Note – this is a draft of an entry I started writing last summer after I finished reading Neil Gaiman’s “American Gods”. I thought I would pull it out and finish it. Spo
The Board of Directors Here at Spo-reflections has mixed feelings about my entries about Jungian psychology. They like the Dungeons & Dragons elements (after all, they are part of that crowd) but the psychobabble elements bores the pants off of them – if they wore any pants at all. We’ve compromised I am allowed an entry on Jungian psychology ‘only once in a while’. And if nobody likes it, they will release the tarasque.
No one knows when Man first invented the gods but it seems it was from the get-go. People need to believe in gods, if only because it is so hard to believe in people. The gods became necessary. They were quite useful to explain things we cannot explain and keep people in check. Ages of thinking this way have imbedded the gods so deep into our collective psyches it has created something what Jung called “The Collective Unconscious”. Many argue we have better explanations now of where we came from and what causes thunder* it is time we all stopped investing our time and energy in sky-gods and get on with it.
While it is good to strip the gods of their blood-thirsty authority they remain important to keep around. Life would be dull without them hanging about in our psyches and stories. Humans don’t just need fantasy to make life bearable, they need fantasy to be fully alive and human. We need cucumber trees and three-legged cyclops as much as anything else. To believe in these sort of lies helps us believe in the big ones, like Mercy, Justice, and Hope. You need to believe in things that aren’t true or how else can they become so?
Last summer I read Mr. Gaiman’s “American Gods” which nicely captures these ideas. In the book the gods who have been imported by immigrants haven’t ‘died’ but are hanging about across America, longing to be wanted again. They need us more than we need them I suppose but we need them all the same. We may not need to pay them homage anymore but the gods need not be forgotten. Rather than sacrificing ourselves to them let’s have them out for a cup of coffee and a chinwag. They enrich our lives; they certainly enrich mine.
Heck if it weren’t for the gods and fantasy figures I’d be out of a blogging job.
*Not Thor. Try to tell as many people as you can in town.
18 comments
January 27, 2021 at 9:25 AM
Linda Practical Parsimony
How do the collective unconscious and race memory fit together? Or, do you agree with the idea of race memory. I do.
January 27, 2021 at 10:43 AM
Urspo
Jung sure did. He believed while there is a universal unconscious to believe in gods, archetypes etc. these varied by culture. For example, The Trickster shows up in all cultures but manifests in different types/styles. He went so far as to get folks to focus on their own culture’s figures as ‘more assessible’. By today’s standards this stuff borders on racism viz. ‘stick to your own kind”
January 27, 2021 at 11:09 AM
Parnassus
All this calls to mind Mark Twain’s famous “God created Man in his image, and Man, being a gentleman, returned the compliment.” The same idea seems to apply to the collective unconscious.
–Jim
January 27, 2021 at 12:53 PM
Urspo
Yes that quote is a nice summary of how Man tends to make/get the gods he wants/needs – or deserves
January 27, 2021 at 12:07 PM
Fit Studs
I don’t watch American Gods, I don’t read it… So outta loop, lol! 😜
January 27, 2021 at 12:54 PM
Urspo
it is a better book than the series
January 27, 2021 at 12:43 PM
Old Lurker
Why are the things that we take most seriously all collective delusions? Money, gods, trust, status — all of these exist because we decided they exist.
Having said that: Aren’t you a Catholic? I can’t imagine Jesus being very happy that you call Him invented by people.
January 27, 2021 at 12:55 PM
Urspo
Yes most of the things we hold dear (trust, money, society) is based on our mutual agreement it is so/true.
Beanie Babies is a good example of how something was considered one way then is became another way
January 27, 2021 at 1:08 PM
Linda Practical Parsimony
Tell us about Beanie Babies, please.
January 27, 2021 at 1:41 PM
Urspo
At one time many people were in a collective frenzy to have them all agreeing they were quite valuable, investing in them like others invest in stocks. The prices were insane; people thought they were going to pay for college on these investments. This worked because ‘everyone agreed’ they were valuable. Then, it all imploded and they became worthless; people could not sell them for love or money. They returned to what they really are – small stuffed toys – because people now agree they are worthless.
January 27, 2021 at 1:32 PM
Debra She Who Seeks
I wholeheartedly agree with this post! Mythology, archetypes, Jung, the collective unconscious, they are all my jam. I include Jesus and Jehovah in the concept of mythology too. Modern American mythology rests, not on gods, goddesses and heroes, but on a pantheon of superheroes, supervillains and mutants. That’s why they interest me so much. Mythology is not real, but it tells the truth, often hard and difficult truths.
January 27, 2021 at 1:38 PM
Urspo
“Myths are truths sent in metaphor” – Jung
January 27, 2021 at 4:13 PM
Jennifer Barlow
American Gods is my favorite work by Neil Gaiman! When I saw the title of this post that’s what I immediately thought of, and was so pleased to see that you mentioned the book!
January 28, 2021 at 6:44 AM
Urspo
It was a good book was it not?
I liked most was the idea these elements of our archaic psychology are there for better or worse, and we must acknowledge them and make room for them or they will take over and be terrible.
January 27, 2021 at 4:17 PM
Jennifer Barlow
Also, Mad Sweeney was my favorite old god. I loved his wake!
January 28, 2021 at 6:45 AM
Urspo
I hope someday to reread it to see what more/else I get out of it AND see my reactions to it a second time.
January 27, 2021 at 5:22 PM
David Godfrey
The delusion of the masses
January 28, 2021 at 6:45 AM
Urspo
“the masses” are a frightening entity; they do a lot of harm as no member takes responsibility for what they do therein.