This was a good article. I don't think the archetypes are any more potent than they were before, just that both the individual and collective have evolved in our level of consciousness since then. In mythic times there were still people living the over saturated lifestyle you described, and probably other people cursing them as the bane of society. The difference is that the archetypal nature was taken as literal truth, that the gods were real figures since they didn't have the level of awareness to see past that. They would still get just as possessed, literally killing in the name of these archetypes.
The issue today is more that there's no central organizing archetype (like say, the idea of God or some afterlife); we sort of did away with that with the age of reason and scientific empiricism. Nowadays people are desperate for that archetypal relationship but have nothing to help facilitate it, and fall prey to the media that offers it cheap and doesn't make you work for it.
...and that office worker is a hero I don't care what anybody says hahah
Good thoughts. I agree that possession is not a new thing, though I think a new 'flavor' of it has emerged from industrialization, mass production, digitization, etc. I also agree that a central organizing archetype, as you say, has the effect of entering people into a healthier, more integrated archetypal relationship with the world, and that people become more vulnerable to possession without it as it creates a kind of vacuum of mythic sacredness, which can then be easily filled with a cheap knock-off. Anywho, you get it. Thanks for reading 🙏
Arran, this is the (good) shit I'm here for on Substack. Not only was this an enjoyable read, but it was the right level of challenge. JUST YESTERDAY, I was thinking about archetypes and how I'd like to learn more about them, given that they've recently come up multiple times in other articles. This was the perfect introduction, and I'm also a huge fan of the "continued narrative" style of this publication. I'll definitely be catching up on the other entries.
This was a good article. I don't think the archetypes are any more potent than they were before, just that both the individual and collective have evolved in our level of consciousness since then. In mythic times there were still people living the over saturated lifestyle you described, and probably other people cursing them as the bane of society. The difference is that the archetypal nature was taken as literal truth, that the gods were real figures since they didn't have the level of awareness to see past that. They would still get just as possessed, literally killing in the name of these archetypes.
The issue today is more that there's no central organizing archetype (like say, the idea of God or some afterlife); we sort of did away with that with the age of reason and scientific empiricism. Nowadays people are desperate for that archetypal relationship but have nothing to help facilitate it, and fall prey to the media that offers it cheap and doesn't make you work for it.
...and that office worker is a hero I don't care what anybody says hahah
Good thoughts. I agree that possession is not a new thing, though I think a new 'flavor' of it has emerged from industrialization, mass production, digitization, etc. I also agree that a central organizing archetype, as you say, has the effect of entering people into a healthier, more integrated archetypal relationship with the world, and that people become more vulnerable to possession without it as it creates a kind of vacuum of mythic sacredness, which can then be easily filled with a cheap knock-off. Anywho, you get it. Thanks for reading 🙏
Arran, this is the (good) shit I'm here for on Substack. Not only was this an enjoyable read, but it was the right level of challenge. JUST YESTERDAY, I was thinking about archetypes and how I'd like to learn more about them, given that they've recently come up multiple times in other articles. This was the perfect introduction, and I'm also a huge fan of the "continued narrative" style of this publication. I'll definitely be catching up on the other entries.
Thanks
What