Most important in Jung’s system is the idea of the collective unconscious. This postulates that all humans are basically alike with some fundamental differences between the sexes. We have brains that are basically alike, a sexual dichotomy of physiological and morphological differences, have the same basic intra-psychic structure and activity, the same basic needs, go through the same stages of life, and have basic ways of perceiving and responding to the world emotionally and behaviorally. Charles Darwin was the first to recognize universal emotional expressions in human faces throughout the world. The collective unconscious is composed of archetypes, operating like inherited psychic organs. Archetypes are discovered by looking at basic themes and imagery in religions, fairytales, classic stories and art across time and around the world and by looking at the basic aspects of human development and behavior. Each person has the potential to manifest the full complement of archetypes with genetic differences and life experiences determining the potential strength of the various archetypes and their combinations. More testosterone for example is likely to produce more aggressive, Ares-type behavior. (See “The He Hormone” by Andrew Sullivan in The New York Times Magazine, April 2, 2000, Section 6, pp. 46-89) Some factors causing the constellation (classical theory) or emergence (complexity theory) of archetypes associated with masculine or feminine energy are (1) what it feels like to be in a male or female body in terms of shoulder versus hip development, etc., (2) the different hormones flowing through one’s system and (3) the feel and experience of the genitalia.
The interaction of operative archetypes is succinctly portrayed by the psychological dimensions of astrology irrespective of a possible synchronistic link to the stars. Having a sense of the archetype active within us and/or in our culture links us to all of humanity in a mythic manner.
It is particularly important that the archetype of the good mother emerges in a child. This is necessary for a basic sense of well-being for a child as well as an adult. A child comes into the world with a potential for the archetype of the good mother to emerge. It perceives and can respond behaviorally and emotionally to what D. W. Winnicott called “good enough” mothering from the environment. The myth-making potential of the psyche turns the “good enough” mothering experience into the Virgin Mary in a Christian context, a fairy godmother in fairytales, or as a tree with a gift-giving white bird as in the Grimm’s version of “Cinderella.” The image and particular aspects of the personal mother, such as red hair or a certain height or body build, becomes imprinted as the personal image of the archetype of the good mother. This relationship of the personal to the timeless collective is often confused or unrecognized by many psychologies, resulting in a loss of a sense of the mythic in one’s life.