The Newsletter of the Mythic Imagination Institute, a Non-profit Arts and Education
     Corporation, In preparation for Mythic Journeys 2004 in Atlanta, GA
November/December, 2003 

Mythology and Jungian Psychology

By Sid Cullipher  


Sid Cullipher is the executive director of Journey into Wholeness. Along with the Atlanta Jung Society, Journey into Wholeness will be partnering with Mythic Journeys to develop the programs in our Psychology response track. Journey into Wholeness is a community committed to individual and collective transformation through an exploration of the relationship between modern spirituality and the psychology of Carl Jung. They offer an opportunity to explore this relationship through conferences, seminars, workshops, and other events conducted throughout the country and the world. To find out more about Journey into Wholeness go to www.journeyintowholeness.org or call at 828-877-4809.

I'm just going to be up front with the basic premise of this article. Much of the modern understanding of myth and its role in the human search for both individual and collective meaning comes out of the work of Carl Gustav Jung. It was Jung who saw the importance of mythology for the human psyche and who came to understand the symbolic and metaphorical language of myth and folktales as a form of "collective dreaming."

An obvious example of this understanding that Jung brought to myth and stories is the pattern of the "Hero's Journey" that is found in the Grail Myth of Christianity. Joseph Campbell credited Jung with informing much of his work on the Hero's Journey while Robert Johnson, Jungian analyst, used the Grail Myth in his book He to study the archetypal masculine pattern in our western culture. In fact, if you peruse the books on Jungian psychology you will find that many will use myth and story as the foundation of the concepts that are presented. Titles that come to mind are Goddesses in Every Woman and Gods in Every Man , by Jean Shinoda Bolen; He , She and We , by Robert Johnson; Descent to the Goddess , by Sylvia Perera; Jung's own Answer to Job ; and many more.

The genius of Jung, and of those who have expanded upon his work, comes from the understanding that myth and other forms of communal stories describe both collective cultural AND individual psychological experiences and processes. In other words, myth and stories provide meaning for the culture (why are we here and what is our role in the world?) and for the individual (why am I here and what is my role in the world?). While the cultural meaning of myth has been explored by many people, it was Jung who "psychologized" myth so that individuals could utilize these stories as guides for their personal inner work.

In fact, Jung came to understand the fundamental importance of mythology through his work with the symbolic and metaphorical language contained within individual dreams:

The experienced investigator of the mind can similarly see the analogies between the dream pictures of modern man and the products of the primitive mind, its 'collective images' and its mythological motifs. Just as the biologist needs the science of comparative anatomy, however, the psychologist cannot do without a 'comparative anatomy of the psyche.' In practice, to put it differently, the psychologist must have sufficient experience not only of dreams and other products of unconscious activity, but also of mythology in its widest sense. Without this equipment, nobody can spot the important analogies; ... [C.G. Jung - Man and His Symbols]

We can study mythology from many different angles and attempt to find the relevance of these collective stories for our culture, our society, our businesses, our politics, etc., and it is very important that we do so because there is much that we can learn from these stories - as long as we don't try to interpret them in a literal and fundamentalist fashion. Ultimately, however, the fundamental relevance must come at the individual level if we are to truly take responsibility for our own consciousness. That is the great contribution of Jungian psychology to our understanding of the power of symbol and myth. By making the connection between the unconscious material of our own dreams and the symbols and metaphors that make up the mythological world, Jung has allowed us to see the connections between our own individual psyche and the collective psyche.

The individual is the only reality. The further we move away from the individual toward abstract ideas about homo sapiens, the more likely we are to fall into error. In these times of social upheaval and rapid change, it is desirable to know much more than we do about the individual human being, for so much depends upon [our] mental and moral qualities. But if we are to see things in their right perspective, we need to understand the past of man as well as his present. That is why an understanding of myths and symbols is of essential importance. [C.G. Jung - Man and His Symbols]

I am the Executive Director of Journey into Wholeness, Inc., a non-profit educational organization that produces conferences and other events that explore Jungian Psychology and its connection to modern spirituality. The weaving of our personal unconscious contents with our collective stories is a very important aspect of what we do. We believe that seeing our dreams as myths and our myths as dreams allows us to stand squarely and consciously in the paradox of our individuality within our archetypal similarities. I may be enacting the archetypal pattern of the "Hero's Journey," but it is uniquely "Sid Cullipher's Journey." My dreams tell me so.

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