Types of the Unconscious That Created Mythology: Collective Unconscious and Archetypes

Introduction: Why Do Myths Around the World Resemble Each Other?

The hero of Greek mythology and the hero of the Jumong myth of Goguryeo have never met, but their journeys and conflicts are surprisingly similar. Carl Gustav Jung found the reason in the deepest part of our minds: the ‘collective unconscious.’

Myths are more than creations of specific peoples; they are the result of universal psychological structures shared by humanity flowing outward. In this post, we will look at the types of ‘blueprints’ of this unconscious that create myths, namely archetypes.

1. Collective Unconscious: Humanity’s Common Storehouse

If the personal unconscious is a place of experiences repressed while a person has lived, the collective unconscious is psychological DNA accumulated from tens of thousands of years of experience as humanity evolved.

We are not born as blank slates, but are born with ‘frames’ pre-prepared to perceive and react to the world in specific ways. When these frames are embodied through dreams, art, and above all, ‘myth,’ we accept them as powerful symbols.

2. Major Archetypes Compiling Myths

Archetypes are not visible themselves, but they obtain concrete images through characters or events in myths.

Hero: Symbolizes the drive toward growth and victory of the ego. The story of a hero who overcomes hardships and gains treasures to return represents the process of psychological maturation that we all must undergo.
Great Mother: Has a duality: a benevolent figure who gives life and a terrifying figure who devours everything. The goddesses of birth and witches of destruction in myths are two faces of maternal energy in our minds.
Shadow: The dark side of ourselves that we do not want to admit. Villains or monsters in myths symbolize the internal shadow that the protagonist must face and integrate.
Anima and Animus: Femininity in the male mind (Anima) and masculinity in the female mind (Animus). Meeting with mysterious opposite sexes or companions in myths symbolizes efforts to harmonize with heterogeneous parts within.

3. The Process of Archetypes Converting into Myth

Archetypes appear in different myths wearing the clothes of the era and culture. But their core message is the same. Myths play the role of a bridge that helps the energy of the unconscious be safely delivered to our consciousness by changing abstract psychological archetypes into vivid dramas called ‘stories.‘

Conclusion: Meet the Mythological Figures Within You

Reading mythology is like conversing with various archetypes living in my unconscious. Who is the mythological figure that attracts your heart today? Is it a hero embarking on a rough path, or a monster hiding in the dark?

That person may be a symbolic message that your unconscious is sending to you now. When we perceive the archetypes within us and understand their dynamics, we can go beyond beings simply reacting to the environment and become protagonists who directly write the myth of our lives.

In the next post, before high logic dominated, we will psychoanalytically consider the characteristics of ‘primitive thinking’ through which humanity understood the world mythologically.