In favor of an archetypal sensitivity

Boardman, L. (1999). In favor of an archetypal sensitivity (Doctoral dissertation, Pacifica Graduate Institute, 1999). UMI no.9987382

Archetypal psychology posits imagination, poesis, and a mythical sensibility as the basis of therapy. It relies upon the knowledge of philosophers, theologians, artists, and novelists to deepen and broaden our connection to ourselves, to enrich and nourish our soul, and to allow for imagination and fantasy to be expressed. It is the purpose of this dissertation to introduce the work of the French philosopher and novelist Michel Tournier to archetypal psychologists and to demonstrate the numerous parallels between his literary works and James Hillman's theoretical writings.

Michel Tournier's writings take us to the dark places of humanity and the depths of the human soul. They touch upon the night-side of life and upon primordial experiences, describing side by side the sublime and the gruesome, the erotic and the perverse. Tournier's stories describe with a rich and variegated language what therapists often encounter in the therapy room: the ambiguous features of life, people's struggles, human conflicts, and unbearable situations. His imaginative and visionary writings, his incisive “dark” eye offer therapists invaluable insights about the human heart. His literary body of work, suffused as it is with arts, science, philosophy, religion, history, mythology, alchemy, culture, and a heightened sense of aesthetics embodies the many concepts of archetypal psychology presented by James Hillman.

As a counterpoint against the one-sidedness of theoretical, empirical, and scientific studies and Hillman's concerns about the three styles of denial of nihilism, nominalism, and transcendence prevalent amongst psychological circles, the study presents three initiatory processes. Initiation in mythopoesis and images, initiation through words and language, and initiation in the underworld represents major themes found in Tournier's work. In each initiation, images and the mythical are valued over facts and concepts, poetic speech over labels and arguments, entry into the darkness of the underworld over a quest for peak experiences. In each initiation, the world of oral tradition where ambiguous images convey power, where words carry life, and where the chthonic realms of shadows irradiate light are explored.

The study's central aim is to enlarge our emotional repertoire, educate our imaginative function, and develop an archetypal sensitivity.