis so common in the modern world.

[Maica · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Illustration of Loki

Jung, among the many psychologists of his time, is the only one who made extensive efforts to bridge Eastern practices and beliefs which are characterized by the power of the collective in shaping the workings of the mind. This book made me understand more the Analytical theory of Jung at a conceptual level and I can say that Jung has been very influential to me.

He explored spirituality, mysticism and religious belief not to criticize them, but to recognize their importance and impact on psychology. The archetypes discussed on this book are merely symbolism akin to literary themes, but his writing resonates with Freud's style although tinged with a more mythological flavor, in a sense.

Anyone who wants to know the human psyche will learn next to nothing from experimental psychology. He would be better advised to abandon exact science, put away his scholar's gown, bid farewell to his study, and wander with human heart through the world. - CG Jung

He acknowledged that his ideas are open to criticisms, especially if they are viewed on the strictly scientific lens, but then, when it comes to practice, I still lean on the side of considering the influence of spirituality and to the extent that a careful analysis and effective outcome in healing is what actually matters.

I read it many years ago but I still remember my impressions of it as soon as I saw the cover. The book is also filled with illustrations and woodcut prints from medieval periods.

[তানজীম রহমান · Rating 5 out of 5]

অন্য অনেক পাঠক-পাঠিকার মতোই কার্ল ইয়ুং-এর নাম আমি প্রথম দেখি মিসির আলির কোনো উপন্যাসে। মিসির আলি যেভাবে যুক্তি দিয়ে মানুষের মন পড়ে ফেলতেন, এই ব্যাপারটাকে ছোটোবেলায় আমার প্রায় অতিপ্রাকৃত ক্ষমতা মনে হতো। আর সাইকোলজিকে মনে হতো রহস্যময়, নিষিদ্ধ কোনো তন্ত্র। ইয়ুং আর ফ্রয়েডের মতো প্রাচীন জাদুকরদের বই পড়ে মিসির আলি এই বিদ্যা শিখেছেন।

আরেকটু বড়ো হবার পর সাইকোলজির ব্যাপারে আমার আবছা ধারণা হয়। বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ে ছোটোখাটো কোর্স করি এই বিষয়ে, কিছু বইপত্র জোগাড় করে সেগুলো পড়ি। বুঝতে পারি আসলে এই বিদ্যাকে আমি অতিরিক্ত দাম দিয়ে ফেলেছিলাম, ছোটোরা যেমনটা অনেক বিষয় নিয়েই করে। বিজ্ঞান হিসেবে সাইকোলজি এখনও শৈশবে আছে, এবং এই ফিল্ডের বেশিরভাগ গুরুত্বপূর্ণ প্রশ্নের জবাবে একেক বিশেষজ্ঞ একেক কথা বলেন। তাও ভালো বর্তমানে থেরাপির জনপ্রিয়তা বাড়ছে। আশা করা যায় সাইকোলজির ক্ষেত্রে থেরাপি সেই ভূমিকা রাখবে যেটা পেনিসিলিন ঔষধশাস্ত্রের ক্ষেত্রে রেখেছিলো।

তবে সাইকোলজির ব্যাপারে সামান্য হতাশ হলেও, ফ্রয়েড আর ইয়ুংকে নিয়ে আমার আগ্রহটা রয়ে গেছে আমার মনের এক পুরানো, ঝুল-পড়া অংশে। এবং এদের মধ্যে ইয়ুং-এর ব্যাপারে আগ্রহটা বেশি। দুটো কারণে। প্রথমতঃ ইয়ুং বিশাল বড়ো বড়ো আইডিয়া নিয়ে কথা বলেন, এবং সাধারণ মানুষের সাধারণ জীবনে সেই আইডিয়াগুলো কীভাবে প্রয়োগ করা হয় তা নিয়ে কথা বলেন। দ্বিতীয়তঃ ইয়ুং যতোখানি বৈজ্ঞানিক ছিলেন, ততোখানিই ছিলেন দার্শনিক এবং নৃতত্ত্ববিদ (যদিও এই কথাটা ওনাকে বললে হয়তো খুশি হতেন না)। পূরাণ, জাদুচর্চা (বিশেষ করে অ্যালকেমি) আর সাহিত্যের ব্যাপারে তার জ্ঞান ছিলো গভীর। এবং অন্যান্য ফিল্ড থেকে আইডিয়া নিয়ে সেগুলোকে সাইকোলজিতে ব্যবহার করতে তিনি কুণ্ঠা বোধ করতেন না।

এই বইয়ে ইয়ুং-এর সবচেয়ে বড়ো আইডিয়াগুলোর মধ্যে একটা নিয়ে বিশদ আলোচনা আছে। আইডিয়াটার নাম হচ্ছে আর্কেটাইপ। ইয়ুং-এর মতে পৃথিবীর সব মানুষের মগজের মধ্যে কিছু বেসিক মিল আছে। জন্মকালে যেভাবে নিউরনের পর নিউরন বসে মগজের ভিত তৈরি হয়, সেই ভিতের কাঠামো সবার জন্য একই। পুরো জীবনজুড়ে জগত আমাদের দিকে বিভিন্ন অভিজ্ঞতা পাঠায়। বিভিন্ন ধরনের মানুষের সাথে আমাদের কথাবার্তা হয়, সম্পর্ক তৈরি হয়। যেমন ধরা যাক মা। আমাদের প্রত্যেকের মায়ের ব্যক্তিত্ব আলাদা। কিন্তু ‘মা’ বলে যে একটা চরিত্র আছে, একধরনের মানুষ আছে যারা ‘মা’-এর ভূমিকা পালন করেন, এই ধারণাটা আছে আমাদের সবার মনের ভিত্তিতে। ব্যক্তি ‘মা’-কে চেনার আগে থেকেই মনে মনে আমরা সেই ‘মা’ ধারণাটাকে চিনি। এই যে মৌল ধারণাগুলো, যেগুলোর গাঁথুনিতে ভর দিয়ে মানুষ পৃথিবীকে অনুবাদ করতে শেখে, যেগুলো পাত্রের মতো হয়ে অভিজ্ঞতার তরলকে আকার দেয়, এগুলোকেই বলে আর্কেটাইপ।

ফোর আর্কেটাইপস বইতে ইয়ুং এমন চারটা আর্কেটাইপ নিয়ে কথা বলেছেন (অবিশ্বাস্য হলেও সত্যি যে এজন্যই বইটার নাম ফোর আর্কেটাইপস)। একটা হচ্ছে মা, একটা হচ্ছে পুনর্জন্ম, একটা অতিপ্রাকৃত সত্তা আর শেষে ট্রিকস্টার, বা ধোঁকার দেবতা। আর্কেটাইপ যেহেতু সব মানুষের মনে থাকে, তাই পৃথিবীর বিভিন্ন সংস্কৃতির বিভিন্ন রূপকথা আর মিথে ওপরের এই চারটা ধারণাকে বারবার দেখা যায়। বইয়ে সেগুলোর বেশ কিছু উদাহরণ দেখিয়েছেন ইয়ুং। যেমন কুরআনের সুরা এবং মধ্যপ্রাচ্যের পূরাণে কীভাবে পুনর্জন্মের রূপক ব্যবহার করা হয়েছে, সেটার একটা সুন্দর ব্রেকডাউন আছে দ্বিতীয় অধ্যায়ে। মুসা নবীর জীবনের একটা গল্পের বিশ্লেষণ করেছেন ইয়ুং, সে সাথে আমার প্রিয় একটা ইসলামিক মিথ—ইয়াজুজ আর মাজুজের সম্পর্ক তুলে ধরেছেন। রূপকথায় কীভাবে অতিপ্রাকৃত সত্তার রূপক দিয়ে আসলে মানুষের মনের বিভিন্ন অংশ দেখানো হয়, সেটারও একটা অসাধারণ বিশ্লেষণ আছে তৃতীয় অধ্যায়ে। একটা জার্মান রূপকথা এবং সেটার রাশিয়ান সংস্করণ নিয়ে বিশ্লেষণটা করা হয়েছে। এই রূপকথা থেকে একটা ভালো আধুনিক হরর গল্প লেখা সম্ভব।
যে ব্যাপারটা বেশি জমেনি সেটা হলো মানুষের সামাজিক ভূমিকা সম্পর্কে ইয়ুং-এর সেকেলে ধারণা। কিছু বিষয়কে তিনি আক্ষরিক অর্থে ধরেছেন এ বইতে, যেগুলো মনে হয় রূপক হিসেবে নিলেই ভালো। যেমন যখন তিনি ‘নারীসুলভ’ আচরণের কথা বলেন, তখন মনে করলে ভালো যে তিনি এ ধরনের আচরণের কথা বলছেন, শুধু দৈহিকভাবে যারা নারী তাদের কথা নয়।

আর্কেটাইপ হচ্ছে প্রাকৃতিক শক্তি। এর কোনো ভালো-খারাপ নেই। কোনো আর্কেটাইপের ওপর বে��ি নির্ভরশীলতা চলে এলে মানসিক সমস্যা দেখা দিতে পারে, কোনোটা থেকে বেশি দূরে গেলেও দিতে পারে। জটিল ব্যাপার হচ্ছে যে এই বিষয়গুলো আমরা সচেতনভাবে করি না। আমাদের মনের অচেতন অংশ, যেটাকে ইয়ুং বলেন কালেক্টিভ আনকনশাস, সেখানে এই ব্যাপারগুলো নির্ধারণ করা হয়।

শুধু সাইকোলজি নয়, যাদের রূপকথা, ধর্মতত্ত্ব বা সাহিত্য নিয়ে আগ্রহ আছে তাদের সবার বইটা ভালো লাগার কথা।

[William2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Especially liked the discussion of the Trickster archetype and its development through the ages. Fascinating.

[Gülsen Sırma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kitaptaki kavramlar ve mitolojik örnekler bana okuma açısından ağır ve karmaşık geldi. Jung'un Keşfedilmemiş Benlik kitabı okuma ve anlama açısından daha kolay bir kitaptı benim için. Bu kitapta da elbet altını çizdiğim, düşündürücü satırlar oldu tabi. Genel olarak okunması zor bir kitap gibi geldi bana. Psikolojideki terimleri de bilmeden anlamayı daha da zorlaştırıyor. Biraz daha konunun uzmanına hitap ediyor sanırım.

[Suhaib · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's a gateway to understand women, personal development, spirit symbolism (psychic integration), and the trickster archetype. Personally, I've found it especially helpful in understanding the mother-complex: the way a woman's relationship with her mother either diminishes her feminine qualities or intensifies them.

The Mother

Jung presents a survey of psychological types associated with the mother-complex in daughters. The symptoms range from total immersion—identification with the daughter role to complete rejection of it, from intensification of the daughter's feminine traits to complete diminishing of them.

Rebirth

Jung delineates the types of psychological development (transformations) individuals are susceptible to. Always good to know where one stands with regard to personal growth. I've found Jung's analysis of The Cave Sura quite remarkable.

Spirit

This is where Jung describes the word "spirit" from a psychological standpoint. He associates the term with the collective unconscious and its grand subliminal reworkings in one's life. Jung recourses to dreams and fairy tales in his discussion. His interpretation of the quaternity theme—or the opposing triangles—is illuminating, to say the least; their association with feminine and masculine energies.

Trickster

This is the advocate of the collective human shadow. He lurks behind that mortal immured by his own hubris, precipitating his final fall in the form of a "trick" played on oneself. Jung doesn't give this example; he focuses on mythical and historical aspects and finally draws a general line between this figure and the individual shadow. The example is reworded from Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette's King, Warrior, Magician, Lover.

[Müslim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Psikoloji alanında ün yapmış diğer çoğu yazarın kendi doğup büyüdüğü kültür içerisindeki öğelerle yazdığı yazıların aksine Jung yöneldiği doğu kültürünü efsaneler ve kutsal kitaplardaki hikayeler (ona göre bunlar da efsane aslında) ile öyle güzel anlatıyor ki zaten bildiğimiz bazı şeylerin farkında olmadığımız yönlerini görmek mutlu ediyor.

Ve kitapta yer alan bu parça da kitabın genelinin neyden bahsettiğini anlamak için okunabilecek güzel bir yazı:

"Bir zamanlar tuhaf bir yaşlı adam vardı. Köylerin gürültüsünden kaçıp sığındığı bir mağarada yaşıyordu. Büyücü olarak nam saldığı için, ondan büyü sanatını öğrenmeyi ümit eden öğrencileri vardı. Ama onun aklında hiç böyle şeyler yoktu. Tek isteği, bilmediği ama sürekli gerçekleştiğinden emin olduğu şeyin ne olduğunu öğrenmekti. Üzerinde düşünülmesi mümkün olmayan şeyin üzerinde uzun bir süre düşündükten sonra, içinde bulunduğu kötü durumdan kurtulmak için çareyi, eline bir parça kırmızı tebeşir alıp mağarasının duvarlarına türlü türlü şekiller çizmekte buldu. Amacı, bilmediği şeyin neye benzediğini bulmaktı. Birçok denemeden sonra aklına bir daire çizmek geldi. "Bu doğru," diye hissetti, "şimdi içine bir de dörtgen çizmeli", ve böylesi çok daha iyiydi. Öğrenciler merak içindeydi ama tek bildikleri yaşlı adama bir haller olduğuydu; ne yaptığını öğrenmek için yanıp tutuşuyorlardı. Ona, "İçeride ne yapıyorsun?" diye sordular.
Ama yaşlı adam yanıt vermedi. Sonra duvardaki şekilleri keşfettiler ve "İşte bu!" dediler, ve bunları taklit ettiler. Fakat böyle yapmakla, farkına varmadan tüm süreci tersine çevirdiler: sonucu başa alarak bu sonuca yol açan süreci baştan başlatmayı umdular.
O zamanlar böyle olmuştu işte ve bugün de hâlâ öyle oluyor. "

[Araminta Matthews · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wish that Jung had been more aware of his sexism. I would have loved to have been swept up by the idea of the archetype, but I cannot get past his limited view of what women are. What a fool. What an archetypal child.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthology of C. G. Jung essays each examining a different archetype: The Great Mother, Trickster, Rebirth and Spirit.

The Mother essay I remember reading in another book, probably ”Aspects of the Feminine” containing the usual dated references to homosexuality being the result of parental issues – a take Jung shared with Marie-Louise von Franz but James Hillman rejected. Re-reading the essay on the Great Mother archetype I understood Jung's explanations for psychological archetypes as an evolutionary psychological adaptation much better than 1st time, and how they tie into his theories about the neurobiological foundations for religious experience. The key insight in this chapter is how many of modern Western society's issues with women are results of Christianity in general and Protestant denominations in particular (notice Jung was a Lutheran and wanted to be a priest before he switched career path to psychology) lacking constructive roles for the dark destructive side of femininity. Jung compares and contrasts to Hinduism and Shintô, both of which have destructive feminine figures who play benevolent roles in their respective cosmologies. Most important, when reading the Great Mother essay in the context of this book I suddenly realised how many of my own psychological issues with women are the result of me projecting my difficulties with the ”Great Mother” archetype unto real life individual flesh-and-blood women.

The essays about the Trickster, Rebirth and Spirit archetypes I find interesting for another reason: The impressive in depth of analysis of literary and religious narratives where the protagonist encounters mysterious characters who puts them through weird, dangerous and seemingly-nonsensical challenges. I am immensely fascinated with such stories after seeing so many modern Western occultists from Aleister Crowley to Erwin Neutzsky-Wulff pattern-match their structure to the Kabbalah's path of initiation. Jung, on the other hand, analyses these quest narratives as representing the unconscious attempt to contact the conscious mind – picking his examples from the Koran and fairy tales.

The Spirit essay in particular details an odd German fairy tale about a young man who frees a crucified raven, which sets him on a new quest to liberate a prince and his sister from two antagonists: The witch who has transformed the royal siblings into horses and a ”wild hunter” figure who is clearly a demonised version of the Norse god Odin. This helped me understand the concept of the inferior function in further depth, though you would have to understand the inferior function in detail at first in order to make heads or tails of Jung's analysis of this fairytale: The wild hunter represents an alternate dysfunctional version of the hero who lacks a constructive relationship with the inferior function i. e. the most neglected faculty of his own mind. Learning how to master this least conscious function of his mind is precisely how the hero of the story learns to defeat his evil counterpart.

Jung also argues that the rise of Nazism in the 1930's represented the repressed Spirit archetype in ”wild hunter” form re-emerging from the depths of the Germanic cultures' sub-consciousness expressing itself in a malignant genocidal way precisely because they had lost any constructive role for this archetype in their society. All this has become more pertinent to me since reading ”Four Archetypes”, because I have realised that so many of my own issues with anxiety and stress are the result of me lacking a satisfying constructive expression in my daily life for the aggressive dominating side of human nature which then gets out in ways I cannot control – same problem just on the individual scale rather than that of an entire society. I would probably not have realised this, had I not read ”Four Archetypes”.

In other words: As dated as some of Jung's ideas may be, this book has been instrumental in illuminating my current psychological problems and helping me become aware of the challenges I face in life right now. I will however not recommend it to someone who does not already have an in depth working knowledge of Jungian analytical psychology.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Four selections from across Jung's collected works. These are the standard Hull translation lifted wholesale from other editions. The archetypes covered at: the mother; rebirth; the spirit; the trickster.

There is not important or even necessary connection between the selections in this book. If I remember they were all taken from different publications and the only thing they have in common is that they are all chapters (or partial chapters) on archetypes. Jung certainly wrote in depth about more archetypes; I haven't the slightest idea why they picked these four. His most well known are almost certainly the shadow, the anima/animus and the Self. There's no mention of them, nor an explanation for why these were taken. The selections are really unbalanced with the last two being significantly longer and more detailed than the first two. This isn't much use as an introduction to Jung, as it doesn't even have a primer to orient the reader, and the material is among his most ambiguous and dense. His historical are interesting, but he jumps around and does little to help the reader keep pace.

I give it two stars because I thought the writing was still interesting, if redundant. I think the material should stay in the original packaging, so to speak. These peace mail, grab bags books aren't much good to anyone and don't do much for helping Jung's legacy.

[Zehra'nın Kitapları · Rating 3 out of 5]

Öncelikle belirtmek isterim ki, bu kitap Jung’un 1976’da yayımlanan orijinal eserinin bir bölümü. Bu sebeple Jung dipsiz kuyusuna bu kitapla başlarsanız, sizler de benim gibi çuvallarsınız. Öncelikle Jung’un öğretisini farklı kaynaklardan edinmeli ve belki sonrasında bu kitabı okumalısınız.

Kitap dört bölümden oluşuyor.
I Anne arketipinin psikolojik yönleri,
II Yeniden doğuş üzerine,
III Masallarda Ruhun Fenomenolojisi Üzerine,
IV Hilebaz Figürünün Psikolojisi Üzerine.

Jung’un öğretisinin temelini oluşturan, bilinç ve bilinçaltı (kişisel bilinçaltı ve kolektif bilinçaltı, kompleksler ve arketipler), persona, anima ve animus meselelerine açıklama getirmeden dalmış.
Bunun da ötesinde herhangi bir metodolojiden bahsedilmemiş, kişisel görüş ve deneyimler üzerinden çok da akıcı olmayan bir üslupla ilerlenmiş, ki bunun sebebi orijinal eserin bir bölümünün makaslanmış olması olabilir.

Sonuç olarak çok sıkıcı a dostlar. Zaten mitoloji ile aram iyi değildir, bilen bilir. Büsbütün soğudum Bilincimin altı üstüne karıştı, bütün personalarım yandı.

Doğru düzgün bir kitap verin şimdi elime ne olur, acele edin…

[Betül YILMAZ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jung ve Borges bir akşam yemeği yeseydi de ben de onlara bir tepsi baklava ikram etseydim yan masadan diye düşündüm kitabı okurken. Kitabın içeriği bir yana, bir insanı tanıyor olmak, jung'un zihninde dolaşmak hayli mitolojik bir yolculuk. Zihninizde medeniyet tarihini canlandırırken, diğer yandan psikoloji odağını kaybetmeyen Jung, onca kavram ve anlatının sonuna vurucu bir ben, bilinçdışı, üstben, persona, gölge çıkarımı koyuyor. Bu kavramları netleştirmeden okunabilir ancak, analitik psikolojinin öğeleri zihninizde oturmamışsa, mitolojik anlatıdan jung'un vardığı yere varmakta zorlanabilirsiniz. Kitabın sonuç bölümlerinde Jung'un madde odaklı, rasyonel dünyaya öfkesini okuyabileceğiniz muazzam tespitler söz konusu. Kehf suresi, Hızır, Musa, Zülkarneyn anlatımı, balık ve Yeşua tespitlerinin halen -Jung, ruhunun bakışı kaç köşeli dedirten- etkisi altındayım. Ancak, anlattıklarından mı, Jung'dan mı mest oldum, bütünün etkisinde miyim, bilmiyorum.

[moi, k.y.a. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kurtlarla Koşan Kadınlar: Vahşi Kadın Arketipine Dair Mit ve Öyküler okumaya başlamadan okudum kitabı. kitabın genel kapsamına hakim oldum ama konu hakkında zaman içinde daha derinleşmek istediğim için bir kere daha okuyacağım.

[S A · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book does not need any sort of review since it is a reference for all those who put effort to know about human behaviour and its mechanisms. Personally, I found out that this book was the Bible from which existential therapy was born and developed by some erudite people such as Irvin Yalom.

[Kurtlu · Rating 5 out of 5]

henüz dumanı üstünde "imge terapi" eğitimini pekiştirmek için jung'a dönüş yapmak zorundaydım. mitler, imgeler, semboller günlük hayatımızda nasıl karşımıza çıkıyor merak edenler buyursun jung okumaya buradan başlasın.

[Betul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bir kitap okudum , bir yazar tanıdım ve hayatım değişti.. Bu kitabı her sayfasında anlam bularak bitirdiğim için çok mutluyum. Hem zor hem de çok anlamlı bir yolculuktu. Jung’un Dört Arketip kitabını kendi yolunuzu bulmak için belli adımlar attıysanız okuyun derim. Zaten yol sizi bir noktada sizin için doğru olanla karşılaştırıyor. Bu herkes için aynı değil tabi ama benim yolum Jung’ a çıktı. Özellikle gölge arketipi ve anne arketipi bazı cevaplar bulmama yardım etti.
Yıllar önce satın aldığım ama henüz okumadığım Kurtlarla Koşan Kadınlar kitabı yazarının Jungyen analist olduğunu öğrendim. Kurtlarla Koşan Kadınlar kitabı Jung’un kolektif bilinçdışı, arketipler, gölge, persona ve bireyleşme gibi kavramlarını kullanmış. Benim gibi henüz okumayanlara önce Dört Arketip kitabını okumasını tavsiye ederim.
Sanırım altını çizdiğim cümle olmayan bir sayfa olmadı kitap boyunca. Sadece iki alıntı eklemek isterim;

*Kompleksimiz yüzünden uzak durduğumuz şeyin ötesine geçebilmek istiyorsak, onu son damlasına kadar içmemiz gerekir.’

*Kendindeki öteki’ni özümsemiş olan insan aynı kalamaz; dünya görüşü ve modelinde, dolayısıyla da yaşamında sarsıcı bir değişim kaçınılmazdır.’

Şimdiye kadar çok fazla kişisel gelişim, psikoloji, felsefe kitabı okudum ama her satırını ezberlemek istediğim başucu kitabı diyeceğim tek kitap bu kitap oldu.

[Duygu Işık Behrem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mitoloji, felsefe ve bir miktar Jung temeli olmadan okuması çok zor bir kitap. Uzun zamandır beni bu kadar zorlayan bir okuma olmamıştı. Sanırım çeviride de biraz sıkıntı vardı, o da ayrı zorladı.

Kendim için not ettiğim bazı kısımlar şöyle, kitaba dair genel bir fikir verebilecek ve en rahat anlaşılır bölümlerden alıntıdır kitabın geneli bunların çok ötesinde ;


“Kendindeki ötekini özümsemiş olan insan aynı kalamaz; dünya görüşü ve modelinde, dolayısıyla da yaşamında sarsıcı bir değişim kaçınılmazdır.”

“Birini idealize etmek kötülükten korunma isteğidir aslında. İnsan korktuğu şeyi savuşturmak istediğinde idealize eder. Korkulan şey bilinçdışı ve onun büyülü etkisidir.”

“Simyanın çökmesiyle ruh ve maddenin simgesel birliği ortadan kalktı, şimdi modern insan ruhsuzlaşmış bir dünyada köklerinden kopmuş bir yabancı.”

“Bu nedenle, dış kaynaklı büyük bir fikrin bizi etkilemesinin tek nedeninin, içimizdeki bir şeye karşılık gelmesi olduğunu kavramamız gerekir.”

“Bunu anlatmak için seçtiğim “Kendilik” kavramından kastım, Ben’le örtüşmeyen ama Ben’i, büyük bir dairenin küçük daireyi kapsadığı gibi kapsayan ruhsal bir bütünlük ve merkezdir.”

[Joanna K · Rating 3 out of 5]

The content was mostly really interesting but the writing was very verbose and sometimes a bit difficult to follow.

[Ahmed Hamad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, like the other writings of Carl G. Jung, is a great gift to mankind. It can provide insight to any reader who wishes to explore the realm of the commonly unseen, yet still exists, and can be felt at a time or another somewhere deep inside your soul. I think I have read this book three or four times now, but every time I open it, the impact it has on me is again immense. There is an infinite number of reflective "ideas" that can arise based on the contents of the book, perhaps because of the overwhelming nature of the archetypes he attempts to describe here specifically.

Four Archetypes might have a stronger spiritual sense to it than a scientific one, but it, nonetheless, is one of the greatest collection of intellectual ideas I have read. This is perhaps because of the intense connection between the two concepts as Jung himself describes and calls for.
If you've read other books he's written, this is going to be an even more exhilarating read. If this is your first, however, it might be difficult to go through these pages. Though it will probably still leave its "imprint" on you.

A recommendation: Keep going back to the illustrations on the cover of this book as you go through it. That has helped me grasp more of it, or perhaps connect more.

Carl G. Jung has for long been my favorite author. Whenever I open any of his books, I can feel an intense connection, not only to the content but to the image of that individual that came up with these thoughts. I am sure I'll end up reading it again soon enough.

Now, seeing as I don't think my words will suffice in describing this great work of art (and yes, it is indeed as well a work of art), here are some -among many- of my favorite quotes:

"From what has been said it should be clear that in the last analysis all the statements of mythology on this subject as well as the observed effects of the mother-complex, when stripped of their confusing detail, point to the unconscious as their place of origin. How else could it have occurred to man to divide the cosmos, on the analogy of day and night, summer and winter, into a bright day-world and a dark night-world peopled with fabulous monsters, unless he had the prototype of such a division in himself, in the polarity between the conscious and the invisible and unknowable unconscious? Primitive man's perception of objects is conditioned only partly by the objective behavior of the things themselves, whereas a much greater part is often played by intrapsychic facts which are not related to the external objects except by way of projection."

"The alchemist saw the union of opposites under the symbol of the tree, and it is therefore not surprising that the unconscious of present-day man, who no longer feels at home in his world and can base his existence neither on the past that is no more nor on the future that is yet to be, should hark back to the symbol of the cosmic tree rooted in this world and growing up to heaven-the tree that is also man. In the history of symbols this tree is described as the way of life itself, a growing into that which eternally is and does not change; which springs from the union of opposites and, by its eternal presence, also makes that union possible. It seems as if it were only through an experience of symbolic reality that man, vainly seeking his own "existence" and making a philosophy out of it, can find his way back to a world in which he is no longer a stranger"

“When a summit of life is reached, when the bud unfolds and from the lesser the greater emerges, then, as Nietzsche says, ‘one becomes two,’ and the greater figure, which one always was but which remained invisible, appears to the lesser personality with the force of a revelation. He who is truly and hopelessly little will always drag the revelation of the greater down to the level of his littleness, and will never understand that the day of judgement for his littleness has dawned. But the man who is inwardly great will know that the long expected friend of his soul, the immortal one, has now really come, ‘to lead captivity captive’; that is, to seize hold of him by whom this immortal had always been confined and held prisoner, and to make his life flow into that greater life- a moment of deadliest peril!”

"It is the relationship between the self and the ‘other being’ that is the other person in ourselves- that larger and greater personality maturing within us, whom we have already met as the inner friend of the soul. That is why we take comfort whenever we find the friend and companion depicted in a ritual. It is the representation of a friendship between two men which is simply the outer reflection of an inner fact: it reveals our relationship to that inner friend of the soul into whom nature herself would to change us- that other person we also are and yet can never attain to completely. We are that pair of Dioscuri (a twin that is mortal, and the other that is immortal. It is better to look them up) and who, though always together, can never be made completely one. The transformation processes strive to approximate them to one another, but our consciousness is aware of resistances, because the other person seems strange and uncanny, and because we cannot get accustomed to the idea that we are not absolute master in our own house. We should prefer to be always ‘I’ and nothing else. But we are confronted with that inner friend or foe, and whether he is our friend or our foe depends on ourselves."


"The disastrous idea that everything comes to the human psyche from outside and that it is born a tabula rasa is responsible for the erroneous belief that under normal circumstances the individual is in perfect order. He then looks to the state for salvation, and makes society pay for his inefficiency. He thinks the meaning of existence would be discovered if food and clothing were delivered to him gratis on his own doorstep, or if everybody possessed an automobile. Such are the puerilities that rise up in place of an unconscious shadow and keep it unsconscious. As a result of these prejudices, the individual feels totally dependent on his environment and loses all capacity for introspection. In this way his codes of ethics is replaced by a knowledge of what is permitted or forbidden or ordered. How, under these circumstances, can one expect a soldier to subject an order received from a superior to ethical scrutiny? He has not yet made the discovery that he might be capable of spontaneous ethical impulses, and of performing them-even when no one is looking."


And finally:


"When we consider the spirit in its archetypal form as it appears to us in fairytales and dreams, it presents a picture that differs strangely from the conscious idea of spirit, which is split up into so many meanings. Spirit was originally a spirit in human or animal form, a daimonion that came upon man from without. But our material already shows traces of an expansion of consciousness which has gradually begun to occupy that originally unconscious territory and to transform those daimonia, at least partially, into voluntary acts. Man conquers not only nature, but spirit also, without realizing what he is doing. To the man of enlightened intellect it seems like the correction of a fallacy when he recognizes that what he took to be spirits is simply the human spirit and ultimately his own spirit. All the superhuman things, whether good or bad, that former ages predicated of the daimonia, are reduced to “reasonable” proportions as though they were pure exaggeration, and everything seems to be in the best possible order. But were the unanimous convictions of the past really and truly only exaggerations? If they were not, then the integration of the spirit means nothing less than its demonization, since the superhuman spiritual agencies that were formerly tied up in nature are introjected into human nature, thus endowing it with a power which extends the bounds of personality ad infinitum, in the most perilous way. I put it to the enlightened rationalist: has his rational reduction led to the beneficial control of matter and spirit? He will point proudly to the advances in physics and medicine, to the freeing of the mind from medieval stupidity and –as a well-meaning Christian- to our deliverance from the fear of demons. But we continue to ask: what have all our other cultural achievements led to? The fearful answer is there before our eyes: man has been delivered from no fear, a hideous nightmare lies upon the world. So far reason has failed lamentably, and the very thing that everybody wanted to avoid rolls on in ghastly progression. Man has achieved wealth of useful gadgets, but, to offset that, he has torn open the abyss, and what will become of him now- where can he make a halt? After the last World War we hoped for reason: we go on hoping. But already we are fascinated by the possibilities of atomic fission and promise ourselves a Golden Age – the surest guarantee that the abomination of desolation will grow to limitless dimensions. And who or what is it that causes all this? It is none other than that harmless, ingenious, inventive, and sweetly reasonable human spirit who unfortunately is abysmally unconscious of the demonism that still clings to him. Worse, this spirit does everything to avoid looking himself in the face, and we all help him like mad. Only, heaven preserve us from psychology –that depravity might lead to self-knowledge! Rather let us have wars, for which somebody else is always to blame, nobody seeing that all the world is driven to do just what all the world flees from in terror.

It seems to me, frankly, that former ages did not exaggerate, that the spirit has not sloughed off its demonisms, and that mankind, because of its scientific and technological development, has in increasing measure delivered itself over to the danger of possession. True, the archetype of the spirit is capable of working for good as well as for evil, but it depends upon man’s free- i.e. conscious- decision whether the good will be perverted into something satanic. Man’s worst sin is unconsciousness, but it is indulged in with the greatest piety even by those who should serve mankind as teachers and examples. When shall we stop taking man for granted in this barbarous manner and in all seriousness seek ways and means to exorcize him, to rescue him from possession and unconsciousness, and make this the most vital task of civilization? Can we not understand that all the outward tinkerings and improvements do not touch man’s inner nature, and that everything ultimately depends upon whether the man who wields the science and the technics is capable of responsibility or not? Christianity has shown us the way, but, as the facts bear witness, it has not penetrated deeply enough below the surface. What depths of despair are still needed to open the eyes of the world’s responsible leaders, so that at least they can refrain from leading themselves into temptation?"

[Erik B.K.K. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected something else entirely, and more on the figures/archetypes in different cultures and beliefs/faiths. This was dull, focusing too much on psychology, and alas had some outdated beliefs on homosexuality and women.

[Onur Yz]

Jung çok uzun zamandır okuma sıramda olan bir yazardı. Yıllardır da merak ederdim. Nihayet sıra geldi ve en bilinen eserinden başlamak istedim. Ve bu kadar zorlu bir okuma ile karşılaşacağımı ummuyordum açıkçası.

Zorluk tabii şununla ilgili: Bazı eserleri sıkıntısız, akıcı ve tıkanmadan okuyabilmeniz için bazı konularda altyapınızın olması lazım. Bu kitap da onlardan birisi ve muhakkak mitoloji konusunda hatırı sayılır derecede okuma yapmış olmanız gerekiyor. Genel, yüzeysel mitoloji bilgisinden bahsetmiyorum. Bu sitedeki okurların tamamının buna haiz olduğunu düşünüyorum. Daha derin okumalar yapmış olarak gerekiyor Dört Arketip için. Ama bunları yapmış olmak bence illa ki ilgi ile alakalı. Açıkçası yunan ve roma mitolojisi hiç ilgi alanıma girmedi bugüne dek. Sayısız isim, olayı okuyup aklımda tutmak benim boyumu aşıyor zira isim hafızam doğduğumdan beri zayıftır, çok güçlü bir görsel hafızaya sahip olmama rağmen isim ve sayı hafızam hayatımın çeşitli aşamalarında eksikliğini hissettiğim bir konu oldu hep. Mitolojiye uzak durmamanın yegane nedeni de bu oldu hep.

Jung, elbette salt yunan ve roma mitolojilerini değil, başka hep pek çok mitolojiyi altlık olarak kullanıyor eserinde. Kitabın mitolojiden muhaf bölümlerini büyük bir keyifle okudum ancak çok yoğun, detaylı ve bolca referans içeren kısımlarında batağa saplandığımı itiraf etmeliyim.

Velhasıl, çok değerli bir eser Dört Arketip. Altyapısı sağlam okurlara çok keyifli bir okuma vaat ettiği de kesin.

[Bridgett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a collection of essays for four archetypes: the Mother, Rebirth, the Spirit in Fairy Tales, and the Trickster. The reading could be a bit dry, but I love Carl Jung and found the essays insightful.

[Monur B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mükemmel bir kitap. Birikiminiz yoksa okumayın. Ya da benim gibi okuyun ve arkasından birikim ve bilgi edinmek için yüzlerce kitap (psikoloji, mitoloji, edebiyat, din, felsefe) okuyun. Yıllar sonra geriye dönüp bakınca da böyle bir inceleme yazın.

[Berr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jung'un çok yönlü incelediği 4 ana tipi bu kitapta bulursunuz. Psikoloji ve sosyoloji araştırmalarında yolunuzu aydınlatacak başyapıt, geç okuduğuma üzüldüm.

[Berfin Kanat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jung'a başlamak için güzel bir kitap, özellikle masallarla ilgili bölümü çok sevdim. Arketipler ve psikoloji ilişkisi hakkında kısa ve öz bir bilgi için okunabilir.

[Petter Gran · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘But why on earth,’ you may ask, ‘should it be necessary for man to achieve a higher level of consciousness?’ This is truly the crucial question, and I do not find the answer easy. Instead of a real answer, I can only make a confession of faith: I believe that, after thousands and millions of years, someone had to realize that this wonderful world of mountains and oceans, suns and moons, galaxies and nebulae, plants and animals, exists. From a low hill in the Athi plains of East Africa I once watched the vast herds of wild animals grazing in soundless stillness, as they had done from time immemorial, touched only by the breath of a primeval world. I felt then as if I were the first man, the first creature, to know that all this is. The entire world around me was still in its primeval state; it did not know that it was. And then, in that one moment in which I came to know, the world sprang into being; without that moment it would never have been. All nature seeks this goal and finds it fulfilled in man, but only in the most highly developed and most fully conscious man. Every advance, even the smallest, along this path of conscious realization adds that much to the world.

[Melissa Arabacioglu · Rating 4 out of 5]

While working on an essay about the dynamics that exist between mothers and daughters throughout literature, I picked up this book to better understand the Mother Archetype. According to Jung, there are parallels between different mythologies and religions about the impact of "archetypes" on the human psyche and behavior. The Psyche is composed of three main domains: Consciousness, the Personal Unconscious, and the Collective Unconscious and they are constantly interacting with one another. I find that, Carl Jung's work is beneficial and relevant to me as a literature student when it comes to evaluating the relationship dynamics and patterns that often make up the stories, but I feel that the reader should be familiar with Jung's terminology beforehand because it took me some time to decipher the terminology in my essay. A must-read for anyone interested in systems of the personality and psychoanalysis.

[Zac Hawkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

If 'Man and His Symbols' is the real meat and potatoes of Jungian dream physics, then Four Archetypes is a key, or codex, to bring with you so as to seek understanding in the rest of his work; or indeed any text that deals with dreams and the metaphysics of consciousness even fleetingly.

Chasing shadows, they whisper to me, sometimes.

[martha mia veelmaa]

taassündimise manuaal
Meenutas mulle kui tihti valdab mind emaüsa igatsus

Hahah”kolmjalgsus looma omadusena tähendab naissosst olendis peituvust teadvustamatud mehelikkust….Kui kolmesus on talle määratud ratsutamiseks, siis tähendab see, et ta “ratsutab” Varjul, käitub tema suhtes kui luupainaja” haha

[Kubilay K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jung, bir arketipin bilinçten uzaklaştırıldığı oranda netleşerek mitolojik yanının belirginleştiğini söylüyor bize ve asla açılmaması gereken odaların anahtarını zihnimizin ellerine bırakıveriyor Dört Arketip’te. O oda ki evrenle dolu, hayatla dolu, hikâyelerimizle dolu. İşte bu yüzden Jung okumak bu kadar önemli, bu kadar gerekli. Prematür bir modernitenin yalancı gelişiminin betonu ile örtülen doğamızın toprağında kaybolan köklerimize geri dönmek, anlamak ve hatırlamak için. Varoluş nedenini okumak, anlamak ve öğrenmek ile üçleyen o eksikliği dörde -tamama- erdirmek, yitip giden anlamı bulmak, kolektif bilinçaltımızın seslerine kulak vermek.

Dört Arketip’in her okuyucu için uygun bir metin olduğunu söylemek doğru olmaz. Emek isteyen, keşif tetikleyen, notlar aldıran bir sarmal okumanın ortasına düşeceğinizi söylemek yerinde olacaktır. Jung’un harikalar diyarı, bugüne dek farklı formlarda karşınıza çıkan sayısız anlatıdan kendi yaşam anlatınıza uzanan tüm hikâyelerin ilkel özüne, "kristal"ine ulaştıracak bir maceranın ta kendisi aslında. Bu yolda mitler, dinler ve folklorik temalarla çatallanan bir okumalar okuması doğumu da gerçekleşiyor. Keza bolca Goethe ve Nietzsche atıflarıyla da Jung size doyurucu ileri okumaların rüzgârlarını getiriyor. Ve soruyor ve cevaplıyor: Demeter anne arketipi spektrumunun neresinde? Neden vaftiz anne/babalar vardır? Meryem Ana neden tüm günahlardan arınmış olarak temsil edilir ve bunun materyalist dünya düzeni ile ilgisi nedir? Psişik epidemilerin kuluçka yeri neden kitlelerdir? Psikoloji ile simya arasında kurulan sayısız bağlantılar ne anlama geliyor? Bir Grimm Kardeşler masalı varoluşun sırlarını verebilir mi?Tüm bu sorular, soruların doğurduğu sorular ve cevapların doğurduğu sorular Dört Arketip boyunca sayısız nöronal düzeneği ateşliyor beyin denen muammanın kıvrımlarında.

Benim için oldukça keyifli bu süreçte okuma kalitemi artıran davranış paternlerimden de mutlaka söz etmem gerek. Her şeyden önce bol bol not aldım, Jung’a yaraşır karmaşık zihin haritaları metodu kullanarak. Antik Yunan göndermeleri için vazgeçilmez kaynağım Azra Erhat Mitoloji Sözlüğü’nü elimden düşürmedim. Dünya mitolojisine dair eksiklerimde mutlaka Wikipedia hızlı göz gezdirmeleri kullandım. Dipnotları mutlaka okudum ve notlarımda kısayollar yarattım. Bir de ileri okuma listesi oluşturdum, Jung’un sıkça göndermeler yaptığı kitaplar ve tüm bu konsepti anlamlandırmak için derinlemesine okuma imkanı sunan diğer eserleri içeren.

Anlamak ve anlatmak için yaşayan herkesin deneyimlemesi gereken bir kaynaktan yudumlar almanın gururu içindeyim. Maceraların macerasının başlangıç noktasında.