Archetypes and Riverbeds

archetypes-rivers-jung-jungcurrents

 

The Metaphor of Archetypes and Rivers

“Archetypes are like riverbeds which dry up when the water deserts them, but which it can find again at any time.

An archetype is like an old watercourse along which the water of life has flowed for centuries, digging a deep channel for itself.

The longer it has flowed in this channel the more likely it is that sooner or later the water will return to its old bed.”

C.G. Jung
Collected Works 10
Civilization in Transition
“Wotan” (1936).
Paragraph 395

 

Image: Colorado River Delta

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