The way that mythologies work their magic is through symbols. The symbol works as an automatic button that releases energy and channels it. Since the mythic systems of the world include many symbols that are practically universal, the question comes up: Why? And how does the universal symbol come to be directed towards this, that, or another cultural intention? Now, the subject is rather intricate, but I think I can present in a few clear lines.
Are symbols built into the psyche or imprinted afterward? Animal psychologists have noticed that if a hawk flies over little chicks that have just been hatched from the egg and have never seen a half before, they run for shelter. If a pigeon flies over, they do not. Models have been made of wood imitating the form of a hawk. When such models are drawn overhead on a wire, the chickens run for shelter; if the same model is drawn across backward, the chickens do not. Now, since we must have initials nowadays, this is called an IRM, or innate releasing mechanism, also known as a stereotyped reaction.
On the other hand, when a little duck hatches from its egg, the first moving creature it sees becomes, as it were, its parent. It attaches itself to this figure, and then this attachment cannot be erased. This on-birth bonding process is known as an imprint.
Now, the question with respect to the human psyche is whether the greater number of the responses are stereotyped or imprinted. What distinguishes imprints from something you simply seen and been interested in is that they come at a unique moment of psychological readiness, one that last for only a fraction of a minute. Once made, the imprint is definitive and cannot be erased.
As it turns out, we have found it impossible to determine any stereotyped images in the human psyche. For our discussion, then, we will have to assume that there are no stereotyped and eight releasing images in the human psyche of very much significance. The imprint factor is the dominant one. So then the question comes, Why is it that there are universal symbols? One can see in the mythologies, in the religions, in the sociological structures of every society the same symbols. If these aren’t IRM’s, built into the human psyche, how do these get there?
Since he symbols don’t arise from inborn mechanisms and can’t be culturally transmitted (cultures vary so widely), there must be some constant set of experiences that almost all individuals share.
As it turns out, these constant experiences are, in fact, in the period of infancy. They are the experiences of the child’s relationship to (A) the mother, (b) the father, (c) the relationship of the parents, and finally (d) the problem of its own psychological transformations. These universal experiences give birth to the Elementargedeanken, the unchanging motifs of the world’s cultures.
by Dan Gronwald
credit -- Joseph Campbell (Pathways to Bliss, 47-8)
Replies
"As it turns out, we have found it impossible to determine any stereotyped images in the human psyche."
This quote caught my eye as there are several archetypal images that are conceived of as universal by Jung, as I understand him and some of his followers. The ones listed are certainly part of the images but there are several more. Also, if you count the collective unconscious and archetypal energies as inborn mechanisms, then I'm curious that they are counted out. Indeed, it seems as if there is a certain heavy reliance on social constructivism as the sole primogeniture of the myth. How does this square with depth psychological tenets related to the collective unconscious?