Soul Psychology
Soul psychology, spiritual psychology and spiritual psychology are three concepts that describe the same thing. They all want to embrace the holistic picture of man and the complexity of our lives. Soul psychology includes the mind, body, soul and spirit that are associated with the deeper meaning of life. We know then that we are spiritual beings with a soul living in a body. From this realization we see people from an expanded perception and perspective. Humans are born as emotions and pure consciousness where thoughts and words alone do not work when we navigate our lives. The psychology of the soul includes the deep connection, meaning and soul contracts every human being creates on earth. We therefore need to see ourselves from the outside and in a larger context.
My contention is that several of the mental disorders are about spiritual crises that are diagnosed and medicated according to the western medical tradition. I have met many patients in psychiatry who are in contact with their sense of soul, at the same time as their various personality parts are divided and unbalanced. Because Western medical traditions do not include the soul consciousness, the whole person is diagnosed where the mental strengths and purity of the patients are also stamped. Several patients in psychiatry have thoughts of greatness and say that they are in contact with an inner light and a power of love. These are aspects of our soul, which are put in the same category as the divided and hurting personality, also called soul wounds.
Personality comes from the Latin word persona which means mask. Studies of personality, that is, ego, can be understood as the study of masks that people use. Personas are the masks people project and show. Often, persona in everyday speech refers to a social role or character played by an actor. We need to understand what personality really is. As humans, we usually have many roles and masks. We often show different parts of our personality to achieve what we want and to influence. We put on different personalities when we struggle to be in the presence and soul consciousness of who we really are.
The archetypes speak the language of the soul, which at a high vibration contains our best qualities. The archetypes are energetic, universal patterns of action. The psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung developed the theory of the archetypes and the unconscious mind. The theory of archetypes has, among other things, a connection to quantum physics where synchronicity is perceived as a central phenomenon. It is an explanatory principle that psyche and matter are connected to each other, so that we experience meaningful coincidences. The term archetype is often referred to as a universal symbol, and can be a sign, a theme, environment and even special situations. Such experiences can be related to love, religion, death, birth, life, struggle and survival. There is usually talk of collective consciousness as part of humanity, our culture and society.
There are hundreds of different archetypes and approaches to these. Some believe that humans carry twelve different archetypes, while others believe we may have more. What is most common to the archetypes is that they are described as patterns from our unconscious mind. All people have some archetypes in common. Author and medical intuitive Caroline Myss refers to the archetypes; the child, the victim, the saboteur and the prostitute as a survival pattern of which all people are a part. These four represent different problems, fears and different vulnerabilities that humans must overcome as part of our earthly journey. When we can do this, we can use the qualities of the archetypes as our greatest ally, both as spiritual and physical forces in life. An important aspect of archetypes is that their energetic character is basically neutral, despite their negative label. The archetypes illustrate our pattern and psyche, and I will briefly present the four survival archetypes categorized by Myss;
The child
The child archetype nourishes the part of us that wants to be cheerful and innocent, and that regardless of age expects the wonders of tomorrow. This part of our personality greatly contributes to our ability to feel playful in life, and balances the seriousness of adults' responsibilities. The balanced child is a joy to be around, because the energy that flows from this part of our personality is positively contagious and brings out the best in others as well as in ourselves. The child also establishes our perceptions of life, safety, care, loyalty and family. The core challenge from the child's archetype is about addiction versus responsibility. When should we take responsibility, have a healthy addiction, stand up to the group, and embrace the community of life?
The victim
When the archetype of the victim is properly recognized, it can alert us to the possibility that we are about to be exposed to various forms of abuse and violence. It can help us recognize our tendency to sacrifice others for personal gain. As a shadow side, the victim will tell us that we are always exploited and that it is never our fault. We can play the victim at times because of the positive feedback we get in the form of sympathy or sin. Our goal is always to learn to recognize these inappropriate attitudes in ourselves or others, and to act accordingly. We are not meant to be victims in life, but to learn to deal with challenges and overcome our fears.
The saboteur
This archetype helps us learn the many ways we undermine ourselves. Once we have made new plans, but end up undermining them due to underlying fears. Or when we in the start-up phase of a relationship break it down because we expect the whole relationship to perish. Or we start a new relationship that we quickly destroy because we imagine a painful result. Or we start a working relationship that ends in a power struggle that can be decided peacefully, but because we are afraid of the other person, we fall into our own destructive pattern. All these issues we may be asked above are related to the saboteur in our personality. The saboteur's fears and problems are all related to low self-esteem, which causes us to make choices that block our own authority and success.
The prostitute
What compromises are we willing to make in relation to our body, mind, or spirit? The prostitute archetype teaches us about negotiations from our integrity or spirit for fear of lack of physical survival or of financial gain. It activates the aspects of the unconscious that are related to the seduction and control of other people, where we are willing to give up our own integrity and power. Prostitution should be understood as the sale of ourselves, our talents, ideas and any other expression of ourselves. The core learning of the prostitute is linked to self-confidence and self-respect. We prostitute ourselves when we sell our bodies or minds for money, or when we compromise our morals and ethics for financial gain. This may mean that we remain in a marriage or a job that puts our well-being at risk for financial security reasons.
If we are in contact with our inner victim, we can ask ourselves:
- Do I blame others for the circumstances of my life?
- Do I spend time in the experience of self-pity?
- Do I envy others who always seem to get what they want from life?
- Do I feel exposed by others when situations do not work the way I want?
- Do I tend to feel more powerless than strong?
If we want deliberate actions from the saboteur in us, we can ask ourselves the questions:
Which fear has the most authority over me? Choose three.
What happens when a fear overwhelms me?
Do I allow people to speak for me?
Do I agree with some things because of fear, which I would not otherwise agree to?
Have I let creative opportunities pass me by?
How conscious am I the moment I sabotage myself?
Am I able to recognize the saboteur in others?
Would I be able to offer others advice on how to challenge their saboteur? What would it be then?
If we identify with dishonesty and the prostitute, we can ask ourselves:
Have I ever submitted to people or organizations I did not believe in?
Have I ever been in a situation that offered me financial protection due to a desire for financial security?
Have I ever put another person in a position to compromise with himself in order to gain power over that person?
Have I ever bought another person's loyalty, support or even silence?
Have I ever offered to help others who act on the basis of their prostitute archetypes?
Do I judge others because they constantly compromise with themselves?
Do I think of others as weak, and myself as a better person?
Source of the four types of survival sheets; https://www.myss.com/free-resources/sacred-contracts-and-your-archetypes/appendix-the-four-archetypes-of-survival/
The most central archetype pattern in my life, besides the four survival archetypes, has been the wounded healer . This is a soul contract and a written journey where we experience specific wounds and pains in our lives. Our archetypes make us attractive to people who mirror our wounds and patterns. It is always about our own patterns and the inner magnet in relation to everything that attracts us. It is our inner self that attracts. Nothing is done to us, we are attracted to it.
Several of us who train ourselves as psychologists, therapists, healers and doctors have the archetype pattern of wounded healers. If our educations do not work with the injured child and the shadow side of our pattern, we can subconsciously project our wounds on the clients. In the ancient traditions, it is known that a good medicine man / woman will attract the patients and people who provide the best learning to become a skilled professional.
When we know our archetypes, we can more easily flow with the processes so that we avoid creating self-pity and powerlessness. The wounded healer will experience wounds that no one can help other than himself. The hurt and pain that the wounded healer goes through is intended to depersonalize the ego. Our pain and suffering give us the choice to destroy and destroy the ego. We are pressured into pain so that the only place the wounded healer can go is to his soul. In surrender to the larger picture of the universe and creation, one rises to a greater knowledge and perception. Going through the wounds is often experienced as a real death experience, as our old self " dies" in the process, while a new and more expansive and strengthened part of ourselves is born. The wounds activate a deeper, transpersonal process of healing and enlightenment.
Through the wounds, we realize that all human beings play roles for each other in a deeper, mythical, archetypal process that reveals itself when it acts through us. The wounds are not a personal experience, but rather a doorway into the transpersonal and a higher order of our being. It is a transforming and healing effect when we recognize how our individual suffering is a personal reflection of the collective suffering of humanity. Our personal wounds are part of the collective wounds everyone shares and participates in. We experience and experience the unconscious shadows and wounds in the collective field.
All people want to attract people who "match" their inner state of pattern. We often see that psychopaths and narcissists attract vulnerable people where the experience of " abuser - victim" is valid. Some of us attract violent men / women because we have not transformed generational patterns and the hurt in us. When we understand the mechanisms in our own patterns, we realize that inner transformation and change is the only thing that really gets us out of the sacrificial states. We have to take responsibility in our own lives.
