Dear Mitchell. I’m very pleased that you are a fan of Jung and Campbell, although I think we must interpret them differently. You say that both of them are adamant that archetypes and the collective unconscious are biological properties of the human mind. I’ve been looking through the writings of various commentators on Jung, and am struggling to find anyone who agrees with you. Regarding Campbell, I can find nothing in your first two quotes, which are intended to persuade me of this, to back up what you are saying. Your p19 quote says that mythological themes have remained constant, but says nothing about their origin. I also don’t see how your p23 quote helps your argument; Campbell is merely criticising those people who foolishly understood the early chapters of Genesis to refer literally to events on the Earth. He is again not saying anything about the origin of myths. I would therefore like to take you up on your offer of further quotes from Jung and Campbell, especially if they contain the word ‘biological’. In the meantime I offer you this quote from Campbell: “It would not be too much to say that myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation” (The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Fontana, 1993, p3). I interpret him to say here that myths do not originate, biologically or otherwise, from the psyche, but pour into it from some other secret place. He goes on to say that human cultural manifestations “boil up from the basic, magic ring of myth”. Hmm! Magical, not biological.
Also worthy of your attention, I would say, is Campbell’s first of four functions of mythology, the mystical or metaphysical: to waken and maintain in individuals a sense of fascination, awe and gratitude in relation to the mystery dimension of the universe, not so that they live in fear of it, but so that they recognize that they participate in it, since the mystery of being is the mystery of their own deep being as well. To open the heart and mind to the divine mystery that underlies all forms… the experience of life as a tremendous mystery.
I think Campbell is saying here that myths are tantamount to (divine?) revelations, not that they have a biological origin. (This is not a word-for-word quote, but something I’ve combined from a couple of sources, mainly Campbell speaking on the first CD of The Inward Journey, East and West.)
I’m guessing that we must have different understandings of the terminology, for example ‘the human psyche’, and Campbell’s use of the word ‘spirit’ (your p24 quote). So it would be helpful at this point if you could clarify how you understand them, especially ‘psyche’. Any quote from Jung which backs up your interpretation would be welcome. On that point, Campbell’s terminology in that quote would seem to back up my interpretation rather than yours: “They are telling us, therefore, of matters fundamental to ourselves, enduring essential principles about which it would be good for us to know if our conscious minds are to be kept in touch with our own most secret, motivating depths. In short, these holy tales and their images are messages to the conscious mind from quarters of the spirit unknown to normal daylight consciousness…” I struggle to find any reference to biological properties here.
On the related topic of archetypes, I believe that Jung’s understanding developed over time. In the early days, he seemed to have an exclusively psychological understanding, but he later revised his conception and coined the term ‘psychoid’, thus relating archetypes to the material world, his final statement being in The Nature of the Psyche. I am prepared to be persuaded otherwise, and do some more research, but I understand this to mean that the transcendent archetypes have an influence upon both psyche and matter, not that they have a biological origin.
I’m happy to do some further reading upon receiving your reply with any relevant quotes.
