Collective Soul
This blog post is a continuation of yesterday's post. And if you read the comments from yesterday's post, it's even more linked.Yesterday, I blogged about symbolism, and I had intended to blog today about the collective unconcious. And then lo and behold, Ewoh, yet again brought insight to the table in the comments section--and raised the issue of the collective unconscious. So we're onto something, I think.
You see, some writers say they don't consciously use symbolism. I do. But I also sometimes after the fact see some fairly evocative imagery and symbolism that wasn't there when I was writing--at least not consciously.
For example . . . When I wrote Invisible Girl, I had a lot of symbolism of East and West. Buddhism and Catholicism. But when I was done, the book was chosen for the MIRA Reader's Ring book club. It got a special stamp on the cover denoting it, and book club questions were created for it. I wrote most of the book club questions, but my editor ALSO wrote a few--and one of hers was about the water imagery. Water imagery? I hadn't intended it . . . and yet, when I looked over the manuscript again, water imagery was everywhere.
The collective unconscious was at work. According to Wikipedia, the collective unconscious is:
"a reservoir of the experiences of our species"
Which is pretty apt. Case in point . . . when my son was two, he was just getting into forming sentences and putting more complex thoughts together. I took him for a walk one night in his stroller and the full moon was out. At the time we lived in South Florida--so the sky was clear, and no trees blocked the view--we had only palm trees around us. So I pointed at the moon and said, "Do you know what that is?"
And he leaned back, his bare feet lazily dangling over the stoller's side, a sippy cup in his hand, yawning, in his Winne the Pooh pajamas. And he said, "Yeah. That's God."
And at that moment, I was convinced Jung was right. How else to explain this amazing leap or transition in a toddler?
So I tend to think we as a species have a collective soul as well as individual ones.
Thoughts? Does this now alter your thoughts on symbolism? Confirm your existing beliefs?
Peace,
E
E
Labels: Carl Jung, collective unconscious
posted by Erica Orloff at 7:43 AM
11 Comments:
"Do you know what that is?"
"Yeah. That's God."
What a beautiful moment. :)
I know. It felt really profound and wonderful at the time--still does.
E
love the story about your son. children are so amazing at speaking without filters.
About the collective unconscious and the soul... just a thought but maybe we do all share a soul - like you said in your post - but maybe instead of also having an individual soul, instead we each have our own perspective into the common soul?
Put another way, maybe each of us represents a single facet of an infinitely faceted gem that we call the soul, or the collective unconscious?
Calling it a facet, slice, perspective, or anything else and you are speaking in representative language using symbolism to represent that which is not tangible, but can be imagined, talked about represented, and possibly even experienced.
Just my POV/$.02 for what it's worth.
As an aside... Collective Soul was the name of a pretty cool music group from the 80's/90's.
LOL ... I always agreed with you, even thought it might've sounded like I didn't. Symbolism is sometimes an accident, sometimes a surfacing of the collective unconsciousness, and sometimes conscious choice. I guess it just depends on the author.
I've always been afraid to tinker with it, really. Afraid that if I do it on purpose, it'll become forced and pretentious. Not that I've felt that about other author's works, but ...
I'm just about to start Roofer. (I've already sneaked a couple peeks 'cause I couldn't help it.) I do love knowing some of the symbolism beforehand!
Examples:
You get a great idea and three other folks come up with similar premises in the same time frame.
When someone mentions something, "out of the blue", something you've never heard of before or considered, and then two other people mention the same thing to you.
Or how about when you deny an urge to do something or to pursue an idea, and the a few weeks, months, or even years later the idea "hits."
Great post!
ewoh:
A many-faceted gem. What a beautiful way of looking at it!!!
E
Spy:
I hope you like it! :-)
And I also agree--it CAn be pretentious. That's why I think some of those unconcious elements are the most natural and beautiful ones.
kathy:
I love those coincidences, too.
E
>>children are so amazing at speaking without filters.<< yes, completely, ewoh! it's one of the reasons I absolutely love teaching poetry to children. they don't edit their imagination.
I also love the idea of the collective unconscious... or that we are all channels for one consciousness. since 1993 i've been partaking in an annual experiment in collective consciousness and I have to say I'm addicted to it: www.315experiment.com
Great post! Since reading Spy Scribblers and now yours, I've been thinking about how deliberate any of my symbolism is. One thing I know for sure... when I pick names for my characters, I always go through the baby names websites to pick one that means something in particular. Last names, too. I never just pick a name without looking into its meaning.
openchannel . . .
I do the same thing! The names are VERY deliberate . . . and one of the hardest, yet most fun, parts o inventing my stories.
E
Isn't it though? It's funny how a character can dictate her name. It's gotta be just right, to me.
I've recently been asked by a producer to change a character's name (for legal reasons). I've been living with this character for 10 years. I haven't been able to come up with anything nearly as satisfying.
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