The Activation of the Indigenous Archetype

In ‘Archaic Man’, Jung wrote: ‘Every civilized human being, however high his conscious development, is still an archaic man at the deeper levels of his psyche’. At this level, the mind is still at one with nature, because this mind is nature, and has never been disconnected from it.

Jung argued that the earth has an impact on the human consciousness that inhabits it. He says that every colonial culture would like to feel at home in the new land but in order to feel connected it has important work to do: reconciliation with the indigenous people of the land.  This talk will explore how these dynamics play out in terms of the British occupation of Aboriginal land in Australia.  Surely the proposal of an indigenous Voice in Parliament is a powerful expression of the activation of the indigenous archetype in postcolonial Australia.

In this theme, Jung’s focus is not on Australia but on the United States of America. He believed America represents a "danger to itself and the world". However, the awakening of the indigenous archetype in the psyche can have positive as well as negative effects on the psychology of nations.